-----E-----

My eyes focused on Letya as I woke up, she stared down and smiled.

„He‘s awake!“

Nia jumped towards me and landed on my stomach. I felt like my lungs were going to be depleted of air.

„I thought you were going to die!“ She said with a worried look.

„Get off me! Or I‘ll actually die!“

I threw her off with my arms, but I didn‘t feel for one of them.

With horror, I remembered. I glanced towards my left, and there was only half of my upper arm remaining. It was bandaged up, and I didn‘t feel any pain from there.

„What happened?“ I asked even though I knew.

„The woman shot your arm off with her artifact!“ Nia said straightforward.

„Yeah, I know. . . I just. . . give me a second.“

I sat up and had my back against a wall.

The shield is gone along with my arm. And without it, I‘ll die after a few days. Shit!

I hit the wall with my hand, hard. I winced.

„That bitch,“ I muttered.

Though Amara fired the weapon, she wasn‘t actually aiming for me. But because of my shield redirecting it, it flew at me in an arc. Just like what Vincent tried to do back where it all started.

„I‘m not going to survive, am I?“

„Actually, you might,“ Letya answered.

„What? You want to turn the ship around just for me?“

„No, I might be able to stabilize your heart, but I am going to have to stick around with you for a while until we find something to replace your shield.“

„You can heal me?!“ I yelped.

„I said I might. But I am not so sure about replacing it though.“

„Oh, okay.“

I stood up without difficulty.

„How long was I out?“

„Not that long. I healed your arm, but I couldn‘t heal it fully, as you can see.“

„It‘s. . . fine.“

It wasn‘t really fine. I felt like half my life disappeared when I lost it. With only one arm, I am basically useless.

I glanced around to see that I was close to the ramp. It was likely the cargo bay, due to its size, but it was completely empty.

„Show me the way to the bridge.“

„The what?“

„Nothing, I‘ll find it myself.“

I guess that wasn‘t a word they could understand.

Walking up the stairs at the back, I entered a corridor. There were quarters for the crew, and also a medbay. There was a ladder in the middle of the corridor that leads to the core of the ship where its power is stored.

There were other corridors that lead to other rooms, but I decided to go check the bridge first.

The doors opened as I walked up to the bridge, a singular holographic screen was in the middle. The windows showed the vastness of space.

There were chairs around that could fit a handful of people on the sides. But other than that, there was just that holo screen.

On the screen showed the spaceship slowly moving towards a planet, there was no timer on when we would arrive. It was all orange, so I couldn‘t know which planet it was.

„Are we going towards one of the planets around Tessera?“

„I think so. I couldn‘t control it, I was only able to activate it, nothing else.“

„What planet is it?“

„I don‘t know.“

I was sure we would end up at one of the other planets around here, why wasn‘t there a way to steer it? Maybe it is just how it is. Someone must have created this ship for some purpose, and all the other artifacts as well.

It might be some sort of advanced alien race messing with the people on the planets around Tessera. It might be these Elders that the A.I. spoke of in the vault. And Nia has apparently an elder killer, which I would assume is the gauntlets.

If the gauntlets is an elder killer, then why would they even make it? That I don‘t understand.

I turned towards Nia.

„It‘s going to take a while until we arrive at one of the planets, I think it‘s a good time to tell our stories.“

I was about to cross my arms as I usually do but stopped myself when I remembered.

„You first!“

„You want the man that has lost his arm and lost the will to live to talk first?“ I said jokingly.

„Fine,“ she sighed and sat down.

„Long story short. . .“

„Don‘t make it short, it would be boring when we have no more stories to speak off,“ I interrupted.

„I can‘t really make it longer.“ She leaned back on her chair. „I once woke up close to Dunwich without any memories at all.“

„What? You lost your memories?“

„Not all. I did know my name, but not my last name. That‘s why I have been keeping quiet about it. When I woke up, I had these gauntlets on me. I can‘t remember where I had gotten them from, but I do have vague images of a building falling apart as snow started falling in. And also people running away from a threat that I don‘t know anything about.“

She leaned forwards with her gauntlets against her temples, trying to remember the past.

„I remember being picked up from the floor, and I went through a doorway, but I don‘t remember anything after that. I don‘t know if I had this artifact around my hands at the time.“

So this is why she was all alone before she met me. She did have Reve though, but now he is gone.

„That thing that spoke in the vault did say all your names, but it didn‘t say my last. And why did it say I have some sort of elder killer? What is that even?“

„I wish I could tell you. I want to know what it even was and these Elders. We might find out someday, and then I might finally escape from Tessera.“

„That is my story, now tell us yours.“

I wasn‘t exactly how they would react when I told them this, but here it goes.

„As you two might have expected, I am not from Tessera. That is likely why the A.I. didn‘t know my name at first.“

„So you are an alien?“

„I guess you could call me that.“

I glanced towards space through the window.

„The galaxy has many different sentient species that has mastered space travel. And us humans were one of them. There were people who were called artifact hunters, just like the people on Kentrikos. They would fly all across the galaxy to find civilizations that aren‘t around anymore. Ancient races that were masters of the Milky Way and found transcendence, that is one theory, the other one is that they were exterminated by a race like no other.“

I noticed that Letya was focusing quite a lot on my story, she really must be interested about space.

„There were also lower races that haven‘t found their way to touch space and have been eradicated by something. Maybe by killing each other, or dying of some sort of disease. If there were planets with no sentient races on and have empty buildings, then it would be fine to scavenge around, but if you try to get artifacts from a world that still has sentient beings on, then you will break a galactic law. And trust me, you don‘t want to break one.“

„That‘s awesome and all, but how did you end up here?“ Nia asked impatiently. She wasn‘t really interested as Letya, huh.

„When Vincent and I traveled to an untouched world with bountiful of artifacts, I was betrayed by him. He took the artifacts that we collected together and sold them. I didn‘t see him for a few months. I was thinking about continuing to try and collect the rest of the artifacts on the planet, but people were tipped off about the planet, so it was covered with artifact hunters.“

„If Vincent was such a jerk, then why were you two together now?“

„Vincent found the long lost civilization that many people tried to find, and it was called Tessera.“

Letya and Nia glanced at each other.

„But we aren‘t lost though?“ Letya said.

„That‘s the strange part. When Vincent traveled to one of the planets, I snuck my way into his spaceship but was found out easily. He took me towards a door that had my name written on, and once I touched it, it opened. Then I tried fleeing from him, picking up a shield that would end up transporting us to this place.“

„The shield that you lost?“

„Yeah, we are still confused about this place. Even though he scanned all the planets, there were still people running around when my shield made us come here.“

„So, he didn‘t see any sentient races when first landing? Maybe you were sent through time or something.“

I looked towards Letya.

„Time? Time travel? I don‘t know about that. The best thing we have thought of was there was some sort of covering around the planet when he scanned them, or that we think people are saying Tessera when we got the translation from our artifacts.“

„But couldn‘t you consider time travel?“

I didn‘t think about it, because it is nonsense. No sentient races have managed to find the way to travel through time. It is just fiction towards people.

But if we really were. . . No, I just can‘t believe it. There‘s no possible way that the shield would make us travel through time. . .

But it actually would fit. Vincent didn‘t find a living sentient being on the planets. The planets are similar to when first coming to the star. The star itself has the same name. And my name which was written on the door, it was even in my writing style!

„Holy shit,“ I muttered

These Elders, they must be one of the ancient races that have disappeared. Maybe these humans here were transported from Earth. But what about the lizards? I haven‘t seen any around in space. I haven‘t heard of their species name before. Neither the kypseli.

„I think I am going to rest for a bit. Please don‘t wake me up, except if we are near the planet.“

„That‘s fine, but I would want to hear more of your stories.“

„I‘ll maybe tell them later. I just need to rest my head right now.“

If it really is time travel, how am I going to go back to my timeline?

The shield. Vincent told me that I needed to find gemstones for it. Was that the way to get back? But now I don‘t have it. It‘s in the snow around Mount Vallow.

Vincent might have already taken it. But he shouldn‘t be allowed to use it though, he might just throw it away.

The way back has been my shield all along, hasn‘t it? What the hell am I going to do now?