Domel Arcturus

The first impression we got of Ijuri was that the facility was well camouflaged. If one did not have keen eyes, they might miss a small black box covered in dust in the distance. Even so, unless you had early telescopes, you might miss the fact that the facility was shaped like a pyramid. Well, vaguely like a pyramid to be exact. Years of being hit by the dust storm must've buried it, making the pyramid to resemble a mountain. It's like hiding in plain sight.

I approached the black box and tried opening it, but years of dust had accumulated around the hinges. It needed to be cleaned first, particularly on the hinges. Not a difficult task, considering that father did warned me that the dust would be a problem and suggested a cleaning kit for the travel. It helped us open the box to reveal a still working touchscreen interface with a big lock picture, along with a scanner underneath it.

I was entrusted with the key to open the front door, which was a rather peculiar-looking picture of scrambled black dots with four black squares on the corner (Writer's Note: this is basically a QR code) we used back in the day. But, it also needed an extra identification, that of a 'Level 4' access, which dad possessed. He simply put one of his claws on the screen as it scanned it. A moment later, there was a ping and the word 'access granted' shown on the small screen.

It was never said that the place was as heavily guarded as the president's office or a military intelligence installment, despite of it being a black site. After we were granted access, the area shook as big hangar doors slowly slid to each sides, revealing the facility hidden behind it. Seeing at it, it made sense why it's called a 'black site': the building was colored black. Either they interpreted the meaning literally or it's someone's idea of a joke. Either way, nothing seemed out of ordinary.

Andrates instructed us to keep our comms up. The rest of the crew except George and Kilkaja knew how to use the suit comms and set up the frequency, so I helped the two with simple instructions on how to set the frequency and change the system to private and public, all with a simple turn on their suit's knobs. George quickly grasped it and comparing it to a wireless, while Kilkaja needed a little bit more help which fortunately was not that much of a problem due to his willingness to learn.

We walked into the door in front of us, pushing it in as we entered the building. The first person to comment on the fact that the place was dark and not opened for years was George, who had a similar experience back on Earth. I think I remembered him commenting about the pattern was rather similar.

"A Vyrnian structure untouched for years," he said to me. "Sounds familiar?"

"This one's going to be much bigger than that ship," I said. "I bet on it."

Given that it was not a private comm, Astha butted in and said, "I'd be more comfortable if we can see every single corner of this building. I don't like being jumped on in a dark, cold place."

"I can see the place well," said Kilkaja.

"As do I," said Sel.

"A Felinian and a Nuoevan," said the Saukaur. "Who would've guessed?"

Astha's rather forward comment was actually two-layered. The first was the fact that Felinians and Nuoevans had natural night visions, and the second fact was because their romance was not a secret. Astha knew about this back on the ship when he overheard the two talking. Astha had no malicious intent, but sometimes his comment could be misinterpreted, especially since he said, "You know this is a small ship, right?"

Sel thought that Astha was annoyed. I did not remember what she said in response to that comment, but I remembered Astha saying that he did not mean anything bad about it, just a little comment. Sel understood.

The sight of a dark interior was enough to make us feel that something was lurking within the darkness. Not only that, for the rest of us with no natural night vision, the darkness hid the true size of the rooms. Only the sense of touch could give us a sense of space and direction.

That was if we did not bring Sel and/or Kilkaja along. Both of their natural night visions helped us walk through the corridor without the limitations of flashlights. It may be redundant, but I'd prefer to see the things for myself instead of hearing someone describing it. I could misinterpret what they were saying.

"Okay," said dad. "The first thing we need to do is restore power to the facility. The lock interface near the front door was powered by a different power source, along with the door's mechanism itself. The rest of the black site is powered down when no occupants are detected. It's to prevent the nearby planet to notice anything unusual on Ijuri."

"Maybe there are some blunders somewhere in the past," said George. "You can't expect the facility to be perfect, right?"

"Even if it is, no one will suspect anything," said dad. "The black site is intended for storage of 'sensitive materials' far from the Vyrnian Empire, but re-purposed into a different kind of experiment involving the space-time crack you got in."

"What kind of sensitive material?" I asked.

"If I have to guess, it has something to do with illegal projects or maybe...the Trikelians. This place holds more mystery than I am aware of."

I was rather sure that the Trikelians had something to do with this research. As far as I'm aware, Vyrnians had no interest in studying the fourth dimension. Maybe they had, but it's not going to work given the limitations of our understanding of how time worked. Maybe later in the future, but clearly not in my lifetime.

It didn't take long for us to find out that the place was not unoccupied. Before we reached the next door, we noticed security checkpoints. They were completely deactivated, which was never the case in a high-security facility such as this. This fact also made dad suspicious. The whole place looked abandoned. We quickly got the answer in the form of Kilkaja, who gasped when he saw something in the dark. This drew our attention towards him. I also noticed Sel's face. She looked like she had seen something horrifying in the dark.

"What is it?" I asked. "Is it...?"

"You better see it for yourself," she said. She directed me towards a point as I shone my flashlight there. My reaction was just like Kilkaja.

They both saw a long dead Vyrnian body on a nearby floor. His body was preserved like a desiccated mummy. Given the vacuum condition, I was possible. However, the one that drew my attention, along with the implication that we walked into a dangerous place, was the wound he had on his body.

It was clear that he died violently. But a more detailed autopsy from Zarya revealed a gruesome fate.

"Something took its time maiming this poor Vyrnian's body," she said while scanning the body. "His cause of death was blood loss, but before that, he was thrashed around, breaking almost every bone on his body. Then, the fatal wound is the big...cut on his neck."

"Damn," said Astha. "What a beast."

"The Trikelians act like they have a grudge on the Vyrnians," said George.

"It's understandable," said dad. "We halted their invasion fleet with a great cost. They won't care about our problems."

"And they think they can find it in a black site facility?" I asked.

"Son, you can find everything in a black site," said dad. "Provided it's within the realm of reality.

"Whatever it is, it won't be alive now," said Astha. "This place's sealed from the outside and as far as I can see, the damage is not as extensive as I would expect from a rampaging animal."

"Except Trikelians can stay alive in vacuum," I said, remembering what happened to the one in Orlonel. "Those tentacled parasites are hardy."

Realizing that we were deep within enemy territory, we became even more alert than before. We need to find a working computer, extract the data about the crack in time, and get out. We also needed to seal this place, especially since Ijuri was close to what George held dear: his home planet. I hoped that its pre-space status would held no interest, but we couldn't be so sure against an enemy we still had no idea how to tackle.

"We need to hurry," said George as he pulled out his sword. "I don't want to deal with that creature here. We'll be at the disadvantage."

"Agreed," said Sel. "The darkness and the vacuum worked against us. Do we have a plan?"

"Stick with restoring power first," said dad. "Stay together and look at each other's backs. I hope we can rely on your night visions."

Both Sel and Kilkaja nodded. Kilkaja looked rather unsure, but Sel, who seemed to notice his expression, made silent gestures that made Kilkaja smile. I guess that since the two of them were together, they learned to trust each other, along with having each other's backs. I thought that it was the same case between me and Zarya, though it was because she was the one who healed me, and I protected her a couple of times.

Even with all the looming unsureness and the general dread, we pressed on. Everyone was tense, and I understood why. A creature as black as a Trikelian could wait somewhere we least expected it and strike us before we could even react. Nothing's more dangerous than something you couldn't see attacking you, and I made sure dad heard about this so he knew the risk we took to find the power room. His safety became everyone's top priority, and dad knew this, too.

And then there's the matter of the structure itself. The structure looked big on the outside, but it was apparent that the rest of the structure was underground owing to the big elevator used to carry big cargo. The elevator's shaft, which was more of a downward slope than a vertical one, gave us access to the rest of the facility. A little bit of muscle and mechanical strength helped us open most doors as per emergency procedures.

That eerie feeling that something was watching us persisted as we walked through the lower floors. True to its purpose, the facility was full of surveillance technology, possibly used to check on my condition. Not sure I understood why I needed to be checked if all I did was sleep for 3500 years. Maybe there's another reason why, and the only way to be sure was to find any information about why this facility was here in the first place, and why did they deliberately threw me into a crack of time.

But the real question was this: why was the crack in time there in the first place? Was it part of the so-called 'mystery of the universe' that I'm not aware of? Also, some people's instinct would be try and make sense of it. Unknown the them, when they looked into the abyss, the abyss looked back. That's an Earth saying, something that George told me later.

I was not the only one who had this weird feeling. Astha, who, as usual, was a bit of a talker, said, "You know, I'd be amazed if we're not feeling like we're being stalked by something in the dark. No, let me rephrase that. It's the darkness itself."

"The darkness?" said dad.

"Yeah. Every time the light does not shine, there's something staring at us. It's like being stared at by many sets of eyes. A hundred or so at least, maybe a thousand. It's like you're the center of the attention and they're waiting for you to do something to amuse them."

"I don't know," said Sel. "I can't see anyone stalking us."

"Neither do I," said Kilkaja.

"Are you two telling me I am afraid of the dark?" said Astha. "Like, I'm imagining things?"

"No, not really," said Kilkaja. "I can't see anything in the dark, but I can feel it. This whole room...there is a presence in this room, but I can't see it. It hides itself too well."

"We can't get sidetracked now," said dad. "If the darkness bothers you that much, it might be best for us to return power to this facility and let the light ease your worry."

"Hey, I'm not afraid of the dark!" said Astha when he thought dad was implying it.

"It's not something to be embarrassed about, Astha," said George, tapping his shoulder. "All you gotta do is take a deep breath and calm yourself down."

Astha did so before we continued deeper into the facility. After continuing deeper into the facility and stumbling upon several Vyrnian bodies along the way, Sel called us towards a door saying 'maintenance and power room' along with the danger signs involved. The room would contain a generator that we could use to power the whole place. Once we got the place working again, we could start checking the research on the space-time crack and my own time travel, possibly to make sense of everything we had not known.

That feeling of being watched now became even worse. We somehow started to hear whispers and sounds all around us. At first, I thought the others were whispering to each other, maybe teasing each other to lighten things up. However, I quickly realized that it wasn't the case as they could hear the whispers, too.

"Is this place haunted?" said George.

"You still believe in ghosts?" I asked.

"If I don't, I can't use magic, alright? Ghosts and spirits are also common in the Eastern Region," said George.

"Well...that make things easier to explain."

"Except we're not on Earth. We really need that power on now, Andrates."

"I know what to do," said dad. "We just need a little spark to activate the generator. Son, you get the generator starting. I'll make the adjustments in the control room. The rest of you, stay out of this area. Once the generator kicks in, the place will be flooded with high-level of radiation. Only a Vyrnian can withstand it."

"But only if the radiation is still low," said Zarya. "Don't stay in there for too long, Arcturus. I'll monitor the radiation."

"Well, I'm not planning to stay in there for too long," I said. I mean, all I had to do was jumpstart the generator with electricity and get out, right? Hope the whole thing's still working, especially since the facility's rather old. I know we already repeated the phrase 'Vyrnians build things to last', but let's be honest. It would pop up every time we got a piece of old tech that's still working after hundred of years. We did have that kind of reputation.

Anyway, that feeling of many entities watching along with the whispers made me hesitate. What if turning on the generator caused it to become worse? I turned towards dad and said, "I have a bad feeling about this, dad."

Dad understood what I mean, but he also gave me a good reason.

"I know it's risky, so we gotta prepare ourselves," he said. "But if you think it's too dangerous, we'll abort this mission."

If someone still had a good sense, they might just go and abort this mission, leaving this black site in the dark and potentially seal the danger within. However, I was also influenced by my own curiosity of what happened to me. This was the only chance we got.

I found out later that despite of me not asking the others, they would just follow what we chose regardless of common sense. George, especially, was curious about my own history and why my own people, the Vyrnians, did not try and rescue me and instead study me. For a highly empathic individual like Kilkaja, and for a human like George, whose emotions would overrode common sense and logic, it would make sense for them to be the ones who would want to see me work my missing years out.

I did not know that's the case when I jumpstarted the generator. A little shock of electricity was enough for its starter turbine to start moving. I got out, knowing that staying until the generator was fully operational would irradiate me. Even as I walked out the lead door, I already felt my body getting a sensation of being pricked and the air tasted metallic, a telltale sign of radiation in the room. Vyrnians could withstand radiation up to level 4 without side effect (for comparison, the generator in full power would be level 10).

The control room and most of the site started to come alive. Lights were turned on and computers were booted up. However, along with the light, came what remained of the Vyrnians who were staffed in this black site. They were all gruesomely killed, with one Vyrnian corpse maimed beyond any recognition. The sight of said corpse made Kilkaja sick, and I could see him look away and threw up.

"Shit," said Astha as he examined the corpse. I knew he was a hunter and he was rather used to this, but I could see even he was disturbed. In fact, everyone who saw the corpse were, in their own words, traumatized. I do not want to describe how graphic it was. I can't even remember the details.

Dad, shaken, looked away and said, "W-we need to find what we came for and...get out."

I agreed. The sooner we left this forsaken place, the better. He approached a nearby computer and started accessing it, using the combination of his credentials and his own knowledge accessing intelligence files. I stood around, but I could see the others trying their best to stay strong and not be disheartened by the state of the corpses. Unfortunately, Kilkaja's empathic senses made it clear that acting strong would never work for a Nuoevan.

Feeling that he was going to be overwhelmed by the hidden emotions, I approached him and said, "Hey, Kilkaja, I know we can't hide our fears, but bear with it, alright?"

"It's much easier said than done, Arcturus," he said, visibly shaking. "Six people against one is not fair."

"Would you prefer to get back to the ship?" asked Sel.

"I...I guess I prefer to," he said. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," said George. "No one can truly hide their fears. All they can do is try and conquer it, which, I admit, needs some time to work."

Before Kilkaja and Sel could walk away, Astha said, "Hey...what the hell?"

"Hmm?" I said.

"Some of these bodies have fatal wounds made from claws," he said. "Vyrnian claws. One of them even have dried blood on their teeth and another got his eyes plucked out. There's no way a beast can do this."

"Hold on a second," I said, intrigued. "Are you telling me that some of them killed each other?"

"Or gone insane. Come and look at this," said George as he pointed towards a dead Vyrnian. This Vyrnian did not seem to die gruesomely, but there were clearly some injuries in his wing-arms and even his claws. Part of his claws were pulled off his hands and embedded in the metallic wall nearby. Claw marks and what was presumably dried blood decorated the wall.

"What the hell happened to them?" I asked. I started to become terrified. "What...happened?"

Dad's voice, who sounded calm and assured, turned our attentions towards him.

"They were researching the space-time anomaly that happened rather recently and 3500 years ago," he said. "However, back then, it wasn't a full-sized black site like this one. They expanded the black site into what it is now because one of the generals told them to do so. I know who she was. Turinis Elhena."

"I know her," I said. "Wasn't she involved with a top secret project in a planet? Is she involved in this project."

"I last met her around 5 years before the Exodus," said dad. "I always thought it suspicious that she only gave reports of her supervision and never attend any military hearing or even the president's summons. From the files, it is clear that she was supervising the black site's expansion, but without specifying it to the files she sent to the main HQ on Vyrn. I did not know what happened to her after the Exodus, and even the files do not specify what happened except a voice message."

He then proceeded to play the message. It showed a holo-projection of a female Vyrnian around dad's age. Turinis Elhena. She revealed something very, very disturbing.

"To whoever watching this, I really hope you are a Vyrnian," said the projected Vyrnian. "We made a mistake. We were sidetracked by the Arcturus project we did not know that we've been infiltrated. It is already too late for us, so listen to me. This will be the last intelligible holo message I can sense. Even now, I can hear them calling to me, beckoning me to join them as one. I have trained myself against psychic attacks, but this is far too strong for any training. Let me be quick. Get the data and get the hell out. Don't question me, just get out. If you've heard the whispers, you're being attacked by the dark being. That thing is not something you can fight or even comprehend."

"The Trikelians are not just invaders, they are...they are...everything. I..."

After that, she started to slur her words before finally, she stopped talking, stared at the camera with glowing eyes, and walked away.

The recording stopped.

We were quickly dumbfounded by this fact. We heard the whispers, so did that mean that we were already under attack? Realizing the situation was dire, dad acted quickly and started downloading the data of this project as we prepared ourselves to escape. The whispers that was just a background noise started to become more apparent. I think that they were saying something, but the universal translator could not even understand it. The disembodied voice, however, were not the greatest threat.

It started rather slow at first. Kilkaja's yelp turned our attention to him. He was already walking away from a nearby corpse as he pointed at it and said, "That body...it just moves."

The shakiness in his voice was very apparent. I felt that it wasn't him imagining things, because while Kilkaja was rather sensitive with the things around him, he wasn't the kind of person to be a coward who'd panic easily.

Of course, I'd prefer that he was just imagining things, because right after he said that, the body near us, a Vyrnian that had suffered a nasty wound that split his skull, slowly moved. It moved with a jerky, non-Vyrnian fashion, which added to the creepiness of the situation. I turned around and found another corpse walking slowly towards us, soon joined by other dead Vyrnians walking to us. If seeing the state of that dead Vyrnian unnerved us, this made it ten times worse. We soon found ourselves being cornered as one of them taunted us.

"There is no escape," said one of them with a hoarse voice. "Your bodies belong to the Trikelians."

"Our bodies don't belong to no one, creep," said Astha as he pointed his wrist-mounted gauntlet gun. It let out an energy blast that hit one of them square in the head. However, it could only stop the Vyrnian temporarily.

However, it was enough for Astha to quickly dash towards the Vyrnian and pull out his sword. With a swift movement, he cut the Vyrnian's head. Without losing a breath, he said, "We'll cover you! Finish that download and get the hell out of here!"

The rest of us quickly followed as we made a formation around the computer as it downloaded the research data. The whispers threatened to overwhelm us as they started becoming louder.

Then another attack occurred. It was more psychological in nature. Despite the lights, the whole area became dark. I tried to find my friends, but all I could find was dad and George. Suddenly, from among the reanimated corpses was a familiar face: Atropos, my long dead brother.

"A-Atro?" I said in disbelief. Atropos was already dead before I even became a soldier. He was years older than me. I looked at him and he looked just like the last time I ever saw him alive: dressed in his uniform and ready for his final flight. Not only that, his scales were faded and his eyes lost their yellowish color, with his slit pupil faded like a blind Vyrnian.

Dad turned around and saw Atropos, too, but he saw a different Atropos. He told me later that the Atropos he saw sustained injuries that could only come from a crash...his crash. Atropos was killed when the transport he piloted was ambushed by pirates. Due to a mishap, the ship crashed onto a planet, near a Vyrnian colony. Only a handful barely survived, but Atropos did not.

"Why did you not stop me from leaving?" said Atropos to us. His voice was unnatural and creepy. "Why did you let me die?"

I tried my best not to answer, knowing that Atropos was dead and this 'Atropos' was an apparition. However, it was useless. Atropos was still there, asking us the same question that somehow touched our guilt.

Dad was struggling not to believe this, but it was much harder for him due to his guilt. Dad claimed to have moved on, but Atropos's apparition pointed to the fact that he had not moved on from it. Even I could not completely moved on.

As George had a different history, he saw something else. Due to his proximity to us, we could also see what the apparition tried to show him. However, what they showed him was clearly something not out of regret: but out of something else.

It had been a while since I saw Zardes and Malkar, and I clearly did not expect them to be here. The two hellhounds were apparently locked in combat along with several other unique individuals. I think one of them was an albino human-sized bat and the other a goat man using fire. They were fighting against something, but we could not see it.

The sight of the hellhounds and their allies fighting was enough to make George agitated. Even if it was only an illusion, it felt real for George. However, unlike us, he realized that it did not show anything except them facing something. In response to this, he said, "I know they will persevere in the end. I am not going to worry about them, because I believe in them. Your little mind game does not scare me."

The vision then disappeared. I quickly realized that the only way to get out of this illusion was to accept that Atropos was gone. I told dad to do this and we did this together. Atropos's apparition smiled after we told him that it's time for him to rest. As he disappeared, however, he said, "Whatever you do, it is inevitable. I am your past and your future, and I am infinite."

"Then tell us something," I said. "Is the Trikelian invasion your doing?"

"Find out yourself," it said. "That is...if you manage to get out of here with your sanity intact."

As the apparition was gone, we were quickly returned to our previous danger: the Trikelian-controlled corpses. They walked towards us and were ready to attack. However, despite their control, the bodies had limitations and it clearly showed when one tried to attack us. I dodged it and it hit the desk. I heard bones cracking and as it rose up, I saw the face. Oh, by Amarta's grace, it was so horrifying. The lower jaws were clearly falling off.

The whole horror situation almost demoralized me. I had seen a dead Vyrnian with a varying degree of mutilation but seeing one looming towards you with that damage took a whole new level of danger and terror. Still, it wasn't enough to make me give up, especially with George around.

George used his energy rifle sword a lot, especially in this situation where he basically shot them repeatedly. Of course, it had no effect, and he had no idea where to shoot. Given that he was the one who solved the situation in Orlonel, he must've known where to attack, but from what he was doing, it was clear he did not.

But then, he had the right idea. Unlike me, George was still rather composed. He then shouted, "Use your electricity, Arc! Fry them!"

George had the right idea, but even he clearly did not know that the Trikelians would not be that easily defeated with a simple electric shock. In fact, the shock only damaged the corpse enough for the Trikelian within to get out. We clearly did not know that they could move fast, because once George tried shooting it, it just dodged and tried to latch onto me like an octopus. I swatted it off, of course.

Right at the same time, dad, who had also recovered from the illusion, declared that the download had finished and we needed to get out. The others had already reached the elevator, but between them and us was a group of Trikelian-controlled dead Vyrnians separating us. Half of them pursued the rest of the group as they moved towards the elevator.

Realizing that we needed a new escape route, I told George and dad to run towards a nearby door. George quickly dashed towards the door as me and dad held back the corpses. I could hear Zarya screaming my name before a door closed. I hope she was safe. Now, it's our turn to try and regroup.

"Arc," said dad. "On the count of three, do an energy burst. Then, make a run for it."

I nodded. After he said, "Now!" I did what he told me to do. An energy burst basically used up all our reserve for one powerful and unfocused attack that could possibly be devastating. While my electricity managed to separate the Trikelians from their hosts, dad's fire-based energy conversion incinerated both the body and the Trikelians inhabiting it. I really wished I knew how to convert energy into fire, but that wasn't important. What's important was that it was our only chance to dash towards the door. We practically ran and jumped through the door before George pushed a button and closed it behind us.

It was clear that we did not know where we were, especially after we went through the door and into another corridor. Due to the facility's status as a black site, there was no map available for us to use. Luckily, the data dad downloaded also included the map, which helped us immensely.

We were still thinking about that apparition earlier and what the entity told us. What did it mean about our sanity? Would we end up like those unfortunate Vyrnians? I did not want that to be my fate, especially since we still had a long fight ahead of us. We still need to know why the Trikelians invaded the Vyrnians and what they were doing on Ijuri? Were they trying to contact the entity?

As I started to contemplate the answers, George pulled my tail and said, "We can think about it later. For now, our lives are more important."

"We'll get through this together, son," said dad.

I nodded. At least George and dad were still focused on surviving. I needed their support if I wanted to get out of here with them, preferably with my sanity intact. I did not like what that entity said. Not one bit.

As if on cue, the moment I asked myself about the entity's ominous remarks, the darkness that accompanied the entity started to surround us again. Or was it? Both dad and George seemed to be talking to each other without noticing the darkness.

As I tried to warn them about it, darkness clouded my vision. A second later, eyes started opening around me, staring at me with their yellow, reptilian eyes. I was trapped.

The last thing I remembered was that among those staring eyes, something walked towards me. I tried to fight or at least defend myself, but my body froze. The creature was shrouded in darkness and I couldn't make sense of it. Just as I suddenly blacked out, the creature spoke.

"Make a choice, Domel Arcturus," it said with a shrill, menacing voice. "Because you'll make more of them soon."