Monolith Visions (Vy'keen)

I placed my palm on the monolith, then stood back when it melted in response to my touch. Molten rock dripped down the stone, exposing a hollow interior.

Inside, I saw riches that were beyond belief. Ancient technologies and cargo that would aid my journey. Suddenly, the voice of an ancient tribe shook the ground I stood on...

"Alien Text"

Lava continued to drop, and the edifice seemed unstable, but equipment that could aid me was within arm's reach.

The ancient warriors who once worshipped here passed judgement upon my actions.

I felt a strange chill. A layer of frozen gas suddenly coated the monolith from bottom to top. It was so cold that I could see my breath inside my helmet.

There was one small gap in the crystal ice, and I felt convinced that I could feed some of my mined elements through it, so they could come into contact with the monolith behind.

"Alien Text"

I chose an element to insert, and was rewarded accordingly.

There were three vast columns of words on the ancient structure, each written in a different alphabet.

The first column's words were like savage runes scratched in sand, the second showed precise sequences of dots. The final column had wide and welcoming letters, almost appearing hand-written in hard stone.

"Alien Text"

The dirt and blood of ancient hand prints covered the base of each column.

I pressed my hand against the writing, and the ancient spirits that dwelled here infused me with the language of their descendants.

The body of a warrior emerged from the obelisk, a jagged tear in their midriff suggesting their end was not a peaceful one. They still held their Multi-Tool.

"Alien Text"

The surface of the sculpted rock blurred and showed images of military worship. It was trying to tell me something.

The ancients closely observed my treatment of the warrior's remains.

A small terrified creature emerged from the monolith and ran between my legs. I heard the noises of an ancient hunt: the howls of pack animals in pursuit and the thunder of hooves.

Warriors on vast beasts charged through the rock, and amidst the chaos one saw me staring. It raised its facial tendrils in greeting, barked a few words and swung a bladed weapon down towards me.

"Alien Text"

The hallucination faded, and the Vy'keen ancients passed judgement upon my courage.

I became a part of a strange new reality. The ancient rock opened. Inside, the dried out heart of an ancient warrior was strung up between wooden pillars. It pulsed slowly as it hung there, still beating.

Lying below it on a dusty floor were a set of wrinkled lungs that looked forever doomed to wheeze stale air. A desiccated eyeball stared up at me. Unblinking.

"Alien Text"

I treated the grim remains as felt appropriate, and the monolith responded dramatically.

The monolith showed images of creatures lying dead before it. Each sacrificed, butchered and offered up to whatever Gods were once worshipped here.

"Alien Text"

Suddenly, the head of a small woodland animal raised up through the earth below me. It stared at me with wide-eyes, then gave a joyful skip when its tiny hooves reached ground level. Something was clearly expected of me...

I acted the only way I could, and the Vy'keen ancients watched closely.

I was suddenly underwater. I was drowning. Water clogged my lungs. My chest was on fire. I gasped for air where there was none, and felt only tepid liquids filling me inside and out. My vision was clouding. I knew this was my time. This was it. This was what it felt like.

Suddenly, a green hand thrust itself through the surface of the water. The light was fading...

"Alien Text"

Reality reverted. Perhaps this was how I would face death when it finally, truly, came for me.

Two ancient stone cups materialised in front of the monolith. One was filled with a dark red viscous liquid, the other contained a sticky fluid that was bright yellow and smelled powerfully bitter.

"Alien Text"

On the stone tablet behind the cups, ancient glyphs swirled to form an image. A powerful and muscular warrior surrounded by a red halo challenged an opponent clad in bright yellow armour.

I chose a liquid, and drank. It tasted foul, choking me, flowing freely from my mouth.

The vision faded, and the liquid crystallised into nanite clusters.

The monolith ripped like paper, opening a window to another world. It was laced with a giant web. Just within my reach, an ancient warrior lay cocooned.

They had been there for centuries. Dead, vacant eyes stared through me and on into the landscape beyond. Suddenly, I heard a voice call out.

"Alien Text"

The body carried a rusted Multi-Tool, while a bulging growth on its chest suggested it might contain greater riches. Suddenly, the leathery growth started to move...

I attempted to salvage what I could. The voice on the wind laughed...

I was inside a vast coliseum and beneath a blood red sky. The noise was overpowering. Warriors screamed and barked at the battle set up before them.

"Alien Text"

Two combatants were squaring up on the crimson sand. One had lost their blade, and hid behind a shield. The other stalked towards them, with a spear raised.

I felt compelled to add my voice to the howl of the mob. My favoured gladiator fatally wounded their rival, and bowed towards me.

As the vision faded, I was thanked with something to assist me in combat.

I felt an intense heat burning within the rock. Suddenly, as if attracted to my suit, a liquid metal started to seep from a hole that had been broken into the rock. A voice screamed out.

"Alien Text"

What started as a drip became a surge forcing itself through the gap. The monolith's previous contents were draining, and its glow was starting to fade.

I acted quickly, and the vision ended.

A portal opened on the monolith, and the body of a huge winged animal fell to my feet. Its throat had been ritually cut, and its wings had been tattooed with faces of an ancient warrior tribe. The eyes though, the eyes looked strange...

Its original eyes had been cut out, and replaced by glittering red orbs. The more I looked, the more they blazed. An advanced technology clearly lay at their centre. Could I bear to desecrate this sacrifice for help with my journey?

"Alien Text"

I made my decision carefully, and the ancients that dwelled here noted my choice. I was bathed in crimson light, nanites spilling forth into my hands.

The giant mouth of an ancient hound suddenly emerged through the face of the monolith. It opened its jaws wide, and foul-smelling spittle streaked my visor. My nausea was tempered by the sight of valuable commodities balanced on its giant tongue.

"Alien Text"

In a sudden movement the hound shifted the goods to one side of its mouth, spraying saliva over my arms. There was space on the tongue for more, should I wish to give up some of my cargo.

I weighed up my choice, and the vision faded.

An ancient warrior's feet and legs slowly emerged from the bottom of the monolith. The rest of their torso then followed, unceremoniously pushed out onto the bare rock. They had been decapitated.

Blood dripped at my feet. High above me a disembodied head laughed at my shock. It shouted a guttural command of encouragement.

"Alien Text"

Behind, I heard an ancient blade unsheathe, and someone rushing towards me...

It was a test; the blade was only spectral. The vision faded.

The monolith fragmented before my eyes. It folded down in on itself, again and again, until it was a tiny red orb surrounded by dancing lights.

It felt like something truly ancient, perhaps something divine, was showing me the origin of these strange constructions.

"Alien Text"

The metal I carried was physically dragging me towards it - desperate to help it rebuild. The elements I carried wanted to offer themselves; I surrendered them to the structure. I felt a rush of blood. My head span. I was without myself, and witnessed my true place within the infinite bounds of space.

The monolith slowly rebuilt, inch by inch. It pitied me my insignificance.

The body of a gilled blob creature materialised on the surface of the rock. It was an ancient sacrifice, impaled through its wide, open eyes with metal spears.

Liquid was dripping from the body, down the monolith, through a channel cut into the rock by ancient hands. It could be diverted toward two carvings – one of a sun, the other of a moon.

"Alien Text"

The ancients observed my interference. The vision shifted, then concluded.

I felt drained. Readings on my Multi-Tool and Exosuit started to gradually pull downwards, and a feeling of lethargy overwhelmed me. I breathed normally, but my body screamed for oxygen.

A thought from outside my own mind started to echo through my consciousness.

"Alien Text"

The life-draining monolith, silent and unmoving, towered above. I did what I felt was wise, and survived the encounter.

A beam of light shone down from the sky, and was focused by ancient glyphs onto a stone surface marked with ancient carvings.

The beam slowly traced towards images scratched into the stone. A vast warrior battle, an alien city, and what could be a stolen treasure. The hand prints of pilgrims covered each one...

"Alien Text"

I touched an image. The vision changed, followed by silence.

A sudden pulse of destructive energy flowed through my Exosuit. My Multi-Tool sensed another build-up of energy growing deep within the monolith. It would soon unleash itself on me, and the landscape that surrounded the ancient site.

I could use my Exosuit's shielding to dampen the imminent energy wave, but the suit's systems were too overwhelmed to identify the hazard...

"Alien Text"

I listened to the voice, and braced against the wave as best I could.