The Fall and Rise of An Ancient (GOTP story)

4. The High Gatewatcher

Word spread through the city quickly. Not only was the Ancient that had fallen to their world now awake and among them, he had chased the Exatom invasion away in moments with his magic.

Megatron had withdrawn his cannon quickly following the invaders' retreat. He didn't want to cause more of a scene than he already had. He watched as the citizens emerged from their hiding places, checking in on neighbors and lending aid to others dragging the carcasses of their attackers away. Scribe said something about burning them, which seemed like the logical thing to do. Despite the quick response and almost habitual action, the city still felt shaken. How often did these things attack?

Much of the cleanup was being finished when Spearen appeared, her weapon's tip snapped off and her armor splattered with exatom blood. "I have been sent to escort the Ancient to the palace... The High Gatewatcher seeks to speak with him."

Of course their leader was interested, after seeing that display... But still, Megatron obliged and followed her up through the streets and steps, from level to level of the tiered city, to the very top, where he hadn't been able to see from where he was staying. Homes had fallen away to one central building, far larger than the others. Carved directly into the volcano's cliffs, it glistened with more volcanic glass than the other buildings, and torches glowed to ignite a massive courtyard and then a trail into its interior.

The amount of energy Megatron was able to expend at one time was waning fast, so he was grateful when they took him inside the dark, curving halls and found him a place to sit. He settled on a long bench, leaning his back against the wall behind it with a hard sigh.

"Wait here." Spearen instructed, and then she left him alone as she moved past a curtain and into the next hall.

Megatron sat alone, looking around the space he was in. Colorful banners waved in the breeze, pottery adorned with patterns and possible writing dotted the halls, and outside, he could hear the sounds of the city slowly regaining strength as the citizens emerged from hiding and tried to resume what they were doing prior to the attack.

When Megatron had first awoken on Cybertron, their culture had been in a vibrant age. Art, science, engineering, it was all rapidly evolving and growing. The glistening towers that rose up from the upper castes' districts, the music that he could faintly hear from the gladiator pits when the coliseum was quiet, it had spoken of something he'd yearned to be a part of, to share in.

Now, because of him, those towers were toppled ruins, the music long gone and its players long dead. Sure, the political portion of that age had been corrupted, a dark undertone to the lights that blinded the masses, but he'd brought all of it down in a short time... Trying to be the hero he'd always imagined himself to be.

Telen was not in the same level of age that Cybertron had been, but during his walk through the streets, he could see development being made. He heard chatters of new fabrics being made and tested, tools that were being enhanced for better service to their owners, and new games the protoforms were teaching to each other.

This was true community, this was what he believed he had truly hoped for at one time...

Footsteps on the stone caught his attention, and then the curtain pulled back, and Spearen returned, clearing her vents. "I'd like to introduce you to our city's leader... The High Gatewatcher."

Megatron wasn't quite sure what he had expected their leader to be. In his own experience, a leader was strong, powerful, and able to command his armies without much trouble... But then again, this wasn't an army, this was a city, and his own methods of control had been... Faulty at best.

Instead, the Telensi that stepped out was not much taller than Spearen, and was hunched over a bit as he leaned on a thick, wooden cane to progress. His armor creaked and showed fragments of rust and age on its edges. A beard hung from his helm's chin and his vents croaked a bit as he coughed, but gave the larger bot a bright smile. "Ah yes, here he is... Our guest."