Space Dad: Reiner's Travel Log

Space Dad: Reiner's Travel Log

Stephanie Acosta

04/19/2023

log 1. the hell’s a multiverse?

warrior
it's what they call me
i can tell they don't take me seriously
when their voices say it like that.

my world doesn't take kindly
to people born of my blood
a strange grudge that originates
long, very long before i did

my country is the most advanced society here
we even have planes
that fly over desolate towns
full of war survivors and traumatized soldiers

among those people stood me
until a man who looked like he belonged to the future
beckoned me to embark on a quest traversing the universe itself
a quest to find displaced mortals, a quest across realities.

i must admit, the multiverse was not the easiest concept to understand.
the world seemed simple: fight and conquer for my military overlords until they are satisfied.
though, with the risk of only having a few years left to live,
i realized i’d never be satisfied dying in a meaningless battle.

so i shook that strange man’s hand
and saw the world transform under my very feet.
oh how i wondered
whom i’d meet!

log 2. the pink-haired devil isn’t much of a devil.

it didn't take me long to realize
my country was not as advanced as i’d once believed
perhaps it was just the best of my world
in the way that the tallest dwarf was the tallest short thing.

speaking of dwarves, my first journey found me in a colony
of strange little men
some had pointy ears
and walked with a skip in their step

the weirdest thing of all
was their consistent bright smiles
as if they could only ever be happy
in their kingdom of midgets.

i came to this world unprepared
for the spectacular voodoo
and the lively dances
that would only be called witchcraft in my world.

in gathering information from the townspeople
i learned of an infamous sorcerer
with colorful hair and powerful abilities
that made every other magical being quiver in fear.

i decided that if anyone could aid me
in battle or in my mission
it was “the pink-haired devil”
who lived somewhere in the snowy forest, hidden from others

it turned out that calling him young was no understatement.
ikuto was a boy twelve years of age
who, like me, was out of place in this world,
the first displaced mortal i found, the only i’d save.

ikuto truly was powerful, though
he could make anything come to life
as long as he wrote it down
in his emerald notebook.

the one thing he couldn’t do was leave this place without aid
so, i told the child i would help him get home
if he helped me along the way with his abilities
i think he said yes because i was the first to not look at him with fear.

how could i?
i had been in his place once
thought of as a horrifying spectacle
for my power was a curse as much as his was.

from then on,
my journey of one
became a journey of two
and it was just beginning.


log 3. extraterrestrials are real?!

in our seventh destination, ikuto and i found ourselves
in the most strange place!
the inhabitants there didn’t look close to human at all
they bore a resemblance to what my nation calls extraterrestrials.

the most peculiar thing
was their complexions
of every color of the rainbow
and their eyes, greater than two.

this time, we were searching for a human-cat hybrid
with a lion’s mane of golden ore
who most certainly was out of place
in this world of aliens.

ikuto and i encountered him sitting on the abdicated throne
he didn’t enjoy the looks of those that lived on this planet
and made it his problem,
which reminded me bitterly of my own home.

the planet itself matched its residents
colorful in appearance.
but its bright hues contrasted harshly with the blood
of my new little comrade.

the hybrid we were fighting struck fast
and he struck hard
leaving Ikuto little time to respond
nor write in his magical journal.

i cursed and swung towards the villain
with my ferocity and my blade
cutting him down, i fulfilled the singular purpose
that my superiors had set for me back then.

i took ikuto to a medic quickly
and watched the kind villager nurse him back to health.
i thanked her kindly,
she kissed my cheek.

the nurse was curious about my origins
and i told her little, yet she was still intrigued
and she was curious, so i invited her
to join us in the next world.

so, with ikuto and the nurse,
i set forth to my next destination,
unknowing of the dangers
that were right under my nose.

log 4. i didn’t order tentacles!

i prayed to a god for the first time
in the next universe that came.
i called to the god of the titans
in complete and utter despair.

this new world was
perhaps even stranger than the alien one.
people walked in and out of colossal buildings,
tapping on small gadgets that spoke back to them.

“skyscrapers” were the most sketched thing
in my travel logbook.
i was terrified and amazed that a structure like that
could touch the heavens above!

my goal here was to find and eliminate yet another outsider
and yes, eliminate for sure
as this particular outsider had
somehow bothered the man who had recruited me.

but my goal before that was to take the nurse
onto the date of her alien lifetime.
we’d spent the rest of my time in the last universe
talking of dreams and our mutual desire to explore.

off we went to something called a restaurant
that served something called spaghetti
and i smiled as i finally told the nurse
the truth of what my expedition entailed.


i didn’t know
a woman could have that many tentacles
nor how painful it was to be strangled by them
nor that the nurse was going to stab me in the back.

i felt rage bubbling inside.
contempt was all i felt for that pitiful woman
who thought it wise to challenge me.
me, a warrior that has been given a quest across realities!

i took her life with my own sword.
and as i saw Ikuto’s eyes, wide with horror
and his mumbled “Reiner”
i realized why people pray.


i hugged ikuto
but i couldn’t speak a word to him
without them drowning
in my sobs.

we shed tears together
we, who once bled together
overtaken by emotions
as we stood over blood.

“she saved me,” he cried into my shoulder.
she tried to kill me, i left unsaid.
“why did you take her life?”
i wanted to say self defense.

but the only reason she attacked me
was because i told her my plan
of exterminating outsiders
which is exactly what she was in this world.

i could’ve resolved things by talking
i don’t know why words never came to me
she was trembling as she held my life in her hands
but she stopped right before actually taking it, which is why i had the chance to draw my blade.

a kind-hearted nurse, driven to the brink
let me go for a second, watching and waiting
and willing to let me amend my speech
but i was more interested in the violence of it all.

it was then i realized
i was doing exactly what i was before
it was no different in any universe.
i was a killing machine, and that was all i’d ever be.

i resolved not to continue this path
at least not until i faced the man behind the mask,
the man who assigned me this destiny.
i closed my eyes. in the void, i called his name.


log 5. space dad versus the 21st century!

warrior
it’s what they called me
in my home universe
and here, in this void.

the man in the suit,
the futuristic one that had given me this assignment
spat the word as if it had a disgusting taste in his mouth
and i instantly recognized the feeling.

no respect for me,
not as an employee of destruction
nor as a heroic soldier of war
nor as a living, breathing person.

the void in which he resided
was as empty as this man’s heart
but my resolve was not affected
i was determined to end this gratuitous cycle of violence

he wasn’t willing to hear me out
“killing is what you’re good at, it’s what you know,” he claimed.
pissed off, i so desperately wanted to hit him
though that would be proving him right.

i wasn’t sure how i could best someone in this plane of existence.
i thought of giving up, letting this confrontation
be for naught.
but when Ikuto appeared at my side, i knew what i had to lose.

because eventually, the man in the suit
would have me kill this young boy too.
he was an outsider, but i had broken the rules for him
and i would break them for him once more.

i told Ikuto what to write in his journal
and i watched as he methodically inscribed my words
and the prophetic man watched in horror
as his body began to morph into something unlike himself.

with that, we were transported back to that restaurant
Ikuto with his hand on my shoulder,
the method he used to come into the void with me,
and the sun with its hand sticking through the window.

the man was reduced to a mere flower
one that did not rise with the light of the sun
perhaps he had spent too long in the darkness
i pitied him despite myself, and i kept the blossom safe in my pocket.

though, without the magic of the man,
we would be stuck in this modern world
for the rest of our lives
i couldn’t bring the boy home, like i’d once promised.

but he seemed content
with the idea of staying with me for longer
and that kind of love
was one i had never known before.

my own mother saw me as a weapon
and a tool for her success in society
“my son’s a warrior,” she’d say
and she’d receive a modicum of respect from those that’d never truly accept her as one of them.

yet here,
in this terrifying world of skyscrapers and spaghetti
i was gifted with a son of my own,
and i’d say, “my son’s a writer” with the proudest tongue despite the most disinterested responses.

our journey, though limited to one universe
was hardly over.
it turns out, there were way more anomalies here
than i had originally anticipated.

starting in what was called new york city,
i’d use words, like Ikuto
to help these outsiders navigate our new home
that i was still getting used to myself.

the ones i’ve met thus far
have dubbed me “space dad”
after years of answering to the mocking designation of warrior
i find i don’t mind the new title.