Above, the teachers and students stood in frozen shock. A myriad of emotions welled up in their hearts—terror, grief, and disbelief.
As Adrian fell, the world grew quiet. The people above faded until he could no longer see them. Sadness surged through him, and tears escaped his eyes. Why did this happen? There were so many things I needed to do... I was getting so close...
Time seemed to slow down. Images flashed through his brain: happy moments with Celeste, the only true friend he had ever known, and the bittersweet memories of his childhood in the orphanage. He watched his sixteen years of life flicker by like a movie.
Finally, with a sharp, jolting pain, his consciousness shut off, and the darkness truly took over.
"Ugh..." Adrian clutched his head in pain, fighting an intense headache that hit him the moment he tried to remember how he had ended up here.
What is this pain? What is happening to me? > He yelped, clutching his skull as he felt as if millions of ants were biting at his brain. The agony was so sharp that he fell to the cold, hard metal floor, gasping with the urge to roll. But before the headache could do any lasting damage, it vanished as quickly as it had arrived.
It had only lasted for a few seconds, but it was enough to leave Adrian's forehead and back drenched in sweat.
"What the hell was that...?" he muttered, fear etched on his face. He had never experienced anything like it; it was a living hell.
It took him several minutes to recover. Wiping the sweat from his brow, Adrian frowned, though he dared not dig any deeper into his mind. Despite his fear, a fragment of a memory remained: an empty space consisting of an ocean of stars and nebulas. In that void, he had faced a being shrouded in darkness. Only its glowing, violet-black eyes were visible; the rest of its features were hidden in shadow.
That was it. That was the only thing that had surfaced along with the pain. He knew for a fact he had never been to a place like that, nor did he remember meeting such a being.
Who is this person? And what is that place? When did I go there?
Questions flooded his mind, and Adrian sighed, thinking hard. He wanted to dig deeper, to force himself to remember, but the moment he tried, a splitting headache returned. He groaned, quickly pulling back his efforts to make the agony stop. He took several deep breaths, shaken by how quickly the pain had resurfaced.
After calming down, Adrian shook his head and fell silent. He pulled himself out of his reverie and pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind. He couldn't remember the memory even if he tried, and the cost of trying was a level of pain he couldn't bear. For now, he had to let it go.
But then, he remembered her. The most important person in his life—the one he had worked so hard to be with. Adrian knew she was gone now; he was far, far away from where she stayed. Thinking about it wasn't a solution. He was somewhere new, with a new life to live, even if it felt hollow without her.
No matter how far I am from you, Celeste... I will live this life in your name. I just wish for you to be happy.
With a struggle, he stood up and turned to look at the familiar, grand command bridge. It was silent and empty. Suddenly, another memory flashed through his mind—a vivid illusion. For a fleeting second, he saw a group of people sitting at their respective controls, operating the ship with practiced ease.
A few more crew members stood near the secondary central console above the bridge, busy at work near the viewport. Adrian turned toward the back of the command room, where the command seat and the ship's main controls sat high above the rest.
On either side, he could see a dozen individuals. They all wore excited expressions, chatting with one another and calling up to the figure in the command seat. The man in the seat shared their excitement, his eyes darting across the holographic panels projected from the floor. He exclaimed every few moments, sharing the impressive performance parameters of the ship's state-of-the-art equipment.
One man, wearing glasses and the white attire of a scientist, puffed out his chest. Adrian could still remember the words he spoke:
"Of course! Who do you think built this ship, huh? These parameters are only natural since the greatest technician built her personally with his own two hands! Hmph!"
The others laughed, and the man in the command seat laughed with them.
That man had been Adrian himself. This was a memory from when they had just departed for the Lands of Lost—a lawless cluster of star systems ruled by neutral convoys and pirate organizations. They had been on a commissioned mission and had just entered hyperspace.
With time to spare, Adrian had been talking with his closest aides. The man in the scientist's clothing was none other than Lio Halvek, the guild's chief researcher and technician.
As the vision faded, Adrian looked around the empty bridge once more.
"Don't be such a proud father! If not for the Guild Master's own help, it would have taken you forever just to complete the Argonaut's design, much less build it!"
Rolling her eyes, an astonishingly beautiful young lady in her early twenties mocked her father. She didn't stop there. "Heh, and don't forget you had me and four hundred other highly talented shipbuilders and technicians helping you."
Smirking, she continued, pouring salt into the wounds she had just created. The others in the room burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! That was great, Vivian! Absolutely great!" one of the members shouted. He wore a guild uniform with a flying aircraft badge pinned to his shoulder—the guild's ace fighter pilot, an extremely talented man named Evans. He laughed so hard his stomach began to ache.