Reincarnation Across the Ages

Chapter 3

The Age of Remnants

The storm ceases, but its passage leaves some traces.

Once plagued by a hurricane, the sky finally returns to its usual brightness. White clouds once again rest in a peaceful sky.

The face of the man responsible for all the chaos is brutally pressed into the ground, penetrating the muddy ground in a quick faint. Roccan defeats Tyler in a completely one-sided outcome.

"Hey, hey... is this serious?" Proxie can't believe her eyes.

"What? Don't you think he deserved it?"

"Sure, but... have you always been able to act like that?"

"Did I do anything different?"

"Of course you did! We've barely met and I've already seen you get bombed twice! It's completely different from someone competent!"

Roccan thinks about the criticism he's received, trying to understand the situation.

"Oh, my bad."

"Why are you apologizing?"

The old man approaches the spot where the fight ended. No longer threatened, he looks at the rubble of the destroyed cemetery.

No trace of the memorabilia is left; the sorcerer's magic had lost its importance. Trembling hands drop the powerful staff, which falls along with the old man's tears. All that the dead have left behind is reduced to the ashes of an ancient generation.

"So they finally left."

An absolute silence. Proxie and Roccan listen to the experienced man's painful words. 

"I knew this day would come. Magic can stretch the limits of human beings but never break them. There will always be a time to say goodbye. People aren't eternal, after all."

The old man's lips are unable to speak any longer. Not even anger can be expressed so clearly since he has hardly any teeth left to grind. His few remaining strands of hair fall out in a distressing itch.

"What are you talking about?"

A young man has had it with the silence. In a region where nature no longer emits sounds, a lively voice pierces the emptiness of the cemetery's ruins. Roccan picks up the fallen staff, lifting it toward its owner.

"You've been visiting them for years, haven't you? They seem pretty eternal to me."

"What are you getting at?"

"As long as you live, no one will be forgotten."

The old man removes his wizard's hat; the top of his head is like a vast desert devoid of vegetation.

"I don't have that much time left, kid."

"In that case, you can leave it to me. I won't forget you so easily."

The depressing liquid — dripping from hopeless eyes — dries with the light reflected by the blond hair. Empty hands grasp the staff once more, taking it from the young man's hands.

"Oh, and do you know what the best part is? Apparently, I can't die anymore. Lucky you, huh?"

A genuine smile feels like a hug between the two companions as they say goodbye and part peacefully. Ignoring the warm dialogue, Proxie then walks toward the collapsed enemy.

As she crouches down to carry Tyler's body, she interrupts the uninteresting conversation, "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Now you have an immortal idiot who will never forget your existence. That's not an exaggeration either; there's not much going on in his head, so nothing will get in the way of him remembering."

"That's right! It was a compliment, wasn't it?"

"Of course, you're amazing. Stop wasting time and help me get our new hostage onto my ship."

"Are you taking this bastard? I wouldn't stand another second near that guy."

"Oh, seriously, think about it. He could give us important information about STONE. If you hate him so much, pretend he doesn't exist."

"What do I have to do with it?"

"I want to keep him in my grasp to reduce the chances of an escape. When he wakes up, he might end up being very inconvenient."

"That's not what I'm talking about. Why are you including me on the ship?"

"Do you have any other place to go? Your strength might be welcome in the resistance. Why don't you check out our base?"

"I have no interest in such things. Fighting is more complicated than stealing."

"We're a group that seeks the power of relics. I've already told you about that part."

Pink dust appears underneath Proxie and Roccan, teleporting both of them directly to the entrance of the girl's ship. The shortcut surprises the inexperienced resident.

"I'd forgotten that. Let's go!"

"Warn me before you do something like that."

The sorcerer shouts at the pair, asking one last question, "Wait! What do I do with this other metal being?"

Tyler's ship remains next to the destroyed cemetery without a scratch. 

"We've already captured STONE ships of this same type. Your village can have it."

"Is this a joke?"

"Don't worry, it won't bite. Make good use of it!"

As they enter the vehicle, Roccan and the girl look at each other. The young man realizes the cheeky girl's ulterior motives, presenting the old man with an ambiguous treasure.

"You're just too lazy to sort it out, aren't you?"

"That's easier."

The two travel companions prepare for a powerful take-off. The whole room shakes with the turbines' power, ready to take the sixteen-year-old on a journey into the unknown. 

Roccan's body holds onto a sturdy seat without even waiting for the commands of his confused mind. A cold sweat coats his body in sheer fear of tomorrow, unable to imagine what lies ahead. 

The ship hurtles into the blue sky, which soon gives way to a landscape that is essentially the opposite of its peculiarities. The darkness of space overtakes the clarity of the white clouds, shattering the quiet and immersing the interstellar vehicle in the constant provocation of emptiness. 

The boy's eyes are lost in the vastness of space.

In front of a small piece of machinery, which allowed him to witness something far beyond his limits, the young man asks himself, "How many people have had to exist for me to be able to see this?"

"In the history of humankind? Probably a hundred whole planets."

Each star in front of him seems to guide him on a quest beyond the comprehension of any other living being.

"I have a unique opportunity, provided by trillions of dreamers..."

Amid the star cluster, two sparkles stand out in Roccan's mind, each telling its own cosmic story. The image of his dead relatives takes over the boy's innermost thoughts.

"That's why we must reach heights they have never witnessed before."

"Humanity's most sought-after artifacts. I think scientists from any era would be amazed by these things."

"Action relics are the world's greatest treasure. We'll give meaning to all this effort if we find them."

The moving vehicle stops briefly, giving the girl time to plan the route of the journey. Using the break to her advantage, she gets up from her seat and walks towards the sleeping hostage.

"You can be a lot less insufferable when you think."

The boy finds the sound of his companion's footsteps strange. A collision of metal attracts the attention of the most inattentive of subjects, who starts an incessant search for the source of the sound. Finally, finding the person responsible for the noise, one of the girl's feet does not seem to be made of flesh and blood.

"Ah! There's a robot on your leg!"

"It's a prosthesis. I lost the real one due to my incompetence."

"Jeez, that must have been painful."

"Painful? I wouldn't bother with something so trivial."

Proxie's metal parts creak, along with her teeth, in a hate-filled discomfort. As she crouches down in front of Tyler, who remains unconscious, she leans on her natural leg, avoiding any contact with the artificial limb.

"Here, the wind relic," she says as she picks up the object from the unconscious body.

"Hehe, we're getting good at this. Have you cast any spells yet?"

"I don't intend to use relics until I have to. Those things are dangerous. All I do is take them out of the hands of troublesome people."

"Right! In that case, you can leave them with me."

"You're troublesome. Clumsy and fickle."

"What about our agreement to collect these treasures?"

"It stands. We just won't use them unnecessarily."

A silent explosion erupts from the darkness of space. This phenomenon emits no sound but alerts everyone in its presence with a dazzling luminosity. The ship's control panel provides a good view of the distant event.

Pink particles prepare the blond-haired young man for a radiant fight. Swirling colors come together in a palette of pure excitement. 

"An attack of that level... it might be the power of a relic!"

"Wait!"

Proxie takes control of the ship, sitting back in her seat. The turbines prepare for a second adrenaline-filled round. By activating various switches, the space conductor's upper limbs allow the machinery to reach maximum speed while her metal leg refuses to hit the brake.

"This is not the moment to act! Save your skill for a more controlled moment!" She warns.

The ship's attack cuts through the emptiness of the solar system, crossing millions of kilometers in less than a second, just as a stingray crosses the ocean's vastness.

"Why are we running away like this, droid girl?"

"Am I a droid now?"

"What if they're carrying a relic?"

"These creatures aren't carrying anything! Besides, I'm not immortal like you!"

"Creatures? Aren't they human? Maybe they're from that stupid company."

A sudden appearance.

Outpacing the ship's speed, even though they seemed to be just hovering in space, two flying enemies block the vehicle's route.

Although the collision interrupts the machinery's movement, it doesn't suffer much physical damage thanks to a protective barrier covering its entire exterior. Despite a successful defense, the situation doesn't look promising for the resistance team.

Monsters whose bodies appear to have been generated after countless scientific experiments. A structure in which nothing even tries to make the slightest sense, like an aberration formed from an immeasurable mixture of living and non-living elements.

What was supposed to be recognizable as the creatures' skin was nothing more than a heap of hair, feathers, scales, and even metals. The pair were faced with an anomaly of nature.

"Remnants! They are beings that have been genetically modified with the power of relics."

"What a dreadful thing..."

"We've got to get out of here!"

A hole opens up in the chest of one of the enemies. The light emitted in the center of its structure comes from the core of a reactor. The transformation of the grotesque opponent anticipates a decisive offensive. The flash could make the roosters of the entire universe crow by mistake, confused by a false dawn.

"Can you keep those things away? It's time to use teleportation!"

"Are they really strong? Maybe I—"

A beam of light splits the ship in half.

The explosion breaks through the protective barrier, destroying everything in its path — the ship's wreckage scatters, bathing each crew member in indescribable despair. Not even the humans could know what was going through their heads at the moment.

Proxie and Tyler are still alive but no longer in control of the ship. 

"Kid!" The girl's shouts couldn't reach the boy, who was immersed in absolute solitude.

Not only does sound not propagate in the cosmic environment, but another extremely important differential hinders productive communication. Compared to the creature's transformation, the young man's appearance slightly resembles the Remnant's.

Roccan's chest is pierced by the attack.

His eyes close once again.