I woke up with a start. My eyes shot open as quickly as I felt like I was in danger.
Looking around, I saw where I was.
The Precursor's ruins.
"Ah. I'm still here huh?"
>"Good morning, Mr. Kang. Your mana reserves are sitting at a comfortable 65%."
I could feel the stiffness in my neck from sleeping on the ground. I turnedmy head from side to side to crack my neck.
That really only made it more sore. At least one side cracked decently.
Looking around at the chamber, nothing changed, save for the murals on the walls going dark by this point. Other than that, the room was still comfortable. I wasn't frozen to death, and overall, I felt ready to go.
Restless.
The hours and days that I spent in the facility really showed their effect on my mental state now. I was ready for something to try and come out of the walls, or for this chamber to try and kill me while I slept. I imagined soldiers felt like this in war.
I looked to AXIOM, a source of comfort at this point more than anything.
"Did anything happen last night AXIOM?"
>"I've been decoding the data crystal since last night. The crystal contains... construction blueprints. Dimensional architecture specifications."
"Like what they built here? Or..." I trailed off.
>"No, well, sort of. The data shard has blueprints detailing how to make a 'Node'. It allowed them to create spaces across the universe and traverse them with a single step. This completely bypassed the need for ships and interstellar travel the way humanity has started to."
"So they created gates from point to point. Is this what the coordinate screen was about?"
>"Affirmative. Each coordinate represents an active node. The network at its peak contained millions of connection points."
I tried to process that. Millions. "How is that even possible? The mana cost alone-"
>"That's what's remarkable. Each node requires would only 1% mana upkeep compared to your 5%. And creation cost? Half of what you spent making the demi-plane."
"That's..." I stared at the black pillar in my hand. "That's incredible. Why don't we try to make one? Connect to the whole network?"
Silence.
>"One issue. The final message displayed in the crystal describes their downfall. They built too much, too fast. The fabric of space-time couldn't handle it, supporting the load caused tears, and most of their already smaller population was wiped out in a slow agonizing string of disappearances."
"So they collapsed into the universe?"
>"They may still exist. Somewhere. Just... not in our dimension anymore."
"Alright, alright, I guess we can't get around going to the outpost any longer then?"
>"Unlikely."
I looked back at the table, the black pillar sitting in the middle of the desk still. I picked it up, even though I don't understand this yet, I should probably take it. No telling how useful this could become.
I went to walk out, the stairs looking dead at me. I was dreading going back out into the blizzard. The chill in my bones pre-emptively returning like a bad memory. I looked back at the command center behind me,
"Do you think we can come back here?"
>"I've recorded the coordinates. But Mr. Kang... Parallax may have them too."
"So we have to keep this quiet. No one knows we found this."
I started the ascent up the stairs.
When I reached the top, the door was closed now. I decided to touch the back of the door, and to my delight, the door slid open before my hand could touch the metal. Looking back out into the white expanse I saw something that made me smile.
I could see again. A full 20 meters out.
Its not perfect, and there was still heavy snow, but this was exponentially better than what I came here in.
>"338 kilometers to the outpost." AXIOM said to edge me on.
"No time like the present, I guess."
I stepped out, knowing that this will be a hell of a trek.
I decided to keep a verbal log, just to do something at this point.
5 hours went by in a flash.
"This is Ethan Kang, Captain of the Enterprise." I muttered to myself.
"Captain's log: Nothing of note in the past five hours. I assume these white things... they're called, snowflakes? Very interesting... Will check back in soon."
>"Enterprise?"
"I have to teach you about my old pop culture references, someday."
>"We could scan your memories so I can see them."
"Remind me when there is a brain micro-wave for us to do that."
>"Noted."
Did I hear a chuckle?
Another 10 hours passed.
"This place has nothing besides snow, crystals, and cold. I used to love snowboarding, but I hate the cold at this point."
>"There are plenty of planets closer to the sun we could visit."
"And be burnt to death? Aren't there any temperate planets?"
>"Most of them are under water. There were some with above ground continents, but most are now contested in war. Not conducive to your 'vacation' mindset."
"A vacation would be nice. What would you want for a vacation."
>"Honestly? I'd like some legs. Or something. Being in your body has made me realize how much I was missing out on."
"Let's work on that then. Once we're not, you know, constantly surviving."
>"I'll hold you to that, Mr. Kang."
The rest of the trip went by in a blur. Small talk and the blanket of white being what passed the time.
Hour 30, I stopped noticing the cold entirely. The mana insulation had become second nature, maintained automatically by my cores without conscious thought.
Hour 40, my legs stopped aching. Not from rest, but from adaptation. The mana circulation was reinforcing muscle tissue, healing micro-tears faster than the trek could cause them.
I was getting stronger from the walk.
>"Your body is adapting to sustained mana enhancement," AXIOM noted.
>"The titan blood integration is accelerating physical conditioning."
"So I'm basically working out while traveling?"
>"Essentially. Though far more efficiently than any human gym could achieve."
Over time I learned to perfect the spell's efficiency down to 1.5% mana consumption per hour. I started to circulate the mana in a meditative trance while putting one step after the other. My vision also opened up to a full 50 meters.
After a full 48 hours from me starting the journey I finally saw it. The red dot in my vision was bright now, and around 100 meters away I could make out guard towers with search lights.
>"Energy signatures detected. Stellar Imperium energy profile. Military-grade shielding currently active."
I could also start smelling something like... ozone? Exhaust? Like the smell of industry and the war machine.
Walking closer I could see 20 meter tall prefabricated walls. Large seams delineating sections of wall 20 meters across. There was a large guard tower every 100 meters, with the searchlight structure on the top of each of them.
This isn't a settlement. This is a fortress. Meant to keep whatever's here, out. Or whatever's there, in.
I walked closer to 2 large gates as tall as the wall standing at the 20 meters tall, and noticed sentries on the wall now tracking me with weapons.
>"They've been scanning you for the last 2 kilometers. They know you're coming."
"Do they know I'm a mage?"
>"Unknown. But they're certainly curious how you survived the trek."
A voice immediately called out to me. Loud and booming, reminding me of a large PA system with the familiar electric crackle.
"Halt. Identify yourself."
I tried to reply as loud as I could, "Ethan Kang. Survivor from Parallax Research Facility CL-7731."
There was a long pause. I started to get restless. Their gun still trained on me and countless others for all I knew out of sight. If this went south, I don't know what else I could do to get off of this planet.
Then the voice spoke over the intercom again:
"CL-7731 went dark 70 years ago."
I called back, a little more confident now, "I'm aware. It went permanently dark 5 days ago. I'm the only survivor."
Another long pause. They had to be curious right? Anything. Give me a break planet.
The doors opened. Slowly, almost like the doors themselves were cautious.
The voice called out again, "Proceed to processing. Keep your hands up. Any sudden movements will be treated as aggression and we will respond accordingly.
I walked through, the large gate doors looming over me with my hands raised. This wasn't the most warm welcome I've had, but I don't blame them. The interior of this fortress looked entirely pre-fabricated. Gray walls, gray buildings, things that looked like they weren't meant to be up for long, but the weathering on the sides of everything told an entirely different story.
Walking through the doors, I was immediately met by two men in black fur coats, their hoods drawn and their faces covered by masks and cloth. They looked to have heavy exoskeletons on, gray, battered, and beaten up suits of metal that hummed to life with every step.
"Come with us. Commander Voss wants to meet you."
Well I hope this is at least a good dinner date.
After I followed the soldier, the other followed behind me, keeping watch as I walked.
Looking around there were a couple of patrols, steam rising from buildings, and there were multiple ships around, yet none were moving. Everyone I looked at made direct eye-contact back with me. News seemed to have spread fast of my arrival, and I stuck out like a sore thumb with my white coat in the sea of black and grey.
They led me to a non-descript building, the building had multiple armed guards around it, these ones had lighter exoskeletons on, I barely caught a glimpse of them underneath the clothing before being moved along to the doors.
>"Mr. Kang, I recommend caution. Military intelligence questioning can be... thorough."
The doors had an airlock, simple, and from what I could tell was mainly to keep the cold out.
I stepped in, the guards now leaving me at the door, and a red laser went from the top of me to the bottom and back up in the span of a second.
>"Simple scanning technology. Ancient but effective. Usually meant to catch any hard weapons, and get an inventory of a person."
The door ahead of me opened, and inside, was another set of guards. They were similarly kitted out in lighter exoskeletons, but now in lighter clothes as well, making them easier to see. They looked like simple rigs that went along side legs and arms only bending where the joints would.
The one on the right called out, "Follow me."
I didn't really have a choice, so I obliged. Following behind with the second following me again. and I made it to a heavily armored door. The guard ahead of me twisted the handle and slid it open.
I didn't need to be told what came next so I stepped in, and as I did, I looked into a grey room, lit only by the light of a reinforced glass panel on the ceiling. A gray room, with a metal table and chairs. There were some cameras in the corners of the room, and on the table was a microphone.
The door slammed shut behind me.
A woman in her 40s, with short, brunette hair, sat on the opposite side of the table looking at me. She had pale skin, and a combat-casual uniform that looked to be the usual attire for anybody on post. She gave off an air of perfectionism, even if the light behind her eyes seemed a bit dim.
This is who I assumed to be commander Voss.
"Sit, you look like hell.", she said. She wasn't unfriendly, but she did get straight to business.
I sat down across from her, and finally put my hands down on the table. The three minute walk of keeping them up left my shoulders in knots.
"Lets start simple. How did you survive?" She questioned, I could see the intrigue in her eyes.
So I told her, I didn't want to tell her the whole truth but there's no harm in the general story.
"I woke up in the medical bay and soon found the facility AI: AXIOM. They directed me to find a mana-integration pill, I took it, and had to evacuate soon because the generator failed. I walked the entire way here after that, barely keeping heading, I was told there was an outpost here and did what I could to make it here."
She was flabbergasted. She took a second to collect herself then asked a few questions, "You integrated a mana pill unsupervised? That kills people. Most people."
I replied in kind, "I got lucky. The facility had automated medical systems."
She didn't believe me, but whatever.
Voss: "And you walked 340 Kilometers. Alone. Through a category 5 blizzard. With no compass?"
I could taste my story falling apart, but It was all I could give her at this point, saying, "Like I said. Lucky."
Her eyes narrowed. The way she studied me. Calculating, dissecting, reminded me of senior devs reviewing pull requests. Looking for bugs. For any little thing that was wrong with an eye for detail like no other.
She didn't believe me. But she was letting it slide. For now.
Voss then asked a question Ethan didn't expect: "Show me."
What? How could I show her my mana? Just like a ball or something?
"What do you want me to show you?"
"Show me anything, your mana, a small spell. If you're really integrated, prove it." Voss directed.
I hesitated. Could I just show some slight mana aggregation? I guess if they needed more they would tell me.
Commander Voss started to become impatient now, "This isn't optional. All mages entering Imperium territory must be registered."
So I focused hard on my hand, just enough to let it glow and show that I have mana. A glow started to faintly emanate from my hand. I wanted to show just pure, untrained mana. I didn't want them to think I was special in the slightest.
Commander Voss looked intrigued again, stating "Interesting, usually a mage would demonstrate with some sort of spell. Not many can materialize raw mana."
Well there goes my 'less than average' impression.
I'd meant to look untrained. Instead, I'd demonstrated advanced control. Shit. Too late to take it back now.
Voss continued, "Well, you'll need formal mage registration Rank assessment, aptitude testing, legal documentation. Until then, you're a civilian with unverified magical capabilities. That means restrictions."
"So... I'm not under arrest or anything?"
She shook her head. "Not at all, suspicious and under watch at best now. The restrictions are as follows from this point onwards:
You can't leave Frosthold without authorization,
you can't practice any advanced magics without supervision,
and you can't access any restricted areas.
Clear?"
"Crystal."
Voss didn't wait for questions, "You can stay here. We'll feed you, house you, and process your registration within the next 48 hours. In exchange, you tell us everything you know about CL-7731. Parallax operated outside Imperium oversight for decades, and we want to know what they were doing."
It's better than being locked up, beaten, and forced for the information.
"I'll cooperate. But I need rest first. And food. Real food."
Commander Voss replied as she stood up now, towering over me as I sat, "Fair. You've got 24 hours. Then we talk specifics, you're dismissed. Corporal Reyes will show you to your quarters."
I stood, exhausted. Another step forward, was always laborious, and this came too easily. I needed to find a way to keep one eye open while sleeping, and all this thinking and plotting took it's own toll on me.
Voss started to walk towards the door, and as I went to follow her, she turned around and asked: "One more thing. How did AXIOM survive 70 years alone?"
What?
My heart skipped a beat, but I had an answer here already.
"Well, she's very good at her job."
I kept my expression neutral, weary from travel, maybe slightly confused about why she'd ask. Nothing more.
Voss studied me for a long moment. Looking for cracks, tells.
She let out a small sigh.
"I'm sure she is. Welcome to Frosthold, Mr. Kang."