I woke up the next day thanks to Lilith's notification

'Zeno...'

'What is it?'

'The reflection system worked! a ship has responded to our signals albeit weak, there's still a response'

'Great! where is it?'

'North, I can't calculate the exact distance right now because of interference from this world's magic atmosphere but my detection will grow more accurate as we draw closer to the ship'

'As of now, how long do you think it will take?'

'About a week on foot, four days on a horse'

I left my room and quickly headed for Lea's office

"Zeno? what brings you here so early in the morning?" Lea asked as she scanned the documents in front of her

"I'm traveling somewhere" I briefly stated

"Leave? on a quest?" Lea put down the document and asked

"No, I'm going to travel. I've found some clues on how to get back home"

"Really? how long will it take?"

"About one and a half week"

"Okay then, sign this paper" Lea brought out a paper from her table

I signed the form of absence and left her office, I didn't have much to take so I only put some spare clothes in a bag before leaving but Cynthia was there waiting for me outside

"Where are you going?" Cynthia asked

"I found some clues, these clues are connected to my home"

"I'm coming"

"Are you sure, it will be dangerous"

"I've already decided to follow you for the rest of my life remember?"

"Let's go then" I swore to take Cynthia on an adventure, this one might not be the best and is the worst but I have a strange feeling that it'll be okay

Cynthia and I went to the city and bought some horses and food rations before heading north. The journey was quite serene, we never encountered any setbacks. On the third day, Lilith finally pinpointed the crashed ship in its exact location. Cynthia and I went to a remote town at the foot of the mountain in the north, we asked the locals about any strange sightings and we luckily managed to get one response.

"So if I'm not mistaken, the sun was eaten by darkness before something came out of the eaten sun and landed right behind that mountain" I asked an elder as I pointed on the mountain

"Yes, everyone refuses to talk about it because they're afraid of the curse" The old man spoke

"Curse? what curse?" I asked

The old man looked left and right before whispering

"Some people got curious about whatever landed behind the mountain so they tried to investigate, we tried to stop them but it only made the more curious. They secretly snuck out the next day, there were five of them, five men, they brought their full gear weapons and all but only one returned. The survivor then killed himself the next day, he kept saying ' A gigantic ship filled with demons and witchcraft, do not get close or get you'll get ripped to pieces or worse be turned into ashes!'"

"Thank you" I thanked the old man

"Aren't you afraid of the curse?" Cynthia asked, did she believe the old man?

"I'm fine young lady, one of the men that died that day was my grandson... I'm already old, he was all I had, death would be more of a blessing for me right now" The old man left as he said those words

"Do you believe in the curse?" Cynthia asked

"Of course not"

"How can you say that?"

"Hmm.. let me think, humans have always been afraid of the unknown, those men saw something in there that wasn't normal so they could only associate it with something that they didn't consider normal, in their case, demons or witchcraft" I explained

"That's understandable" Cynthia spoke after analyzing what I said

'Lilith, is there a possibility of bug infestation on the ship?' I asked as we started hiking up the mountain, the only way to get to the other side was through a small mining cave near the foot of the mountain

'Negative, if there was a bug infestation, this small town would've already turned into living hell'

'Yeah' those bugs always turn the most peaceful of places into a living hell

'Detected ship Warden John - 16'

'Warden? isn't that the ship where Alisa is?!'

'Affirmative'

'How did it get here?! the explosion from the last battle shouldn't have reached HQ, how?!'

'Unable to calculate, lack of information'

'Damn it!'

"Something wrong?" Cynthia noticed something and asked

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Let's go" I quickly urged her to quicken the pace

We found the cave minutes later and quickly entered

"Wait up Zeno, the old man said that we should be careful, this old mine has already been abondoned and was turned into a monsters nest" Cynthia warned me

"I'm sorry Cynthia..." I could've put our lives in danger thanks to my recklesness

"It's fine, tell me, is there something there that grabbed your interest?"

"Not something...someone" I told her the truth, I saw her expression darken for a moment before she broke into a smile and said

"Then we shouldn't dilly dally, let's go!"

We cautiously entered the cave while moving at top speed, the only monsters we encountered were the low-leveled monsters, they were incapable of thought and only attacked the first thing they see.

It took us a while thanks to the maze-like construction of the mine even though the old man gave us a map, I saw the exit and there... I saw the wrecked Warden John 16

"What...what is that?" Cynthia was surprised

"That...that is our ship"

"A man from another land huh..."

We quickly moved towards the ship... wreckage was everywhere and to this point... I was afraid there would be no survivors

The once glorious Warden John 16 was now destroyed, it was broken here and there... we entered the ship from one of the large cracks, luckily we managed to enter the ship's command center.

'Lilith, connect to the ship and search for any salvageable equipment and any signs of life, prioritize searching of life'

'Acknowledged, time until task completion: 00:14:59'

Cynthia was still marveling at everything that she is seeing, it was a first for her so it's understandable. Cynthia followed me to the soldier's quarters, I was hoping to see some weapons but all we found were dead bodies and broken weapons. It was weird, did a battle occur here? there are no signs of bugs anywhere on this ship.

'Scanning complete, Signs of life:0 salvageable equipment:

1 energy based Desert eagle

1 transportation

5 Guardians

1 Behemoth model 7' Lilith finished her report and gave me all the locations

'Thanks Lilith'

'Please hurry up, the ship's core is failing, it's already amazing that it managed to provide power for the entire ship in it's wrecked state'

Lilith alerted me so Cynthia and I quickened our pace, I found the modified Desert eagle.

The energy desert Eagle was a pistol that shot out concentrated bolts of electricity, its main heart is the core that produces electricity the desert Eagle releases. It has a maximum of 12 shots before recharging for half a minute.

As for the escape pod, it was a small ship that transports supplies, it was 20-ft high and uses solar energy as it's fuel.

"Is this a small ship?" Cynthia asked

"Yes"

"Are the men from your land wizards and witches?" Cynthia asked

"No, they are normal men and women, born without any magical capacity"

"Then how did they create such marvelous objects that run on magic?"

"These don't run on magic, they run on something similar yet different"

"Please explain"

"Isn't magic used to create something out of the magic inside your bodies?"

"Yes"

"To us, we harness these energies and feed them into these man-made machines that only have a specific function"

"Specific? then, what's the function of the thing that you picked up earlier?"

"Simple, to kill"

"What? that small thing?"

"Yes"

"I don't really understand but that's amazing"

Cynthia and I then moved to a storage unit and forcefully pried open one of the containers, 5 robots appeared in front of us

"Are these men also dead like the rest?" Cynthia asked

"No, they are something like a golem, they only follow orders"

"Oh" Cynthia was very curious about everything but I patiently explained

We finally moved on to Behemoth, it was a large robot that allowed one person inside to control it, it also had an automatic function so it can continue fighting alongside us even though there was no one piloting it

'Cynthia, bullet count'

'Checking, the bullets within this Behemoth is: 0'

'What? then how about the other broken Behemoths?'

'I already checked, all of them have no bullets'

'How can this be? oh right! Lilith, check the video recording, show me everything that happened'

'Downloading data please wait... download complete'

Lilith played everything that happened, it first started out as everyone preparing for the fight so I skipped it, I stopped at the part where everyone started celebrating when they heard about the death of the queen but then just outside the base, an explosion happened, not just one, there were multiple explosions, everything went blank after that

'Lilith, what happened'

'If my info is correct, the death of the queen caused multiple explosions all over the galaxy, this explosion was caused by two stars hitting each other, thus causing a supernova that then turns into a black hole due to the intense energy that it emits'

'So in the end, the queen had the last laugh'

'Zeno...'

'What's wrong'

'Detected life! it's in a cryostasis pod'

'Who is it?'

'Dr.Alissa!'

'What?'

'...Bugs, incoming time of arrival: 00:05:00, an entire swarm of 500. The swarm is only composed of Bug number: 7 'Beetles' they were the earliest and easiest Bug we've encountered, they were only used as workers'

'How did you get that info?'

'I tapped into the ship's detection System'

'Quickly charge up Dr.Alissa's Cryostasis pod before disconnecting it from its source, after that tell me its location' I quickly ordered as I went to the 5 Guardians and turned them on

"Power on, booting... please wait... Reporting, how may I serve"

"All of you are now Guardian 1-5, report all your available weapons"

"Guardian 1 reporting, available weapons: Energy Blade"

"Guardian 2 reporting, available weapons: Energy Blade"

"Guardian 3 reporting, available weapons: Energy Blade"

"Guardian 4 reporting, available weapons: Energy Blade"

"Guardian 5 reporting, available weapons: Energy Blade"

They only have the weapon that was made along with them but don't underestimate these Guardians, they were strong enough to actually be given the job of protecting important officers

"Guardian 1, enter the Behemoth and take it inside the Transport ship over there. Guardian 2 and 3, fire up the Transport ship and be ready for take off. Guardian 4 and 5, you are coming with me" I gave out my orders

'Lilith, how are the ship's defenses?'

'Front turrents are functional'

'Will that be enough?'

'There's only 2 HE shells'

That should buy us enough time

"Cynthia, let's go!" We all started heading for the medical bay where Dr.Alissa slept in one of the pods

'Lilith, is there a repairable energy source? preferably those that can maintain itself'

'I found 1 energy source, it is connected to multiple solar panels. It is damaged but repairable'

"Guardians 4 and 5, go to this location and extract the energy source along with the solar panels connected to it, if you can find tools along the way then get them" The two guardians separated from us as we arrived at the medical bay

I quickly found the pod where Dr.Alissa was in, I checked her condition on the monitor and it seems like she suffered from a gunshot wound on her waist. It will take her a month in the cryostasis to fully recover.

'Lilith, did you disconnect it?'

'Yes'

I heard Lilith's approval so I switched to strength mode and yanked out the pod, I quickly headed for the Transport ship. I heard a large explosion outside, it seems like Lilith already fired one of shells

"Guardian 4 and 5, report what's your stat?" I communicated with the two robots

"4 and 5 reporting, we have finished our mission and are on our way to transport ship"

"Good"

I heard another explosion

'Lilith, how many did you kill?'

'456'

'Where are the other 44?'

'They are on their way to the transport ship'

'Prepare to destroy the ship!' I have to kill these bugs, they might attack the villagers on the other side of the mountain

'Nuclear meltdown'

"Guardian 1 and 2, get out of the ship and prepare for combat"

We kept running and saw Guardian 4 and 5 board the transport ship before going out and helping Guardian 1 and 2 fight off the bugs

Guardian 1 made a path for us and escorted us back to the ship, we managed to escape the Warden before the transport ship got overrun by the remaining bugs. Warden exploded just as we managed to get to the other side of the mountain

"Request" Guardian 3 spoke

"State your request" I replied

"Officer Zeno, may I ask where we are headed?"

"Oh, sorry, head for these coordinates..."

"Location confirmed, time of arrival: 03:54:28"