I was not sure what happened but Dark Jay actually...saved me. I never expected I would owe my life to this version of him, but it seemed that I now did. But I was confused. What had happened? The cube started flashing and by the time I regained my sight, Dark Jay was standing on the edge of the roof, ready to jump. It was the longest second of my life when I jumped to save him, and he pulled me down with him.

For a moment, I thought that his bloodlust had returned, and he wanted to kill me, but when we found ourselves back on the roof, I couldn’t be more wrong. My heart was still beating fast. I couldn’t calm down, but neither could Jay.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” he ran towards me.

“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you.”

“You’re a scientist, right? What happened back there? One moment I was here, talking to you, and the next moment I was jumping off that ledge.”

Okay. So, if I got that right, he just asked if I was okay because he wanted to make sure I would be able to answer his questions. This man is a true prick.

But he was right. I was a Chronicler, and to be honest, I had no idea.

“I don’t know Jay. I’m still trying to process this myself.”

“Also, there was a girl up here. Is she okay? She was the one that told me to jump.”

His voice was anxious and sharp, with short pauses. He was in a hurry to get answers.

“What girl? I was the only one here, and I’m sure I didn’t say anything like that to you.”

“No, no, I’m sure she wasn’t you. She was tall, with silver hair and beautiful, blue eyes. I’m not sure if she was a human at all. She certainly looked humanish, I mean, her beauty rivaled even some of the Changel.”

I didn’t know if I should take his sayings as a compliment or get really angry at him. I had no idea who those Changel were anyway, however, I was sure I would find out sooner or later. Nevertheless, I had no time to disagree with him. My phone started ringing, Silver made a holographic call to me.

“Eladia? Where are you? Are you okay?”

She looked really worried, way too worried.

“We’re fine. Look who woke up just now,” I said to her, trying to warn her. She got the hint and acted accordingly.

“Oh. It’s our good friend, Jasih the Prime Officer. It’s nice to see you, sir,” she said in her deepest, most servile voice. Silver only used that tone when she wanted something really bad or wanted to get off the hook from other human users.

She never used that voice with me.

“Oh, the female robot and the young man. I wouldn’t say I share the same feelings about seeing you, but this isn’t the subject now. Do you know anything about this stupid thing?” he said and showed the cube at her.

“About that, Eladia I think you should see this,” Silver said, demanding my attention.

A moment later, she showed me a recent report about Nusae readings. Since the day we arrived in Mosa, I had commanded—more like asked rather than demanded--her to scan the city regularly for reports about Nusae activity. It was not unusual when an active relic appeared in a planet for it to trigger reports about other relics never seen before, as well. At least, that was what had happened with the Morpher Relic.

I checked the report she had sent me real quick and saw that at the same time Dark Jay was holding the Nusae relic, another energy reading was recorded at the World Embassy, a building only three squares to the East.

“But that’s impossible. It seems that we started something. Where are you now Silver?”

“We’re on our way to meet you at the Embassy. We’ll be there in ten minutes,” she said.

I heard Zan shouting behind her, while he was trying to stand still. The poor guy must be having the worst day of his life with Silver pumping up the gas to get here in time.

I couldn’t decide if I did too or if it was actually the best. Either way, I grabbed Dark Jay’s hand and pulled him towards the stairway.

We ran all the way to the ground floor, the place where the bar was. I almost forgot that I had to return the pair of keys to Jessie, but she was nowhere to be found.

It’s okay, I can do it tomorrow.

While out on the road, Jay seemed to still be troubled about what had happened back there.

“I can’t understand. I was in another city, with buildings made of metal and glass, and there was that girl, and this intense light, and I was so afraid…”

Okay, the last word got me thinking. Last time I saw him, Dark Jay was fearless and killed for the gist of it. Now, he had seen something that got him scared?

“Tell me more. What else happened?” I asked him, not slowing down although I had trouble keeping up the pace and talking at the same time.

“This girl, the beautiful one, she stood right in front of me and asked me to jump off the roof. But she didn’t actually talk. Not out loud that is. She talked inside my head, and her word echoed inside there. It’s like she was trying to manipulate me.”

And in the end, she managed to do it. But I had no idea what he was talking about. The cube was flashing and then...and then…

I suddenly stopped.

“Let me see the cube!”

He quickly pulled it out of his pocket and showed it to me. The thing was redder than the last time I had seen it, and this time, there was an inscription on the top.

“What is this? When did this happen?” I asked him as soon as I noticed it.

“I have no idea. This is the first time I see this too. What does that mean? Is something wrong with it?”

“No. Well, I’m not sure. But I have a theory of what might have happened to you. The Professor thinks that the outside of this cube is a lock and you’re the key. Maybe it was something that you did, or maybe it was because six months passed after you first acquired it, but it seems like you’ve started unlocking it.”

I continued.

“So, what happened is that you must have peeked through the keyhole like you took a sneak peak of the data inside it. That might also explain why you’re the only one capable of unlocking it. In one of Silver’s exams, we discovered that your mind is capable of resisting the great stress that a direct data feed would cause to your mind. If it was me, it would have fried my head.”

I was not a big fan of running, but the thrill of finding another piece of the puzzle exhilarated me, making me able to endure a whole marathon if I had to.

Fortunately, I didn’t.

The World Embassy Building was straight ahead. It was dark except for the top floor, the Conference Room. It was the place where the world leaders met each other when visiting Mosa. Certainly, not a place for late-night visits. Right ahead, Silver and Zan were standing in front of the main entrance. Right about then I started thinking of an attack plan, a way inside without drawing the security’s attention to us.

I used to sneak in there many times when I was little, to meet mom and dad, but now I didn’t know if I had it in me anymore.

Suddenly, it came to me. I forgot that now I was an adult and that my father was still an immensely influential man. If the right person was there, and if I said the right thing, I should probably get inside without making a scene.

We finally got close enough to Silver and Zan for the latter one to see that Jay had changed. He quickly snarled and got ready to protect Silver and me.

“You don’t pass. You dangerous,” he said, growling.

“Down boy. I’m not here to fight you, although I would love to go a round with you when you’re older. Now we’re busy, way too busy, to stop. Shoo, shoo!” he said to Zan.

“Both of you stop! Zan, Jay just saved me. You don’t have to protect me from him. Jay, Zan isn’t a dog. He’s perfectly capable of understanding English. Now, Silver, I’m gonna need your help. I think I have an idea on how we can get inside.”

I took a quick look around and saw the faces of the people around me, the people I loved. There was something wrong about the cube, and Jay, and his parasite, and yeah, seeing him like that, not being able to recognize me or remember what had happened between us earlier, it’s less embarrassing that I thought it would be. But still, this was a mission that we had to complete.

This mission was sure to make us get closer to the truth about the Nusae and the heritage they left behind.

And I am dead set on finding it.

“Listen. We’re gonna have only one chance at this.”