Zyrus opened his eyes after an unknown time. Every muscle of his body was sore after using spatial stab. Worse, due to scales his outer skin was harder than metal, making him feel like his insides were stuffed and swollen.

  But before even assessing his surroundings, the first thing he did was ask the question that was troubling him.

  “Are you the will of Earth?”

  [<[Not quite, but we can talk about it later]>]

  The squirrel replied in a solemn tone as it stared at the sky. Or rather, at the other side of it where lay a different dimension.

  Zyrus followed its tiny beadlike eyes and saw something which he’d never forget. It was like he was looking at the other side of the mirror.

  He didn’t know why humans decided to leave the earth, but if what they saw was similar to the scene in front of him, then he wouldn’t blame them.

  Wriggling and squirming under the dark space was a hive that looked like a star. It whipped its planet-sized tentacles and smashed apart an entire asteroid belt. Even more horrifying was its surface which was made up of honeycomb-like layers; and Zyrus could sense trillions of insects that were incubating within.

  [<[This is what you’ll face later on…or perhaps, soon]>]

  “Is that the home planet of aliens?”

  [<[It’s one of their hives. To be exact, the hive that is closing in on the solar system]>]

  Zyrus felt like a bombshell had gone off in his head. Things were progressing too fast for him to keep up. Compared to the hive, the remaining two lords felt almost inconsequential.

  [<[No need to worry. You have time to prepare. For now, let’s return to your base]>]

  Zyrus had a ton of things to ask about, like where did the squirrel go to or what type of being it was. For now, he put the thoughts at the back of his head and teleported to the base.

  [<[ Rest well, we’ll meet tomorrow]>]

  “Yeah, I’ll take a nap as well.” Franken and the Squirrel left one after another. Zyrus slept on the warm floor and closed his eyes as well. He hadn’t thought that the side effects of the spatial stab would be this severe.

  ‘I should thank Aurora for the previous time.’

  Even while being limited by the system’s power, she had healed him after his fight against Nidraxis. His vitality at that time was pitiful to say the least. It was a miracle that he survived.

  Zyrus decided to work on a body-strengthening skill next. He was too feeble to use his Sylvarix bloodline at full potential.

  Nonetheless, everything had to wait till he recovered. Even using his head to think was excruciatingly painful at this moment.

  ‘About time I took a good long nap.’

  …

  A whole day passed by as Zyrus recovered some of his mana and vitality. He was like an overworked engine that needed a good rest and maintenance. With his exhausted mental strength he was unable to work on any skills. Physical exercises were naturally out of the question. Once again, Zyrus realized just how much he had changed. This day reminded him of the six months he had spent right after regressing on this abandoned earth.

  He met with Franken and the squirrel, but seeing his condition, the two forced him to stay in the warehouse until he recovered completely.

  And so, days passed by.

  The only good thing was that this time allowed Zyrus to focus on training his summons. There wasn’t much to do in any production-related facilities. Zirnitra and Franken were helpless due to lack of any suitable materials, so they grilled the poor summons in the meantime.

  The formation he laid out would also be improved since one part of the training included mining the remaining minerals on earth.

  Today, Zyrus had recovered after a full month. He went outside the warehouse and looked at the sky that looked dimmer than he remembered. After noticing his presence, Franken and the squirrel teleported right in front of him.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  [<[Apologies, I was unable to give you your due rewards. Thankfully, everything’s settled now.]>]

  This was the first thing that the squirrel said. The words were like music to Zyrus’s ears since he was itching to do something after recuperating for a whole damn month.

  “Are you going to answer my questions? If you can't then at least tell me everything you can.”

  [<[Sure, no problem]>]

  The squirrel jumped from Franken’s back and landed on Zyrus’s shoulder. Rather than answering his questions, it directly transmitted the related memories.

  *BOOM*

  Zyrus found himself in a world of moving images. Millions of scenes were playing out all around him. Now it made sense why the squirrel wanted him to get full recovery.

  ‘Mind link, a high-rank spell.’

  He identified the spell at a glance. What Zyrus was seeing weren’t the memories of the squirrel, but rather, of Earth itself. Bit by bit the unrelated images were blurred, leaving behind the scenes that answered Zyrus’s questions.

  The pages of history were flipped backwards, towards the fateful day when everything changed for humanity.

  …

  In the year 2748, on the eve of summer solstice. An interstellar object crashed at the center of the north pole. No one took it seriously as they believed it was just another case of space junk falling down or maybe the work of a burnt-up meteor.

  Still, both of these items were valuable. Humanity had made rapid improvements in the last couple of centuries. The entire planet was now run by sustainable sources of energy. Gone were the days of using fossil fuels while fearing global warming.

  There were no diseases that couldn’t be cured, nor were there any major wars that took place. It was perhaps the greatest era of peace and development.

  But there was one thing that no amount of technology could solve: Greed.

  No matter how bright the sun shone, it couldn’t eliminate all shadows. Smuggling and illegal trafficking were some of the things that stuck with humanity even after all this development.

  It was one such group of smugglers that found the interstellar object, or rather, the Beacon of Order.

  …

  Year 2859, at the headquarters of Osiris Corporation. Hundreds of scientists were bustling around a spherical object that resembled the structure of an atom- A bright golden core surrounded by rings of intricately carved metal.

  It was this object that allowed them to rise to the prominence. From a smuggling crew to the leading company in space research, their rise was perhaps the highlight of the past century.

  Naturally, all of this was because of this object. They realized that this was some sort of a communication device sent by an alien civilization. Their level of technology was too far apart. Just in the process of decoding the message and experimenting on the alien artifact, they had advanced their research by leaps and bounds. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that they were at the forefront of earth’s technology.

  It was only a matter of time before they figured out the core text. They didn’t imagine what sort of impact this would have on this planet’s future.

  …

  Year 3078, 14th January. A world-shocking incident took place on this day. Wars had long since become a history of the past, but today, humanity once again glanced at its shadow.

  What occurred was too short to be called a war.

  In but an hour millions of lives were lost. The common public had no idea as to why the major nations were raining down destruction upon one another. They had long since set their sights on the endless stars; what conflict caused such a disaster then?

  Before long, conspiracy theories and half-true evidence spread on the internet. It was rumored that the cause of this war was a discovery made by the Osiris corporation, a behemoth of a commercial empire that was wiped out in this massacre.

  No one knew what information they had found or who was in charge of it now. However, one thing was for certain.

  The days of peace were over.

  …

  Year 3218, 21st August. A world conference was held to end the wars. A quarter of earth’s population was wiped out because of the greed of humanity. Everyone knew by now that the cause of this disaster was a mysterious object that was the source of untold wisdom. All wanted to be the first ones to unlock the true message, yet none succeeded even after a hundred years. Humanity was forced to work together once again.

  Today was the day when that truth was revealed. Only today did they realize how stupid they had been.

  The object in front of them wasn’t the elixir they sought. It was a herald of doom that destroyed everything they had built since the dawn of men.

  The message was short and simple. It explained how the aliens had invaded the earth billions of years ago, at a time when earth was just a boiling hot planet.

  In the deep crevices of the ocean and beneath the dark underground they lay dormant even to this day. Their proud civilization was nothing more than livestock raised by those creatures. They were only separated by a thin membrane, a membrane which was starting to break apart.

  The message told them that they were neither the first nor the last civilization that had been attacked in this manner. The object called the beacon of order had ample information on how to halt the aliens’ invasion and how to escape during dire times.

  In order to avoid mass panic, this news wasn’t spread to the common populace. A peace treaty was signed on that momentous day. All nations gathered together to usher in a new era of development.

  They had a lot of time to prepare for the aliens’ invasion. They didn’t fear the aliens with the newfound technology and three billion years in their hands.

  …

  Zyrus looked at the last image with a heavy heart. He had expected such an outcome after reading Tauranox’s and Camazotz’s source of existence.

  ‘I once believed that sanctuary was too strange of a name for that hellish place, but now it makes sense.’

  After seeing true hell with his own eyes, he realized that the place he loathed before regression was more like a paradise. Things were getting bigger and bigger as he uncovered more secrets.

  ‘Just what happened in those last 400 years that led to the current state of earth?’

  Zyrus steadied his breath and moved towards the last scene.