Arknights : Final Rebirth - Gladius Belii

[E] Chapter 1 - Awakening, Exploration, Departing.

"Mono/Dialogue"

'Inner thoughts'

Narration

Year: Data not found

Location: Data not found

POV: Narrator

How long has it been? Decades? Centuries? Millennia? The answer was swept away by the earth's coldest embrace. The once advanced mobile laboratory fell into the abyss, swallowed by the earth, and buried along everything that could have been, whether it was for the better or worse.

A marvel of technology turned into a silent witness of a once great civilization, a proof of scientific prowess that had been devoured by the whimsical earth as it sees fit, and perhaps a testament of irony... The place is now a rusted tomb, a tomb that is left to rot by the passage of time and the waning of an era.

The mobile laboratory was filled with holes, rust, and clear signs of rotten corpses that used to litter the hallway. Critters that can't be found in our world scurrying about to feast upon what was left of the metallic tomb.

One anomaly, however... A single room was left eerily pristine, as much as ruin can be concerned to even qualify as pristine, and untouched. Like a sign or more likely a warning that whatever is behind the proverbial gate to another dimension should not ever be disturbed. The critters within the tomb feel how their instinct screams at them to make themselves scarce.

The thing behind the closed metallic door had returned to life. With a soft hum of ancient machinery, and perhaps a miracle, something crashed against the cold metallic floor. A coughing sound and perhaps a wail of pain was heard. A small thump in all honesty but it reverberates against the tomb in its entirety, a premonition for the coming storm.

And oh did they sense, no, felt it indeed... the critters gone silent, the air grew cold, and not even the already sparse air dared to make a squeak of sound. For they all know that whatever is behind that sturdy metallic door has finally stirred awake, and it will cross that seemingly sacred boundary.

Critters with more intelligence or sapience fled the tomb in due haste, the more instinctive ones hid about with some prepared their claws and appendages to defend their paltry territory, while others cowered against the incoming storm.

The more belligerent kind welcomed the coming storm. They had always been curious about the presence and their biology also longed to consume their more superior counterpart so to speak. Fangs bared, venom drips, claws sharpened, and their very essence is ready for the storm.

Now they all wait...

POV: Narrator

"Ugh... where am I?" The being had finally awoken from his slumber. Just as his water tank burst open, while expelling the liquid contained inside, he fell over and to make matters worse he felt a sharp pain piercing his lungs.

"Urk! *cough* *cough*" He retches and coughs after his sudden crashing-against-cold-hard-metallic-fucking-floor event, it is not helping that he is soaking wet.

"ha... ha... it's... cold..." He shivers, the cold dampness that blankets him is unlike what he is accustomed to, but before the chilling sensation continues to torment his body, he heats up rapidly and stabilizes himself into a much more comfortable body temperature. "Hah..." He exhaled, his breath steadied and he finally looked around.

"Where am I?" he once again wondered aloud about the present predicament. Wondering why he suddenly woke up in this... alien... alien place, something takes his attention first and foremost immediately. "Wait... my voice?" He finally realized that his voice changed into a softer tone and more desirable rhyme, she could hear how pleasing it was.