A Shrouded Past

The Vessel continued its journey towards the presumed entrance to The Iron Hand’s headquarters. They were just a few hours from arrival, and tensions were at their peak. Camden and Levo were both in their dorm preparing for the battle that awaited them. Suffice to say, everyone was on edge.

“You got everything you need?” Camden asked, attempting to hide the nervousness he was feeling.

“I sure do,” Levo replied. He was feeling nervous too, but refused to let it show. “Bombs, extra ammunition, extra weapons, etc. you?”

“I'm just finishing in my bag now. Some rope, some medical supplies, a backup blaster…” Camden replied.

“And of course can't forget about that magical sword of yours,” Levo interjected rudely. What was this guy’s problem?

“You really still don't believe, do you?” Camden questioned, knowing full well the answer that he was going to receive.

Levo scoffed. “Of course I don't. Why on this massive planet would I ever believe that some random person and some ancient weapon would be able to topple the strongest regime the world’s ever seen?”

Camden had reached his limit. If the two of them were about to die, he was going to at least this off of his chest before they did.

“Just what is wrong with you? Always so negative, always so confident that things won’t work out?” he exclaimed, frustration lining his voice. “I don’t get it. Don’t you want to be safe? To be free, to go wherever you want without the looming threat of drones vying for your execution?”

“Believe me Camden, I do. I want that just as much as anyone else on this god forsaken scrapheap,” Levo growled.

Camden crossed his arms. “But you don’t believe the prophecy.”

“Of course I don’t believe the prophecy!” Levo exclaimed. “It’s fake! Just a bunch of literary nonsense to feed into the people’s delusions.”

“Ugh, why do you have to be so negative all of the time?! If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you wanted us dead.” Camden retorted, his words full of vitriolic anger. “You’re always sooo confident that you’re right, huh? Why? What makes you think there isn’t any hope? What is it that drives you to such ends, to shooting down every possible thing that proves it’s true?”

Levo broke. “Because I used to be the saviour, okay!?” he blurted out.

Silence. Complete silence. The only sounds in the room being the gentle rumbling of the vessel’s engine, the slight rattling of the items in the dorm.

“I… I was told that I was going to be the one to save them,” he finished.

Camden, who was about to continue verbally berating Levo, stopped in his tracks. This revelation changed everything.

“So then…” Camden began, attempting to obtain more information.

“I’m not from here,” Levo finished for him, his voice quiet with shame, his head turned away. “At least, not originally. Back home, we had so many technological advancements. Could make it halfway across the world in less than an hour, if you can believe it.”

This was a side of Levo that Camden hadn’t ever seen in their months of knowing each other. Levo was strong, stubborn, fierce. At least, he had been. Now he seemed small. Ashamed of his past. Almost afraid.

“My friends and I were a bunch of delinquents, always getting into trouble,” he continued. “That night, we snuck into an old military facility. No one was guarding it, the place had been abandoned for at least a decade. And that’s when I found it. Some strange machine locked behind closed doors. But those doors didn’t stay closed for long. I pried them open with a strange broken sword I’d found lying around on the table next door. It was quite dull and damaged, but I’m sure you can guess what that sword looked like. I entered the room. That stupid machine was the stuff of fantasy novels, built so ornately and specifically. Everything I had ever dreamed of.”

Levo was looking down now, his voice quieter and filled with regret. “And then the burning. And then I was here. And then they found me.”

Camden didn’t know what to say. As he was gathering his thoughts, Levo continued to speak.

“One of the higher ups thought that I might be a candidate for their prophecy,” he explained. “Thought the blade was the one we needed. Trained me like no other. Promised me a safe return home if I saved them.”

Levo was seething now. All of his past experiences brought to light.

“Didn’t tell anyone about me, though. Couldn’t have someone reasonable tell him to stop what he was doing. One day, he decided I’d trained enough, and was ready to face Lord Stone head on.”

He paused, taking a deep breath before he continued.

…

“We didn’t even make it past the guards. The sword broke again, being the piece of trash that it was. The higher up died. I barely escaped with my life.”

Camden had had no idea that Levo had been through so much. He supposed that in their own way, everyone on this vessel had. Each and every one of them with their own past, their own reasons for continuing to fight. And their own reasons to be afraid.

Levo continued. “Eventually I re-found the vessel and got brought on board, with the excuse that I had been an orphan lost in the wilderness. That was 5 years ago. And then the universe had the gall to play the sick joke of putting you in the same dorm as me. I always knew the crew thought of you as the chosen one. Like I said back then, we haven’t really found anyone new for quite a while. So to pull one out of the blue, and bring him on such important missions, it was obvious from the start.”

Levo turned to look at Camden, but struggled to meet his eyes. “I did actually resent you for a time, you know. I never got so much recognition back then. Probably because no one knew who I was. Bringing in someone else when I’d been told I was irreplaceable, how dare they? But then I felt something else. Sympathy. Knowing that you were unknowingly being set up for the same fall that I had.”

He paused, allowing his thoughts to catch up as he continued.

“I used to be you, figuratively of course. That’s why I don’t believe. I don’t trust false hope. Not again. Not anymore. And then I didn’t want to lead you on. Maybe if I didn’t believe loudly enough, you wouldn’t fall into the same trap that I did.”

Levo began to look regretful. “I’m sorry you had to find out this way. I had planned to tell you sooner, but I never quite worked up the guts to do so. God, I'm a coward.”

“Levo, don’t say that,” Camden implored. “Just because you were afraid doesn’t make you a coward.”

After all, if that were true, everyone on the planet would be a coward a thousand times over.

“Maybe not in your eyes,” Levo replied. It was an answer that was unfortunately, completely in character. “And now, if your theory is true. The revelation that my world was, what, the future? If the machine and sword existed for me to use, then it must have been. It’s… it’s a lot to take in.”

“I’m sure it is,” Camden sympathized. “It’s a lot for me too. Knowing that we eventually get wiped out by an asteroid. What comes of the planet, what happens to our history. How it gets lost to time.”

“I can get behind that,” Levo agreed, nodding. After all, him and Camden were some of the only people on the vessel who could understand what it was like. Two hapless people, displaced across the timeline.

“By the way,” Levo began, having something else to say. “All of this, the fact that I don’t believe, the fact that I used to be the chosen one. It doesn’t change my mind about you. You’re still a good person. If you think you can save us all, then be my guest. And I’ll be right by your side. So will Madam Cecilia. Just… don’t expect us to win, okay?” he asked, his intonation dire and conflicted. “Probably for the best.”

Quiet fell over the room once more.

“I’ve seen you eyeing the novel that I’m always reading,” Levo brought up, motioning to the book that lay on his desk. “I guess it seems strange, doesn’t it? Always seeing me with the same one. I must have read it a hundred times by now. But it’s the only thing here that reminds me of back home. Actually had it in my backpack when I got transported here, if you could believe my luck”

“I suppose that makes sense, Camden replied. “I mean, if my smartphone had survived the travel, I’d probably be glued to it even more than teens already are back in my time.”

He decided to change the subject. “So nobody else knows about your past?” Camden queried. “About where you come from?”

Levo laughed halfheartedly. “The last one who did was killed off when I fought against and lost to Lord Stone's guards.”

“So there’s no one else? Not even Madam Cecilia?”

“Nope. Not even her.”

Levo paused, considering his next thought. “And it’s probably better that way.”

He looked out the window. “At least she was at least bold enough to actually rope the whole crew into her nonsense plan. Unlike my mentor. And the crew is dumb enough to believe her. Who knows, maybe that’ll be the deciding factor.”

Time was passing. With every minute, they drew closer and closer to their confrontation. To what would either save the world, or end them all.

“Hey, Levo?”

“What?” he asked, glancing back into the room at Camden.

“When we win, and we will win, you can go home too, you know,” Camden said confidently, a slight smile on his face. “You’ve earned it after being trapped here for so long.”

Levo shook his head. “Nah. Don’t think I deserve it. I’m a soldier now, not some lost kid. Plus, you really think anyone’d be happy to see me? I wasn’t exactly the popular kind of guy back home.”

“But your friends…” Camden began.

“Would have abandoned me to make a few dollars,” Levo finished for him, in his trademark pessimistic way. “I know that for a fact.”

Levo got up, taking his book with him as he walked towards the exit, stopping in the doorway and turning back before he left.

“I'm going for a walk around the vessel,” he mentioned. “Good luck finishing up, kid. I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

And with that, he left the dorm, leaving Camden to finish packing up by himself. And he had better finish fast. After all, there wasn’t much time that remained.