John had a long and strange dream.

He saw images of an Ancient civilization, its people and their... Power.

In the dream, the people that he saw were very strange to him. They were tall, had gray skin, red eyes, and pointy ears.

They were all very strong and able to do unthinkable things.

But what really got John's attention was their power.

From the images that flashed in John's mind, that race was able to manipulate nature, time, s.p.a.ce, and everything around them by controlling a kind of energy that was present in everything and everyone.

John saw that before every single one them activated their power, their hands flashed with a blue light and small blue particles floated around their hands...

Just like what John saw happening with Peri in the power room.

The last series of images were different from the previous. John was unable to understand the context of the previous one, but the last few, he was able to understand.

The images showed a lone giant person from that race facing another person that had the same body build of the previous one, but his entire skin was crimson red, and his eyes were completely black.

"You disappointed me, brother..." The giant said to the red person. "I warned you about the dangers of forcibly acquiring the power, now look what happened." He sadly sighed. "Your soul, your entire being became... Corrupted."

The red person only groaned in response, but kept his anger filled eyes glued at the giant.

"I know that I'm unable to kill you right now. You became way too strong for that, but I'm more than certain that still can beat you." The giant said while staring at the red man.

"Grrrr..." The red man growled at the giant and waved his arms, causing enormous red tentacles to appear from every single part of his body and they immediately started to attack the giant person.

His body blew up in a red mist. From deep within the mist a single giant eye appeared. It viciously stared at the giant person in front of it. Black particles floated around each tentacle, making a mixture of red and black, it looked way more menacing now.

"This will probably end with my death... I hope my preparations are enough for the future..." The giant sighed once again, then he started to attack the tentacles that were already in front of him. Blue particles floated all around his body until it formed something like a shield around him.

This last image looked almost like the neon painting in the Ark Outpost.

The painting that showed the Ruin and the Cultivator fighting each other...

...

John's eyes flared open.

*Cough, cough, cough...*

He started to endlessly cough some kind of slimy, light red liquid that was inside his lungs.

"Where am I?" The last thing he remembered was getting shot right after he left the Syndicate's outpost, and then he went unconscious.

He looked around and saw that he was inside a gla.s.s tank.

He knocked once in the gla.s.s and immediately the gla.s.s started to go up, opening a s.p.a.ce big enough for John to walk out of the platform.

John tried to leave the platform, but his body was weak and his legs were wobbly.

*Bam*

He fell on his face on the cold metal floor.

John embarra.s.sedly stood up and looked around him.

[The Medical Bay?] He soon realized he was on his ship's Medical Bay room. [How did I end up here?]

John looked down and saw that he was on his underwear. "What the..." He exclaimed.

He turned around and saw that his clothes and armors were beside the Healing Pod.

"SAIL." John called out, while he wore his clothes.

"Yes, Protector?" The emotionless voice echoed in the Medical Bay.

"Who brought me here?" John finished wearing the clothes and walked out of the room.

"It was... Lenny." SAIL answered.

[Lenny and not Peri?] John was confused. When he went unconscious only Peri and the Floran kids were beside him. [He probably finished his business with Oscar and returned in time to save me...]

"How long have I been out?"

"Protector had been in the Healing Pod for two hours."

"Two hours, huh..." John walked along the narrow hallway. [What happened after I went unconscious? Where is Peri? Are they safe and sound?] John was worried about the safety of Peri and the Floran kids.

"Where's Lenny?" John stopped I'm his tracks and asked.

"He left the ship one and a half hours ago." SAIL unhurriedly spoke.

"He left? To where?"

"Searching teleporter database..." SAIL stopped speaking for a while before it started again, "No information has been found, coordinates have been deleted by the user."

"Deleted?" John was curious as to why would Lenny suddenly leave and even delete his coordinates, leaving no traces behind.

John entered the Crew's Quarters and looked around.

When his eyes went pa.s.s Lenny's bed something caught his attention.

The whole bed was filled items, from an armor set, to some grenades.

"Hm?" When John got closer he was able to see that there was a piece of paper on top of the pile of items.

He took it and read the contents:

"John, Lenny here.

I don't know how you will feel when you wake up and found out that I was gone, probably confused and a little angry, I a.s.sume.

Well... For the reason I left, it's in fact very simple, I took my ship back from Oscar's hands.

Basically, that's it. I have a few things to do around the universe, some targets with high bounty in their heads need to die.

As for Peri, she had to leave and bring the kids to a safe place. I took her PIPS' number for you, is in one of the Data Chips in the pile of items.

I really enjoyed the time we spent together, even though it was short. I consider you my friend, the first after the whole fiasco with Oscar.

Don't be sad my sudden leave, it's not like we aren't going to meet again. You have PIPS' number, we can meet again, soon, but not for few days, maybe months.

That's it. Enjoy the things I left behind.

May we meet again

Lenny signing out"

"May we meet again..." John whispered the last words. "Indeed, it's not like we're parting ways forever." John brilliantly smiled. "We all have different lives, different ambitions, and objectives." He shook away his negative emotions. "I wish you luck and safety in your travels, Lenny. May we meet again."