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Future's End

The appearance of the famous ship Wind of Change was a great relief on everyone on the ship, especially the bridge and, later, after general announcement, the whole crew. The captain and his first officer quickly walked towards the docking bay to see the guest crew. Atho was especially glad that he could see his friends again. He was especially close to Capisa, but he had great respect to Dairyu, too, as the one who saved him from a failed colony planet.

Dairyu and Capisa were quickly invited to the bridge and they discussed every possible way to return to their present. Seiryu and the rest of them were invited to the longue for debriefing.

After talking to Dairyu and their experience in the early 21st century, the Orient scratched his head, unable to understand how they could survive on a ship for two years while waiting for their help. Dairyu was especially intrigued when he was introduced to his ancestor, Jiro. There was an awkward stare between the two of them, each with their own thoughts. Jiro looked at Dairyu and wondered if one of his later descendants married a black-scaled Western, while Dairyu never thought that he was descended from a line of great academic lineage, while wondering when did the whole thing turned sour in his generation.

After being acquainted with each other, they set everything into motion. The Wind of Change opened a portal when they tried to connect the future and the past. With that in mind, they could do the reverse while the wormhole was still opened. However, there were also preparations and repairs due to the ship orbiting Luna for two years and shutting off some unnecessary component. While the ship had been known to withstand at least a hundred years, similar to how the Pineapple Express was presented, its fuel was not.

Luckily, unlike the Pineapple Express, they had no minor civilians that could cause moral problems later, so they were ready to return to the future after preparations of at least 4 hours, while keeping the wormhole stable for their return.

While waiting, Rose took her time and went down to Terra to look at how it was 400 years ago. She walked into the Central Park in the middle of a picnic time, and looked at the people playing with their kids. Even after years of development and changes, all picnic culture never changed. She wanted to look at how things were back in the early 21st century. She knew it would be vastly different with her own time period, 200 years from that point in time.

Just when she wanted to calm herself, she saw the apparition of the white wolf in front of her, sitting across her. She had since known that white wolf sightings were usually a sight of change, but for werewolves, it was more of a message from a kind vastly different from them.

"Have you enjoyed yourself in the vision of the past?" said the female voice from the wolf. Rose quickly stood up and walked towards the white wolf. It acted like a normal wolf, or a dog, on that matter, despite of not visible among the other park visitors.

"I wondered where you went. I've missed your presence already."

"Hmm, as much as I want to understand your sense of humor, I think I'll let it pass."

"Tell me, why are you here now? Is it because I returned to Terra?"

"I can be everywhere, anytime, if any Lycans on the vicinity still have faith on me."

"I can see some families eating meat loafs," said Rose staring at a family of Lycans. "Do you think I can meet one of my ancestors?"

"The Van Helsing family has been living in Vitania for centuries, but none carries their name out of the land."

"Oh, that's quite a shame," said Rose with a disappointed face. She should've known an old-money family like her would not go out from the homeland. "But don't I have any relatives?"

When the white wolf shook its head, Rose was disappointed, but the wolf then said, "It is never a coincidence that something drew you to the past alongside your friends. If that never happens, then all hope is lost, for you and everyone involved."

"How? Unless we return to the exact time we left, we won't be able to change that."

Then Rose quickly realized what the white wolf meant. Being a Lycan, she knew the expression of a feral wolf, and she knew that the white wolf's face was silently taking to her that 'it was impossible'. It was as if it was never their fate to end the crisis.

"Why can't we?" said Rose, seemingly able to read the wolf's mind.

"You can, but with consequences that will ruin the life of everyone on those ships. It is up to you to know what, and how to end it without causing more damage than it should."

Before Rose could ask of the consequences, the white wolf said, "Now go, young wolf. Your friends are waiting for you."

She turned around to see a St. Vincent crewmember walked towards her. As she turned to find the wolf, it was gone. The crewmember approached here and ask if she was ready, to which she silently, but absent-mindedly, nodded. Her mind was full of the consequences that the wolf hinted.

This state of mind persisted as Rose returned to the Wind of Change. Apparently, it was very noticeable that Dairyu approached her and said, "Something on your mind?"

This snapped Rose out of her deep thoughts, and she quickly said, "Oh, Dairyu! I, uh...I'm fine. I was just thinking, that's all."

"Well, if you say so, Rose."

Rose wanted to think that Dairyu was too preoccupied with other matters that he didn't care about what Rose had in mind. However, Dairyu noticed something was off with her. While Rose, being a scientist, seemed to know her way around things and their answers, Dairyu had never seen her so out of her mind that she needed to snap back to reality. But for then, the Orient felt that there was no obligation to try to talk to her.

Then, Dairyu talked with Jiro for a while, reminiscing his past and the way things work for the Black Orient. Dairyu tried to exclude many facts, including how he was responsible for a massacre, how he was exiled from Terra and did many things, good or bad, or even how he did not care about rules and morality when it came to his own desire. Luckily for him, his life was as colorful as his misdeeds, which fascinated Jiro and he did not bother to ask more. He wanted his ancestor to be an optimistic draconian, one who would eventually cause him to be born. He did not need him to change; his life was good as it was.

After saying his farewell to Jiro, Dairyu returned to man Wind of Change for its return trip to the future with St. Vincent. But, when he wanted to sit by the cockpit, he felt a shift of air pressure around where Seiryu was sitting. When he turned to his companion, he was breathing hard and laborious, as if he was exhausted or close to death.

Surprised that a ghost could experience such a thing, Dairyu moved towards Seiryu and was surprised when the younger Orient was so cold. His body temperature was below normal and he was shivering.

"What's wrong?" said Dairyu half panicking. "Seiryu, are you alright?"

"Do I look like okay to you," said Seiryu with heavy breath. "I don't know what is happening to me."

"When did this happen?"

"Ever since we cross the wormhole here," said Seiryu. "I think that trip is risky for me."

"We need to get you to..."

"Don't bother, he won't like it anyway," said Seiryu, seemingly knowing what Dairyu was referring to. "Besides, I am a ghost. I am already dead. I still have my energy to be solid, so nothing is wrong."

"But you can't pilot this ship with your condition! Ghost or not, you need to concentrate! Let Capisa take your place and sleep in my room. We'll take care of things here."

Though Seiryu was hesitating, he eventually relented and let Capisa take on the ship's controls. Seiryu was saying something that could not be heard by Dairyu, but Capisa nodded with serious face. Dairyu wanted to ask Capisa about it, but he said, "Focus on the work at hand, Ryu."

In no time at all, they found the wormhole the Wind of Change went through. Dairyu and Capisa knew the procedure in going through the wormhole to the past (with Pritchard's video direction), but going to the future was another matter. There was nothing they could use as a pinpoint to the future. Whatever Pritchard had in mind was now gone, and he did not understand why.

In the end, it was decided to risk going into the same place than thinking of alternative. They had no idea how jumping into and out of the fifth dimension would work, but they had to try. While the Dimensional Leak was not going to happen 400 years from their position, without their involvement, it would end in disaster.

As they went through the wormhole, the scenery shifted, but unlike when St. Vincent was trapped in a dimensional bubble to protect their form, this time, there was nothing in between. As soon as they leave the tunnel, they ended up in three-dimensional space once more. The stars were not evenly-shaped, and radio waves and navigational system was quickly discovered. They even saw a debris of an exhausted fuel tank on the far side.

Except that debris wasn't an exhausted fuel tank.

Horror quickly filled the expressions of the crew as they looked at what happened in front of them. It was like a ship graveyard, except that it was happening in space. They wanted to confirm the fact that those were just scrapped ships, but the body of a recent death floated towards them and bumped on Wind of Change's cockpit window. Lunera, sharp as always, quickly said, "Navigation! Where the hell are we?"

"Based on the probe nearby, we are currently in sector...Z59, sir," said the officer through the comm.

"We are off one sector," said Lunera to himself. "But Z59 has no scuttling center. There is no way..."

A static sound quickly filled Lunera's communication, and he quickly tried to hail that transmission. Nothing came out, but after a while, it became clear.

"Hello, is anyone there?! This Is Mitar Leks from lifeboat A of Therin! Can anyone hear my voice?"

"I can hear you, Mitar! What is going on?"

"Oh, thank the makers help has arrived. Can you fly to our coordinate? We have been drifting about with 20 percent of air left. One of our crew needs medical help."

"We will go there and pick you up. Keep your ship's system to a minimum."

Lunera ordered the helmsman to set course to the coordinate. Accidents like this was not uncommon for untrained pilots, especially in an asteroid field like sector Z59. However, there is no way a ship as big as the debris could disintegrate in space.

As they reached the coordinate, they found the ship drifting without propulsion. A shuttle crew was then put on task to take them back into the ship. Pritchard and Lunera walked to the bay to meet with the surviving crew, but when the lifeboat's door opened, they were given an unexpected fact.

A wolf, presumably Mitar Leks, looked at the bay as if he was dreaming. Yet, the surprise came after that when he noticed Pritchard standing in front of him. He approached Pritchard with a surprised look on his face and he quickly move his hands to touch him. While Pritchard was fine with this gesture, he was very uncomfortable if a Terran did it.

"It's you. This can't be," said Mitar. "Captain Pritchard Belford."

"At your service. And I assume you are Mitar Leks?"

"No, but it is not possible, unless..."

Mitar quickly pulled his blaster from its holster before other crewmembers tried to restrain him. Pritchard stood his ground, but was quickly left without word when he said, "You are supposed to be dead! Dead! Was there a fight here? Did you become one of them? Answer me!"

"I have no idea of what you're..."

"Bloody hell, this is going nowhere! You think you just died and returned but you are mistaken! You have been dead for two years!"

"Wait, what? Two years? Mitar, what the hell are you..."

"You need to see it for yourself, Belford! Don't let your battle instinct take you into war carnage! We have lost too many men because you are still stuck in a bloody war!"

Pritchard could not understand anything that had happened, but then Atho came to him and quickly touch his mind. After a while, the catatonic wolf went to sleep and Atho turned towards Pritchard and said, "He was the captain of Therin. She was attacked by some ghosts and exploded in this sector."

"So there was an attack on them from the ghosts! But what about us? How can he say about us being dead?"

"Uh...Pritchard...I think you should look at this."

Pritchard looked at Lunera's holographic article and gasped after reading the headline. Lunera also made a grim expression and nodded.

"That captain wasn't lying. We were declared dead when we lost contact. Both us and Wind of Change. It had been 2 years since then."

"So that's mean we failed to return to our proper time?"

"Either way, we are here, but here's more. After we unable to return for two years...the Praxis ray of Luna started its work by causing mass werewolf transformation. Humans are still safe, but these werewolves are not trained to hold their instinct. Then there is this matter with the ghosts.

"The ghosts become solid and started to re-enact a conflict that cause massive destruction. It's not limited to recent conflicts. Thousands of years of lost history returned and...decimated a whole sector. Pritchard...this is...we failed."

"No, I refuse to accept that! Set course to sector Z0! We need to..."

"Pritchard, we can't continue! Whatever we are trying to do now, it won't gonna change the fact that we failed! We need to return to Terra and assess the situation!"

"Then how are we supposed to end everything if we look back and try to fight what already happened?! I thought your race is the wisest one in all Terra!"

"I am not a Terran!"

"You are an Orient!"

"Not a water or a wind one if you ask me!"

As both argued on the best course of action (that turned to bickering and frustration), Atho stepped in by yelling 'Quiet' in both of their heads. The strain of it almost caused their heads to be blown off as they looked towards Atho.

"You two need to stop talking like two old men and get to a conclusion! Going to the exploding stars or not, the damage is done! Whatever it is, we cannot turn back time, or risk getting trapped into the past to undo everything that had happened. We lost two years of our time, but what can we do? Look at the bright side. At least the Federation, and this galaxy, is not yet destroyed."

"How can you be so calm in times like this?!"

"Because if we lose hope, then everyone will."

Lunera and Pritchard contemplated on that short, but powerful remark. Atho was right. The whole galaxy was thrown into turmoil, and the only way they could end it is to finish their mission. They were declared dead, but right now, in the very near future, they declared that it would not end.

On the Wind of Change, they were equally surprised by the revelation, but unlike in St. Vincent, Rose was ready for this and said, "Guys...this is what the white wolf had warned."

"So basically, there is no way we can go to the same moment in time and space, unless we have something that can access that," said Dairyu calmly. "I bet those guys on that big ship is panicking with Terra gone. Are you okay, Rose...about Amhyr and your kids?"

"Before we set off, I've told them to get out of Terra and find a colony to stay for a while. I know Amhyr will try his best to protect the kids. He is waiting for us...for me, to come home."

"And we will. But for now, let's continue, shall we?"

As they restarted their engine and went on without waiting for St. Vincent's turmoil and delay, Seiryu, who manned the cockpit once more, said, "Hey, Ryu, just so you know, the ghosts may have become solid, but they are not resurrected."

"I know that."

"Yes, everyone who thinks know that. You're either ignorant or an idiot if you do not think like that. I am talking about you."

"Me?"

"Capisa...we both had a long talk when we here, about your disappearance after the other's death. I just want to know if you are ready to accept the truth and move on."

Upon hearing that, Dairyu lost his optimistic face and silently turn towards the stars. He silently turned on the FTL drive while putting in a coordinate for the bigger ship to follow. His yellow eyes didn't want to look at Seiryu, in which the younger Orient sighed.

"I should've known. You can't, huh? Even after I've returned from the dead and told you to move on, you still can't defeat that old demon of yours."

"What do you even know about me? I've outlived more people I care about than you ever were," said Dairyu coldly. "I know I still have hope with Natsumi, but..."

"When the time comes, you must let go. All things come to an end, even second chances."

There was no reply, and the ship went into FTL and sped up to unknown place, unsure of the future they were now in.