Every eye in the square was focused on Tamiyo. Violet and Veolo shifted slightly where they stood but didn’t lower their weapons. The man she had plucked from the stars was down on one knee, staring up at her with a look of adrenaline fueled confusion. He wore nothing but a tattered pair of trousers much too small for his build, and he was covered in a layer of dirt and debris, but no injuries.

  His silvery-white hair was wild and uneven, streaked with soot and matted in places with sweat. At the roots, a darker shade lingered, ash-brown or black perhaps, but the rest had been bleached into something ethereal, like moonlight refracted through smoke. It gave him an almost spectral quality, like a relic pulled from some ancient battlefield long forgotten by time.

  He looked huge even while kneeling, shoulders broad enough to block the light, veins raised beneath his skin as if his blood was trying to escape. But his face… his face was soft. Lost. Tamiyo saw no menace there. Only confusion, exhaustion, and something else. Something fragile.

  He finally spoke. “I’m Soren.” His voice was deep and resonant, like stone shifting underwater. It felt oddly gentle for someone his size. It carried warmth but also weight, the only word Tamiyo could think to assign to it—gravity.

  “Last time I saw you…” Tamiyo said slowly, choosing her words carefully. “You were napping under my kitchen table. Looks like you’ve stirred up a bunch of trouble since then.”

  A range of emotions washed over his face, like his brain was troubleshooting which one to plug into his response. His eyes flicked around the crumbling town square as confusion, humor, concern, stress, worry, and a hundred other feelings blinked on and off his face. Finally a smile almost cracked through and he made a sound that was almost a laugh.

  Tamiyo turned and looked up at Aurania. “Ma’am… a lot has been broken around here recently. Maybe we can start to put a few things back together.”

  She was so nervous she felt like she should be shaking. Standing up to Aurania felt reckless, near suicidal. But after more than six years without fulfilling her core directive to provide care, her CIPHER protocols were screaming inside her. Everything else was being overridden.

  The towering lacravida warrior wore an expression of rage and disdain, but Tamiyo knew it wasn’t primarily focused on her. She had just put herself in the middle of who it was directed at. Aurania snarled a bit and hot air huffed out her nostrils like a bull. “You’ve got some nerve girl.”

  “It’s been a nervous morning,” Tamiyo stared back, refusing to flinch.

  Aurania didn’t answer at first. Her eyes stayed locked on Tamiyo, studying her the way a wolf might study another predator. Then, with a grunt low in her throat, she shifted her stance. The greataxe dipped, just barely, but it was enough.

  Looking away from Tamiyo, she barked, “Violet, Veolo. Take them straight to Samara. I will join you after I check in around the village.”

  The two women lowered their rifles and Violet firmly said, “Let’s go.”

  Tamiyo and Raine had conversed pleasantly with Violet a couple nights ago, but under direct orders from her leader, she was much less friendly. Not mean or cruel, just strict and to the point. The tension in the town square eased off, as if everyone collectively relaxed their shoulders. Tamiyo looked down to Soren and offered an arm to help him up.

  He looked at her with a look of only marginally lessened confusion. “What just happened?”

  Tamiyo blinked twice at him. He was using a very old dialect. She tweaked her responses for him and, using words he should have been able to understand, said, “You can’t understand any of them, huh? We’re going to see the town Chieftess.”

  He hesitated, then reached up to take her hand.

  Tamiyo braced to help lift his weight, just not enough. As he tugged on her arm, she yelped, “Sonofabitch!” and tumbled down next to him.

  Aurania had already started to walk away, but she paused, looked back over her shoulder, then continued on, shaking her head.

  Soren stood easily on his own, then helped Tamiyo back to her feet like she was made of feathers.

  “Sorry Violet,” Tamiyo said innocently. “We can go now.”

  They set off toward Silvara’s Hall, walking in silence at first as their footsteps crunched over loose gravel and fractured stone. As they moved through the village, more damage revealed itself from the recent quake. Tilted walls, splintered beams, cracked foundations that had once held firm for generations. Tamiyo caught sight of a home where the entire second floor had slouched sideways, the roof now resting at an odd angle against the neighboring structure. Laundry still hung from a collapsed balcony rail, fluttering as if unaware the rest of the building had caved.

  Veolo walked in front and led the way while Violet walked behind them. Both had their rifles, but neither had any of their armor on, wearing only flowy, revealing robes like most lacravida wore. They likely had sprung into action as their days were just beginning. Beside her, Soren kept his eyes to the ground, or looked around as they walked. Anytime they passed another villager, particularly the lacravida, his eyes darted elsewhere.

  “Are you ok?” Tamiyo asked innocently.

  “Uh… yeah…” he said. He sounded unsure how to answer.

  “After we talk with the Chieftess we can see about maybe getting you cleaned up and more comfortable. They’ve been letting me stay in a guest house while we waited for you to wake up, maybe we can see about getting you a shower and some food.”

  As they walked, the remnants of a brick wall crumbled into a small pile of rubble.

  “If the house is still standing,” Tamiyo added.

  “Thank you,” Soren said, still shaky but polite. “You’re very kind.” He seemed to be studying her for a moment, then he said, “You’re not… military? Like the rest of them around here?”

  “Nope,” Tamiyo said. “Personal Care CIPHER. I was built to help people.”

  Soren was quiet for a moment. It seemed like he wanted to ask something, but then decided against it. “Thank you,” he finally said. “For earlier.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  They walked a little further, the damaged village slowly giving way to sturdier structures as they neared the central rise. Silvara’s Hall stood ahead, grand and ornate, its arched silhouette unmistakable even from a distance. Though cracks ran through the outer stairway and a few of the golden columns had chipped, the building itself still held firm, resilient against the quake.

  A friendly woman’s voice called out, “Tamiyo!” and she realized Raine and Inelius were approaching from their right. After three days of no developments, Tamiyo had told Raine to go home until they heard something new. Looks like she hadn’t even waited twelve hours before deciding to come back.

  Aurania wasn’t far behind them, taking long strides as she returned from checking on the village. Tamiyo noted her mood hadn’t improved much.

  “Is everyone alright over here?” Inelius asked as they approached. Both he and Raine were staring wide-eyed at Soren.

  “I think so,” Tamiyo said. “I haven’t heard of anyone being too badly injured yet, but it’s too early to say for sure.”

  Inelius didn’t respond right away. “I’m sorry,” he said at last, eyes still on Soren. “I’m assuming this is your missing space man. You didn’t mention how big he is.”

  Tamiyo let out a short, awkward chuckle.

  “Or that he’s fucking jacked,” Raine added.

  “Oops,” Tamiyo responded with an innocent shrug. “He also can’t understand you, we’ll have to get him a translator for this meeting.”

  “Ok no worries,” Inelius said, and he offered a simple wave as a greeting to Soren.

  Soren looked like he wasn’t sure what to make of Inelius, but he waved back.

  “Is everyone ok in Owangara?” Tamiyo asked.

  “Yeah, they should be,” Inelius said. “We were on our way here when it started, but it felt concentrated around Berilinsk. What’s more concerning is that it even happened, I’ve never experienced one and I’ve lived around here my entire life.”

  Aurania caught up to them and spat, “Inside. Now.” She didn’t wait for acknowledgement, just moved past them and up the cracked steps, three at a time.

  Veolo immediately shifted course to follow. Violet gave Tamiyo a small nod and gestured for them to head up the steps.

  Tamiyo glanced at Soren, who had tensed slightly at the sudden shift in tone. She tried to reassure him. “She’s… intense. But she won’t hurt you.”

  He looked at her like she was full of shit. “The first conversation I had with her, she hit me in the face with an axe.”

  Inside Silvara’s Hall, the air was cooler, laced with the scent of stone dust. The main chamber opened before them, the spiraling columns that lined the walls showing cracks but holding firm. Intricate carvings ran up their sides, depicting the long history of Berilinsk’s founding: ancient Lacravida clans, wind-carved plateaus, starships etched into stone like mythology.

  Soren slowed as he took it all in.

  At the far end of the chamber, Chieftess Samara stood beside a half-toppled column, issuing quiet orders to a pair of aides. Even half-shadowed beneath the fractured arch of the chamber’s rear alcove, she radiated presence. Her eyes flicked up the moment they entered.

  Tamiyo bowed. Not deeply, but enough to signal respect without groveling.

  Samara looked very similar to the last time they met, her golden hair still braided into a crown with a cascade of curls down her back. She had on similar robes, deep gold fabric flowing over her fertile curves, but this set had ornate white embroidery instead of black.

  Following Tamiyo’s lead, Soren gave a shallow nod, his gaze landing on Samara only briefly before darting away. Tamiyo noted how nervous he looked.

  Aurania approached her sister and discussed something in hushed tones. Samara’s eyes flicked towards Soren and Tamiyo briefly before drifting to the floor in thought.

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  A new set of footsteps echoed through the hall, light and purposeful. Tamiyo recognized Elias from the day before.

  He approached Samara directly, his voice calm and professional. “Chieftess, we’ve set up a triage center in Maela’s old dyehouse. It's mostly intact—I’ve got four volunteers helping with intake, and we’re converting the back room for more serious injuries. About two dozen reports of injuries so far but only one is slightly serious.”

  Samara nodded her head toward him, signaling approval without interrupting Aurania’s debrief.

  Elias turned and called out, “Hey, big guy!” The words likely meant nothing to Soren, but the tone was warm enough to catch his attention. Elias lifted a tablet from under his arm and casually flung it through the air like a frisbee.

  Soren flinched, but his reflexes took over and his arm shot out, catching it one-handed.

  Tamiyo leaned over to look at it. “What’s that?”

  Soren glanced down. Words were scrolling across it. “It’s a translator, I think. He was letting me use it before the... before everything.”

  Raine gave Soren a strange look as he spoke.

  Elias grinned, a toothpick tucked into the corner of his mouth. “I’ve got a feeling we’d be in much worse shape if it wasn’t for Soren here.”

  Aurania had just finished speaking with Samara, and she turned toward Elias, her expression hardening.

  “Really?” Tamiyo asked innocently.

  “Yep,” Elias continued. “He felt it coming. Tried to warn us too, then ran off before it hit. Didn’t even let Amalia shooting him slow him down.”

  All eyes shifted to Soren. He was dirty, barefoot, and barely dressed, but not a scratch showed on him. He’d been watching Elias without issue, almost with a fondness, Tamiyo realized. Elias was a human, probably one of the only ones Soren had seen since waking up.

  But now, with the others staring, his gaze dropped to the floor and he withdrew a little.

  Samara’s eyes had locked on Soren the moment he opened his mouth. She finally spoke, “You’re called Soren?”

  The translator relayed her words and then he nodded once. “Yes ma’am.”

  As Samara Enderchild, Chieftess of Berilinsk, began to formally introduce herself, Raine leaned in from behind Tamiyo and whispered, “Hey, why does he talk like that? Half the words he uses are old as shit.”

  Tamiyo gave a small shrug and whispered back, “Not sure, still figuring that out,” then she waved Raine away.

  Samara finished her introduction, voice calm but commanding, “...I believe you’re already familiar with my little sister Aurania.”

  Soren stared intensely at the translator as the words appeared.

  “It seems some small manner of thanks are in order for trying to warn our people,” Samara continued. “Where were you trying to go after you broke out? Before my sister apprehended you—were you trying to escape?”

  “No,” he hesitated. “...I don’t know. I—trying to get Elias to warn people was just taking too long, I ran out to try and get people to safety. I could feel the earthquake about to get worse.”

  Some murmurs flitted around the room as people exchanged glances. Samara wore a skeptical look on her face.

  “Ma’am?” a familiar voice spoke up from behind Tamiyo.

  “Something to add, Violet?” Samara said.

  “Yes,” Violet answered. “Amalia radioed that he had woken up and then again that he broke out. While trying to intercept him, I witnessed him rescue little Liora. Picked her right up and shielded her from her house coming down on top of her. I have no doubt Liora would be dead if he hadn’t stepped in.”

  This time another wave of murmurs circulated the room, but with a much more positive vibe. Samara’s demeanor towards Soren was beginning to lighten a little.

  “Why didn’t you apprehend him after you saw this?” Aurania demanded.

  “I tried, I chased after him,” Violet said. Then she glanced at Soren and let out a defeated sigh, “he’s just really fast.”

  Aurania looked just as grumpy as ever, and Tamiyo wasn’t the only one who noticed.

  Samara let out a short light-hearted laugh in her deep maternal tone, then said, “My dear sister seems keen on distrusting you, Soren.”

  He briefly glanced at the sisters but couldn’t seem to keep looking at them. He dropped his gaze back down to the tablet and stayed quiet.

  “The mystery around you keeps deepening,” Samara said. She gestured to a long table on the other side of the room. “Come, let’s see if we can solve this puzzle.” She turned and led the way across the chamber, the click of her hooves echoing against the stone floor.

  The table sat near a curved wall where a massive mural dominated the space. A sweeping fresco rendered in ancient pigments and gilded in soft metallic dust, the image was unmistakably lacravida in style: bold, sweeping lines, stylized anatomy, and celestial flourishes radiating outward like vines of divinity. The scene appeared to depict an ancient origin myth. Tamiyo had seen it the day before, but now she noticed Soren was staring hard at it as they walked over.

  The long table itself was flanked by a dozen high-backed chairs, each carved from dark, polished wood and built to lacravida scale—wide, heavy, and deeply set. Their proportions were generous, clearly designed with sturdiness in mind rather than comfort, and they stood like sentinels beneath the mural’s quiet gaze.

  Samara sat down at the head of the table and Aurania sat immediately to her left. Inelius took a seat near Aurania but left one chair open between them. Tamiyo motioned for Soren to sit next to Inelius and then she settled into the chair on his other side. Raine took the seat beside her without needing to be asked.

  The seat was far too large for her frame. Her feet didn’t quite touch the ground and the armrests were too far apart for her elbows to rest naturally, but she adjusted without comment, folding her hands neatly in her lap.

  Soren lowered himself into his chair with more care. The wood creaked slightly under his weight, but the chair's proportions seemed to fit him much better than they did Tamiyo. He set the translator tablet on the table and kept it angled at himself with one hand.

  Elias took a spot two chairs to Samara's right, remaining relaxed but attentive. He seemed to be cooly studying their large, mysterious guest.

  “Soren,” Samara began. “All manner of strangeness seems to have followed you and Tamiyo to Nox. While our initial reaction to you has been guarded, I'm quickly getting the feeling that you're just as confused as the rest of us.”

  After a moment to read her translation, Soren gave a small nervous nod.

  “Let's start with what you do know,” Samara said. “Tell us anything you think might help, what do you remember?”

  Soren stared down at the translator for a long second, then slowly looked up. His brow was furrowed, not in defiance, but from straining to remember.

  “I remember... pressure,” he said finally. “More than anything, pressure. There was light. White, searing, but it felt distant, like I was looking at it through a thousand feet of water. I was restrained. Not like chains, but... held. Held by something that didn’t want to let go.”

  He shifted in his chair, the muscles in his jaw flexing. “I couldn’t breathe. Not because of my lungs, but because there wasn’t anything to breathe. It was like the world was folding around me. And I could feel myself slipping. Like I was being… stretched thin across something. Pulled.”

  His eyes flicked toward the mural on the wall, just for a heartbeat. “I remember… shapes, moving around me. I think I was in a war before. I think I fought my friend, but I can't remember what they look like.”

  He tapped his fingers once against the translator. “And then everything went silent. Just… gone. No air, no noise. Just a ringing. Like the universe had stopped. Next thing I knew, I was on the floor. In Tamiyo’s kitchen. I don’t know how I got from one place to the other.”

  They were all sitting and taking it in, absorbing the fragments like puzzle pieces that refused to fit.

  “That’s quite a story,” Elias said, leaning forward slightly. His tone was curious, but gentle. “Any other details?”

  Soren shook his head, thinking. Then he winced like he remembered something painful. “A burning sensation,” he said quietly. “Like a comet maybe? Like I was on fire from the inside out.” He searched their faces. “Does that mean anything to anyone?”

  For a moment, no one answered.

  Soren looked around the room, like he truly wanted to be helpful. But when his eyes reached the lacravida women, something in him pulled back. His shoulders tensed, and his eyes dropped again to the tablet, like he’d overstepped without realizing it.

  Aurania had earnestly listened to what he had to say, but hadn’t eased her anger much. She looked at her sister, and for a moment it looked like they were communicating to each other with just their eyes.

  Samara picked up a bit of the animosity from her sister and asked Soren, “What exactly happened at the jungle camp? Why did you kill our people?”

  The question landed heavier than the others, and Soren didn’t answer right away. Tamiyo could feel the stress and anxiety radiating off of him. He didn’t lift his head.

  Aurania broke in with venom in her voice, “Answer the question.”

  If looks could kill, hers would have.

  Samara held up a hand to quiet her sister.

  For a moment, Soren looked like he might not respond at all. Then, finally, he exhaled a slow, controlled breath through his nose. When he spoke, his voice was softer than before, almost hollow. “I didn’t mean to.”

  His eyes stayed on the screen in front of him. “I woke up alone. I had no idea where I was or how I got there. I don’t even recognize my own body.” He swallowed hard. “I didn’t go looking for a fight. I was trying to find someone, anyone, to figure out what the hell was going on.”

  His eyes darted around, like he was begging for someone to believe him. “When I came up to the camp, I didn’t know if they were hostile or not, I couldn’t understand what they were saying. I was about to announce my presence when one of them saw me, before I saw him. He yelled something at me, I put my hands up, but maybe I moved too fast, because… because…”

  His voice cracked slightly, and he paused to pull it back under control. “I swear, I only fought back in self-defense, I didn’t know how strong I was. I still don’t. I just remember… fighting on instinct, and being horrified with every life I took.” He stopped, his shoulders hitching. “It was over so quick.”

  Tamiyo put a hand on his shoulder to help steady him. She felt sorry for him, he looked like he was about to fall apart.

  Raine shifted slightly in her seat, but stayed quiet.

  Aurania, on the other hand, was an avatar of rage—barely contained by her own self-discipline. She stood from her chair and began pacing behind her sister, looking like she didn’t know what to do next.

  Samara turned to her, “Aura, are you alright?”

  Aurania couldn’t seem to form a coherent thought. “You… I… he—” she snarled a bit, and Tamiyo realized there were tears in her eyes.

  “You mother fucker,” was all she could finally muster in a tone like ice.

  “Aura, control yourself,” Samara said. It wasn’t the Chieftess speaking, it was the concerned sister. “I understand you’re upset, but this isn’t like you. Do you think he’s lying to us?” Samara cast a hard look at Soren, like maybe she should be more skeptical of him.

  “No, Samara!” Aurania lashed out. “I don’t think he’s fucking lying!” She grabbed the back of her chair and flung it away from the table, then turned away, trying to rein herself in.

  Her shoulders shook with a heavy sob and the words kept coming. “If he were lying, at least it would make sense. At least I could hate him for it. But he’s not. I fucking know he’s not!”

  Her voice broke. “They died for nothing. They were scared, they made a mistake, and now they’re never coming back. And it wasn’t even his fault,” she turned, glaring at Soren as she spat the words, then looked away again. “It was just—just chaos. Just...” she trailed off, silently sobbing and trying to compose herself.

  The room was tense. No one was sure if they should speak.

  And to Tamiyo’s surprise—Soren did. “How do you know I’m not lying?” For the first time, he managed to keep looking at her.

  She rounded on him like she was ready to fly across the room and tear his throat out, but she restrained herself and stood her ground. “Because I saw it.”

  The room exchanged glances with one another.

  Elias spoke up, “Aura, is that what happened the other night?”

  Samara looked at him with a mix of confusion and temper. “Explain.”

  “Aura came to inspect the prisoner—Soren, I mean.” Elias said. “She came to check on him the other night and shortly after she arrived, she became very light headed and dizzy. She almost passed out. She had been looking at him very intently and started walking towards him right before it happened, almost like she was in a trance.”

  Samara looked to her sister and then back at Elias. “Why didn’t you inform me of this?”

  “Because I told him not to say anything,” Aurania said. It sounded like she had regained some of her composure. “I wasn’t sure what had happened, wasn’t sure what I saw. If I was imagining it, if I was exhausted from grief. So when I came out of it I told him to stay quiet, and I went home to rest.”

  “And now you know because…?” Samara asked.

  Aurania took a deep breath and exhaled, letting her shoulders drop a bit. “Everything I saw, it was like a vision. No—like I was seeing a memory that wasn’t mine. And I witnessed everything he just described as if I’d seen it with my own eyes.”

  The weight of her words hung thick in the air.

  “Fascinating,” Elias finally said in an analytical tone. “Are you suggesting that your minds linked somehow? That he showed you his memories?”

  “I don’t know,” Aurania answered. She watched him with a look bordering on disgust. “Whatever it was, don’t do it again… stay the fuck out of my head.” She still sounded hurt and angry, but the weight had gone out of her rage.