From Alienation to Encounter (Part 1)

"Well, that's pretty much all that I remember, I hope I didn't bore you with my pathetic past... Hahaha..." Proxer let out an awkward laugh to cover his pain from recalling that past, but he couldn't hide his emotions from Jogrin, as the shaking in his hands and voice were clear for all.

Even after listening to a gruesome story, Jogrin only appeared to be fazed by the stress and fear that came from Proxer, rather than the story itself.

"Not at all." He gave a short reply.

Proxer sighed heavily. "I don't know why I told you all that, even though you look like you're a 15 to 16 year-old. As always, I just dismiss other people's dispositions. Being a not so observant man myself, I just tend to hurt others without even noticing it. I'm sorry, Jogrin. I inadvertently told you my story with too much detail... I'm being so inconsiderate toward a child like you."

He began self-deprecating.

Silence pierced the space around them, as if striking both of their sanity by tensing up the atmosphere. The Knights, who overheard what Proxer spoke of, appeared dour, as they were seen gripping their spears much more tightly. Even though they knew the gist of the "Telestrophe" incident, they'd still react in the same way no matter how many times they heard it.

"... I think there isn't a problem that you told me all of that. Everyone needs to vent from time to time. If you're worried about me getting depressed or whatnot from it, it's unnecessary. That much isn't enough to do it." Though he somewhat showed concern towards Proxer, Jogrin was indifferent about himself, or rather, the way he worded it would make one ponder...

'What had he gone through in the past?'

And that was the case for Proxer too. The Knights, who just standing tens of meters away, shuddered upon hearing Jogrin.

"That said, I do have more questions after hearing your past... but I trust that you're in no condition to do that, as you've been greatly debilitated... due to my wrongdoings. Perhaps, it's my turn to talk about my past."

Even though Jogrin said so with the intention of returning the favor, it still came out of nowhere.

Proxer's eyes wandered about as he felt conflicted. While it was true that he revealed his past to Jogrin without hiding any details, would Jogrin be alright by doing the same?

Besides, whatever he'd gone through, it must've been something serious and just as traumatizing as what Proxer had, if not even more.

"Uh, um..." As if having lost the ability to speak, Proxer sent another gaze to Jogrin, nonplussed.

Though not showing with their behaviors or faces which were covered, the Knights also seemed curious about that. Jogrin didn't even glance at the Knights around him, not minding their presences.

"You've told me more than enough of your past, so it's only natural that I do the same."

Proxer knew too well about what a traumatic past would feel like. Recalling it was painful and made one feel as if they craved to vanish from this world. Doing so just for the sake of "returning the favor" wasn't right at all. He didn't want to coerce him into revealing his past for that.

"My home planet was invaded. I don't know a lot of details about it, but it's most likely destroyed. I was sent away so I could escape from the invaders. It was only a coincidence that I happened to crash land here."

Before Proxer could think about whether he should allow Jogrin to do it, the latter readily talked about his reason for having arrived at Zuta.

In essence, Proxer's and Jogrin's pasts were similar. Both involved attacks from outside forces, and a lot of casualties resulted from it. That was the conclusion Proxer came up with as soon as he heard Jogrin.

Seeing Jogrin didn't remind him of Darotr, an ex-comrade that he had high hopes for, whether it was his potential as a soldier, or as someone to recover from trauma... Rather, Jogrin reminded Proxer of himself.

'Is this why I want to know more about him and protect him? My instincts were screaming at me and I didn't even know it...'

Proxer mocked himself for not realizing it sooner.

A sullen atmosphere shrouded the vicinity of Jogrin. And as if it was infectious, the Knights showed similar downcast emotions. The tension around them grew. As overwhelming as it'd feed for Jogrin normally, he was too concentrated on pondering about the invasion which he just mentioned about.

"To tell you the truth, I want to return to my home planet as soon as possible, and look for any who survived."

"... What if the invaders are still lurking around?"

"Well, I'm sure they'll try to kill me on sight. If they were able to defeat my kin, who were known to be powerful, I'm sure I wouldn't stand a chance against them, even though my strength reigns above the rest of my kin."

'His kin... 'known to be powerful'... His tail, the nature of his powers... Could he be one of those mysterious species - the Darkians?'

He read about it from a book. The Darkians, who used to be a species that was similar to any other, somehow managed to gain access to an unknown force - "Dark Matter", as they were dying out due to the sun releasing excessive energy. In other words, the light and heat from the sun became too daunting.

While the method and mechanism was unknown as well, they managed to use the Dark Matter to block out some of the energy by absorbing it into their own bodies, restoring their normal lives.

However, because of that, they instantly became well-known throughout the universe. And of course, towards them, species form other planets feared the Darkians.

No one dared to travel to that planet anymore, not even travelers or merchants who went to a lot of planets. In fact, around 500 years ago, Zuta had commenced an operation to gather any brave souls from any planet who'd visit the Darkian planet using their most advanced space traversing technology: portals. It was on voluntary basis, so very few actually signed up, but the operation was able to proceed anyway.

However, even with the coordinates tuned correctly, the portals led to completely random locations. There was one time when molten lava came rushing out of the portal, and even one time when it connected to the interior of a spaceship in the middle of a voyage. Fortunately, precautions were taken so there were no injuries.

Uncountable amount of tries, but to no avail.

That was why, much about them was shrouded in mystery. No news regarding the Darkian planet being invaded had been heard either.

Now that Proxer thought about it, if Jogrin was indeed a Darkian, him not being able to pass through portals was proof that Dark Matter interfered with space traveling with portals, just like back then.

There was something else from Jogrin's words that caught Proxer's attention: he said "even though my strength reigns above the rest of my kin". It wasn't "even if". In other words, he was saying as if it was a fact.

If that was true, didn't that mean that the most powerful Darkian had descended upon Zuta?

Thoughts of a treacherous possibility popped up in Proxer's mind. Should he disclose this to anyone, especially Kapel, who knew what fate would lie ahead of Jogrin.

But at the end of the day, it was just a conjecture of Proxer's. He'd need to figure out more about Jogrin in the coming time.

'Should I not have brought him?' Proxer thought to himself. He stared at Jogrin, who had his eyes closed after talking about the invasion briefly, and slightly rued his own impulsiveness and recklessness.