My life has been a roller-coaster of reveals and discoveries these past six months. I found a frozen alien and freed him from his prison, then we discovered an ancient Nusae relic that connected to Jay’s genetic imprint, and after all that, we ended up in one of the empty planets.

And yet, life doesn’t seem capable of treating me kindly. The one man I was able to trust after so long ended up being part of the same group as the people that murdered my friends in the Great Embassy. Not only that, but he’s also impossibly handsome.

Walking before me, Dale and Jay rush to the end of the narrow hallway. I can smell the humidity of this place in the air, giving me the feel that there hasn’t been a person inside this pyramid for years, maybe decades. The air is heavy, and the dust particles float even under the dim light. To be honest, I’m just a tiny bit excited to walk inside this ancient construct.

Just outside, the walls are filled with Nusae patterns, most of them random letters that won’t mean anything if we can’t read them as a whole. Nusae used to hide some of their greatest messages in big rooms by seemingly placing random letters on the walls. But, if an android assistant read the text in three dimensions and not in the usual two-dimensional context, then it actually made sense.

Certainly, all the ruins we’ve found up to now don’t help us realize why they suddenly vanished, or why we can’t find traces of their early civilizations except those rare relics, but they sure helped us understand their culture. However, that isn’t the thing with this place. When we finally arrive at the end of the long, serpentine hallway, we are greeted by another monitor-filled room, only this one has a big seat in the middle.

It’s like the king's court in a small palace or the bridge in a spaceship. Either way, Jay and Dale head straight to the middle and stop in front of the throne.

“Do you recognize this place, Jasih?” Dale suddenly says.

“No. Should I?”

Dale, still in his dark clothes, shrugs and gives Jay a contemplating glance. “Try. The memories are inside you, you only have to reach in there and touch them.”

Jay takes a quick stroll around the room, but he seems to be struggling. He can’t remember a thing.

That’s when the place shudders by an explosion. Dust falls from the ceiling, and the whole place seems ready to crumble and fall on our heads.

“I can’t remember anything. Everything in here seems vaguely familiar, but I can’t remember.” Jay sounds anxious, worried. I would have been screaming if I was in his position.

Dale sighs and nods. “Unfortunately, we don’t have time. I’ll have to explain to you where we are.

“This is a Nusae Temple, a place of power and knowledge. The Nusae inherited this place from the Esuh, and the Esuh inherited this place from their previous technological ancestors. We can’t be sure, but this place might date back to 100.000 years and countless species passing by and leaving their footprints.”

I can’t believe what I hear. So I was right; this place was once inhabited by the Nusae. But they didn’t create it? Then, who did?

“I don’t understand. Nusae were underdeveloped back in my time. They were just tiny people that could do nothing without their exoskeletons and their electricity. They were never a match for us.”

“You’re right, they were never a match for you, but what if all the Esuh vanished at the same time in a mysterious cataclysmic event? Then what species would be the next to prevail?”

It was difficult for me to keep up with their discussion but from an existential point of view, it was rather easy to answer to his question.

“The Vlatall,” I say out loud.

“Exactly. You got it right Eladia. In this time and age, people have devised a way to measure the strength and aptitude of their species. The Five Great is only a rank, but what if another cataclysmic event happened that targeted only the first? Only the best of the best?”

“Then, the second best would rise to the first spot,” Silver now replies in my stead.

Dale nods. “Now imagine that happening on purpose. What if it’s not a cataclysmic event per se, but what we humans would call a ‘man-made disaster’?”

Silence.

How is it possible that he knows all these things? And why did the other masked man killed my friends, the two Originators? And why they also destroyed the Great Embassy? I have to ask him.

“Dale...let’s take a step back. We met two of your cooperators, the man with the red mask and the man with the blue.”

“The woman,” he says, correcting me.

“The woman then. We were in front of the scene when the man with the red mask killed two Originators, and we just barely survived the fall from the fiftieth floor because the woman helped us. I’m having a difficult time trusting you after seeing what you can do,” I say.

I keep my voice firm and steady. I don’t want him to think that I’m afraid of him, even though I clearly am.

“I understand your doubts, Eladia, but there’s more to it. The Originators are not to be trusted. They are an elite military group controlled by the top bidder, in this case, humans. Human Originators were working into creating chaos on Mosa. Who do you think destroyed the building? And who do you think came up with that Tech-Infection?”

“Those two you killed were my lifelong friends. They never--”

“Both of you, stop!” Jay suddenly bellows. “The ones hunting us are just outside these walls. We have to escape first and then ask Dale everything we want. Until then, keep your questions to yourselves.”

He’s right. Dale nods and puts his green mask back on. He points behind him into another narrow hallway. This one is even more cramped than the other and significantly smaller. I have to keep my head down to be able to move through. Silver and Zan are a step ahead of me while Dale and Jay stay behind.

Another hit shakes the whole place up, and I’m able to stay on my feet only because the passage is way too small to fall. Even so, as I turn my head back to see the two men, I stop. Something’s not right.

I return to the entrance of the passage and find them fighting loudly over something.

“No, I won’t leave you behind. You have to come with me. You’re the only one that knows about my people,” I hear Jay saying to Dale.

The other man is perfectly calm like he has accepted his destiny. Just by seeing him, I understand what he has in his mind.

He’s going to sacrifice himself to stop our pursuers from getting to us.

“Jay, there are four others like me that know exactly the same things as I do. My mission was to guide you to this temple. There’s nothing more that I can do for you except make sure you get out of here alive.”

After I arrive next to them, I see him looking at me. His glance is momentary, but it’s more than enough to make me understand.

“Jay, let’s go,” I say.

“What? Are you mad? Don’t you get it? He wants to…”

“Jay! Let’s go. We don’t have time.”

The second time I yell at him, my words seem to get through. He wants to complain, but he doesn’t. Instead, he grunts and runs towards the passage. I cast one last look towards Dale and I see him grinning at me. His eyes are sparkling.

He thanks me with a nod and turns his back on me.

As I turn to watch Jay, my chest feels heavy. This is exactly what happened back on Mosa with the destroyed embassy, and this is exactly what will happen many times in the future until we find a way to solve this mystery.

People will die because we aren’t strong enough to protect them.

And yet, I don’t feel sorrow inside me this time. Just anger.

But, life once again had other plans for us.

The shock wave of the explosion tosses me to the other side of the room. The stone wall stops my movement but not before retaliating. My whole body aches as I fall to the ground clumsily.

Once again, I’m in the middle of a dust fog. The ruins falling on our heads lift a heavy cloud of brown dirt. I cough as it sticks in my throat, but I’m soon on my feet, limping towards the passage.

I follow Jay’s shouting, and I end up before a mass of fallen debris. The entrance to the passage has collapsed.

Shit is the first word that comes in my head. I’m stuck on this side. I don’t have time to do anything about it, though.

“Eladia duck,” I hear the same, twisted voice command me. I obey and hear the clunk of metal hitting the stone wall above my head. Someone tried to kill me.

My eyes catch a man with a plain, black mask on with two openings for the eyes and one for the nose. Everything else is covered.

As the dust settles, I see that there’s a whole group of people in the same attire, with laser guns and swords, a rather peculiar choice of weapons.

“Dale, where are you?” I mumble behind my teeth, and just like that the man appears right on my side.

“Damn you Eladia, I told you to leave. Now...now I have to find a way to save you,” he says, sounding rather disappointed he couldn’t give his life to save us.

“It wasn’t my fault! I was on my way but then this bomb happened,” I say, but he has no time to hear my rumble.

He passes his hands below my knees and tosses me above his shoulders. Why every man in my life feels the need to carry me when I’m in danger? I can run you know!

But soon, I understand. He’s insanely fast even when carrying me on his shoulders, fast enough to hit two more faceless men and get us out of the thick cloud of dust surrounding us in no time. Among the chaos of marching men, I still hear Jay’s shouts.

I can almost make out what he’s saying, but maybe it’s in my head.

The words travel through the air like empty promises made for people that actually love each other.

“I will find you! I promise!”

I hope I heard right. God, I hope I did because I make a promise to myself, a promise that I’ll make sure to keep no matter how much time it’ll take me.

“I’ll wait for you!” I shot back at him as we vanish deep into the forest, under the juggernaut debarking countless soldiers.

My heart beats fast as we leave behind us the pyramid-shaped temple. A small shuttle leaves from behind. They managed to escape. I’m able to breathe again, but that’s until Dale clumsily drops me to the ground.

“What the hell? What’s wrong with you?” I say to him.

That’s before I see the three weirdly looking men surrounding us.

Maybe I was too fast to think that we lost them. Or maybe, this is destiny. Either way, this adventure has just started...