That night, without informing anyone, Kael left the Comandos Base and followed the narrow paths toward the ancestral village — what this version of the world called Brussels.
The moon looked larger here. The dirt roads glowed with torchlight fixed to rustic wooden houses. Behind the shuttered windows, he could hear whispers, soft laughter, the clink of pottery. There was something mystical in the air — not magic exactly, but a presence, like the wind carried secrets.
Few people wandered the streets. Some carried baskets of herbs. Others just moved silently through the night. Thin dogs and nervous cats appeared from shadows like silent guardians.
Brussels felt... enchanted.
A city soaked in mist, wood smoke, and ancient wine.
Kael felt oddly at home.
As if his soul had walked these stones before. As if the fog, the crooked alleyways, and the silence had always known his name.
He returned to the base.
In the library — an entire floor lined with breathing books — he poured himself a dark whisky, lit a cigarette, and sat in a heavy leather armchair. The shelves whispered knowledge. Dim lights floated from the ceiling.
He dove into readings on the world, its timelines, the roots of civilization — and especially about the era he now inhabited.
He was eager.
Eager to act. To move. To complete his first real mission.
---
The next morning, Kael left the base again — this time under the sun.
Daylight Brussels was alive.
Children ran between stalls. Merchants bartered stones for fish. Women weaved ropes and cloths with calloused hands. Kael watched it all.
But he understood nothing. The language sounded like forgotten music.
Frustrated, he returned and contacted LIGA.
— How am I supposed to communicate with them? — he asked.
Mister appeared on the screen, calm as always.
— I have a gift for you, Kael — he said. — Go to the Resource Chamber.
Kael followed dim corridors he hadn't noticed before.
The chamber had no door. Only a soft oval cavity in the wall that opened on its own, revealing a small pedestal with a barely visible device, floating silently.
A glowing inscription hovered above:
> "Use this whenever you must speak beyond the base.
Place it gently on your forehead.
It will not be seen.
You will understand them.
And they will understand you."
Kael touched the device to his skin.
A soft warmth spread through him. Something aligned — not in his body, but in his perception.
That afternoon, he returned to the village.
He stopped in front of a seafood vendor, whose skin was marked by the sun and whose eyes were cautious.
— Looking for something, stranger? — the man asked.
Kael smiled. He had understood.
And replied, naturally:
— Just exploring. But I might buy something.
The gift from LIGA had worked.
And his first mission... was getting closer.