War of Existence : - The Beginning of Saga

Opening the Pandora box

A few weeks later-

Luna was worried. It had been a few weeks since Lucifer was not able to sleep, and whenever he did, he would be attacked by dreams which would make him thrash around and every time Luna had to wake him up.

She tried talking about it with him several times but he would avoid the subject, even flat out refuse to say anything about it. Luna understood that Lucifer had his own personal demons but she couldn’t help and be concerned about him. He was her only friend, maybe even the closest thing she had to call a family. All she was right now was because of the grumpy old Immortal (even if he didn’t look old) and Lucifer cares for her too, even if he refused to admit it.

She chiselled out another Azure stone and placed it carefully in the cart. She looked at her blonde companion who was drilling with five other workers; the coat Kod gave him was fastened around his waist and a lit cigar, which he had bought the other day, between his teeth. Luna frowned even if he didn’t admit it, she knew he was troubled. She wanted to help but his pride was too thick.

‘Luci, Please. Let me help you.’

Lucifer knew that the red head had been eyeing him for a while but didn’t show he noticed it. He knows Luna was worried for him and it was a bit cruel to shut her out but, he didn’t want to involve her in it, pride had nothing to do with it.

He shook his head. Sometimes he hated how well she knew him. Knew too much for her own good. She was liability, a weakness he had kept even though his mind told him not to. Yet still he did.

Why?

He didn’t know……………………..Nor did he care.

He tried to clear his mind by trying to concentrate in his work. He kept drilling and moving debris. All was going well until someone yelled “HEY, I GOT SOMETHING!”

The one who yelled was amongst the other drillers and Lucifer soon found why he was yelling. The man had drilled just into what appeared to be a crest on a golden surface.

“Is it gold?” someone asked.

“No i***t, that’s brass!” another yelled.

“What’s with the crest?”

“If I’m right, that would be the Symbol of a Sai’ore monarchy.” Confirmed Kod , who had came over as well. Lucifer observed the crest carefully; it looked like the head of a hooded snake with a jewel on its head with an arc below it having three jutting spikes.

“Let’s clear it out shall we, Gentlemen?” suggested Lucifer, to which they all agreed and got to work.

After several hours and an injured Vorken who got hit by falling debris, they were able to clear the area around the crest. It was then they discovered that the crest was actually a part of a huge metallic door.

“A door?”

“My guess is that something interesting is in there.”

“You mean like treasure?”

 “Most likely.”

“Well what are we waiting for?”

The eager workers were now trying to pry and open the door but they discovered a big problem…..

“Bloody Hell, Why doesn’t it move?”

“What the hell did you expect? It wasn’t moved in ages!”

“Keep pushing you fools!”

The Vorkens were trying VERY hard to push their way through the ancient door. Some tried to drill through the door as well but the metallic door was far too thick. Someone even suggested blowing the door by using the abundant Azure stone around them, which was met with extreme opposition. It looked quite comical but Lucifer took pity on the mortals and came over to the group. Putting his hand on the door, he told the others “On three, Gentlemen.”

They were a bit confused but still decided to help Lucifer.

“One…….Two……..Three!” all gave a mighty push, it would’ve been fruitless again, but Lucifer was far stronger than any mortal so the door soon gave way. When door did open, the entire floor shook violently and the ceiling felt like it would give away at any moment as a small cloud of dust was thrown up when the door was dragged across the ancient and destroyed floor.

Everyone was VERY shocked at the feat the workers along with Lucifer did. But the initial shock was quickly forgotten by the sheer joy to see what treasures the chamber held. A swarm of excited diggers poured into the chamber behind the massive door.

The eager workers rushed into the chamber behind the ajar door. Luna joined Lucifer’s side and followed Kod inside the chamber who was sensible enough to use a lamp to light his way into the chamber. The chamber was huge as its ceiling was about thirty metres above them. The walls were embedded with rich amount of Azure stones since the chamber seemed the least damaged by the currents of time. The floor was carved with various inscriptions and a distinct elevation towards the centre of the circular chamber was noticeable. There also seemed to be five altars surrounding the centre elevation, each altar resembling a snake’s head made of gold. Below each altar was an offering bowl filled with jewelleries, much to the worker’s delight.  The men scoured around the chamber to look for valuables as Kod sent a few workers, escorted by guards to go and report the higher ups about their discovery. Lucifer stood by him and finally voiced his curiosity.

“So……..Any idea what this place is?”

The old man snickered and replied-“My Son, this is what used to be the Temple of the Ancient ones. Sai’ore weren’t only smart but religious too….Here, they paid their respect to whatever deity they believed in…….Pretty stupid if you’ll ask me….” And he continued to ramble on like an old fool while Lucifer slowly backed away.  

 Moments later, a team of specialists or researchers came down in the chamber and started inspecting every nook and corner. Lucifer and rest of the workers had now begun harvesting all the Azure stones from the wall, trying not to disturb the researchers, but evidently, it was fruitless. Drilling and chiselling out stones embedded in walls isn’t exactly a quite job. Yet the researchers didn’t voice their annoyance verbally, but it wasn’t the same case facially. Their deep scowl was a dead giveaway. The researchers were trying to decipher inscriptions the floors, the altars and the walls, evidently arguing about it. Lucifer could hear Luna giggling at this.

Had it been intentional or pure fluke was a great mystery but one of the researchers just happened to press the wrong altar and the ground shook again. A huge chunk of the ceiling became loose and was now falling down towards the said researcher. Being the good guy Lucifer usually is, he pulled the screaming Vorken out of the way before he was flattened by the debris.

Everyone was shell shocked by the event. Many wanted to leave the ruins right now, some even claimed that the place was cursed and the researcher whose life Lucifer just saved was being scolded by his seniors. All in all, no one was severely hurt. What he did sense was a faint presence. The floor where the debris had hit had cracked under the pressure and formed a fissure. Lucifer could sense a resonance of energy which seemed abstracted and came nearer to inspect the floor by giving it a light tap.

“Something’s down here! Kod, Get the light!” he yelled out before going for the nearest drilling machine he could find.

As if his word flared out an alarm, his fellow workers came to his aid and helped him by clearing the debris and drilling the edges.

“You sure about what you’re doing, Son?” asked Kod walking up to the blond man.

Lucifer nodded firmly “The ground seems hollow; there is something that’s been hidden here.”

“Or perhaps it wasn’t meant to be found?” Kod said back.

The blond just gave him a look and got back to drilling. When the ground was loose enough from the drilling, they hammered the damaged floor. Soon it gave away and fell down, revealing that there indeed was a hidden chamber under the temple.

Stone stairs, which seemed to reach out to the void itself went deep within the very earth of Siraya yet the brave souls steeled their nerves and went deeper.  The deeper they went, an unnatural chill filled the air and it grew colder and colder. Vorkens were creature born of harsh cold and hence they were used to the chills but Lucifer and Luna were still getting used to the cold world of Four Moons. Lucifer however knew how to mask his discomfort very well, but it wasn’t the same with Luna. She had huddled extremely close to him and he could even hear her quiver.

It felt like forever but they finally reached the end of the stairs. Another gate blocked their path which had to be forced open by the workers (with a ‘little’ help from Lucifer). The temperature dropped several degrees as soon as the doors were opened. It even made the Vorkens a bit uneasy but their curiosity was greater than fear so they ventured further. The chamber they arrived was like nothing they had ever seen before.

The chamber was more like an endless black chasm with a huge pillar of tarnished marble with glowing crystals situated at its centre. A single narrow bridge made a path towards the pillar which was illuminated with series of azure stones at its either side.

A cough from Luna brought everyone out of their mental trench and all proceed towards the bridge.

“MARVELLOUS! SIMPLY MARVELLOUS!” exclaimed a researcher.

While the common folks were wondering how deep was the chasm. One even spit down to get an idea of the depth, not heeding Lucifer making his way towards the pillar.

The Blond immortal walked towards the pillar as if it was beckoning him. The air grew colder and colder with each step as if the very heat was being absorbed by something. This unsettled Lucifer and seeing him with a frown made Luna nervous as well.

“What’s wrong Luci?” she asked

Lucifer didn’t respond, but rather walked towards the pillar of tarnished marble. When he reached close enough, he realized his error, it wasn’t tarnished marble. Rather it looked like as if it was a chunk of Void itself. Luna tried to touch the unusual metal but immediately drew away and Lucifer knew why. That matter, whatever it was, was absorbing energy, even their immortal essence by some decree, it made him very nervous.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” Kod said suddenly from behind them, which caused Luna to jump in fright with a squeak. Ignoring her, the old man touched the metal himself.

“These black metals are very rare; I’ve only seen a few in far reaches of Sai’ore ruins. Whatever they are, they are very strong, believe me. Nothing can break this thing…” few knocks from Kod made the metal hum in very un natural manner. “How the Sai’ore used to make them or were they found it is a big mystery…..strong as hell and black as void. So it’s obvious we call it ‘The Void Metal*’.”

Luna looked confused while Lucifer looked even more troubled. Between the three parallels of Existence, the Celestia*, the Inferno* and the Cosmos*, he had never seen such a material. He had heard how very long ago the twisted immortals could mould matter by corrupting it with Void to make abominable metals whose weapons sang nothing but chaos and destruction until they were stopped and the technique was lost. He had no idea if the void metal was indeed the abominations made by the twisted ones or not but he had suspicions. Heck, even the name ‘Void Metal’ was very suspicious and with suspicion raised many questions.

Who made this it?

Why was it here?

Luna came up to the pillar and watched it carefully. Suddenly she touched the pillar and pressed

“Wonder what is inside?”

Before Lucifer could make any attempt to stop his red haired companion, the pillar gave out a hiss and it opened its hatch.

The moment it opened, the area was flooded with a very high density of energy which knocked everyone to their ass. The power was unmistakable, it was ‘Maya*.

Maya is primordial energy that made up the main essence of the Immortals. By the manipulation of their essence, they could use it for both defensive and offensive purpose. But most mortals couldn’t use this power for they were restricted by the limitation of their physical forms even if some rare species could manipulate Maya to some extent. Maya is originally of the Immortals and anything related to immortals had their own Maya signature. And so the thing within the pillar was in fact an immortal’s artefact. A golden metal rod with various ruins carved on it, floating mysteriously with a golden glow.

“Uhhh, My Head…”

“The hell just happened!”

The Vorkens were now recovering and when they saw the artefact; they became very excited upon their new discovery. Alas Lucifer couldn’t rejoice with them for he looked as if he saw a ghost.

That artefact was a figure from his past, a life he so desperately tried to forget. It was the bane of his existence, the reason of his exile. Lucifer’s hand unconsciously went up to the scar over his left eye and he shuddered a bit. It pained as well as confused Luna to see Lucifer in such a state of weakness. She had known him for a long time and hardly saw him getting upset; only stoic, annoyed and rarely angry, never troubled. So she did the only thing she knew she could do, she reached out and held his hand.

The contact got Lucifer’s attention and he turned to face Luna, her feature adorning a concerned yet reassuring look. The aged immortal had no idea how or why but the gesture actually calmed his a bit. He took a deep breath and let it out. He gave Luna a grateful nod and quick squeeze of her hand, earning him a smile.

“Okay, approach VERY carefully!” a researcher instructed a guard who seemed very hesitant to go anywhere near that Artefact. It then hit Lucifer like a ton of bricks. The Maya surges the artefact sent will be felt from worlds beyond and it would only be a matter of time before the Immortals arrived to raze this world to the ground. They had just opened the Pandora box.

He turned to Luna, his eyes holding panic, “We need to leave now!”

As in queue, something exploded on the upper floor…………………………………………..