A Dead Earth[IC-Semiopen]

Alexander seemed to want to say something, before he heard Haruna say what those mutants was trying to do to her, and he remained quiet for a few moments, worried. Not many people knew, but the AI's used by the Colonies... the artificial intelligence programs created by the AI Project of the Human Colonial Alliance.. they were made up from humans, who forcefully had their brains and souls removed.. the ones the Colonies were using right now, were the ones who once where the son and daughter of the main scientist of the Project itself... and a lot of information about the project should have been in the Archive. Could it have been that the mutants had discovered something about and were trying to repeat the process? Who knows... but that still didn't help but make him feel worried.

As Haruna pulled him close, Alexander calmed himself down, pushing away the last pieces of Mosrael that were still in his mind. Strangely enough, this time, in this fight, Mosrael hadn't been so possessive... maybe because she really wanted to help. Well, that was hard to say. That little demon girl of fire was as unpredictable as always.

"Yeah... we found it... we did it.", Alexander said as he hugged Haruna. "Sorry for making you do that jump... I should have been there with you. I should have protected you, and stopped these mutants from capturing you. But at least... you're alright." Relieved, Alexander helped Haruna with her wounds, using the paste and bandaging them more or less, while Prinz and Waya were helping the soldiers. Only ten soldiers were alive right now, and in total, their expedition now numbered 14 people. It wasn't as bad as it could have happened... but they still had lost quite some people. Even so, they had reached their objective. The Great Archive... was right here, in front of them.

Helping Haruna, Alexander stopped in front of the great vault. On its door, the Colonial emblem was guarding it, with the motto of the Federated Colonies. Einheit. Freiheit. Gleichheit. Unity. Freedom. Equality. As soon as they stopped in front of it, Alice started to work on unlocking it, and a couple seconds later, the door quietly slid open...

"Are you ready to do this?", Alexander asked Haruna. She was wounded, and well, who knew what was inside there..

Taking a deep breath, Alexander made the first step into the vault, followed by Haruna and the others, passing beneath the words written right about the entrance, the motto of the Colonial Archive. Knowledge is Power.Wissen ist die Macht..

As soon as they entered, they all stopped, dumbfounded. The vault... it was much larger on the inside that from what it seemed like on the outside. It seemed rather large from the outside too, but on the inside... it was so large, that they simply couldn't see it end. It was gargantuan, with large shelves with endless numbers of books, servers holding immense digital data... this was the Enclave. The last resort of the Colonial Archive, of the knowledge of Mankind, using a little dimensional technology of the Ancients... this was where it had survived, for so long, even after the planet on which it was on had been killed by nuclear bombs.

It was rather clear that they had absolutely no chance to comprehend all the information that was in here... and that they would have huge difficulties to find what they were looking for. Wandering around, they tried to find something like a center, or somewhere from where this entire thing could be managed, eventually finding it in something that looked like a normal library reception... almost. There was a skeleton in a chair, leaning on a desk, seeming to tightly grip something in the dead bones of its hand..

Approaching it, Alexander looked at whatever the skeleton was holding, but just as he was about to touch it, something had stated, and a video started to be projected on a nearby screen. The video started showing off a vaguely familiar emblem, with the writing "The Human Colonial Alliance, Project Cataclysm" beneath. Then, as the video fully started, it showed a rather old man, with gray hair, a rather long, gray beard, and dark blue eyes, wearing a white lab coat. Shooting was heard somewhere in the background. The man started to speak in Galactic Standard. He looked tired, but his eyes showed off his inner strength.

 "To anyone finding this video, I am going to assume that this will be found somewhere in the future, that of course, if Earth survives the incoming slaughter. We've just defeated the Invaders and pushed them back, but we're each stuck in our own systems now.. and Sol is overpopulated. The population will need a culling... and the Great Council is starting with dissidents. Nevertheless, back to subject. Despite this... Night, I'm more than sure that Mankind will survive this, and that eventually, the Invaders will return again. That's why I'm recording this. If they will ever return... and you'll need a weapon... you have to go to the Sanctuary. A map will be included with this. You have to get there, and activate the Machine... I might not be making a lot of sense right now, but you'll see. This entire... Invader stuff, is the result of something we can not totally comprehend, something that has happened in the distant past, before the humans looked at the sky for the first time. But for the sake of the survival of life in this universe, you must go to the Sanctuary and find Φως, no matter what happens. Ἔρεβος will try to stop you.. but you have to do this. You're fighting powers and technologies you can't even start to imagine... especially if the Twelve True Orders return.

Still, it seems that I have to end this transmission soon. To whoever is listening, good luck..... God bless the Human Colonial Alliance. God bless Mankind..."

With that, someone shot the old man, and his head practically exploded in a rather unceremoniously way, and the video came to an end..

While there was clear that there was something strange with that door, nothing could have prepared to party for the shock, as a creature, vaguely looking human, a black figure, flashed past the door, dragging Haruna with it, binding and chocking her with vine like appendages, taking her and making sure that she couldn't move. As the creature spoke, its voice sounded... rusted, as if he hadn't used it in a long while.

Immediately, the soldiers aimed their rifles at the creature, but didn't fire, since unfortunately, the golden eyed girl was between them and the figure. For a few tense moments, nobody said anything. Alexander unsheathed Mosael, as the sword's dark red vines once again pierced his arm and hand, the Colonial not even minding the pain. Angry, the Colonial looked at the figure and at Haruna, ensuring her that he wasn't going to allow that thing to hurt her.

"Yes, you have visitors.", Alexander said, hardly trying to remain calm and not to rush forward and attack. But he had to do this carefully, since Haruna was in danger. "Get your things down her, and we might be willing to forget what happened and not violently kill you. Right now."

Truly, none of the Colonials managed to shoot. Even with a precise shot, the danger of hitting Haruna was far too great... and none of them were ready to risk that for now, especially Alexander. While some of the soldiers seemed to be angry, and showed at least a little bit of intention to fire, none of them did anything. Alexander, clearly the most angry of them, strengthened his grip on the handle of his sword, trying to remain calm.

"The known galaxy is attacked by the Invaders... but I suppose that you already know that. The information we found sent us here... someone said that the Sanctuary is the place where the few righteous humans hid it when mankind was on the edge of being exterminated... ", the black haired Colonial said, ready to intervene if the figure was going to try to do anything else to Haruna. "The video said something about a Sanctuary and Φως... this perfectly fits the language. From my moderate knowledge of ancient Terran languages, Φως can only mean one thing. Light. The Light, more specifically. The device that firstly allowed mankind to travel between the stars.... should be here."

"Most likely.", Alexander said, sighing relieved, and putting Mosrael back in its sheathe, managing to put the demon's influence away completely without any help."Erebus... even if a lot of things about the Great War were lost, he is still mentioned as one of the most important commander of the Invaders. Of course, Erebus is just the name the humans gave to him, but I think it fits. Darkness.. that's what the Invader are." As Prinz helped Haruna with her wound, the soldiers, and Waya, seemed to be also really relieved. This had been a dangerous situation, but they managed to overcome it, with a little luck. But even so, they had to be much more careful from now on.

As soon as Prinz finished tending on Haruna's wound, Alexander tightly hugged her. "I'm glad you're okay.", he said in a low voice, before the continued their way inside the Sanctuary. Eventually, they reached something that looked like some sort of a small room, a small shrine, though it didn't look religious. One the end wall, a huge image was painted, showing off a blue planet that could be easily recognized by everyone in here, do to the form of its continents, and right above it, a small, white sphere, emanating light. Though not necessarily realist, that was the image representing Terra, and the Light. But what was more strange, it was what was beneath it. It was like a small stone altar, and on it... was laying a woman.

The woman had a pure, long, white hair, a light and fair skin, and she was searing a long, white dress. But even so her white... was different, from the white of the Invaders. It wasn't... lifeless, dead, like the white of the Abyssals. It was... filled with light and life. And the woman seemed to be sleeping..

"I don't know... I don't know what this is... it looks older than the city above..", Alexander said, trying to realize exactly what was happening. As soon as Haruna touched the woman's eyes opened, as she suddenly gripped the golden eyed girl's hand. Still holding to it, the woman stood up, as if she had just awaken from a small nap. There wasn't anything to actually show for how many centuries she had been sleeping...

With her eyes now opened, the woman looked at the humans, and smiled. Her eyes...were rather strange.. as both her iris.. and her pupil where white.... each a different nuance from the sclera, of course, so she didn't look like some sort of a eyeless monster. Still, they were rather strange, clearly showing that she wasn't human. And then, her smile.. it simply seemed to emanate peace. The soldiers immediately forgot that they were holding rifles in their hands, and it seemed that even if she was going to prove that she was an enemy, they wouldn't have opened fire. Her simple presence made the situation much more calm and peaceful, many of them simply forgetting that they were in a strange shrine room beneath a dead and radioactive planet. And then, the woman started to speak, still holding Haruna's hand, with a calm and kind voice that perfectly matched her appearance.

"So, it seems that you have finally found me, my children.", she said calmly. "Humans, nice to meet you. I am one of the last of the race you call the Ancients... I am the one you used to call the Light."

"Oh my..", the white haired woman said, smiling, but still looking perfectly calm. "I sense that you are rather impressed by my existence, especially considered the way Mankind deified me. I'm not a God or anything, as I'm simply carrying over the achievements of my dead race, but the humans are always more inclined to believe in the existence of a greater power watching over them.. but, I suppose that's just how you are, my dear humans." As she spoke, everyone listened, not one of them daring to interrupt her. Alexander, as an example, couldn't even remember how to speak.

"But yes, I am the one the humans called the Light.. the one who helped the humans back when they started to hunt for the stars for the first time, the one who helped them accomplish their dreams, the one who helped them resist the dark influences that also played their role in the destruction of my race.. until I failed, more or less. Nobody is perfect. But I'm glad to know that even so, humanity survived even without me."

The white eyed woman than made a short pause."You are not totally correct, my dear girl. Yes, what is above us is the Great Archive, what its down here, it's much more older. I assume that I was taken here after I fell asleep, after Ruat Caelum. I suppose that they wanted to make sure that even if Mankind fell under the Long Night, one day, I will be found again, just like hope never dies... and that day has come... when the humans found me again."