“We’re here.” Malachi exclaimed as they stopped before rows of twisted buildings shifting with every one of their movements. “It’s as far as I can go.” Stepping forward, a familiar yet foreign feeling overwhelmed Slava. “Beyond here is his domain.” Malachi began slowly backing away.

The walls were moving yet remained still, a mystic aura meddling their past into the present and their present into the future. A truly magnificent sight; hard to put into words. The greatest physical manifestation of a domain he'd ever seen. It was like a labyrinth, he could already tell the start of a story, one of the many it seemed to tell.

“They avoid this place. They respect Percival, although I feel it's more out of fear than anything else.” The visions of a glorious past slipped before his eyes. Endless skyscrapers brimming with vitality, a massive wall reaching towards the night sky, the sounds of explosions ringing behind it. Inhabitants which seemed none the wiser, a cult of sigil-bearing men and women supporting its heavy pillars from the shadows and a council of powerful individuals using everything they could to bring them down.

“They war over every corner of the city except for this place.” Slava came back to his senses and at the same time, his head began throbbing, sending an unpleasant spasm down his spine. “Ironic considering it is the source of the past relics they covet so much.” He now knew what she was talking about. The pillars that were maintained by the past awakened. The tools, the weapons, the power… this was all that was left. If only he could… Reaching his hand out, he noticed his phasing hand. No, he needed to focus, his condition was growing unstable. Who knows what would happen if he let go? Dissipation, explosion, translocation…

“Wait here, I have something I need to do first.” Valerie looked at him, she looked like she wanted to say something, when she finally let it go. Lightly nodding, she turned back towards the twisting walls. Seeing this, he accelerated, feeling his limbs grow numb. Right when his body was about to give out, he felt a form split out from his shadow.

“You really do not care for your life do you?” Crow's form enveloped him as he was about to hit the ground, letting him land back on his feet with a loud shockwave that blew past the surrounding deserted buildings.

“Call Angel, I need her input.” Without any hesitation, the shadow vanished as soon as it had appeared, letting him fall to his knees with a distorted wheeze. He couldn't believe it had deteriorated so much, from a few spasms to his entire body phasing out of sync.

“Words would be lost in this endeavor.” The presence that echoed around Slava took him by surprise, making him momentarily lose his focus. But that instant was enough, enough for a reaction to begin to spread within him, a singularity forming at his core. He tried to keep it together, but it was too late. His whole body began to glow starting from his limbs all the way to his heart.

“For the present to persist, the past mustn't be forgotten.” He felt a soft yet heavy touch reach his shoulder. A weight that pressed on him, slowing him down. The weight of an unbearable existence, carrying the knowledge of countless pasts. As if a key had opened a lock, memories came flooding in. All of his training, the painful days he spent researching, studying, and experimenting with his own body. He'd forgotten…

“Pushing the limits of the future will only make it consume you.” He was right, Slava looked at the microfractures slowly healing on his skin's surface. He was pushing it too far, his body was struggling to follow. He would need to train more, transitioning into different states… Wait… Who?

Slava wearily jumped to his feet, locking gazes with a hooded figure, his plain brown eyes shimmering with a mystical glow. Squinting, he stripped him down with his stare. Ragged robes, long brown hair slithering out of his hood, the dirty, rough hands of a worker.

“Percival?” Slava asked, surprised. Seeing this, the man's lips slightly curved up. He'd expected someone more… extravagant, like that architect Vincent or even C, but not this… He looked like a pilgrim on his journey to the promised land. This was the man who held the key to the past? The one who maintained these crumbling remains?

“I believe time is of the essence, for you… and for her.” Distracted by his thoughts, he followed his lead. He was the last one left. Where were all the others? Killed? Impossible, by whom, by what? If his power was any indication of the others' influence, they couldn't have disappeared without a trace. Assimilation maybe? Crow did talk about killing various warriors with similar domains to his while using them to expand his own. No, the probability was too low, they would have to be compatible. Then, they left. If so, why was he here? Why did he stay? Countless possibilities passed through his mind as the fortress came back into view with its mirrored walls glistening through the city streets. What could be beyond its walls? At the center of this forsaken place.

“You… Percival…” Looking down, Slava was met by the two of them staring each other down. Valerie looked very uncomfortable under his piercing glare that seemed to read through her very soul. “Every action begs a reaction and decisions breathe consequences.” To his words, she froze, and before she could properly retort, Percival walked over to Slava, putting his hand on his shoulder. Their eyes met, and he released his grip, stepping past him, his figure passing through the mystical doors. Without any hesitation, almost on instinct, Slava followed through.

As he stepped through, his vision blurred. A lab, full of vats with clones each more deformed than the last. Among the hundred, no, the thousands, one stood broken, shattered into pieces, its contents nowhere to be found. Then a child, panicked, impressively dashing through dark and ominous corridors, following the only light that reached her eyes. Finally reaching its source and falling victim to her body's limits, crumbling to the ground. Then, a crowd gathering around her weakened body, suddenly spreading out to let another group through. A man with glacial calculating gray eyes leaning over her, reaching for her and…

“Do not get lost in what was, for you will only lose yourself.” His eyes snapped open just to land on the hooded man's smile. A disturbing smile that instantly made him look away. The room they were in looked like a mausoleum. Tall pillars supporting the ceiling, high walls covered in markings, and a strange structure at its center. He couldn't recognize what it was because of the immense power coming from it, his senses were overwhelmed. This was the source of the disturbance. The source of the domain which tried to suppress him when he first entered this place.

“The temple, forged with the shards of the past and maintained with the power of the soul, shows thou, which one seeks the most. Revealing the past that its bricks have witnessed.” He carefully moved his rugged fingers along the surface of a pillar.

This man and his riddles… They annoyed him and yet, he wasn't angry. Despite them being enigmatic, Slava could understand his words perfectly. It was as if the words were too simple to carry their meaning. He wasn't speaking through words, he was sharing his thoughts. He'd built this place from what was left behind. And using his domain as a foothold, he was able to forge it into a mystical space that distorted the concept of time itself.

If so, then what had he seen? Slava was here to find information, anything that could help them gain the upper hand against Black Hydra. Any information about her past, her father, the AITF… Then why was he shown that little girl? Who was she? And why… Unless, no… Slava’s eyes grew wide, unnoticed by the others.

“With this, one question yet remains; Why have you come to me?” Emphasizing his last word, Percival removed his hood, revealing a face full of cracks; an ethereal blend of iridescent hues, perfectly reflected through the walls. His empty, glazed gaze pierced through him like a ghost fixing an illusion in a world that he couldn't see.

“We came for what's hidden below.” The man's body shimmered and that's when Slava turned around realizing who he was really staring at. Valerie stared back, revitalized. “Impossible, it has been sealed…” he turned back towards the central structure.

“Then we'll just have to get through it,” Valerie interrupted, enthusiastically smashing her fist into her palm. What did she witness upon entering this place for her to be so…

“One can not simply ‘get through’ the forces that keep this place still.” As they squabbled, Slava began inspecting the strangely alluring structure.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Valerie suddenly asked with a hint of panic. Percival's eyes also grew wide, but Slava didn't seem to notice as he continued.

“Let me go! He can't die, I need him!” It was a throne, a majestic golden throne contrasted by the figure sitting on it. A decrepit old man, ominously gasping the armrests of his seat as if waiting to be awakened.

Taking one more step forward, the surrounding scenery changed as he felt another domain connect with his own. Another mind invading his while his mind invaded another's.

“Promise me…” a gorgeous woman's fading figure with silky brown hair overlapped over his sister's disintegrating body.

“My name is Galahad, I'm here to help,” his unfamiliar glowing hand reached out towards an injured man, surrounded by countless men and women with similar demeanors. Scenes of Loyd, Despira, and Anissa flashed through his mind at the same time. His first memories with them, his father's harsh lessons, his little sister's admiring gaze, his mother's dignified demeanor…

“Arissa, don't do this, there has to be another way,” he heard himself scream as her back dissipated into mist, transforming into a mess of coiled wires and cables. “Galy, something's clearly wrong, I can't stay here, I'm sorry,” an unknown voice chimed in. He fell to his knees, the family he'd once found and taught crumbling before him, each member vanishing one after the other until he himself was finally forced to leave. Something he saw coming, yet something that left him feeling empty.

Something that Slava grew to understand through Kolya. A friend he confided in, a man who helped him overcome his past and understand the true meaning of the word: family.

Memories of Galahad teaching each and every member of Expance, helping them reach their full potential. Memories of Slava losing Kolya, his beacon, his light, his hope for a second time.

“If it doesn't help me get closer to him, I don't need it.” Finally, a vision of Galahad growing up, surrounded by faithful people who loved him and gave him the chance to grow despite his hateful birth, from a mother who resented him.

Their lives were flipped, complete opposites, complementing each other like two sides of the same coin. “We are quite different, you and I.” A red-haired man appeared before him, filling the empty white space with something new. “Well, maybe that's why you were able to awaken this part of me.” Galahad looked past him into the emptiness with longing. “I can't say I approve of your methods, but I won't question your morals. In the end, you're alive, and I'm dead.” He chuckled. “In the end, maybe you'll find a better way.” They stared each other down for what felt like an eternity. The more they did, the more they saw. Until Galahad finally broke the silence.

“He disobeyed my wishes after all, huh?” Percival was never the type to listen, only doing what he thought was right, and it only got worse when his sister died. “He stayed to guard me and my wife…” He was glad that he'd grown yet saddened by the fact that he seemed to have lost a piece of himself. “He probably did the right thing, considering the state this place fell into…” Familiar ruins surrounded them, spreading a sense of longing and exasperation. Unfulfilled desires, regrets…

“I could free you…” He could find a way, breaking through the seal that held the algorithms together. However, the backlash would be astronomical, moreover, Galahad would have to suppress his domain to let him through. That was the simple part, what worried him came after. Not only would Slava have to restrain him while performing the operation, but he would also have to guard against any unsuspecting invaders. The system would instantly notice Galahad's weakened state. It was inevitable considering the technology's origins. Slava wasn't sure how…

“No, this was my decision, I need to see it through to the end.” This is what she would've wanted. Slava felt their minds slowly separating, memories that now seemed familiar, gradually fading away as if they'd never existed. “I sealed that place so that he couldn't get to it, but now there's no longer a need to.” He couldn't understand why, he wanted to ask, but Galahad didn't give him the chance.

“If you ever get to the Sahara please help my people, I don't know what happened to them, but I'm sure they'll need some help.” Sahara? This wasn't the first time he'd heard people mention that place. A desert that turned into a tropical forest after the Great Frost. A place surrounded by a mystery that none could conquer.

“Oh, and I almost forgot,” his fingers moved and images of a kid in a vat flashed before his eyes. A kid who suddenly woke up just to violently smash her fists against the glass until it broke.

“Hey! Don't you dare get brainwashed, you hear?” Slava woke up stunned. Without a word, he proceeded to approach the throne as it retreated, revealing a console emerging from the ground. “Vich… Slava, can you hear me? As she got closer, the interface lit up and he began navigating it.

“Holly shit!” The room started to tremble as the floor they were standing on suddenly sank. Meanwhile, Slava's glistening eyes quit the console, meeting Percival's, a spark bringing a glimmer of light into his fading eyes.