The Shadows After Dark
Chapter one: Arrival
Elp! Damn you Israphel! Knight Peculier! Heroes!
Xephos awoke to a loud hissing noise filling the air followed by the beeping of a monitor. His vision blurred as he tried to move his half comatose body. Weakness racked his body like torrents of water. The muscles in his body were like jelly and his bones felt as if they were going to snap at the slightest movement.
The tube bed that he was lying in constricted his view of the room but a few unseen torches lit up the space around him giving him a fuzzy view of the cobblestone ceiling.
"Honeydew…" he moaned aimlessly.
At least his hearing was back in place. He turned his head as the sound of footsteps entered the room. Two blurry figures came into the scene and peered over his half responsive body.
"He seems to of awakened as planned," The figure on his left said in a deep voice. "Prepare a room for him in the medical bay and check on subject 42 as well. He should be waking up soon too."
"Yes sir." Said the other.
"Israphel…you… bastard…" He let out one more moan and slipped back into a blurred state of unconsciousness.
Xephos's eyes opened once again to now clearer room. A small overhead lamp casted a long shadows across his newfound room. It looked like something out of a war movie where they showed the medical bay but without the injured soldiers. White satin sheets covered long lines beds, which stretched across the room.
"Your awake," said a voice.
"Ahh! Xephos nearly jumped out of the bed. "What the fuck!?"
A figure melted out of the shadows and appeared in Xephos's doorway. He was a short stocky man. The brown beard he wore hid the young mans behind it. His brown aviators jacket covered a white uniform and his dark blue eyes crashed and rumbled.
Without a moments rest he pull out his clipboard and began reading off information.
"I'll be reading off a list of information so we can confirm your identity today. He spoke calmly. Please cooperate by giving me a yes or no."
"Wait, can you please explain-" Lewis tied to get out.
"Name: Xephos "
"Yes! But-"
"Birthday: October 22, 863"
Yes, can I-"
"Worked with Knight Peculier and Honeydew of Khaz Modan."
"Ye- wait… how do you know KP?"
The man smiled, he put the clipboard back into his jacket and stood up. "Along with the genetic testing previously done, your identity has been confirmed. My superior will come to see you soon. He can and will explain anything you need to know."
He began to walk away when Xephos shouted. "Hey! Answerer my question! How do you know about KP?"
"I'm not permitted to answer any questions," he replied kindly. "But, I'm glad your awake, things will get interesting now."
Xephos's face changed from confusion to a sort of "oh" and the let man on his merry way.
He fell back on his cot with a sigh of irritation. Seriously, you wake up in an unfamiliar place with a foggy memory, you have no idea what's going on, and nobody tells you anything? Well that's fantastic!
Another five minutes of tormented curiosity passed before Xephos heard footsteps. Snapping to attention he sat up to greet the unfamiliar face A tall man in a white military uniform embroidered with a red cross on the chest pocket entered. He was an older man. Light streaks of grey painted his hair and his face carried an unforgiving look of displeasure and seriousness.
He sat down silently and lit a cigarette.
"So your finally awake…" He let out a long puff of smoke. "The names Xephos right?"
"Yes sir, can you please tell me where I am?" Xephos asked in desperation.
"Your in one of the last standing Resistance bases in what's left of Minecraftia. To you, its know as Skyhold. "My names Commander Ivo. I'm the leader of the fight against the forces of shadow and the Sentinels."
Xephos cocked his had in confusion. "I'm sorry I don't understand, do you mind telling me how I go here? "
"You and your friend Honeydew were found in the Templar tombs deep beneath the earth." His voice began to waver as he let out along puff of smoke. "You were in some kind eternal sleep. We estimated you were out for maybe fifty years."
Xephos's face had gone form irritation to plain disbelief.
"After contemplation it was decided that you were to be moved here for save keeping, and so that the enemy wouldn't get its hands on you."
"FOUND OUR BODIES? FIFTY YEARS? What the flying fuck is going on here?"
The man's eyes locked with Xephos's glaring into his soul. "What's going on here?" He crushed his cigarette in his hand and grabbed Lewis with the other. "I'm saving the world. Something and you and your friend couldn't do!
The mans anger broke realizing his mistake and let go of Xephos's shirt shrinking backing into his chair. "I'm sorry, I've lost patience over the past. It's been to damn long. "
WOOOOOOOOOOOO! The blaring of an alarm cut him off abruptly
"All military personnel to battle stations. Targets detected in aerial space. All non-combatants evacuate to the lower decks. THIS IS NOT A DRILL!"
"Commander Ivo!" A panicked officer appeared. "Five Darak class vessels are quickly approaching Skyhold! We need you at the bridge sir!"
The commander cussed at the rotten timing. "Only five? Hrm, independent bastards think they can take this fort! Xephos! He peered over his shoulder. "You should probably see this if you want answers." He lit another cigarette. Use that wheel chair and follow me, fifty years of stasis takes its toll on the body.
Xephos didn't like this. In fact, it would probably raise more questions than answers.
"Fine."
Slowly but surely, he stood up on both of his legs. Xephos didn't want to believe him but being in stasis for fifty years didn't seem that far off from the truth anymore. His legs almost collapsed the moment he set them on the floor. The bones rattled and stung. He managed to sit himself down into the wheel chair and the other officer pushed him after the commander.
This was not Skyhold. Where were the three great challenges and open outdoor spaces? The journey consisted of dimly lit corridors and different rooms. If Xephos could use one word to describe the place it would have to be gray. A different version of cobblestone painted the walls everywhere they went. Thick grey pipes ran across the ceiling occasionally dripping water. Each door was thick enough to suppress a creeper and was uniform to all the rest. The only relief of color was the brown and white uniforms worn by the officers. (Who gave Xephos odd looks as they past him)
They finally came to an elevator and took it up to the bridge.
The doors opened to a scene of madness. Multiple officers ran back and forth shouting different commands while operatives worked on multiple screens. The commander calmly strode through the chaos and cleared his throat.
"HEY!"
The entire bridge froze and quickly organized itself into a line of saluting officers.
"Now that's better!" He said. "Are all non combatants evacuated and weapons systems online?"
"Yes sir!" Yelled an officer.
"Good." The commander walked over to his chair and sat down. "Okay! Lets show these bastards what were made of! Professor Envion!"
"Yes sir!" shouted a man hunched over on a desk on the far left.
Were going full screen, activate the 360 combat system!
The man toyed with something on his desk and the entire room began to transform. The desks and screens shifted upwards off the ground along with the chairs. Every surface of the bridge flashed over multiple colors until blue geometric hexagons lined up to the shape of the room.
"All systems are full and ready for primary activation!" Yelled the professor.
"System launch, lets see their ugly faces."
The hexagons began to change, quickly reflecting outward displaying the surrounding area in a jaw dropping display of horror and awe.
Five massive floating ships greeted them. They were over four hundred meters long easily. Their bodies seemed to fit that of a scorpion with guns protruding the sides and claws. Heck, they even mounted a rail gun on the tail. Xephos wasn't sure how they floated for they seemed to have no way of floatation. They seemed to breath fire and the guns began rotating towards them.
"Raise the main cannons forty degrees! Load heat penetration acer rounds!"
The short elevator ride contradicted the appearance of how high up they were. The entire island of Skyhold seemed to be one hundred feet beneath them giving them a full view of the massive cannons getting into position.
But, despite the ships and the fortress all of this was dwarfed by one thing. The land beneath. It was black and scared. Large patches rotten biomass clung to hills with grotesque plants growing out of them like corpses. Blast craters pooled lava, which ran in rivers into massive ravines.
"W-where are we?" Xephos turned towards the commander.
A notch of sadness seeped into the commander's face. "Welcome to Minecraftia, welcome to the Age of Shadow.