Chapter 02: Awakening

Samus found herself wandering around in a dark environment, with nothing but her zero suit and blaster pistol. She felt alone, abandoned, and unwanted.

"Why am I here?" Samus thought to herself. "What did I do to deserve this?"

Then, the room started to slowly light up. When the room appeared before her eyes, Samus was in complete horror.

In the room, it was very fleshy, like a huge living being made into a building. Right from the flesh walls, hideous monster heads formed from them. The monster heads resembled those of space dragons, various malicious Zebesians, and the highly evolved Metroids of SR388. This image was putting Samus in a state of fear and panic. She froze to the ground, dropping her pistol, and having tears form in her aqua colored eyes.

"No...NO! NOOOOOO!" Samus cries out in primal fear. "This cannot be!"

"You killed us Samus!" A Metroid Queen face cries out in pure anguish. "You...KILLED...US!"

"Didn't you know that I had a family to support?" A Kihunter face growls in rage. "Now you made my mate a widow, and my offspring fatherless."

Samus now drops to her knees, alternating between clutching her head in pain, and pulling at her hair in stress. "Stop it...PLEASE! It was in the past..."

"Oh but my lady of filth..." A dragon like head speaks out in a taunting manner. "This is true justice...This is being fair...KYA HA HA HA!"

"STOP IT! STOP IT! (Sniff) (Sniff) (Sob)" Samus yells as she breaks down and cries. But the voices still taunt and belittle the huntress.

"Whore! Our Lady of Filth! Filthy Bitch!" The voices roar in mean spirited delight. "This is justice! This is fair!"

Just as Samus was going to give up and admit defeat in her own personal hell, a huge ray of light came bursting into the chamber, vaporizing the hideous monster faces. The faces squealed and wailed in complete agony. It was pain for the monsters, but, the light, it felt good, even pleasurable, to Samus Aran, who found herself calming down and becoming at peace.

Out from the light, there was a winged female figure, clad in Chozo armor. Her armor was gold, silver, and copper with glowing green markings on it. Her arm cannon on her right arm looked across between a gun cannon and a bladed weapon, such as a sword. On her left arm, she had a shield with some sort of glowing Chozo symbol adorning the surface. Her wings were glowing in a luminous amber color. Samus was in awe over this armored female figure.

"Fear not, Our Lady Hatching..." The armored female said softly to Samus. "I am here to protect you. You are safe with me."

"But...but..." Samus stutters nervously.

"Don't worry our lady. It's over now. This is a beginning of a new life for you. A life you truly deserve." The armored female replies softly, holding out a hand to Samus. Samus grabs onto the figure's hand, gets back up off her feet, and walks alongside the armored female.

Right there, Samus is scooped up into the female figures arms, while the figure spreads her wings, and flies off to the iridescent light, carry Samus into the light.

Then, Samus woke up from this dream.

"Oh, that dream...How odd... (yawn)" Samus wakes up, opening her eyes, while yawning quietly.

While Samus regains consciousness, she found herself in some sort of fancy bed chamber. But as Samus closely observes at her surroundings, she couldn't believe her eyes. Decorating the walls, there were some hieroglyphic style murals decorating the walls. But it wasn't any ordinary murals. It was murals of the Chozo clan. Telling stories about their myths, history and ways of life.

"This has to be a dream...(yawn) Mmgh!" Samus yawns in disbelief. But that was not the only thing that surprised the huntress.

Samus notices the outfit she is wearing. Now, she was wearing an outfit consisting of a yellow, gown like under robe with a crimson red sash holding the gown together. On the outside, Samus wore a sky blue over robe with long, flowing sleeves. Her body was wearing various types of jewels and gems, with two bejeweled rings on her ring fingers, as well as two bejeweled toe rings on her feet. Also, her feet was now clad in sandals instead of platform heels.

"This is odd... I don't remember wearing an outfit so...fancy..." Samus said to herself in bemusement. "I just prefer body stockings, jumpsuits, halter tops, hot pants, mini skirts, and qipao style outfits. I'm not used to wearing such fancy gowns."

Then, Samus starts to lightly run her fingers through her hair, only to notice yet another thing different here. Her blonde ponytail was now styled into a braid. "My ponytail, it's in a braid now? Hmmm...I don't remember wearing a braided ponytail."

Samus looks around some more, and sees what appears to be a altar with a bunch of figurines of very important figures of Chozo history. "This has to still be a dream..."

While Samus was looking at the figurines, admiring all the details of them, she discovers two that catch her attention. Samus was in disbelief over these two figurines. "What the hell? Hmmmm...?"

Samus was in disbelief over what she was seeing. It was two figures of Samus herself.

One figurine was Samus herself wearing her fusion suit she required after her last mission five years ago. It was the ultimate fusion suit model, that was orange instead of blue. The other figurine is Samus wearing the clothing she is decked out in at this moment. The gown like robes seem to be the same color of the fusion's suits first model.

"How is this possible?" Samus ponders to herself as she eyes the figurines on the altar. "This has to be a dream. I know it's just a dream. This is too good to be true!"

While Samus was looking around this room she was in, the door started to creak open, and there, Samus heard a female voice talk in a familiar language that Samus thought she would never hear again since her younger years. "I am going to check up on our avatar here. I hope she is feeling better."

"Huh?" Samus turns around, and was surprised with who entered her room.

The female figure resembles a Chozo, yet look somewhat different from the Chozo Samus grew up with since childhood. Her features were avian, yet delicate, with light lavender colored skin, slender fingers with violet claws, huge pale blue eyes, and a height somewhat shorter than Samus' tall height. The outfit the female figure was wearing, consists of a gown with a yellow long sleeved top with a mint green bow on the opening, a long crimson skirt that hid her avian feet, hands decked out in rings, and wore a white hat with gold threading, that tied together around the collar.

"Oh my! Our Avatar! SHE IS AWAKE! SHE IS AWAKE! PRAISE BE!" the female avian figure cheered in excitement.

Samus was feeling rather bemused at what was going on. "Who are you? Where am I?"

"Ah...ahhhh! I'll explain more. I need to spread the news of your awakening first! Ah..." The figure cheered in excitement as she started to run back to spread the news to others in this strange building.

Samus was feeling odd, yet at the same time, was feeling some sort of relief. All Samus did, was wait for others like that avian female to show up and introduce themselves to her. So Samus waits oh so patiently, as the news of her awakening spreads through out this strange building.

The huntress goes back to sit on her bed, waiting for the news to be spread. Seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours. Now, Samus was on the edge of her seat. Her curiosity gnawing at her brain. Samus was feeling some sort of anticipation, yet feels impatient at the same time.

Just as Samus was about to leave her room, a group of the same Chozo-like creatures she saw earlier come entering the room, surrounding the huntress. They wore expressions of bliss and relief on their avian faces. These figures all appeared to be priests and priestesses, thus, Samus was brought into a temple commune, run by avian holy folk.

The head grand high priest came out of the excited group to introduce things to Samus. This grand high priest was a tall, male figure, with gold skin, pale gray eyes, and wore an outfit consisting of a pale crystalline headdress, silver bejweled shoulder pads and hauberk, two silver and blue bracelets, and a dull purple robe lined with silver and red that flowed from out his hauberk.

"I see our avatar, our lady hatching is awake and alive." The grand high priest said to Samus. "Let me introduce myself. I am Father Sendak, the grand high priest of Marius' holy commune. And you must be Samus Aran, our blessed avatar."

"It is nice to meet you Father Sendak." Samus said in a calm demeanor. "But I have some questions to ask..."

Around Samus, the priests and priestesses kneels before the huntress, while Father Sendak was ready to answer the woman's questions. "Yes, please...ask us anything...We are all ears."

"Well, are you guys really the Chozo..." Samus asks in curiosity. "Or are you a species related to the Chozo?"

Father Sendak holds and strokes the rings on Samus' hands, answering with, "We are of the Kakezo clan. We are the many descendants of the Chozo of yore. Our ancestors have ascended to godhood, watching over all of their descendant races."

Samus started to feel some relief on the closure of the Chozo's fate, yet, she felt a little melancholy at the same time. "Oh, so that is the fate of the Chozo. The original Chozo passed on, but their descendant creations still live on, carrying on their memories."

"Is there any other questions you need to ask our lady?" Father Sendak ponders, holding onto Samus' hands, as the Kakezo high priest is now joining his disciples with kneeling to Samus.

"Why am I wearing this outfit?" Samus asked the high priest. "And how did you all know of my name and existence? Why am I seen as an avatar to your clan?"

"Those are your goddess robes." Father Sendak answered. "Also, we know of you Samus, from a Chozo prophecy, written and told by the ancient Chozo prophet, Doriah."

"Doriah? Prophecy?" Samus was now feeling confused, yet curious. She wanted to know more about her situation.

"According to the prophet Doriah..." Father Sendak started to explain. "...He has written down a series of prophecies, telling us of a humanoid avatar, with the blood of a human, a Chozo, and a Metroid. It is said that this avatar will be a protector of our clan and galaxy, as well as usher in a new age in this cosmos...However..."

"However?" Samus asks, slightly cocking her head to the side in bemusement.

"However... Only fragments of Doriah's prophecies have survive and been remembered to this modern days. A lot Doriah's prophecies have sadly been lost through the sands of time. All we do know about the prophecies of Doriah, is that this avatar needs to re-awaken her hidden powers inherited from the Dna of both the Chozo and the Metroids, then, she can be the protector of our clan from unclean adversaries that threaten our way of life."

Samus couldn't believe her fate. It seemed like something that could only happen in the mythic fiction of the Chozo, not in the planes of reality. But, here Samus is, learning of her larger than life fate. Her guardians, Grandpa Bird, and Grey Voice, never told her about Doriah's prophecies growing up. Maybe they just feel like it was too much for the hatchling to handle, and tried to spare her from their fate. Samus did feel somewhat overwhelmed, but she felt a type of devotion to her duties as an avatar to the races descended from the Chozo clan of yore. It was almost like, Samus found her true purpose in life. It was like a ray of light at the opening of a dark, hellish cave that Samus felt trapped in for years.

Now Samus tried to fight back tears, but this time, these were not sad tears Samus was trying to fight back. Whether happy or sad, Samus felt odd about crying in front of people, thus, seems calm and stoic to most who cross her path.

Father Sendak notices Samus trying to fight back tears, telling her, "It's okay Lady Samus. It is okay to cry. It's okay to express how you feel around us."

Samus collapses into Father Sendak's arms, crying out her eyes with tears of joy and relief. "Oh thank you (sniff)...Thank you dear father! (sniff) (whimper) I thank you all for giving me another chance. (sob) (cry)"

The Kakezo priests and priestesses started to surround the weeping Samus, taking turns embracing her and whispering words of encouragement to her. One Chozo, name Iska gives her a hugs, yet his response was not words, but an affectionate peck and lick to her cheek, as if these was some sort of avian kiss he was giving her.

Iska felt speechless with what he was witnessing. He couldn't believe his eyes. The avatar, the lady hatching, she is right there in front of him, in the flesh. It was the most breath taking thing Iska has ever witnessed in his life since his old love, Yumelle, reached adulthood.

"So her name is Samus Aran..." Iska thought to himself as he hugs and pecked the woman affectionately. "She is just as beautiful and breathtaking as the fine art depicts her."

After showing some affection to Samus, he quickly went back into the crowd of holy folk, feeling quite flustered with what was going on. Though he did a good job trying to hide his feelings from the others at the temple commune. No one ever noticed the intense emotions Iska was feeling at this moment. Yet, at the same time, Iska felt quite nervous to speak his mind to Samus, in fear that he might displease their avatar.

"Oh dear, oh my, how can I express myself around Lady Samus without coming off as a weirdo...Mgh!" Iska thought to himself as he couldn't take his eyes off the huntress. "I have a lot to say to her, but how to say it...?"

"You must be feeling overwhelmed with the news of your destiny Lady Samus." Father Sendak said in a rather solemn voice. "We are sorry to tell you..."

"Oh no...No...! It's okay." Samus interrupts. "I feel much relief, yet much weariness at this moment."

"Well our lady, go get some rest. Recover...Then, we will train you with re-awakening your true self our huntress."

Samus now made her way back to her bed, while the Kakezo priests and priestesses gave their avatar some needed alone time to think things out. Tears still poured down Samus' cheeks here and there. But these were different feelings this time.

The huntress was so used to being lonely, left on her own for a lot of her life. It seemed every time Samus gotten attached to someone or something, ill fortune would follow. Ever since the destruction of the BSL space station five years back, it felt like Samus was alone, with even her allies betraying her, siding with her enemies instead. Samus was so used to tragedy and misfortune happening in her journeys, it felt odd for Samus to hear good news for once.

"I guess I'm not alone anymore...(sob) (whimper)" Samus thought to herself in tears of relief. "I promise to protect the descendants of the Chozo. I promise to protect them all...I promise to fight for a better future...! I can't give up. Not now...not ever!"

Samus takes off her sandals, and reclines on her bed, with her arms under her head, propped up on a pillow. Samus was deep in thought, with a small smile forming on her tear stained face, thinking about her thoughts of a better future she much deserved.

However, this is only the beginning of a bigger story. For a new age is on the horizon, whether this is a golden or a dark age, is unknown, for that is the part of Doriah's prophecy that has sadly been lost in the sands of time.