George Atmell

I woke up on a bed with Arcturus and the spectral dragon looking at me, along with two other alien races that I did not know. One looked a lot like a humanoid man-bat and the other was...a lemur with human proportion? At this point, I should've asked whether the aliens out there originated from Earth because I've seen several analogues of the creature from Earth. Vyrnians were similar but not identical to wyverns, Saukaurs being humanoid cobras with proper limbs, and then these two. The only one with no analogue but could be an unknown type of demon from Earth was Nuoevans. Their unnatural four eyes, lanky physique, and chimeric appearance with a head similar to a rabbit and hooved legs made them less Earthly.

But that was not the point. As I woke up, I felt stinging pain on my hand. As I looked at my right, I was horrified that in place of a hand, there was a stump covered in bandage. The shock caused my memories to return, and all the pain that I experienced before I passed out. The shock of it returning caused me to jolt up, causing my head to hit the lemur alien's chin. That's when I saw his face properly, and then I remembered that we had met before. I told him to find Arcturus to warn him of a Trikelian attack, just before I passed out.

"Oh, sorry," I said to the lemur.

"It is fine, no-fur," said the lemur rubbing his chin. "How are you?"

"First, where's my hand? What did you do to it?"

"We...kept it frozen," said Arcturus from near the door. "But you might want to accept that your hand can no longer be reconnected. It is too damaged. And besides, we don't even know how human anatomy works, so..."

"I know," said George with a sigh. "It's a pity that it's my sword hand."

"I'm sure the prosthetics might help supplant the lost hand. We are going back to Arkari to ask the bioengineers to fashion a proper prosthetic for your hand."

"Can I ask them to attach my sword instead? I mean, with a simply modification, I can..."

"We'll know after we got to Arkari, alright?"

I sighed and lay on the oversized Vyrnian bed, contemplating what I would do next now that I could not wield my sword. I could try and learn how to wield a sword with my left hand. I could not use magic since the limited mana in my body, as Zarya once warned, was only enough to sustain my life and when it's gone, I'm gone.

While I recuperate, I was given the information of what happened, along with getting acquainted with one of the weirdest 'persons' I've ever met: Kylren Ganymede. I know there was a human joke somewhere in the line of me being inside a gal, which, ironically, only Ganymede the Vyrnian ship got and reacted unfavorably to. I guessed she heard that joke so many times before it annoyed her.

I learned about her story in the comfort of the captain's cabin, once used by her mother. Ganymede was suffering from a terminal Vyrnian leukemia. On Earth, leukemia was dangerous enough for humans and could be caused by medical or magical reasons. Leukemia-inducing spell was a thing and using it would mean lifetime in prison and permanent ban on practicing spells. It was used by the Dragonsbane in the war and any tomes with the spell was forbidden, along with many other disease-inducing spells.

During Ganymede's time, Vyrnian leukemia was hard to treat and her body was dying. Her mother, desperate, modified a proposal on the military project. It was originally a neuro pilot project, something Ganymede called 'hooking the ship's navigation system directly into the brain' kind of thing. Instead of a live pilot, project Ganymede hooked up her brain instead. Ganymede consented, given that death awaited her.

"I guess I still have that fire in me," she said, talking through the computer. She scoffed. "And since then...death evaded me."

"You can't die?"

"Damage my brain and that's it. Fortunately, it's inside the hardest shell I've ever known, and emergency procedure put my brain in cryo-sleep."

"Did you...dream?"

"Cryo-sleep is a dreamless sleep. I lost consciousness, and the next moment I woke up, 750 years or so have passed, you got the nastiest injury I've ever seen in my life, and you're being menaced by the same thing that killed almost everyone on this ship."

"Where's the rest of the crew, then? The surviving ones, you mean?"

"Those two pre-spacers they took called us the 'Vyrnans'. With no 'I'. In the years since I went down, they chose to live on the planet among the people. Based on their last log...I think they thought I died and...abandoned the ship. The project's that much of a secret that only a select group of Vyrnians ever knew of the brain cryo-sleep. I hope their descendants live on in peace, although I felt...compelled to return there and take them home. Then, I found out our own planet's no longer ours and the Vyrnian as an empire is no more. How time's changed when you sleep, huh?"

"Yeah...I guess I know how Arc feels now."

"Arc? Oh, you mean Arcturus. That one got flair, don't you think?"

"Flair? For what?"

"For something grand, like a great leader or something. Do you know the meaning of his name? It means 'great hero' or just simply the sun. The star named Arcturus. The bringer of life, and sustainer of our civilization."

Arcturus told me about that. It was a common theme in the Domel family to be named after stars within the empire. Andrates was the name of a star somewhere near the border of the Empire in his time. Arcturus, on the other hand, was the name of the star that was Vyrn's sun.

It wasn't that weird to name someone after a star or a sun. I did not personally know any, but there was someone named Sol, be it human, dragon, or any of the Underworlders. There was always someone with that name. Ganymede concurred, though she said it wasn't a very common name, hence her comment about Arcturus having flair.

Ganymede had a point, though. Arcturus had always been in situations where he found himself in place to return Vyrn to the Vyrnians. Sometimes I wondered if it was part of a grand plan concocted by his father, something that I had always suspected when I found out that his father was put in cryo. Maybe I was thinking about it too much. Maybe I was already too involved for a pre-spacer. Maybe...it wasn't part of my story.

It did not take long for us to reach Arkari. Araxonis was only several hours away from the colony. By that time, I had recovered enough to stand on my own two feet and get to know the two aliens, which happened to be in a similar situation as I did. We exchanged stories, and it was quick for me to understand that the lemur and the man-bat both came from a planet that had gone through a cataclysmic event, which the Vyrnians called a 'Level Six' event. The three of us bonded rather close given our similar statuses as pre-Space aliens.

"So, there was once an advanced civilization on your world?" I asked. "Like, a very long time ago?"

"It has been so long it passed onto legend," said the lemur, who called himself Magor, a Makenian. "And Makenians do not even remember that there was a time where life was so easy and not so barbaric and so close-minded. They believed the wisdom of the past is a curse and is the cause of our current misfortune. They weren't wrong, though. However, suppressing that past is also wrong."

"And they exiled you for it?"

"For being a little more open-minded. I guess I can't help it. I was a healer. It's part of my blood to know more than my village allowed me to."

"And you, Karlish?" I asked the man-bat. He told me his name before.

"Most of us do not trust other tribes or even other race," he said. "Kelewars are only interested in overthrowing Aba Nuk, the source of our plight. I was left to death until Magor saved me, and I owe him my life."

"I owe you, too, for finally giving us a chance to understand each other," said Magor to me. "But aside from that...why did you call me a lemur?"

I then explained to him that he looked a lot like the primates from the Southern region of Earth, down to their weird eyes, ring-tailed motif, feet that looked like hands, and a fox-like snout that was clearly not what a primate would look, especially considering how monkeys and apes were pretty close to a human in term of facial structure. I also told Karlish that Kelewars looked like Fuzandres of my Earth, one that he seemed to accept well.

"It's good to know there are Kelewar-like people out there," he said. "Now I know that we can blend in, even on another world."

Then I asked them whether they wanted to go home one day. Both had similar answers.

"The wisdom of the worlds will change our world," said Magor. "And until we're satisfied, we'll travel."

"I have tasted death when I was hung on that cross," said Karlish. "I, for once, wanted to know what the afterlife is. Who knows? Maybe this is how it feels."

I guess pre-space like us really did want to travel the stars, especially if we had the means to do it.

After getting to know each other, we finally reached Arkari. I never thought a place far from home would feel so like...home. The Vyrnian colony is still recovering from the damage done by the pirates and marauders that attacked the place recently. The Vyrnian soldiers under Xilna's command, especially those I noticed wore a getup with the crest of Orlonel on them, led the recovery and reconstruction efforts of the colony.

I was directed by Zarya to the hospital where other Vyrnian healers like her were busy with several injured Vyrnian patients that had slowly recovered using both technology and their magic-like healing aura. Many of the Vyrnians also suffered wounds that looked like it would be fatal but was easily treated by their technology.

Of course, that did not apply to me since I was not a Vyrnian, but a human. I went to the hospital so that I could get yet another scan, this time focusing on how to connect the nerves on the stub to a proper prosthetic hand. I guess I needed to learn how to use my left hand, because creating a prosthetic robotic hand would take a while, maybe weeks. I mean, sure, why not? After that incident with the Trikelian, I soon found the wisdom of staying put and not risk yourself too much, something that I've never learned since the Academy. I grew up as an orphan under the care of the Order, which was part of their attempt to recover from the devastating war that killed my parents. Taking risks and having a death wish was something I learned when I was around the hellhounds, whose lives were just that.

Being a human, I never knew how life was in the Underworld. It was peaceful on the surface, but down there, it was far from it. Demons from beyond the gates of the Outer Ring wanted a piece of that free land of the hellhounds and the Fuzandres, while we humans were oblivious of it because we could not even step through the portal without burning our skins off.

After I lost my hand, I wondered if I had seen death and faced it. No, that's not it. I never faced death. If I was...then I would not be writing all these, would I?

After hearing what they would do to replace my hand, I sighed. But, at least I got a new hand. Never learned how to do anything with my left. Back home, since I was human, it was simply just reconnecting the hand with magic threads that would dissolve after a while. It was, however, not a very pleasant experience as some would say. The limb must not be too damaged and must be reconnected soon after being severed as an hour after blood flow was cut, the limb would start to rot. I learned it out of curiosity and I never thought that knowledge would made me understand what happened to my hand. It was not enough to let me reconnect them, unfortunately. My hand was too damaged due to the gruesome way that Trikelian did to disarm me. They were a cunning lot, and dangerously violent at it.

I wasn't going to stay put for long. While I could just rest up, I was quickly drawn by the communication Arcturus and his dad was discussing, and it had something to do with something on Lekan.

"What do you mean more Nuoevans came to Lekan? Are they the pirates that took that place before?" said Arcturus on the screen.

"No, they're not. They said they were sent there by Kilkaja. He's your friend, isn't he?" said Andrates.

Upon hearing the name Kilkaja, I became surprised that he even knew Nuoevans other than those who enslaved him. So, I walked up the communicator and said, "Did you say from Kilkaja? Is he there?"

"No, their leader said he's searching for someone important. You know what he's talking about?"

"We know," I said, recalling his decision to help search Sethis. "What do they want to talk about?"

"I think it's better if you two go here and listen for yourselves. I don't know Kilkaja that well to know what they want to talk about."

"We'll go there as soon as possible," said Arcturus before he closed the communicator.

"They certainly go around," I said. "What do you think they're going to tell us?"

"Whatever it is, if Kilkaja trusts them, I think I can be sure that they mean no harm," said Arcturus with a smile. "I guess you helped him more than he knows."

I knew Kilkaja somewhat better than anyone else, so I knew whoever he sent to us would be trustworthy. That did not mean we'd completely trust him, however. While his intention could be good, we were talking about Nuoevans, who notoriously exploited their own kind and enslaved themselves. Kilkaja was a victim of slavery, but he was willing to trust this group of Nuoevan. I know it wasn't right calling him a naïve fool. He was certainly naïve, but he wasn't a fool. That empathic power of his was the only thing he could tell a lie from the truth. In fact, he was the only one who could know if someone's lying without having any experience of it.

We quickly got our answer after we traveled to Lekan and saw the Nuoevans with our own eyes. I wasn't there when Kilkaja was still wearing his slave collar, but the sight of some Nuoevans still wearing them, and their half-hearted attempt to hide them from view, gave me a conclusion that they were all escaped slaves, or simply slaves of one master, who was well-dressed in Nuoevan style and looked gentlemanly. But my thought quickly returned to Kilkaja. He would never trust a slave owner.

Arcturus, after noticing some of the Nuoevans wore slave collars, confronted the older, non-collared Nuoevan who was being supported by a cane and a female Nuoevan beside him.

"Vyrnians don't regard slavery well, so unless you have a good reason, we must kick you out," said Arcturus, trying not to be confrontational. "How do you know Kilkaja? What's his business sending you here?"

"Oh, don't jump the gun, young Vyrnian," said the old Nuoevan. "You need explanation, and I will provide. But first, I also need assurance from you. Are you the ones Kilkaja mentioned? Are you the Vyrnians who operated this colony near the sealed planet?"

"So, you know Kilkaja," I said. "How is he?"

"He's doing well for a former slave. To be fair, I think he's the reason why we risk ourselves traveling to this place. That, and also because our little operation has failed."

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"What operation?"

"That's why I said I have an explanation for the dozen or so Nuoevans traveling with me. We can start by introducing ourselves first, in a more...comfortable setting."

So, we escorted him and the rest of the Nuoevan to the promenade area, where there were many other Vyrnians there. They did not hear the news about the Nuoevan visitors and thus they looked at the Nuoevans in both sympathy and awe. Their actions clearly did not make the Nuoevans more comfortable.

The old Nuoevan sat on a comfy, but Vyrnian-sized, sofa and relaxed himself. He then said, "My name is Akjati. The Nuoevans who you think are my slaves are simply anything but. They are the slaves I smuggled out of their old lives as part of my operation to free these slaves. It was a hope that one day, slavery will be a past for us Nuoevans. I know I won't live that long to see it fulfilled, but I'm glad to be a part of it."

"If you're what you claim you are, then why are they still collared?"

"Smuggling them was easy. Freeing them from their bondage...was not," said Akjati with a sigh. "Those collars can only be opened by the slavers' key, and they only have one copy. Some Nuoevans sometimes are not willing to part or even consider their slaves to be worth selling so they simply broke the key, making these poor Nuoevans forever a slave."

"That's horrible," I said.

"That is something we have tried to abolish. My operation was covert enough to smuggle the slaves out. I knew some ways to remove the tracker or simply mask it, but the collar stayed on. Well, that is, until Kilkaja told me that you freed him from the collar he once wore."

"Oh, so that's why he told you to go here," said Arcturus. "Now that makes sense. Sorry for jumping the gun earlier, old one."

Akjati shook his head. "I should've made myself clear the moment I got into this colony, so forgive me for being vague. I wasn't sure if this is the place Kilkaja mentioned since the Vyrnians do not seem to be very...friendly."

"That's because this place was once a Nuoevan pirate's base," said Andrates's voice. We turned to look at the older Vyrnian. It seemed that, being the leader of the Vyrnian counterattack against the Trikelians, he started to look rather...rugged? Tired. He looked tired.

"Hiding place?" asked Akjati.

"It's a long story, but that's how we met the young Nuoevan you mentioned earlier," said Andrates before he extended his hand. "Domel Andrates. I'm the commander of Lekan colony."

"Akjati of Jujia," said Akjati as he slowly stood up and accepted Andrates's wing-arm. "The young Vyrnian told me about Kilkaja and his story on this colony. I'll get to the point. Can you do what you did to Kilkaja to these Nuoevans? I don't want this to be something of a false hope."

"We do know how to take off the slave collars," said Andrates. "My head engineer can explain how we remove Kilkaja's collar, so we can start right away."

For the first time, I saw Akjati's face lit up. He looked like he had regained hope after hearing what Andrates had to say. He even looked at the female escorting him, who similarly had a happy expression on her face. This chance Kilkaja gave them was clearly a big break for their efforts.

Akjati, however, knew this service would not be a free one. I really hoped the Vyrnians on Lekan would be a little less stringent when it came to helping people in need, but you could not be too careful, especially since we did not know if Akjati was as trustworthy as he said and not just making a two-way trick that could've fooled Kilkaja and potentially us. Akjati knew this, and said, "But you want something in return. I know you won't provide a free service, so it's fine. I can trust Vyrnians to be a noble race, so let's hear the term."

"You caught on," said Andrates. "Yes, we have several things we need before we can do what you want us to do. First, the moment you show any attempt on aggression, we won't hesitate to act on it. This colony is ours and if you behave like good guests, we will do the same for you. Got it?"

"Loud and clear, commander," said Akjati. "Anything else?"

"I know this is not something you might be aware, but if any of those collars turn out to be tracking devices you forgot to remove, we'll try and help you. Unless it's a deliberate attempt. Until then, you're our guests, and from there, it's up to you to do what you have to do. But still, we do need a little assistance, something that could potentially help us. If you can convince more friendlies to join your cause, then I'll consider helping you with your problem. It also helps ours, too."

"It's good to know you'll support our cause. From what you say, you need soldiers, but for what? We are not Vyrnians."

Then Andrates proceeded to drop everything to Akjati.

"That sealed planet is called Vyrn, our ancestral home planet lost to an old enemy of ours," said Andrates. "We are preparing for an inevitable war that will surely involve other space-faring races out there. We had tried to recruit other races to help us, but they also have problems of their own. Currently, our non-Vyrnian support came from the dozen or so Saukaur survivors whose leader is being pursued by Kilkaja. I know this is a bit of a stretch, but will you help us? Nuoevans are well-known, or notorious, for their great psychic powers. Maybe even empathic powers. If you can help us with the Trikelians in return of our help with your little slavery problem, it might be a good deal."

Now this was the point Akjati started to ponder whether the deal was a bit too much for him. In my opinion, Andrates seemed to be risking the deal a bit, given that the Vyrnians were only there to remove the slave collars. The Nuoevans would clearly not want to help the Vyrnians fight a fight that was clearly not theirs. They were fighting against their own slavery problem, only to be side-tracked by the Vyrnian problem.

Still, if Andrates reasoned that this was something that could encompass other races, then Akjati might had the reason to help Andrates, which he did after discussing this with the slaves he liberated. He told us the answer, and the answer was a yes.

The Vyrnians were elated that they finally found another space-faring ally race to help them in the war. And with that, it was time to fulfill the other end of the bargain.

If only that was as easy as it sounded, though.

***

"Wow," said Orionis, the Vyrnian engineer, when he examined the female Nuoevan's collar. "I know you guys are hardcore in term of keeping slaves in, but isn't this a bit too much?"

"What is?" asked Akjati.

"I don't know if some slavers really hate to lose their slaves, but she was fitted with an explosive collar. You're lucky you know how to remove the tracker. Otherwise, one remote detonation and that's that."

"Explosive collar?!" said the female Nuoevan, scared and angry. "That piece of shit!"

"Good thing he's dead, huh?" quipped Akjati. "Given retribution by a Sage. Such a fitting end for a slaver like him."

"Can you remove it?" I asked. "Is it the same with Kilkaja's?"

"Kilkaja's collar was easy since there's no mini explosive and the design was shoddy at best," said Orionis. "This one here is more sophisticated. If Kilkaja was enslaved by pirates, then she was enslaved by a rich Nuoevan with credits to burn."

I felt bad for the female Nuoevan. Not only was she screwed over by a bad Nuoevan, the Nuoevan clearly left a very nasty present. Even in death, he still had a firm grip on this female.

"But," said Orionis. "It would be a problem if you don't know how to absorb energy. There is one thing the Nuoevans did not factor on, and that was pre-Exodus Vyrnians trained with energy manipulation. They clearly did not even know that a Vyrnian was capable of that. So..."

Orionis then touched the collar and tugged on it. There was a beeping sound, then a barely audible sound of explosion. A string of pure energy flowed out of the collar into one of his fingers. With that, the collar just unlocked itself. My heart skipped a beat, thinking there would be an explosion. However, aside from the trigger click, nothing happened. The collar dropped onto the female's lap, just like that.

"Any attempts to tamper with the collar will surely prime the explosive, but that thing's nothing more than a junk," said Orionis with a smile. "I absorbed the explosion energy just as it is primed. You might feel a little bit of heat, but nothing more than that."

"Wow. You know a lot of things, huh, Orionis?"

"Good thing your collar's the only one that's this elaborate," said Orionis. "The rest are less elaborate. Not as shoddy as Kilkaja's, so it might take time for us to take it off. But don't worry. We'll unlock it all in no time."

The understanding that the collars were not that much of a problem did give the Nuoevans some sort of hope. I knew that this would be a problem with the Nuoevans later down the line since being involved with the slavery business meant that we became directly involved with their political conflict, one that we clearly made a standing in. I mean, everyone in the colony agreed that slavery was wrong, and supporting the abolishers would be right, at least for us.

Even back on Earth, slavery was a part of our dark past, both for us and for the dragons. Before the dragons were revealed to be intelligent in their own rights, the humans enslaved them. In some places, they still enslaved themselves. It did not last very long, especially after all humans in the world agreed that enslaving others of equal standing was wrong. Then it became complicated when the dragons also chose this freedom, and it split the humans into those who favored dragons as partner and friend, and others who regarded them as nothing more than talking animals. On the side, there were discoveries of a new continent and the first contact with the underground denizens.

All those were resolved only in recent times when I was still three years old. The Final Great War, as it was called, felt so personal for me because it was where I was orphaned, and my foster parents also lost their loved ones. The war damaged our lives, but we recovered and since then, life was never better, at least for Earth.

While they might not even know about the possible war among the stars, at least they kept the peace.

As I looked at how the Nuoevans were happy that they were finally free, the spectral dragon-like creature, who called itself Kyrand based on what Arcturus told me, approached me and said, "They're quite interesting. They think that a Sage will liberate them from their predicament, even though it was all their own work."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"You want to know why they are hopeful, and you also think about how it compares with your own history."

"About history," I said. "Why did you call yourself a dragon of Ossogoth? You can't just simply take that term from Arcturus's knowledge of dragons. We don't even know a dragon race called Ossogoth. The only named dragon race is Argoon."

"We took the name from an ancient scripture written by one named Abdul Alhazred a very long time ago," said Kyrand. "He was the first third-dimensional who gave us their knowledge of three-dimensional concept of life. Amusing little researcher, even if he happened to be disturbed by our appearance and imparting knowledge on him made him insane. We are his demons."

"Abdul Alhazred sounds so...Earthly," I said. "Very Central Region-ish. Are you telling me the first person who contacted you was an Earthling?"

"Yes, and no," said Kyrand. "He's human, yes, but he's not of your Earth."

"Not from my Earth?"

"From your mind, I can tell that it's not actually the first time this has happened," it said. "On your Earth's history, there has been visitors from different worlds, is it not? Except they are not from the stars, but from somewhere beyond the boundaries of this reality."

He was right. Around 75 years ago, the Main continent was shaken to its core by the appearances of the devastating pillars of light that reshaped the countryside and killed thousands of people. It turned out that the pillars of light were in fact caused by light dragons. They weren't dragons as I knew it, but dragons from beyond Earth. They feasted on realities and they threatened my Earth. While it was a potentially cataclysmic event, it was resolved in the end, though it changed our reality forever, while also opening up ideas of different realities working in different ways compared to ours.

"We are beings of a much higher dimension than the dragons of light, George Atmell," said Kyrand, apparently reading my mind. "Well, except for me. I lost that title a long time ago. We know your reality is not the only one out there. The realities were made from alternate choices made over the course of eternity. Decisions and outcomes create a new story. It is infinity, and its mystery is something even we cannot comprehend."

"Never thought you'd say that after saying that you're a god of some sort," I said.

"I am no longer what you call a 'god'," said Kyrand. "A fallen 'god', yes, but never something so grand. I have seen eternity, but I turned away from it. I might be bored, or simply tired seeing everything and know everything. You also have that kind of impulse, are you not? You enjoy stories because you want to know how it ends. If someone spoils the ending, then you won't enjoy it as much anymore. Imagine if it has no end, and it drags on and on and on...until the time when the story must end and a new one begins. I found a new perspective when I lost everything. Life is much more fun if you know it will end one day."

"Because you'll live life to the fullest," I said. "Is that what you want? You know some people wishes to live forever."

"Perhaps. But the endless void is eternal. It is there when the universe was born, and it is there when the universe ends. When it ends, who knows. I chose to forget that knowledge, so I can experience it in a linear sense."

It's...well, weirdly okay with not having its omnipotence. For a fallen 'god', it was very curious on how we experienced things. A little bit too curious, in fact, that it might have a secret plan. Nefarious or not, I would never be able to guess until it actually happened.

Well, except Arcturus. Sometimes, I hoped our role were reversed. Somehow, he got all the weird stuff while I got one of my hands cut off. Well, the more you wished for an adventure, the more it got away from you. I learned that the hard way. Once I did not wish for anything...it came to me, unexpectedly.

Kyrand faded like an after-effect just as Akjati and the female Nuoevan came into the room I was in. The female looked so happy that she was not wearing a very restricting slave collar. She was still covering her neck with a slightly transparent shawl, in which I noticed the very visible scar on her ebony-colored skin. Kilkaja had that scar, too. He did not have time to cover it up with surgery, so he covered it with his cloak. Or, maybe he chose not to, to show that he would never forget.

I wanted to point that out, but I felt that it might be the wrong thing to do, especially since she looked so happy and cheerful. Those black featureless four eyes of hers apparently suggested that it would be hard to read their expressions, but that was not the case. In fact, it was so apparent. Maybe it's because I've hanged out around Kilkaja for a while and I bothered to learn how to read a Nuoevan's expression, no matter how freaky they looked. Well, freaky when I first saw Kilkaja, at least. Now, I looked at them and could only see them as a mostly innocent, ebony-skinned, four-eyed chimeric alien that's part rabbit, part goat, and part...possum.

"Kilkaja neglected to tell me what you look like, but now I can see why," said Akjati with a chuckle. "You're easy to find, George Atmell."

"You know who I am?" I asked.

"Kilkaja told me to find you. He said you are the first person he truly trusts ever since he gained his freedom."

"Ah, well...." I rubbed the back of my head, feeling rather happy that Kilkaja regarded me as someone he trusted. I did not really get that impression, but I guess being asked an advice about dating was a way to know that he trusted me.

Akjati chuckled. "A Nuoevan trusting a pre-space is something that I've never known before," he said. "You don't need to be an empath to know that it's genuine."

"Thank you," I said. I then invited him to sit down with his escort, and they did.

"Kilkaja may not be a part of our group but being a Sage...he's already part of our fight."

"Sage?" I asked.

"It's a Nuoevan with natural empathic abilities, something we regular Nuoevans only have to a small degree. In the times before space expansions, Sages are employed as mediators or diplomats, and unfortunately, as politicians. We always blamed the usurpers for causing our race to be shunned, but they have a catalyst in the form of the Sages' ability to detect lies. Sometimes, a little lie can save someone's life, and Sages do not like that."

"Kilkaja pretty much knew if someone's keeping secrets."

"They regard lies as the reason of conflict. Well...history happened, and now I guess their wisdom is better in current times. Sages had become a thing of the past, but many slaves and abolishers like me always see them as a ray of hope. I know Kilkaja's far from a Sage, but it's better than not having a beacon in these dark times."

"So, you want Kilkaja to be the leader of a revolution," I said. "How long have slavery been a part of your life? Decades? Centuries?"

"Centuries," said Akjati. "And counting unless we do something about it."

"I know you have a noble cause," I said. "But Kilkaja's a vulnerable kid who is still not very keen with how the world works. He was a slave until a month ago. You can't make him into a revolutionary leader."

"No, we are not going to make him into one," said the female Nuoevan. "We know he's too young to be regarded seriously as a leader. However, we do need something from the Vyrnians, in return of us helping them in their dangerous mission. We need a base of operations."

"And you need the help of Vyrnians to do so. How's Kilkaja fit into all these? Or me?"

"We just want you to know about it since your Vyrnian friend referred to you as Kilkaja's guardian," said the female Nuoevan. "He said we need your permission to talk about Kilkaja and his next role. We want you as our liaison with him. Help him understand his status as a Sage. Right now, you are the only one he truly trusts."

"How do you know I can be trusted?"

"Because you're not a Nuoevan, and you do not agree with slavery, not to mention you're a pre-spacer. Right now, he knows you better than any Nuoevan. And besides, you can't do anything else until you got your hand fixed, right?"

He got a point there. Given the circumstances, I was put on the bench until further notice, or unless I found a way to train myself with my other hand. I mean, sometimes, you gotta stay out of the fight to survive, and I still wanted to live. Losing my hand could just be the start of something bad, and also a reminder that I risked myself too much.

Given that Kilkaja was currently helping to search Sethis and they needed someone to talk about their needs, I agreed to help, albeit with a bit of reluctance. I did not want to be involved in a Nuoevan problem, even if that problem was slavery. However, Kilkaja trusted me, and he did refer to me, so I guess I did what they wanted. Good thing diplomatic skills were a requirement for a dragon or a wyvern rider due to the Order's position as a neutral party in the dealings of the regions. There was a twist in my case, however. I was in space with aliens, not on Earth with Earth people. Even if it was similar in a sense, I had almost zero knowledge about the Nuoevans. By my time, almost every culture and race on Earth were thoroughly documented. The only one not very documented was beyond the Outer Rings of the Underworld, where demons lived. I mean, it's for an obvious reason. Demons were not liked nor were they go to surface and announce their culture. No one wanted to listen, and they did not care.

So, I tried my best as Kilkaja's proxy and talked to the Lekan Vyrnians and, by extension, those who established the colonies on the desert planet. Given that the Vyrnians did not really have any claims on the planet except their colony, it was surprisingly easy to convince them. However, they told me that I needed to talk to a different group: the Saukaur company led by Sethis and Astha. That, however, was not a problem at all, and the Nuoevans were free to establish a colony on the planet near Arkari.

I mean, it wasn't really a negotiation at all. Andrates did not seem to think the Nuoevans as a hindrance. In fact, the Nuoevans would help make Arkari safer due to their promise to protect the colony in return of given a spot of land to start a colony. They weren't rowdy mercenaries and they only asked the credits for starting the colony. I wasn't really involved in the talks at all, despite my position as their diplomatic envoy.

With that problem done, I focused on recuperating and waiting for the prosthetic hand to be finished. Around this time, I was more of a storyteller than an adventurer, as I wrote journals detailing the lives of the Vyrnians on Lekan and their efforts in fighting against the Trikelians.

Still, I wasn't aware of the brewing chaos both of us would be involved into. I wanted to say that it was our greatest adventure yet, but in the end, it did not really matter much.

It was too bizarre to properly describe.