Hopian's P.O.V.

After a few seconds- I was finally standing in the unlit front-hall of our home, with the black fog still standing right in front of the door. Of course, I had both my hands free and stuck out- so that I could make the needed hand-gestures to activate my escape-related technology (should it have been needed).

The voice cleared it's throat, "About time. Now then- I'll cut to the chase. I need your help. A certain someone is kinda going to destroy this universe- and I need your help to stop them. And as it turns out, even aside from the whole universal-destruction thing, that certain someone is a common enemy to us both."

"...What?" Is all I asked, which was partially due to my grogginess. And also partially because I was mentally prepared for a fight, not for someone trying to negotiate with me...

But- I soon began to understand after a clear image of a pink tentacled half-human half-octopus creature was projected into the air. More specifically, the image was somehow projected into a dense mist that appeared from thin air directly in front of me.

"You humanoids call her the "Cannibal" if I'm not mistaken. Anyways, I know you know who she is."

"I do. That thing devours one of my people every month on average. Though I've only been able to successfully take a single photograph of them. My current theory is that they're capable of disabling the vast majority of any recording devices that capture footage of them. How were you able to obtain this photo?" I asked, now being very interested in talking with this being.

"Just from memory and my powers. And FYI? You were only able to take that one single photo of the Cannibal because of my powers giving your old camera some protection." The voice clarified as the mist- along with the projected image- turned into falling rain and dissipated onto the house's wooden floor.

I cleared my throat, "Am I right to assume that you're a Greek deity who wants revenge against the Cannibal? I've studied the alien's race in the past before it came to this world, and I'm aware that you Greeks seemed to have clashed with their species in the past."

"Nope. I do want revenge, but I'm not a Greek. Thankfully." The voice answered, with the black fog that surrounded it still not moving at all.

"Then what are you? A deity from another universe I'm not aware of?" I asked.

"No- a lot simpler. Was curious as to if you would guess, but I guess not. Oh well. So, short answer? Guessing your space-drones died before they could see this part, but the Cannibal ate their entire alien race about 20 years ago-"

"No- I did see that part... but why is it relevant?" I asked, with a slight part of me already starting to panic.

And before I received a response- a smiling blue head with yellow eyes stretched out from the black fog, until it was breathing right into my face as it stared down at me. It was smiling as well with its blue teeth that were made of skin, which made this encounter all the more ominous.

"'Cause I'm the Cannibal's little brother who happened to hide away and survive her betrayal. So-"

"237-A!" I screamed the codeword at the top of my lungs, and for the first time in 3000 years- I truly feared for my life. Since from what I studied with remote drones from light-years away, these creatures could eat souls. And there was absolutely nothing I could do to save my soul if it was being "digested" by one of these creatures.

Reasoning aside- after shouting out the codeword, Taylis immediately activated one of my basement-stored teleportation machines- which instantly teleported both of us to one of my distant underground bunkers that was miles away from our home.

"We made it. It's fine. This is fine." I thought to myself while catching my breath and trying to lower my heart rate. Taylis also held my hand in silence which I didn't notice at first, but it did help me recompose myself nonetheless.

And moments later- the light bulbs on the bunker's low ceiling began to turn on after they detected our presence, which made the dull concrete interior of the hallway we were in visible. The only thing here aside from the color gray was a shiny steel door at the end of the hall, which led to an actual proper safe room for us to temporarily stay in.

"T-the house, I just activated its self-destruct mechanism by the way. It may not have been effective against the alien but, it's still the protocol for code 237-A right?" Taylis mumbled- which was quite fascinating, even if I felt bad for her at the time. After all- I hadn't tested how Taylis' code would react under stress, even if I accounted for it when I made her.

That aside- I cleared my throat, "Yes. Activating the self-destruction mechanism was the right thing to do Taylis. Now then, let's get ourselves situated and think about everything that just happened through. This will be a long night, but I believe I have a coffee maker as well as the necessary powder for it stored somewhere in the safe room."

Both of us then started to walk through the short hall of the bunker, "Um... I have a question, Hopian. Was the alien even going to attack us? From what I saw, it didn't seem to be super hostile... except for when it got in your face. That was a bit scary."

As we reached the steel door, I replied to her, "The way the creature spoke seemed very mocking. And tying that in with the fact that there's nothing that I know of in my arsenal that can affect those creatures- is not good. Perhaps I did overreact, but I still believe it was the right call. Their very nature seems to be violence-prone."

I then pushed the unlocked door open with a bit of effort, letting Taylis and I walk directly into the brown carpeted safe room that was past the doorway. Of course, I made sure to firmly lock the door as the motion-detecting blue LED lights in the safe room began to turn on.

"Locked doors would not change anything regardless." I reminded myself with a bit of dark humor.

"...I guess I see your point. But what if that alien really was our only shot at taking down the Cannibal? We probably just ruined our chances at working with them... or not being targeted by them." Taylis said, which started to make me feel a bit sick. She was right, but I did not want to admit such a huge potential failure on my part.

I remained silent and took a deep breath, then began to walk towards an open doorway at the end of the carpeted living room we were now in. The red-walled living room itself had two leather chairs in it, a long metal table in its center, eight different monitors attached to the wall, and two personal computers plugged in that were on the floor.

"We don't have much access to my outside tech in here. I don't like that." I thought to myself as I heard the coffee-maker in the kitchen start to drip water, which I assumed was also turned on through motion-detection along with the room's lights.

I realized how wrong I was after walking into the kitchen however. The alien we just escaped from was in the kitchen, and seemingly fiddling with the coffee-maker with a few of its many thin blue tentacles. It had even known to place a mug underneath the coffee makers spout, which made me confused along with being horrified.

And finally the creature's head spun 180 degrees to look back at us, and just as I grabbed Taylis' hand to run back to the living room- the doorway we just walked through somehow became blocked by a massive wall of concrete. I thankfully did not faceplant into it at least.

The alien then laughed, "Hiya. Figured I'd get started on your coffee... this machine seems pretty inefficient for a tech-guru like yourself though. Seriously, I think the fucking Greeks had quicker coffee-makers than this. Shame. Shaaaaaame."

"How is it speaking so human-like? Is there a chance that this creature is a Greek deity who's mimicking an alien? ...No- I can't take the chance and assume that. There should have been no way for any sort of regular deity to have tracked us down to this bunker- and somehow infiltrated it without causing any destruction either."

"...Do you still wish to talk? I apologize for my overreaction earlier." Is all I replied, being too scared to ask if the creature was going to kill us. I had next to no access to my escape-related technology down in this bunker, so I truly was at this alien's mercy.

"Why would I be making you a drink if I was going to kill you, moron... actually screw this. Your machine is too slow."

A steaming cup of black coffee in a mug made of diamond suddenly appeared in my hands a second later. And what confused me even more than the cup materializing- was the fact that my hands were instantly adjusted to be holding the mug as well...

"Do you have a name?" Taylis asked, with her body shaking out of fear all the while. She wasn't given a coffee which I didn't understand at the time.

But regardless- asking that made two human hands appear from out of thin air, which forcibly grabbed both my and Taylis' right hands to shake them. "I'm Abduli. Though I've been called other stupid things like Big"A" before. I control both reality and the future by the way- with some annoying limitations... like not being able to erase my big sister from existence. Or kill her in general, really. That's part of the reason why I need your help to stop her- you know, before she loses her mind and kills us all. Oh! And I'll also need you to help "guide" a loser named Seric and his crew of clowns eventually... and yes, you can ask your questions now."

A/N: There will be more parts to the epilogue by the w-XGHVE46787#"-7LM___&seeusoon