Ultima Ratio

Chapter 79: Alternative Ambitions

Verus Rex never existed. The man who had terrorized the world for fifteen years, who killed Akira's mom, Kekoa, her team, and nearly her soul, wasn't supposed to be there. Not only was he destroying their era, he had destroyed their rightful future—a future of peace and happiness.

As Akira struggled to comprehend his words, to simply keep her gun aimed and her legs upright, Danya stepped alongside her.

"What about me?" she whispered. "Did I exist?"

When Garza hesitated, his eyes wide, Danya retracted her helmet.

"You know me, don't you?" she exclaimed, her voice breaking as tears welled up in her eyes. "You said that you're the version that didn't become Verus Rex, that he tried to kill you before I existed. Then how do you know me? How do you know my name?"

For what felt like ages, Garza simply stared at her with his face frozen in shock. As much as Akira wanted to demand that he answer Danya's simple question, Akira was still reeling from recent revelations herself.

"I know you," Garza finally whispered, his voice wavering. "You, Danya... I loved you. At least, my naive self thought it was love."

Danya's eyes went wide with his words, and Akira could see her lips trembling ever so slightly. Garza, in turn, lowered his gaze.

"It was one of the first times I traveled to the past," he said. "Previously, I hadn't gone very far and I never did much besides verify the date; I maybe went five years, at most. But that time, I was ambitious."

He shook his head. "I traveled thousands of years back. It was stupid and purely something to feed my own ego, but...a part of me is glad I did that." He met Danya's gaze. "Because that's where I met you."

A small smile graced his lips, and Akira was tempted to burn it right off his face with her gun.

"You were spirited; adventurous." Garza chuckled lightly at the memory. "A little devilish too. And you were always so amazed by the science I showed you... I think that's where my ego got the best of me."

He sighed. "I took it upon myself to show you the future, my future, so I could be...some sort of savior to you. And, like I said, you were curious. You were willing to make a trip that no one else but me had ever accomplished."

For a moment, he was silent, keeping his gaze lowered at Danya's feet.

"You didn't survive," he whispered before exhaling shakily. "It wasn't until that instance when I realized the biggest limitation of time travel: DNA. After generations of exposure to radiation, whether it be from time in space or the wars on Earth, human DNA had transformed ever so slightly to allow this technology to be possible. But for people in the past..." his face pinched, "it could never work."

Garza inhaled deeply before turning his gaze to Danya. "I admit, I may have...saved some of your DNA when I came to this era. I don't know why; maybe as a reminder of my hubris, or maybe for the sake of science...but I never thought I would try to bring you to life again. I never thought I would stoop to such a level."

Again, his gaze lowered, and his expression grew pained and frustrated. "Until I saw your picture, and I heard your name. That's when I knew that I was still alive, and that I had really become such a monster that I could use you for my own nefarious deeds—for a weapon."

At the word, Danya inhaled sharply and took a shaky step backwards. The action almost made Akira lower her own weapon to comfort Danya, but Akira's desire to shoot Garza kept her aim true.

"So that's when you finally decided to do what you should've done years ago," Akira said.

Garza nodded glumly. "I noticed that there was an alternate version of the supposed 'legend' that predated the one that was circulated, so I traced it back. It led me to an island called Pali Uli. Have you heard of it?"