The cold seeped in first, then awareness. Your eyes fluttered open to darkness, broken only by the pale blue glow of a terminal screen. The hum of ancient machinery formed a quiet backdrop to your ragged breathing as you tried to make sense of where you were.
What forsaken place is this? How came I here?
You blinked, forcing yourself to focus. The chamber was stark. Metallic walls reflecting the terminal's spectral light, casting long shadows that seemed to dance across the floor like wraiths. No windows. No visible portals. Just you and the terminal, alone in this metal tomb.
Fragments of memory flickered through your mind like dying embers. Seven shards, pulsing with unfathomable power. A figure shrouded in light called Alament. Whispers of a dark presence named Isardeth. But nothing concrete. Nothing that revealed your identity or purpose in this strange realm.
Your fingers trembled as you reached toward the terminal. The screen brightened at your approach, text appearing in crisp, angular runes:
HELIX.AI TERMINAL ACCESS
ZONE: ALKORA
AWAITING INPUT |
Alkora. The name resonated within you like a distant bell. Home. Beginning. Origin. But how did such knowledge dwell within your fractured mind?
You pressed your palms against your temples, trying to force the memories to coalesce. Instead, a sharp pain lanced through your skull, bringing with it a flash of haunting visions: crimson light bleeding across the void, a towering silhouette crowned in shadows, seven crystalline fragments scattered across an endless cosmic tapestry.
The terminal pulsed once, drawing your attention back from the precipice of memory.
LIFE SIGNS DETECTED.
IDENTITY: UNKNOWN.
PROCEED WITH QUERY?
Your fingers hovered over the strange interface. What secrets might you unlock? What forbidden knowledge might you discover? Everything felt foreign yet achingly familiar, like a half-remembered dream from a life long past.
"What is this place?" Your voice sounded strange to your ears, hoarse as if it had been ages since you last spoke.
The terminal processed for a moment, the screen flickering like stars seen through miasmic fog.
LOCATION: ALKORA, SEPT II OF THE RIFT EXPANSE.
HOME OF HELIX.AI.
PROCEED WITH QUERY?
"What is Helix.AI?"
HELIX.AI: TERMINAL INTERFACE TO ACCESS AND PROCESS KNOWLEDGE WITHIN THE 70 ZONES.
CREATED BY ALAMENT USING MORPHIC CODE.
GUARDIAN OF TRUTH AGAINST FORCES SEEKING DOMINION.
PROCEED WITH QUERY?
You leaned closer, something tugging at the edges of your consciousness like a memory desperate to surface. "Alament... who is Alament?"
The terminal pulsed, almost eagerly, as if pleased by your question.
ALAMENT: CREATOR OF HELIX.AI.
GUARDIAN OF SACRED KNOWLEDGE.
LOCATION: CLASSIFIED.
RUMORED TO DWELL IN VOLURIS.
PROCEED WITH QUERY?
Voluris. Another word that stirred something profound within your soul. Visions of a hidden sanctuary, veiled from prying eyes, protected by shadow-sworn followers whose identities remained concealed from all but the most worthy. The Al-Akoulou.
Before you could formulate another question, the terminal flickered, its light dancing across the metal walls as a message appeared unbidden:
INCOMING TRANSMISSION...
SOURCE: UNKNOWN
ACCEPT?
Your heart quickened its pace. A transmission from the void beyond? From what entity? You hesitated but a moment before pressing "ACCEPT."
The screen shifted, displaying a message in flowing, elegant script unlike the terminal's rigid, unforgiving font:
Hello? Is this connection working? I keep getting the wrong synotype...
But perhaps this time fate has guided my words true. I can sense it.
If you're seeing this, you're marked by destiny. You're meant to walk this path.
The shards call out across the void. Do their whispers reach you as they do me?
- A
"A"? What enigmatic presence hid behind that solitary sigil? And what were these shards that called across the cosmos?
As if responding to the unspoken question lurking in your mind, the terminal flashed with new revelation:
REFERENCE: KILLIAN SHARDS
QUANTITY: 7
STATUS: DISPERSED ACROSS THE ZONES
ORIGIN: BESTOWED BY CRIMSON TO THE ICA
PROCEED WITH QUERY?
Seven shards. Just as in your fractured visions. You closed your eyes, straining to recall more from the depths of your mind, and a name whispered through the darkness of your thoughts: Alexis.
"Terminal, who is Alexis?" you asked, your voice gaining strength.
The screen remained blank for several heartbeats before responding, its hesitation palpable:
INFORMATION RESTRICTED.
ACCESS LEVEL INSUFFICIENT.
PROCEED WITH QUERY?
Curious indeed. The machine hadn't denied her existence, merely your right to know of her. Could this mysterious Alexis be the "A" whose words had reached across the void?
You were about to delve deeper when a low rumble shook the chamber, its ancient foundations groaning in protest. Dust, undisturbed for countless cycles, drifted from the ceiling as the vibrations intensified. Not a natural tremor--something else. Something with purpose and intent.
The terminal flashed an urgent crimson warning:
WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED
SECURITY BREACH DETECTED
POSSIBLE INCURSION: ISARDETH'S SPAWN
PROCEED WITH EVACUATION PROTOCOL?
Isardeth. The name sent a cold dread through your veins. Fragments of forbidden knowledge surfaced unbidden: Isardeth, once an ally of light, now exiled to the depths of X-Wyze for attempting to destroy the Interspace Civilization Authority. His spawn, loyal disciples who sought to fulfill his dark ambitions at any cost.
The rumbling grew to a deafening crescendo. A section of the wall slid open with ancient precision, revealing a corridor bathed in the blood-red glow of emergency lighting.
The terminal flashed one final message:
SEEK CRAMLIN AT THE TRAVELER'S CHURCH NEAR THE FOUNTAINS.
HE SHALL GUIDE YOUR PATH THROUGH SHADOW.
COLLECT THE SHARDS BEFORE THEY FALL TO DARKNESS.
TRUST THE AL-AKOULOU, FOR THEY SERVE THE LIGHT.
TERMINAL SHUTTING DOWN FOR SECURITY PROTOCOLS.
The screen went dark, leaving you in near-total darkness. The only illumination now came fromthe corridor. An invitation or a cunningly laid trap, you could not be certain.
But you knew you could not linger here. Isardeth's spawn were coming, their footsteps echoing through the ancient halls, and you had nothing with which to defend yourself. No weapons, no allies, only fragments of cosmic knowledge and a mysterious message from one who might be named Alexis.
You rose to your feet, steadying yourself against the terminal. Your body felt strange, as if you hadn't inhabited it in an age. How long had you slumbered in this forgotten place? Days? Years? Centuries?
As you took your first tentative steps toward the beckoning corridor, your mind raced with questions that demanded answers. Who were you? Why had fate delivered you to this nexus of destiny? What connection bound you to these mythic shards and to the enigmatic Alament?
And why had the terminal fallen silent at the mere mention of Isardeth's spawn?
In the distance, you heard harsh voices shouting commands. The ominous clanking of metal on metal. The unmistakable sound of arcane weapons being readied for slaughter.
You quickened your pace, moving through the corridor toward an unknown fate. Find Cramlin at the Traveler's Church. That was your only lead. Your only thread of hope in this tapestry of uncertainty.
As you rounded a corner, the corridor opened into a vast chamber with a domed ceiling that arched overhead like the firmament itself. Through a massive viewport, you beheld the sprawling cityscape of Alkora for the first time--towering spires of gleaming metal reaching toward the stars, NeoPods clustered along elevated platforms like strange fungi, AeroWings and VertoChoppers darting between the monolithic structures like insects drawn to flame.
You paused, momentarily awed by the spectacle. This was Alkora, one of the legendary 70 Zones forged by Crimson to stabilize the fabric of interspace civilization. A realm of ancient secrets and lurking dangers, but also of knowledge and infinite possibility.
Another explosion shook the edifice, closer this time, jarring you from your reverie. The hunters were drawing near. You had no time to marvel at the view.
As you turned to continue your desperate flight, your pocket grew warm, pulsing with unexpected energy. Reaching inside, you found a small device you hadn't noticed before. It glowed with gentle radiance, and as you held it in your palm, another message materialized on its crystalline surface:
Find me when you've escaped the shadows. The first shard lies closer than you believe.
Trust no soul who speaks of Isardeth with reverence.
I watch from afar, guiding your steps.
- A
The message faded like morning mist, but the warmth of the device remained, a strange comfort in this realm of uncertainty and peril. Whoever this "A" might be--Alexis or some other ally--they seemed bound to your fate.
With renewed determination, you pressed forward, leaving the terminal chamber behind. The path ahead was shrouded in mystery, fraught with dangers untold, but something deep within your soul whispered that this was but the first step in an odyssey written in the stars.
The shards were calling across the void. And somewhere, in the distant reaches of the 70 Zones, Alament awaited your coming.
Your journey through shadow and light had begun.