Monolith Visions (Gek)

A small winged creature landed on the very top of the monolith. Suddenly, its eyes glowed red and its head revolved in a full circle. It screamed for mercy in an ancient voice that wanted itself dead.

The poor animal had clearly broken its neck, but some power of possession still animated it.

"Alien Text"

The poor winged creature dropped down dead, and the vision ended.

The ancient structure swung open to reveal a body encased in ice. It was a patchwork of different body parts. Its ragged beak appeared to have been stitched on with animal gut.

A handwritten sign in the language of the ancient traders could be seen above the body's head. Some sort of fuel would most likely melt the ice...

"Alien Text"

The monolith consumed the creature once more. The spirits that lived in this place regarded my actions.

I saw a ragged claw grab at me. Despite being broken and fragmented, it held me tight while a metallic beak emerged from the living rock.

"Alien Text"

I escaped the grip of the metallic claw. The vision faded.

A beak emerged from the ancient stone. It was shouting, but could not be heard. In the stone above someone, long ago, had scrawled advice for those who would approach it.

"Alien Text"

The beak screamed wordlessly at me, furiously intoning the words of the ancient beings that had once worshipped here. My scanner detected traces of a catalyst around it, but could not specify which one.

I fed the beak, and it uttered the words of those who once worshipped here.

As my feet approached the Monolith, I heard a low rumble, which gradually built into an ancient scream. It was like no other noise I'd ever experienced.

The calm silence of the alien landscape had become a nightmarish cacophony of pain and death. I tried to concentrate. There were words within the screams.

"Alien Text"

The vengeful spirits made note of my obedience.

The monolith melted in front of my eyes. The face of a trader emerged, its beak cut off for reasons unknown. It screamed and writhed in the bubbling vertical lava, desperately reaching out to me -

"Alien Text"

The monolith watched my actions, and the vision dematerialised.

I was standing in a crater beneath a jet black sky. I was up to my knees in a strange syrup that glowed pink in the darkness.

Spherical eggs floated around me. Some of these mucus-covered orbs smelled terrible, others were sweet and delicate.

The taint of the foul eggs was infecting the entirety of the spawning pool. I was filled by an urge to separate them.

"Alien Text"

I removed some of the eggs. The ancient Gek spirits that dwelled here passed judgement.

The monolith's glyphs took on a faint yellow tinge, then flickered and disappeared. It had no power: the mysterious forces that fueled these stones were weak. I heard a faint crackling whisper on the planetary breeze.

"Alien Text"

I noticed a hole in the monument's base, and inserted some of my mined resources through the gap.

The monolith consumed the elements.

The monolith had the smell of burnt metal and heavy industry. Strange runes swirled and transformed, forcing an image deep into my mind.

"Alien Text"

I looked into the past. I saw a small beaked figure, silhouetted by the light of a forge, industriously hammering armour. Next to it, a cloaked companion idly watched – seemingly content to avoid the work.

Both lifeforms stared at me. I chose one, and the place's spirits altered my equipment with a strange power.

The ground in front of the monolith was indented by the knees of a thousand ancient pilgrims who once knelt here.

A stone block slowly pulled back in front of me. Inside the hollow recess I was surprised to see canisters of luxury products that had built up there through the ages. I heard a whisper...

"Alien Text"

I felt greedy unknown forces watching my every move.

I was not alone. Tiny beaked creatures gambolled around my feet. To them I was a giant, and they recoiled in terror when they saw me towering above them.

The air filled with an unpleasant aroma, as they pinned themselves against the hard edifice of the unforgiving monolith.

The terrifying obelisk itself sat in judgement above us all – both myself and the creatures of the vision.

"Alien Text"

The creatures disappeared into the ether. The spirits that haunted this place watched on.

A terrible thirst overwhelmed me, but my hydration systems were suddenly inoperable. My throat was dry, and I felt dazed. Two ancient stone cups appeared.

"Alien Text"

The first was a vibrant red chalice full of a slick bubbly transparent liquid. The other was embossed with the shape of a circular red shield, and had a faint yellow tone.

If I didn't take in water my death felt certain. My hand wavered between the two before I chose a cup, and drank.

The liquid was unpleasant, and I was momentarily overcome with nausea. The ancient Gek seemed pleased, rewarding me with nanites.

An unseen replication of my own self stalked around the edge of the monolith. It screamed in an ancient tongue while forcing me down onto my knees.

"Alien Text"

The doppelganger first placed its boltcaster to my forehead, and then mimed cutting my belly open with the mining beam. It smiled pleasantly. I was to choose my desired execution.

I made my choice, and the doppelganger revealed its strength before vanishing.

A barely visible crack down the centre of the ancient edifice spat out dust. The monolith shook, and two vast doors swung open. The interior of the ancient structure was hollow, and had been used as a burial chamber.

"Alien Text"

An ancient beaked lifeform with bulging eyes lay desiccated atop an unlit funeral pyre. At its feet lay ancient treasures and technologies that had been left with it for its next life... wherever that might be.

The corpse awoke before the vision faded, a witness to my actions.

The Monolith stood forlorn and seemingly forgotten. If I strained, I could see faint marks in the ground where ancient tribes had once come to worship and commune with the edifice. A gust of alien breeze carried a faint whisper of a voice. I struggled to hear it.

"Alien Text"

Again, the voice echoed around me. Stronger this time. I tried to make out the words desperately crying out for my attention, and did what I could to appease them.

I was an observer. I witnessed beaked traders dressed in modern Exosuits leaving an object at the base of a Monolith. It was a small mesh of wires and canisters. They charged it with a strange metal, then quickly departed.

As if in a dream, I approached the ancient edifice. It all suddenly felt real. I lived and breathed in the recent past.

"Alien Text"

The device exploded violently.

I awoke from the vision to find both the monolith and myself intact. The spirits that inhabited the place watched closely.

I was being watched. I looked above, and saw a giant lidless eye hovering over the monolith. It stared down at me unblinkingly. It did not move. It did not look elsewhere.

Its gaze was remorseless. It felt like it had always been there. Its centre crackled, a bright unwavering blue...

"Alien Text"

The eye faded away with a haunting light. Reality was restored.

A small green hand reached out through the stone monolith, its fingernails yellowed and dirty. It opened to show an empty palm, and waited for my response.

This felt like part of an ancient tradition. There was no malice, just cold expectation.

"Alien Text"

I offered what I felt was right, and the vision ended.

I was chained on the monolith. My arms were in manacles above my head, and my feet were dangling several feet from the ground.

A creature, its beak showing through the blackened animal hide mask, approached on stilts. It wielded a red hot metal rod.

It pecked at my eyes, then pecked at my tongue. I was to choose my punishment.

"Alien Text"

I chose what I felt I could bear, and was rewarded correspondingly.

Time spooled backwards. I was sat on a platform looking down on an execution. Two small beaked traders were kneeling before me. One was small and wiry, the other was obese with jowls that brushed the wooden stage. Another lifeform, who wore a green cloth mask, readied an axe behind them.

"Alien Text"

The traders begged me for mercy. The familiar dry, croaky voice of an ancient tribe whispered encouragement into my ear.

I made my choice. The spirits of the monolith observed my judgement.