The Next Move

Pzzzzzzzzzz…

Static cuts into the comms and the video feed degrades into white noise. The drone is no more.

"Ahh… Not an hour into the mission and we already lost two of the six gadgets," Cisca says.

"What do we do now?" I ask.

"Hold on one second," she says, "We learned a lot from what just happened. I have to do an analysis real quick."

"Alright."

As Cisca is rapidly typing into her keyboard, I take a second to process this.

Less than an hour ago, I was the richest man on Earth. Now, I am no different from a newborn infant in this world of fiction. Adding on to that, I have a life span of a thousand years, carrying humanity's last hope.

Just what did I get myself into? I could have lived the rest of my life more than comfortably without having to worry about future generations, but would I? Is this a dream? I hope not. I don't want to leave the cradle of this grassy meadow, and to think that I might help the rest of the people on Earth see the sight I am seeing right now, it's all worth whatever that comes its way. As long as I am ultimately recognized for it, of course.

Cisca finishes with what she is doing and looks into the camera. "Okay," she says, "Here is my conclusion so far. By the way the knights are dressed and the weapon they are using, the civilization here is similar to the pre-industrial age on Earth."

"Makes sense," I say. Nothing I saw the knights have is powered by electricity.

"Which means that with your knowledge of Earth's modern technology, you will be seen as a god."

"Cool." That doesn't sound too bad.

"However, seeing that dragons exist, and there is some form of unknown force these knights can manipulate that is akin to magic, there will be a lot for us to learn from them, as well."

"Yeah. So what is our next move?" I ask.

Cisca rests her hand on her chin and thinks for a second.

"It doesn't look like there are any human settlements in your vicinity, correct?" She asks.

"That's right, yeah."

"So, your current best choice is to go toward our only clue."

"The dragon?"

"Yes."

Is that really my best choice, though? To head toward a flame belching dragon and magic casting knights? Well, if Cisca says it's the best, then it's the best.

"Alright," I say and begin walking toward the unconscious little girl.

"What are you doing?" Cisca asks.

I bring my hands under her neck and knees and say, "Well, I can't leave her here. The knights can probably find somewhere to get her help."

"She will only be a burden to you, Kris."

"Are you asking me to leave an unconscious child alone in a field where dragons roam around?" I ask.

Cisca stares me dead in the eye and says, "Kris, your current objective is to save humanity, a little girl shouldn't get in the way of that."

"That doesn't matter. I am not going to leave her here. You are cold, you know that?"

I understand what Cisca is trying to say, but if I were to leave the kid behind, there is no way I'd be able to sleep soundly tonight. If I make it alive till then, that is.

"It's your choice, I guess. You are the boss here," Cisca says with a sigh.

"I am the boss everywhere, Cisca."

"Sure."

When I pick the girl up in my arms, I notice something wrong.

"Whoa," I exclaim out loud.

"What is it?" Cisca asks.

"She is… unbelievably light. Is it the Exosuit?"

Of course, I have never held a human in my arms before, but I can definitely notice the abnormalities here. I am holding her up with almost no effort at all.

"No, the Exosuit doesn't have any strengthening features. Interesting…," Cisca says, "Kris, can you jump for me?"

"What? Like this?" I hop up into the air. I don't know if it's just my imagination or because of my previous stay in the weird quantum plane, but I realize I am reaching a height much higher than I should be able to reach, and the time it takes for me to land back is much longer.

"This is an odd feeling. Is it from the quantum teleportation?" I ask.

"No," Cisca says after pressing something into her computer, "I just did some calculation from your jump, and it appears that Eden has approximately 80% of Earth's gravitational force."

"That's… cool. What does it mean for me?"

"Well, not much apart from the longer time it takes for objects to fall. Oh, it's also likely that life here has grown to be used to lower gravity, which means that you will essentially have super strength compared to the people here," Cisca explains.

"That's nice."

"Not by much though, but it should be very noticeable."

"Great. Shall I get going now?" I ask.

"Go on ahead."

With the girl in my arms, I begin jogging toward the site of destruction. Since I have my Exosuit covering my entire body, I can't exactly feel the tall grass brushing against my skin, but I am sure it would be a great sensation.

The air is so refreshing. I have never felt such power flowing through my blood with every breath I take, ironically, not even after I took the anti-aging agent. Because of the lower gravity, each of my leaps is farther and each of my steps is faster.

I am only in my mid-twenties, so I wouldn't know, but is this what it feels like to return to one's youth? Well, I guess no one knows what that feels like, but I don't think it's very far from what I am experiencing right now.

The growls keep on coming from within the depth of the dense forest in front of me, and every now and then, another thunder comes with it.

"Wow, you are fast," Cisca says.

"Yeah." My hair, along with the girl's, flutter in the breeze. She really does have almost the exact same shade of gold as mine. Well, that is far from the strangest thing I have seen after arriving in Eden.

I am at the trees now. There are some spacious gaps between each trunk, so I run in without much of a problem. Immediately, shade blankets over me. It's as if night has suddenly fallen.

It's not that I haven't seen trees before. There are some as decorations around the foyers in my towers, but I have never seen such a dense group of them that the leaves block out the sun from above me, and none of the ones back on Earth were of such towering heights. One could easily die if they fell off halfway from the trunk.

I feel as if I ran into the all-encompassing embrace of Mother Nature. Not a corner of my eye is not filled with luxuriant green. There aren't any signs of humans ever treading through this area. It's just a world solely belonging to the towering trees and thick leaves.

I can see Cisca glancing between screens while fiercely typing into her computer. She doesn't even have the time to be amazed.

The thunder has ceased. I haven't heard one in a while now. The dragon's growls, however, are still going strong and the ground continues trembling.