It was a strange feeling that came to Professor Hendrick that night as he walked alone through the Military Base, especially when his attention was captured by something he couldn't quite help but feel curious towards.
It was his only weakness that he would proudly admit to; his love for discovery was a thing he could never understand, since he was a very indoor person. But the fact that he had worked with alien scientific concepts today had put him in a quite good spirit, making him feel even more adventurous.
Damn! If only his academic colleagues would see this new him: dissecting monsters, firing guns, making sci-fi weapons, and going into places he shouldn't be. He was sad to have parted with so many great minds from his professional past, though he was never a friend to any one of them, but he had been longing for a kindred spirit.
So, despite the fact that he might cause things to get awkward, his mind translated these weird lights to be another science project that, even if the military people got sensitive about it, they might still require his technological expertise at the end of the day, and let him work on it.
For the Professor, who had masterfully integrated his passion with his profession, life felt remarkably lucky, and so he pushed his luck and went down the storm shelter with steady, quiet steps, unblinking eyes, and a racing heart.
The place down there was crowded, filled with raw materials similar to the ones from the large industrial depot and the sheds around the large Refinery Rig, but most materials here were on the rare side of things: chemicals, copper wires, acids, power tools, computers, screens, etc. Many of them were in good condition, and it seemed that Adam Clay was keeping all the valuable scrap here.
Large power cables were running along the floors, and with them, the light of this place would flicker occasionally, indicating that something within was drawing too much power, causing such fluctuation. The display of the rare materials and tools only indicated that it might have been something important, and the shy professor thought twice about turning heel and leaving, but he was an old man, and old people like him could get away with many things.
So he took one more step towards the room where he felt a strange buzz, indicating that whatever was drawing power, it was in that large chamber in the heart of the storm shelter.
There, he saw it, "Wartopia!" written in neon light, posters on the walls for soldiers, religious icons, power-armored supersoldiers, and even cosplay costumes hung in showcases. However, in the middle of the room, there was a large device in the shape of a round frame that was reaching from the floor to the ceiling, being fed by many power cables like the ones the Professor had seen a while ago, and there seemed to be sparks going out of it.
The elderly man couldn't help but look closer, fixing his glasses on his face as he frowned, walking towards the machine, and thinking of the many pop-culture scenes he had seen depicting something similar to this.
It can't be! He thought to himself. All this time, this was it.
He knew that there was something related to Wartopia regarding all this. He wasn't involved in that kind of fantasy where characters were mean and racist to each other, and he preferred the more romantic version of humans and aliens getting along, but some of those geniuses have managed to build some sort of Portal Technology to the Wartopia Universe.
It was the only explanation.
Adam Clay! Professor Hendrick thought. It has to be him. Why else would he try to keep it hidden all this time?
There was a lot to unpack in that moment, but the Professor's mind worked fast to come up with an explanation; after all, he was also a possessor of the Sage skill.
The world was attacked by the Rift, a supposed pathway through the many worlds across the universe. But why not the Multiverse? If that was the case, Adam Clay might have reverse-engineered the Rifts themselves, created his own Rift to a universe that he could target and import soldiers from. Of course, it couldn't be all that perfect, since this portal seemed damaged. Maybe because of extended use, maybe the design wasn't perfect. All those exposed wires, definitely a prototype. But still, if that was the Rift but in reverse, then it was a summoning technology, and the first thing he showed them was this room filled with things they were familiar with to not intimidate them as they arrived! Smart, very smart! It could also be that the other side reached over here first. I dont know! I still can't make sense of their technology. He had to ask the others; they surely knew about Wartopia as well.
The Professor turned as he also realized that he must have stepped on Adam's most guarded secret. If it was like that, he had to vacate almost immediately, but he knew he wouldn't be able to keep it for himself for too long, and neither would Adam Clay be able to keep the fact that he had opened a Rift gate to the universe of Wartopia.
But the moment he tried to step out of the room, his path was blocked, and what he saw in front of him was a man lowering his head just to fit through the door; then that man straightened up as he walked in and his head touched the ceiling.
The saliva in the professor's mouth went dry in an instant, and his guts felt as if they were on fire. He hadn't felt like that since he was a young man, but this feeling of getting caught red-handed by someone so much bigger than him in stature made him shiver for a second.
As the large man, who was mistaken for the Commander, looked at him with eyes glowing like two suns trapped within them, a glow that wasn't from his power armor, but the Professor knew that this wasn't a situation he could talk himself out of.
"Citizen!" The large man spoke, "This is a restricted area. You are forbidden from wandering in here."
"I…"
The Professor wanted to respond, but every fiber of his being and all the years of studying biology and robotics made him realize without a shred of doubt that he wasn't standing in front of some modified superhuman; he was facing a member of a new species altogether.
Not once in a lifetime, but twice! He had met aliens twice so far.
The first was more definitely to his liking: exotic, beautiful, feminine, noble, and friendly. There was nothing to dislike about the Alfari, and he was fortunate to make first contact with them.
This second experience, however, was terrifying. Was it because the Wartopian aliens were basically humans? However, this man standing before him was even more exotic than the Alfari, like… What was the scientific principle that made him this big? What were his origins? Why were his eyes glowing with what seemed to be a fantasy divine light? Was Wartopia really Sci-fi or Fantasy, disguising itself as space opera just to use guns and spaceships?
The Sage skill brought so many questions to the Professor's mind, it almost distracted him from the Goliath that could crush him with his pinky, but the first motion from the superhuman made the professor's mind snap back from his daze.
"I… I am Professor Anthony Hendrick. I used to teach students in Brighthaven's Institute of Technology." He said, introducing himself the same way he did with the Alfari, "You must be… the Paladin? Am I right?"
"Solomon Creed, Captain of the Doom Company of the Slayers Legion, Castilian of the Vengeance Stellar Ark, Marshal of the Hammerguard Order." With a full title, Captain Creed introduced himself, "I am not familiar with the ways of a world of the Fossil Age, but a learned man who educated others like Adam Clay and Megan Dorsett must know when not to enter a Reliquary without permission."
"Oh! Where are my manners?" Professor Hendrick jumped back immediately and apologized, "I am so sorry. I hadn't thought that this would be… a Reliquary. I thought it was a workstation and came to offer my help."
"All checks! Your intentions were verified, Professor." Creed spoke rigidly before walking past Professor Hendrick and standing before a large poster of a man drawn in golden light on a black starry sky.
He sat down, and even while seated, he was still taller than the professor, who looked from him to the poster he was sitting close to. It was a posture of focus, meditation, and respect. The Paladin's head was lowered, and his hand moved over his heart, causing something to glow from within his chest.
Professor Hendrick watched in awe.
"I hope you weren't awfully busy. If that was the case, I can just…" The Professor said, pointing at the door, but Captain Creed shook his head.
"I come to pray in my time of idleness." He said, speaking without looking at the Professor, "Are you a learned man who seeks more knowledge?"
"Always." The Professor replied, gulped, and found the courage to walk a few steps closer to the Paladin.
He checked most of the posters inside the room with keen interest this time; one of them was for none other than Captain Creed himself, a much younger version, with black hair and fairer skin, but the same glowing eyes. However, his eyes were radiating with fury, his smile with arrogance, and his armor with blood. It had the title "Wartopia: Star Paladin", the first in the Action RPG trilogy that told the story of Solomon Creed, a very violent game released in 2011, back when games were games and men were men.
The professor looked at the poster, then at the man, and then at the figure of worship on the wall.
"Is that your… God?" The Professor asked.
"Maybe." The Paladin looked at the poster clearly, "He didn't make it clear."
"So what is he?" The Professor asked.
"He's more like you than me. A learned man." The Paladin replied.
"I'm flattered." The Professor replied and let out a smile, "But I believe there is more to him than little old Anthony Hendrick."
"Solwoken Nour Al-Sabbah, who last met him in the ATEN, had spoken of him as a Learned Man, who kept record of all of humanity's knowledge, who asks questions more than he answers, who seeks knowledge more than myth, and that's what matters more than myth and legend." The Paladin spoke what could be considered his longest line.
"Oh!" The Professor blinked a few times, "What is a Solwoken?"
"A Reincarnation of Sol Imperius." The Paladin replied.
"Ah… but that counts as a Myth, though." The Professor pointed.
"True!" The Paladin nodded.
"How can a reincarnation meet its own origin?" The Professor asked.
"Immortals are those who have died, distant from our world, yet their hands still shape our reality." The Paladin replied.
"So it's like that… Immortality." The Professor romanticized, "If you die and your life's accomplishments still make a difference… Heh!"
"Was it ambiguous?" The Paladin asked.
"We always had hopes that medicine could one day stop death forever and that would be immortality." The Professor mused, "Just a stupid thing!"
"It can." The Paladin answered nonchalantly, causing the professor's eyes to widen.
"It can?" He asked with fright.
"I am 152 years of age." The Paladin replied, causing the professor, who was barely one-third of the Paladin's age, to sit and stare blankly at the poster of Sol Imperius.
"Wow!" He then exclaimed and felt his Sage skill bring up so many questions, but the one that bugged him the most was: "A man of your age and experience must have… seen a lot. Do you think prayer still works?"
"The way you speak of prayer can be different from how I pray." The Paladin replied.
"And how do you pray?" The Professor asked.
"Sacred Oils, Candles, Scripture." The Paladin replied.
"That's exactly how I imagined prayer." The Professor was taken aback, thinking he would hear a more profound answer.
"And Faith." The Paladin added the magic ingredient.
"Excuse me, but Faith in whom?" The Professor asked, clearly asking how to have faith in the dead.
"Faith in us: you, me, Adam Clay, Elena Skarn, and the others who are with us and who are yet to come." The Paladin said with an unwavering conviction, "I am, but one man, and a man can't have all the answers; that's what prayers seek."
The Professor looked at the Paladin, then at Sol Imperius, then at himself. He understood what Captain Creed said. Prayers are questions, and answers are their goal.
If that were the case, scientists should be the most pious of all, but that's not how science works.
But it was true that one man couldn't have all the answers, and Faith that others could provide the answers one might look for was the scientific way; that's why scientists had to join hands and consolidate. That was why all of humanity, or what remained of it after the fall, must join hands and be something greater than before.
This place might just be the right place to start that, Sci-Fi technology or not, the elderly professor started to have a drive to do more, build more, and assist more.
He stood, excused himself, and walked out of the storm shelter.
Ten minutes later, Adam and Megan arrived before requesting to enter the Reliquary, the place where they kept their Wartopia Trophies from the merchandise they came across during raids and supply runs. Captain Creed and some of the Wartopians, like Flint and Dusty, used this room as a place of worship; thus, it was mostly kept pristine and quiet.
As Adam walked in, he spoke awkwardly.
"Hello, Sir. I'm sorry I left that thing here. We may or may not have run out of storage. Let me dismantle it quickly." He said, pointing at the portal, as Megan scurried behind him and cut the power from the faulty circuit Adam had built into a portal frame.
Captain Creed neither turned around nor replied, so Adam and Megan immediately took the mock portal apart and transported its parts outside to the material storage. Back in the Reliquary chamber, Captain Creed faintly smiled as he was aware of Adam's childish plan.
A mock portal in the middle of the Reliquary was meant to confirm to Professor Hendrick that Adam was indeed hiding the fact that his summons were from Wartopia, but the "lie" would be that Adam summoned them using technology, not runes.
Creed wasn't sure if he let that situation go just because his summoner had done it or because it was within his capacity to allow it, but the conversation he had with the Professor had actually put him in a good mood, and he was looking forward to more.
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