Chapter 20:

Date: December 31st, 2094. Four days after transition to FTL.

The journey to the Inusannon system had been going well so far, but we were only four days in. This marked the journey as only 10% done, an achievement for our exploration fleet approaching Inusannon territory. My time was divided between speaking to Lyna and Sirius about what we could expect when we entered Inusannon territory, since I had very little to do while the Bermuda and the URG flotilla were in transit.

Communication with the URG fleet was almost nonexistent while our drives were in motion. Occasionally, the Bermuda would get a ping from one of the Geth ships while we were using the EMDrive in place of the reverse-engineered Vonya drive. Every ship that was a part of the URG fleet was equipped with the same drives as the Bermuda. This was the cause of the Vonya drives overheating in 72 hour timeframes, it was a powerful drive, traveling around 80 light years per day, but it sported the downside of overheating. The EMDrive proved to be useful, by sporting a top speed of 20 light years in a day, it provided a decent speed as the Vonya cooled down.

Lyna and I had yet to meld, she was itching to join our minds together, and it was obvious that she simply wanted to know more about me, mainly my history. Today, I decided that I would finally satisfy Lyna's hunger for learning about my past, and even Humanity's past. Before, I would brush her requests off, as we usually had more important matters to attend to.

A few hours ago, I informed Lyna that we could meld, for the cause that nothing was happening today. I made my way over to her quarters, where she was impatiently waiting for me to arrive. I knew that today was going to be a long day, as I would be spending most of my time in a meld with Lyna.

When I entered Lyna's quarters, I was greeted with the sight of her looking at a holographic monitor. I couldn't see much of the display, as Lyna's frame covered most of the screen before her. She shut it off shortly after hearing me enter the room. In an instant, Lyna was facing me, a noticeable frown displayed across her expression. "Kyle, are you ready yet?"

"I'm ready to meld with you, if that's what you're asking," I said, walking right up to Lyna. She finally had a smile spread across her face when I finished my sentence.

"Finally. I was beginning to think that you would never share your past with me," Lyna replied. She moved over to her bed, and sat down on it. She motioned me over to sit down next to her. Lyna took my hands in her own as I sat down.

I turned my gaze over to Lyna, staring into her eyes. I gripped Lyna's hands as she gripped mine. "Just a warning for you, my past isn't the most exciting thing in the galaxy."

Lyna nodded her head at my statement. She closed her eyelids and her lips turned into a straight expression. "Kyle Terrah, relax your physical and mental forms. Release control of the walls that barricade your mind. Mentally reach out to the stars that bind us together in unity. Allow me to see your true nature, experience your species' past, and drive both of us into a new existence. Show me the secrets that you keep close to your heart, love. Enable me to enter your mind and observe what exactly happened in your prior life…" Lyna trailed off. Suddenly, she opened her eyelids, revealing one of the darkest shades of black that I had seen in my life. A dark blue biotic field formed over my body, and I heard the words that would knock me into a trance-like state. "Embrace eternity!"

The room around me became distorted. Soon, the furniture dissolved into mere shapes, only to fade away in a few brief seconds. A presence other than Sirius entered my mind, flooding it with a calming, yet trained sense of emotion. Minutes seemed to pass before I finally heard Lyna's voice call out in my conscience.

"Kyle!"

Lyna… You were much gentler with the meld this time.

"As I said a few days ago, I wasn't in a good state of mind when we melded on Aite."

I understand that, Lyna. I was just stating that your presence is much more enjoyable now.

"That's good for the both of us. I despised that day, but what came to light in those few hours was more than I could comprehend. Now, I seek to come to the same understanding that you have found with me. I want to see your memories. I strive to know more about the origins of your species."

I've forgotten much of what I learned when I was younger. The history that I have about Humanity is blurred, some of it has even been replaced with the memories that I have experienced in this new life.

"A memory is never forgotten, Kyle. It is merely stored in a vault of unused information. You may not recall what you have seen or studied, but your memories will always be with you. They might just have to be recovered by the ones that you love the most."

I don't think it's possible to gather every memory that I have experienced in my life. I don't even want to remember some of them.

"Someday, these memories will have to come to light, and you'll have to deal with them."

I'll deal with them now, rather than later.

"Allow me to access your past, so that we may relive it together."

I dropped the barricades in my mind, allowing Lyna to explore the memories that it held, and that I had forcefully forgotten throughout my life.

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Date: April 31st, 2014. 7:29 P.M. About 80 years ago, when I was 23 years old.

"Kyle, come on man, it'll be fun. Besides, you need a break."

"Josh is right, all you do is just study, study, and study." Victor chuckled, lightly jabbing me on the shoulder.

I sighed softly, and leaned back against the front of Josh's Ford F150 pick-up truck, staring at my two childhood friends. "Both of you know that I have that mid-term aviation exam coming up in a month. I need to study as much as possible, and I can't afford to fail that. I'm not over exaggerating either, that would be $18,000 down the drain."

Victor rolled his eyes, slowly walking up towards me. He patted me on my shoulders and smiled brightly at me. "Says the one who refills his gas tank when it's only three quarters of the way empty. Seriously, you spend more on gas than Josh and I combined!"

Crossing my arms under my chest, I shrugged my shoulders. "You can never be too careful. Besides, you're one to talk," I casually commented, resting my hands on the bumper of the F150.

"Hm? How am I one to talk?" Victor asked, staring at me with an inquiring expression on his face.

"Pft. Don't pretend like we don't know about your dates, Victor. You just told us last week of how you went on this fantastic date with Kate, and how much fun it was. Hell, you even showed me the bill, which topped out at $450," Josh piped into the conversation, walking up behind Victor and giving him a slap on the back.

Victor looked between Josh and me, a mask of betrayal spread across his face. "Oh fuck you guys! That was for our anniversary!"

"You're with Kate for one month, and suddenly you're spending a fortune on her? Keep it up, and you'll be begging for a pack of ramen on the corner of 17th Street," I jested.

Before Victor could respond, Josh stepped over to the door of his truck, and put his hand on the handle. "You know, we can continue the rest of this conversation on the road, instead of standing around in a 7-Eleven's parking lot like a bunch of dorks."

I pushed myself off of the bumper of the truck, and held a stare with Victor for a good few seconds. He eventually responded by jokingly flipping me off, moving to the front passenger door. Victor opened it and hoisted himself inside of Josh's truck. "Get in the back, Terrah. We wouldn't want to leave you in the middle of Boulder, Colorado, now would we?"

I rolled my eyes, while I strode over to the back door. Yanking it open, I entered the Ford F150 and got myself situated on the hard, white, leather seats. I pulled the light-grey seatbelt across my body and felt the tightness of the fabric pressing against my clothed skin. "Yeah, well. It's not like I could take an Uber back to Denver."

"As if you would have enough money to get an Uber. The rates are through the roof for most rides. Besides, didn't you just say that you couldn't afford to take your Aviation class again?" Josh asked, looking back at me for a second as he put his keys into the ignition of the F150 and started the truck moments later. Soon enough, the engine of Josh's truck roared to life, and Josh turned his head forwards.

"I have enough money for standard expenses, but I'm not Bill Gates. I don't have $18,000 in my pocket at all times," I sarcastically responded, then pulled my Samsung Galaxy S4 out of my pocket. I searched through some emails as Josh pulled out of the parking lot and then turned onto US-36.

Victor put his feet onto the dashboard, and looked back to me with a smirk on his face. "Mind getting me a Pepsi out of my bag?"

"Fine," I said in an annoyed tone and gazed at my friend for a few seconds. I reached over to the left side of the truck to grab Victor's bag, and once I grasped it by one of its straps, I pulled it over to the middle of the truck and slid the front zipper down. Sure enough, there was a can of Pepsi there, which fell down onto the dirty floor of the truck as soon as the front zipper of the pack was fully open. I picked up the soda can and tossed it to Victor, who caught with a light grin on his face.

"Thanks, dude," Victor spoke in a gleeful tone. He quickly popped the top off of the Pepsi can, since the can was shaken and tossed around, the carbonated liquid squirted out of the top of the aluminum can. It sprayed all over the interior of the truck. Some of it landed on me, some of it on Victor, and some on Josh.

Josh took his eyes off of the road, and backhanded Victor on his cheek. "It'd be fucking amazing if you didn't spray that shit all over my jeans. I just cleaned these too!" Josh angrily yelled at Victor, all of his attention now focused on Victor rather than on driving.

Instead of reacting in a hostile manner, Victor quickly glanced at the highway, and put his hands on the wheel. He yanked it to the right, narrowly avoiding a Toyota Corolla that was merging into our lane. As a result, our truck veered off of the highway and into a grassy area at 75 miles per hour. I had no way of controlling this, only being able to watch as we headed directly for a tree. It wasn't a puny tree either. It was a large, blue spruce tree. "Put your damn foot on the brakes!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, relaxing all of my muscles as the truck was on a collision course with the tree.

I closed my eyes and remembered a decision that Josh made just a few weeks ago. He had taken the airbags out of his truck, to make more room for his laptop. At the time, I called him a damned idiot for doing so. It surprised me that I was right in this aspect, that he never thought of the consequences, that he never thought anything would happen to him. When I reopened my eyes, I was greeted with the sight of a tree that the truck was approaching at an incredibly quick rate of speed.

Josh didn't hear me in time, but even if he did, the Ford F150 would still collide with the tree. Though the chances of survival could have been raised with the deceleration of the truck, everything seemed to slow down for me. Victor's can of soda was out of his hands and he was desperately trying to steer out of the way. Josh was in utter shock, staring down at the tree with his mouth open. I heard the crunching of the bumper as it impacted with the tree, the windshield shattered into small shards of glass, and I could feel a slight sense of weightlessness for a few moments.

My two friends never put their seatbelts on, and I could only watch as Victor was thrusted forwards. Without a seatbelt to block his acceleration, his body was catapulted out of the shattered windshield. His head impacted with the hard wood of the tree, and I heard a loud crack as this happened. Shortly after his head connected with the blue spruce, his body became a ragdoll and tumbled for ten feet until it hit another tree, causing Victor to come to a dead stop.

I observed that Josh wasn't so lucky either. His body was still inside of the truck, but glass shards were poking out of his skin and blood was pouring down his face. His head rested on the horn of the truck and I could see the pure terror displayed on his gruesome, battered expression. Josh's eyes were wide open and his mouth was gaping as if he were screaming, but everything was silent. Tears of blood dripped out of his eyes and even more blood was seeping out of his chest, staining the white shirt that he was wearing with liters of his own blood.

While all of this was happening, a sharp pain made itself apparent in my left arm, and I was thrust forwards, hitting my head on the back of Victor's seat. Surprisingly, the strike on my head was relatively light, as the seatbelt had slowed down my momentum tremendously. When I tried to move my arm, I was met with immense pain. I slowly turned my gaze down to my arm and saw that a shard of glass was sticking out of my bicep. Reaching over to the glass that was jutting out of my arm, I pulled it out, and saw that it had just narrowly avoided an artery. Even though none of my arteries were struck by the glass, blood pumped out of my wound, and began to trail down the length of my limb.

Almost instantly, my survival instincts kicked in. I took off my t-shirt, wrapped the clothing around my wound, and held it there for a small amount of time. After that, I leaned to my left, and grabbed my backpack with my left hand, I pulled it to my side, and opened the front zipper. A polyester rope that I usually used for climbing laid there. I took it out of my backpack, and set it to my side, where I leaned down to grab the sharp shard of glass that had been lodged in my bicep. Without hesitation, I started to cut at the polyester rope, until I had a single 24 inch piece of rope. I quickly tied the rope around my bicep, keeping my t-shirt in place.

After I was done with making myself a temporary bandage, I grabbed my phone, which had been miraculously unscathed, and dialed 911. It took a moment to connect me to an operator, but once it did, I didn't even give them time to speak. "I've… I've been in a car crash on US-36... I think we're three miles… Out from Boulder... I need an emergency… An emergency team out here… As soon as possible..."

The operator on the other end of my call was silent for a few moments. "Sir, I need you to keep calm. Can you describe the crash for me?"

"We hit a tree at a high speed... The windshield shattered... I'm pretty sure my two friends are dead... One of them flew out of a shattered windshield... The other… The other is covered… Completely… Completely covered in glass," I urgently spoke.

"Okay sir, do you have any injuries?"

I looked down at my right arm, which I had patched up well enough. Blood was only starting to seep through my t-shirt as well. "Yeah... A shard of glass… Was in my bicep… I patched it up... I don't think it hit any arteries... But… But it hurts like all hell..."

Another pause came from the line. "Alright, a medical team will be at your location shortly."

"Just, hurry," I pleaded, resting my head against the shattered window to my right. I hung up with the operator and my phone slipped out of my hands, impacting the flooring of the truck. I weakly picked my phone back up, then pocketed it. Moments were passing by, which soon turned into minutes. Until I heard the distant noise of sirens approaching and the whirr of what sounded like a helicopter.

I looked over to Josh's bloodied body and slightly scooted over to my right. Outstretching my arm towards my friend's face, I put two of my fingers onto both of his open eyelids. I painstakingly closed Josh's eyes, to where he was finally at rest. After that, I let my arm drop down. His mouth was still open, and blood was steadily pumping out of his body. There wasn't a doubt about it, Josh was dead.

Before I knew it, I saw medical personnel outside of the truck. Suddenly, the door opened, so I reacted as quickly as I could at the time. I jerked myself away from the opening door of the totaled Ford F150. A hand was lightly put onto my right shoulder, causing me to respond by hazily looking over to the person to my right. There stood a man dressed in the uniform of a paramedic, but as soon as my eyes were able to focus, I saw the rapidly spinning blades of a Bell 206 several meters away. The hand on my right shoulder squeezed it softly, then I heard a man's voice. "He's still alive, but he's bleeding profusely," the paramedic shouted, taking a long look at me.

Two other paramedics pushing a stretcher approached the truck. The man that was holding onto my shoulder backed away, pulling a radio off of his belt. I felt two sets of hands grab me by my arms and legs, putting me on the stretcher. A bright light shined into my eyes, forcing me to close them. Though I tried to fight the unconsciousness that would soon engulf me from blood loss, it was futile. The last thing that I saw before I slipped into an unconscious state was the outline of the Bell-206's blades.

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That's basically it, Lyna. The most defining moment of my life so far.

"Kyle…"

It's over now. There's nothing that I could have done about it. I guess that it was my fault for being not being careful enough.

"Kyle."

That very event lead to me flying into the Bermuda Triangle, being transported into the future with all of these upgrades in my body, then meeting you.

"Kyle! Don't blame yourself for something that you can't control. Yes, there wasn't anything you could have done to save Josh or Victor, but you weren't the cause of their deaths."

Lyna, that's where you're wrong. I could have prevented their deaths from occurring. I could have saved their lives if I wasn't so careless with that can of soda.

"You know, if you saved them, you would still be on Earth. You wouldn't be here, saving trillions upon trillions of lives. I know this sounds bad, but would you rather be stuck on a planet that you couldn't escape from with two friends? Or would you rather be here, with me, saving the galaxy?"

Honestly, I don't know, Lyna. I wouldn't have wanted my friends to die like that, but fate drove me here. Some days I wonder what would have happened if I just stayed back on Earth, but that's not the case anymore. I'm here, traveling to uncharted space where an incredibly advanced species lives. I'd enjoy the company of Josh and Victor, but I know that their spirits are by my side. If you asked me the same question when I was back on Earth, I'd say that I'd give everything up to go on this journey. In fact, that's exactly what I did.

"Without you here, Kyle, I'd still be training to become an Asari Commando. Every species in the galaxy would be doomed if you weren't here. We would all be tricked into using the Crucible. Besides, you united the Quarians and Geth, now we're going on to find the Inusannon and the Inusynthetics. None of this would be possible had it not been for you."

You and I both know that's not true, it wasn't just me that did all of this. Sure, I started all of this, but everyone has helped along the way. Had it not been for you, Samara, Vodnik, Xen, Ithera, or Sirius, I probably would have been stuck in Citadel space pleading for the Council to believe the threat of the Reapers. If it wasn't for everyone who I've met so far… Things would be very different.

"I'm sure of it. I don't mean to press on you, especially after what you just showed me, but is there anything else that you want to tell me?"

Anything else? You mean of my history, Humanity's history, or just my personal life?

"I wish that I could discover more about you and your species. At this point, I know more about URG politics than I do about you."

Well, it'd be better if we were out of the meld if you wanted to discuss the history of Humanity as a whole. Alternatively, we could stay in the meld and talk about what I experienced in my life.

"I'd rather stay in the meld for now. I enjoy being in this state, our two minds linked to one another."

The connection between you and I right now is an interesting experience, to say the least. I can't exactly describe it, even if I was ordered to. I do want to move on, though. Ask me what you seek to be answered.

"Why exactly did you resort to flying into this 'Bermuda Triangle' in the first place?"

Other than the deaths of Josh and Victor, I wanted to know what was behind the unknown. I had been fascinated with the Bermuda Triangle ever since I was young, and what happened on April 31st, 2014 only drove me further to my conclusion of flying into the Bermuda Triangle. Since I was able to fly a single-propeller plane, such as the Cessna-172 Skyhawk, I knew that I had enough experience to fly into the Bermuda Triangle alone. Once I took a flight to Miami, I drove to a secondary international airport, where I had already rented out a Skyhawk. The rest of it, you already know.

"Okay, back on Earth, what did you do for a living?"

I wasn't making a living, really. I was surviving off of money that I obtained from the conservatorships of my dead grandparents.

"Okay, moving off of that subject and onto you as a whole. What languages do you know?"

English, which was one of the main languages spoken on Earth. I know a small bit of Russian, which only had around a hundred million speakers worldwide. As for my translator, it knows most of the languages in the galaxy.

"So your translator manipulates what you say, then transmits it in whatever language you desire?"

I believe so, yes. I haven't exactly received the full specifications on it, but it has worked so far.

"What other implants do you have in your body?"

Honestly, I don't even know at this point. Supposedly a lot of stuff that extends my lifespan by hundreds of years. Sirius would be able to explain that better.

"What was Humanity's average lifespan back in 2014?"

We lived until we were 70 or 80 years old. Some people got lucky and lived until they were in their hundreds.

"I believe that's all the personal questions that I can ask at the moment. As enjoyable as this was, we should end the meld now."

Alright, end it when you wish, Lyna.

I opened my eyes for the first time in what seemed like forever. A dark blue biotic field was casting itself over my body, sending tingles down my spine. Lyna's arms were wrapped around my waist, instead of her hands being intertwined with my own. I turned my gaze down to my right shoulder, where Lyna's head was resting. Slowly, I wrapped my arms around Lyna's waist, blinking a few times at the situation that I was now in. I took a few moments to breathe in, exhaling shortly afterwards. Blinking a few times, I lightly patted Lyna's back in an attempt to grab her attention. Surprisingly, I received no answer from the Asari. I could see a faint smile spread across her face, but other than that, her eyes were shut. Before I could tap Lyna's back again, her eyes fluttered awake, staring up at me after a few seconds had passed. "That was a nice experience, Kyle. We should meld more often, much more often," Lyna whispered in a hushed tone.

"I agree, but I could do without the occasional reminder of what happened 80-90 years ago," I slowly replied, pulling myself out of the embrace that Lyna and I were in.

"I still want to know more about Humanity, Kyle. I'm not going to wait half of a century to find out either."

Sighing, I rolled my eyes and leaned back onto the bed. I used my elbows to prop myself up, so I was still gazing into Lyna's eyes. "Well then. I'm not the person to ask about that. I didn't research much of Humanity's history, or pay attention in my history classes for that matter. At this point, I'm sure that Sirius would provide a better explanation than I would."

"You have got to know at least a few things about your own species. You must remember some of their history. Allow me to put this into perspective for you. Here I am, at 366, and I still remember most of the history of the Asari. You're in your 40s now, right?" Lyna inquired, raising an eyebrow at me, as if she was waiting for an answer. I nodded my head, allowing Lyna to continue without any sort of interruption. "An Asari would still remember many aspects of her childhood. With all of your cybernetics and even Sirius, you can probably recall what your teachers told you when you were in a school of some kind. If they even had schools on Earth, that is," Lyna quickly spoke, insisting that my augmentations had somehow expanded my memory capacity.

"Well, here's a little fact about Humanity, we don't have exactly have the best memories. Besides, I don't think it's possible to remember something that I wasn't paying any attention to. Though, some people have a brain that can remember every detail of where they have been, what they have experienced. Other Humans have trouble remembering where they left their water bottle, or people who they have met years ago. Most of us are in between the two, and I'm one of those. I don't have the best memory for a Human, but neither do I have the worst," I calmly stated, leaning farther back on the bed, to where my back was finally touching the mattress. My legs were still hanging off of Lyna's bed, and the Asari was sitting up, glancing down at me occasionally.

"It must have been improved with the addition of your implants. Your memories must have been refined by the people that forced all of these augmentations into your body," she softly spoke.

Lyna turned her head towards a wall in her quarters. It was decorated with a few badges here and there. A rifle had been hung up by two metal rods sticking out of the wall, but something about it seemed off to me. The rifle was longer than the Inusynthetic Long Rifle that I had obtained from the bunker on Aite, and the design was unlike anything that I had seen before. It was quite glossy, and had a design that mimicked the design of an M-98 Widow. However, while it had some of the same aspects that the M-98 Widow sported, it was still quite different, as the length of the weapon was curvier. A triangular scope was placed on top of the weapon, some sort of silver material was jutting out of the sides of the rifle, mostly along the barrel. The edges were colored cream white, but the majority of the weapon was silver. "You know, with all of what you're saying about how I should remember every aspect of my life. Not only that, but all of the events that happened throughout Humanity's history. How about you tell me some of your stories as well? I'm still in the dark in regard to a lot of this galaxy's history." I calmly stated with a smirk on my face.

She raised one of her brows in confusion. "What are you in the dark about? I thought you knew the past, the present, and the future that this universe holds."

"I do not know as much as you may think. I'll tell you some of the topics that I know about: A fraction of what happened during the Rachni Wars, the Krogan Rebellions, and the discovery of the Citadel. However, I am aware of many things that may or may not occur past the year of 2157. I may have a little knowledge here and there, but I wasn't born into this universe. I merely saw what it was through the eyes of a Human Commander in a simple video game, a work of fiction," I quietly responded to Lyna.

"What may have been fiction in your universe is a reality in this one. I suppose that you may not see it as that, but I promise you, this universe is very real," Lyna honestly assured me, even though I didn't need it. She scooted over to the edge of the bed and touched her feet to the ground, resting both of her hands behind her. She meekly turned her head towards me, blinking a few times before looking back up to the odd-looking rifle.

I followed Lyna's gaze, resting my eyes on the weapon before me. Exhaling, I pushed myself up from where I was laying on the comfortable mattress of Lyna's bed. "I am aware of that, Lyna, but what I am not aware of is our future, or even the galaxy's future. I no longer know exactly what will happen, due to the URG being formed, our discoveries at the Latem-Tarik research facility on Aite, and now the hunt for the Inusannon. Our future is now clouded in uncertainty, and I can't guarantee what will happen."

The Asari nodded her head, pushing herself up from the bedding shortly afterwards. She strode over to the wall where the mysterious rifle was placed on display and reached up towards the weapon, eventually grasping the stock and the grip of the weapon. With a grunt, she hoisted it off of its display and set it on a metal desk. She glanced back towards me, slowly closing her eyes. "Come here," she quietly whispered, motioning for me to step forwards.

I took a moment to stand myself up, resting a hand on the mattress as I got a better view of the weapon. The serial number of the ancient firearm was engraved across the stock. A name was positioned right below the serial number, which read out as 'SC Thanatos. I slowly stepped forwards, coming up to Lyna's left and resting my hand on her shoulder. "Lyna?" I asked, clearly confused with the current situation.

"Tell me, Kyle. Have you ever seen this weapon before?" Lyna inquired, looking at me for a couple of seconds before averting her gaze back to the rifle.

"No. I have never seen something like that before in my life," I replied, staring down at the gun, absorbing every detail that I had missed before. Two blades jutted out from the bottom of the Thanatos, both blades were attached to the rifle by what seemed to be bayonet slots.

Lyna reached over to the handle of one of the blades. She slid it out of where it was attached to the SC Thanatos. "What you see before you is a very old rifle made by the Serrice Council. It was made before my people even discovered the means of space travel, when we were still waging war against one another. Specifically during the Battle of Peprameno, 3584 BCE, the SC Thanatos was created, in an attempt to strike fear into the opponents of the Serrice Council. During the Battle of Peprameno, tens of millions of Asari died. Our leaders didn't exactly get along back then. One wanted to discover what was inside the Temple of Athame, another wanted to keep it as a holy ground. The Matriarchs eventually decided to keep it as a holy ground after years of fighting one another."

"So you're saying that the weapon before me is five thousand years old?" I inquired, a perplexed expression rising onto my face. It wasn't just because of the age of the rifle, but that the Asari actually warred over a temple, one that had an actual Prothean artifact inside of it.

"Precisely," she replied. I could see a small smile growing upon her face, but it quickly turned into a frown. "It is an incredibly old rifle, but it certainly packs a punch. While it may not be the most advanced or powerful weapon in the galaxy, the Thanatos is able to rip through most armors that are below the IV class."

I glanced at Lyna for a second, my mouth wide open. "Okay, yeah. That's really good for a 5,000 year old firearm."

"Are you wondering why I'm telling you all of this, Kyle?"

I looked at Lyna, shrugging my shoulders as I did so. "Yeah. I'm definitely wondering. I'm also curious as to how you obtained this… 'Thanatos.'"

She flipped a switch on the side of the gun, activating all of the lights on it. A whine came out of the weapon and the barrel lit up with a dark purple. The stock of the SC Thanatos seemed to engulf itself in a thin Element Zero barrier. Lyna moved her fingers across the Thanatos' stock, pressing She sighed, taking her hands off of the weapon, moving her gaze towards me. "Well, you gave me some information on your past. I thought that I might as well share some of the history of the Asari, starting with one of the rarest rifles in the galaxy. As for how I got it, the Thanatos has been passed down through my family for many years. The exact name of who actually handled it in the Battle of Peprameno has been lost to time, but they were a relative of mine. I hope to use it in a fight someday."

I shook my head, continuing to stare at the rifle. "You'll have the chance to use it in battle if you have maintained it properly. Otherwise, I don't see it firing more than a blank shot."

"It is quite an old weapon, passed down from generation to generation. Each generation took very good care of this weapon. To my knowledge, a few of these weapons exist on Tuchanka, some owned by warlords. Others are lost to time."

"Switch the safety back on, Lyna. We can talk about this in the weeks to come, it's not like we're in a hurry or anything. Besides, I need to talk to Sirius soon," I said.

Lyna nodded her head. "Well then. I need to finish some things up with Aria. We'll continue this conversation later."

I patted Lyna on her shoulder, then slowly retreated out of the room.

A/N: That was a very hard chapter to write as compared to the previous ones. Honestly, the flashback scene was what really got to me. While the section of the flashback was mostly violent, I hope that it provided some input to the past of Terrah's life. I guess I was a bit late on sharing the backstory, but I also believe that it was a good decision for me to wait this long. To say the least, if I had done this in the first five chapters, the quality would not have been as good as it is now.

Nonetheless, thanks for reading this chapter!