Guardian(Part IV): Revelation

Chapter 9: Penny

Aderasian soldiers had set up an encampment around a small temple built with a strange, white metal. It was a small building, but I could sense an immense aura of light hanging over it. I couldn't get close because of the soldiers' patrols, but I had to get to whatever was in the building before they did. Especially knowing what's been going on in Aderas in the past year. To ensure security, Queen Marie, of Illondas, allowed King Olgierd to station his soldiers within her borders. That was the reason Olgierd gave Marie, anyway. I knew how most monarchs thought. More than anything, they wanted land, and what was called "occupation" by King Olgierd, I knew was nothing more than a thinly-veiled annexation of territory. It was only a matter of time before the incident turned into an actual war, and this temple that had been occupied was either a strategic fortification, or a place of interest to King Olgierd. Either way, I wasn't about to let his soldiers take control of what could potentially be a weapon of mass destruction. My Defender armor would make it difficult to sneak past the soldiers, but I would have to get into the temple somehow.

"So, what exactly is in there?" one soldier wondered.

"Who knows?" another answered. "I heard the CO mention that it was built by that race of... What are they called? 'Ilentia'?"

"Yeah, I think so," said the first one. "But doesn't it feel wrong to pillage a temple of the gods?"

"They aren't gods, remember?" the second soldier reminded. "We aren't doing anything wrong."

"An Ilentia temple," I whispered to myself. The Ilentia didn't build temples for themselves, and as far as I knew, they didn't have deities that they revered. Whatever was in that building wasn't a place of worship. I slowly walked around the perimeter of the camp to look for an area with light security. The cover of night would help me sneak up on them, and eventually make my way into the Ilentia structure. There was a relatively small number of patrolling Aderasian infantry around the rear of the building, which would have been a good place to enter from if there was a door there. I could sneak past the lighter section of patrols and try to avoid the larger ones to get to the door. I waited for the patrol to pass, then slowly crept past the others to get around to the doorway. I waited until no one was looking at the door to the building, and went inside. As soon as I stepped inside, a glass door quickly lowered behind me. I saw a scientist wearing a white labcoat, and a whole squad of Aderasian soldiers quickly turn to where I was standing. The scientist ran right up to the glass, clearly saying something, but I couldn't hear it. I tapped my ear and shook my head to tell him that I didn't hear him. The scientist rolled his eyes, then took out a pen and notepad. He wrote something on it, then pressed it against the glass for me to read it.

"We couldn't make anything happen," the note read. "How did you?"

I shrugged my shoulders as if I didn't know, but I knew exactly how. I didn't notice it before, but there was a pressure plate under me that sank when my feet touched it. If they had been in this building, though, and stepped on the plate, why didn't it sink with their touch? The scientist began to write something else on the notepad, but I ignored him to look around the room I was in. It was a brightly lit cylindrical structure, with a circular floor and ceiling. There was a holographic control panel beside the glass door that had up and down arrows, with the former darker than the latter. That one must not have been available to use. I noticed a seam between the floor and the wall, and judging by that, along with the control panel, this room must have been an elevator shaft. I didn't see the benefit of going back outside, to where the stuck-up scientist and trigger happy soldiers were, so I pressed the button with the arrow pointing downward, and the floor began to lower through the shaft.

"Woah," I gasped. I could feel the aura of light hanging over the place growing stronger the lower I went. The further down the platform carried me, the more curious I became of what was waiting for me at the bottom of the shaft. If this was really an Ilentia dwelling, then it could have been anything. Something I couldn't even have imagined myself setting my eyes on! The lift eventually stopped, and the door opened into a long corridor with white, shining walls on one side, and a glass floor-to-ceiling window on the other. I looked out the window, and my eyes widened with what I saw. An entire city was below me, under a bright, blue sky under the ground, and surrounding it was an entire expanse of bright, green grass. I couldn't have been more amazed by the sight. I had never seen pictures of what Zenartha looked like before the Last Winter, but never thought I would see it for myself. I had to focus on what I was here for, though. The aura of light hanging over the ruins was coming from somewhere in the city. I looked around the hallway for a way to get down there, and found a platform similar to the one I just stepped off of in the middle of the floor. I stepped onto it, and it began to lower through another shaft that took me to a path right in front of the white Ilentia city. As soon as I stepped off the lift, I felt a sudden gust of warm air brush past me. I stopped for a moment to feel it. Feeling warm air against my face and blowing through my hair, was so different than feeling the frigid weather of the Last Winter. My entire life, I had only known the cold and freezing environment that Zenartha had become, and never thought I would feel real warmth. Of course, it wasn't real. This city was in an artificial environment that was most likely built as a shelter for survivors of the Last Winter. Something bad must have happened, because there was no one here. I wasn't even sure why the lift allowed me to move it. It was Ilentia tech, and I was human. Something here must have been allowing me to operate everything, but if that was the case, why wasn't it allowing the Aderasian soldiers on the surface to use it? Maybe I would find out if I found out what this aura was. It felt like it was coming from somewhere in the center of the city, or under it. I made my way towards its source, and did find it in the center. It was a plaza that had a wide, white circle in the middle, and a smaller golden one with a handle on it in the middle of that. I grabbed the handle, which began to glow a bright, white light with my touch. I twisted it, then I began to pull it out of the ground. I stepped backward as a large, rectangular canister rose from the floor of the plaza. There was one face that was nothing more than a glass screen, like a window. All I could see on the other side was ice, but with a closer look, I could see someone's face. A young woman's. The aura hanging over the ruins was coming from her! I had no doubt of what she was, now. She was an Ilentia, and she was still alive! I formed my aura blade, which had the shape of a long halberd, and began to chip away the ice with the pommel at the end of the shaft. When I chipped enough away, and eventually freed her face, her eyes suddenly opened, and a powerful aura blast erupted from her body. I was thrown all the way across the plaza, and all of the ice around the Ilentia girl was shattered.

"Damn," I cursed. I pulled myself to my feet, and saw the girl slowly rising out of the canister, her eyes closed, and arms open. She was gently set down standing on her bare feet, but she fell forward. I warped in front of her to catch her fall, then set her down on the ground, laying her on her back.

"Who are you?" I whispered. She had long, dark hair that reached down to her knees, and wore a dark sleeveless dress made from silk. I lifted her head and began to pat her face to try and wake her up, and her eyes slowly opened.

"Hey, there," I greeted. The Ilentia girl violently coughed up water as she sat herself up.

"Take it easy," I warned. "What's your name?"

"What?" the Ilentia gasped.

"Your name," I repeated. "I'm Penny Aleman."

"I'm...," the Ilentia said. "I'm..."

She squinted her eyes and looked to the ground in front of her.

"I'm...," she said. "I don't..."

"You don't know?" I asked.

"No," the Ilentia admitted.

"Why don't we find out?" I suggested, taking out my holo device.

"Look at me," I said, and when the girl's head turned towards me, I quickly scanned her face with my device. If she was an Ilentia, then she had to have been in some sort of database since the Third Great War. Three names came up. "Ametrasa", "Luna", and "Nyxa". The Sisters of Light. The Goddesses of Sunlight, Moonlight, and Starlight, respectively. Identical triplets, except for their hair. Ametrasa had golden hair, Luna had silver hair, and Nyxa had dark hair, like the girl sitting in front of me.

"Nyxa," I concluded. "That's your name."

I showed her the picture of Nyxa, and her eyes widened.

"Ny...xa," she whispered.

"You don't remember ever being called that?" I questioned.

"No," Nyxa answered.

"Or why you were frozen?" I asked.

"I was frozen?" Nyxa shuddered.

I began to sense a feeling of nervousness from the young Ilentia, which then turned into terror as she looked around, finally seeing her surroundings.

"Just calm down," I advised, holding her hand. "I'm right here."

"What is...?" Nyxa gasped.

"Listen," I asserted. "We can't stay here."

I wondered where the safest place to go would be, for a Guardian and an Ilentia, and the first place I thought of was Cordinshire, in Chardan, where all of the remaining Ilentia lived. Her family was there, so that was where I would take her.

"I'll take you somewhere safe," I promised. "Do you trust me?"

Nyxa slowly turned her head towards me, until her eyes met mine, and she nodded her head. She did trust me.

"Let's go," I urged. I helped her up, then began to lead her out of the ruins. I knew the safest place for us was Cordinshire, but for us to be completely safe, we would have to get there, across both Aderas, Illondas, Camnora, and to the other side of Chardan. It would be a long trip, but it would be worth it in the end.