In the pitch black world illuminated by starlight and the white cracks that seem to cover the walls of this dimension.
In this world seemingly frozen in space, a sole person stood there, floating in the void devoid of floor or surface to stand, unconsious, with his eyes closed as if he was dreaming for a long time.
This person of androginous and sligthly muscular build was 1,86 meters tall (or 6'1), had short white hair with a ponytail long enough to reach his knees.
A noteworthy trait was his rather long and pointy ears.
He was sporting a tight black top that reached up to the neck covered with a white suit that stopped above the belly, but still had long sleeve, addorned with some orange buttons and stripe at the shoulder, elbow and chest area. As well as a white trouser with some black straps falling into the void.
Suddenly, a distant sound traversing the stars could be heard. After multiple hundreds, no thousand of years, a sound resonated in this void long forgotten by history.
As the same time, a pink barrier surronding the unconsious person starting to appear. This barrier was almost entirely filled with white cracks, making the person inside of it almost imperceptible.
This barrier started to vanish again, turning invisible again before being startled by another distant sound.
The same situation of a sound being heard and the pink barrier appearing and vanishing continued for multiple minutes before coming to a close, the sound stopping suddenly.
The pink barrier starting to disappear again to return the world to its eternal unmoving void that lasted centuries.
...
Suddenly, the violent sound of an explosion resonated through the space, yet no actual explosion could be sighted, as if it didn't existed.
The pink barrier appeared again but, already being on the verge of collapsing, shattered into million pieces almost instantly by the illusory sound.
At the same time, dozen, if not hundreds of white cracks filled the world from all size creating a myriad of white line covered with starlight, akin to a painting.
After the collapsing of the pink barrier, the white haired person's light amethyst colored eyes started to slowly open from their long slumber.
The person slowly awakened in this painting like void. Slowly regaining control of his body and mind.
*...*
He was still lying down, observing the scenery that was gaining more and more white cracks.
The thousand of thousand of stars superposing with the white crack, as if space erased was removed by an erasure, looks so captivating that his mind stopped for a few seconds.
Putting his hand to the not present ground, trying to lift himself up, he slipped up and started to drift and turn in the void, waking him up from his daze.
"Ah ! No ! Stop moving ! Where am I !"
While trying to collect his last memory, the sound of another explosion resonated.
All the cracks disappeared, the dimension itself fracturing, what looked like the walls transformed into pure light.
Before even realizing what happened, the person could feel a strong breeze all over his body.
He felt like all of his body was being send away with so much force that his skin was going to get ripped appart from his muscles.
Almost instantly, his vision turned pitch black.
. . . . .
"Ah !"
As the white haired man quickly opened his eyes, the dim light shining on my face, he instinctivly gasped before taking huge breath.
he took a bit of time before accomodating the surronding.
Before trying to figure out where he was, he closed his eyes, in order for his past memories to come back to him quicker.
He was Kaël Lavius, an Aporiphian, from the planet Aporiph,
In Aporiph, he was considered a senior guardian, a mid ranking officer in the protection of the planet against the abyss.
However, even after multiple minutes, Kaël's most recent memory couldn't seem to return, as if sealed by something, all he could remember was someone crying, except that, nothing.
*That's frustrating, it feels like a part of me is missing*
Frustrated he opened his eyes and started to look around to figure out where he was.
He was surronded by an amalgamtion of light grey plates of metal, weirdly well preserved, and grayish brown rocks, as if inside the nest of a cavernous creature. The light dim and the sky covered by the metal and rock formation.
"Did I teleported somewhere ? I don't remember the city having teleportation devices."
Kaël standed up and the memory of the empty space came to mind, the pain still etched to his body.
*I look undamaged though, was it an illusion ? What even was this place ?*
He took a glace at his white shirt, white pants and hair pin to make sure they were undamaged, and indeed they were.
With multiple question occupying his mind he shaked his head and started to put them at the back of his mind.
*I'm not gonna get any answer if I don't move.*
Kaël starter exploring deeper into the unknown area and noticed multiple things to take note of.
*Regular patern 1: the area look like a man-made cavern to be habitable, long line it take the form of rectangular or dome shaped room between 2 and 4 meters of height connected to each others.*
Kaël's eyes making sure to miss as little detail as possible.
*Regular pattern 2: he material of everything is the same, different type of rock and one type of metal. There does not seem to be any item left in the 'rooms' of the cave.*
Kaël's mind tried to process informations as fast as possible, losing time in an unknown environnement could be deadly, especially if it was related to the abyss.
*Unusual pattern 1: The light is dim throughout all the cavern, yet there are no astral light nor vegetation generated light.*
*Unusual pattern 2: The temperature is pretty high for a cave, it is even hotter than Aporiph in the hotter time of the year.*
*Unusual pattern 3: There is no air in the cave, luckely Aporiphian don't need to breath air.*
After 5 minutes of analyzing his environnement, Kaël could draw some conclusion to his environnement.
*I am most likely in a cave created by native species of an unknown planet whose temperature is pretty high. This cave was abandoned by the native, most likely due to an attack of the Abyss. The species were around the size of an Aporiphian or smaller and enjoyed hot climate. The attack happened so long ago that the destroyed furniture decayed or got retreived by the abyss, or the attack was predicted and every items were relocalize.*
But the most important information was the following.
*The planet is likely abandoned and the presence of Abyssial is small.*
The presence of Abyssial couldn't be zero, it wasn't zero, it was never zero. Thinking so would lead to a quick death to a sneak attack no matter the experience of the soldier.
Only one question remained.
*How do I leave ?*
Kaël, sitting down tried to reduce the possiblities that could work, to not try things at random.
*Trying to destroy the cave to make a hole to the surface is a terrible idea, everything will probably crumble.*
Kaël knocked on the ground bellow him, putting his ear close to it, trying to hear the vibration.
*I'm no expert but it sound pretty breakable.*
After concluding a possible plan in battle he standed up and began exploring, with not much goal.
He looked at his body once more to check on his condition, again.
*I don't feel tired, it's almost as if I just slept and ate an entire meal.*
After walking for multiple minutes, the sound of his step echoing through the entire cave, his breathing loud. The never changing dark walls of metal and stone not giving any sense of relief or security.
Kaël walked for multiple minutes, not touching the rare yet present water protruding from the ground.
He walked with no purpose, checking around to not miss any ray of light or change in luminosity.
He walked and walked, being aware of his surronding until he noticed a sound in the distance. It was to far to distinguish, but clear enough to figure out it wasn't a battle.
*Finally, a potential lead.*
Taking light step to not alert the unknown entity in cas it was an enemy or an Abyssial. Kaël approached the target.
Tip - Tap. Tip - Tap
The sound of his step barrely audible, Kaël quickly noticed that the sound was people talking. This meant it wasn't an Abyssial.
*This doesn't mean they aren't hostile, there's a bunch of sketchy guy I know.*
Approaching further and putting his ear to the wall separating him and the group talking, he started to listen on the conversation. The increased senses of an Aporiphian allowed Kaël to pull out such a feat with no problem, even through a wall of metal and stone.
A rough male voice could be heard.
"How many ration do we have left ?"
A lighter female voice responded.
"8 full ammunitions, food to last maybe half a day for everyone here."
The previous male voice responded.
"What about water ?"
Another male voice could be hear.
"Only 3 *Cough* bottle are left sir."
The rough man continued.
"Estimated casualties ?"
"..."
After a few seconds, another female voice, sounding very pale as if exhausted, answered.
"3 Azerian exploded into the swarm, all soldiers inside have likely used all their Rapiid to blast as much abyssial as possible. The last one's position is unknown. All Azerian have been lost in the fracture, same for the equipement coming with them."
Once again, the rough voice inquired another question.
"What about the enemy ?"
The other male voice answered.
"An estimated of *Cough* 9200 Abyssial have been removed, 2 out of the 5 jest *Cough* Abyssial are alive, one mainly due to his regenerative ability."
The conversation proceeded the same. The man with the rough voice continued to ask question, and the other answered them.
It sounded like they just finished a battle with the Abyss however, some detail catched Kaël's attention.
*9200 Abyssial have been removed, did they just killed 9200 Abyssial in one battle ? This is not a normal number. And they don't sound to happy or releived, did they still lost ? How strong was this army ? What is an Azerian ? What is a jest Abyssial, is this a ranking system for the Abyss ?*
During Kaël's lifetime, he never saw an army of Abyssial reaching up to 5000 number, so 9000 was unthinkable. Yet it appears that they actually fought such army, and lived to tell the tale.
If taken into account the apparent jest Abyssial alive, its meaning unknown, it appears that the army was even more formidable than the 9000 number that have died. In conclusion.
*How strong are those people ? At least its doesn't look like they going to be hostile. Should I approach ?*
After thinking for some time, he decided to go meet the group of people, he already walked for multiple minutes and did not found any hint of an exit. In such setting, he really did not wanted to be alone in this unknown environnement.
Also, is the rest of the Abyssial composing the army were trying to find the survivors of the battle, and he stumbled upon them, based on their description, Kaël had rare chance to leave alive. Even if he considered himself pretty strong in combat compared to most of his peers.
Kaël started to walk towards the opening that could lead him to the group of people. Not trying to hide the sound of his footstep anymore. At his first step, the conversation that was happening next to him instantly stopped, making the cave as quiet as it always was.
*Isn't this to fast of a reaction speed ? I just took one step and you all shut up instantly ?*
Continuing to walk, in the middle of his way to reach the cave's 'room' that held the group of, what was believed, 4 people. Kaël spoke loud enough to be heard, hoping no Abyssial close could hear him.
"Hello ? I am also lost in the cave. I am not hostile. Could you help me ?"
. . . . .
5 minutes before Kaël spoke.
Delman was talking with the last surviving crew member that were in his Azerian marcher about the result of the battle.
The battle against the army of 12000 Abyssial was a brutal one, many soldier were lost but they managed to repel an important number of enemy.
Delman was surprised at how effective the advanced technology of Grayzik was, overloading the Azerian marcher, albeit self-destructing, were capable of killing at least a thousand knight Abyssial, the third lowest level of Abyssial, out of 10.
Delman looked at the trio of survivor with him, out of the 10 people on board, only the 4 of them survive the onslaught of corrupted spear and barage of projectile, even with perfect synchronisation and leadership. There was some things that couldn't surpass sheer number, the only thing such an army had over them.
The four survivor were Delman, Alissia beceause she never entered the battlefield and piloted the Azerian. Her face was paler than her usual pale skin and she was extremely quiet unlike her normal self. Such a transformation couldn't be avoided when participating in a battle for the first time, it was pretty impressive she still had the energy to participate in the discussion.
The other survivors were Garleen Ayle, a strong and reliable Aizemi, he had short dark grey hair and sharp green eyes and a thin black beard. He was the oldest of all the soldiers at 74 years old. Garleen stood as both the oldest and the tallest of the group, being one head taller than the already tall Delman. He was pierced by a spear at a bad spot but managed to survive. It resulted in him being sligthly corrupted, causing him to cough regularly. He would be fine after some rest but nobody knew if he could take some.
The last person in the group was Cassidy Bagel, a female Aizemi with long black hair cascading down to her waist and yellow eyes. She was the most healthy in the group managing to dodge every projectile with her fast reflexes and speed.
All three soldiers were still wearing their light blue armors except the helmets that they removed.
Even if the cave had no air, and Aizemi didn't to breath oxygen. It helped them to recover their Rapiid, the energy that Aizemis use to fight. After all, Aizemis convert the ambiant molecule into Rapiid, it wasn't beceause there was no air that there was no light.
Delman thought back to the end of the battle. The army of Abyssial were at a reasonable distance. The long range enemies were taken down at the cost of 2 Azerian marcher, the last one being overruned by the army.
The self destruction of the Azerian marcher made 2 out of the 4 sighted Jest Abyssial, the 4th lowest level, considered in the mid level of strength for an Abyssial. A single one of them couldn't be ignored in a battle, they could change the course of the entire battle if handled wrong.
With 2 Jest Abyssial remaining, and them not having any long range attack. One of them got targeted by every remaining soldier and couldn't withstand the attacks, quickly falling.
Delman, looking at everybody present with a grave look, examining the health of everyone.
*Alissia is shook by the battle, it can't be helped. Garleen is badly damaged, I don't think he is gonna be able to fight for long, maybe five minutes is his maximum. Cassidy is fine but her Rapiid is depleted a lot, she used it a ton in the battle to dodge the flying projectile.*
*As for me.*
Delman took a long at his left arm, now missing and replaced by a gruesome wound covered with a half-backed bloody bandage.
After the death of the 3rd out of the 4 main threat, and about a 3rd of the army, comprising of most, if not all, long range threat. The battle looked like it could be won after all.
As long as the Azerian marcher did not lost fuel, one of them could target the ground making it difficult to advance, while the other attack the army. Such a strategy could ensure the number of enemy was slowly being depleted while they couldn't reach them.
However, the battle did not go as expected. About the same time as the fall of the 3rd Jest Abyssial, a new one appeared on board of the Azerian marcher that Delman was riding.
He was, until now, not detected due to his specialty in stealth and assasination. Delman might have been able to saw him, but not in the middle of commanding a battle.
The abyssial appeared, standing at twice his size with his extremely long legs, being 70% of his size. With pitch black skin with spots of white on his belly and waist, he had 8 tentacles like appendice instead of arm and purple spike all over his body. Like most Abyssial, he lacked eye, ear and a nose. However, he also lacked a mouth, a rare phenomena considering Abyssial, like most predator, generaly eat the corpses of their victims.
As the long legged abyssial appeared on the Azerian marcher, he attacked all soldier on board. Instantly killing 6 out of the 10 soldier and gravely injuring 2 other. This included Delman, who couldn't dodge in time and had to sacrifice his arm to avoid an instant death or a fatal injury.
The minor mistake of not detecting the enemy in time cost the life of half the man on board.
After the apparation of the new enemy, Delman did not hesitated and used as much Rapiid as he could in a single strike with his remaining hand to try to directly deal a fatal blow.
The long legged Abyssial conterattacked with his 8 tentacles appendages. However, something went wrong during the attack.
The moment both attacks collided, a blast was created from the opposite forces, but there was also a dark purple orb that appeared out of nowhere.
After, the orb started spinning on itself, creating thunder, as if unstable before exploding, creating a shockwave all over the battlefield.
After that, Delman woke up in the cave like structure with the remaining soldier of his squadron as well as his daughter Alissia, unclear of how much of the battle she had seen.
They were now all inside an unknown cave, in the corner of the dome shaped opening, a corpses was laying there, covered with a cloth. A soldier who did not survived from his injury in the surprise attack.
Discussing the result of the battle, Delman had many question still remaining.
*Was this area of Exax unstable, and the attack between me and the Abyssial made it worse, resulting in a teleportation ?*
*Where is the last Azerian marcher ?*
*The corpses of the other soldiers, and the Azerian aren't here, only living being are transported ? This should imply the Abyssial is dead.*
As the question and worry kept accumulating in Delman's mind, he heard footstep from the other side of the wall he was standing on.
Tip tap, tip tap.
Delman instantly took a quick glance at his three allies to make sure they also heard it.
Their reaction told so, Garleen instantly stopped talking, Alissia almost screamed but Cassidy put her hand in front of her mouth, creating a orange colored force field around it to prevent the sound of being heard.
Tip tap, tip tap.
The steps started to approach the entry way were they were situated.
Delman rushed to hide close to the entry saying as quiet as possible. Cassdy followed the same action while Garleen stayed beside Alissia to protect her.
Suddenly a voice could be hear from where the footstep were coming from.
"Hello ? I am also lost in the cave. I am not hostile. Could you help me ?"
Right after, a figure appeared, he was an androginous man with white hair and a ponytail that reached to his ankle. He was wearing a white top that stopped at his waist and white pants, as well as a tight black suit that exposed his slight muscle.
He had his hands up, showing no sign of a weapon. His face with light purple, almost white eyes, had a sympatic smile as if to confirm he was friendly and harmless.
Delman did not let his guard down, even though all of his experience and instinct told him that the man in front of him was not an Abyssial.
Did does not mean he was an ally.
Delman exposed his position and, while moving behind the man to flank him from both side, started asking multiple question, being wary of any suspicious mouvement.
"Who are you ? What are you doing here ? What affiliation are you ?"
Kaël stopped walking, still putting his hand up, thought for a few seconds before answering.
"My name is Kaël Lavius. I am not sure what I am doing here, my last memory is blury and my last non blury memory does help me figure it out. I believed something has teleported me here but I don't what. I'm not sure what do you mean by affiliation, if its a gang i'm not part of any."
At this point, Delman positioned himself at the entry-way of the 'room' formed by the cave. This mean that Kaël was surronded with Delman from one side and Garleen and Alissia from the other. Cassidy still hidden, unclear wether she had been detected.
Delman continued to inquired the man.
"Have you seen any pink orb exploding or a big blast ? By affiliation I mean country, you don't look like an Aizemi but there's too much race that look like each other for me to figure out what yours is. Why did you spied on our conversation."
Kaël, after the first question, thought back to the weird world with not ground, walls nor ceilling. He did felt a big shockwave, strong enough that be felt his flesh and skin trying to leave his muscles. At the same time he noticed some hue of pink in the air.
"Yes, I did saw a sligthly pink shockwave when I was in a weird space, just floating inside. I did not was any orb though. As for my affiliation, I am an Aporiphian. I have not heard of the term Aizemi, so are you aware of what is an Aporiphian ?"
At the same time, kaël made observations of his own.
*Three people. There was a second female voice, is she hidden ? They are all quite tall, is this a trait of Aizemi ? Is is Aizemis in plural ? One of them, probably the leader lost an arm, based on the blood it is from the previous battle.*
Both kaël and Delman did not lower their guard against each other, ready react to the any possible threat posed by the enemy. A trait gained from years serving in wars.
Delman continued to ask questions.
"I don't believe I know the Aporiphian race, you should be under the supervision of a great nation, which one is it. Or are they one of those rogue planet. You talked about a weird space, could you describe it ?"
However, Delman noticed a slight reaction at the words 'great nation'. What could have happened between the Aporiphian race and the great nations to provoke a reaction to the man who did not had any until now.
At the same, in Kaël's mind, there was only one sentence.
*What is great nation. Is this something I should know ? Can't you explain ? Why do you make it sound like not being under one is a bad thing ?*
He couldn't afford to come up with a lie that would convince the man in front of him, so he could only be honest.
"What is ... a great nation ? I have never heard of it."
This answer confirmed Delman's suspicion, in an unexpected manner.
*Is this man a fool ? Even children have heard of him.*
Having participated in interrogation of criminal, Delman was a reliable lie detector, and his instinct said that Kaël was not lying.
Meanwhile, Kaël noticed a reaction, a twitch of the eye or being looked at differently, from everyone in present
*Is this such a big deal ? You don't have to look like I'm a child.*
"Do you really not know ?"
*What would I ask in the first place ?*
Kaël tried to remain calm but a slight agitation was noticed by Delman.
"No, I really don't know. Is this such a big deal."
"Yes. How could you not know. Is your planet issolated from others ?"
*So I really shoudn't not know. Well i'm sorry that we have different culture.*
"No, Aporiph is friendly with the Kalmon, the Peshu or even the Zaettey."
Delman never heard of those races. So only one logical thought came to his mind.
*Is he inventing things ? I'll test a bit before attacking.*
However, before Delman could continue, a third voice could be heard. It was Alissia who stayed silent since Kaël entered the room.
She was looking straight at Kaël's face as if wanting to just his reaction.
"Did you said Zaettey ?"
Kaël, startled by the sudden question, turned to look at the pale girl. putting his back to Delman. Still wary of his mouvement .
"Yes why ?"
Alissia stayed silent for a few seconds before answering, as if structuring how would she answered.
"The Zaettey race is the direct ancestor of the current Quax race. Their planet or universe of origin is unknown. The only traces of their existence are the many books and document listing their many customs and help in war. The date where those documents have been written is lost to time but it is at least 800,000 years old. In those documents, the name of many civilizations were listed, such as Kal and Apo."
*Direct ancestor ? Quax ? Records ? Lost to time ? 10,000 years old ?* The description of the Zaettey by Alissia passed through Kaël's mind and if it was true, then only one thing could be true. Only one thing could explain the disparity in knowledge between Kaël and the peoples he was facing.
Putting his arm down. This was clearly a suspicious mouvement, yet Delman did not attacked. Clearly seeing the distress in them, even by only watching his back could he clearly see it.
*Apo ? This was how the Zaettey called us Aporiphian.*
Kaël took 10 seconds before answering anything. A tear dropping on the ground
"Doesn't this mean, that Aporiphian are 80,000 years old ? Doesn't this mean they are extinct ?"