Discovery

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It would not be wrong to say Sirius was having some bad luck. He had been held up in the Monster world by some random lady, then he had to travel with a civilian woman that was too nosy for her own good and lastly during an important scouting mission he had almost been caught. Normally he would say this was bad luck but this went beyond that.

Perhaps it was karma paying back for all his misdeeds. The mere thought caused Sirius' stomach to roll. If his karma was trying to balance out he had a lot more to pay before he grew equal again. Even now as he trudged over the mountain, karma spitted him dropping buckets of rain overhead. The rivers of water flowing down the rock face made the stone slippery and soon Sirius's shoe failed to gain traction and slipped. He fell to ground with a grunt.

He was tired, so very tired. Accepting orders, sneaking into bases, spying on individuals, pretending to be who he was not. The list went on and on. What was the point? He just wanted to rest. He quickly banished such thoughts and without a word he picked himself up and continued forward. He didn't have time to complain. This would all come to an end, and he would be standing at the end of it.

Without warning lighting flashed in the sky and struck the mountain. A rock being freed from its precarious perch came tumbling down. Sirius leapt back avoid the deadly payoad. The rock rushed past him loosening other rocks as it dropped. Once the noise had died down Sirius looked down to where the original rock had almost crushed him. A small crevice had been opened. Perhaps his luck was finally turning around. He could rest there until the rain subsided. He pulled himself down into the opening and dragged himself inside gasping in relief from the lack of water pouring on him. He stopped to catch his breath turning on his flashlight to check the crevices depth. However, to his surprise it was not a natural formation. It looked to be a hallway.

Sirius silently wondered if he should leave. Perhaps this was enemy territory. But the demons hadn't reach this far yet... So who? He rose from his position and began to walk the hallway. It twisted and turned. Several time he came across a break and he stopped to mark his path. If it wasn't the demons then it had to be the angels. However the halls seemed abandoned. Finally he stumbled upon a room. What he saw took his breath away. It seemed to be a temple with how beautifully decorated it was. However what caught his attention were the pods before him. They seemed to be ancient and he slowly move forward wondering what was inside them. He gently brushed the mountain of dust that had settle on the glass to look inside. There was someone in there. A woman. He looked to the other pod and found that they too held people. What in the world had he stumbled upon?

Subject: Re: Discovery Wed Sep 13, 2017 10:43 pm

As he had touched one of the pods, a faint blue light pulsated like a heartbeat several times through lines across the entire temple-like designed hall. They connected to the pod he'd touched, but no response came from that point on. Everything else was pitch dark, bar for the flashlight he had, and no clarity could be found as to what this place was. The architecture looked Angel design, but it didn't match any of the buildings they had, and buried this deep into the mountain, it could have been here for centuries, if not millennia. Despite the clear age of the construction, the walls were smooth and the carved stone depicted what could be identified as animals, with lines going from them to something else.

As his light went further towards the center of the room, he could see the statue of a woman, with large wings, easily 10 times the size of a regular person. The statue depicted her in a celestial form that was never seen before. Smooth and somewhat wavey armor, accompanied by a slick blade in her right hand, the wings gliding behind her as if she was forever afloat. Clearly this was some sort of a reference to a deity they had worshipped. Before the statue, there was an altar with several different slots. Some held weapons, old ones, like swords, bows or spears. Some were empty, like they'd been taken by their owners who left the temple. Behind him, the 16 pods were still motionless, guarding the entrance in a crescent moon shape, the entrance separating them into 2 sides.

As he'd gotten near the altar, a light came from behind him. Instead of finding people, troops or anything that could be expected, what he witnessed was the pod he'd touched dissolving into pure light, which then draped onto the floor and was siphoned by the stone, releasing the form that it had contained. A woman, looking to be somewhere in her 30's, elegant and delicate, in armor comparable to that of the statue, but not as impressive. Her eyes were closed, and as his flashlight went over her, he could see she wasn't moving, or breathing for seconds straight.

The light that had been absorbed by the stone passed him across the floor and lighted up one of the weapons. A bow, perfect dimensions and sleek in design. The light was infused with the weapon, before a portion returned to the body of the woman, and infusing her with what remained. Her entire body glowed for a second, before she opened her eyes, bright blue and coughed dramatically, as if she was breathing in the dusty air for the first time in centuries, like a newborn child. Gasping for the air that burned through her throat, she managed to sit up, trying to get a hold of something, but her hands failed to connect to anything. Despite the sheer beauty she showed, she also was quite helpless.

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Sirius was fairly certain his jaw hit the ground. He couldn't describe what he just saw. It wasn't like anything he had seen before. A pod had dematerialized and a woman had woken up after sending light to a bow and back. Still the logical part of his mind soon took over. Threat analysis was the first to be considered. None of the other pods seemed to be opening and the woman that had woken up was relatively unaware of his presence. The thought of leaving quickly came to mind. The last two woman he met had not been the best experiences for him. Why would he take his chances with a third? Yet he refused to leave. If his parent had taught him one thing, it was not to abandon people in need. Beside perhaps this would balance his karma deficit.

Sirius rushed forward as the woman gasped for air. As he reached her side, he held out his arm and she caught it. Her grip was firm and Sirius quickly held out his other arm to stabilize her. "Are you all right?" He asked studying her carefully. She didn't seem to have any wounds, but he could never be too certain.

Subject: Re: Discovery Thu Sep 14, 2017 12:04 am

She had a solid grip onto his arm and managed to look at him, while trying to get a hold of her breath. The air still burned in her lungs and throat, which took more than a couple seconds to get used to. After all she'd been there for a very long time and hadn't used her body at all. After she calmed down, she tried to say a few words, but just made some weird sounds. With pain and a lot of effort, she eventually managed to utter a word, but it wasn't anything comprehensive. Not because of her broken up voice, but because it was an entirely different language. As she realized that he didn't understand it, she tried seemingly other languages, or dialects, until she arrived at the word "water".

The bow still glowed slightly, indicated it was still waiting to be picked up by its rightful owner. The bright glow her eyes had when she first opened them, had dimmed down, now just regular blue, no glow or anything. But as the two were on the ground together, light illuminated the temple. The walls lit up in patterns, showing some sort of language written all over the walls of the massive hall, not an inch free. The light then became a central lightsource at the top of the construction, right above the statue of the supreme being. It revealed all. Not just the dusty coccoons, but the ground, the altar and all around them. It became clear that whatever it was that Sirius had breached had remained untouched for millennia. And without the interference of a little fate and a well aimed lightning strike might have remained hidden for millennia to come.

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Sirius reached back and with his free hand and grasped his water flask. He quickly presented it to her and she snatched it from his hand and drank greedily. As she consumed the liquid, Sirius took another look through out the cavern. He was fairly certain this was angel made as human didn't have anything nearly as advanced. However all of this look millennia old. If this amazing tech was this old, why weren't the angels years ahead of human tech? Still there was a bigger concern before him. The woman finally had finally stopped drinking due to the lack of water left in the container.

"Are you all right?" He asked again hoping that she had enough water to speak. "My name is Sirius. Can you tell me who you are and where this is?" Sirius eyes the glowing bow from the corner of his eye. Just glowing made the weapon look dangerous. However in the hands of the right person it could be deadly. And if the light show taught him anything, the wielder was probably the person before him. He silently hoped she was friendly.

Subject: Re: Discovery Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:30 pm

When she replied, he could definitely understand her, as her voice was beautiful, yet had a very distinct accent. Something that could be identified as an Angel accent but was far from what was commonly known. While holding her right hand firmly clasped onto his arm, she sat up straight, blinking a few times, each time she opened her eyes, her iris lightning up ever so slightly, trying to get bearings, or at least stability.

"I'm ... dizzy. Weak, tired. How long have I been under?"

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Sirius didn't know how to answer that. According to the dust this place hadn't been opened for at least a millennium. He didn't known if she used the same calendar as he did. For all she knew, she had been asleep for a couple of years. Still Sirius decided to forge on. She needed to know and hiding the information wouldn't do either of them any good.

"I don't know how long you slept, but this place hasn't been opened for several centuries." He explained quickly. "When did you fall asleep?"

Subject: Re: Discovery Thu Sep 14, 2017 10:06 pm

She slowly got up, only to fall back down, dragging Sirius with her. She was weaker than she'd at first thought. She managed to drag herself to the wall, so she could sit in an upright position at least and looked around at the hall. The lights she remembered were barely on, the markings on the wall expanded to each corner and crack.It couldn't have been that long, they wouldn't have survived _that_ long. None of them could have.

After a while lost in her own thought, she looked upon the one who had pulled her out. "You ... you don't look much like us. Did Angels change that much over these centuries?"

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"I'm not an angel." Sirius said plainly. "I'm human." Well a human-demon hybrid, but that was beside the point. It certainly wouldn't help him that the demons were attacking their world right now. Not that she knew...yet. "I was trying to escape a storm and stumbled upon one of your passageways. When I made my way here, you awoke." Sirius tried to speak slowly and not give her too much information. He knew that a human minds were fragile and overloading one could lead to panic and aggressive behavior. Something he definitely did not want.

'What is you name?" he decide to focus on her memory. Perhaps she had survived her stasis without any mental damage. Still it was good to check.

Subject: Re: Discovery Thu Sep 14, 2017 10:47 pm

Her breathing had gotten calmer and a lot less course by now, and things around her got a little clearer. She sat up a bit better, to get a more stable position and gave him a good look. He had somewhat the same physical build as an Angel. she couldn't detect the same aura around him, the energy field they had. But the fact that it stormed was at least a good sign.

"My name is Ashe, I'm. One of the few left. If I may ask, what sort of storm? And, the world outside, is there any green? Has it been restored?" Clearly she talked of something that either existed only in her mind or of a time when the Angel World had seemingly undergone an apocalypse.

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Sirius nodded. "Yes the world is green again. And it was raining when I came here. The Angel world is filled with life." This was interesting. Did the angels have a war that destroyed their world? There was no record of such an event, perhaps Ashe was mistaken but the surroundings seemed to convince Sirius that she was not familiar with this time. Still that only brought his attention to the other part of her statement.

"What do you mean you are one of the few left? You're an angel aren't you? the world is filled with angels."

Subject: Re: Discovery Thu Sep 14, 2017 11:02 pm

She looked at him, then tried to get up again. With his help she made it to the altar. On there, there was what looked like a console, except it was based on pure light. Leaning on him somewhat, she used it, performing a few actions before the altar shone bright light up in the air, holographing the night sky and the stars as if the thunderstorm wasn't even there. Next to each star was a word, or several words, in an Angelic looking language, but definitely not Basic Angelic as it's taught now. Ashe however could read it, as she staggered back and fell against him again, holding onto him for support yet again.

"No, that's ... that's not possible. It can't be ... 3600 years?!? How even .. "

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Sirius winced, he could only be imagining what it would feel like to be thrown that far into the future. Everything you would have known would be forgotten. Almost nothing would be the same. This was definitely not the time to talk about the war. Still what was he to say? That she should calm down and it would be ok? It would the same as laughing in her face. Still he didn't have time to waste.

"I'm sorry but it's the truth." Sirius announced. "However we can't stay here. We will need to leave for food and other necessities."

Subject: Re: Discovery Sun Sep 17, 2017 9:03 pm

She kept her eyes on the lightbased panels in front of her. Nothing could survive that long, especially considering how long they'd been giving the world around them energy. But that realization sparked a very uneasy feeling. She let go of the altar and Sirius, stumbling towards one of the pods. As she made it, she fell against it, wiping dust away, only to see the gruesome remains of what one would have been an Angel. The scene inside the pod was too horrifying to describe and Ashe instantly backed away, as if having seen a reflection of her worst fears.

It took her a bit to get out of the shock she experienced. Once she finally snapped out of it, she heard Sirius again, as if all that time he just hadn't been there. Swallowing her grief for now, she managed to get up with his help. "I. No, I want to, check a few things. Besides, if I recall, you said you were taking shelter from a storm. May still be raging out there."

She worked on for about an hour straight, comparing data from maps that had never been revealed to anyone outside that specific temple and reading up on the nearly 4000 years she'd missed. The carvings throughout all the walls were a history, a library of major events. It described the creation of the Human World, explaining why she never heard of it, all the way up to the Human discovery of the currently used tech, a several centuries back. According to the data on the terminals in front of her, she was one of 3 who had awoken. The rest didn't make it. The other two had awoken not too long ago, thus might still be alive and living in solitude, which would be evident as her companion, Sirius, had no knowledge of their existence. Records indicated that Zed had gotten out first, he was the strongest of their group, and several years after, Kalista, their loyalist.

After having read up on events and gathered as much as she could into a small little blue crystal, which seemed to function as a sort of data storage, she walked up to her bow. Her old and trusted ally she always could rely on. It was relatively light, compared to similar sized weapons, mainly due to the special metal compound that it was created with. She was ready for travel, but clearly weak. While she waited Sirius to get ready, she rested against the altar, refusing to look at the pods with her friends in them.

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Sirius watched as Ashe worked, displays and texts coming onto screen. She held a certain grace that Sirius was not used to seeing. Still he kept his focus, he had no idea what she was examining, but from her worried expression, clearly she had not been pleased. He rested for an hour, watching her type away and examine data from the machine. Still watching Ashe work had little value. He needed to refocus his efforts on his own tasks. Wearily he opened his pack and withdrew the map of the Angel world he had been given. He marked his progress, somewhere near Mount Targon, and planned his route from there. There was still a distance to cover but he had enough food to make the trip. Now the question was whether or not Ashe wanted to join him.

He was woken from his musings as Ashe withdrew a small blue crystal and without a word stalked over to the bow and grasped it. Sirius was immediately on edge but she simply sat down and waited. He silently decided it was time to leave and quickly gathered the map and his other tools back into his backpack and carefully hoisted it back onto its proper place. He listened but could hear nothing in the stillness. Perhaps it had stopped raining? He had no way to tell. He had no doubts that any sounds the rain did make had been dissipated in the hallways. He turned back to his temporary companion.

"Do you know a good way out of here? Or do you want to exit the way I came in?"

Subject: Re: Discovery Wed Sep 20, 2017 6:08 pm

Still sitting, she contemplated about options. The temple hadn't exactly been constructed as a house, but more a one way storage where they would remain until the world was getting better, so there wasn't much of an exit. Except for one system. She nodded, saying there was another exit than the halls they'd built as entrance to get deep into the mountain, then tapped a few commands into the panel. Behind the Temple, something could be heard, like stone moving. As the Temple cleared their visual, a tunnel could be seen.

"It's a straight stairs, up by 45 degrees. It leads to an exit in the center of a valley near the peak, but due to storms and whatnot, it could be covered. Water, stone, plants. Your call."

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Potentially wet and mossy rocks did not sound like the best climbing point. However the entrance he used could potentially have caved in or been blocked by the storm. On top of that the mountain path he would have been using would be just as wet. This new exit was probably the better option. Hopefully it wouldn't put him too far off track from his original position. Even better it would deposit them closer to his destination than originally intended. While that would be helpful, he had his doubts that his karma would make it that easy on him.

"Let's take your exit." Sirius decided. "It is a lot closer and probably more stable than the one I used." With a nod to Ashe he proceeded forward and began to climb the stairs.

Subject: Re: Discovery Wed Sep 20, 2017 6:34 pm

The stairs were just as much cold and empty as the hallways they left behind them. Though the steps were big enough to not trip once and fall down miles without stopping, there was no railing, so comfirt wasn't exactly what they had in mind either when they designed this. Even across the walls here, revealed by Sirius' flashlight, not an inch was free from the alien-like language. As the progressed to climb, Ashe explained what it meant.

"We designed this place to keep track of the history around us while we were in hibernation. But it did more than that. We didn't design it to write down all the events of all three .. I mean, four worlds in historic order. That's why there's so much. It's the complete history of all four worlds combined."

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That raised more than one question. The machine had recorded the history of all four worlds? Did it have receivers in each world or was it able to collect information through some other method. How detailed was this info? From simply stating "war" or did it have tactical movements of each army on their specific dates and times? This machine sounded amazing... if not incredible useful. The mere notion of it being able to easily bend the barriers between the worlds to collect info was mind shaking. If it was used for intelligence purposes in the human army then they could always stay one step ahead. Still asking himself these question would do him no good.

"How does it collect information from each of the four worlds?" Sirius asked. "I can barely receive a radio signal from the human world." He knew the information was probably beyond his understanding but he needed to ask anyway. Perhaps he could relay the information to a scientist or inventor.

Subject: Re: Discovery Wed Sep 20, 2017 7:10 pm

"Radio?" It was obvious she'd never heard of such a thing, or any "advanced" technology that the Human Republic used. After all, she had lived in a world where the Humans didn't even exist yet. "I don't know what that is, but it's pretty simple. The connection between the worlds. The Cyar'Ika connect everything together, and it is to them that our power and technology is connected. We draw from them, and they draw from us."

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It was amazing how a single sentence could completely crush any chance of remaking a machine. As Sirius had guessed, he had no idea what the Cyar'Ika was and he doubted any person he told would know either. Perhaps he would need to bring a researcher here to reverse engineer the device. If they could even start the angelic machine. All the controlled looked foreign to him when he had last seen it. Still that did open door down the road for future inventions. There were still other questions.

"If you don't mind me asking how detailed were the reports?" Sirius questioned. "I can help fill you in on the war that currently raging in the angel realm or perhaps the one that happened not too long ago in the human one."

Subject: Re: Discovery Wed Sep 20, 2017 7:24 pm

Ashe stopped dead in her tracks, looking at Sirius. The bow was tightly clasped across her chest, as a common archer would often carry it, which was a good thing, considering her hands were balled to fists and she clearly had no liking to what he had to say.

"If you think you can use this fount of knowledge to further your war machine, to help destroy the worlds around you, you have another thing coming. Why should I help you? Better yet, why should I even let you leave this place alive? We didn't record this so we could give it to the nearest warring clan we found. We recorded this so that we could see the progress the worlds made in our absence. It's knowledge for a future, not for destruction!"

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Kill her. The thought leap to Sirius' mind unbidden. She knew too much and would be a threat. However he resisted the urge to draw his sword. They were in the small area and her bow had a much better advantage than his sword. While he was probably stronger for the mere fact that she was still recovering, it would do him little to start a battle here. She was sharp, he would admit to that. However he could potentially salvage the situation. She had assumed his words were for war, but if he could convince her otherwise then he could get the situation back on track. If not...well once they were outdoors, he could finish the job.

"Sorry, you misunderstood my words." Sirius quick raised his hands in a placating gesture. "As I told you before, the angel world is at war and you have been asleep for a long time. The area we are currently in is pretty safe but not for long. I was wondering if you needed me to update you on the current war's progress. About who is fighting who and where you should head for safety."

"They are new weapons that are extremely dangerous and I didn't want you to be caught off guard. Add into the fact that you are still recovering and might not have the strength to fight could also complicate your situation." Sirius finished with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry for my confusion questions, I just want to make sure we make it out of here in one piece. I am not the biggest fan of war either." The last sentence was the probably the truest. War was only a virus killing everything around just to continue its survival. He would do anything to end it.

Subject: Re: Discovery Wed Sep 20, 2017 7:51 pm

In her anger she used a burst of energy that she could not miss. In the moment she fell on her knees, keeping herself somewhat upright with her hands. It was clear that if it came to a hand to hand, or even weapon combat, she wouldn't be able to hold out, but beings of nearly 4000 years old did not live that long or used energy based technology because they were weak and relied merely on physical strength, especially when their hibernation pods were made of essentially pure energy, which revived them. Granted there was a body left to revive.

"If you try ... to steal it ... I'll destroy it. You ... me ... and the data."

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Sirius internally growled at the challenge. How quickly could he kill her? A few calculations brought up several outcomes. Some good, some bad. Still killing her would only seal away the potential she held. Plus killing an angel in angel territory would probably look bad. Killing her in a blind rage wouldn't serve many purposes. Sirius refocused on Ashe. Her anger was making her irritable and causing her to jump to conclusions, even if those conclusions were correct. Still perhaps he could make her listen to reason and divert her attention. He need to be careful though, angry people were not known to listen well. Choice made he knelt down and carefully held out his extra water flask.

"Calm down. I am not trying to steal anything and I am not trying to hurt you." He gently said. "If I did I would have killed you the second you left the capsule." He reasoned slowly. "Take a drink and cool down. I can step away if I make you uncomfortable, and we can part ways once we leave here. I am just trying to help."