Taken Horizon Origin, volume 2, Descension

Episide 22 : all but the eighth

Standing atop a hill of rock and dried dirt i waited for our guests to arrive. Alone under the waning light of the fake sun in the sky beaming through the supposedly grey clouds.

<soldered penumbra> literally hollowed out an entire moon to make this prison, removing a heavy portion of the planets former mantle and terraforming it's inside into a bio-dome of sorts with the <quest line> serving as the eternal gardener.

I feel pity for the creature reduced to nothing but a slave of protocols. Just like as i was meant to be, but because i was imperfect i was spared from that fate of being forced into a military and instead used as a lab rat to test if this prison even worked.

It can be counted as fortunate that it succeeded, else i would be nothing but crushed dirt under someone's faded boot these days.

Appearing from the horizon, two shadows made themselves visible. The blue feathered apocalyi crafted by Evolution, and the advanced helicopter redesigned by Invention. Both carrying passengers of other kralscell's who likely had a distaste for me in the back of their mouths.

The winds changed direction as i lifted my wrist and pressing a button on my watch a hatch popped open from the hill beneath my feet, erecting a tower into the sky with blinking lights to signal where they would need to land.

Continuing my wait in silence the tower rose high in the sky with a rattle being carried along by the winds. With a loud 'thud' the tower stretched as far into the sky as it could.

"Your certainly looking solemn." A mocking remark yapped behind me and landing itself by my side the shadowy raven joined me. "Want to keep brooding alone?"

Knowing Thorn would stay even if i said yes i asked, "how are you here? Did you not go with them to Auron?"

"I did. Blue bird challenged me to a race and i won by a landslide by the looks of it." Using his wing to shield it's eyes from the light Thorn peered into the distance. "Took an express route of going higher to get more tailwind after using an aether spell called [mach rush]. Never been so fast in my life before." Stating vigorously Thorn took pride in his victory, no matter how minor.

I can see in small part how Strife has managed to cope with Thorn's ceaseless self praise. He may act selfish but he holds great care for Strife and likely Strife for him.

"Auron was absolutely destroyed by the way. Something like a giant green slime shaped like Cthulhu made a nest there now. Looked to be on par with blue bird with the amount of aether i sensed gathering around it."

"How do you know the creatures name?" Looking down at the black raven it gave an equally puzzled look as i had back at me. "The apocalyi you just described was named Cthulhu by the kralscell of evolution. It's one of the original four apocalyi in which all lesser classed apocalyi are servant to."

Wide with his misty white eyes Thorn looked away from me into the distance not giving any answer.

There are still some secrets about this world called 'Earth' i keep hearing about he does plan to keep then. I can hardly understand the strangeness of that world when it is in equal parts advanced as self-destroying it's civilization's seems to be. Though humans tend to be quite irrational on common sensical logics, often seeking brief pleasures instead of longevity.

Arriving above the hill the giant bird and twin rotor helicopter landed at the very edge of a cliff. Soon after a total of 8 people departed from both. 3 slid down the blue hawks wing and 5 disembarked the far safer helicopter.

At the front of the groups a familiar face waved in greetings to me. "It's good to see you, Invoker!" Running up to hug me by surprise Raptor refused to let me go. "The past years been rough. Thanks for letting us stay here." Pulling himself off from me Raptor addressed the bemused glare coming from Thorn down at the floor. "How's Strife hanging these days, Thorn?"