Date: 4270… for now.
Though I was rolling around in dirt and dust underneath Electro Centralis within the Mag-Lev tunnels, I was glad that it was home. Shirking away baffled looks by a few hoodlums and lower city brutes, I took the elevator upward to the main level.
On the way back to my apartment, I ran into my old friend, Professor Grange, a physicist from Electro Centralis University. It was odd to see him at this hour within the streets of E.C. To my delight, he immediately offered me some coffee at the Silver Java Shop.
Before he could set his espresso upon the table we acquired, I immediately began telling him about the strange portal I encountered at the old dig, as well as my run in with clerics from medieval Calidan.
I had braced myself for mocking remarks or a thunderous laugh, as Grange had been notorious to stop an entire cafe dead from his bellowing laughter.
Instead, Grange looked me dead in the eye and told me that we needed to head over to the university right away. He had something to show me…
The Electro Centralis University is a large campus, located off the western road, to the southwest of downtown E.C. It is filled with students and academics on their way to understanding more of the world through their studies. E.C.U. Boasts a diverse student body, from barbaric athletes competing in my favorite sport, hoverball, to the party types, binging on drugs and alcohol near the fraternity houses.
Professor Grange walked me over past the campus quad, into the physics department. Entering a code quickly into an office padlock, we entered the locked room where I saw a machine of interest.
It hummed faintly as the professor fiddled with an interface near the center of the machine.
“Don’t think for a moment that I do not believe your story, Quixen,” he said to me. “For this… is my time machine.”
I gasped in astonishment. He told me that no one dared venture into the machine, while I retorted with my accidental venture into one of the rifts. Amazed that I had survived, he gave me a critical mission.
“An acquaintance of mine at the E.C. Nuclear Power Plant found this tooth embedded within some stone off an old path. He claims it’s from some type of sub-human race from ages ago.”
The professor wanted me to head into the past to investigate this finding.
“I know it sounds trite, but you would be doing two old men a huge favor by helping us realize a truth that many find undoubtedly false– the remains of the races of the past.”
I nodded in agreement, but told the professor that I was due for some hardcore rest. Being chased by magically imbued clerics and monsters was enough to wipe me out.
As for my dig work, the professor assured me that he would cover for me, giving me more time to explore the past. We both knew that this time-travel discovery would be more than enough of a breakthrough for the both of us.
I bid Professor Grange good evening and headed back to my apartment. The next day would be a perilous, yet exciting one.
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