A large metal door with intricate designs stood in front of Jesse. Tormund had indicated that this would be the door to the Archons rooms where the Archon kept private cells for prisoners he found particularly interesting. This was it, he was going to get her back. Jesse glanced behind at his companions.

  “Are we ready?” He asked them. Nods along with determined expressions were returned. Jesse wondered if they truly had the strength to rival the Archon. He heard so many stories of his prowess, but surely all of them couldn’t be true. Even an arcanescent could be defeated. A virescent had their weaknesses. Whatever the Archon was, of which the stories were conflicting, he could be stopped.

  Jesse pushed open the doors. To his surprise they were not locked. Ahead was sort of sitting room. In an armchair and around what appeared to be a coffee table was Rebecca. She looked up at Jesse wide eyed. She looked different than he remembered, thicker, more muscular but with a leaner face. Her hair had been cut short.

  “Dad!” She exclaimed at seeing him. Jesse moved to run towards her, metal from his mechanical legs clanging against the marble floor.

  “Stop!” She yelled at him. “Get out of here! It’s a trap!” She stood and turned towards the corner of the room. A tall man stood there watching. He had a cropped beard and short hair, both blonde. He wore a smile on his face that didn’t reach his eyes. Jesse couldn’t believe it.

  “Jesse, so nice to see you again.” The Archon said.

  “Bradford? How is that possible?” He asked in disbelief. The man had been the VP of the research division for the gate technology that started this chain of events. The man who had brutally killed his intern Amanda and opened the rift here that was currently destroying the Earth and would likely destroy this world as well.

  “I’m sure you noticed the time dilation when transporting to this world, something I explicitly told you not to do by the way. Well I came long enough before you that I was able to secure power here.” The Archon responded coldly.

  “And I told you what would happen to the unstable portal you opened. I couldn’t stop anyone from coming. You realize it will destroy the Earth if I don’t close it right?” Jesse replied.

  “Yes, I realized that. It was a risk I was willing to take. Once my rule is absolute I will be sure to close the rift. Having the planet get destroyed from the worlds colliding would be counter to my purpose.” The Archon responded.

  “And what purpose would that be?” Jesse asked. “Other than holding my daughter hostage.”

  “I hold her here for her own safety. The same went for those that she so foolishly freed. I haven’t had enough time to study the effects of those that come here from your world nor the time to discover if there are any diseases that could run rampant on either population as a result of them being here..” He replied.

  “You came here. How are you any different?” Jesse asked.

  “I am from here.” The Archon said with the tone of cold steel.

  Jesse looked at the man stunned. That didn’t make any sense. He had come from Jesse’s own world, from Earth.

  “You are a tyrant and you will be stopped, it doesn’t matter where you come from.” Lord Valrith said from behind Jesse during his pause.

  “Ah, Lord Valrith. Did you really think I wouldn’t figure out your little rebellion? I will deal with you once I am done talking to our mutual friend here.” The Archon said. The lord scowled at him in return.

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  “You came from Earth. How are you from this world?” Jesse asked. As long as the Archon was talking, he wasn’t fighting. That meant he didn’t risk his daughter being hurt as collateral damage.

  “I was searching for an answer to our problems. I was what you would call a scientist of a sort, a scholar. In my search I foolishly created a device that sent me to your world. Little did I know that time moves strangely between worlds, at least between these two. I spent three years in your desolate lands, guiding your people in research that could bring me home. No small feat given the complete lack of essence on your planet. Do you understand what all of that means?” He answered.

  “Approximately seventy eight thousand years.” Golem said into Jesse’s mind. He widened his eyes in shock.

  “It means you lost everything.” Jesse said quietly.

  “Tens of thousands of years had passed here. I came home to find that I had failed. My people were destroyed by the threat I sought to stop, well mostly. All that remained were ruins and a people that were forced to abandon every advancement that they had made and nearly return to the stone age before building a semblance of society back up. Worse though.” The Archon paused for a moment and took a deep breath. “My wife. My daughter. My son. Nearly a hundred thousand years gone. They no doubt spent their final moments wondering where I had gone and why I had abandoned them. I found no trace of them” Rage suddenly filled the archon's eyes with the words. “All I can do now is save the people who remain here. What is left of my people, after their destruction. I don’t know how any lived truthfully but I will protect them at any cost. You and your daughter will help me.”

  “Why do you think we could help?” Jesse asked cautiously.

  “Have you seen what you are capable of? Have you really thought about it? You’ve been here for what? For a week? Two weeks? Already you have created technology with the essence crystals that took hundreds of years of study for my people to create. Crude, granted, but still very much functional. Look at you, you are already half fused. You are housed in an exosuit that, while we constructed much more refined designs, it still ultimately rivals a mid tier virescent. The only downside is that damned AI you have in your head. Too great a risk of becoming corrupted with that.” The Archon said, returning to his neutral tone.

  “I could not have done any of this without that AI. What do you mean corrupted? This isn’t the first time someone has mentioned that.” Jesse replied, brows furroughed.

  “The threat that I spoke of, it corrupts essence tech. You must have seen it. The red essence crystals where most are blue. We cannot allow that thing to return. It must have gone dormant when the essence required to sustain it ebbed away with my people. It will come back though, especially with the increase in arcanescents in this world.” The Archon replied. “I will explain it at length once you agree to help me.”

  “Thats why you’ve been killin us? To prevent some ancient threat from waking back up?” Tormund asked. The young arcanescent was shaking with rage. “You don’t think there were better ways to face this?”

  “I don’t.” the Archon responded simply.

  “I need to return home. I need to figure out how to close the rift before it destroys my world. Most of all I need to make sure my wife and daughter are safe.” Jesse said.

  “Yes, yes. We will close the rift. I already told you that. I won’t let your planet destroy mine any more than I will allow the corruption to. Your daughter is safe and will remain so as long as you assist me. I am sure we can find your wife if you explain when she entered the rift. In time we may even be able to return you to that barren rock.” The Archon stated. “So, what will it be? Will you help me? For the greater good?”

  Jesse thought for a moment. The Archon was clearly a bastard but could he really close the rift? Could he really get them home? It felt too much like making a deal with the devil for Jesse’s comfort but he could see the sense in it. Not to mention this threat. Was this the ravings of a father and husband who lost too much or was there really a world ending threat out there?

  Jesse looked to his daughter who was staring at him. Their eyes locked and she subtly shook her head no. Jesse steeled himself. “No.” He said in a low voice before exploding into motion using his empowered legs to launch at speeds nearly imperceptible to a normal human. He moved to grab his daughter. He was not fast enough. The Archon in a blur of motion faster than Jesse had seen from anyone, even a virescent, struck out with a fist. Jesse’s mechanical arm moved faster than he could command it, clearly under Golem's control, to block the strike aimed directly at Jesse’s face. As the metal rang from the blow all hell broke loose.