Chapter 63: Is He Connected to Me?

Rhaevia barely slept. The persistent memory of the ancient Sentinel remained trapped inside her mind. His face had been hidden behind shadowed visor plating. His identity remained unknown.

Yet his voice had echoed through her mind. That calm, low voice had sounded exactly like Raevor. It was impossible, or at least it should have been in any normal universe.

Rhaevia stood before the observation deck’s primary viewport the following morning. Her arms were folded loosely across her chest as she watched distant star systems stream past the reinforced glass.

Was it really him? The question had relentlessly followed her throughout the endless night.

She deeply hated unanswered questions. On a chaotic battlefield, uncertainty could easily get people killed.

But this wasn’t an active battlefield. There were no tactical calculations she could make. No enemy formation to analyze, and no weapon she could deploy. There was only a memory and a lingering voice.

The observation deck doors hissed open behind her. Rhaevia didn’t turn around. "I know you’re there."

Raevor’s footsteps stopped several meters behind her. "Your hearing is improving."

She glanced over her shoulder. "You walk like someone who expects everyone to notice him."

"I wasn’t aware I did." A faint trace of amusement appeared in his dark eyes.

"You do." Rhaevia looked back toward the void.

Raevor walked toward the viewport and stopped right beside her. For several seconds, neither spoke as the cold blue light of hyper-space washed over them.

Rhaevia finally broke the silence. "Do you believe in reincarnation?"

Raevor turned his gaze toward her.

"No." The answer came immediately, without a second of hesitation.

Rhaevia blinked. "That was fast."

"Because I have no empirical evidence," he stated calmly.

She turned toward him fully. "What if there were evidence?"

"Then I would reconsider." His answer was frustratingly, impeccably reasonable.

Rhaevia looked back at the distant stars. "I saw something last night. Another memory."

Raevor waited, his body still. "Another memory?"

"His expression became more attentive as she continued. "I was younger. I was in an ancient military academy. There were Guides and Sentinels there, but everything was vastly different from our modern era."

She paused, letting her hands rest on the metal railing.

"I was powerful. I could control enormous amounts of mental energy, and I could synchronize with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people."

She looked down at her hands, flexing her pale fingers. "I knew how to command vast armies before I ever became a general on Earth."

Raevor’s dark eyes narrowed slightly. "And the Sentinel?"

Rhaevia looked straight at him. "He was there." Silence settled between them. "He followed me," she said. "He protected me, and we fought together." Her voice became much lower. "I never saw his face."

Raevor remained still. "Go on."

"But I heard his voice." She watched him carefully, catching every micro-expression. "It sounded like yours."

For the first time, something subtle shifted across Raevor’s guarded expression. It wasn’t recognition, nor was it shock. It was something much closer to deep consideration. "Do you think I was him?"

"I don’t know," Rhaevia admitted, looking away toward the deep black of space. "Part of me thinks it makes sense. Another part thinks I’m forcing connections because I desperately want an explanation."

Raevor was silent for several long seconds. "We shouldn’t assume something simply because it feels familiar."

Rhaevia snapped her eyes back to him. "You’re saying you don’t believe me?"

"No," his answer was immediate and firm. "I’m saying I don’t know." He turned toward her fully, facing her directly. "I have no memory of being that Sentinel."

Rhaevia studied his composure. "And you won’t lie about it."

"I won’t pretend that I remember something simply because you want it to be true," he continued evenly. "And I won’t tell you that I was that person when neither of us can prove it."

There was no cruelty in his steady words. There was only pure, unvarnished honesty. Rhaevia slowly nodded. "I appreciate that."

Raevor’s brows drew together slightly. "Why?"

"Most people would probably tell me whatever I wanted to hear." She smiled faintly. "You’re annoyingly honest."

"I’ve been told that before." Raevor’s posture relaxed slightly.

"By whom?"

"People who wanted me to lie."

A laugh escaped her lips. It surprised even herself, cutting through the dense mood. Raevor looked down at her, his dark eyes softening. For a long moment, neither spoke a word.

The strange tension that had followed her since the memory surfaced gradually faded away. She had been secretly afraid that telling him would change something vital between them. She feared he might begin seeing her differently or that he might start searching her face for someone from an ancient life.

Instead, he remained Raevor. He wasn’t an ancient mythical Sentinel, nor a reincarnated warrior, nor a figure from a long-forgotten civilization. He was just him. And somehow, that made her feel infinitely safer.

"I don’t want you to become someone from my memories," Rhaevia said.

Raevor’s gaze softened even further. "Good."

She blinked. "Good?"

"I’d rather you know me for who I am right now." Something warm spread through her chest at his steady tone.

She nodded firmly. "I think I’d prefer that too."

They stood together beneath the endless starlight. For the first time since her awakening, Rhaevia wasn’t trying to force her past and present into the exact same shape. Perhaps the ancient Sentinel had indeed been Raevor in a forgotten life.

Perhaps he hadn’t been. Either way, the man standing beside her right now was the one she had come to trust with her life. And that was more than enough, at least for now.

A colossal explosion shook the structure. The entire flagship trembled violently, sending vibrations through the deck plates. Rhaevia’s head snapped toward the viewport. "What was that?"

Raevor’s expression hardened instantly into military precision. "Internal shockwave."

Another deep vibration passed through the ship’s massive frame. But this time, Rhaevia felt something pulsating beneath the physical tremor. Something deeper, older, and terrifyingly ancient. Her Guide core suddenly surged within her chest, burning with raw power.

[ANCIENT RESONANCE DETECTED.]

Raevor’s Sentinel core responded at the exact same moment, humming in violent harmony with her own energy.

The stars outside the viewport distorted into unnatural streaks of chromatic light. Far below the flagship’s orbit, the ancient formation buried deep within Planet V-17 suddenly awakened.

One by one, its enormous obsidian pillars ignited with intense crimson-blue light. Rhaevia’s breath caught sharply in her throat. The ancient formation wasn’t responding to her presence. It was responding to something else.

It was responding directly to Raevor.

[ANCIENT FORMATION ACTIVATION DETECTED.]

[SECONDARY SOVEREIGN SIGNATURE IDENTIFIED.]

Rhaevia stared at the glowing planet below in utter disbelief. Then another system message materialized across her vision in bright, unmistakable text.

[SENTINEL SIGNATURE: RECOGNIZED.]