Interstellar Age

No more than a second had passed since the moment Erich disappeared from his time and reappeared. But that blink in time had not gone unnoticed by Tia. After all, the two of them were connected. At all times, Tia had a part of herself embedded in Erich's NeuroLink and for the slightest of moments, that part of her disappeared.

But before she could even bust down the door of Erich's meditation chamber, it had reappeared, along with her master. Still, it may have only been a single second since Erich disappeared, but it was enough to cause an existential crisis to the Artificial Intelligence who was already arming her countermeasures against all biological life in the galaxy the moment Erich had disappeared.

Luckily for the Milky Way and all life within it, the man reappeared a single second later, causing Tia to disarm these countermeasures and instead interrogate the man about what had happened to him.

"Master! You're back! What happened? Where did you go? Why couldn't I sense your presence!?!"

The tone in Tia's voice was one that was completely filled with panic, and Erich was quick to calm her down before explaining what had happened to him. Tia was silent for a very long time, no doubt analyzing what she had been told and cross-referencing it with every database that existed across the entire galaxy.

After all, there were very few records which survived from the Primeval Era, and those that did were not immediately suspected of being tempered with. At only about five seconds of silence, Tia sighed heavily and shook her head before informing Erich of what she thought about the matter.

"There are no surviving records of the Maw, nor are there any traces of it remaining within the Galaxy. Whatever happened all those years ago, there are really only a handful of people across the galaxy who know the truth. Two of which just so happen to be your lovers, and I suspect they will be entirely unwilling to come forth with the truth of the matter.

Though Erich, this means you have a serious problem. If they have been lying about this matter for so long, and have even manipulated galactic records to reflect said lies, then there is a high possibility that they are not nearly as easy to manipulate or backstab like you intend to. They still don't trust you enough with the truth, which means you should be far more cautious around those two…."

Erich nodded his head in agreement with Tia's words. He would indeed need to be more cautious around Lunaria and Daelia. He thought he had the two women wrapped around his fingers, but it might very well be the opposite that was reality.

Because of this, Erich knew he would need to investigate the past more before he actually went through with his plan to bring the two women and their respective civilizations beneath his heel. However, Tia proposed an interesting thought, one that interrupted his own.

"I knew you could time travel… After all you have done it before, but that was with my help. And it would appear that this time around, the ancient Elven Emperor helped you as well. I think you might need to focus on developing your special powers. Because if something happens like the last time, these powers to reset the timeline and start again until you succeed would be very useful.

Don't worry about the ongoing war efforts, or running the Empire. Don't even worry about your diplomatic efforts with that little squinty eyed beauty from the Heavenly Domain. I will have all of that covered. The sooner you can control your powers, the better it is for the both of us…"

Erich was surprised by Tia's words, and noticed the tinge of jealousy when the Heavenly Domain's Princess was brought up. Causing the man to scoff and shake his head before correcting whatever thoughts Tia may have on the matter.

"Tia, I have no interest in that little girl. I have too many women by my side to keep track of already. Apparently, three of which are threats I have to keep my freaking eyes on. Why would I want another problem? You don't need to be so jealous…"

Tia's holographic form immediately blushed in response to Erich's words as she shifted her eyes away from him. She spoke, albeit in an embarrassed tone, as he rejected his assertion.

"I'm not jealous!"

After saying this, Tia disappeared once more. Clearly focusing her efforts on controlling the ongoing developments of the Empire and fulfilling Erich's responsibilities on his behalf. As for Erich himself, he immediately sat down once more and sighed.

Perhaps, had he known that Tia was just moments away from destroying the entire galaxy when he had vanished for a single second, he would be more alert right now. But he trusted his AI companion more than just about anyone in the galaxy, and thus he sat back and relaxed, knowing Tia had things covered in his absence.

With that said, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath before projecting a phantom into the past once more. This time it was not too far away, only a few decades. His goal was simple…. He wanted to manifest a corporal form in the past, and he suspected the further back his consciousness travelled, the harder it would be.

Instead, Erich sent his mind back only a few centuries prior. Wanting to understand another mystery that had plagued him since he first visited the Confederation of Human Worlds all those years ago in the previous timeline.

After all, there was conflicting information regarding the founding of the Germanic Star-Empire, and Erich wanted to know the truth of the matter. Thus, he shifted his consciousness back four hundred years, focusing it on Earth, specifically in the homeland of his people. After all, that was said to be the area in which the founders of the Germanic Star-Empire were born.

Erich focused all of his efforts to manifest his time phantom into a physical form, and while he was so focused on this task, straining his mind in the process. Erich had a feminine voice call out to him, revealing that he was not where he had been moments ago.

"Hello? Sir, are you alright?"

Upon hearing this, Erich looked around only to find that he was standing within the streets of 22nd Century Germany.

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