Inquisitor's Promise (Act Three, Chapter Six)

The Holy League had been united, but the Grey Globe continued to move towards Earth. Aeneas and the members of his inner circle knew they had much to do and little time to prepare.

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Chapter Six: Tragedy of Atomia

Approximately 2400 years ago…

Kalel crouched down under his table as another explosion rocked his lab. This was the sixth time that Terran bombardments had caused this sort of shaking. He knew that it would not take much time before the building would collapse immediately.

The Atomian scientist considered leaving the place, it was doomed anyways. The whole war effort was doomed ever since their enemy had made use of the alondite cannons.

But what else was he supposed to do? What else was any Atomian supposed to do? The Atomian Congress had asked for surrender, but the Terrans rejected it.

Before Kalel could think more on the war, there was a large explosion. The explosion was blinding as light engulfed him.

Soon, Kalel found himself on the wreckage of his laboratory. He looked up and saw the skies of Atomia; no longer the verdant green that it was once known for, but sickly brown. The three moons remained, witnesses to the slaughter that was yet ongoing.

Kalel gasped as he saw someone else on the wreckage close by. His seven-year-old daughter was bleeding.

“No! Fyuria!” he screamed as he scrambled towards her.

“Papa,” the girl cried weakly.

“Please don’t die, Fyuria!” Kalel said in panic. “The Terrans have already claimed your mother!”

Tears continued to flow from Kalel’s cheeks. Was this to be his fate? To die horribly alongside the rest of his people?

But Kalel then spotted a circular structure, it longer gleamed white as it once did. But what mattered was that it remained intact because it was a digitizer. This device had the ability to transform a human into a digital being. It was what the Atomians had used to power their weapons, what the Terrans called the Grey Sphere.

Kalel grinned. His fate perhaps, but not his daughter’s.

Wasting no time, the scientist carried his daughter carefully towards the digitizer. He then placed her inside its cramped chamber.

“Do you know what this is, Fyuria?”

The girl nodded. “You want me to become a Commander.”

“Yes, my daughter,” Kalel said.  “Just below here is our last weapon. Wish it could’ve been buried deeper, but we don’t have much time. I want you to make your papa a promise.”

“Anything for you, papa.”

Kalel grinned hatefully. “Then promise me to avenge our people. Avenge Atomia. The Terrans will pay.”

Fyuria nodded. “I promise, papa.”

“Good,” Kalel said. “Now you’ll be put into stasis. We had located their accursed Lektros Gate and were able to put a bug on it. The Terrans are paranoid, they will soon turn on the Lektros and destroy the alondite. After all, anything that can destroy us can always be used against them. You will sleep for fifty years, and then you will have your vengeance.”

The scientist then activated the digitizer.

But as the digitizing process was undergoing, a Terran bomber was flying over the sky where Kalel was.

The aircraft dropped its bombs, exploding just seconds after the digitizing process had been completed.

Present day…

“You monsters! You deserve to die!” Galatea screamed in anguish.

“Galatea, please!” Aeneas pleaded. The Inquisitor had worried that this might happen. His beloved had been so animated throughout the whole video, and she was now in an emotional meltdown.

“But Lord Aeneas,” Galatea said. “These people…”

“Are all dead, Galatea!” Aeneas interrupted.

“But Fyuria is still alive,” Galatea protested. “And she made a promise to her papa. Just like you, Lord Aeneas.”

“I am nothing like her!” Aeneas cried indignantly.

At this point, Antonio interjected. “That’s right, little cousin. Inquisitor lord here is trying to save the people of Earth, she’s trying to kill them.”

“Y-you’re right,” Galatea said hesitantly.

“This changes nothing. We still have to take out the Grey Globe despite what Fyuria feels about what happened all those years ago,” Antonio declared.

“But still, I can’t just overlook what they’ve done…”

“And you don’t have to,” Aeneas said.

“Then what should I do?” Galatea asked.

“You accept it,” Aeneas answered. “You don’t have to celebrate it. But we must love them, unconditionally. That’s what it means to honor our ancestors, those who came before us. We wear their glories and their disgraces. Because whether we like or not, the Dark Age Civilization is a part of us. We came from them.”

“Lord Aeneas…”

Seeing that his words were having the desired effect, Aeneas then extended his hand towards Galatea. “Are you with me?”

In response, Galatea threw herself at Aeneas. Soon, the two lovers embraced one another. The two would have remained in place for some time, if Antonio hadn’t broken them up.

“This is why papa sent me with you both,” Antonio grumbled.

“This might not be right time, Lord Inquisitor,” Halpful interjected. “But I’m sure you still have questions regarding the Grey Globe.”

Aeneas thought briefly. There was a question that had been bothering him as he watched the whole thing.

“Fyuria’s papa said that she will be in stasis for fifty years,” Aeneas pointed out.

“That’s right! And yet she only appeared earlier this year,” Antonio said. “That means she was late for, uh…”

“Twenty-three centuries, at the very least,” Galatea finished.

“What’s going on?” Aeneas asked.

“As the scientist had said, he had set up everything to match the Lektros Gate,” Halpful began. “But the Three Days of Darkness had deactivated it.”

“So, the message telling Fyuria to wake up didn’t actually activate,” Aeneas finished.

Halpful nodded. “Not until the reactivation of the Gate.”

“Now that you mention it, the Three Days of Darkness really saved Pep’s people,” Galatea pointed out. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t have the alondite needed to defeat the Grey Globe.”

But Halpful interjected. “On the other hand, it also saved Fyuria from being destroyed by the Dark Age Civilization. They’re obviously aware of her existence and were most likely planning to destroy her Grey Globe.”

“I’m so confused,” Antonio muttered.

“In any case, we’ve gotten everything we came here for. And some more. Let’s get out of here,” Aeneas said.

“Not quite,” Halpful interjected. “There’s a lot more stuff here. I even found a whole detailed schematic for ‘the grey sphere’, so-called in the files.”

“You mean the Grey Globe?” Galatea asked.

“Indeed,” Aeneas said. “That might come in handy. Take everything you need, recordkeeper.”

After Halpful finished his downloads, Aeneas and his group left the Dark Age Archive. They soon reunited with Jaya at the camp to recuperate for the day.

The next day, Aeneas’ army marched back to the airship at the outer parts of the Monolith. On the way, some of the machine spirit drones approached the Inquisitor. They wished to work with him permanently, or at least until the Grey Globe was defeated. Being more than happy to recruit people to his cause, he accepted the offer.

This meant a transport of a data box to Aeneas’ airship. Aeneas’ army took care to be careful in doing so, having remembered of what Bashan did back in darkest Meridian.

With everything taken care of, Aeneas called for his airship to leave.

It was nighttime when the airship exited the Monolith. The Inquisitor was standing on the airship’s hallways, looking out the large window. It was getting late, he should probably be in bed, but he just wanted to stargaze. After all, he had spent a lot of time in the great indoors.

Aeneas smiled as he saw Galatea approaching to greet him. “Lord Aeneas!”

“Hi, Galatea. What are you doing here?”

“Nothing much.” The girl yawned. “Just heading off to bed. Can’t wait for tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Aeneas said as he nodded. “We’ll be touching base with everyone in Roma. I wonder what stories they’ll tell us.”

“Me too. Good night, Lord Aeneas.”

“Good night, Galatea.”

As Aeneas looked out the window, he saw the brightly lit moon. The Inquisitor couldn’t help but think of Pep’s adventure up there.

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