"Ah! Forgive me Ryan! I must head over to the power control room with haste!"

Arci said, with a tone of urgentness.

The drone quickly rushed over outside, its engines humming as it hovers out of sight.

(Seriously, how does Arci hover?)

I was still confused about how Arci moved. Hmm... Technology must have been pretty advanced back then

to create drones like these.

(Still though... It feels like Arci is so happy now... Was i right on it being lonely?)

Wow, i feel really bad for Arci. Even though he is just a robot drone, he had to endure eons of loneliness. I cant imagine being alone for millions of years...

Suddenly, i hear the humming of his engines again as Arci slips through the door.

"Ryan! Quickly you must follow me! This Arkbase is about to be powered down! Hurry!"

Wait what? power down? This base? Why? Still though i didnt ask because Arci's tone was very urgent, as if we we're in a dire situation. So i quickly dispelled my thoughts and immediately went over to him. We went outside the room, and quickly zigzagged through doors and hallways. Thankfully it seems like my muscles and the majority of my energy have recovered, allowing me to finally be able to run. For some reason i still felt tired though.

(Damn... I was so ready to explore what this facility had... What a pity... I guess i'll come back here later.)

Me and Arci were running through a long corridor, he opened the metal door as i heard a green *beep*

The metal door revealed even more hallways to run through, so we quickly went with haste.

(Wait, how big is this Arkbase? We've been running for so long... The room i was in was able to fit half a football field right? Then how big is this entire base?)

This Arkbase was so huge i kept getting confused as why they made it this big. And a couple of seconds later. I understood why.

(Woah... What is that?)

What revealed itself to me was a huge construct It was so huge i could not think of any estimates that i remember in my brain to size it.It looked like a power source using some sort of fuel. It seems like it is currently active, but the core is not glowing... Is it just on but not outputting power?

"That is the Atarium Helio-Fusion Power Generator. By merging 2 nuclei and the power from Etrena belts, it is able to generate enough power to power a city as big as Davane for 5000 years. A marvel made out of the crystallisation of accumulated human technology and science, it is a clean and good way to generate tremendous amounts of energy. Powering human cities for millenias to come. Ah if you dont remember... Although it wasnt the capital of the Aadvat Union, it was the largest city that was ever built in Atria. The amount of land area it covered was 840.000 squared kilometers. The largest building in it was the Doria Ante Space Elevator. Its diameter was 5 percent of the city it was the highest space elevator to ever exist.

Extending 500km above sea level, it is truly the gem of human civilisation."

Woah. Thats really large. Its not like i remember that city in my memories but that is really large...

Also we were still running. Its not like we stopped when Arci was explaining what i was currently seeing.

(Im getting really tired from running, when will this end? How large is this base if something as big as that exists inside this base?)

Finally, after running for some while the view ended. The glass turned to solid walls, whatever these things are made out of. After running for a couple of seconds. We arrived to a huge metal door.

"Administrative orders. Override lockdown."

Arci said these words to the door, and as if affirming, the huge metal door beeped as its light above it turned green. It also responded with these words-

"Confirmed. Facility Overseer of Arkbase Omega-347. Arc-347. Overriding lockdown sequence."

A heavy grinding sound of metal resounded throughout the room. I heard hydraulics in the background and beeping aswell. The green light is now rotating as the huge metal door opens itself. Kinda like a fallout scene where you open the vault your in.

"Woah."

I was very astonished, i never thought something opening would look so cool and grandiose.

"There is no time to waste Ryan. We must head out immediately before we are trapped in this facility."

"Right, i know."

I followed Arci after the big metal door was opened. After that we went inside an elevator. It looked very scifi-esque. And because of that it looked really cool aswell. I waited a moment, and then the elevator doors closed, i felt a thud, and after that i felt that the elevator was going up.

"So uh, how deep underground are we?"

"Ah! Yes... We are curretly 100 meters underground, it seems like this base was lucky, we only went deeper by 1 meters..."

"Umm so did they account for the tectonic and continental plate movements that would have happened in the future?"

"I believe yes. The plan wouldve been to get other people from other Arkbases that were lucky enough to not be either underwater, underground or inside the mountains to dig to the entrances of other Arkbases

that were stuck under. There were a hundred thousand Arkbases that were scattered over Atria with over 500 people inside, sleeping in their cryo-chambers."

A hundred thousand bases and only 500 people? That wasnt enough to fit everyone right? Right before i asked that question. I felt another thud, and the upwards motion we were going suddenly stopped. I think this is it.

*ding* The elevator made, as the door of the elevator opened again revealing the ...Stairs?

More stairs to climb? How many flights of stairs do we have to climb?

"These are the last stairs we have to climb. Come quickly, we dont have enough time waste. We only have a few dozens of seconds."

"Alright."

We quickly climb this last batch of stairs... And after that climbing... Another metal door... Ugh.

Im so tired already... Cmon! Hurry up and show me the outside world already...

"Finally! This is the last door. Im sure you are very tired of climbing...

Open."

*beep*

The hydraulics of the door resounds as the door opens, slowly giving way to rays of light that shine down my face. I reflexively closed my eyes and covered my face with my arms. The light was bright this time and it felt like it could hurt my retinas.

But suddenly...

*click*

I heard a clicking sound, and then the lights turned off, the hydraulics no longer gave that "pshhh" sound

and i could no longer hear beeping. It seems like the Arkbase ran out of power. Just right as we opened the door. Hmm... Seems like we can pass through the gap.

"Ooohh! How lucky! Fate must be shining down on us like this ray of light! Ryan! You can pass through right?"

"Yep. the gap is just wide enough to let me pass through. Go ahead, you first."

"Yes! Oh how iam so excited to explore this new world with my new master!"

After i said that, Arci quickly passed through the gaps of the metal door.

"Wow, Ryan! Quickly, quickly you must imprint this sight upon your eyes and mind! Oh how beautiful is this

sight before me!"

"Yeah yeah. coming!"

I squeeze through the gaps that just barely allowed me to pass through them

And then once i passed through. I took a look at the scenery that unfolded itself before me and Arci.

"Woah..."

Verdant plains, forming small hills until the horizon.

A beautiful lake, so crystal clear that i could see the bottom of it.

It was so wide i had to turn my head to the other direction to see all of it.

What was even more beautiful was the reflection of the skies and clouds

on it, forming a mirror like image you could only see in salt lakes.

I could feel a mild breeze touching my face, and i could faintly smell grass.

As the sun was facing me. I had to cover my eyes to lower the amount of light

to see this picturesque scenery before me.

It seems like we were on a high hill, allowing us to see this magnificent scenery

before us.

It was breathtaking.

"See! Its so beautiful! Such verdant grass! How weird was it that hundreds of thousands

of years ago this land before us was a purple wasteland!"

"What? Really? You mean a wasteland turned into this after a hundreds of thousands

of years?"

"Yes indeed Ryan. As i said, i last did an outside survey 900000 years ago. Back then, the sight

before you was a barren wasteland. Filled with purple wastes and dark miasma. It was also filled

with weird monsters. Frogs, snakes, insects and all nasty things alike. 19 scouting drones were

destroyed in the process of me just trying to see what the outside of this wasteland looked like..."

Woah really? I guess things can change just like that. 900000 years can change wastelands to this huh.

Mother nature truly is an amazing thing.

This world looked so beautiful back in my eyes back then.

I did not realize the suffering that was laid under it.

How naive i was back then.