With our foe vanquished, I took a moment to process what I had just witnessed. I wanted to believe it was a hallucination, but the memory felt too visceral, too heavy to be fake. The woman—the one I had called my wife—I was certain I didn’t know her, yet my heart ached with a familiar, crushing intimacy. The faces of the surrounding corpses remained a blur, but the weight of their loss was real.
‘This must be connected to the gifts my benefactors gave me when I reincarnated,’ I thought. ‘I wish I could ask them what this meant, but I will just have to find the answers myself. For now, the best thing to do is keep this quiet until I learn more about my body’s ancestry.’
<Master, I apologize for interrupting whatever you are doing, but I would like to ask about the strange blade in your hand.> (Luxion)
Cloaked beside me, Luxion was fixated on my weapon. Grateful he that had the sense to speak so only I could hear him, I was about to remind Luxion he made it when I discovered something had changed.
My energy blade was gone. In its place was a runic weapon of peerless, elegant design. It looked like a ceremonial sword, but the edge hummed with ancient psychic power. As I studied the intricately carved runes, I realized they were Aeldari.
<Master?> (Luxion)
“Oh, sorry. I’m not sure where it came from,” I stammered. “The runes on the hilt say this is the Sword of Dawnlight. Does that ring any bells?”
I waited for a response, but he remained silent. After a few seconds of awkward silence, I cleared my throat to regain his attention. “Did you hear me? The Sword of Dawnlight. Have you heard of it?”
<No… I’m unfamiliar with it.> (Luxion)
Luxion’s synthesized voice hesitated distinctly, a flicker suggesting calculation or caution. I ignored it. The blade’s origin didn’t matter to me; so long as it could withstand the abuse I intended to put it through, that was all I cared about.
‘Maybe I should be worried.’ I thought, running my thumb over the runes on the hilt. ‘The Aeldari despise humanity. They won’t take kindly to a “mon-keigh” using one of their relics.’
The Aeldari were a race of peerless psychic space elves who had dominated the Warhammer 40k galaxy until their cataclysmic downfall twenty millennia ago. What remained of their once-vast empire was fractured into three primary factions: the sadistic Drukhari, the disciplined Craftworld Asuryani, and the enigmatic Harlequins.
The Drukhari had abandoned their psychic potential to hide from the Thirst, so they were unlikely to detect the blade’s signature. But the others—the Farseers of the Craftworlds and the shadow-stepping Harlequins—had sharpened their psychic senses to a razor’s edge. To them, the Sword of Dawnlight wouldn’t just be a weapon; it was a priceless piece of their heritage and a scream in the Warp.
Depending on where this planet resided in the universe, trouble might find me sooner than I would like.
“Leon! We need your help over here,” Yunyun shouted. “I cannot remove the barbed spear from Roxanne’s thigh. It needs to be removed before she can drink a potion!”
“Coming,” I replied, trying to figure out what to do with the blade.
When I glanced down at my hip, I found an elegant sheath already affixed to my waist. With the weapon safely tucked away, I ran over to help treat Roxanne’s injury.
As I knelt beside her, Roxanne gave me a pained smile. “Sorry for messing up your plan. The boss was a lot smarter than I thought. Hehe…”
“So long as we all go home every night, that’s all I care about,” I said, reassuring her. “You’re going to want to bite down on something. This is going to hurt a lot.”
“Way ahead of you,” Roxanne acknowledged, retrieving a thick leather strap from her pouch.
Once it was in position, Roxanne gave me a nod. With a firm heave, I ripped the barb out, causing the wound to bleed profusely. Yunyun splashed one of Wiz’s potions on the open gash; the wound slowly vanished as light particles radiated from the site.
“I’m sorry for ruining the armor you bought me,” Roxanne whispered, her head hung low.
“Enough with the apologies, Roxanne. The armor did its job. You’re still here with us, so I’d say it was money well spent,” I chuckled, flicking her forehead gently. “Are you okay to walk? We need to claim our reward and check for remnants of the last party.”
Roxanne forced herself to rise. She wobbled at first, but Yunyun and I caught her. Once she was steady, we wandered over to where the smoke was dissipating.
“If you don’t mind my asking, where did that ornate sword come from?” Roxanne asked, glancing at the scabbard on my waist. “It’s a lot nicer than the other one you were using.”
“Yeah, I wanted to ask about that too,” Yunyun seconded.
I wasn’t entirely sure myself, so I offered a lie to pacify their curiosity. “The blade I was using couldn’t withstand the strain I put on it; it shattered. I didn’t have a backup, so I was forced to use this family heirloom. It held up better than expected, so I’ll probably stick with it. The alternative would mean replacing my weapon after every battle.”
Satisfied, the duo attempted to apologize for making me carry the team, but I stopped them. As greenhorns, it was understood I’d need to give them a helping hand now and then. Once they were more experienced, issues like this wouldn’t happen.
“Oh yeah! Look at the spoils of our efforts,” I said, changing the subject.
In the center of the colosseum, a tiny chest overflowing with gold coins and jewels sat waiting. While the women were star-struck by the treasure, my attention was drawn to the other items scattered nearby. To the right, Lobo’s space bike, the Spacehog, sat in all its chrome-and-iron glory. To the left, a heavily worn lightsaber lay partially exposed in the sand. And behind the chest… an eerily familiar dark green cylindrical tank stood.
Memories from my past life’s childhood came flooding back. I remembered coming home after a long day of school, grabbing some snacks, and plopping myself down in front of the TV. There was a particular mecha anime I had watched from start to finish—and rewatched hundreds of times during my youth.
“Hehe, so even you can make goofy expressions,” Yunyun commented with a grin. “You don’t have to wait for us. Go claim those ancient relics you like so much.”
Like a child in a candy shop, I ran straight for the glass tank. As I pressed my face up against it, the dormant silhouette of an Organoid greeted me.
‘Hell yes! I gave up on making one of these long ago because the technology was just too advanced. To think I would have the honor and pleasure of owning one in this life… words can’t describe how excited I am!’ I thought, peeling my face off the glass to search for the control panel.
I found it on the backside and pressed the button to awaken it. After a few moments, the tank lit up and began humming. As the seconds ticked by, the sound grew louder, vibrating through the sand.
“What is it?” Roxanne inquired, looking at the tank curiously.
“Inside this tank is a biomechanical machine called an Organoid. It can fuse with certain technologies and draw out their full potential,” I answered, rubbing my hands together. “Organoids can understand spoken language, perform simple tasks, and even act as an escape pod in emergencies. What I want from it, though, is for it to be my partner.”
Roxanne and Yunyun stared at me with glazed-over eyes. The term “biomechanical machine” was foreign to them, so their reaction was warranted.
“In simple terms, an Organoid is equivalent to a sentient golem,” I clarified.
They smiled at me happily, understanding now. “Congratulations!”
As the word left their mouth, the tank’s glass cracked. Within seconds, it burst open, and my new friend flopped sideways onto the sandy ground. Unlike the black, blue, red, and silver ones from Zoids Chaotic Century, this one’s color reminded me of a beautiful sunset on Malibu Beach. Its striking orange paint job was simply breathtaking.
I knelt down and slowly extended my hand toward the awakening bio-machine. “Hey there, buddy. Sorry for disturbing your slumber, but it’s time to wake up. If you’re up for it, I’d love for you to accompany me from now on as my partner. How does that sound?”
The six-foot raptor’s blue eyes flickered to life as it came online. Slowly rising to its feet, it hesitantly sniffed my hand as it processed my words. In an instant, it whipped its tail around and attempted to bat me away.
“Haha! That won’t work on me, buddy,” I laughed, seizing its tail mid-swing. ‘Ah, this brings back so many pleasant memories.’
Annoyed by my unbothered attitude, the Organoid thrashed about trying to break free. After a few failed attempts, it decided I was too strong for it to overpower. Realizing it could not win, it stopped fighting and submitted. I released its tail so we could look each other in the eyes.
I reached under its chin, scratching him as I would a cat or dog. “Let’s see here… I’ll need to pick a name for you, won’t I? Since the first thought that popped into my head was a sunset, how about I call you Sunset?”
<Rawr…>
Displeased, it shook its head no.
“Yeah, you’re right. That name is too dull,” I said, admiring his orange paint job more. “How about Solaris? In an ancient tongue, it means ‘Of the Sun.’”
<Rawr!>
Satisfied with my second suggestion, he bobbed his head approvingly as his eyes flashed again. With a name picked, I turned toward Lobo’s Spacehog. The sentient space bike was equal in intelligence to Solaris, so I approached with extreme caution. As I placed a hand on the handlebars, my body tensed, ready for an attack—but nothing happened.
‘Well, this is quite peculiar. I was certain it would zap me or knock me away. There must be something wrong with her,’ I thought, checking her fuel tank.
The inside of her tank was bone-dry—a problematic situation. The Spacehog ran on unleaded gas, something this world didn’t have. Without a fuel source, she was little more than a paperweight.
“Don’t worry, girl. I will figure out a way to get you some fuel,” I whispered softly. “Please bear with me for now. If you stay out of trouble, I’ll give you a proper polish and a tune-up.”
In response, Spacehog sent a weak jolt of electricity into my hand. Without fuel, it was the only way she could communicate. I stowed her in my Item Box and turned back toward Roxanne and Yunyun, who were busy dividing the treasure.
“How big is the haul?” I inquired, using telekinesis to pull the lightsaber to me for examination.
With a giddy expression, Yunyun looked up from her counting. “We made a lot more than we were expecting. Roughly thirty-five thousand Dia worth of gold and jewels.”
Surprised by the amount, I instructed them to set aside only five thousand Dia for me; they could split the rest evenly between themselves. Roxanne and Yunyun both frowned at my words.
“You were the one who did most of the work, though,” Roxanne said. “It wouldn’t be right for us to accept such a large payout.”
“I won’t hear another word of it. Five thousand Dia and the Lost Items are all I want,” I reiterated. My heart sank as I gave the lightsaber a closer look, realizing the internal coupling was completely shot. ‘For fuck’s sake, only one of the three relics I found today works. Guess I’ll be tearing this apart tonight to figure out what’s wrong.’
Roxanne and Yunyun reluctantly accepted my decision and finished dividing the treasure. Once we each had our share, we began looking around for any remnants of the last party.
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