-----V-----

I dropped Franeks‘ sword on Wilmers‘ table with a thud. Wilmer looked at it with satisfaction, a faint smile was shown.

„He‘s dead, I did your work,“ I said. I looked down at my leg that still had poison in it. „Could you maybe have someone to heal me? I am literally dying right now.“

„Oh-hoh, Vincent! You have done an excellent job, I say! Don‘t you worry, your leg will be healed in no time.“

He brought out a box from under his table. He opened it and threw it towards Vincent.

„That‘s the map of the vault that will bring you to the next planet. You earned it.“

I took the artifact device and turned to leave. Amara and Braxton were with me and followed. Now that Braxton had its mechanical parts shown, it put on a robe to cover itself from sight. All of us were covered with the kypseli muck, so before we headed towards the vault, we went and cleaned our clothes and jumped into the local bathing area.

Amara told me that the artifact she used was rare. A single use teleportation. It would teleport everyone inside the bubble to the area Amara set beforehand. So she already planned on how we would have escaped.

----------

„Now, tell me this, who is Braxton, really?“ I said before we left the gates.

„I guess there is no hiding it.“ Amara stretched her arms and looked at me through her helmet. „As I said before, he isn‘t much of a talker, so I will speak for him. We met back at the desert planet, Aganos. I quickly found out that he was an android when his arm was ripped off from a dynami. So he feared that I would have tried and kill him, which I did not. He said that he is a summon like us, but wasn‘t brought here with an artifact he took, he was along with someone else. And that someone else is dead, with the artifact that brought them here. And that is one of the blasters Braxton is holding.“

Braxton uncovered its blaster from its cloak.

„But because he is a robot, he can‘t connect to any type of artifacts, so that‘s why he can wield anything, but lacking the ability to use programs. The original owner of the blaster used the wrong gem on his artifact, so this artifact doesn‘t have transportation capabilities anymore. So we started helping each other to find the way back.“

„And you found it,“ I said and gestured towards the shield.

„Yeah, but here was the problem. We are three, and I heard that the summon artifacts can only bring too and back with two people. So I was thinking that we needed to find one more summon, but apparently the metal and bolts here doesn‘t care.“

I glanced over at Braxton, its mask never changing expressions.

„Why not?“ I asked. And surprisingly, Braxton answered.

„Because I want to stay, I lost my master, there is nothing for me back at the place we came from,“ its voice, still sounding like broken parts, said. „And I have gained my new objective, to help others reach their future. And Amara was the first that I encountered as a summon like me.“

„I see.“

„You remember seeing him back at the mansion? I told him to go there and help you and Ethan. I needed the person who had the transportation program alive.“

„Which was Ethan.“

„I did not know that at the time, of course. So, when you said that you didn‘t have the program, I was basically ready to leave you and go after him, which I did. And I didn‘t want Braxton here to come with me, I needed stealth, that‘s why I went alone.“

„I really didn‘t like you when you thought I was going to die back in the desert, but I do understand that I would have just gotten in the way. But thankfully, you sliced off his arm that had the shield.“

„Sorry, handsome, but a girl needed her way off.“

„Uh-huh.“

Braxton now looks like the guardian of our small group. It‘s rather nice to have someone like that. The conversation ended. There was not really more that I needed to know from Braxton, he is just a master-less android, wandering through the star of Tessera, helping out the summons. But does he really want to help the people who are. . . assholes? Now I am thinking its as a ‚he‘. Well, his voice sounds male, and Amara continues to call him. . . it, that. I need to think, I don‘t really like androids, but I might as well us the male terms. ‚He‘, will after all gain a new skin of a man. But how exactly did he get the human skin?

I glanced over at Braxton as we ventured towards the vault. Only horrific thoughts of him peeling the skin of a man came into mind. He might not be the gentle guardian I thought at first, he did fight brutally back in Smittis.

The vault was a few kilometers from Dunwich on the western side. The entrance was hidden behind giant boulders, moss was covering them all over. An artifact hunter came and greeted us, most likely the guard of the place. He showed us the way down towards the main area, a few artifact hunters were here and there, minding us no business.

The giant cavern spread out widely, in the middle was a small pedestal, and the ground was carved circular around it. As I came close, a holographic screen emerged from the pedestal. A text asking about that it needed a transportation gemstone, which I had.

I glanced down at the gemstone in my hand. It was azure-blue, not the same color as the screen of Ethan‘s shield, which was white. If I let the Nanos of his shield to eat the gem, I would lose the way back to the future. I needed a white gem, which is most likely on the forever-winter planet, Edafos.

The holo screen accepted that it was a transportation gem, and it showed a planet of green.

„That is Dasos, isn‘t it? And how does this work exactly, just press OK, and we teleport there?“ I asked.

„Select the planet, and the teleportation progress will start. It will only take a few seconds until the zettra bubble will engulf you and you will appear there,“ An artifact hunter said. „And also, we believe that the max limit of people that could go through is five, so if you want to bri. . .“

„No need, it will only be us three,“ I said and started the teleporter.

I did think about bringing Ivy along, but she was already gone with her sister who was still bound. So I would likely not see them again for a while, or maybe never.

The room hummed, and the bubble rose from the pedestal, stopping at the circular carve part.

We braced for the sudden view of lush forests and greenery when I suddenly felt the feeling of getting Ethan‘s shitty luck.

A figure at the entrance of the cavern rushed towards us, crossbow in hand. She fired at the artifact hunters who were trying to capture her, not with lethal rounds. And behind her was a second figure, the girl holding a bow, and she was trying to catch up to her.

„Oh for god‘s sake! Ivona! Just leave us alone!“ I shouted and tried to block her from entering the bubble.

She jumped over, and landed in the middle with her crossbow pointed at me.

„Leave without the shield! Give it!“ she shouted back.

„Like that will ever happen!“

Ivy also jumped over and managed to hold her sister by the neck, they fought on the ground, writhing and made short yelps. It was rather amusing, I felt like I was in a daze seeing the sisters in a catfight. But that was cut short rather quickly, I needed to get them away until the telep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

-----E-----

I stared at the holographic screen of the ship, almost every room showed red light, many were black. Only the bridge was lit green, but that has damages that we quickly repaired. The cafeteria containing the food synthesizer is long gone, and our food supply has run out a day ago. But the planet Dasos was in view. The green planet was waiting for us. Calling us.

„Block the door and keep it shut!“ I shouted toward Nia and Letya.

The door was crumbling, and oxygen was being sucked from the bridge. Ever since the incident with Letya and the hangar, the repairs were needed a lot more constantly, the damages kept on coming at us. We only allowed ourselves an hour of sleep per person, we needed to keep our eyes and hands active at all times. And I was tired as hell, so were the others. We looked rather haggard, Nia‘s eyes drooped, Letya swayed, and I thought I was going to fall myself.

„We are about to enter the atmosphere any moments now, and when we do, hold on to something and hold it tight!“ I said. For some odd reason, the chairs here don‘t have seatbelts. I have been questioning the ancients races for why they made such an unprotected vessel.

The door was mended with metal, and we held tight on anything that didn‘t look loose. And I was the one who was having the hardest time, I have one arm after all.

Ever since arriving at Kentri, I have thought that I wouldn‘t have made it back into space. I love the vast emptiness. It‘s quiet and peaceful, only if you have a ship with a splendid hull, of course. If not, it was seriously scary. And here I was falling on to the second planet of Tessera. Yes, we were falling, not landing as the ship was most likely supposed to do. We were falling. The last engine survived until two days ago, and we drifted towards the planet at high speed, and it doesn‘t look like it was going to slow down anytime soon.

The gravity took us towards the planet, and without the shield‘s active, we were burning up. I already could see the flames out of the window, and the walls were turning red.

We huddled together on a support beam and held it tightly as we could, and I was starting to hear the ship tearing itself apart as we entered the skies of Dasos.

I could see the window crack and break, the ceiling collapsed. And somehow it missed us.

„We are going to be okay! We are going to be okay!“ Nia said, reassuring herself.

I could feel Letya‘s grip starting to loosen, and her hand flew upwards. I grabbed her with my one arm, holding the beam with only my legs around it.

„Don‘t you fall!“ I shouted.

Nia helped me tug her back, and she managed to get her hands around the beam.

The wind was trying to take me towards the gaping ceiling, but I wasn‘t going to let it.

Nia‘s artifact had no glow, her shield that once was mine couldn't be used. Letya has also lost her energy a while ago, the program that she could use to soften our landing wasn‘t usable.

The only thing we could do was pray, and that is what Letya did. She spoke of her gods, hoping for their protection and guidance, hoping that she would be heard. The floor was starting to heat up, but as I noticed the clouds above us, I knew that the landing was already here.

„Hold tighhgh!?!“ My words faltered as I bit my tongue. And then it happened.

It happened so quickly. Letya losing her grip and falling far from our reach. Nia holding tight around me, and I almost losing the support beam, which collapsed. I fell. Nia fell. And I managed to get a glimpse of the outside. Giant trees with green leaves spread far into the sky. There were so many of them, it was impossible to count them as they were all over the planet. That was the last thing I saw as I fell into unconsciousness.