Eyes opened; eyes ‘ignited’ and ‘activated’; eyes whose irises’ natural colors were overridden by a sparkly cyanic, almost ‘pseudo-digitized’, radiance; eyes engraved with the radiant signa of the ‘arcane’, the sigil of ‘upliftion’, the sigil of ‘essence’ and its ‘alignment’; the sigil which separated ‘delusion’ from ‘truth’, the sigil which separated they from them.
The whites of the eye still existed, even if somewhat tainted; the black pupils were still present, even if surrounded by the ignited sigil engraved. Indeed, eyes so strange and alien yet, nevertheless, distinctly human.
Such eyes, however, were obscured behind a strange pseudo-masquerade full-mask, one which obscured their face completely; silver-white and rather pointed at the chin, faint patterns of hexagons outlined in grey, barely visible but still present.
A mask blank, empty, bland, devoid of personality, and devoid of any meaning; the only true ‘masquerade’ element being a ‘half-mask’ ‘module’ affixed to the mask proper—nothing more than two dark lenses with two basic grey ‘feathery’-like protrusions extending from the lenses’ sides. A mask so strange and alien, yet nevertheless…familiar and distinctly human.
Scratched and scraped, slightly damaged on the outside, but still more than functional. The eyes behind this strange mask could see clearly, even if hazy and noisy; in fact, they could see better than clearly. They could see in the dark, they could see heat itself, they could see in so many ways, and could see things that no other eyes could see. ‘Radar’, ‘compass’, ‘map’, and a myriad of other such digitized ‘HUDs’ and ‘screens’ littered their visual field…in addition to so many notices and warnings.
The strange dark-violet cloaked figure to whom these eyes and mask belonged was on the ground, or rather a road of sorts. Stunned and confused, dazed and staggered, in pain—their head and mind most especially.
Their eyes looked up to the dark cloud-obscured sky; processing, evaluating, realizing. In the sky up high were dozens of strange erratically moving cyanic lights—or objects that appeared as simply floating lights. Flaring away in quiet fiery from these lights was a maelstrom of cyanic ‘bolts’ and ‘tracers’—‘smooth’, ‘pure’, ‘thin’, and ‘refined’.
The lights flared their bolts in all directions at targets afar and unseen to the naked eye, firing away at the surrounding hills and small mountains, their exotic cyanic explosive bursts echoing afar, detonations which left behind nothing but residual glowing cyanic goop and exotic wisping dust.
A few larger lights fired ‘lances’ and ‘missiles’ which lanced across the sky in a cyanic sparkly trail, their exotic and violent detonations booming and echoing the horizon afar, destruction on an even greater scale than simple ‘bolt’. Firing back all around from all directions, however, were white-yellowish ‘bolts’ and ‘beams’—‘thick’, ‘heavy’, ‘volatile’, and ‘energized’.
These volatile and energized ‘bolts’ and ‘beams’ fired from unknowns all over around yet so far away, and pulverized into the earth and ground around, as well as the sky. These bolts and beams shredded all which they touched, their energized yellowish-white detonations leaving behind nothing but residual exotic ‘ash’ and ‘soot’. Indeed, ‘cyanic’ and ‘yellowish-white’, both ‘exotic’ ‘bolts’ and ‘beams’, yet fundamentally different.
Lights popped and popped in cyanic dusty explosions as their exotic flaming debris rained down from the sky up high, gradually dissolving away into strange cyanic dusty wisps. The lights in the sky formed a defensive perimeter around the dark-violet cloaked figure, suppressing away as columns of other lights moved with extreme speed in organized formations, engaging up close and personnel.
Unknown bolts began to flare their direction as they laid there; they had been struck straight in the head and knocked-out temporarily, they quickly realized. Without any more delay, they immediately snapped up back onto their black military-booted feet and began to stride and dash away from the road and towards a patch of forestry nearby, leaving behind a faint hard-to-see cyanic trail of exotic dusty radiance.
Their mask and hood obscured ears ringed with sounds and chatter—synthetic and mechanical in nature, yet surprisingly affective and human-esque.
{Domine, you are active again; ambush, to repeat, ambush; all friendly sections engaged in combat. Grey highlights, unknown contacts; unidentifiable and undocumented; non-denizen and unaffiliated with any designated hostiles or the Cala—}
{Domine, unknowns appear to have been tracking us by unidentified methods, and there are indications that they are utilizing some form of stealth and or masking capabilities our sensory and detection systems had not accounted or correc—}
{Security and combat are moving to engage, teams have been dispatched to assist friendlies in proximity, overwatch is suppressing and covering your retreat, all surveyors have been recalled to fall back and assist, but we predict a high likelihood that we will be overrun shortly; unknowns appear to have some form of anti—}
{Domine, we are losing contact with geospatial surveillance and satellite systems; no surface launches have been detected, most likely—}
{Friendly pings are fading quickly, communications has already dispatched an emergency long-bump signal to Special Command informing them of operational failure and contact with unidentifiable hostiles, it is apparent that prior assump—}
{Domine, parent sentinel is returning to you, we recommend an immediate exodus from this area, we have highlighted a possible cavern system suitable for long-term entrenchment; map and coordinate position pinged for surviving friendly rendezvous; we will cover as much as able until then}
« Éntelliģetùr! Ad aeterníam! »
{Aut mortem}
They pushed deeper and deeper into the forest, eyes fixated on their HUD map as unknown bolts pulverized into the forest around, the lights suppressing and counter-firing in kind. Their mind was focused and attentive…yet still stunned and at a loss. Cogitating yet unable to think, their minding flaring with activity and thoughts, wondering what just happened, what went wrong? What did they do wrong…again? Loss, failure, defeat, endless mistakes, endless sacrifices, lost in the void of time.
Once again, for the nth time in their long-long life, they failed utterly. What will they do now? Trapped and stranded somewhere someplace, unknown and alien yet so familiar; once again, for the nth time in their long-long life, everything was so seemingly…falling apart.
Signum Magíæ
Signum Arcaní
Olim oblítissimó suspexit húmánitás stéllás illás in cæló nocturnó lúcentés superné oculís libentibus cúriósitátis, et spérávit ut júnxerit sícut æquális. At etiam illam húmánitátem ínfantem oculís frigidís déspexerunt stéllæ, quæ semper indifferentés omnínó cuinam víderunt. Unó dié autem décréverunt illæ stéllæ húmánitátem ad sé pertinendam essé. Itaque á stéllís ipsís húmánitás ínfáns illa ex incúnábulís suís antequís síc erepta est, ut major facta sít, ut serví novellí deórum ætheriórum catenás suás tenentium factí sínt. In oculós ejus signum servitútis æternális ínsculptum, nova húmánitás renata illa novellam essentiam sine corde animáque data est ut…
Eyes opened; eyes ‘ignited’ and ‘activated’; eyes whose irises’ natural colors were overridden by a sparkly cyanic, almost ‘pseudo-digitized’, radiance; eyes engraved with the radiant signa of the ‘arcane’, the sigil of ‘upliftion’, the sigil of ‘essence’ and its ‘alignment’; the sigil which separated ‘delusion’ from ‘truth’, the sigil which separated they from them.
The whites of the eye still existed, even if somewhat tainted; the black pupils were still present, even if surrounded by the ignited sigil engraved. Indeed, eyes so strange and alien yet, nevertheless, distinctly human.
Such eyes, however, were obscured behind a strange pseudo-masquerade full-mask, one which obscured their face completely; silver-white and rather pointed at the chin, faint patterns of hexagons outlined in grey, barely visible but still present.
A mask blank, empty, bland, devoid of personality, and devoid of any meaning; the only true ‘masquerade’ element being a ‘half-mask’ ‘module’ affixed to the mask proper—nothing more than two dark lenses with two basic grey ‘feathery’-like protrusions extending from the lenses’ sides. A mask so strange and alien, yet nevertheless…familiar and distinctly human.
Scratched and scraped, slightly damaged on the outside, but still more than functional. The eyes behind this strange mask could see clearly, even if hazy and noisy; in fact, they could see better than clearly. They could see in the dark, they could see heat itself, they could see in so many ways, and could see things that no other eyes could see. ‘Radar’, ‘compass’, ‘map’, and a myriad of other such digitized ‘HUDs’ and ‘screens’ littered their visual field…in addition to so many notices and warnings.
The strange dark-violet cloaked figure to whom these eyes and mask belonged was on the ground, or rather a road of sorts. Stunned and confused, dazed and staggered, in pain—their head and mind most especially.
Their eyes looked up to the dark cloud-obscured sky; processing, evaluating, realizing. In the sky up high were dozens of strange erratically moving cyanic lights—or objects that appeared as simply floating lights. Flaring away in quiet fiery from these lights was a maelstrom of cyanic ‘bolts’ and ‘tracers’—‘smooth’, ‘pure’, ‘thin’, and ‘refined’.
The lights flared their bolts in all directions at targets afar and unseen to the naked eye, firing away at the surrounding hills and small mountains, their exotic cyanic explosive bursts echoing afar, detonations which left behind nothing but residual glowing cyanic goop and exotic wisping dust.
A few larger lights fired ‘lances’ and ‘missiles’ which lanced across the sky in a cyanic sparkly trail, their exotic and violent detonations booming and echoing the horizon afar, destruction on an even greater scale than simple ‘bolt’. Firing back all around from all directions, however, were white-yellowish ‘bolts’ and ‘beams’—‘thick’, ‘heavy’, ‘volatile’, and ‘energized’.
These volatile and energized ‘bolts’ and ‘beams’ fired from unknowns all over around yet so far away, and pulverized into the earth and ground around, as well as the sky. These bolts and beams shredded all which they touched, their energized yellowish-white detonations leaving behind nothing but residual exotic ‘ash’ and ‘soot’. Indeed, ‘cyanic’ and ‘yellowish-white’, both ‘exotic’ ‘bolts’ and ‘beams’, yet fundamentally different.
Lights popped and popped in cyanic dusty explosions as their exotic flaming debris rained down from the sky up high, gradually dissolving away into strange cyanic dusty wisps. The lights in the sky formed a defensive perimeter around the dark-violet cloaked figure, suppressing away as columns of other lights moved with extreme speed in organized formations, engaging up close and personnel.
Unknown bolts began to flare their direction as they laid there; they had been struck straight in the head and knocked-out temporarily, they quickly realized. Without any more delay, they immediately snapped up back onto their black military-booted feet and began to stride and dash away from the road and towards a patch of forestry nearby, leaving behind a faint hard-to-see cyanic trail of exotic dusty radiance.
Their mask and hood obscured ears ringed with sounds and chatter—synthetic and mechanical in nature, yet surprisingly affective and human-esque.
{Domine, you are active again; ambush, to repeat, ambush; all friendly sections engaged in combat. Grey highlights, unknown contacts; unidentifiable and undocumented; non-denizen and unaffiliated with any designated hostiles or the Cala—}
{Domine, unknowns appear to have been tracking us by unidentified methods, and there are indications that they are utilizing some form of stealth and or masking capabilities our sensory and detection systems had not accounted or correc—}
{Security and combat are moving to engage, teams have been dispatched to assist friendlies in proximity, overwatch is suppressing and covering your retreat, all surveyors have been recalled to fall back and assist, but we predict a high likelihood that we will be overrun shortly; unknowns appear to have some form of anti—}
{Domine, we are losing contact with geospatial surveillance and satellite systems; no surface launches have been detected, most likely—}
{Friendly pings are fading quickly, communications has already dispatched an emergency long-bump signal to Special Command informing them of operational failure and contact with unidentifiable hostiles, it is apparent that prior assump—}
{Domine, parent sentinel is returning to you, we recommend an immediate exodus from this area, we have highlighted a possible cavern system suitable for long-term entrenchment; map and coordinate position pinged for surviving friendly rendezvous; we will cover as much as able until then}
« Éntelliģetùr! Ad aeterníam! »
{Aut mortem}
They pushed deeper and deeper into the forest, eyes fixated on their HUD map as unknown bolts pulverized into the forest around, the lights suppressing and counter-firing in kind. Their mind was focused and attentive…yet still stunned and at a loss. Cogitating yet unable to think, their minding flaring with activity and thoughts, wondering what just happened, what went wrong? What did they do wrong…again? Loss, failure, defeat, endless mistakes, endless sacrifices, lost in the void of time.
Once again, for the nth time in their long-long life, they failed utterly. What will they do now? Trapped and stranded somewhere someplace, unknown and alien yet so familiar; once again, for the nth time in their long-long life, everything was so seemingly…falling apart.
Signum Magíæ
Signum Arcaní
Olim oblítissimó suspexit húmánitás stéllás illás in cæló nocturnó lúcentés superné oculís libentibus cúriósitátis, et spérávit ut júnxerit sícut æquális. At etiam illam húmánitátem ínfantem oculís frigidís déspexerunt stéllæ, quæ semper indifferentés omnínó cuinam víderunt. Unó dié autem décréverunt illæ stéllæ húmánitátem ad sé pertinendam essé. Itaque á stéllís ipsís húmánitás ínfáns illa ex incúnábulís suís antequís síc erepta est, ut major facta sít, ut serví novellí deórum ætheriórum catenás suás tenentium factí sínt. In oculós ejus signum servitútis æternális ínsculptum, nova húmánitás renata illa novellam essentiam sine corde animáque data est ut…
