Damn.

What was I supposed to do?

Again, like with meeting him, I was torn.

This time though, a lot less. It was more like I was hesitant to trust someone again. Especially someone that appeared out of thin air, in the middle of nowhere.

And yet, there I was, accepting their help.

Who was I to deny it, though?

They did not come with empty hands. Besides the regular supplies that I was hesitant to accept, they also approached us with… some unusual loot.

The things they had I only seen when my parents were still alive. And even then, I didn’t know much about it, since I was just a little boy.

Old world’s “relics”.

They called them “magitech”.

I understood that they were a combination of old world technology with our own magic, yet I couldn’t wrap my head around how it was possible for both of those to coexist so easily.

According to what I remembered, and mostly from what he told me, I assumed that one disabled another, as in technology suppressed our magic. Since he was originally from the old world, I assumed he knew what he was talking about.

And yet, they were demonstrating that he was apparently wrong.

A golden opportunity.

That’s what I thought about this meeting.

That’s what I decided to think about this meeting.

Sure, I was still torn about that decision, but it was too good to pass on. Especially after them telling me what they were for.

They called themselves “MIRE”.

Or, rather, what was remaining of it.

Apparently, he was their member once before. And thanks to his team, the current world order was now in place. I was not sure what he meant by that, but judging by what I’ve heard from my parents before, and from them, I knew that it was nothing good.

And I was right. It was because of him that the calamity came. And we were stuck in this stupid desert.

Not for long though. They promised me that.

Well, I was not stupid enough to believe that getting him caught would be a solution to the whole world’s problems, but I won’t lie, I didn’t care that much.

If I was going to get the means of finding him again, I was going to take it. Be it to get him to “justice”, or something else, it didn’t matter. As long as I was to see him again, I would. What would happen next, I’d decide then.

The fact that they also started teaching me magic a little bit also helped.

I won’t lie, it was not much, but it was a start. What they gave me was more or less understanding the basics of mana control, thanks to which everything started getting easier for me, but they never taught me anything offensive that I didn't already know. I guess my parents had that already figured out. No wonder, in this kind of environment…

And so, the hunt started.

I say hunt, but it was more like a very, very long attrition battle.

We, personally, have not seen much fight. Nor anything else, really.

They did share with us their information, about their current plans and projects, but only after about a year of “cooperation”, or what I’d rather describe as “indoctrinating”.

Personally, I didn’t care about their methods. I was only there for him. And I couldn’t care less about the maniacs that were essentially given to me by him. They could die for all I cared, and I wouldn’t be upset about it.

Funnily, that’s exactly what their methodology was.

After the initial period, they started sharing with us more… sophisticated uses of their magic. And that included some of their spells that were only supposed to be used in the worst case scenario.

I was elated at first: at last, some kind of magic that might prove useful to me.

Imagine my shock and disappointment when I learned what that was exactly: a magical suicide.

Don’t get me wrong, they weren’t telling us to kill ourselves outright. Only in… eh, “special circumstances”.

And those, sadly, had included him.

According to their information, he was what they called “a crystal remnant from the times of old”. When I first learned about it, I didn’t think much of it, that is until I learned what they meant exactly.

A crystal remnant.

A person, who had taken into themselves a shard of Origin Crystal. An all-powerful, old experiment that was the culmination of the old world’s knowledge on magic.

Sounds amazing, right?

But it is not.

Apparently, it’s not just an item, or a source of power. It is a presence. A person, trapped inside that very own crystal, that as soon as it is connected to someone, attempts to take over you as a permanent vessel.

Scary.

And what’s best?

He was supposedly immune to it.

That, besides the fact that he was essentially responsible for the whole apocalypse stuff, was the main reason they were chasing him all over the world.

And, of course the reason they were so adamant on everyone learning that maniac suicidal methods of theirs.

Their main rule was that if anyone were to come even remotely close to being threatened by a wielder of that crystal, they had to use it. No questions asked, no thinking, just go for it.

It was, to say the least, not the best way to handle things, in my opinion. And besides, that tidbit of information also had some other, more worrying connotations. At least for me that is.

Wasn’t I already one of those remnants…?

I couldn’t really tell what he did to me, but I was guessing that what he put inside me was indeed a piece of crystal. But was it the same that the MIRE was telling me about?

Sure, it made me more powerful. It would also somewhat explain the fact I was so torn about him.

After all, I would be trying to attack my own self, right?

Agh, it was confusing!

Nevertheless, I was not going to share my worries with them. For all I knew, they would blow me up as well. Or worse.

Our partnership flourished. Forces were joined, teams were formed, bonds created… It went well for a long time. While there was no progress in finding him, I didn’t really complain much.

That is, until we finally reached the border.

The mountainside was pretty much impassable without magic. That’s why we only sent a handful of people to scout.

While they managed to cross the problematic obstacle, there were sacrifices made. Mostly due to people running out of mana mid-way.

Nevertheless, those were calculated, as they were the only ones that had to make it all the way past the mountains manually. The people who managed to cross the whole way had created anchors and since then we used portal magic to deal with that problem.

I say problem, but more problematic was the fact that after learning what was on the other side, we had a massive wave of volunteers for the new scouting parties.

Who would’ve blamed them? If you were to discover that there’s an easy way to get off this cursed desert, and to a nice and green area? That definitely looked like heaven to a lot of people.

And that led to some people deserting as soon as they got to the other side.

Still, that did let us create a bit of a presence on the other side of the border and stretch our range quite a bit.

Finally, we had connected with people that weren’t just dying remains of random wandering tribes that were the only ones on this side of the mountains.

The other side was, in comparison, flourishing. Towns, villages… and a whole country.

Yeah… the country.

As soon as we learned about it, we realized that it would be problematic. No one would let us do as we please with that kind of power structure in place, it was clear on the first glance.

So instead, we’ve chosen to blend in.

The process was… sometimes not very stealthy. But, people were not exactly against or necessarily surprised by our appearances, apparently used to the new arrivals. Good for us.

We managed to easily integrate into the existing society, and started learning. Listening to interesting information.

Years passed.

Without much progress, really.

We were mostly in a standstill, knowing we were powerless to act. One look at the current ruler was enough: his magic was something else. The fact that he managed to create such a country was a feat in itself.

We knew that we were dealing with a smart enemy, so we had to be careful.

The opportunity did not present itself for a long time.

We learned about the remnants. Most of them were hard to track, and even if we managed to find some, they promptly disappeared.

I was especially interested, as I was one myself.

I stopped worrying about the rest of the MIRE finding out about my secret a long time ago, because it came out sooner than I wanted it to.

And, just as I predicted, that came with some issues…

Sure, they did not want to kill me immediately, as I thought, but they did test me constantly, taking some “samples” to examine the power of the Origin Crystal.

Supposedly to “find a weakness”. But I know it was more to keep me under control.

After all, if they had some of my biological material in hand, it was just as if they had my whole existence in the palm of their hand…

I didn’t care, though. I was already long past that stage.

I just wanted to find him. No matter the cost.

And the occasion seemed to appear.

Finally, after all those years, we managed to track another revenant. While we did have some losses during tracking and the first encounters, it seemed like the individual in question was still sane. And not connected to him at all.

Too bad that it changed soon.

Once more he managed to be first and claim them for himself.

But not before we managed to get some information about them.

To be honest, the face was itself the best clue.

When it reached the higher-ups, they immediately told us to stop our efforts. By then it was already too late, and the subject in question was already gone, thanks to him.

We, of course, were disappointed.

But no one expected that the next order that came to us was to “get rid of the subject as soon as possible”.

Apparently, he was not just some random person, unfortunate to get in contact with the crystal somehow. It was the person directly related to him. Someone who would be essentially our next target, if not the first one, surpassing the old one in importance massively.

So it was more relief than anything that we learned that he perished under a landslide.

But not for me.

I was more confused than anything.

If what I learned was true, why would he do that? Wouldn’t that be just a horrible waste for… well, both sides?

In any case, it was a bit of a shame. We never even did anything.

Yet, when we expected to get back to regular nothingness, he started acting up. Not sure what got into him, but he started unleashing more and more powerful spells.

I guess it was lucky for us, because we were able to track him no problem, but that did not help us at all.

It wouldn’t be the first time we went after a mana signature that we believed belonged to him, but got there too late: every time it seemed that way.

The first ones I was even a part of. Later, not so much, especially after we realized we were just chasing him blindly.

But after those appearances, even I was intrigued. The spells… the mana usage, it was an opportunity for everyone.

If he was using such massive amounts of mana, it was almost given that he’d be weakened, right? And that would be the best occasion to strike!

I am not sure why, but the higher-ups were not interested in those at all. Hell, they even told us to ignore him for now.

Were they insane?!

I was not going to let that go.

And not like they were going to stop me.

They never really cared about me or my actions, or rather they “gave me my freedom”. Not sure why they were so nonchalant about that, but I was not complaining. And in this case, I was going to use it to the fullest.

I put together a scouting party. It was the best we had.

And we waited for the next sign.

It came pretty quickly. And it looked more promising than ever.

Multiple times from the same spot. Lucky us.

Well, apparently not, because he was no longer there.

And what I saw was a remnant.

Somewhat strange remnant. It promptly triggered an exchange of spells.

And surprisingly resilient. Just as were his companions.

Luckily, I managed to disarm the situation. And… was that woman… For? Wasn’t she supposed to be unaffiliated? And now, following him? What for?

No matter. As long as we were able to talk it out, we’d be fine.

But what about the other two…?

The kid… he seemed powerful. But not as much as any other member of the MIRE, I mean, my own MIRE that is. I am not sure how he’d compare to the higher-ups, it’s been a while since I’ve seen them.

And, in any case, they never were completely reliant on pure magical power, who knows what they had up their sleeve.

The most interesting one was the remnant.

Well, was he a remnant?

It looked more like some kind of golem or something, that’s why our first encounter was so… heated. He straight up looked like a monster. Was all that… an Origin Crystal?! Impossible!

Yet, even though he was built in such a weird way, he was completely sane. Civilized and, well, annoying.

I couldn’t say what exactly, but besides his looks something was bothering me… Also, his magic was strange. And very powerful. I had to be careful, without equipment it would be annoying to fight him…

Luckily, it looked like I wouldn’t have to. He even helped me a bit, maybe he would make an interesting ally? He was not his friend either, and I knew well that MIRE could always use new recruits.

But wait…

His name.

I remembered.

Was he… one of them.

That was THE guy? The same one as HIM?

Wasn’t he supposed to be dead?!

I guess his body explained how he managed to survive…

I couldn’t… I had to act.

No matter if he was against him now, he used to be one of them. There is no mercy for those monsters. I just need…

Good thing that I managed to get my equipment from the base…

If I play this correctly, I’ll be able to capture him no problem.