Chapter 61: The Inacio Legacy

Jake was led a distance away near a smaller high-end transport ship. The ship was most likely privately owned by the Inacio family for travelling to and from Earth.

Jake walked into the ship towards a room inside the ship. Multiple guards stood at each doorway and were armed, unlike the others outside the ship.

Jake was stopped outside the door by both guards for a moment before one of them received an instruction to let him in.

They swiftly moved away from the door before gesturing for him to enter.

An old man sat on a chair, his hands clasped together as he kept his eyes closed. The room was posh with the furniture in Italian style.

There were many classical paintings adorned on the walls along with a large photo of a young man wearing an army uniform standing proudly against a mountainous backdrop.

"Thank you for coming...Mr Avalon." An old yet firm voice spoke as the old man opened his eyes.

"Please, take a seat...son of Victor." The old man's words had caused Jake to momentarily tense up before he slowly walked up and sat down on the chair.

"You know who I am?" Jake asked straightforwardly.

"Yes, but not for the reason you think." The old man answered causing Jake to raise his eyebrow.

(He's smart, let him speak first.) The Atlas advised.

"Ah!, where are my manners, Marco...Marco Inacio, Vincent was my great great grandfather." The old man quickly remembered before providing his hand forward.

Jake shook his hand firmly before releasing it.

Marco smiled before saying "My apologies, I am getting old." He let out a short chuckle with which Jake simply smiled back acknowledging the old man.

"Will you tell me why you called me here?" Jake asked firmly yet respectfully.

"Yes, you see Jake, Vincent fought during the war, it was on Pluto during the final assault on the Thraxian's final base that he was wounded in battle.

When he had woken up a few days later, the doctors had wondered if he had gone crazy. He would ramble unknown things, in an unknown language and would have tremors. The doctors and his family had believed it to be shellshock caused by the stress of battle yet he would claim his ramblings to be true.

Of course, no one in their right mind would believe that yet he said it was the dreams he had which led him to opening the restaurant.

When he met his wife, he seemingly had become alright, it was like his demeanour had changed and he was back to normal and for a while, he lived a normal life with the rise of his restaurant." Marco explained his family's history.

Marco paused before removing an old leather journal from his desk and placing it on his desk.

"That was until his children had found his journal. Unlike what everyone believed, he had written everything down from the time he was discharged from the hospital.

He had information about multiple events that would occur in the future. He wrote that the information was to convince him that what he had seen was true.

He had written about the Galactic Council and the Kreedian Empire before the government had even made contact with them.

He said he was given a task to give this..." Marco placed a small wooden box on the table next to the old journal.

He then proceeded to open the box carefully, revealing the contents to Jake.

A small crystalline object which was shaped like a rod, sat in the box cushioned by soft fabric.

The rod was dark purple in colour and as Jake continued to stare at it, he felt his vision become hazy.

A few seconds later, Jake felt a sharp pang in the front of his head and could not hear the Atlas anymore.

When Jake opened his eyes he felt himself on the ground. The ground was cold and hard and Jake also realised it was underground judging by his surroundings.

Jake slowly woke up trying to use his hearing to navigate around as his eyes were currently useless.

"Atlas!" Jake shouted after multiple times of calling out to the Atlas in his head.

'Was it poison? No, it can't be. This has happened before...the only times I haven't been able to speak to the Atlas was with Sera and...  The time the ChronoScribe spoke to me.' Jake thought to himself trying to deduct the reason he was here.

Jake could remember most of his memories with ease thanks to the Atlas and efficient brain training exercises so he could do it himself.

Jake would never forget his meeting with the ChronoScribe and as he continued to walk along the dark tunnel, it's path due to Jake tracing it along the nearest wall with his fingers.

A few minutes later, Jake felt the tunnel go wider, his footsteps producing a louder echo as he realised he had reached a large room.

"HELLO!" Jake shouted into the room and soon heard his echo multiple times before it finally faded away.

'Not this shit again!' Jake thought in his mind as he sat down in the darkness, wanting to conserve his energy.

As he closed his eyes and calmed his breathing, he noticed a small vibration near his chest.

Jake kept his eyes closed as he placed his hand on his chest, searching for the vibration.

After patting his chest a couple of times, he felt it. A small object shaped like a rod was in the chest pocket of the jacket he currently wore.

He placed his hand in his pocket and pulled out the vibrating object.

In his hands was a small crystalline rod that vibrated softly and had started to glow.

Jake realised this was useful and quickly woke up, trying to use the faint glow of the object to look for clues.

Jake wandered around the cavern but wound up disappointed as there was nothing besides rocks.

Jake felt his frustration increase as he stared at the rod, quietly humming away.

Jake closed his eyes for a few moments as he sat once more on the floor.

Jake felt himself fall asleep for a few minutes before waking up and opening his eyes.

The moment he did, bright white lights seeped into his retinas as Jake struggled to adjust to the light in the cavern.

As Jake felt himself finally adjusted, he took a glance at the cavern.

All around him were bright and shiny metallic walls, nothing like what he had felt in the dark.

The lights were set up to cover every single part of the room and Jake finally turned to the most interesting thing about the room, which had multiple spotlights aimed at it.

A massive metallic dual doorway stood in front of Jake with multiple patterns carved into the metal.

Jake walked closer to the doorway and felt the vibration in his chest get louder.

Jake stopped before finding the purple rod glowing and vibrating, and as he took a few steps forward he saw its effects increase.

'It must be some sort of key? Or maybe a tracker? No, that can't be right, let's bring it to the door.' Jake thought as he approached the doors.

Jake soon noticed markings on a metallic sign placed on one of the doors.

'It's not markings, it's a language! But not one I've seen before.' Jake quickly deduced. He stared for a few seconds trying to remember the letters for later before turning to the doors once more.

He got closer and gently placed his palm onto the cold hard surface.

*Hmmmmmm* The door let out a low guttural sound, most likely reverberating from deep inside.

Suddenly, a rectangular indentation opened up next to where Jake had placed his hand, causing him to quickly retract it.

The indentation was around 20 cm in both length and width with a hole in the centre.

Jake instantly realised what it meant and removed the vibrating rod from his pocket.

As Jake placed the rod into the socket, he felt odd.

Somehow the anticipation of what was behind the door made him anxious and impatient.

These were traits Jake did not like and he rarely felt them nowadays thanks to their Atlas.

Now though, there was no Atlas and these feelings, whether deep inside him or this place itself were rapidly emerging as Jake pushed the rod inside waiting for a reaction.

The moment he pulled his hand away from the socket, the indentation formed back up as if it was never there.

Jake waited and soon his fingers started to twitch, his feet tapping on their own and his eyes moving from side to side waiting for the doors to open.

Jake felt as if his body was not his. He couldn't control nor stop the reactions of his body.

A minute later, Jake heard a click in front of him, for a moment his body had calmed down and a moment after, the door appeared to open.

As it did, Jake could only see a flash of light so bright he was forced to close his eyes.

Yet, when he did...he realised he was once again back in Marco's office.