AYEEE

"...No."

"W-what? What do you MEAN, no?!"-The guardian of Sol-Cphilia said, mouth agape at the refusal.

"No. I'm fine."-Once more, rejected. The guardian was ready to throw off his headgear and reveal his angered face, but that would not do. He wondered if he could have taken it better, especially given more optimal circumstances. And in all fairness to the exasperated guardian, standing at the front of a line full of about one hundred other guardians, in a very tight alley between two large metal structures, that among other things produced copious amounts of steam, heat and noise...yes, all that did not simulate rational and calm conversation.

In between the large buildings was an alleyway and at the end of it a small door which the guardian had knocked in. The man on the other side looked relatively young, about his early twenties. Red hair, fair skin both uncommon in this part of the Moon and extremely tired eyes. Even so, with the heat of this area being as it was he had to wear a short-sleeved shirt, which revealed the markings along his right arm, bright and glowing as clear as day.

This was a Prime Human. Most Prime Humans lived in the upper areas. The guardian was a prime human himself in fact, acquainted with the man at the door a few hundred years ago, when the war had started once again. Many Prime Humans from ages ago had died due to having grown unaccustomed to combat. That was not the guardian, and that was not the man at the door.

"Anyway, it was nice to meet you Orva. You and your...uhh...pajama party friends. Sorry, could never take your guys attire seriously. Do admire the whole devotion to Cphilia and defending the temple from miscreants though. I guess ever since people started flooding in your job's become more important."-the man raised his coffee mug to salute the hundred or so other guardians standing behind. A few of them even rose their spears in turn, returning the salute.

"Stand down you fools!"-Orva shouted. 'Can't you see he is mocking us?"

"Orva, I would *never*. Anyway, if you want feel free to come inside. There isn't enough room for...all of you but you can take turns, it's fine. I'm afraid though I don't have enough coffee for you all. It's a rare commodity in these sides as you know."-and right he was. Coffee had been brought to the moon by travelers from Ano, who had in turn also presented other types of seeds to the handlers of Sol-Cphilia.

The massive solar power plant which supplied certain areas of the moon with power, also doubled as a large plantation. Synthetic food and drinks were very common on the moon, however Cphilia had a fondness for more 'original' delicacies. Coffee was readily available to the people in the upper areas even if most of them could not stomach it and had to vomit immediately afterwards.

"...We are aware of your living conditions, despite how befuddling they may appear."-Orva said. "I seriously do not understand why you live in this hole."-Orva looked behind the doorway with disgust. "You are practically a legend. Vieren, the Hero of the Halls of Silence, Slayer of Geath-1201 Who Oppresses Millions, you yourself have taken down more than a thousand automa-"

"Four thousand five hundred sixty two, actually. And let me tell you, not all of that was right. Anyway I am probably going to have to hear what you have to say eventually, so let's get it out of the way. What does Sol-Cphilia want with me?"-Vieren asked.

"W-well...since you mentioned...we would be seeking to...employ the services of you, and your crew in order to retrieve a priceless artifact, for the sake of all of Iliaster."-Orva said.

"Mhm. Listening. Working on believing your bullshit."-Vieren said, obviously not amused as he sipped his coffee.

"It is known to us, that due to your age-"

"Hey, watch it with the age talk alright. Nobody likes to be called old."

"You were born on the Colony Flagship. By the time you were an adult our great civilization did not even exist yet. Besides, it is rather striking you should mention this, given the nature of your task. Of all the Prime Humans in the Moon, you possess a most unique quality! One that sets you apart from all others!"-Orva's tone had once again taken on the tinge of zeal and excitement.

"I know what you are about to say, but I'd like to be noted that personally, I feel what makes me unique among Prime Humans is my ability to enjoy coffee, and that if you could enjoy it too, you'd agree with m-"

"You are the last Prime Human to have served the Accursed One! You are the last link our world has to Nevesha!"

"And there it goes."-Vieren said. "Why can't you let her be? She's dead. Been dead for well over a thousand years now. The Axioms even claimed her and Kalym disappearing were not necessarily bad things. Then we learned they'd just fallen off to Ano and the Axioms decided to let them be. No attempt at retrieving them was made. And you know why?"

"No.'-Orva replied plainly. "And I do not need to know why this once. I am here to ask for you and your allies help to descend to Ano and retrieve artifacts from Nevesha and Kalym. The Axioms believe that with these, we can actually drop the ring."

"Drop...the ring?"-Vieren leaned in at the comment, a confused expression on his face. "How exactly?"

"They did not say, but they did mention that the seven Axioms coming together would be able to simply cause the ring to fall. Then we could reunite with the planet below."

'The planet that wants to kill us you mean?"-Vieren was still skeptical, obviously enough however despite his questioning something about this felt..intriguing.

"Yes, exactly. Of course we aren't going to be flocking to it en-masse. We are simply going to allow for freer movement. Perhaps even see about those people from...what was it? Dormina?"

"Hmm...I've always wanted to meet a Dorminan."-Vieren said. "I've heard they are immortal and possess magical powers. I wonder, is that true?"

"Well then, I take it you will be joining us?"-Orva asked.

"Nope."

"W-what do you MEAN by that?! How can you not?! Do you understand the gravity of the situation?!"

"Yes. I'm out of coffee."-Vieren said. "But to get to the bottom of your problem, I cannot go down to Ano without a good crew, which I have and you will have to agree that they come with me if you want this mission to happen, and...the next thing we'd need would be a very, very good ship. Now I am unsure of what Sol-Cphilia as an institution is willing to-"

"The Astral Majesty."-Orva said.

"Ooooooh-KAY that is something. THE Astral Majesty? The..."-Vieren's expression shifted immediately as he had to blink a few times in surprise. The fastest ship. There was little exaggeration to say that even among many advanced civilization, there were few vessels which could possibly match the Astral Majesty. And these vessels existed only in theories, unproven and unattested to. In the real world, there was no known vessel to outpace it.

And for that very reason none but the Axioms were allowed to handle it. Ignoring even that, Cphilia was highly possessive of the ship and often contested her fellow Axiom's right to handle it.

"Yes. THAT Astral Majesty. You understand now, don't you?"-Orva said as smugly as he could afford, for once feeling superior. "...Let me get a refill for this coffee and...then I'll see what I can do."-Vieren responded.

Of course both him and Orva knew what he was really going to do was call for his allies to discuss the matter with. Vieren opened up the communication network and begun calling for a number of people, one after the other. Brief messages. Luckily all of them were reasonably close to the area, so that communications wouldn't be intercepted by the automata. One thing that many people in these areas forgot was that there had been a war. And there still was one.

Vieren walked out and locked the door to his humble home, sitting on the stairs as many of the guardians looked on, unsure on what to do. One of the crowd approached him however. "Mr...Vieren? Err, sir...I..."-a girl. Couldn't have been very old, and lacking any markings, she was only a normal human.

"Yeah? Tell me."-Vieren looked up at her. The face was of course obscured by the masks and  cowls that the guardians wore, but he could assume she was a little taken aback. "W-well, I was wondering... Did...did you really kill four thousand..."

"Yeah. Four thousand, five hundred and then sixty two. Dead. Gone."-Vieren said, looking past the buildings into the downward trail of metal that lead up to his particular alley, where the guardians had now begun to chat between themselves.

"Y-you kept count? I mean... I guess, over so many battles..."-the girl seemed obviously distraught, but he wasn't sure just what over.  Yet he had to make a correction.

"No."-Vieren spoke. "One battle."

"H-how?!"-the girl was now less distraught and more shocked. But Vieren did not look at her this once, he only left out a lengthy exhalation.

"It was a long battle."

"S-"

"OPEN UP, OPEN UP! GIVE ME SOME SPACE TO MOVE! THERE WE GO, ALRIGHT!"-a voice called out from far down the trail, older than Orva or Vieren and quite deep. The man it belonged to was clad in a large, thick suit of metal, with a bowl-shaped black glass helmet that wrapped him up from every corner. A large hammer in his hands, with the tops of the head bent downwards, a bit like a pickaxe.

"ORVA! MY BOY! They've finally let you out of the hole huh? How long has it been? Four hundred years? No, can't be the war only started like yesterday!"-and as the metal giant made it to the front of the line he gave Orva a hearty pat on the back. Of course, Orva couldn't help but tilt a bit forward and then let out a cough.

"Still a bit weak in the legs I see. Anyway, Vier, my friend. Why did you call me here?"-The armored man asked, only for Vieren to point at the still recovering Orva, whose face had taken on the color of a ripe tomato.

Orva in turn waved his hand around a bit, and then managed to speak. "You tell him."

"In that case I'd rather wait for the others to convene  here. If you won't mind that i-Oh there they are."-and indeed a small ship lowered on the trail, as it's lower hatch opened up. A small rope extended while two figures came down from it. One was a woman. Short dark hair, fairly casual (and Orva could swear a bit torn at places) outfit riding atop a small round platform, bent a bit near the back. Legs crossed and munching on a snack, she descended from the ship atop her platform which was Aether-propelled at least from the bottom.

Two large mechanical arms extended from the sides, humanoid in design. "Vieren. And... I never thought I'd see Legant again. Who the fuck is everyone else?"-she asked, still eating.

Soon after her, the second person simply dropped from the airship and smashed on the ground, sending fragments of metal all over. One of these fragments hit a guardian in the head and he of course, passed out on the spot. Dark skinned, with white hair reaching to the base of his neck and...shiny iron scales on the lower parts of his neck. Wearing a combo of white shirt and pants that almost looked to be a single item of clothing helped reveal his muscular shape. Atop them stood a golden jacket, and behind it two sheathed blades, curved and ornate looking.

The man's body coursed with electricity and all of the guardians were promptly scared. The man only let out a small smile at this and turned to the others, while the ship flew off.

"R-right... I assume these two are essential to the mission as well...?"-Orva asked, the sight of the two newcomers not quite inspiring a great level of confidence.

"Relax, Prime Human."-The scaled man said. "We do not bite. At least not without cause. Why are we here anyway? Vieren? Are you in trouble? I cannot break into Sol-Cphilia to get you out if you are, the Halls of Silence were enough...."

"W-wait a second, that was YOU?!"-Orva shouted in anger. "Y-you... do you have any idea how much tha...MEN, arrest him at once!!"

The guardians all rose their spears and the ones in the back prepared their lanterns. The scaled man's body menacingly projected an aura of electricity, and he held his arms out, one blade pulled out from the back faster than  anyone could react, and held ready. "Let's see how we do against...hmm, how many are there?"

"If I may."-the woman on the strange floating platform said. "Vieren wouldn't have called us here just to fight a hundred guardians or whatnot. It's the middle of the day, in the middle of a heavily populated area. In other words...the reason we are here is likely more important than that little incident from the past. Besides, Morrgin is just living  up to his ancestors wishes."

"W-what wishes? How could...'-Orva shouted in panic, yet at least his speaking held the others at bay. The next few lines would send that all tumbling down however, quite literally.

"Weeell, I may or may not be the descendant of a certain...Morros...of the Iron Scales...you know the guy that woman you all seem to revere struck with lightning, and...that's kind of why I have scales? Right, should have lead with that, these aren't bodily modifications, I happen to be part dragon and extremely.."

"ATTACK!!"-Orva shouted, as the guardians all charged.

"Powerful."-a surge of lightning from Morrgin's free hand sent the first attackers tumbling. The ones right behind them who were wise enough crouched down as their friends flew backwards or rolled over their backs. Then they rose up again and begun to charge Morrgin, but with a swing of his blade he deflected two spears, and with the second three. Lightning flew off his fingers once more, disabling more of the guardians, until Vieren interjected.

"Enough! What are you all doing?! Come on. This is more important than...the past. Sure, Morrgin broke into the Halls of Silence. It was for a good cause. Just like you are all allegedly trying to pull off here...Now are we going to keep at it or you know.."-Vieren looked at Legant and then at Morrgin.

"Good. I thought so. Because eleven times out of ten you would not win this fight.  Anyway, Orva. This here is Morrgin. Can penetrate any fortress and defensive encampment. Break into and out of any prison or anything you can imagine. Also a pretty good fighter. His lightning powers are pretty nifty as is being nigh impenetrable to conventional battle equipment."-Vieren explained, only to turn to the armored man.

"Legant, you already know. A lot of experience fighting, more than all of us combined. He was not born BEFORE me per se, but due to a number of circumstances given that I've had to remain in stasis for relatively long stretches of time.. he's been active for longer. And this here..."-he turned then to the girl.

"Is Esca. The best pilot in this side of the moon, on top of being a pretty great engineer. She's seen her fair share of thing. Made it from the other side to this one on foot, over a period of...quite a few years actually, not sure how much exactly."-Vieren said, scratching his head at the end.

"Fifteen. Admittedly I was held back by the war for some of them. Crossing the other side was easy, but..."-Esca stopped for a moment, which let Orva respond.

"You are an automaton. How...human looking... I've never seen..."

"I made the modifications myself, of course. Anyway that is most of what you need to know about me."

"How can you even eat food?"-the  girl who had spoken to Vieren before asked.

"Self-modification again. I can somewhat simulate taste even if it's nothing like what humans feel, probably. Then again most of the food around here is disgusting so I am not sure I WANT to feel anything more. Honestly, get your culinary shit together."-Esca replied.

Before the conversation could proceed any further, the sound of a bell alerted everyone to another newcomer. A lady clad in a black dress. Somewhat puffy shoulders, sleeves and torso tight against her body and the skirt then proceeding downwards. Wearing a simple pair of flats, she had barely any amount of adornment. Short black hair and a stoic expression, carrying a golden staff with a bell atop. Everyone gave her a wide berth the moment they heard the sound.

The Knell of Faures was fearsome indeed. While the girl was merely human, her style of clothing and the bell she carried bore a dread warning. "Vieren. You have beckoned me. And...these others  as well."-she turned to the group, holding the bell tightly, so that it would not ring. It took but a few seconds for everyone to approach her however, just by an inch or so, afraid yet also quite curious. She simply had to release the bell and let it ring.

Everyone immediately moved back as before. "This here is Bris. She is a Knell of Faures."-Vieren said as he gave the girl a head-pat. She couldn't be older than seventeen or eighteen, and still maintained her dead serious look even as she was being patted in the head in front of a hundred or so guardians.

They were still terrified. There was a good reason for it: nobody understood just what the Knells of Faures did. They were required to stand in Faures company and spend their lives memorizing ancient tales,in complete silence. This happened within a large complex known as the Halls of Silence, which doubled as a gigantic library for ancient texts. Few people ever accessed it due to lacking the  knowledge to read most of the texts.

In fact, most of the Knells had to read their stories translated from the original texts. Only Faures could translate everything present in there, and this due to her unique ability as an Axiom to understand and speak every language. What the Knells were supposed to do was accompany Faures in her very rare public appearances where she recounted the ancient stories.

They often acted as a chorus, adding music and repeating significant passages together to make it sound more menacing. Whether it was due to the power of the Axiom herself or a blessing that they all shared was a mystery, but once the stories were spoken strange things happened. It was like a large scale rite that called upon otherworldly powers. Vast storms appearing out of nowhere, beams of fire being called down, fallen structures rising up on their own. The power of Faures' stories and by extension of her Knells was inexplicable and this scared most people.

In the meantime, as everyone was gathered, Vieren begun explaining the plan. "So the idea is that we are all going to Ano. Now, I know how  that sounds... but what we are actually going there for is to retrieve certain...artifacts.

That we will use to disable the defense system around Iliaster."-Vieren said.

"Wait wait wait. Did I hear that right? You want to...drop the ring? How?!"-Legant asked loudly.

"The Axioms have devised a way, but they need items from Ano to be located. We will be accompanying you. Me, and a chosen number of Cphilia's guardians."-Orva said. "It is this most sacred duty that I implore you all to take upon yourselves. For the sake of every living being on this world.

It is time to extend our hands to the world in front of us and become joined once more. The Axioms have seen it...this is the only way forward."-Orva said.

"..You are asking us to abandon our lives."-Esca said. "We don't even know what's out there.. .what if we die on Ano?'

"Esca, we live in a world that's at war. Most of us are dangerously close to the front."-Vieren said. "Our future isn't exactly safe here. Morrgin here is definitely going to struggle and if the automata advance any further they are taking the  likes of me, Legant or Orva down for sure, given that we are prime humans.

Bris isn't going to cut it much  longer either, she will have to be involved...and therefore at a risk of dying. You understand don't you? ...This might actually be a good chance for us."

"Okay, okay let's assume we are going with that."-Esca said. "...What guarantees that we will even MAKE it to Ano."

"The Astral Majesty."-Orva said.

"Yeah that would be good. Now, let's..."-Esca was about to go on another direction when Orva coughed. "..I mean as in...The Astral Majesty IS our actual guarantee for this."

"...O-kay, that's a solid enough guarantee. I can get behind that. Piloting it to..."

"No. I cannot come. My duty is here."-Bris said.

"Bris, come on. We've been to the Halls of Silence. Quite a bit of time down there actually."-Morrgin said. "We know there's something missing. Wouldn't that be the most noble duty? To retrieve the stories of the  lost Axioms and add them to the collection? That way those parts of the collection won't be empty anymore. I am sure even Faures would be impressed."

"Hmm..."-Bris gathered her lips still suspicious. "I'll think about it..."

"...Then that must mean..."-Orva turned to Morrgin.

"Of course! I have nothing here, but Ano is the land of my ancestors! How could I pass up the opportunity to land in it's bosom! Truly this opportunity is a blessing! Hahahahahahahahahahahaha! Come on now! It is going to be so much fun!"-Morrgin let out a pleased laugh.

"...Hmm...Ano..."-Legant was being rather thoughtful this once.

"Troubled, eh? It's a big undertaking..."-Vieren placed a hand on the armor's back, looking towards the hundred. Legant shook his head and turned around, towards the house, and poked the door with his finger. It was thankfully quite tall, so if Legant turned to the side he could squeeze in, which he did once Vieren opened up the doorway.

Closing it behind their backs, Vieren looked at the armored Prime. "What's got you thinking?"

"You. You Vieren... I can understand them all being convinced, but what did it take to convince you? You know I'll go. I'm old. I've seen things. I don't care where the wind takes me, all I can do is give it my utmost. But you... leaving Iliaster? They said they needed items from the surface. There's... a small number of things left on the surface that the Axioms could use. And there's only one thing left in there that's related to you.

Don't tell me it isn't related."

"...It is. Yeah, okay you got me. Ever since that time, I...haven't been able to shake it. That's stupid enough but..."-He wasn't sure how to put it. Trauma? He was too young and it had been so many years. Millennia, really. No, it  was...deeper.

"Man, Axioms. They fuck you up on the inside. I never got too close to them, since I saw what they did to you. Did you know that you could always tell when she was about to be brought up? Just a few moments before she came up, you would just... slowly fade for a moment. They say some ancient prime humans have that sort of bond with the Axioms."-Legant spoke.

"...Yeah. That's probably it. From the world before... I...I never knew of it. Nevesha barely remembered too...Just visions here and there. Faures knew the most, and Manka... They swore to never speak a word of it. You know... Back then things were different. We were all friends on the Colony Flagship. There was the occasional criminal and there was the occasional fight, but you could go for months on end...and nothing bad would ever happen.

A simple calm life inside a giant ball of metal floating into space. It was dark, cramped, and some of the time automata went crazy and we had to fight them. Do you wonder sometimes, how life changes? Goes from one place to the next and the two have barely any semblance between one another. Really gets me... Maybe it's because it has happened so often that when I try to connect the beginning with the present, it all gets so... bizarre. Disconnected. How did I even get here?

Do normal humans ever experience this?"

"My friend... you are in far too deep thoughts for this  journey, that is all I can say. But to answer your question...yeah. Yeah they do. We all have an entire world inside of us that we always carry. And this world is only as big as we are, only as strong or resistant to change as we are. If you are more resilient like we are, then your world changes less rapidly. But you also live longer so you have more time for your world to tumble.

Long story short... everybody gets lost on their way. Even something as big as the Moon. If it was alive it'd probably think 'what the fuck happened to me, why am I covered in metal and random people fighting? Who are these woman that seem to command everything? I am so confused!' and then meditate on it's own journey in life.

Besides, going to Ano's bound to give you closure, right?"-Legant said.

"...I certainly hope so. It's my last bid for it. Either this or nothing. Now...you are right, I am a bit too deep in thought. I've heard Ano has this thing called alcohol that gets you to forget things and makes you all happy. I tried some once. It...didn't quite do it, but it was close enough to count."-Vieren said, a smile forming in his face.

"THAT's the spirit!"-Legant said, making the other crack up a little.

"You just made a pun there! These people tend to also refer to alcohol as 'spirits'."-Vieren said.

"Well if these people are drinking spirits... I have to wonder how it manages to make them happy and forgetful. Isn't that the opposite of what a ghost does?"

"Maybe that's how the ghosts in Ano work. Backwards world that is. Anyway we should probably tell Orva we are in, he might have started bawling his eyes out."-Vieren spoke while opening the doors, and making it out at last.

"We too accept. Let's get ready. Ano might be waiting but my patience is thin!"-Legant shouted.