Max looked at the wrecked ship. The Epoch was gone, and with it, his only way home. The Talon some how managed to stablize itself, and land with little damage. Max knew, that without the Epoch, Earth was doomed. Nexus walked over to him and sighed. “It was a good vessel. I’m sorry.”

Max nodded. “So am I. I failed my mission.”

Nexus patted Max on the back and smiled. “Not really. If the damage isn’t too extensive, Edger should be able to repair it. Besides, we have yet to find Illumina.” Nexus pointed towards the mountains. A man came out of the airship and ran over to where they were standing.

“Hey, why were you headed for Death Mountain? That’s a dangerous place.”

Max nodded. “I know, But Illumina’s up there, and I intend to get it.”

They climbed for hours, not encountering one monster. Nexus was stunned by the ease of their journey. Something must be waiting for us up there, he thought. He looked over at Max. I wonder what the boy is thinking?

Max stared up at the sheer cliffs above. He grabbed on to a protrusion and pulled himself up. They were almost to the edge, and Illumina. He grabbed on to the edge, and pulled himself over onto the cliff. The others soon followed, climbing over and joining him. They looked at the large cave in front of them. Max walked into the cave, unsheathing the Sun Sword, it’s bright yellow glow lighting up the cavern. Nexus and the others were right behind him.

A bright light shined from ahead of them, signalling that they were very near their target.“Illumina!!” Max ran towards the light, only to go flying back as something smacked him away.

“You have trespassed on sacred grounds!!" stated a cold voice, it's owner a large beast that seemed to be an amalgamation of several animals. "None may come here, infedel!!”

Nexus ran over and helped Max up. “Who are you, beast?!!”

“You help the inferiors?!! You, Esper, shall pay for their crime as well!!!”

Max stood up and took a battle ready stance. “Just try me!” He swung his sword at the monster, barely missing, and was knocked into the wall. Setzer smiled and threw several razor sharp gold coins at the creature. Locke cast a wicked storm, striking the beast with a bolt of lightning. It crouched down, grabbing it’s arm as it focused it's energy.

Max got back to his feet and saw that he had landed inside the beam of light. “Illumina?” He turned around, but saw only a sword that he already knew. Excaliber. So, Illumina doesn’t exist. It’s only a legend after all. Max put his hand on the handle, a strange light shining on him. He let go, the light disappearing.

Max grabbed the handle again, the light shining once more, only this time, with more intensity. He pulled the sword out of the ground, the light increasing in brightness as he pulled. The blade came out with a burst of energy as lightning struck the sword, Max feeling power rush through his body.

The beast that had guarded the sword turned to face the spectacle, his eyes wide with recognition. He has come, it thought. But is he strong enough? It ran at Max, claws poised. Max saw the attack without even looking as he spun around, kicking the creature in the face and slashing it across the gut, the beast collapsing to it's knees.

“You... are the destine one..... Without fear of death. You didn’t hesitate to take the sword, without fear of the perils that could have befallen you. The prophecy has been.... fulfilled. Take Excaliber... and find the one once a frog knight..... His blade holds the key.... to your objective.... Go..... You don’t have much time......”

The creature fell silent, the color draining from it’s skin. It vanished, leaving no trace that it ever existed. Max felt sorry for the beast. It had completed it’s mission of protecting the sword until the righful owner came. Max knew that they had to go.

They climbed back down, having found that a stairway had formed after they had the sword. When they arrived they found Edger working on the Epoch, or what was left of it. “Hey, it’s about time you got back. This is one complicated piece of machinery.”

Max ran over to where Edger was standing. “What did you do?!!” He pushed Edger out of the way, and gasped.

“I fixed your ship, but, that little clock thing was hard to replace. I had to pull a few parts from the Talon to fix a few things....”

Setzer's face went red with anger as he grabbed Edger’s coller. “You WHAT?!! You pulled parts off of my...Daryl’s airship?!! What were you thinking?!”

Edger smiled. “Relax. They weren’t even attached to anything. They were the parts for that jet we were designing. Plus, I don’t think you’re ever going to use those thrusters. They’ve been sitting there for over a year now. By the way, your little clock, it was totally gone. There was no way to fix it. The system it was hooked up to is fine though. I transfered it into the new computer, so it uses a digital time system now. And you should get about four times the airspeed you had before. That’s one sweet engine, my guess is that it goes up to four thousand time the speed of light.”

Max whistled at what Edger had just told him. “So what do you call it?”

Edger smiled. “Well, you called it the Epoch. But now, I call it, the HAWK. Stands for High Acceleration Warp Carrier. Even stamped it on the side near the cockpit. What I wouldn’t give to have the blueprints for that baby. Well, she’s all your’s kid.”

Max smiled, a bit giddy as he looked over his new 'toy'. Nexus came up to him and offered his hand. “I must say, I'm kind of sorry you have to go already. I hope I see you again.”

Max smiled. “After what happened last time, I think we’ll both want to skip it this time.” They both laughed at the comment. Locke handed a back strap with a scabboard attached to it to Max. “You’ll need this for your new sword.”

Max nodded. “Hey Nexus, you take care of Terra.” Nexus smiled, and nodded. Max climbed into the cockpit, started up the systems and prepared to take off. Time to see if the Epoch... Gott’a remember. It’s not the Epoch anymore. It’s the HAWK. He pushed the throttle, only to be met by a foward jolt. Okay, throttle’s been reversed. No problem. He pulled back, and was pushed against the seat as the new time jet shot off at an incredible speed, tearing off the ground and flying high into the sky.

Max eased the throttle forward, dropping some speed. “Awsome!!! This thing's the bomb!!” He did a loop, doing a complete spin as the jet did the maneuver. “Alright!! Wonder if it’s got afterburners!” He pulled up, shooting straight into the sky. "Whooaaa!!!!” Adrenaline pumped through his system, a surge of energy flowing into him. He shot off into space, slowing down for one last look at the planet.

I’ll be back one day, he thought. He looked at the new dashboard, searching for the machdrive system. “There you are.” He found the switches, flipped them, and lifted the red cover, noticing the word “MACH” stenciled above it. He mashed the button in, the stars streaching once more into starlines. Hyperspace opened wide to the jet, sending it hurdling back towards Earth.

To be Continued......