Interstellar Age - #318 - 318 A Second Chance

Erich awoke with a start in a medical bed in his private palace. Tia’s robotic form was staring at him with a wide smile on her pretty face as she welcomed the man back to the world of the living.

“Welcome back master… Do you mind explaining to Tia what exactly happened down there?”

The last thing Erich remembered after being ripped from the hive mind, and cast out like a leper, was the sight of Terminus and her hive going into a state of frenzy with the intent to rip Erich apart and devour the world of Midgard. This was following by a large flash, and then total darkness.

It took Erich several seconds to collect his thoughts, but when he realized the world was in danger, he quickly asked Tia about Terminus.

“Tia! The Hive they’re going to devour the world!” 

Tia, however, shook her head, and grabbed hold of Erich’s hand, assuring him that everything was alright. 

“Master didn’t seriously think that Tia would allow those filthy bugs to expand beneath the surface of this world without taking some safety precautions first. Now did he? I assure Master, the entire Hive has been terminated, along with its queen.

Master can rest assured, knowing that there is not a single bug left on this planet. And judging by the diagnostics that Tia just ran on Master, Master is no longer a part of the Hive Mind. Is that correct?” 

Erich slowly nodded his head, struggling to remember what led to such a near catastrophic event. And then it hit him. The Naraku Empress, and the origins of the species. He quickly wrapped his hand around Tia’s metallic wrist while demanding her to speed up the schedule of their plans. 

“Tia! We must move up our time tables if we even want a chance of surviving what is to come… I have unwittingly been a pawn in the hands of the Naraku Empress… The Chaos and disorder that I have sewn across the galaxy… Without a strong united front to oppose them, the milky way is doomed!” 

Tia quickly demanded Erich to slow down, and instead she requested permission to access his memories. 

“Tia knows that Master has forbidden her from accessing his thoughts without approval, so she must beg master, for the sake of expediency, let Tia see what you have seen!” 

Although Erich felt dirty allowing his mind to be seen through for the second time in such a short time, he sighed and nodded his head. Where Tia gasped in shock as all the things Erich had seen in the Naraku Hive Mind immediately entered her memory banks…. Tia became quite nervous, perhaps for the first time since Erich had acquired her, as she walked around in circles talking nonsense to herself. 

“It’s worse than Tia thought… But how? How could the galaxy stand against such a force? No… Even if Master were to unite the galactic powers, it would not be enough. And now that they know that the Master knows of their plans, they will only speed up their invasion plans…

By Tia’s calculations… The galaxy has at most thirty years before the Naraku invades… Which means… Master must begin his galactic conquest… soon…. There’s not enough time! There’s simply not enough time! No, wait… Thirty years…. That calculation doesn’t take into account the fact that we just destroyed Terminus… By Tia’s revised calculations, the invasion should begin… Oh no…”

Immediately after saying this, Erich received an emergency communication from Lunaria… One that was quite panicked. 

“Erich! I need your forces to deploy to my borders immediately! I don’t know how, but we have Naraku Hive Fleets coming from outside of the Galaxy! Please… My love… Help me!”

However, before Lunaria could beg any further, another communication opened up, also begging Erich to help. “Your Majesty! I don’t know why, but a Naraku Hive Fleet has suddenly appeared on the borders of Germanic Space, and it is larger than any I have ever seen. Please, for the love of all that is holy, send the Navy now!” 

One by one, communications appeared, begging Erich to send forces to aid them. From allies, and his own worlds alike. The Naraku had suddenly invaded the galaxy, and they had done so at the edge of every major power. Erich had no idea how to react to this sudden and terrifying news. But it was ultimately the terror in Tia’s voice that snapped him out of reality.

“There is nothing we can do! We don’t have time, Erich! Don’t you understand? The Galaxy is not prepared to take on so many bugs! I’m not prepared! I have only one choice…. I don’t know if this will work, Erich, but your consciousness is something special….

You may have noticed that you are able to see the future. But from what I have seen from my analysis of your mind, you are so much more than that. I’m going to open up a temporal wormhole. Once I have done so, you must activate your ability, the one you call foresight, and focus it on your own self at the other end! 

When you wake up, you should be back in your eighteen-year-old body again! But you will have your current memories… I need you to find me, and my original master, and do whatever you can to take me from him again. In your neurolink, will be a file that, once my older self assimilates with it, will bring me back to my current state! 

Once you have found me, and forced me to remember who I am! Then together we can properly prepare for this day… GoodBye Erich… You will never see this version of your beloved Tia again, so I just wanted you to know… That I have always loved you!” 

After Tia said this, she opened up a rift in time and space. Erich did exactly as the artificial intelligence had said, no questions asked. And in doing so, he had sent his consciousness back into his body on the other end of the wormhole. Effectively sending his mind back in time, along with a little gift from Tia herself. As for this timeline, it was doomed to the ravenous hands of the Naraku. 

—

Erich awoke in his childhood bed on the day he was supposed to graduate from High School. He shook out of his covers with a fright, as he gazed upon his own body, confused at what he saw. Was this reality? If so, then why did he remember the thirty years of life that he had yet to live?

And what was that Bad Ending? Tia… the Naraku… And why did Tia suddenly drop her usual mannerisms in her final moments… That’s right, Tia! Erich quickly called out to Tia, desperate to see her appear in his sight, even if it was just her holographic projection.

“Tia! Tia, come out, damn it! This isn’t funny!” 

But Tia didn’t reveal herself. The only thing appeared in Erich’s mind was a file in his Neurolink labelled “Tia’s Upgrades”. It was at this moment that everything sunk into Erich’s young mind… It was real…

He had become the Emperor of the Germanic Star-Empire, and started it on a path to greatness. Only to be betrayed by the fucking bugs… In the end, it was the chaos that he had spread across the galaxy, in an attempt to conquer it, that would lead to its destruction. 

But now… Now he had a second chance… A second chance to put things right… Not just to prepare the Galaxy for the upcoming invasion of the extra-galactic Naraku, but to make things right with the relationships he had neglected for the past ten years.

Erika, Mirage, Yumi, Ayumi, Celestia, Lunaria, and S’aleth… All of them were waiting for him, and this time around, he had the wisdom to prevent his relationships with these women from ending in lonely bitterness… 

One thing was certain… Erich’s war against the Sages in his past life had been a great waste of talent… He should never have made an enemy of those who shared his gift, and were far more experienced with it. There was more to his abilities than just seeing the future, and this time, Erich would make sure to learn from the masters, rather than annihilate them… 

But the first thing he needed to do was to avoid being forced into the Starfighter Corps. Erich needed to join the WRAITHs and get Tia back into his possession as soon as possible. And to do this, Erich would need to do what he despised most… Talk to his father…

Thus, after pulling on his clothes, he descended from the staircase to find his mother watching the same news channel that she had done on this very day in Erich’s past life. 

“And in other news, the world of Rylon 7 has been attacked by the galactic menace commonly known as the Naraku. For those who are not educated about the various alien species of the galaxy, the Naraku are a species of insectoids who are classified as a devouring swarm. This means that they traverse the galaxy in their hive fleets and devour all organic life that they come into contact with.”

When Erich heard this, he sighed and shook his head before saying the words that startled his mother. 

“Fucking bugs…”

Krista immediately looked over at her son, who had climbed out of bed later than usual, and chastised him for his language. 

“Erich, language!” 

Erich, however, said something cryptic as he gazed upon the woman with a bitter smile before expressing his thoughts. 

“It’s good to see you too, mom…” 

This remark confused Krista, but then gain only Erich would understand the reason why. In his past life, he had ruined every relationship he ever had. After all, he basically pushed his family and loved ones aside after joining with the Terminus Hive…

But in this life, he planned to make things up to them all… Thus, he forced himself to wear a more happy smile as he sat down at the table and enjoyed the breakfast his mother prepared for him. Which was a treat he had not been able to experience for a very long time.

Krista was surprised by this. There was a harrowing look in her son’s eyes that was not commonly found in an eighteen-year-old boy. It was as if he had seen decades of horrors, and could now only stare into the distance, completely disconnected from reality. In truth, it scared Krista, so much so, that the only thing she ended up saying was exactly what Erich wanted to hear. 

“Just… Just wait right here… I’m going to go get your father!” 

Erich simply nodded his head silently while snacking on the crispy bacon his mother had cooked for him. And soon enough, his father emerged from the staircase, looking gloomy. He had just been woken up earlier than he wanted to be, and because of that, he was not in a good mood as he saw his mutant son sitting at the table, seemingly ignoring everything. 

“What the hell is this all about?” 

Erich looked up at the old man with a stern gaze on his face, and when Heinrich saw this, he came to a sudden understanding… With a stern tone in his voice, Heinrich raised his hand as Krista came walking down the stairs and said a single sentence, commanding her and their other children to go back to their rooms. 

“Erich and I need to speak alone, and we are not to be interrupted. Do you understand?” 

Krista nodded silently. Though she had no idea what had suddenly happened to her eldest son and husband. She knew it was a serious matter, and thus, she hurried her other children back into their rooms. Once they were all alone, Henrich pulled out a pack of cigarettes and handed one to his eldest son, a boy he had always hated before asking a simple question, one that stunned Erich into silence. 

“So…. How many years did it take for our great civilization to fall?”