“Welcome to my mansion, Traveller!”

Standing in front of a huge gate, Alastor was struck with awe. Not far outside the city of Europia, a giant white square building stood majestically in the middle of a green field. A yellow soil path led from the road right to it. The exterior looked very simple: it was basically a cube with only one entrance which was a heavy metallic door that had no handle. Next to it were a small glass panel and a speaker poking out of the wall.

The old man moved toward the strange panel and put his hand on the class. A green horizontal light bar appeared on the screen before going up and down as if scanning his hand. After a few seconds, a voice came out of the speaker.

“Welcome back, doctor Vincent!” the voice was female but spoke in a monotonous tone.

“Ein, can you prepare a meal for us? And clean up the living room please! I have a lot to discuss with this young man right here.” The doctor said.

“Of course, doctor Vincent! It will be done right away! Please come in! And welcome back too, lady Fiora!”

The metallic door that seemingly immovable just a moment ago slid up to the wall, revealing the entrance to the building.

“Old man, as much as I want to eat, I am more curious about what you said earlier.” Alastor spoke anxiously. Even in Astora, the Artificer was not something commonly known by the public. To most people, he was a legend, a myth from centuries ago. Yet, how was it possible that the people of this world knew about him? And from the look of doctor Vincent when he spoke of him, it seemed more than just a simple acquaintance.

“Be patient, my boy! Everything has its time. But you can’t do anything with an empty stomach. Let us eat first! Then we can continue our conversation. Come in!” the old man signalled the boy and Fiora to enter.

The actual inside of the building was completely the opposite of the simple design of its exterior. Small buds of light were planted inside the wall that lighted up whenever someone walked close by. The walls were neither made out of stones or glass but a dark blue metal with a green light trailing everywhere like a blood vessel. Strange machinery with a clear instruction ‘DO NOT TOUCH’ were everywhere.

Containing more than thirty rooms, Vincent was actually the only person living here. At least the only real person anyway. Aside from him, the rests were all consisted of humanoid machines with different shapes and functionalities. Some were for housing purpose like cleaning and cooking while others were clearly for security as they were armed. Vincent referred to them as ‘Robots’ and these were the ones he created for his personal use. A genius couldn’t waste any time to clean his house if he could use that time to create something extraordinary for mankind.

But there were something shocking about these security robots that Alastor has noticed. They looked exactly like the Destroyers found in the basement of the demon lord’s castle. There might be some minor differences in term of colour and the exact shape but they definitely were related. However, Mephisto said that the Destroyers were created by the Artificer himself. What if the Artificer, being a Traveller and having the ability to cross dimensions, actually brought these robots back to Astora for some purposes? His other creations, while having a trace of magic in it, shared some kind of similarity with the design of some objects Alastor saw inside Vincent’s mansion. For example, the armor Alastor took from the assassin in Zagon, one of the Tempus Machina,d was actually displayed right in a room here. It couldn’t be a coincidence that two things from two separate worlds looked exactly the same. That would explain how the Artificer could create those strange artefacts without anyone being able to replicate or even understand how they worked. He himself was inspired by what he found in this world and decided to create a version of his own.

“Well shit! Suddenly I lost all respect for the guy. I thought he was an incredible inventor but this is just a rip-off of everything here.” Alastor muttered.

“Are you talking about Marcus?” Vincent asked.

“You are goddamn right. Back in my home, he created a lot of things, making us think that he was an awesome guy and all. But now that I am here, I can see that it’s not true.”

“You are half right and wrong. True, he was inspired by what I have created but many in my world couldn’t even understand my works. Yet he was able to. To me, that’s a talent.”

“I suppose you are right. But still, that means he didn’t really create anything. Just imitating you.”

“I am not so sure about that….” The old man uttered as he lowered his head, as if reminiscing something.

“What do you mean?” Alastor asked.

“….Let’s eat first! I will tell you everything I know about Marcus later. Just know that every genius has his fair share of madness and Marcus…..Marcus has a lot of it, to the point where he was consumed by it.”

That sentence echoed in Alastor’s mind. Madness, the thing that lurked in every man’s head, constantly waiting for a chance for the person to slip up before it took hold of him. Once your mind was taken, there was no way out, at least not by yourself. Just who was Marcus really? Why was he mentioned everywhere? And what was his role in this? What happened to him?

After a luxurious meal, probably the best meal Alastor has ever eaten, Vincent led Fiora and Alastor to a room that was different from the rest of the mansion. While everything in this house was made to look very futuristic, this one particular room was very antiquated. The insides were made out of old woods. A table, a small bed, a closet with some books and that was about everything inside this room. Compared to the rest of the mansion, this room looked really out of place like it was not supposed to be here at all. And there was one odder thing about this room. Black ashen trails were all over it, as if there was a fire here.

“What is this place, old man?” Alastor said.

“This is the room Marcus, or the Artificer as you called him where you are from, used to live in when he was in this world.” Vincent answered.

“He lived here? Why? What is your relationship with Marcus?”

“A student. A teacher. A friend. Someone I trusted….and someone who betrayed me! That’s who Marcus is.”

“What?”

“It all began thirty years ago, shortly after I created the organisation of Greymen. Upon detecting an anomaly outside the city, I rushed to the marked location with my team. At the time, the threat of the Monochromes wasn’t recognized by the government yet so we were on our own. We considered it our duty to protect this world, our world. But when I was there, the only thing I found was a young man lying unconscious where the rift was. His name was….”

“…Marcus the Artificer.” Alastor uttered.

“Exactly! That was the second case ever recorded of a Traveller in our history. We were all shocked at that time. We just didn’t know what to do with him. When he saw us, saw that he has found himself in another world, do you know what he did?” Vincent asked a rhetoric question. “He laughed, maniacally, like a mad man while shouting ‘I DID IT! I DID IT!’.

It was only after questioning him we found that he didn’t end up here by coincidence. Your Artificer actually tried to break through the dimensional crack to get to another world, something not even I thought possible. And he did.”

“It was voluntary? But what for?” asked Alastor.

“…Marcus was a genius, the most intelligent individual I have ever met and the one person I respected the most. Only after a few months of staying here, he was able to understand all my works, all the technologies that didn’t even exist in his world. That was when I decided to take him in as my pupil to help me in my research. But unlike me, his motivation didn’t come from the passion of science but out of love.

One of the subjects Marcus was most interested in was bioengineering; the field of science that uses technology for medical purposes such as body part replacement. As you probably already know, your world Astora isn’t very advanced in term of technology. Instead you rely on your mana stream and mana pool, in short magic, for almost everything. But for people with low affinity for magic or someone who was born with a deficiency like Marcus who lacked a mana stream, they would spend the rest of their lives in the shadows, envying the others while contemplating on their own weakness. Surely you understand that.”

Indeed Alastor understood. Before he received the demon lords’ power, he was nothing. Just a simple country boy who lived in the middle of nowhere. What if he was never chosen as the demon lord by Magnus? What would happen then?

Vincent took a gulp of his glass of water before resuming. “Marcus found the golems and was inspired by them. Instead of magic, he would use technology to compensate for his own lacking. But when he found out that even his own technology could not save the ones he loved, Marcus set out to find a cure somewhere else, a place not of his world.

And that’s how he ended up here.

Upon hearing his story, I was moved. My wife died shortly after my son was born and even my son died before me so I knew the pain of losing someone close to you. Thus, I decided to teach him our technology and helped him in his search for the cure.

Apparently, his wife was affected with a disease that caused her internal organs to break down one by one. Not even magic was of any help as the woman was like Marcus, lacking a mana stream. Perhaps that was how they found each other, being repulsed by the rest of the world. I can’t really say. From what we found, the best way was to replace her infected body parts with artificial ones. That was how we do it in our world, replacing body part with machines.

But at the time, she was too weak for an operation that big. Furthermore, there was a problem with maintenance as those machines need to be checked quite often and he didn’t want her to spend the rest of her life confined in a lab. As time passed by, we moved closer and closer to the end of our ropes. Things started to look desperate. That was until Marcus found his solution to the problem: nanotechnology.

To put it simply, nanomachines are tiny molecular robots, so small you can’t even see them with the naked eyes. But what is amazing about their feature is their ability to replicate themselves and to imitate any kind of material. Because they are the same size as particles that make up everything in this world, they can become anything: from rock to flesh. If you can control those particles, you control everything. In our case, it’s basically the missing link between machines and flesh.

If instead of removing the failed body parts, we are to inject nanomachines into her, the robots could repair her from the inside and with time replacing the infected parts until she is completely cured.

And she did. Using Marcus’ own nanomachines, his wife has made a miraculous recovery in just under a week. When he told me that, I could see the relief in his eyes. Not only did he save his wife, what he did could be considered as the ultimate cure for all diseases. Can you imagine that? Not one world but two worlds, free of all plagues and diseases. They could even take over the body part replacement procedure with a much higher efficiency.” Up until now, Vincent has been speaking with such a happy expression, full of hope. Perhaps it was out of passion for such a discovery. Or simply he was happy for his colleague. But then his tone changed.

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“At least, that was what it was intended. If only that incident didn’t happen….”

“What incident, grandpa?” asked Fiora abruptly who was glad to hear such a touching story until now.

“Marcus made a mistake…or rather he was blind by his own success that he forgot to take in account something crucial in his world….

After his wife was cured, Marcus made public his research and results to the people of Astora. He wanted to share this discovery which could change the world to a better place. At least that was what he thought. But the reaction was not as he expected. For people who have never known about true science, his research was considered heresy. That was what happened in our world too and I suppose in any other world. History has shown that we fear the unknown and when driven by fear, people do stupid things.” Vincent stopped right there. He tried to say the next words but it was difficult. Memories of that day came back to him. The terrible past he tried to forget.

“They killed the poor woman and crucified her right in front of him!”

“WHAT?” Alastor and Fiora jumped from their seats and shouted in disbelief.

“How could they….?” Fiora uttered.

“That day marked the fall into madness of Marcus….and the beginning of a series of tragedies that followed. Upon returning to this very room, he burned all his researches and took away our prototype of the nanomachines. At that point, he was already consumed by his own hatred. Thus, Marcus unleashed his creations onto Astora. Everything they touched, they destroyed. Everything they devoured, they used it to create more of their own. Death followed them wherever they went. Seeing that this was part of my responsibility, I tried to convince him, to bring him back to reasons but it was too late. That was how I ended up in this wheelchair.”

“Grandpa…”

“But if you didn’t stop him, who did?” Alastor asked.

“By myself, I couldn’t do anything. It was then that I forged an unlikely alliance with those who were determined to stop him: a spider, a young girl and a dragon. It was weird to see such a combination but we all shared the same desire and that was what brought us together.

But the power of the nanomachines surpassed even my imagination. It was impossible to stop it even with the four of us combined. That was until the girl decided to sacrifice herself so her father could be brought back to reason.”

“Wait a minute! That girl was his daughter? But then…..” Alastor uttered loudly.

“To give us a chance of winning, she took the full strike from Marcus. That instant, that single second, was what allowed us to win the fight. Or rather, it brought Marcus back to his sanity… with a great cost.

When he finally realized his error, his hand has already been stained with the blood of his own daughter. But even before she died, she wanted us to forgive him, to let him live and atone for his mistakes.

Though with great reluctance and as a gesture of respect for the girl who saved the world, we decided to let him live. But for me, Marcus was already dead inside. He lost everything, his family, his goal. Nothing else mattered to him anymore.

But his creations remained and without the proper protection, this tragedy will one day unfold again. So together with Marcus, we sealed the nanomachines in the underground of the continent Ragna in hope that it will never be used again.”

“To think such a thing happened in the past…but I have some questions, old man. First, from the look of it, this event happened in a very distant past. How come you are still alive? Actually even the Artificer only died ten years ago in my world so how come he survived all those times?” asked Alastor.

“Time is a relative notion. It all depends on how you measure it and what you compare it to. Basically, times in Astora and our worlds are separated from each other. Just because one year has passed in your world doesn’t mean one year or even one second has passed in ours. But as long as you have a stable bridge between the two, then you yourself become the connection, making time flow in this world just like other. It’s a bit complicated to explain. Just understand that times can’t be compared between worlds! The fact that you end up thirty years later in our world while my last visit was centuries ago proved that.

As for Marcus, during his rampage, a part of the nanomachines has been fused into his body and therefore allowed him to live for a very long time as they will continue to regenerate as long as they exist.” Vincent explained.

“Alright! I kind of understand that. But then that leads to my second question. You talk about a bridge that links the two worlds. Even when you told us the story, you spoke as if you were there yourself. Does that mean…”

“Yes. I was in Astora thirty years ago in my time. And yes, there is a way for you to come back to your world.”

“Finally, that’s what I am talking about.” Alastor rejoiced.

“But don’t get your hope up boy! That thing has been broken for years and I have spent the last thirty years to fix it to no avail. It was by pure chance that I found my way back before it broke down.”

“Still it means that there is a way. As long as there is a way, I still have a chance to go back to my world.”

“True! But like I said, don’t get your hope up! It might take years for me to fix it.”

“…Euhhh please don’t! I can’t wait for years to come back. But I have to admit, you are much more awesome than you look, considering the fact you saved my world.”

“Alastor!” Fiora said.

“It’s alright, Fiora.” The old turned back to the boy. “To be frank, I didn’t do anything much. Without that spider woman and the dragon who did most of the fighting, me and the girl wouldn’t last long.”

“Spider woman? ….. Do you know her name per chance?” the term ‘spider woman’ reminded Alastor of a friend of Lilith.

“She never really told me her real name but she called herself the Spider Queen. What? Do you know her?” asked Vincent.

“….I believe I do. We are not friends or anything but rest assured that she is still alive and well, maybe too well. But I wonder how come she never told me about this.” Alastor asked himself.

“That’s because she can’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“Before I returned to my world, the dragon wanted to make sure that the existence of another world is to be kept a secret. So he erased the memories of everyone who knew about him and me. Why him too I don’t know. But that explains why the Spider Queen can only have some recollection of those events and the only person she remembered would be Marcus’ daughter. At the beginning, the dragon wanted to erase my memories too but in the end, he didn’t. I realized that he had his own reasons for doing so, not because he wanted to but because he had to. So I decided to keep this secret to myself until today.” Vincent explained.

“A dragon capable of erasing memories? I have never heard of such thing. But again it’s not like I know any dragon personally.”

“If I remember correctly, his name was Malick. Being a pure white dragon, he is quite easy to recognize.” The doctor said.

“Malick? Hum…nope, doesn’t ring a bell at all! But I am more interested in this daughter of the Artificer. She must have been an incredible and strong girl to be able to sacrifice herself for the ones that killed her mother.” Alastor uttered. In his mind, he was conflicted. He understood why Marcus wanted to destroy the world. That madness that the Artificer felt when his wife was killed, Alastor had a taste of that when Shana and Morgan died. And to be honest, he wasn’t sure that he would be able to resist that urge if it happened again. What would he do if something happened to Ikarus? To Morrigan? To Alice? The mere thoughts of such circumstances terrified him greatly.

“On the contrary, she was a frail girl just like her mother. So frail that her hair was whitened because of it.”

Suddenly it struck Alastor. A white hair girl who was connected to the Artificer.

“What is her name???” Alastor shouted at the old man.

“Calm down, Alastor! What’s wrong with you?” Fiora said.

“I am fine. Just tell me her name! Please!”

“You mean Marcus’ daughter?”

“Yes of course I am. So tell me!”

“Instead of giving you her name, I will give you this.” The old man moved his wheelchair to the closet and reached out to an album containing all the photos he has ever taken. But unlike the ones he took in this world, those contained the photos of Astora. Flipping through a few pages, he stopped at one and took out a coloured photo before giving it to Alastor. “I took this one after his wife recovered from her illness as a testament of our achievement. Now that I look at it again, it seems almost like yesterday.” The old man spoke softly.

On Alastor’s hand, the photo featured four persons. Two men standing in the background who would probably be a younger version of both Marcus and Vincent. A woman sat on a bed who seemed to be Marcus’ wife. Lastly, a young girl sat on a chair next to the woman in foreground, looking straight at the camera: a pale girl with short white hair wearing white dress.

“This…this can’t be…”

“The girl’s name is Stella. Stella William!”