Echoes [Spectra] (Original Draft Version)

6: Shattered Glass

"Wake up."

Visk was roused from a deep, dreamless sleep by the voice of Spark. He took a look around him for a moment and observed his surroundings - he was still in the basement projection chamber, sitting on the floor across from Nari.

The dahmak was beginning to stir as well. As Visk watched, she sat up and looked up through the skylight. "Good morning," she remarked, turning to Visk.

"Good morning," replied Visk. "To both of you," he added, remembering there was a third person in the room with them.

"Likewise," said Spark.

The AI pulsed, as if looking at the two people in the room with her. "I'd love to let you sleep in longer, or allow you to roam outside and get a drink or some food or something, but unfortunately I've got bad news."

"Do tell," said Nari, turning to look at the orb of Spark's avatar.

"I've been monitoring dataspace while you two were sleeping. I'd have hoped we would have had more time, but it seems as if the Sentinels and the Phage are currently making their way out of the Monolith and towards us."

Visk and Nari's eyes both widened.

"You guys had best be off. Good luck, sorry I can't come with you. The closest door to the pod is this one," Spark said, as teal lights flashed around one of the six doorways.

As the two sprinted up the stairs, they checked to make sure they had all their gear. Visk waved goodbye to Spark with his free hand.

The AI pulsed again. "Godspeed."

===

Patches of fog covered the mountainside as Visk and Nari climbed.

As far as Visk could remember, going down this slope had been a lot easier than going up. Not being particularly fit at the moment, he was getting quite exhausted of all this running around, and the high incline of the mountain path he was following was quickly draining him. He wasn't sure how much longer he could go on with this.

He looked back at Nari. The dahmak had been following him up the cliffs - after all, he was the one who had gone on this path before - but she seemed to be doing a lot better than him, easily keeping up pace. Turning back around, the irva continued up the path.

After a little while, they came to an overlook. Visk heard Nari's footsteps come to a stop as she took a moment to look out over the landscape below, her mouth agape as she took in the sheer scope of this ruined place.

It was exactly as he remembered it. A vast mountainscape overlooking a great valley, speckled here and there with the dark metallic sheen of Architect ruins. Some ruins were in the shape of giant spires, almost like tentacles reaching out from beneath the ground to devour the sky. And behind it all, the geometric shape of the Monolith, looming overhead and looking over the facility while it pierced the heavens.

There was one noticeable difference though. Around the Monolith and spilling down into the valley was a procession of silver and red, flashing in a maelstrom of blasts and carnage. It looked like most of the big silver bits were Sentinels, and if Visk squinted, he could almost make out the slight blue glow of the Phage. He wasn't really looking to get caught up in that battle.

"Great view from up here, huh?"

The irva was snapped out of his observation by Nari's comment. "Yeah. It's nice to finally have some time to appreciate it while not being chased by the Phage. Well, not having it directly nearby at least."

"I've never seen or even really heard of an Architect facility this large," the Vaulter remarked. "What do you think they could have been doing here?"

Visk shrugged. "I don't know. If the Monolith was any indication, they must've been doing something important."