Ifait repeated those words.
With a wave of her hand, a hidden door in the corner of the room slowly opened, a faint glow spilling out from within:
"The core data source Selen left behind is inside. All the answers you seek are there.
"I will not stop you,
"because this is my final respect for Selen."
Beyond the hidden door lay an empty metal platform. Energy pillars engraved with Sephidolos civilization's writing stood around it, while a translucent golden cocoon of light floated at its center.
The instant Elias stepped out of the star shuttle, the cocoon suddenly shattered. Countless golden particles regrouped in the air, forming an aged Holographic Projection.
He was Natsume Chie's grandfather:
Selen.
The projected Selen wore an ancient gray robe. His beard and hair were both white, yet his gaze remained sharp. However, when he saw Natsume Chie, that sharpness softened into gentle affection.
His eyes slowly widened, his gaze falling upon them with a depth that seemed to see through time and space:
"Since you found this place, it seems you have successfully broken through the outer perimeter.
"I knew you would come, child."
Ifait watched the scene without interrupting.
Selen's projection turned around and looked into the endless darkness beyond the platform, slowly recounting the past that had long been buried:
"I am not from this era.
"More precisely,
"I am a survivor of some civilization from the Fourth Era, one that was forgotten long ago.
"At the final moment of Sephidolos civilization's destruction, I was sealed inside a quantum hibernation pod and drifted through the universe for tens of millions of years, until a vague signal from the origin point of the Fifth Epoch awakened me."
Thinking of this,
he seemed to shake his head instinctively:
"It was a string of