Emperioum Origins, Trivean's Story

Upon the Mountain's Hall

Trivean's POV

"So, you camping in the mountains?" Asked the cab driver. He was driving me to a plain I could take up to the mountains, and where I can start looking. It was something that Westbork and I had planned out already long before his death.

"Kinda, it's an expedition," I said, checking my pack in the back seat. I was wearing a black shirt, blue jeans from, black hoodie, and black boots. I had my black pack next to me with a rope, a tent, a survival knife, a sleeping bag, food and water, and the AI cores, all nine of them. Next to me was one of my Red Eye drones.

The drone had two black sets of four propellers each, one set on top, the other on the bottom. The main body were a light grey with red lines outlining panels for maintenance or charging the batteries. The front had a red dot on the top where the camera was, and a short metal barrel extending from the lower half of the drone for beams or anything else I need to shoot out of it. The barrel was contracted into the body of the drone for safety reasons for now.

"And you're going by yourself?" Asked the cab driver.

"It's a personal thing. The guy I was going to go with recently um, passed," I said.

"My condolences man, but you know it sounds dangerous," said the cab driver.

"Yeah, I know. And thanks again, I know this is a bit far out of the city."

"As long as you're paying. And you want me to come back in two weeks to pick you up?"

"Yep, that's the plan," I said.

"Alright. It's your funeral. If you're not here on time, give or take an hour, I'll call search and rescue," said the driver.

"Cool, thanks... This is good," I said, pointing to a part of the road. The driver pulled over and I passed the cash up to him, getting out and looking over the landscape. There was a lush green field with trees in the distance, and a mountain range behind it.

I heard the driver drive off and I turned on my drone. It flew up into the air and I could see through it with my neural implants. I saw the field went on for a while, but then a small path of a clearing was along the trees.

"Weird," I said to myself. "Guess I'll start there." I put my pack on and headed off, the drone pointing me to where I needed to go. The cold wind flew through my fur, the grass rubbing against my pants... It reminded me of home. Of me running through the woods to escape my parents, of the day I met Westbork. We weren't that friendly then, but it was when my life turned around for the better.

I made it to the woods after a few minutes and walked up to the clearing path, noticing that there was some dead grass along it line. I moved some of it aside to see a small stone pathway along it.

"It's real," I said to myself. "It is real. This should take me to the lab... I wonder if anyone else is out here?"

I looked around, seeing not much of any other signs of civilized life around me. I walked again along the path, through the winding trees. I heard the noises of feral animals amongst them, birds chirping, the clicking of those that scurried amongst the ground, and the smell of the fresh air was a welcoming sense. It felt like I was on my way to something great. My feet amongst the stone path let out thuds as I started singing random songs and noises to myself, mostly to cure the boredom, and to let out how scared I was.

I got to the base of the mountain, seeing a thin dirt path along with way. The rocks were jagged and clearly showed signs of rockslides and erosion over the years, but with ruined security fences lining the sides of the path. I looked around and saw the sun slowly lowering from above head, past the ring that orbited the planet. Of course, waiting on the cab took half the day so I lost some time.

"Alright, camp here for the night and head up tomorrow morning," I said to myself. I put my pack high into a tree after grabbing my knife, and headed into the woods, keeping my drone there to mark where to get back to.

I scoured the woods for wood and sticks, which I found plenty of, and found a small patch of edible berries. I remember Westbork and I reading up on things like this, when he was still healthy enough to travel. I did kinda know how he died, just that he took ill with something called Genesious Disease, from what he said.

That night I set up camp, cooking a can of raviolis over the fire, drinking water since I needed to keep my senses with me, and I set up the AI cores and my drones in front of me. The feeling being amongst the wind and nature made me feel alive again. I felt calm, like I wasn't being strangles and constricted. It was weird, but I enjoyed it.

"Well... I've started my trek today," I said to the AI cores while whittling a stick into a spear. "I made it out of the city... out of the house... and through a plane and I'm at the base of the mountain where a forest is... I'm not sick or injured yet so... good for me? I guess. I'm... I'm recording these as a way to keep track of this, in case anyone finds my corpse... I hope it's not going to come to that, obviously. But otherwise, I'm alive and..."

"HELP!" I heard a voice call out. My ears perked up and my blood ran cold, instinctively grabbing my knife and a piece of wood from the fire, using it as a torch.

"D-Did you just...?" I asked.

"HELP, I NEED HELP!" Yelled out the voice.

"WHERE ARE YOU?" I called back, getting up from my log. I heard the sounds of wild Metal Jaws and ran towards it. I ducked through the trees and cracked the branches under me as I ran towards the growls. I found a mother Metal Jaw and two cubs attacking something on the ground. Metal Jaws were feral cat like creatures with teeth strong enough to rip through metal, and short stubby tails. You could tell it was them by their stripes and spots that adorn their bodies.

"GET THEM OFF OF ME, PLEASE!" Yelled out the voice. I rushed over, swinging the torch wildly.

"BACK! GET BACK!" I yelled. The Metal Jaws backed away slowly, but growled and looked like they were ready to pounce.

"HE SAID BACK!" Yelled out the voice. A sudden bolt of lightning erupted from the thing on the ground, striking the side of a tree near the Metal Jaws. They ran off suddenly and I looked down at the thing on the ground. It was a small creature, one that I had never seen before, covered in wounds. It was small and could fit in the palm of my hand.

I rushed over to the thing and picking it up.

"P-Please... I just need... Need something to bandage up my wounds. I'll explain everything," said the creature. It didn't move its mouth, and its eyes were blank with fear.

"Alright, but you better not die on me," I said, carrying it back to camp. I cut off a piece of shirt and wrapped it around his wounds as best as I could, and carrying him back to camp. By the time I got back it was asleep, healing I assume.

"Um... So... I just found some kind of alien," I said, walking down on the log, in front of the AI cores and my drone. "It was being attacked by Metal Jaws and it shot lightning and... You know... I have no idea what this is. It's kinda mummified right now since it was that badly hurt... This is crazy, but my blood type is O negative and..."

"No...," said the alien. "I just need rest..."

"Oh, okay, sorry..." I said. "So, no blood transfusion... I guess... Granted I don't have anything to do that with anyways so... I'm an idiot, I know. I'll have to stay up to watch the fire and now the Metal Jaws... This is going to be rough." I turned the recording off and put everything away. I sat there, with this alien in my hands, watching the fire.

You don't know if it's hostile or not, said a voice in my head, my voice. Leave it to die.

No, you can't abandon anything. It's life, it deserves to be protected, said another voice.

It could be dangerous!

It's hurt!

It shot lightning!

I shook my head and focused, just holding it. "Don't worry... I won't kill you unless I have to," I said. I spent the night taking care of it, before I blacked out.