June 18

10:14 A.M.

The groans of sliding metal ceased as the doorway was fully opened, a hallway inside illuminated only by the light of Sola. Cold air rushed out of the chamber as the warmer atmosphere outside rushed in. The first visitors in perhaps millennia stood outside the doorway, almost all of them with their mouths agape, or displaying confusion in some manner. One, in particular, trembled more than the others. This man, an old wizard by the name of Kelmithus, expressed fear.

“You okay, Kelmithus?” Donnager asked, noticing the sweat rolling down the old wizard’s forehead.

“Ah, of course, my good friend. It is merely that we sealed these ruins off for a reason…” Kelmithus began to speak again, but Donnager cut him off.

“Don’t worry about it. After all, you are the first man to dabble in the forbidden magics in centuries, when you created that portal to our world.”

Kelmithus, not knowing how to respond, merely nodded. “Indeed.”

SNAP!

Everyone present turned to look at the source of this sound. It was Jones, who was taking pictures of the spectacle before them. In contrast to his other teammates, he was the only person smiling; in fact, he was grinning like a madman.

“Bro, what are you smilin’ about? We coulda just been cursed by opening this gate!” Alex pointed out.

“Ahh, I wouldn’t worry too much about that, son. C’mon now, be excited!” Jones enthusiastically said, addressing his team members. “This is the most astounding find that I have ever come across! Imagine the secrets this structure has to offer!”

“Probably some Flood type shit…” Ryan muttered.

“Alright cut the chatter. Our objective is to locate and retrieve artifacts that may be of use to us. This place has been abandoned by its original owners a long ass time ago, so we shouldn’t be worrying about any curses. Sergeant Williams brings up a good point though. Keep your eyes peeled for any creepy crawlies that may have taken up residence here. The excavation team will be on standby, guarding the entrance. Alright people, let’s move!”

Alpha Team moved into the mysterious chamber, their footsteps echoing off the walls of the structure, the acoustic resonance of its architecture amplifying these sounds. Their flashlights turned on, members of the team inspected the silvery walls as they moved forward, marveling at the futuristic design of the building’s infrastructure. Eventually, the team happened upon a smaller door with an interface similar to the one in front of the entrance.

Jones placed his hand on it just like he did minutes ago. The door opened, revealing a chamber so large that the light from the Americans’ devices could not even reach the end.

“Wow, this cavern is indeed massive!” Kelmithus remarked.

“It sure is… if only we could somehow find a way to turn on the lights in this place…” Tesla muttered.

“Hold on, the doorways must have been powered in order to receive a response from Jones. Unless they receive electricity from an internal battery unit, then that means the power is on! We just need to find the light switch, whatever that may look like,” Oppenheimer deduced.

“Uhh… like this?” Jones poked something on the wall, making it flash to life. Suddenly, lights around them began activating, revealing a mostly empty room, aside from the building-sized circular gateway in the center and miscellaneous items lying about. The circular gateway was ancient, yet remained in pristine condition aside from the dust collecting on its surfaces. Suddenly, a radio crackled to life.

“C—— door ——— read?” The communication came from the excavation team outside.

“This is Alpha lead Actual, mountain is interfering with the comms; we can’t read you,” Donnager informed, before he was interrupted by a loud slamming sound.

“Sir, that wasn’t the door was it?” Sarah asked.

“Aw shit bro we’re trapped in here!” Alex despaired.

“I spent many hours trapped in tombs and labyrinths during my adventures; it shouldn't be too hard to find a way out. Probably just some standard lockdown protocol.” Jones was the only member of the team without worry on his face.

“What if we run out of air before then?” Kelmithus asked.

“Hey, since they’re so advanced, maybe this place has those oxygen things that are on space stations. No need for a ventilation system if they’ve got those,” suggested Ryan.

“True, but based on their technological achievements, one can surmise that the builders of this facility were a race of science, and hence, efficient. A simple ventilation system that utilizes this planet’s breathable atmosphere would be more efficient than installing a oxygen conversion unit.” Tesla countered.

As the members of Alpha Team discussed plans, red lights began to glow, signifying an alarm.

“Intrusion detected in Section 4, initiating lockdown procedures.”

“Damnit Jones, what the hell did you do?” Owens hissed.

“Oh, he speaks! Well, I didn’t do anything. Think about it. A good few minutes passed after I turned on the lights, before the alarm came on. It wouldn’t make sense for the security of this facility to detect something so late, especially considering their advanced technology.”

“Wait, I remember seeing something outside, before we came in here. This isn’t Section 4,” Richard mentioned, confusion visible on his face. “This is Section 1. If the sections are labeled based on their location, then Section 4 is deeper inside the facility.”

“Sir, I don’t like the vibe of this, man,” Alex stated.

“Right. Any moment now some Flood could come bursting out of the walls…” Ryan said, looking at the various doorways that led to this chamber.

“Wait,” Kelmithus interrupted, “the voice spoke in your native language; I did not sense your communication buffs activate.”

The members of Alpha Team looked at Kelmithus in confusion before realization slowly dawned on them; the alert was given in English.

“Aliens speak English?” Oppenheimer wondered.

“Homo Magus Sapiens,” Jones muttered, as if he was lost in thought.

“What?”

“Ancient humans built this place. Omnis told me that he was created by a precursor race of humans known as Homo Magus Sapiens. Why they speak English, he does not know.”

“How interesting…”

Donnager thought for a moment, distracted by the possible reasons why these precursor humans spoke English, before giving his orders. “Ryan, have your team stay here with the scientists and keep ‘em safe.”

“Got it, sir!”

“Owens, Kelmithus, Jones, you’re with me. We’re going to investigate Section 4.”

—

( What? )

(Okay.)

“Captain, my scepter wishes to visit Section 2. We can get a layout of this place.”

“Okay Jones. Lead the way.”

Receiving directions from Omnis, Jones navigated toward a different corridor where the entrance to Section 2 was located. There, he was given an override code by Omnis in order to open the door. Why did such an advanced civilization have manual controls, he wondered. He realized that it must have been for emergencies such as this, and pushed aside the thought. When prompted for the code, a holographic keyboard appeared, allowing Jones to input the code.

When the door opened, the team reacted in surprise, amazed by the devices that were scattered throughout the room. Wheeled chairs that looked extremely comfortable were gathered around a circular table that had a dome in the center. Most likely a hologram projector, the three America s theorized. To the left was a set of tables and chairs, arranged for dining purposes. Behind these tables and chairs were some silvery machines placed on a counter, plates and other dishware in cabinets below.

“Huh. They look an awful lot like Star Trek replicators don’t they?” Donnager muttered, rubbing his short beard while his other hand held his rifle.

Owens, who preferred not to speak much, simply nodded in agreement, his eyes scanning for any lurking threats.

Heeding Omnis’ command, Jones walked over to a box-shaped device. With Omnis now in close proximity to it, he began to glow in a particular pattern. Considering the pattern that the device was also displaying, Jones and his teammates all deduced that Omnis establishes some sort of wireless connection to the device, similar to how Bluetooth pairing works. Surely Tesla and Oppenheimer would be ecstatic about this, seeing an artificial intelligence interface with another network. After a minute, Omnis stopped his communication with the device.

Testing his ability out, Jones projected a three dimensional holographic map of the facility, denoted as Site Beta One. With a mental command, Section 4 became highlighted in yellow, contrasting it from the blue light that formed the rest of the hologram. Their current floor was magnified, hiding the additional floors above and below. A red line marked directions for Jones’ party. With the path clear, the party of four continued their mission.

While walking, Jones studied the map, ignoring the blaring sirens going off around him. Section 3 was apparently an armory, so he let Donnager know.

Interested in seeing some advanced weaponry, Donnager allowed a quick detour to the armory. Once they arrived at the armory, Jones opened the door using an access code provided by Omnis. Section 3 more closely resembled a hangar, with empty vehicle bays.

Kelmithus, experiencing an even more potent culture shock, remained silent, closely following the other members of the team. Jones, on the other hand, was excited to be exploring such mysterious ruins, or rather, sites, considering that the facilities were merely abandoned.

“Where would the firearms be kept?” Donnager asked Jones.

Pointing, Jones replied, “Probably in one of these smaller rooms.” There were a dozen other doors in this section of the building, and the team split up in groups of two to search the rooms. Kelmithus went with Owens to search the left side of the chamber, while Jones went with Donnager to search the right side. Some of the rooms appeared to be offices, used for meetings. Only 4 of the other rooms were armories, and two of these were empty aside from random pieces of unidentifiable equipment.

Of the two that weren’t empty, one had a stash of what appeared to be explosives, while the other had a small stash of sleek-looking guns. The sleek looking guns were comfortable to hold, weighed little, but had no visible magazine compartment. Donnager picked up a large rifle, most likely for anti-material or sniping purposes, and analyzed it. Engravings on the weapon identified it as an N109. It was not a bolt action rifle, and had two circles on the side of the weapon with etchings on each and sticks in the centers. The first circle had etchings for semi automatic and fully automatic, while the second circle had number values, counting from 0 to 100 with increments of 10. ‘Interesting,’ Donnager thought. He placed the weapon down and picked up what looked like a sidearm. It looked quite small, especially around the grip, but when he picked it up, the grip molded into his palm, adjusting itself for maximum comfort. As this happened, Donnager initially became surprised, before smiling, impressed at the technological feat displayed. Viewing the engravings on the weapon, he identified it as an N25. The sidearm had only one circle, depicting the power output of the weapon, from 0 to 100 percent. Currently, the stick was moved down, below 0. He assumed that this acted as the gun’s safety mechanism.

“Hey Jones, take this.” Donnager gave Jones his standard issue sidearm - the M9 Beretta. Jones accepted, placing it in his empty holster, as Donnager took the futuristic sidearm from the armory and stowed it in his own holster. Owens did the same with another N25.

SCREEEEE!

An inhuman screech rang out, almost deafening Donnager and his team. It came from the direction of Section 4, and appeared to be coming this way.

“Hey Jones, Section 3 is the armory. What’s Section 4?” Donnager asked.

“Section 4… let’s see here, umm, it is the…” Jones’ heart sunk, aghast at what he discovered.

“Spit it out, Jones. We don’t have all day,” Owens ordered.

“Section 4 is the biological research section…”

“Shit.”

—

“I told you there was gonna be some Flood type shit! Quick, establish a perimeter; use the entrance as a chokepoint,” Ryan ordered.

“Sir, what if they get through the other doors?” Alex asked.

“Well, I’m hoping that those other doors are still locked, and that whatever’s out there doesn’t know how to unlock it,” Ryan replied. “Sarah, what do the scientists see in the security office?”

“Sir, they saw the Captain’s group booking it back here, and the hologram’s showing four hostiles trying to catch up to them.”

“Do we know what the four hostiles look like? Just what are we facing here?”

“It’s too dark in that section of the facility. The lights were on there earlier, I think, but whatever happened knocked them out. We have to wait until the hostiles reach Section 3 to identify them.”

“Alright. Alex, meet up with the Captain’s team and bring ‘em back here.”

“Yes sir!”

—

SCREEEEE!

“Shit, it’s getting louder!” Donnager managed in between huffs. Despite Kelmithus’ speed magic, it appeared that whatever was behind them was gaining on them, almost halfway to Section 3 now, while they were still running to Section 2. All members of Donnager’s team were sprinting as fast as they could, hoping to get to the rest of Alpha Team in time to fortify their position and engage the threat. They reached Section 2 in an additional minute, where they saw Sergeant Alex Gutierrez.

“Quickly, we need to hurry back to Section 1!” He yelled.

The five men were nearly back to Section 1 when they heard another petrifying screech. Hearts pounding and hair raised, they looked back to see four giant spiders rounding the corner, back where Section 2 was. These Spyders were the size of horses, and were currently scuttling at ridiculous speeds toward the running humans.

“HOLY HELL! RUN!”

As they ran, they attempted to slow down the incoming beasts using weapons and magic. None wanted to sacrifice mobility for accuracy, so all personnel who had firearms sprayed behind them while running, hoping to get lucky. Jones and Kelmithus casted fireballs at the Spyders and used wind magic to slow them down as much as possible.

SCREEEE!

One of the Spyders screeched in pain as bullets and fireballs made impact with its carapace. Recognizing the threat posed by the fleeing humans, the Spyders began to weave and dodge, doing their best to avoid the projectiles launched at them. Two of the Spyders began running along the walls, and one began running along the tall ceiling.

“Damnit, I’m out of bullets with this mag! I can’t grab my spare mags!” Owens yelled.

“JUST RUN!” Donnager ordered.

Kelmithus began to lag behind the group, his old wizard bones not used to such strain. Seeing this, Donnager grabbed a flashbang from his utility belt and primed it. “Kelmithus! I’m gonna blind them!”

Kelmithus had no time to reply as he saw the flashbang leave the Captain’s hands, landing somewhere behind him.

BANG!

The Spyders slowed down, disoriented from the blinding concussive blast from the grenade, and taking advantage of this, Kelmithus created a flame wall in order to secure their escape.

“Almost there!” Jones yelled as they were 100 meters from the door to Section 1. In front of the doorway, he saw Sergeant Ryan Williams’ group, their rifles ready. The five men running for their lives were sprinting at such a speed that they might’ve been able to compete in the Olympics, even with all the gear they were carrying. Just ten seconds later, they covered a distance of 50 meters. Unfortunately, the flame wall dissipated, the Spyders quickly rushing to close the 50 meter gap. However, the Spyders encountered stiff resistance the moment the flame wall vanished, with 7.62 mm rounds from Ryan’s team penetrating their carapaces. They were able to cut down the rushing monsters, allowing Donnager’s team to retreat safely. Just as Donnager’s team reached them, though, additional Spyders rounded the corner. This time, there were twelve of them.

Now having regrouped, Alpha Team began laying down coordinated fire upon the approaching Spyders, each only capable of sustaining about ten rifle rounds to the main body before perishing with an ear-splitting cry.

“Aim for the face! Try to conserve ammo; we don’t know how many more are out there! Tesla, get back to the security room and let us know how many are out here!” Donnager gave his orders, reloading after gunning down two of the Spyders.

Kelmithus and Jones attacked the monsters with lightning, instantly frying Spyders with each blast. The Spyders were eliminated just as Tesla returned, green fluids splattered all over the walls of the hallway.

“Oh my…” Tesla muttered, witnessing the carnage of battle. Remembering his duty, he informed Donnager of the situation. “Captain, there are twenty more coming this way. Aside from these, there were no more hostiles according to this facility’s computer. They’ll be arriving shortly; they’ve just passed Section 3.”

“Ammo count?” Donnager asked.

“2 mags sir.”

“Three mags.”

“Just my sidearm.”

“I’m getting quite tired from all this spellcasting.”

“If only I was a tad bit younger…”

“Alright. We kill as many as we can before retreating into Section 1. Then we figure it out from there.”

After everyone finished reloading their weapons and readjusting their gear, Kelmithus popped up, saying that he had a way to kill all of the Spyders. “Jones, I have a plan,” Kelmithus said. “I’ve been working on a new spell, a beam of light that can incinerate those upon which it gazes. With your permission, Captain, I would like to try this.”

If Kelmithus and Jones succeeded, then Alpha Team would not have to worry about being trapped in Section 1. Unless they got lucky somehow, the only way out of this facility would be to eliminate the monsters. It was possible that the security system on site determined the Spyders a threat, and thus initiated a lockdown. With the Spyders dead, the lockdown would be lifted. “Damnit. Okay, be quick,” Donnager conceded.

“We need you to cover us while we charge our photonic magic.”

With this, Kelmithus and Jones began preparing their spell.