Meanwhile, Mira and her partymates watched in horror as to what was happening around them. Thankfully a message came in from the Ironside. "Enemies are around us! Don't stick close to the shields." The Ironside whirred.
Upon hearing the statement, Mira became confused as to what the Ironside meant. "Sh/ie/ld/s?" She glanced around her, trying to pinpoint what the Ironside meant as don't stick too close to the so-called shields.
Then an epiphany ran through her when, in her peripheral vision, a sudden flicker of light appeared, which was none other than the Ironside's autocannons making their work, though there was no way she would also know that term.
"Ah, it's most likely the barriers?" She burst into her own language and startled those around her.
While this was happening, Altair was firmly seated in his chair in the cockpit. "Vigil, do you think she understands our words completely?" Altair paused, as if trying to think of some other explanations, but none came out of it, and so he continued. "The way she speaks, the so-called First Tongue, was our language, but it sounds so archaic?"
Vigil whirred in response, also trying to find a foothold on what to answer to Altair. "It feels more like our language was introduced to them, but quietly devolved over time?" Vigil paused as if trying to breathe. "She mentioned this ancient nation called the Kingdom of Babel, and mostly this so-called First Tongue has been lost to the records."
As they both were talking about such things, Altair could feel his hair rising from time to time, and the dream he saw kept bothering him.
"Free the dreamers, end the rain, wake the sleepers, feel the pain" Altair unknowingly muttered the mantra.
"Lieutenant, what do you mean by that?" Vigil immediately jumped on it, filled with curiosity and hunger for knowledge.
While Altair was aiming and shooting down Stygians with the assistance of Vigil, he gazed down forlornly and finally opened up to what he had been seeing all the time after he died. "Now that you asked that, I must have been the only one dreaming about it every time I died." Altair spoke with less enthusiasm than he could have predicted.
"Could you tell me more, Lieutenant?" Vigil paused, as if trying to find words to better convey what he was feeling. "Perhaps some advice or comfort I could offer?"
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Altair silently smiled, and so he continued. "Basically, every time I died, I got sent into this hellhole?" He swallowed a mouthful of saliva. "A place of eternal darkness, a place which I get tormented, a place where I am and not myself at the same time? Does that even make sense?" He smiled at the absurdity.
Vigil merely remained silent, still adjusting the crossfire, and managing the construction of the resonance and dissonance weapons they would need. It was as if he was waiting for Altair to continue talking.
"However, this time, these past few iterations, I began to wake up in a dreamlike temporal space, where my memories were scattered that could be seen like an open window… as if somebody were observing me this whole time?" He said and paused to breathe and swallow a mouthful of saliva. "Recently, I now begin to dream of a giant clock, and angel-like figures, only for an ominous trumpet to play and I fall back into my death." He paused once again, trying to remember where he had heard the mantra that he said. "For some odd reason, I cannot for the life of me remember where I heard such a mantra? Free the dreamers, end the rain, wake the sleepers, feel the pain? What does that even mean?" Altair said in a panic as he was beginning to break down.
"Calm down, Lieutenant." Vigil's voice streaked through and eliminated the confusion. "Maybe this will help you soothe your problems." Vigil's voice was calm, as if he had predicted something like this would eventually happen. "Every time we get into another iteration, I seem to be the first one to gain awareness, and so I took the liberty of scanning our surroundings." He paused for a while.
"So what did you find?" Altair held his breath.
"I sense a strong concentration of atmospheric energy particles around your body, which disappeared once you regained awareness." Vigil reported.
"Then that must mean…" Altair paused, holding in his breath, and when he was ready, he continued, "There is a reason why I am looping back in time?" His eyes narrowed further. "We definitely need to find the reason, and perhaps find my ultimate role in all of this mess." Altair said with strong conviction.
"I agree with that, Lieutenant." Vigil buzzed in a higher frequency than usual as if he was excited for what was more to come in the future.
As both of them continued talking, Mira and her party could only watch from below what was transpiring around them.
"The barrier, it seems to be holding." Lyria whispered as she watched over the exploding carcasses of the Stygians.
"Indeed, we fear them for so long, but the Ironside seems to make the job vastly easier. I wonder who the genius from the past was who made this type of golem?" Brennan responded and continued.
While Lyria and Brennan were talking about their fascination with the Ironside and its inner workings, Mira was silently observing from the sidelines, making sure to etch into her eyes what she had seen as she knew and felt like this would be a pivotal moment of her life.
For some odd reason, she could feel a deep throbbing pain within her mind and heart, as if something was telling her that it was getting dangerous. She wiggled her head, trying to remove those thoughts, but the more she thought about it, the more her instincts screamed at her.
Then like a steam warden entering the fray, a Stygian came crashing forward a few hundred meters from them and the Ironside, it let out a beast-like roar and with its two legs and two hands; it hunched to the ground and ran on all fours toward them.
"Nightmares!" Mira beckoned toward her group.
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