The Shield

Rumors spread around a space station. It was about a lost civilization that had three different sentient species with four habitable planets, all in one star. The star had the name Tessera.

Apparently, a man named Vincent Grey has found said civilization and sold many artifacts that he found there.

Vincent was on the station in a bar, bragging about how much money he now has, and „Is the best artifact hunter in the galaxy!" people say.

I know he's kind of an asshole because I knew him. We used to be buddies, working together to find ancient artifacts, selling them together and splitting the money fifty-fifty. Until he became selfish and wanted all the goods for himself.

When Vincent and I found a bunch of rare stuff, he went off to sell the goods while I was badly hurt after some pirates tried to raid us, but he never came back.

I trusted him, the artifacts probably could sell for a lot of money, so he made himself disappear. He just left his friend who could barely move after his injuries. I later found out he got himself an awesome new space ship and went on his own adventures.

When we were together we talked about the lost civilization, and how much we would get if we did find it. That was my ultimate goal in my life, but he found it first.

I was not going to give up though, I will find the star Tessera and uncover most of the artifacts before him. Yes, he already found most of it but there are still a large amount of the ancient artifacts there. There are four habitable planets, after all, there must be a lot remaining.

I hatched myself a plan to get there, it was stupid, but it could work.

Vincent has the fastest ship I have ever seen, so following him with my ship would not work. Trying to set a homing beacon would not work either because every time when he has departed from a station or planet, he sends out a small electrical discharge around the ship to kill unknown electric entities.

So with my brilliant and awesome brain, I will sneak into his spaceship, and hide until he arrives at Tessera. I will save the coordinates with a beacon, and let him fly back. Then I will go there myself and take the rest of the loot. Brilliant, I know.

I am in the same bar as him, waiting until he goes off to Tessera again. I was wearing my orange cloak with light blue stripes, and I had my hood on with a glass of some beer in my right hand. I didn't want to get noticed, did I?

Yes, I looked really suspicious, but I needed to hide myself from him.

Vincent finally stood up, grabbed his black and white jacket, gave the barkeeper some money, then went on his way.

With my feet on the ground, I finished my drink, picked up my backpack containing the beacon, then followed him.

„Hey, Ethan are you gonna pay for your drink or what?" said the barkeep.

Shit, why did he have to use my name? Vincent might have heard, but with all the noise coming from the others around me, aliens and humans, he couldn't have heard him.

„Sorry, I was in a hurry," I said and tossed him a coin, which he grabbed, and huffed at me. I come here often, and I talk a lot to the barkeep. I feel like we're friends, but he probably thinks I'm a nobody.

I kept on following Vincent but kept my distance. looking at my surrounding there were not many people around.

There were some screens displaying the great treasure hunt, which was about finding the most valuable artifacts and stuff like that.

There was trash laying around, and the air was awful. Probably because the station isn't maintained well, I always question myself, why do I go here often?

I ended at one of the nearby hangars, seeing Vincent's ship I went a bit faster. Vincent started opening the back ramp of the ship. I hid behind some boxes around here and waited for the right moment.

Vincent was about to go up the ramp when someone behind him called him out. It was a friend of mine that's helping me to distract him.

Vincent went back down to respond to him, then I ran swiftly and quietly inside the ship without him knowing and hid behind some crates.

That guy isn't actually my friend, he is just some drunken guy that was in the bar. I asked for his help and in return, I gave him a drink.

Vincent finished talking with the guy and went up the ramp then closed it, he walked towards the cockpit and closed the door behind him.

I turned off all my electrical equipment so they won't fry up when the ship starts flying. My blaster was one of them. I can't have my blaster on nor my other stuff, because he will use that electrical discharge probably often.

Now I have to hide here for some time until we finally arrive. I took off my backpack and checked the beacon, it looked fine so I made sure it was turned off then put it aside and sat down.

With my blaster pistol in hand, I waited until we would arrive at the destination.

----------

Twelve hours passed, and I felt for the space ship landing. I guess this is the place. I should wait for Vincent to leave, then I will place the beacon somewhere outside.

I heard footsteps and the ramp going down. I felt a breeze going towards me and the smell of vegetations.

I stepped outside after a few minutes later and looked around. The place is beautiful, the trees and grass swayed around by the wind, birds flying in the clear blue sky. How could a civilization disappear from a beautiful place like this I wonder.

Vincent was nowhere to be seen, it should be safe. I took out my beacon from my pack and walked around until I found a good spot to hide it.

The wind picked up, and my hood flew off, showing my short blonde hair to nature. For some unknown reason in the region of space that I am in, there are barely any humans with blonde hair. Vincent can always find me if I don't have anything to cover it.

I heard some rustling noise from behind. Not just some rustling noise, there was also noise from a weapon being charged up.

„Hi there, Ethan," I heard Vincent say.

Well shit.

I turned around to face him, with my beacon in both hands.

„Oh, hi Vincent, long time no see friend," I said with a sarcastic tone.

Vincent has black hair that was cut short. He has a handsome face, which is probably why every girl likes him. His face is also very composed and he has perfect teeth. His height is somewhere around 170 centimeters, I was a bit shorter than him.

„Tell me why you are here and how, and maybe I won't shoot you," he said with a grin on his face and raised his gun more to aim for my head.

„Well . . . heh . . . I found this place . . . on my own, and I'm here in search of artifacts, like you," I said and felt sweat coming down from my forehead.

I don't normally get scared like this, but when someone is pointing a gun at me and I don't have anything ready to defend myself with . . . then I get scared.

„Oh really?"

„Yup, that's all."

„So you're not the man who snuck into my spaceship?" He said and saw my face make a bit of a reaction. „Did you really think I didn't notice you in the bar?"

„How did you know it was me?" I said with confusion in my head.

„Ethan, you always wear that same cloak. I have never ever seen anyone else wear a cloak like that," he said with a small chuckle.

„Well, it's my favorite, but did you notice me when I boarded the ship?" He laughed even harder that time.

„No I didn't see you, but my ship detected you with its radar you dumbass."

Oh . . . why didn't I think of that, what is wrong with me?

„huh, so you let me come with you? Why?"

„Because I needed some help from others, and seeing you in the bar I just knew you would try and come to my ship. So I let you."

It appears that I'm a complete idiot. I'm not really the smartest person in the world but I had to give it a shot.

„Why do you need others for help? If it is some puzzle you need solving, then you got the wrong person," I said and was still holding on the beacon with both hands.

„Okay, when I said I needed others I actually meant just you."

„Me? Why did you only need me?" I said in confusion.

„In the temple near here is a door, it's locked so I can't get in there. I tried shooting it, but there was an energy field. Explosions might work but, it will probably collapse the temple."

„An energy field? There is still power there?"

„Yeah, I don't get it either."

I gathered my thoughts and asked „Why personally me? And how did you know I would be in that specific station?"

„You moron, you always go there, it's your favorite place to go for a drink, even when the place looks like shit and smells like shit. And why specifically you? Because on the side of the door has the name Ethan written there. Your name."

„What," I said and stared blankly at him.

„I don't understand either, but I wanted to give it a try if something happened when you go near it," he said and held his blaster more firmly.

„Would you mind dropping that beacon and your weapon please, then follow me."

I did what I was told and followed him.

----------

Walking with my hands up, we finally arrived at the temple ruins.

The place looked like it was from old Earth. I think it was called ancient Greek or something like that. I haven't read about old Earth in a long time, so my memory might be a bit foggy. There's also a lot of greenery and friendly animals around.

„In there," Vincent said and pointed towards the big temple.

We went inside, the place had some ancient writing and pictures around the room. There were also small pedestals where I guess some artifact statues were on, Vincent probably did something to them.

We kept on walking in a hallway until we started going down some stairs.

The walls and ceiling had many damages due to old age, there were holes and cracks scattered around, and plants were all over the temple ruins.

The door Vincent talked about was in front of us. It didn't look like there was damage on it, it looked like it's maintained quite well.

I inspected the door, and sure enough, there was my name. It even had my writing style, maybe I wrote this? I'm sure that I didn't write this, I haven't even come to this planet before.

„So . . . what do you want me to do?��� I asked and looked at Vincent.

„I don't know, try getting close to it, or touch it."

„I'm sure touching the door won't do a thing," I said and went to the door and touched my name.

Nothing happened.

„See? Nothing is happe . . ." I couldn't finish my words when all of a sudden the lines of the door started to glow orange. „I . . . I guess I spoke too soon."

„Hah, I knew it," Vincent said and praised himself.

„You didn't know, you just had a hunch."

The door started to open and light flowed from behind it. The sight from the inside made me and vincent stop in astonishment.

„Holy . . . I didn't expect there to be a lot of . . ."

„I'M RICH, HAHA!" Vincent yelled out, cutting me of. He did sound really happy, probably because the room was filled with treasure, Gold, trinkets, ancient weaponry e.t.c.

„I thought you were already rich, taking all the money from me and all."

„Oh shut up, take this bag and gather as much as you can of everything," Vincent said and tossed me a bag which he had on his back the entire time.

„Are you gonna make me do all the work?"

„Well . . . I have the job of making you do the work, and I have the gun, so . . ."

Then began the trips back and forth of me bringing the treasure to the ship. As I was doing so I tried to find an escape route from Vincent.

There were some weapons around, but they were all swords, maces, axes and a bunch of other stuff for melee combat. There were no bows or crossbows around, did this civilization not know how to make ranged weapons? I could hardly believe that.

While digging around in a gold pile I stumbled across what looked like could be a grenade. How did I know it was a grenade? Well there looked like it had a pin that I can take out. I hid it from Vincent's view and looked back at him.

„Why are you looking at me? Get back to work."

„Well, I . . ." Crap, I need to think of something to distract him with.

I looked around the room for something, anything that would help my situation. I spotted a chest filled with gold and asked . . .

„Maybe . . . You could help me with that chest over there. Together we could bring it all up faster." That was terrible, why did I not think of something else?

„Do you think I'm going to fall for your tricks, Ethan? I'm not gonna help you." As he said that, he looked behind him towards the chest.

I immediately pulled the pin and tossed it towards Vincent while he was looking away. I at the same time jumped to the floor and braced for an explosion.

„What the . . !?" Vincent threw himself on the floor, away from the grenade.

A loud bang came from the grenade and also a flash of light. The room started to fill up with smoke fast.

So it was a smoke grenade, huh.

I started to rise from the floor and ran away from Vincent.

Shots were firing in my direction, but because of the smoke he couldn't see me, so he shot randomly towards me.

The way I was heading was not the exit, but a hallway that led to a door which I opened up and went inside.

„Ethan! Come back here!" I heard Vincent say when I closed the door.

I quickly searched the room with my eyes, but found nothing, except for what looked like a shield on a pedestal in the middle of the room.

With nothing else around me I went and picked it up from the pedestal. It was a pointed triangular shield with small curves on all sides. There were lines in front of the shield emitting some energy, and on the edges as well.

I fasten the shield to my right arm, then it started to glow more with orange energy.

Huh, whatever it's age is, it still has power. I feel like a knight, but without a sword. The civilization knew how to make energy powered stuff, how come I didn't see any modern weapons?

The shield didn't protect every part of my body, but it should be . . . What the . . . ?

All of a sudden, around the shield it started to grow more with energy like it was getting bigger. Now it protected my whole front body with this strange energy barrier.

I'm hoping Vincent's shots won't go through it, then I would lose a limb or two. Or my life.

The only door of the room, which I came through, blasted open with an aggressive affect. Then came in Vincent with his grinning face.

„Vincent! Are you crazy!? Why would you use an explosion just to go through the door!?" I yelled out.

„You tossed a grenade which could have been explosive, and you're asking me?"

„Well . . . mine was a smoke grenade, so no harm was done." After saying those words, Vincent shot three times at me. The shield blocked them all without a scratch.

„A shield huh? Are you just a coward hiding behind a shield? Come and fight me like a real man!"

„I would rather not, this is the only thing keeping me safe," I said and held the rather light shield more firmly.

Surprisingly, Vincent tossed his weapon to the left and cracked his knuckles. „Come on then, fight me!"

I can't trust him, he always carries a second gun in his jacket.

Wait, what's this? Somehow I didn't see it before, but on the shield facing me, was a small screen that had a text in an unknown language.

Then beneath that was a button on the screen. Without a second thought, I pressed it.

The screen faded away, then I felt like small needles pierced my right arm. I made an audible yelp from the pain, then I felt like something was dispensed into me.

„Ethan, what are you doing!? Drop the shield and fight me!"

I felt my right arm starting to hurt more, then it started to move up my body to my chest. My heart started getting attacked by whatever went inside me. It hurt like hell, and it was obvious Vincent started giving me weird looks. Probably because I started screaming.

It felt like my heart was starting to get ripped off. I fell down on my back and continued screaming.

I couldn't hear Vincent if he was saying anything out loud. All I heard was my own screams of pain.

My sight started to get foggy. My brain was yelling at me about how dumb it was for me to pick up this shield. Well, I'm sorry Mr.Brain what else was I supposed to do?

Then finally after a few agonizing seconds of pain it finally faded away. Then, my vision went dark.

----------

„ARGHH . . . Wait . . . The pain is gone?" I told myself when I woke back up.

„Hey, you're finally awake," Vincent said.

Looking around I was still in the same room when I fell unconscious, my arms were tied up by some rope and I still had my shield on. The shield didn't emit the energy any longer, it looked smaller for some reason. Its height was high as my forearm.

„Vincent, Why did you leave the shield on me?" I said while staring towards him.

„That's the first thing you ask?" He stared at me confused. „Well, Because the shield is stuck to you, don't ask me why because I don't know."

I looked more closely at the shield, it didn't look like the needles were in my skin anymore. That's good. I did not want to feel that pain again.

I looked at the screen on the shield, there were displaying some icons now. There was an icon for a shield, another with three dots going down with lines beside them, then the last had also three lines with smaller shield icons beside them with different looks.

„Did you do something with the screen?" I asked Vincent and pointed towards it with my left hand.

„I tried, but nothing happens, maybe you can do something to it, like when you touched the door."

I think he wants to know what this shield can do, and how much it would sell.

„I will try it . . . if, you untie me," I said with a smile on my face.

„That's not gonna happen, Ethan," he answered quickly. Then his face became serious. „If you're not gonna do what I ask, then I'll rip your arm off."

„Whoa, hold it right there pal." Is he really serious about taking my arm? Well, he was about to kill me with his blaster, so . . . „Fine, I'll press one of the buttons."

I looked over the icons and decided on the second option. The screen changed and now there were texts for . . . Programs.

I made an audible „Huh."

„What do you mean by, huh?" I heard vincent ask.

I read more of these programs and was able to scroll down, but most of them had a lock symbol next to them.

„I don't know exactly what I'm looking at. I think I can run some programs on the shield, like I would on a computer." I kept on scrolling down.

„Huh . . ." Vincent looked over towards my screen. „How come you can read that, but not me?"

„ . . . ."

He's right. How can I read this? It is the same language when I first used the shield, but I didn't understand a thing. Now I can read it like I was born with it.

That's one weird thing, but the other weird thing is why is Vincent being more friendly to me? He is acting like we're still friends or something, is he trying to trick me?

„Oh whatever, will you please find a way to get free from the shield so I can sell it for a big price. Or I will get rid of your arm."

Nevermind, he's still a douchebag, and I was right about the selling the shield part.

„Yeah, yeah, I'm working on it . . . Wait, what's this?" I said and looked at a program that did not have a locked symbol. Knowing that Vincent can't read the text I said it out loud.

„'Summon Shield Artifact Wielder.' Should I press it?" I said and looked towards Vincent.

„No, I think you should stop, I don't want you to . . . HEY!"

I pressed it. I didn't want him to cut my arm, so I hoped it would do something, and quickly.

The shield started to glow brighter than before with orange color, then a bubble from it started to rise.

Vincent didn't say another word, he jumped back, and pulled out his blaster pistol and was about to shoot me.

I quickly hid behind the shield and heard his shots go towards me.

I was still sitting down with my hands tied. The shield was not big enough to protect my whole body, but he still somehow hit the only protection I had on me.

„Wha . . . How am I hitting your shield!? I'm perfectly aiming for you, rather than that stupid shield!" Vincent shouted.

For some reason, when Vincent shot the shield, the strange bubble coming from it was getting larger much faster. Maybe the shield was making his shots go to it and then absorbs it?

With that thought, I stood up and charged towards Vincent and was able to knock him down with me. Why did I do that? Because I felt brave at that moment . . . And because I'm stupid as hell.

When we hit the floor, Vincent dropped his blaster far from his reach.

„AH! Get off me!"

„Nah, I think I'll stay where I'm at," I said and had his left arm stuck beneath my back and held his right arm with my own hands. My hands were still tied up at that moment.

With a struggle, he managed to free his hands, then he punched me right in the face. He got to his feet and lunged for his weapon.

I quickly stood up and faced the shield towards him.

I felt blood coming from my nose.

Vincent fired his blaster at me, but they all moved strangely towards the shield.

I felt the energy inside getting stronger, and the bubble was starting to pulsate.

Vincent kept pressing the trigger again and again though he knew it would go towards the shield.

Then Vincent stopped. From his face, it looked like he had an idea.

He aimed his blaster more to the right away from me and fired.

The projectile curved and hit the edge of the shield. Any further it might have hit the back end of the shield, or me.

I knew what he was trying to do, but I would not let him. I started moving more with my shield arm to absorb the shots better.

Vincent started firing to his left then right again, repeating this act many times. I quickly blocked the shots by turning both ways quickly.

I could see that his weapon was about to overheat, and it would need to cool down soon. If Vincent would not cool it down, it would do it automatically, then that would be my chance to run at him.

The bubble was pulsating more and more, and it was getting brighter.

Then it happened, I heard the sound from his weapon starting to cool itself down. I ran towards him with my shield in front.

He managed to move before I collided with him, but I stopped and quickly turned and was able to hit his hand where he held his blaster.

As it was falling I kicked it, making it fly away outside the bubble. But I used to much force and spun myself away from Vincent.

He took the opportunity and got a chokehold on me, and he made himself drop to the ground.

„Stop that thing! Turn that shield off!" He yelled out.

I didn't respond.

I was struggling, he had a good grip against my neck, it was getting harder to breathe.

I saw the bubble getting brighter and brighter until it was too bright for my eyes.

His grip got lighter, and I felt my body leaving the ground like I was floating.

What the hell is happening? What is going on?

It was too bright, I felt like I was spinning in circles. I think I was starting to faint.

The light was getting darker until it got completely dark.

I heard no sound from my surroundings.

I didn't feel a thing around my body.

I think my consciousness was leaving me. And it did.