After Tee had said goodbye to Jedoi II and many others, Commander walked him to the gates.
"I wish you luck, old friend. Wherever you are going, I hope the blessings of the gods follow you. Why can’t you stay?"
Tee sighed and pulled up his hood.
"I feel a calling to realms beyond my own. I must find out what it means. I don’t know if I will ever return. This may be the end."
"If you ever do it, I’ll keep a lantern out for you."
With tears in their eyes, they hugged as tightly as possible. After they let go, they nodded to each other, and Tee walked out of the gates. Commander watched him walk away, all the way to the horizon. The rain had finally broken by the time Commander saw Tee disappear over the horizon.
Commander turned away and walked back to his house. That bottle of mead was not going to finish itself.
…
Commander awoke in the morning. He felt a headache after drinking that much mead. Next time, I’ll just drink the wine instead, he mused to himself. It never left as bad as a hangover.
As Commander adjusted his eyes, he almost fell back in shock. He was not in his house in New Auburn. He was in a place he hadn’t been in hundreds of years.
The barracks of Crowmere He thought, How much mead did he drink?
The barracks around him contained at least 50 wooden bunks made out of spruce wood. The ceilings were high and equipped with electric fans. The smell of sweat and the battlefield filled the room. The cold stone floors chilled Commander as he put his feet down on them. ApparentlyCommander drank enough mead to make him hallucinate the past. Commander looked at his surroundings, looking for anything familiar from Auru, and pinched himself.
"There is no place like Auru, there is no place like Auru," he kept saying to himself over and over again.
But he was still here in a place destroyed hundreds of years ago by Lokan standards.
Standing up, Commander looked at his bunk for the bottle of mead. But it was not there.
His Aurulian armour was not there, nor were his weapons.
All he found was his old bow from when he was in the military.
And the piece of the knife that Tee had given him the night before. Commander felt a chill throughout his body. He knew the knife was capable of teleporting people through worlds, but was it possible it transported him through time? Right before Commander was about to head outside, the doors to the barracks opened.
And he saw faces he hadn’t seen in centuries. It was his parents and uncle. They were alive. And they looked happy and healthy. The last memory Commander had of his parents was of them covered in mud and looking malnourished. But here they looked healthier than they had ever been.
"Ah, Andy! You sleepyhead! It’s a quarter past seven! You slept in! Come give your parents a hug!" The commander’s uncle said
Commander tucked the piece of the shard into his back pocket and walked with hesitation towards his family. This had to be a trick, or something happened. Nobody had also called him Andy in years.
His uncle whispered in his ear.
"You were meant to help greet them! Stay on your toes next time!"
Placing a firm grip on his shoulders, both Commander’s parents hugged him tightly.
Commander's father spoke:
"Andy, we’re so glad to see you doing so well. And today is the big day!"
Commander's face changed to one of confusion.
"What big day? What are you talking about...? You... all... should be dead."
Everyone's faces' lit up with concern, but Commander’s uncle took control of the situation.
Ah, Andy must have been drinking too much last night. Will you excuse us for a moment?"
Commander’s parents looked at each other and then back at Andy:
"It’s alright, Frederick. Andy’s just experiencing nerves. After all, today is the big day of his promotion. Commodore 12 is a big deal. We’ll see outside in the garden."
As Commander’s parents disappeared, Commander’s uncle closed the door behind him.
"What the hell is going on with you? What do you mean by all of us being dead?"
Commander felt his world spinning around him. Nothing was right.
Sitting down on a bunk, Commander started to talk:
"I shouldn’t be here... All of you died. Crowmere shouldn’t exist anymore... you died... In the battle to protect me, How do you not know what I’m talking about?"
Commander stood up and shook his uncle's shoulders and kept talking:
"The pandemic... the living dead? When were we the last bastion of civilization against them? You blew up the tower to save me! MY PARENTS DIED WHEN ALL OF THIS STARTED!" Commander yelled
Commander's uncle’s face went stone cold and serious.
"The living dead? But... that was only reports coming in from the south and east... We managed to quarantine it on the eastern continent. My god, it can’t be possible."
"You also told me to go to a place called Loka; there’s a portal in the mountains."
Frederick’s face became even more stone-like.
"The portal…? Do you know how much trouble we’ve had with this thing? YOU WENT THROUGH IT?"
"Why? "Why is it a problem?"
"We’ve had refugees fleeing from there... We had to close it down. They all mentioned someone called Preksak. We had to blow it up because he sent one of his androids through."
Commander was still shocked. Preksak had returned. But he had also changed time and reality. Commander suddenly remembered that Jed had told him long ago about a theory about knives. Supposedly, they were not only able to cut space but also time.
Did Commander accidentally cut time in half instead? What did Preksak have to do with any of this? How did he return? Why was Commander remembering a past that didn’t happen?
Commander pulled out the piece of the knife he had and showed it to his uncle.
‘This may have answers. This is part of a knife—a teleportation device. Not only is it able to teleport people anywhere, but it can also cut through the fabric of space... and apparently the fabric of time."
Frederick reached out for the piece of metal and touched it. He suddenly collapsed to the floor, and Commander quickly jumped into action. Catching Frederick before he fell, Frederick looked at Commander with a look of shock upon his face.
"I-I-I remember now. The tower exploded. I'm dying. Oh god, all the deaths... Everyone was dead."
"This isn’t how things are supposed to be, uncle."
Frederick looked around the room and back at Commander.
"I-I-I know Andy. But we can’t go back to the way things were. Everyone is alive and well here. This is where you are from. Why would you ruin it all over again? Everything is perfect! Why would you give it up?"
Commander sighed.
"I don’t know, Uncle. But I intend to return to Loka to figure out what happened and why Preksak is back."
Commander took back the piece of the knife from his uncle and started getting up for the door.
"Wait, Andy. First of all, you’ll need to reactivate the portal. and think about your parents... Don’t you want to see them? They were dead."
The commander paused for a moment and thought. Despite the pressing threat Preksak faced, Commander was very tempted to just stay here. Life was perfect here. But thousands of people depended on him. He had to get back to Loka and stop Preksak somehow.
"At least stay for your promotion ceremony. Stay with your parents for a few moments. Please. You don’t know how much longer you have."
Commander gave in to the temptation. Today, he was no longer going to be Commander 12. He would be Commodore 12.
…
Commander sneaked out in the night. Tears were welling up in his eyes. Life here was perfect. Everything was right, and his parents and uncle and everyone else he had known was alive again. But there was a massive hole in Commander’s heart that he needed to fix.
Loka needed to be saved. Frederick had told Commander how to light the portal again. Commander approached the mouth of the cave where the portal was. The portal was in ruins, with pieces of obsidian on the ground and water dripping from the ceiling of the cave. Cobwebs dotted the ceiling of the cave.
Commander picked up the pieces of obsidian and placed them back into the portal. The blue light washed over him. It was time to find out what happened. How Preksak. Commander braced himself and stepped through the portal.
…
Commander found himself standing in another cave. The portal behind Commander was swirling, and the blue light lit up the cave in front of him. Ruined stone walls lined the room around Commander. Skeletons lay at the front of the portal, in front of Commander. Piles of armour and clothing were also laid around.
Commander hoped nobody had starved to death, waiting for a portal that would never light up again. Commander removed a piece of obsidian to ensure Grimdale would not get any unwanted visitors. The blue light disappeared.
Commander soon stepped outside and looked upon the world in front of him. The sky was as black as the End, and nothing but endless dried-up fields of grass went out to the horizon.
Commander’s heart sank at what he saw in front of him.
Where do I start? he thought.
Commander started to walk down the stone path in front of him. As he stepped down the worn-out steps, an arrow landed at the commander’s feet.
"What the-"
More arrows were fired at Commander, and he ran for shelter. Soon, the firing stopped and three lone figures approached Commander.
They all wore variations of leather and gold armour, and their faces were covered in masks. Their bows were still aimed at Commander.
Commander stepped out from the ledge, under which he was hidden.
"Who are you? What the hell happened here?"
"Nobody has come through that portal for 50 years," the middle figure said.
The middle figure took off his mask and stood in front of Commander, and Commander gasped.
It was Adzy. Commander hadn’t seen him in over a century. A long scar ran along the left side of his face, and his left eye was milky. Clearly, he had been blinded by some deadly weapon or person.
"Adzy?"
"How do you know my name?"
The other figures pulled down their hoods. It was SilentStormSix and Skuhoo. They looked just as rough as Adzy.
"Who are you and where the hell did you come from?" Adzy asked
...
"I wish you luck, old friend. Wherever you are going, I hope the blessings of the gods follow you. Why can’t you stay?"
Tee sighed and pulled up his hood.
"I feel a calling to realms beyond my own. I must find out what it means. I don’t know if I will ever return. This may be the end."
"If you ever do it, I’ll keep a lantern out for you."
With tears in their eyes, they hugged as tightly as possible. After they let go, they nodded to each other, and Tee walked out of the gates. Commander watched him walk away, all the way to the horizon. The rain had finally broken by the time Commander saw Tee disappear over the horizon.
Commander turned away and walked back to his house. That bottle of mead was not going to finish itself.
…
Commander awoke in the morning. He felt a headache after drinking that much mead. Next time, I’ll just drink the wine instead, he mused to himself. It never left as bad as a hangover.
As Commander adjusted his eyes, he almost fell back in shock. He was not in his house in New Auburn. He was in a place he hadn’t been in hundreds of years.
The barracks of Crowmere He thought, How much mead did he drink?
The barracks around him contained at least 50 wooden bunks made out of spruce wood. The ceilings were high and equipped with electric fans. The smell of sweat and the battlefield filled the room. The cold stone floors chilled Commander as he put his feet down on them. ApparentlyCommander drank enough mead to make him hallucinate the past. Commander looked at his surroundings, looking for anything familiar from Auru, and pinched himself.
"There is no place like Auru, there is no place like Auru," he kept saying to himself over and over again.
But he was still here in a place destroyed hundreds of years ago by Lokan standards.
Standing up, Commander looked at his bunk for the bottle of mead. But it was not there.
His Aurulian armour was not there, nor were his weapons.
All he found was his old bow from when he was in the military.
And the piece of the knife that Tee had given him the night before. Commander felt a chill throughout his body. He knew the knife was capable of teleporting people through worlds, but was it possible it transported him through time? Right before Commander was about to head outside, the doors to the barracks opened.
And he saw faces he hadn’t seen in centuries. It was his parents and uncle. They were alive. And they looked happy and healthy. The last memory Commander had of his parents was of them covered in mud and looking malnourished. But here they looked healthier than they had ever been.
"Ah, Andy! You sleepyhead! It’s a quarter past seven! You slept in! Come give your parents a hug!" The commander’s uncle said
Commander tucked the piece of the shard into his back pocket and walked with hesitation towards his family. This had to be a trick, or something happened. Nobody had also called him Andy in years.
His uncle whispered in his ear.
"You were meant to help greet them! Stay on your toes next time!"
Placing a firm grip on his shoulders, both Commander’s parents hugged him tightly.
Commander's father spoke:
"Andy, we’re so glad to see you doing so well. And today is the big day!"
Commander's face changed to one of confusion.
"What big day? What are you talking about...? You... all... should be dead."
Everyone's faces' lit up with concern, but Commander’s uncle took control of the situation.
Ah, Andy must have been drinking too much last night. Will you excuse us for a moment?"
Commander’s parents looked at each other and then back at Andy:
"It’s alright, Frederick. Andy’s just experiencing nerves. After all, today is the big day of his promotion. Commodore 12 is a big deal. We’ll see outside in the garden."
As Commander’s parents disappeared, Commander’s uncle closed the door behind him.
"What the hell is going on with you? What do you mean by all of us being dead?"
Commander felt his world spinning around him. Nothing was right.
Sitting down on a bunk, Commander started to talk:
"I shouldn’t be here... All of you died. Crowmere shouldn’t exist anymore... you died... In the battle to protect me, How do you not know what I’m talking about?"
Commander stood up and shook his uncle's shoulders and kept talking:
"The pandemic... the living dead? When were we the last bastion of civilization against them? You blew up the tower to save me! MY PARENTS DIED WHEN ALL OF THIS STARTED!" Commander yelled
Commander's uncle’s face went stone cold and serious.
"The living dead? But... that was only reports coming in from the south and east... We managed to quarantine it on the eastern continent. My god, it can’t be possible."
"You also told me to go to a place called Loka; there’s a portal in the mountains."
Frederick’s face became even more stone-like.
"The portal…? Do you know how much trouble we’ve had with this thing? YOU WENT THROUGH IT?"
"Why? "Why is it a problem?"
"We’ve had refugees fleeing from there... We had to close it down. They all mentioned someone called Preksak. We had to blow it up because he sent one of his androids through."
Commander was still shocked. Preksak had returned. But he had also changed time and reality. Commander suddenly remembered that Jed had told him long ago about a theory about knives. Supposedly, they were not only able to cut space but also time.
Did Commander accidentally cut time in half instead? What did Preksak have to do with any of this? How did he return? Why was Commander remembering a past that didn’t happen?
Commander pulled out the piece of the knife he had and showed it to his uncle.
‘This may have answers. This is part of a knife—a teleportation device. Not only is it able to teleport people anywhere, but it can also cut through the fabric of space... and apparently the fabric of time."
Frederick reached out for the piece of metal and touched it. He suddenly collapsed to the floor, and Commander quickly jumped into action. Catching Frederick before he fell, Frederick looked at Commander with a look of shock upon his face.
"I-I-I remember now. The tower exploded. I'm dying. Oh god, all the deaths... Everyone was dead."
"This isn’t how things are supposed to be, uncle."
Frederick looked around the room and back at Commander.
"I-I-I know Andy. But we can’t go back to the way things were. Everyone is alive and well here. This is where you are from. Why would you ruin it all over again? Everything is perfect! Why would you give it up?"
Commander sighed.
"I don’t know, Uncle. But I intend to return to Loka to figure out what happened and why Preksak is back."
Commander took back the piece of the knife from his uncle and started getting up for the door.
"Wait, Andy. First of all, you’ll need to reactivate the portal. and think about your parents... Don’t you want to see them? They were dead."
The commander paused for a moment and thought. Despite the pressing threat Preksak faced, Commander was very tempted to just stay here. Life was perfect here. But thousands of people depended on him. He had to get back to Loka and stop Preksak somehow.
"At least stay for your promotion ceremony. Stay with your parents for a few moments. Please. You don’t know how much longer you have."
Commander gave in to the temptation. Today, he was no longer going to be Commander 12. He would be Commodore 12.
…
Commander sneaked out in the night. Tears were welling up in his eyes. Life here was perfect. Everything was right, and his parents and uncle and everyone else he had known was alive again. But there was a massive hole in Commander’s heart that he needed to fix.
Loka needed to be saved. Frederick had told Commander how to light the portal again. Commander approached the mouth of the cave where the portal was. The portal was in ruins, with pieces of obsidian on the ground and water dripping from the ceiling of the cave. Cobwebs dotted the ceiling of the cave.
Commander picked up the pieces of obsidian and placed them back into the portal. The blue light washed over him. It was time to find out what happened. How Preksak. Commander braced himself and stepped through the portal.
…
Commander found himself standing in another cave. The portal behind Commander was swirling, and the blue light lit up the cave in front of him. Ruined stone walls lined the room around Commander. Skeletons lay at the front of the portal, in front of Commander. Piles of armour and clothing were also laid around.
Commander hoped nobody had starved to death, waiting for a portal that would never light up again. Commander removed a piece of obsidian to ensure Grimdale would not get any unwanted visitors. The blue light disappeared.
Commander soon stepped outside and looked upon the world in front of him. The sky was as black as the End, and nothing but endless dried-up fields of grass went out to the horizon.
Commander’s heart sank at what he saw in front of him.
Where do I start? he thought.
Commander started to walk down the stone path in front of him. As he stepped down the worn-out steps, an arrow landed at the commander’s feet.
"What the-"
More arrows were fired at Commander, and he ran for shelter. Soon, the firing stopped and three lone figures approached Commander.
They all wore variations of leather and gold armour, and their faces were covered in masks. Their bows were still aimed at Commander.
Commander stepped out from the ledge, under which he was hidden.
"Who are you? What the hell happened here?"
"Nobody has come through that portal for 50 years," the middle figure said.
The middle figure took off his mask and stood in front of Commander, and Commander gasped.
It was Adzy. Commander hadn’t seen him in over a century. A long scar ran along the left side of his face, and his left eye was milky. Clearly, he had been blinded by some deadly weapon or person.
"Adzy?"
"How do you know my name?"
The other figures pulled down their hoods. It was SilentStormSix and Skuhoo. They looked just as rough as Adzy.
"Who are you and where the hell did you come from?" Adzy asked
...
