Time flew by since the night my buddy Jay set me free. I’m not sure who I must thank for this outcome, but right now, I’m thanking Eladia every day. She seems to like it very much, so why stop? My other self wouldn’t.

Silver Jay hasn’t said a thing since he gave control to me. I don’t think I’ll give this body back to him anytime soon, but I’ll make sure he has all the fun of the world while in there. It wasn’t an easy thing getting out of that prison, especially when you’re being kept in there by a half-assed man like the mighty Prime Officer Jasih.

Life has been kind to me the last four days. Fucking Eladia the nights, talking with the rest of the crew the days, it’s certainly fun to not sleep all day. On the other hand, walking, talking, and fucking has started taking its toll on me. I’m not sure why I feel tired all the time since I make sure to have over eight hours of sleep every day. Maybe it’s my body trying to keep up with the new changes.

We’re in orbit around Yaerus now. This means that I’m almost over with that bullshit of a mission that I have to complete to free myself of this annoying cube. We’re inside the space shuttle, trying to sneak into the planet without the Allied powers realizing what’s going on. The place is cramped up with security vehicles and Class 5 military spaceships, and honestly, I don’t care. I just want to fart really bad since we left.

I smile at myself. It’s really invigorating thinking like that. It has been over a year since the last time I was able to walk free, and I’m going to relish every moment of it.

“We’re entering into the atmosphere. Get ready for some serious turbulence,” the android says.

We all get tied in our seats for extra safety. It certainly won’t be a stroll in the park, but after so many thousands of years and civilizations passing, someone could have come up with a better way to make this fucking thing smoother.

The shuttle starts shaking uncontrollably, and I have to grab my safety belt to stay firm in my position. We go through the first part of the entry to the atmosphere successfully, but now the hard part is starting.

Suddenly, a flash of light envelops the inside of the shuttle. The turbulence has stopped, but I still feel dizzy and disoriented. I thought that this shit wasn’t hard.

The light gets stronger with every passing second until I realize that it’s not coming from outside, but instead, from inside my pocket.

Be careful. You’re getting into a vision, Silver Jay suddenly says after many days of staying silent.

I close my eyes only for a moment. I feel light like I’m floating away from my body. When I open my eyes again and see that I’m actually flying above the dark figure of a planet, I realize that Jay was right. This is a vision.

“Hello? Is anybody here?” I yell, but my voice vanishes in the echo.

At first, it seems like I’m just floating in midair but soon I realize that I’m actually moving towards the dark planet, fast. There is no trace of light anywhere. Not even the stars are strong enough to shed any of their light on me. It’s just me and the mystery planet.

That’s before a small rectangle in the distance lights up before me. I’m heading straight for that part.

It doesn’t take me long to fly there, but when I do, there is something familiar about this place. It isn’t the usual vision with the girl jumping from the building, but it’s a familiar place nonetheless.

All the buildings around me seem hazy, and the only thing that makes sense is to follow the smoke coming from behind one of the gigantic structures.

“Hello? Anyone?” I yell loud enough that my throat actually hurts.

“Of all the species in the universe, you’re the one I have to instruct. An Esuh!”

“Oh boy,” I mutter when I see a tiny, blue creature staring at me from above. He makes sure to float above me so that he’s always at a higher place. That’s what you get when you’re really short, I guess.

“You had your opportunity, Esuh. You destroyed the species before you, as we did with you. How you alone survived is beyond me, but since you’re here, this means you’re the chosen one anointed by the Cube.”

“You have a big mouth for someone that died many years ago. Also, you let yourself get extinct by tree people? Come on, I thought Nusae were mighty warriors and great scientists and whatsoever. At your prime, you were strong enough to match us. How did you let them get the better of you?”

He suddenly becomes gloomy; I must have hit a soft spot or something. That’s before he starts talking.

“We got old, Esuh. Tired. Weak! We reigned over the galaxy for many, many years. The Phadh came out of nowhere and could outlive us. We were unprepared and managed to push them back many times, but then we got news that they have found another mysterious artifact, one like this cube.

“They came up with a new technology that we couldn’t match. Maybe it was us, not hiding the fact that mysterious weapons like this cube existed, or it was our weakness to foresee our doom. Either way, here we are my old adversary. I, your old enemy, instructing you on how to destroy the world once again.”

“Bullshit. The Esuh never got tired of fighting, even when everything was falling apart around us. We didn’t even know that a thing like this fucking cube existed before you, the Nusae, brought it to the surface and still no one could match our strength. You were just weak. Even so, I’m here now so let’s get this over and done with.”

The small, blue creature flies close to me and stretches one of its hands. It barely touches my skin, and I feel my hair prickle. When the Nusae pulls back its finger, I know everything that there is to know about the cube. How the conscience of the one unlocking it must remain imprisoned inside it to carry this message to the next anointed one by the Cube; how I’m doomed to die the moment I activate this cube.

How to find the place where the cube will start the process and how the universe is full of cubes like this. This one belongs to this galaxy and this galaxy only, but there are as many cubes out there as there are galaxies. And that frightens me.

It takes me a moment to sip everything in, but when it’s is over, I have no doubts about what I have to do.

“So, the doctor was right. Everything depends on my choice after all,” I say.

“Yes. The real mystery is what will you choose now that this war isn’t yours,” the creature says and starts wandering off.

“Wait! I have more questions. How do I stop it? There’s nothing in here on how to stop it. I have to choose either to kill the humans or the Phadh?” I shout, but he’s long gone now.

There’s something strange with this planet. I feel like I’ve been here before.

It’s only after I start wandering off myself that I understand. This planet was everything that remained in the memory of that Esuh. It was his home planet before it got destroyed, and the lighted place was the active part of his memory.

Everything fades away quickly. I open my eyes, and I’m back in the shuttle.

“Is everything alright?” Eladia says to me.

I nod and close my eyes again. I feel terribly tired