I tell the door to open. It swishes open and I wait a moment for something to jump out at me. When nothing does, I send a number of lights into the room ahead of me. There is a large glass cylinder, it is about six-feet wide and attached to the floor and goes straight up the ceiling. There looks to be a hatch in the middle of it. Thousands of gossamer wires hang from silver orbs around the glass cylinder. The wires are attached to the cylinder and continue inside, hanging limply. Inside the cylinder on the floor is a large dark orb. There is a console in front of the cylinder. I place my hand on the console.

 

  I think to the console.

  The floor of the cylinder opens and the dark core falls away. From the ceiling a large glowing core drops and then floats in the center of the cylinder. The gossamer wires come to life, like tiny snakes, and attack the core. They all strike it and attach themselves to the core. Once they are attached the wires begin to glow, then the silver orbs on the ceiling glow. The building shakes and there is a deep rumbling, like a dragon waking. Then the whole room is illuminated with light.

  Congratulations! You have completed the quest:

  The Dark & Light, Part 1

  You have restored power.

  Quest Type: Normal

  Difficulty: Easy

  Rewards: Light

  New Quest Alert:

  The Dark & Light, Part 2

  You are in a new Progenitor ruin. Find out the purpose of this facility.

  Quest Type: Normal

  Difficulty: Easy

  Rewards: ????

  Do you accept this quest? Y/N

  "Thanks, Administrator. I never would have thought to turn on the power and find out where I am without these quests. You are a lifesaver." I say to the room.

  Messing with the Main Power Console does not give me any answers. There are other mysterious things in the room, but I decide to leave them alone. After that cryptic quest message, I think I need to be cautious.

  Leaving the Main Power room, I almost step on a little robot outside the door. I jump back, startled. It is the size of a mouse, but shaped like a silver ball with legs. It makes a clicking noise and then a blue light emits from its body. The light shines on the walls and thousands of those black bugs appear. The blue light causes the bugs to levitate in the air. They are squirming and making a hissing noise. The blue light contracts, drawing the bugs into a tight orb of death. The blue light orb becomes smaller and smaller until it winks out of existence. The small bot rotates and then shines the light on me.

  "Woah, hey now. I'm not a bug." I say to it backing away.

  It follows me.

  Using Analyze I pull up its info.

  Name: Maintenance and Cleaning Drone

  Title: #47

  Level: 1

  Synthesis: 3%

  Health: N/A (Building Construct, Indestructible)

  Mental: N/A

  Stamina: N/A

  Focus: N/A

  Race: Progenitor Construct

  Disposition: Neutral

  Skills: Temporal Sphere, Dust Removal, Repair

  Loot: Uncommon

  "Hey there, number 47, you are pretty cute. What are you doing?" Hoping flattery works.

  It clicks at me and then the blue light removes all the dust, dirt and grime off me. It does the same thing it did to the bugs and condenses into nothingness. Then it pulls its legs into its body and rolls away.

  "Thank you." I call out to it.

  Now that the power is on I walk back to the barracks. "Holy hell." I whistle at the sheer size of the room. It just goes on and on with cots and pods for as far as I can see. Stepping up to the closest pod I interact with it.

 

 
  -Personal Hygiene Care

  -Medical Scan and Basic Care

  -Facility Transport>

  Well, this sounds interesting. I take whiff of my armpits. Grimacing at the smell I decide to give the pod a try. I select personal hygiene and just for the hell of it, the medical scan.

 

  As soon as I get into the pod it seals shut and panic grips me. What did I just do? A bright warm light engulfs me. It actually feels amazing. The pod beeps and then opens back up.

  I just stand there for a moment. "Wait. Was that it?" I say to myself.

  I sniff my armpits. Clean. I smell completely clean.

 

  I think to it.

 
  Basic Care Fixes and Upgrades:

  -Cancerous cells, removed and inoculated

  -Viruses, parasites, and harmful substances removed and inoculated

  -Moderate electromagnetic radiation damage, repaired and upgraded epidermis

  -Cavity in third right molar, repaired and upgraded

  -Suboptimal neurotransmitters, fixed and upgraded

  -Mild Pityriasis Capitis, fixed>

  "Jesus." My eyes grow wide at the list as it continues. This thing just did all of that in a number of seconds? It can cure cancer and prevent it ever happening again, and that is considered basic care? Then I notice red flashing text at the bottom of the list.

 

 

 

 

  Looking up I notice a flashing red light on top of the pod. Not wanting to see if something comes for me I run out of the barracks. Running down the hall past the main power room, I enter the first open door I come to. Panting I lean against the wall, then I notice there is a new glowing purple tattoo on my right hand. It looks like an archaic rune. Strange. What the hell is the Eye of the Watcher? Why did the Watcher not tell me he was spying on me?

  Slowly I become aware of the changes in my body. My thoughts are quicker, my body has more energy, my stamina restores much faster. Wow. I thought I was already upgraded from my stats and becoming a Progenitor. But I was wrong. Yes, I may be immortal now, but I had become immortal in a flawed body. Now I'm almost prefect. Or, at least to human standards. Who knows what I could gain from a pod that provides more than just basic care.

  I get excited thinking about telling Kala and Jill about these pods. Then I remember. They could have both been killed or captured. Jill had her throat slit, so she is probably de...I stop myself. It's not going to do me any good thinking about them right now. There is nothing I can do from this place. I need to escape and find out what happened. And then kill Adam and all of The Caste. There is pain in my right hand. I look down, I had been clenching my fist so tight that I drew blood. My mind is still unable to comprehend that the whole village is dead. Why would The Caste do that? They were just people trying to live their lives. They were out of the way and peaceful, as far as I could tell. It makes no sense. My vision starts to turn red with rage. I have to close my eyes and slow my breathing to not lose control.

  "I swear upon the gods, I will kill them all." I say with clenched teeth.

  New Quest Alert:

  Revenge

  You have sworn an oath to kill all who were responsible for th
e deaths of your friends and the villagers.

  Quest Type: Personal

  Difficulty: Torment

  Rewards: Variable

  Enemies Responsible Killed: 0/362

  Do you accept this quest? Y/N

  Optional: Kill all of the Caste

  Caste Remaining: 1,034,671

  Rewards: Genocide Perk, Legendary Weapon

  I blink at the new quest. Did I just generate my own quest? Kill all the Caste? Are they all monsters? Or, is it just the leaders? They must have children who are innocent, right? These questions race through my mind. My anger leaves me. I hit the accept button. I don't have to do the optional part, I tell myself.

  Finally, I snap out of my thoughts and take stock of my surroundings. This room has the feel of an amphitheater. The whole room is circular in shape, with stadium seating on the outside. In the center is a white glowing pad. Did they have plays here?

  I step up to the threshold of the white pad and stop. There is a shimmering field surrounding the pad that I didn't notice before. Tentatively, I place my hand on the shimmering air. The whole force field turns red and then a voice speaks to me.

 

  My mind is racing. This could be a huge boon for me. I came to this planet a scientist. But, I had never fought before. I have never had any combat training at all. I'm a problem solver, a thinker. But, I need to know how to fight better. Having skills is not enough.

  I think to the computer voice.

 

  I select the only one available.

 

  Now when I place my hand on the force field it turns blue and I can pass through. As soon as I step onto the pad something rises from the center and floats. Then it races through the air toward me. I stand there like an idiot for a moment, not moving. Then I turn around and try to exit the pad, but the force field is now red and won't let me out. Something slams into my neck and I suddenly feel weak. I put my hands to my throat and find a metal collar. I tug at it and run my fingers around it trying to find a latch. Then I try to pull up my User Menu to unequip it. But, nothing happens when I try to access any of my menus.

  "You have been cut off. Did your teachers not tell you that part?" A voice says to me.

  I look up and a Progenitor man is standing before me. I try and Analyze him, but nothing happens.

  "Who are you?" I ask. Reaching for my bag to get a weapon out. My bag is gone. How did I not notice it was gone? I turn around and see all of my stuff on the ground outside the force field. "Damn." I say to myself.

  "I am your White Legion Master. You will address me as such." He says. I take a good look at him. He has blueish skin, no hair, large golden eyes, and is kind of frail looking. He is wearing a simple white toga-like outfit.

  "You want me to call you Master? Are you a program?" I say backing away, trying to think of a way to get out of this situation.

  The Master moves forward at an impossible speed, grabs me by the throat, and then slams me down on the ground.

  I lay there, with the wind knocked out of me, and the Progenitor Master standing over me.

  "Shall we try again?" He asks me.

  I know his type, if I answer with anything but what he wants to hear I will pay for it.

  "Yes, Master." I say after I regain my breath.

  "Stand up. Let me have a look at you." He does not offer his hand to help me up.

  He looks me up and down. "I have no records of a Jax Stone. Your genetic signature is also not on file for approved Legion training...Hmm, it seems I am cut off from Facilty Zero. Logs indicate a lapse of over three-million years since the last database update."

  He stares at me, I'm not going to answer him unless he asks me to. I have no access to my skills at all. I would lose in a fight with him.

  "You may speak." He places his hands behind his back.

  "Are you an artificial intelligence program?" I ask.

  "No. I am the consciousness of White Legion Master Jiao La'Dar."

  Chapter Eight: New Beginnings

  ~

  Screaming. Who is screaming? Panic. Fear. Anger. Pain. So much pain.

  "Ma'am. Do you require assistance?"

  Jill realizes she was the one screaming. She looks around, everything is white. She is floating in a white space, nude with only a strange gauntlet on her arm.

  "Hello?" She asks.

  "Hello ma'am. I'm sure you are confused. The primary reason I was created was to provide a memory backup. I can restore the last two weeks of your memory, which will cover all of your time on this planet. Once I do this everything will become clear." A voice, sounding awfully like the butler from Batman, speaks to her from the gauntlet.

  "I...this is really weird. Is there a virtual reality option on my stasis pod? Jax didn't mention anything about being able to play games while in stasis. Typical. He is not much of a gamer. I assume this is some sort of beginning area where I create my character?" Jill says to the talking gauntlet.

  "Yes, ma'am. Shall I restore your memory?" He asks with his British accent.

  "Um, sure. Why not? I'll play along. Hey, how much time is left until we reach the planet?" Jill says.

  "Please stand by. You may experience some discomfort." He says, ignoring Jill's question.

  A million needles stab Jill's brain, she screams and grabs her head in pain. After what feels like hours the pain stops and Jill's mind is filled with new memories, or old ones, depending on how you look at it. She gasps, her chest tightens as she remembers everything.

  "Oh my god. Why did you make me remember?" Jill begins to cry, which turns into a sob, her whole body shaking with emotions.

  "I'm sorry ma'am. I am unable to selectively restore memories. It is all or nothing." Alfred tells her.

  "I remember my own death. It's horrible. And...Adam. He is here. Everyone is dead." Jill gasps, "Alfred, do you know what happened to Jax and Kala?"

  "You died before I could record their actions." He tells me calmly.

  Jill's sorrow is replaced by anger. "Alfred, this is the Creation Realm?" She asks with an edge in her voice.

  "Yes ma'am. Unfortunately, you are now level one with no skills. As I am your only Core-Bound piece of equipment you retained me after death. You lost everything else. You need to assign your starting stat points and User Appearance to begin."

  "Okay. So, when I leave this realm I'm going to be naked, and have no equipment. I can't count on finding a Progenitor Lock-Box like when I first came to this planet." Jill said to herself, thinking out loud.

  She pulled up her stats. She has ten stat points to distribute. No. She actually has 25 stat points. It seems she got an extra 15 stat points for being a Progenitor. After thinking on it for a few minutes she adds six points to agility, four to strength, six to constitution, six to endurance, and three to luck. She brings up a summary.

  Name: Jill Stone

  Age: 18

  Race: Progenitor

  Synthesis: 100%

  Strength: 11

  Constitution: 12

  Endurance: 13

  Agility: 14

  Dexterity: 8

  Intelligence: 7

  Wisdom: 6

  Luck: 6

  Since she plans to use her body as a weapon she wants to be able to move fast, hit hard, and have lots of health. Jill changes the background color of her default pop-up windows to a beige-orange color. Then she pulls up her appearance. She plays with all of the options. Making herself have green skin, blue hair and red eyes. She shakes her head and chuckles, then clears it back to her original form.

  "Well, you know what? Since I am going to be naked, let’s give myself some tattoos. She adds a black tattoo to her hands and feet. It almost looks like her hands and feet were dipped in ink. Then she places a tree on her navel that goes
up her stomach, past her breasts and its branches spread out across her sternum and collar bones.

  "Pretty cool. I always wanted a tattoo like this." She says looking at the 3-D image of herself. "Alfred, I'm ready to leave this place. Do you know where I will resurrect?"

  "No ma'am. Since you were killed in a location without a Resurrection Net the location you will be placed is random." He tells her.

  "Great. Well, let’s do this." Jill wills herself to leave the Creation Realm.

  Pain fills her and then she is standing on a mountain. Jill gets vertigo for a moment as she sways back and forth a few feet from a hundred-foot drop.

  "Are you kidding me? Alfred, where are we?" Jill asks, surveying the scene.

  "We are 31 miles northwest of where you died." Jill's butler tells her.

  She sighs. "What am I supposed to do now? I had amazing gear, a focus, and a decent level, and I still died. Now I'm naked and level one."

  New Quest Alert:

  The Hunt for Aurelia

  Aurelia escaped with Nessa and Thunder. Find them before The Caste does.

  Quest Type: Personal, Timed

  Difficulty: Very Hard

  Rewards: Disposition increase with Aurelia, Nessa and Thunder. 1,500 Experience

  Time Remaining: 48 hours

  Do you accept this quest? Y/N

  "Dammit. I know I need to find them. You're not helping, Administrator." Jill says to the sky.

  "Ma'am. The map has been updated. There is a five-mile radius in which to find her. She is east of our current location." Alfred tells Jill.