Machina Arcanis: Two Worlds Collided
Chapter 134. Every Dawn for You

The warm wind rustled softly through the dense canopy, slipping between branches like a whisper. The forest lay eerily quiet, unmoving.

The split moon was nowhere to be seen, and the sun had yet to rise. At this time of year, dawn was still an hour or two away.

Blades of grass brushed gently against the arc iron-clad boots. The soft crunch echoed loudly through the stillness.

Not even nocturnal animals emerged. Like most nights, a relentless man roamed this forest, appearing aimless at first, his floating torch casting a faint bluish glow into the darkness.

Zetius had reserved a large portion of his mana reservoir for the round trip to the eastern forest of Germund, where he had last dispatched Lupus and Frain to find Rhok months ago. It was also near the place Jack had fallen, buried along with what remained of Lupus Hoffmann.

The air in this forsaken forest wasn’t crisp or fresh. It was stale, broken only by the occasional warm gust.

It made his body temperature rise with the effort of trekking.

It had already been two weeks since his arrival at Solis Aeternum, returning with the damaged Zeigerlich battlecruiser and zero operational Armatus suits. The initial plan Sandria proposed had since been deemed impossible.

But he didn’t blame her. She now worked tirelessly as director of the Zeigerlich, overseeing its restoration — perhaps even improving upon its former glory. Many of her crew had stayed to serve under her command willingly.

Sandria had this magnetic pull with people, something Zetius admitted he lacked. Either he was always alone, commanding small bots to collect space junk or practised the arcane magicka under the mentorship of master Ignius Lux Draconus.

The memory of Jack remained etched into his mind. He had come to accept it as part of his life. Frain was the one thing both Jack and Zetius cherished most, which connected him to his beloved Lupus.

Wherever Frain was, he would find her and return her to safety.

“It’s what Lupus would have wanted Jack to do. It’s my life’s oath to her.” He believed this with unwavering conviction. His weary heart ached every time he recalled how he had indirectly sent Lupus to her death.

“I’ll find her even with my will alone,” Zetius muttered, breaking the forest’s silence.

With no other option, he drew from his fortune, namely, Jack’s retirement fund, to finance the expedition. He’d bought Arc iron boots to reduce the burden of walking great distances, and several Arcanite Harnessers to extend his teleportation capacity.

From his experiments, his current body could barely manage a round trip between this part of Germund and Solis Aeternum, and not much more. He still needed reserves for potential threats and the rapid movement of the arc boots.

So, the Arcanite Harnessers became essential to his mission.

He hadn’t realised how expensive they were until now.

A staggering cost for something consumable. No wonder no one used Harnessers just to power their spells. No one but Zetius.

So far, he had covered ten per cent of the target area, according to Cube’s scans. She could now project a hologram, much like the HUD display of an Armatus. The glowing blue lines and markings in the air helped him navigate and document the search.

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Just recently, he had begun reserving his mana strictly for return trips, relying solely on his body for exploration.

Beads of sweat trickled down his damp silver hair. His breathing was ragged after hours of leaping through the terrain.

Cubie zipped nearby like a glowing light bulb, circling him with no visible signs of exhaustion.

Yet come to think of it, she had developed many emotions; tiredness simply wasn’t one of them tonight.

“Zetius,” she buzzed, hovering close. Zetius rested both hands on his knees, a sweat droplet sliding down his prominent nose.

“Yeah, Cubie. What’ve you found?” he asked between breaths.

“Umm… nothing.”

“Figured,” Zetius muttered, panting. The forest stretched endlessly before him, darker than the eye could perceive. He still had to cover what, two hundred fifty kilometres?

“I’ll datalog this area. Where do you want to head next?” Cubie asked, anticipatively.

The faint blue map beamed up before him, showing a cross-hatched overlay of the area explored. No clues had surfaced.

“Could Frain have gone the other way? How could she leave no trail at all? Was she teleported by someone?” he pondered. Teleportation would render his efforts useless; conventional tracking methods wouldn’t apply.

Desperately, he swept his gaze across the forest, searching for any sort of landmark.

“Maybe just that dead tree trunk,” he pointed at a large oak remnant lying across mossy stones. Slightly uphill on a small rise, it offered a better view of the area.

He climbed the slope and stepped atop the bark — it didn’t crumble like he’d expected.

“It’s still fresh. Maybe a clue?” Cubie remarked, inspecting the pale section beneath the bark.

“I don’t know. See what you can find, Cubie,” Zetius instructed. She nodded and began scanning the area.

A breeze passed, cooling his skin. To the north, he spotted the river’s curve and a clearing beside it. In the far distance, city lights sparkled.

“Ah… that’s the city of Eastern Dam,” he recalled. A few kilometres from here was where he’d had his first real battle — fighting beside Rhok and a team of mages against more than a hundred Armatus suits.

A heavy thought struck him. Rhok Wagner… I should never have put you in the Armatus.

When the fight ended with the fall of Aurum Specter, Rhok just sat there on the battlefield. Alone. Forlorn.

How could I have missed the signs? If only he’d known Rhok wanted to quit being a pilot, he would’ve let the man.

Jack would’ve let Rhok walk away. A free man.

His train of thought was interrupted by Cubie’s nudging.

“Zetius, nothing here either. I did find a bat, though,” she said, slightly disappointed.

“Ah… thanks, Cubie. Let’s call it a day. I’m absolutely bone-tired.” He sighed, brushing his fingers across her rough edge.

She purred like a cat. Such a strange little thing.

“Now that I think about it, I’ve still got the thing to sort when we’re home.”

“Oh! Right! Your enrolment at the Arcana Institute!” Cubie buzzed excitedly.

“Yeah, not quite an examination, but I’ve got to enrol again because of this. My Lunarius status was revoked after I died,” Zetius grumbled, wiggling his nose.

All that hard work, gone. All the primordial essence once believed to be a gift from Gaia herself, stripped away. But to where? And why?

Questions swirled in his mind, tangled and unanswered.

Maybe I’ll find some clues about my transformation into Jack, and this strange rebirth, he thought.

“Hmm… What’s it that’s troubling you, Zetius?” Cubie asked, noticing the frown on his face. Her faint glow lit the sharp angles of his expression.

“I wonder if I’ll ever learn the truth about my rebirth and your origin.” His tone softened.

Cubie buzzed energetically. “My origin? I came from you and Aurelia,” she answered proudly.

Zetius raised his brow and smiled. “That’s true. But it didn’t just happen naturally. Even within arcane study, recreating sentient life was considered impossible — not by us, anyway.”

He recalled a lesson once taught by a Lunarius mage in a crowded lecture hall. It felt like a memory from another life.

“Maybe you’re a god,” Cubie teased, giggling. Her glow brightened as she laughed.

Zetius chuckled. “Then I wouldn’t be traipsing through this forest looking for a lioness, I’d just snap my fingers and bring her to me.”

They burst into hysterical laughter, their cheerful voices echoing through the quiet woods.