My head hurts. Parts of my body ached. My stomach didn't feel good. I felt something wanting to leave, but what?

I woke up and quickly moved over to throw up on the grass.

Wait, grass?

After a few seconds later of breathing heavily, I looked around. I was not in the ruins anymore, grass and trees were all around, no signs of any old structures.

I moved around a bit but was not able to get my legs away from each other, neither my arms. I looked towards my hands and feet, they were all tied up by rope.

I sat up against a tree and sighed. Why does this have to happen to me? Why did I follow Vincent back at the station?

If Vincent tied me up, then where is he? I don't see him around, is this my chance to escape?

Looking back at my legs and thought, nope I can't move, how am I going to get rid of the rope? I struggled against the rope, but it was tied up real good. I looked over towards my shield. The power from it was gone, no light source was emitting, and the screen was turned off.

If it won't turn on then Vincent will be able to easily kill me. that's not good.

I heard a rustle beyond some bushes, and there he was, the man himself.

„Hey, you're finally awake.“

Oh great, déjà vu.

„I know what you're going to ask, why are we outside?“ Vincent said.

„Yup, that was exactly what I was going to ask you.“

„That shield of yours brought us here," he said plainly.

„Huh.“

„Yeah, huh.“

We stared at each other for a few seconds.

Can this shield really do something like that? Teleportation? Feeling what this shield could do, he might actually be telling the truth.

„So. . . what are you gonna do?“ I asked.

„Does your shield work? I checked it while you were unconscious, it looked like it was turned off."

I didn't respond. The shield was off, and it was the only protection I had. It's kinda useless without its power.

„So it is?“

I stared down at the shield, looking for an on-off switch, but found nothing.

Vincent walked towards me and picked me up, and then held me over his shoulders.

„Hey what are you doing?“ I asked.

„Going to find the ship of course.“

So he didn't know where he was? And he didn't want me to be on my own because I was awake. Now he was carrying me over his shoulder, and walking in a random direction.

How light was I? He picked me up like it was nothing.

I didn't see his blaster, did he lose it? I remember that I kicked it and it went flying out of the bubble. If he has no weapon I might have a chance, but I am still bound by the ropes.

Vincent, I hate you.

----------

A few minutes have passed, and I was still being carried by Vincent in the forest. He must be getting tired already.

„Can you allow me to walk.“

„No,“ he said, unsurprisingly.

„You know I will not run away. Because I don't even know where your ship is.“

„I'm not gonna take unnecessary risks, Ethan.“

„Come on man, we can take fewer rests while moving forward.“

„Like I said before I am not gonna. . .“ Then he abruptly stopped talking and walking.

„Did you finally agree with me?“

Vincent threw me off him and quickly got down on his knees.

„Ouch, couldn't you put me down more gently?“

„Shh! Stop talking!“ He said quietly and irritatedly.

What is going on? I glanced around and listened.

I heard the trees sway by the wind, the birds singing, and. . . screaming in the distance. And it was getting closer.

Vincent stood up and took me near some bushes.

„Don't make a sound.“

I nodded.

We laid low until we saw where the screams were coming from.

Seconds later we saw who was making all the sound. It was a man, a human, he looked older than us. He had his right arm on his left, but his left was missing, and blood was coming from him.

The hell? There should be no humans on this planet. When did this guy arrive here? And what happened to him?

Then after the man was something bigger. It looked like an overgrown lizard, it has leather and metal plating for armor. It also had an ax on him which he threw at the man, and hit him on the back.

The man fell to the ground, pleading for mercy to the lizardman.

„Please! Don't kill me!“ The man yelled out with tears coming from his eyes.

The lizard hissed at him.

„Can't you find anything else to say you human,“ the lizard said with a growl, readying a second ax that he had and aimed for his neck.

Vincent didn't do anything, he just knelt there on the ground. I think I know why. he didn't have his blaster. There is no way we could defeat something that big that had good armor, with only our fists.

If I was not tied up, I would probably do the same.

The lizardman struck his ax, and I looked away.

I heard his last cry, and then I felt my stomach rising.

Not now! Not now! Don't vomit! Don't vomit!

Thankfully I was able to stop myself.

The lizardman grunted and took the man's body and head, and started going back from wherever he came from. I saw that his back had skulls and bones, human skulls.

The lizardman was gone, and I noticed that I was holding my breath for some time. I breathed out and quickly breathed in again.

„What the hell was that?!?“

„I don't know,“ Vincent answered.

This planet was supposed to have no sentient beings around. So who were they?

Vincent turned towards me and took out a knife.

„Where did you get a knife? And what are you going to do with it?!"

„Relax, I'm not gonna kill you.“

He started getting rid of the ropes.

„I had this knife the entire time since coming to this planet.“

„Then why didn't you use it against me back at the ruins?“

„Because I forgot about it.“

„. . . .“

How the hell could he forget about that?!?

„Why are you releasing me?“

He looked at me like I was an idiot.

„What do you think? There are lizardmen around, and they don't look friendly. We need to work together.“

Oh, shut up. Work together? Is this guy serious? He tricked me and tried to kill me, why do I want to team up with him?

On second thought I think I agree, even though I hated it. We would not survive against those things if we fight against each other. But I still did not trust him, and would never again trust him.

„I think we should follow that lizard,“ Vincent said.

„Wh. .What!?“

Is he crazy all of a sudden?

„You saw how that guy looked, right?“

„Yeah?“

„His clothes looked old fashioned. Maybe he was a villager, so there might be a village nearby.“

A village? Does Vincent know what he is saying?

„You do know we are on a planet that should no longer have sentient beings on.“

„I know, there is something strange going on. Our best bet is to follow that lizard, and hopefully, find some answers.“

Where did this shield bring us? Are we still on the planet? Is that star above us even Tessera?

My body still ached after I woke up, so it kinda hurts when I moved, I just needed to deal with it. We then started moving, following the footsteps of the lizardman.

----------

We carefully moved, trying not to make much sound. We saw the lizardman in the distance, we might have moved to quickly we should slow down more.

I still couldn't believe Vincent would get rid of the rope, but it did make sense why he did it. He needs a second pair of hands and legs to help him if we get caught by those things.

Some time passed, and the star was still high in the sky.

Up ahead we could finally see a clearing through the trees. We moved to the edge of the forest and saw a village. . .

A village. . .

What the hell, Vincent was right.

Smokes and flames were coming from the village, and we saw a silhouette of other lizardmen around.

The lizardman we have been following regrouped to his colleagues. They talked for a bit then went on their way, away from the village.

„What should we do?“ I asked.

„We need to be careful, we don't want to scare the human survivors.“

„You want to go and have a chat with them?“

Vincent was thinking it over.

„We do need some help, and they looked like they need some as well.“

„You want to get a good reputation with the villagers?“

„Yeah, but communicating with them might be hard.“

Huh?

„What do you mean?“

„You heard the guy that was killed, right? It was a language we have never heard before.“

„Uh. . .“

What was he talking about? I understood that guy and the lizard perfectly.

„Is there something you are going to say? Or are you just gonna have your mouth open the entire time.“

„I knew what they were saying,“ I said and saw Vincent with his surprised face.

„You are just joking around, aren't you?“

I stared at him blankly.

„You actually knew what they were saying. Did you learn a different language before? Did you know what language it was?“

I have learned other species tongues before. But this. . . I don't know. Now that I was thinking back at it, it was a language I have not heard before, but I still for some reason felt like I knew what they were saying.

Then a thought came into my mind.

I looked towards the shield. When it was turned on, it had a text that I could read, but not Vincent.

„Don't tell me. . . that shield somehow gave you the language.“

„I think it actually did.“

The day gets weirder and weirder by the second. Again, what the hell is going on?

„If you can understand them, then we could go and find survivors to talk to.“

„Am I going to be your translator droid?“ I said without enthusiasm.

„Yup.“

Oh, this is gonna be fun. Not.

----------

We got out of the edge of the forest and moved to the village. It was still burning up, but it did look like the fire was dissipating.

We arrived inside the village, structures were damaged, blood was all around, farming tools were scattered.

„It looked like they were just farmers, there are no signs of any human soldiers or normal weapons,“ I said.

„There might have been soldiers around, but the lizards probably took them and their weapons away with them.“

He might be right, the soldiers' weapons could be of use to them or something. I wished they would at least leave some behind for us to use. Or this village might have just been a farm, with no soldiers in the area.

„Come, let's look around and see what we can find.“

I nodded and started looking around.

I entered a house that was thankfully not on fire, but some parts of the walls were torn down.

The place looked like it was from old earth, no modern tech around.

There were no interesting things in the house, except for an undamaged backpack that was empty, it might be useful to have so I put it on my back.

Back at the ruins, I had a pack that Vincent gave me to loot all the riches, but I threw it away when I launched the smoke bomb.

I left the house and noticed on the ground was a knife, and next to it was a holster which I guessed was for the knife. I looked at the holster, it looked like it would fit on my arm, but which arm?

My shield was on the right, so if I would want to attack I should use the left arm, but I was right-handed. I felt more comfortable using my right for weapons. I guess I need to change that.

I strapped the holster to my right and sheathed the knife.

„Ethan! Come over here!“

That was Vincent, did he find something?

I rushed to him.

„What's wrong?“

„Look,“ Vincent said and pointed to some rubble.

I looked towards the rubble but did not see what he was talking about.

I turned my head back to Vincent.

„Oh my. . . don't you see the hand sticking out?“

Huh?

I looked back, and there it was a human hand.

„Come on, let's dig him out!“ Vincent said and started moving the rubble.

Wow, Vincent is being nice for once.

I started helping him, throwing away some of the junk, rubble after rubble.

We were able to see the head of the person, that person was a girl. She looked young. She has a pair of long braided hair with light brown color.

Finally, after some time, all the rubble on her was gone. I saw that she has leather armor on with small metal materials here and there.

„Do you think she is alive?“ I asked, then I saw Vincent checking her pulse.

„Her heart is still beating, so she is."

That's good to hear.

„Let's move her to a better place than this rubble.“

„Okay!“ I agreed

I moved to help Vincent lift her up. But when we moved her away from where we dug her from, something started moving there.

We moved just a bit further away when suddenly something shot out from all the rubble and landed beneath our feet.

„ . . . ?!“

The thing looked like a crossbow. It was glowing with orange energy.

„How did that thing do that?“ I asked.

„How am I supposed to know?“

We gently put the girl down, then Vincent went and picked up the crossbow.

„Ethan, I think your shield is not that special anymore.“ I heard Vincent say.

„What?“

„Take a look.“

I took a step towards him and looked at the weapon. I saw on the handle, was a screen, just like on the shield.

„Well this day keeps getting interesting.“