XXXXXXXXXXXX

Once I'd returned to the safety of the Extinction, it was back to business trying to piece together what facts I could about the Progenitors. From what I had already dealt with, plus some advice Etran had sent me, I'd need to examine my plunder to look for one of the symbols that was within the Vitruvian. Only then would I learn what I was seeking. The rest probably gave meaningless data.

Most of my searching proved fruitless. Examining the Cell Arrays provided me no symbols. The endo storage systems were obviously without a symbol, mainly because they lacked anything to put it on. We'd also looted some Ayatans from that pile, but they too had no symbol on them. Studying the void relics proved to be a waste of time, as they, too, were barren of a symbol. Surprisingly, the relics also came with an intact warframe cryopod, of all things, but that too had no symbol on it. I made a note to the Tenno about what I had acquired, and then told them where to meet up to get their sibling back. Best not to surprising them too much.

With the fabber bot, though, I hit pay dirt - a strange symbol ran along the length of its keel, one that matched up with one in the Vitruvian. I'd make a point of repairing the ship later on to see what I could gleen from it, but for now, I would need to examine the Vitruvian.

So, steeling myself, I opened up the device, and selected the symbol I had seen - which apparently meant family.

XXXXXXXX

….How did your kind make them, anyway? You seem to be so focused on making mechanical entities, not biological ones.

The image greeting me this time was of two strange beings - one a golden beast, the other a silver abomination.

If you wish to know that, you must look into our past. You must examine how we came into being what we are now, and how we gained familiarity with your kind.

The voice that said that was male - the same one that had conversed with Ballas. Guess he just wanted to share this with what I presumed was an Executor who had learned he wasn't going to help save the Orokin.

Instantly, a new picture appeared. This one...well, it looked like something out of a cosmic horror story. Glowing tendrils gripped around circular bodies, which I clearly recognized as planets. Titanic beasts seemed to ride down this tendrils, emerging from an aperture where the tendrils themselves had their foundation.

Oh yes, I know about that. I learned that well as your primary envoy.

Your kind aren't exactly natives of the universe you live in. There, just like here, there are two planes of existence. One of body, the other of the soul. You called your realm of souls the Empyrean, correct? Not like the one that will soon be called the warp, though.

Close enough, my lady.

I see. Well, according to your history, your species lived in that realm, until something happened to spill the world you called home into the physical one. Other creatures spilled over into that realm as well, didn't they?

They did.

Initially, you were lost and confused. Unsure how to react. Your senses still worked in this new land, but you didn't have the same sense of unity - your kind was spread out, and the means you'd used to communicate over long distances either didn't work or were simply unable to function over the distances you now found yourselves spread out in.

Correct.

A new image appeared. This was of a golden beast staring at a stick figure. It looked like a human.

Then, you met mankind. A young, hardy race, not particularly skilled in any area, but lacking of glaring weaknesses, and with a strong spirit, to boot. These beings, who had no idea who you were, chose to help you, simply because you were in need.

That they did.

They were the ones who helped you make the commanders, weren't they? Gave you some pointers you needed to improve the construction drones you already had so that they could make engineering marvels in minutes.

Yes.

A new image appeared, this of the silvery monster from before, now with more of its kind, attacking humans.

And that, along with other courtesies, was why you helped them when the Xziphid showed up. You couldn't bare to abandon those who had helped you in your time of need. Additionally, the Xziphid were also from your home realm, if I remember correctly.

Our enemies and our kin.

Yes, you've said that before. Anyway, you made the Commanders to fight them. Your kind to what man had helped you make and converted your tools of creation into weapons of war. Your machines would adapt to any situation they encountered, to force off your enemies and save your friends.

Unfortunately, your enemies also had help.

Yes. Not all of mankind was viewed as food by the Xziphid. Some humans sided with them out of fear, others out of vengeance, some because they honestly felt the Xziphid had been wronged by their people in order to induce such aggression toward humans. Those last ones were right, in a round about way.

And so as your forces deployed the mightiest mechanical abominations they could assemble, your foes used humanity's assistance to create biological monstrosities to unleash against you.

Now an image of the beasts I'd seen Melissa utilize appeared, battling Commander machines.

They called them Administrators, didn't they? To mock your creations.

They did. And just as we created machines that could adapt to anything, they created beasts that could render those adaptations moot. In the same way as your Tenno can strip away the might of the Sentients, actually.

I see. Yet when all was said and done, after all of the bloodshed both sides had suffered, you ultimately made peace with them, getting their biological mastery without incident. In fact, now that I think about it, that's probably where you flesh and blood creations come from. Why? Why did you forgive them so easily?

They were our enemies...and they were our kin.

So?

You do strange things for love...

One final image greeted me: that of a Golden Beast...A progenitor...and a silver abomination...a xziphid….embracing, happily.

What the...

XXXXXXXXXX

Okay, seriously, what was going on? What did that even me? Our enemies and our kin?

"Commander," intoned the voice of the AI announcer from the Planetary Annihilation games, "are you confused about something regarding the old conflicts? I detect that you are pondering on the nature of the Progenitors and the Xziphid.

"I just heard someone tell the two were both enemies and kin. What does that mean?"

"You have forgotten? The Makers and the Xziphid are indeed kin."

"Be more specific, please."

"They are brothers and sisters."

"Can you give me context for that?"

"Examining your mental databanks for good analogy...analogy found. The Progenitors are to the Xziphid what Rathalos is to Rathian."

….…..WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTT!?

"Wait, you mean that-"

"Yes. I am stating that the Progneitors and Xziphid are sexually dimorphic examples of the same species. Progenitors are the males of the species, Xziphid are the females."

"...So why did they fight?"

"The incident that forced them from the Empyrean somehow split the two genders for roughly a millennia before humans reunited them, with no exceptions. Without proper parents from both genders, they forgot what their gender opposites looked like and were drawn into conflict by human interaction, including numerous screw ups by stupi hominids, unlike yourself. The suddenness of their separation and change in surroundings inflicted severe stress on all parent individuals at the time, preventing them from properly raising their children. Also, progenitors are capable of reproducing asexually - that is why they did not die out before the sexes reunited. They can also reproduce with unions between two individuals of the same gender, and same-sex marriages/couples carry no stigma-"

"Why were the last two parts necessary? I mean, that's good news (and indicates they had better sexual/romantic freedom then most people on Earth, including the United States, had, but that was hardly surprising), but was that really something you needed to tell me?"

"...No. But it felt relevant."

"Well, please, let that be for now."

"Understood."

XXXXXXXX

While I was left to ponder the clarification I had gotten on Planetary Annihilation's backstory, the Tenno finally showed up, carrying with them some kind of package. Leading them was Cyreesia.

"So, you found a cryopod containing one of our siblings?" she asked.

"Yes. Since I don't want them to break my awesome tech when they wake up, could you please take the pod."

"We will. Though, I will admit we would have smashed your technology up if you refused for any reason to give us back our sibling. No one hurts our family and gets away with it."

…..That girl could be scary when she wanted to.

"Ok, ok, I get it, just please don't try to scare me. Before you ask, it worked. Also, where did you get that package?"

"Another Grineer Sea Lab. The Nightwatch core had been guarding it, but they pulled out when you launched your attack to defend Regor's lab. It wasn't really that well protected at all. We didn't even meet a guard when we stole it."

….What?

"What were the coordinates of that lab?"

"I'll send them over to you right now. Why are you so curious about them, though?...….Were you going to try and break into that lab?"

"...Yes, I was."

"Do you want to have it then?"

"...You're just going to give it to me?"

"Treat it as repayment of a favor for giving us back the cryopod."

"...Okay. Have fun bringing your brother/sister back up to speed."

"We will."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When the Tenno left, I began examining the package. Inside was some kind of transmitter. Curiously, it appeared to be one on official Progenitor channels. A handshake message protocol was included, which I activated.

Let's just say that what I found out changed everything. For better...and for worse.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

AN: For the record, the Xziphid and Progenitors being the same species was actually something I decided on about a year ago. See, the organic creations of the Progenitors were meant to have been made by the female members of the species, or another related species. Mannfred shot this idea down when he was my beta, but since I've made a point of trying to distance myself as much as possible from him and his ideas after he abandoned ship and declared me dead, I went back to using it. The only thing that really changed was making the female Progenitors the Xziphid, due to me looking up the PA backstory in the recent weeks.

So, read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!