Filled with doubts and regrets, Akwan looked at his hands, recalling the calamity.
A time at which their world lost itself to a consuming luminance.
The sheer thought of such a sight haunted him.
No one had an idea who or what caused it; all they knew was that they lost everything.
"Let's not speak of that," He said, scratching his head. "It has been a long time since that happened."
To avoid sparking a situation, Akwan accelerated their pace and led them through the ruined city.
Ruined towers lay scattered across the area. Wires twisted from deep pits in the empty expanse up to the sharpest rocky ceilings.
"Much has happened since you two were gone,"
Akwan muttered, seeming upset as he spoke.
"And I'm afraid that there is more I have yet to tell you."
His glare swept the ruined city's edge. Capsules lay smashed, spires toppled and split.
Nothing seemed glamorous about this area.
They approached a colossal device of glossy black glass standing atop the debris-strewn circle of stalagmites.
Green stems crept from the cold, hard surface, climbing the cube. White gears ground and tore, trying to spark.
Five to seven wiry, long, steel arms extended from every side of the cube, folding itself like a card.
And, slender, narrow lines of white light flickered on the surface of the glass.
Their eyebrows rose as they looked up, noticing the device's size.
It was almost as tall as the ruined city. Although it did not move, Akwan led Asahi and Aletha toward the device's surface.
The cube's glass was so shiny that it easily reflected their reflections.
"Whoa!" Aletha said with eyes sparkling with fascination. "This device looks... cool!"
Asahi kept his gaze on the surface as he carefully observed the device from all angles. His voice was quiet and serious, but he still complimented the intricate wiring.
"I have never seen such complex constructions before," He said.
Turning back to Akwan, Asahi abruptly redirected the topic.
"Akwan, tell me, what is there to come back to?"
He took a deep breath and continued.
"Nothing is left of our world, not even our kingdom. It's the only reason why we're in this situation in the first place. There's nothing we can do other than to wander the stars."
As Aletha narrowed her gaze to Asahi, he clenched his fists and expressed a stifling expression of pain in his voice.
"You don't understand how much we have lost to that catastrophe," he said. "So many loved ones, so many places we cherished, so many traditions we held dear."
Asahi fought back tears as he stepped forward, his voice shaking.
"All for it to go to waste! Our parents are gone, our sister is left behind, and most of the lesser Rulers have vanished. Tell me, just one reason to go back to a world of ash!"
Silence erupted after his voice echoed across the cavern's walls.
"Because hope exists, Asahi,"
Akwan replied.
"The lies we tell ourselves are what get us this far. By just accepting the truth without resistance, there is nothing you can be."
Aletha couldn't help but agree with Akwan's response.
"Yes, stagnation leads to decay," she said. "You can't just avoid something without trying it first."
Asahi felt his heart flutter. He hadn't considered the luminance as a threat because deep down, there were voices in that luminance.
Something had changed in Asahi. He wanted to believe in Akwan.
But in truth, he knew that his words of hope were hollow.
He looked away from the device and gazed around the ruins.
The entire scene made him feel as if he were walking through a graveyard.
The ground was streaked with dried blood and strewn with mangled metal.
Shattered crystals were scattered everywhere, as if pulverized by an earthquake, while the air brimmed with the stench of death.
Faced with urgency, Aletha looked over at Akwan and urged him.
"So… let's try it," She said as she approached the device. "Let's return to our home world and see what truly awaits us."
As a silent reeking wind flew by, Akwan nodded his head in agreement, and soon, Asahi followed.
. . .
When they approached the device, Akwan acknowledged both siblings.
"Place both of your hands on the device."
They then place their hands on the device, as Akwan said.
"Because of your appearances, there is a possibility that activating the device might be easier than the intended activation process. "
And so, they acted in accordance with what they were informed.
After a simple countdown, Asahi skimmed and prodded the device's black surface with his fingers.
Suddenly, a white spark pulsed through the layer of glass, sending out glowing digital ripples across the cube like dropping a stone into water. In reaction, Asahi backed up, turning over to Akwan to see if this was right.
He couldn't have been any more correct.
"Ripples have surfaced the device. The activation is successful!"
Akwan praised as he saw the flickering, glowing white lines flicker into a stagnant position.
"Now, Aletha, touch the device as well. There may be a chance that we don't have to do anything other than that."
Asahi didn't know what to say when Aletha took off her gloves and placed her hand on the surface.
This action made him nervous.
He was afraid that whatever happened next would cause them some fatal damage.
Surprisingly, the device did not explode.
Instead, the surface became warm against their hands.
"What's happening?"
A deep robotic voice suddenly spoke from it.
. . .
[Unbroken from time: Aspect 102]
"It's the forgotten language from the ruined civilization," Akwan said. "The once-universal language now forgotten."
Aletha turned over and asked Akwan with a genuinely confused tone.
"What are you talking about?"
"Doesn't matter," Akwan said as he heard loud digital growls sound behind him. "Just continue touching the device."
[BEEP]
Millions of white iridescent lines and dots exploded from the device.
[Host Identified]
Akwan, eager to see the results of his labors, shoved Aletha and Asahi's hands up against the side of the gadget, setting off a powerful pulse that powered the entire machine.
[Second Host Detected]
[Universal Scanning… Complete. Protocol for Planetary Navigation initiated. Execute?]
Slowly unfolding from the device's top, five black "arms" emerged. After expanding the hologram, it reached the ceiling and rotated erratically.
"Yes!" Akwan said, desperation anchoring his voice.
Akwan seemed enthralled by the gadget's motions, as though he, too, wanted to touch it.
To his dismay, a blast blew him away just as his hands were about to smooth up the surface.
"I'm deemed incompatible for a device such as this," Akwan said. "Just... stay put."
The apparatus let forth another volley of holograms in the form of a gigantic white light explosion, and the constant droning of the apparatus caused their ears to ring.
[World Name: Gincad. Hosts are rendered with familiar genes. Opening Sequence for Cosmic Teleportation]
[10…]
As the device jiggled and their bodies swung rapidly left and right, the ground beneath them began to shake.
[9…]
[8…]
[7…]
A blinding ray illuminated the immense cave.
[6…]
[5….]
Tension clung as the device's white lights illuminated its four corners.
[4…]
[3….]
[2…]
[1…]
Instantly, a deafening sonic boom rocked them and hurled them upward, dazzling their eyes with an encompassing white light.
[0…]
In less time than it takes to blink, the massive spectacle of the cavern, the device, and the ruins was replaced seamlessly by a vast white abyss.