Timeless War

Chapter 9: The New World

Returning to the mysterious space in the Gate, I changed to android form again to see if there was any new information. This time, I noticed that I was able to see the name of the location I was in. This mysterious space was named the Historia Crux, which made sense. I returned to human form, and just then a fragment Rose appeared to be carrying flew to another dark corridor, revealing a new era. I decided to scan it later, for now we already had a place to go. 0 AC, the beginning of time. "Rose, have you been through here before?" Her answer, though not spoken, was obvious by her actions. She was looking all around her, taking in the scene, mesmerized. "This place is beautiful yet so... Melancholic." Her description surprised me. "Really? Never came off that way to me. I would describe it as mysterious, yet exciting. After all, this is the physical manifestation of the timeline. Even though we have no idea what awaits us, it's exciting to think of what we might see or where we might go." She stopped looking around and went near the portal to the beginning. "Well, we've got places to be. Let's go!"

0 AC, or as my scanner called it, The New World, was a place that was both beautiful, yet absolutely terrifying. When we came out of the Gate, the area was almost broken. We appeared to be in space, yet somehow we could breathe, standing on floating patches of land, mostly sand, but a few patches were fragments of a small town. "This place... I've seen it complete. Is this what the creation of the world looked like...?" Rose seemed to be recalling old memories, but she shook it off. "This has to be the beginning of things, going off the name my scanner gave me, and the year being 0 AC. I just wonder what we can do here." As we walked forward to the edge of the land we were on, a mysterious walkway appeared. Just to be safe, Rose touched it with one of her swords, and it didn't go through, so it was definitely solid ground. We walked the path to the next land, which was far smaller. Monsters surrounded us, leaving little room to fight or move. "Nova, please tell me you've got a plan. We can't do crap here." I changed to android form, pulled out a flying disc, and threw it in front of me, flicking my wrist to throw it. By some miracle it did exactly as I wanted it to, spinning all around us taking out every enemy before coming back to me. "That ACTUALLY worked. Holy crap." I reverted to human form. "Yeah, I didn't expect that to work either. But I guess that definitely means I'm in full control." We moved on to the town following the next pathway.

The town had this depressing, almost oppressive feel to it. A part of me wanted to leave here so badly, yet another part of me was incredibly curious about this place. "This place really must be the beginning of time... It's beautiful, in a strange sort of way." I looked over at Rose and noticed her on the verge of tears. "Rose...? Are you okay?" She nodded her head, but I could tell otherwise. "This place is so familiar to me, I feel like there were so many memories I made here, and then lost them... It feels like I lost everything..." She suppressed the tears and stayed strong. "Come on, there has to be something we need to find here. Let's just go." She kept going onward, but I couldn't help but feel there's more to her than she was letting on. I decided to not pester her about it and just follow her.

In the middle of the town, we ended up confronted with two androids. We immediately both transformed and readied ourselves. One of the enemy androids spoke. "Are you with Mandy? The so-called Saviors?" I was confused on both how they knew her name and what the Saviors were. "How do you know Mandy? Have you fought her?" The one that didn't speak the first time responded. "What do you mean, how do we know her? She leads the opposing faction, the ones who call themselves the Saviors." The other one spoke. "You must be a new android. I might go easy on you, if you'll just listen." Rose seemed curious. "Nova, maybe we should hear them out. We might learn something valuable." I decided to give them a chance and see what they had to say. "For several years now, Mandy has led the faction called the Saviors. The ones who claim to want to save the timeline. Every single android that has fought her has lost, nobody can measure up to her. We are the Saints. Yes, our plan is to change the timeline, but in a way that makes everyone happy. We want to create the perfect timeline, so that one day, all fighting and hate can cease. But for now, we'll fight as long as we have to to create that world. And when that timeline arises, our leader will ascend and become the god of time. So, tell me, where do you stand?" Mandy had never told me all that. Actually come to think, she really didn't tell me much. All she did was send me on my way. "We're with the Saviors through and through! You won't mess with the timeline!" And so the battle began, only for us to find out they were incredibly weak and it was easily won. However, what they left behind was of interest. Once we won, they dropped two fragments they were carrying. "Why did they even bother to talk to us...? They could've just gone on their way to the Gate without any problem." Rose still seemed downcast. "Saviors and Saints... Aren't we doing what they're doing anyway? Changing the timeline to prevent the Dying World from happening?" I thought about it for a second. "Well, we have a good reason for doing what we are. They seek to change the timeline and create a god of time, and ultimately, that causes the Dying World to happen. What we're trying to do is prevent that from ever happening and hopefully erase the existence of the Dying World, to make sure that future never happens." She still seemed uncertain. "Let's just go to the Gate, see where these Fragments take us." Following her words, we returned to the Gate and left The New World, hoping to find more clues on our path.