The Will of Humanity

Rising Discovery

December 1st, 4000AF — about 30,000AD — the country/nation of Eplye, early morning

A young girl was following a game trail, her breath coming out as steam as she kneeled to check for tracks. Sliding the hood of her fur lined cloak back to reveal her blazing red hair, her sharp green eyes scanned the thin layer of snow to find her prey. A deer that she'd been following for days, an old doe with a slight limp. After determining that it was heading deeper into the mountains — a range generally avoided ever since the fall — she unslung her bow, muttering to herself "Come on Emilia, if you don't get her then your whole family will starve. Three generations of O'Ferrells can't starve to death."

Young Emilia O'Ferrell finished checking her fine oak bow, put it back on her back and set off after the deer. Following it into the mountains, shivering for a reason beyond the early morning chill and snow crunching under her boots. It being an instinctive chill, one that was bred into her by stories of the mountains being cursed. Of hunters and gatherers from her village going missing in the mountains without a trace, not even a campsite or marker was ever found. Casting such thoughts aside as old superstition Emilia continued to follow the tracks, noting memorable landmarks along the way so as to find her way back.

Emilia followed the tracks into what appeared to be a cave, the entrance piled with snow covered rocks and treacherously slick. Once inside she lost the tracks and started searching the place, hoping to find the trail again. As she walked she noticed that the cave was very cavernous, her footsteps — as quiet and muffled as they are for hunting and the considerable dust on the floor — echoed into the vast distance from floor to ceiling. The sound seemed almost metallic in nature, as if she was walking across a floor of metal instead of natural rock. Soon she entered a rather strange cavern, one with a flashing blood red light coming through what suspiciously looked like a doorway.

A bit confused by the mysterious shape Emilia entered the doorway, her confusion grew as the light was coming from a dust covered thing that looked like a table. She glanced around cautiously before approaching the thing, weary of being attacked by some monster lurking in the shadows. She examined the table like structure before brushing the thick layer of dust off of its top, dust so thick that it seen to have been built up over thousands of years. With the space emitting the light clear enough to read she looked at the text, not quite recognizing the language yet reading the words "Power levels critical, activate backup power systems." flashing across the display. Confused as ever Emilia touched the light emitting top, on the control that confirmed the suggestion.

The light briefly turned green before the whole thing lit up blue, followed by lights overhead snapping on. This sudden activity had Emilia's bow in her hands, an arrow nocked and ready to release in mere seconds. Her heartbeat was struggling to stay even as adrenaline flooded her veins, her eyes were scanning for danger in every corner of the now lit room. Tense moments passed as she waited for a foul beast to attack her, her green eyes momentarily glowing purple with an untapped talent that lay deeply dormant in her very genes. As it became increasingly obvious that she was not in any immediate danger as time wore on she lowered her bow and relaxed the string, leaving the arrow nocked as she turned to look at the now fully working console from before.

She still did not understand a word on the display, the language was as alien to her as Ancient Egyptian was to the people of the old empire. Finding herself frustrated by the strange language she left the room and its six consoles, heading out to the corridor that was now lit by an army of overhead lights. It was now obvious to young Emilia that the place was no cave, her mind connected it with a building of some sort yet it was unlike any building she had ever seen before. Her wandering carried her to what was labeled clearly the medical wing of the long buried old empire facility, her eyes still did not understand the mysterious language on the walls. Thus she wandered not only into the medical wing but right into what she interpreted as a strange table containing tube, that came alive and restrained her as an army of machines performed severely gene altering and activating surgery on her.