—Determinant Of The World Destiny—
The Beginning
Nathan and Andreas wrung out the clothes they usually wore in battlefields after washing them in the river. Now they were walking through a not-too-dense forest before stopping for a moment—watching a parrot that seemed to be a mother bird carrying a small piece of banana in its foot before it entered its nest.
The two of them continued walking on the thick grass, fallen leaves, and rocks. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a parrot flew towards Nathan, stopped, and perched on his head.
"Haha, what was that just now?" Andreas said, looking at the bird perched on my head.
"It seems that parrot likes you." I tried to look up at my head, but I knew I couldn't.
"I can't see it, Andreas."
"Andreas, Andreas." Suddenly the parrot made a sound, the bird called Andreas—imitating my voice. The parrot tilted its head slightly.
"It seems the bird likes you too." Andreas smiled slightly at my words.
"Let's go to the camp, they must be waiting for us."
"Yeah, let's go."
***
In the middle of the forest was a slightly spacious clearing with a flat landscape, surrounded by tall, not-too-dense trees. From above, the sun shone through the gaps between the leaves. It was there that Andreas and the others decided to set up camp.
When they arrived at the camp, Noah and Arthur were seen playing rock-paper-scissors, and Cleavon was watching with a slightly serious expression.
"What are they doing?" Andreas looked to his right, asking Elena who was stroking the head of an orange cat while crouching. Elena raised her head to look at Andreas.
"They're deciding who will get our last extra food." She replied in a calm voice.
Andreas sighed, closed his eyes, and then put his hand on his forehead.
"They're always like that." He said before approaching the two of them. "Let me join too."
I looked at him with a slight sense of confusion, and unconsciously said what I was thinking.
"Why did he join in?" I whispered before letting out a short sigh.
Elena covered her mouth while giggling slightly.
***
The campfire in the middle of us radiated warmth that warmed our bodies. I took the meat using a spoon that was in the plastic of the instant meat we had just cooked. It was beef, the taste was a mixture of salty, sweet, and slightly spicy. The meat wasn't too tender but it was easy enough to bite.
"Hey Andreas, when are we going to read that document?" Cleavon said with his mouth still full of food. Andreas swallowed the meat he was chewing to answer Cleavon.
"We'll open it after this. Besides, who is Stephen Hawking? I've never heard that name before."
"I've never heard of him either, and who is 'EOTU'?" Arthur said while holding a spoonful of meat before putting it into his mouth.
"Yeah, there are many things we don't know yet." Andreas looked at the book next to him.
After a few minutes, we had all finished our meals.
"Ahh, so full." Noah said while leaning back slightly, propping himself up with his hands. Andreas suddenly picked up the book and opened it.
"We started the expedition on March 17, 2080. On the first expedition, many of my colleagues were overwhelmed fighting the MeteorWraiths—none of us died. We managed to find a stone inside the MeteorWraith's body that people called a Rune—because its symbol kind of similar to the rune alphabet."
"That's what's on the second page." Andreas said after reading the second page of the book loudly enough for us to hear. Andreas continued reading the book quite loudly until the book almost reached the last page.
"It seems we already know everything they knew." Andreas looked at the book with a slightly disappointed look before flipping the page to the next one—his eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"What's wrong?" I said with a slightly serious tone.
"We decided to call it the Pillar Of Creation. The stone left a circle in the middle. There are 12 stones—standing upright like pillars about 5 meters high. On the stone there is a small but long crack, in the middle there is a hole shaped like a Rune. We tried inserting one of our runes, but it didn't do anything at all. But we are sure that if the right rune is inserted, something will happen. Definitely."
Everyone stared at Andreas seriously. Andreas flipped the page of his book once more and finally reached the last page.
"If you are reading this. Know that one of us is among all of you. One of us who is among you will help you solve the mysteries of this world."
Instantly everyone fell silent, thinking about the meaning of the last sentence of the book.
"What does this mean?" Andreas said with a bit of doubt, his voice soft, unlike usual.
"Andreas, aren't you a bit familiar with those 12 stones that can be filled with runes?" Cleavon looked at Andreas seriously.
"You mean the StarWraith runes?"
"Yes."
"Wait, isn't it almost impossible for us to collect all the StarWraith runes?" Elena replied hesitantly.
"Especially since some of their runes have already been collected by other districts."
"Yes, two StarWraith runes have already been stored by the large districts—Taurus and Pisces. The rest are still unconfirmed, some of the StarWraiths are still roaming out there—or maybe it's one of us."
Everyone looked at Andreas with serious and sharp gazes.
"The only way to reach the Pillar Of Creation is to defeat the StarWraiths and steal the runes of the defeated StarWraiths. I am very willing to do it. Does anyone object?"
Everyone smiled and shook their heads as if to say they didn't mind at all, even if their lives were at stake.
"Then what about the last sentence of the book?" all eyes turned to the source of the voice, Velyna, before turning to Noah.
"What does 'one of us is among you' mean?"
"Maybe it's as we imagine, someone from their time is in the same time as us." Arthur answered Noah's question.
"But doesn't that make much sense? We are in the year 2196, even if that person is still alive, how will they help us?" Claire replied to Arthur's statement which didn't make much sense.
"Claire's words are indeed true, but we cannot deny other possibilities. They could have created a technology that could send people to the future without sacrificing their lifespan."
"Even though it sounds impossible, it actually makes quite a bit of sense." Andreas said with a slightly uncertain expression.
"But Andreas, which StarWraith rune should we take first?" Noah asked Andreas in a confused tone.
"It's too early to decide that, we have to prepare first."
"What exactly needs to be prepared?" I also asked Andreas.
"Actually, we are quite ready. But there is one important thing to fight the StarWraith—armor. Moreover, you don't have a Rune yet, right Nathan?"
"Rune.. I don't have one yet."
"Yes, most of us are still in Regular Grade too."
"Alright, from now on our goal is clear, isn't it?"
"Yes." Everyone looked at Andreas and answered simultaneously while nodding their head. The real adventure had just begun.