Hex's P.O.V.
I looked at the person wearing the medieval knight armour standing in front of him. And here I thought I had seen everything back in my day, but things are getting more surreal by the second. We stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. Everyone was completely silent, so much so I could hear my own heartbeat. Were they allies? Or foes? I looked back at my troops from the corner of my eye. A rough estimate would tell me we lost more than half of our forces.
On top of that, only 4 tanks remain standing, and the Turbo Tank, which while heavily damaged, the nanites are already starting to repair it. We would not be able to last another battle. The horse, on which the knight was, neighed, startling me, causing me to tense up and get ready for a fight.
The knight on top of it then unscathed their sword, causing me to raise my arms as if to shoot her, even though I no longer had any ammunition, it was just a reflex. I heard my soldiers shift behind me, they were probably getting ready to shoot at them, and the other knights also seemed prepared to charge at us. The knight in front of me pointed their sword to me and spoke. I could not understand what they said, but one thing became clear for me, that 'they' was a 'she', as I could distinguish a female voice when they spoke.
I touched a few buttons in the panel of my arm, activating the universal translator. While their language may not be recorded into the translator's database, it will translate the bits like any other language by searching through its millions of recorded languages. Once the translator had been set up, I looked at the knight and spoke again.
"I'm sorry, may you repeat yourself?" I asked, trying to be as polite as possible as our life was in their hands right now.
There was a slight pause in which I wondered if the translator had worked.
"Who are you," I heard the knight answer back. While the translator only translated 'Who you', I filled in the bits with logic. "And what is your purpose here," The knight finished.
"We are beings from a faraway land," I replied, as I was not sure how to explain to this pre FTL species, that is probably in the medieval ages by the looks of it, the concept of trans-dimensional travel. "We mean you no harm, I assure you that," I said as I raised my hands to where she could see them so that she could be at ease.
The knight looked at me with curiosity. "Tell me," The knight begun. "You are part of the sky people, are you not?" The knight then began to walk with her horse around me, as if she were examining me while I remained in the same spot.
"Sky people?" I asked. Could they be talking about the Sless? So, they contacted them. "I'm sorry, but I think you have confused us with someone else," I replied.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," The knight replied. "Those metal dragons, they were yours, am I correct?"
Metal dragons? Really? That is how they call the strike craft?
"According to the ancient texts that tell us about the stories of when the likes of you first appeared, you brought in metal dragons and giant metal siege engines that could pierce through the mightiest of fortifications," The knight told us. "And the prophecies said by the ancients warned us that one day you would return to enact vengeance upon us,"
Oh? So that is what happened to the remaining Sless. If these people could drive the Sless out of their planet, we should proceed with caution. "Once again," I started. "You seem to have mistaken us. While in nature, we may be similar to this ancient foe of yours, I assure you we are not the same. I can even ensure you, that the enemy you drove out is no more, they will never bother you again," I tried to explain to them. "As I said before, we come here with no ill intention. We only thought against those… creatures because they attacked us first,"
"How can we even believe this is true?" The knight asked as she stopped in front of me and pointed her sword accusingly toward me. "There is nothing that guarantees us that you are not the same sky people we fought before. And even if you are a different sky people, how can we know that you won't be like the last ones, as they too presented themselves wearing the mask of the sheep, only to reveal their true nature as wolves later on,"
I wondered for a few seconds, what could convince these people that we are not like the Sless? Then, an idea came to my mind. "Do you possess any records as to how these sky people looked like?" I asked the knight. Maybe this will convince them.
"The ancients described them as having an elongated head, pale blue skin, and thin tentacles coming out of their head," The knight described the fallen race. Ah, so Hayden's reconstruction was accurate.
"If that is the case," I replied. "Then, this might convince you we are different," I then brought my hands to my head and slowly removed my helmet. When the helmet came off, only the universal translator's earpiece and microphone remained, and I looked at the knight with my own golden eyes.
The knight before me gasped, and I heard the other knights behind her started to murmur. "Impossible," The knight said faintly. "It must be a trick," The knight stated.
"Is there a trick that allows a being to change their own appearance drastically?" I asked the knight standing before me.
"While straining on the mind, yes, there is," The knight. Well, this is quite the pickle.
"And isn't there a way for you to check that I am not doing such tricks?" I asked.
"Those spells often get distorted by the touch," The knight replied.
I extended my hands to the side, inviting her to test out if I was deceiving her or not. The knight seemed reluctant at first, but she then gave a single jump to come down from her horse and walked towards me. When she got close to me, she eyed seemed to eye me carefully, and then she extended her open hand towards my face. She touched my cheek while I remained watching her with a stoic expression. Now that she was standing in front of me, I realized the significant difference in height between us.
The knight then retreated her hand. "This can't be…" I heard the knight utter quietly.
"Is there something wrong?" I asked as I didn't understand what was so hard to believe.
For a few seconds, the knight looked at me before bringing her arms to her head and removing her won golden helmet. As she did, my eyes widened as I couldn't believe what was in front of me. She was no Xeno… she was a human?! I met her brown eyes, which were as polished amber in the first rays of dawn. I sifted through her face. Her hair was tied up in a nice little bun. It was brown like the bark of an oak tree, not dark but only gentle in the light. Her skin's white creamy tone reminded me of whipped milk. She was young, probably in her early twenties.
I looked from the corner of my eyes and saw as my troopers also slowly, one by one, removed their helmets. This seemed to have inspired the knights, as they too removed their helmet. My soldiers and the knights stepped to the front, and they all looked directly at each other. We were all humans.
I looked back at the female knight in front of me, and I saw her struggle to speak up. "Who… who are you?" She asked. The confusion in her voice was notable.
"I'm Hex Colley, a captain of the Terrestrial Empire," I replied firmly. "And who are you?"
The knight took a few seconds before answering. "I'm Nathalia del Frizia, Holy Master of the of Holy Order of the Sun," She stated proudly.
I extended y hand towards her. "It's a pleasure to meet you," I said. Nathalia looked at my hand as if she was not sure what to do. "This is how we greet where I come from," I said, causing her to look at me. "We grab each other's hand and shake them," I explained to her. She then looked back down at my hand before she also extended hers and grabbed mine.
"Likewise," Nathalia replied. Little did I know, that this was the handshake that would change everything…
Nathalia's P.O.V.
I looked at this Captain Hex standing in front of me. He is a clear head higher than most people I would consider tall and noticed many of his soldiers were too. The captain doesn't seem lanky though; there appears to be bulk on him also. His eyes were gold, like jewellery, and his coal hair moved in the calmly in the wind. Hair so black against the skin so white isn't expected in these parts.
"I think we have a lot to discuss," Captain Hex spoke up after a few seconds, causing me to snap out of my thoughts. "Don't you think, Holy Master?" He asked stridently.
"Indeed," I replied with a small smile, trying to be as pleasant as possible. These people held against such a massive Piglin army with so little soldiers; I better be cautious. Even if they are not the same sky people my ancestors thought, it is clear they are powerful, so we should not provoke them. Still, the fact that they are humans can change everything; if we get them to be our allies and aid us against the Piglins, we may as well change the tide of the war.
"If you may please follow me," The captain said as he signalled me to his metal siege engines with his hands. "You may bring an escort if you desire," I nodded in response.
I turned to my soldiers and skimmed through them with my eyes. "Alina, Nichol, Elisot, Neil, come with me," I firmly ordered them.
"Yes, ma'am!" They replied as they stepped forwards. These four were my most trusted soldiers. First, Alina, my best friend, and to think that we met by chance. She is short of stature but big of heart. She has hair of a thousand shades of gold and grey eyes with a well-set foundation, as if quite concrete about what she wanted. Nichol, my teacher, the one I have known the longest out of all the 10,000 members of my order. They say age and wisdom are entirely separate things and that each can arrive ahead of the other. This was never truer with this combination of older man and boy. He was an older man, his white hair which was slowly falling gave it aways, but in his turquoise eyes, I could still see the little boy inside of him, yearning for the adrenaline of battle. Elisot, we met each other when we were once part of the Holy Order of the Emperor. A fierce warrior, but shy, as she always covers herself in her armour, as she tries to hide the mental scars of her past; she was one of the few who didn't remove her helmet. Finally, Neil, while young and inexperienced, his determination is unrivalled, as his oak eyes sparkled, shining brightly with the light of his will that out shun the sun.
The four of them stood behind me. The captain nodded, and he turned to his soldiers, he spoke in a language I had never heard. His soldiers then seemed to move around and started to grab the corpses of their fallen comrades. They must be counting their losses. He then signalled to another of his soldiers. The soldier had eyes of a warrior who tasted the battlefield time and time again, but also one who has tasted loss. It seemed like age was starting to get to him, as his face was getting wrinkly, and I noticed a few strands of white hair. The soldier nodded when the captain stopped speaking and walked away. The captain then turned to us and placed his finger on a weird glass on his arm.
"Please, follow me," Hex said on our language, although in a very broken way, and then turned around and walked away.
I followed him, and my escort was behind me. Hex guided us towards a massive iron siege engine which possessed wheel bigger than us. In front of the machine, waiting for us, was the soldier Hex had spoken to before, and four other. One of them immediately stood out, as unlike his comrades, he still had his helmet on, was he like Elisot too? Then there were two women and one man, who all seemed to be about my age. The first of them was standing next to the elderly soldier. Her hair was as waves of pure earth, softly reflecting the light of the sun; each strand moving freely in the breeze, a compliment to her stillness. This was a great contrast with her eyes, like sun-baked soil, pale, even though they are brown. Next to her was a small woman; she was as small or even smaller than Alina. Her hair was not too long, nor too short. It was not too straight nor too curvy, the perfect combination; and her eyes, an ideal spring sky; all genuinely remarkable features. The last was a male. He looked stiff and looked around the site very often. He had a sun-bleached hair that contrasted nicely with his eyes, that spoke of all things newborn in spring, of a soul that remained ever young.
We stood a few metres away from the engine, and suddenly, its armour split in two in one section, allowing for the interior to be seen. As if being suddenly spawned, stairs started to extend from the machine until they reached the ground. Hex then began to walk to into the massive carriage, and I followed him, my guards behind me, and his soldiers behind them. I stepped into a metal hall with lights coming from the ceiling. I followed the captain as we passed through some doors, which opened as we stepped closer to them. Finally, we reached the final door. Hex tapped a glass that was infused with the metal wall, and then the door opened.
I stepped into a relatively big room. I looked around; otherworldly would be the best way to describe this… Everything was made of metal, except for the chairs around the table in the middle of the room. Speaking of which, it was a weird table. It was round and seemed to be installed directly into the floor; there was glass with a light blue colour in the middle. There appeared to be other glasses installed around the room, and all of them seemed to contain something, text, although I didn't understand what it said.
"Please, take a seat," Hex said as he signalled to one of the chairs. I did as told and sat down. My hands were sweating, and I looked all around the room, admiring this metal construction. I then realized it was cold, which was weird, as this area is cold only in the winter. The coolness contrasted poorly with my armour, as I felt it started to burn on my skin a bit.
"Why is it so cool in here?" I asked as I looked up at the captain.
"Oh, it's the air conditioner," Hex replied as if it was apparent.
"Air conditioner?" I asked while I raised my eyebrow at him.
"Yes," Hex replied. Hex then pointed to a part of the wall with a few bars on it and a small tunnel behind. "See that thing? That is the air conditioner. It is a machine we can use to manipulate the temperature of a room, cooling it, or making it warmer," Hex explained. Such a machine would be helpful during the hot summers and cold winters. "Is it too cold for you?" Hex asked as he turned back to me.
"A tiny bit, yes," I said as I hugged and rubbed myself with my arms. Hex walked to a wall which also had a small glass infused in it, and Hex pushed some buttons under it, which made a 'beep' sound when pressed. I then felt as the air warmed up, but it was still cool, just perfect.
I then saw as Hex walked towards another side of the wall and once again pressed some buttons. Once he stopped, a small door in the wall opened up, and small metal sticks pushed out two cups. The cups were made of glass, so I could see the beverage inside, which seemed to be a white liquid, like water, but denser. The cups also had a slice of what I believe is lemon stuck to the cup's border. Hex placed one of the cups in front of me and then he sat down on the other side of the table.
"Please drink, there is no need to be shy," Hex replied as he then took a sip of the beverage. I looked at the drink for a few seconds, and then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and saw Elisot leaning towards me. I leaned toward her helmet to hear what she wanted to say.
"Princess, don't drink it," Elisot quietly told me. "We don't know what that is; it could be poisoned, so please princess, leave it," Elisot wobbly pleaded to me.
I looked up toward Nichol, my most excellent advisor, to see what he would tell me. Nichol simply stared at me with a flat look. I knew that look, it's the same he gave me whenever I trained, and I asked him a question, and he would answer me to think for myself. I looked down at Hex, taking another sip of the drink and then looked back down at my cup. He wouldn't dare to do anything to me with my bodyguards and my whole order here, right? He doesn't seem like the stupid type.
I extended my hand, which was still shaking, and I grabbed the cup. I brought it slowly to my lips, and then I took a sip of the beverage. My mouth exploded with joy, and this was one of, if not the most tasteful drink I had ever had the pleasure of savouring. Sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, and salty, all of these flavours in perfect balance create a beverage worthy of giving to the gods! I then took a long sip, and before I knew it, I had
"I'm glad you liked it, Holy Master" Hex told me as he looked at me with amusement. I felt my face grow red from embarrassment, causing me to look away.
"What even was that drink, anyway?" I asked the man who was definitely taking too much amusement at my expense.
"It's what we call cocktail," Hex told me as he grabbed his glass and then stood up and grabbed mine. "It's an alcoholic beverage," Hex said as he walked to where he had initially taken the glasses from. "We keep some reserves here for special occasions," Hex placed the glasses and then turned to me. "You are lucky it is relatively low on alcohol, or else you will be in a lot of troubles," Hex then sat down and a small smile formed on his face. "But judging by the way you drank it without trouble, you must have a lot of experience with these kinds of beverage, am I correct? Holy Master?" Hex taunted.
I heard my bodyguards snickering behind me, those traitors. "I guess you could say that," I quietly replied as I felt my face grow even redder.
"Well then," Hex said, causing me to perk up and look at him. "Now, I believe you wouldn't mind if I asked a few questions about this world, would you?"
I looked at him for a few seconds before giving out a small sigh. I better be cautious with what I say; I don't want any information to be used against us. "I suppose not," I responded as I leaned back against the chair, which I just noticed just how unimaginable comfortable it is! It's like inking yourself in a cloud! Not even the imperial palace has such comfortable seats!
"Very well then," Hex replied. "I would like to know first and foremost, where exactly are we?" Hex leaned his chin on his hands as he placed his arms on the table. A reasonable question that is, I suppose.
"We are currently inside the borders of the City-State Conglomerate," I told him. I saw Hex tilt his head slightly at my answer.
"Care to elaborate?" Hex asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Very well," I said and then took a small breath. "The City-State Conglomerate is, as its name suggests, a loose union of independent city-states. They are united by a council which meets every year in a different city, and there they discuss the new regulations on topics such as migration and trade," I began my explanation. "These city-states have been neutral in almost all conflicts ever since their inception, so they possess no big armies, only local defence forces. Thus they are mostly centres of knowledge and trade," I took another breath and continued. "The reason they can afford not to have an army is that the Holy Empire protects them,"
"I assume you are associated with this Holy Empire, are you not?" Hex asked as he leaned back on his chair.
"Indeed," I replied. "We are the Holy Order of the Sun, one of the 20 holy orders part of the Grand Holy Army," I proudly told him. "The Holy Empire is the oldest, continuous, human empire in history, founded over 600 years ago by the first Pope-Emperor, Leon the Saint. The city-states used to be part of the Holy Empire and most of the human world, but they decided to break off during 'The Reign of Chaos'. Still, they then fell under our protection in exchange for an annual tribute. The Holy Empire is the defender of humanity against any external threats such as the Piglins, the creatures you just fought," I briefly explained to the captain the history of the empire.
"Piglins, huh?" Hex asked. "Tell me, what exactly were those things? They were alive, but they seemed more like moving corpses,"
"The Piglins are a humanoid pig race as you saw. The Piglins are devil worshippers, and death cultists who follow a religion called the 'Church of Slaughter', of which the Archons of Sin are the deities of. They have a massive realm to the north of the Holy Empire called the Piglin Demonocracy, ruled by the Dread Cardinal, " I replied to the captain.
"Well those names don't sound evil at all," Hex sarcastically commented.
"Ever since its inception, the Holy Empire has been at war with the Demonocracy," I continued my explanation. "Six hundred years ago, the Piglins created a portal to the Netherworld, allowing for the Archons of Sin and their demonic legions to enter this world. This Age of Terror saw the death of millions across the whole world. When the first Pope-Emperor, Leon, emerged, he pushed back the Piglins and the demons. He eventually managed to seal back the Archons and closed the portal that linked our world to the Netherworld. The portal is now called the "Gates of Hell," and ever since they were closed six centuries ago, we have been guarding them. The Piglins have attacked us non-stop in an attempt to reopen the doors, but so far, they have not succeeded," I crossed my arms and looked at Hex. "Still, the Piglins managed to push through some of our defences and launched an attack on the City-States. We were sent here to exterminate the Piglins and liberate the city-states,"
"Then I believe your mission is done now that their army was turned into dust," Hex voiced his thoughts.
"Not quite," I replied.
"What do you mean?" Hex asked as he tilted his head.
"Before I answer any more questions, I believe it is your turn now," I replied as I faintly smiled.
There was a brief pause before Hex replied. "Very well then, I shall answer your questions,"
"You said you were similar in nature to the sky people of the tales of old. What exactly did you mean by that?" I asked, leaning forwards, and bringing my hand down to my sword's handle, just in case.
Hex looked at me for a few seconds in which I tensed up. "It is quite difficult to explain," Hex said as he rubbed his chin. "You see, we are what you could achieve in the future," Hex said. This took me aback.
"What do you mean?" I asked as I tried to process what his words meant.
"You see," Hex started. "We are several thousand years ahead of you when it comes to scientific development. Around 2,000 years ago, our world was unified under a single realm. Shortly afterwards, we constructed machines that allowed us to travel among the stars, and there, we found other worlds which we settled. Through the years we have expanded throughout the stars. To realms such as ours, we have a term called 'Interstellar Empire', and that is why we are similar in nature to your sky people," Hex explained.
"I see," I replied as I narrowed my eyes. An Empire that has domains in the stars, owning several worlds?! Are they for real?! Just how vast and powerful this realm must be?! And several thousand years ahead of us in technology?! This is bad… If these people decide to turn against us… That must not happen. I felt as my hands began to slightly shake while some sweat started to drip off my head… My brain stuttered for a moment, as every part of me goes on pause while my thoughts catch up. I looked back at my soldiers from the corner of my eyes, and they were slightly trembling. I then remembered something. "You also assured us that the sky people of our tales are no more, how are you so sure,"
"You see," Hex said as he leaned back against his chair. "We ended up here as an accident. We were experimenting in ways to open portals that would allow us to travel amongst the stars faster, but something went up, and we ended up here," The captain explained. "We explored this solar system and found the remnants of an ancient civilization we called 'Sless'. After deciphering their language, we learnt of their fate. They escaped to this system to find refuge from an enemy chasing them and tried to land on this planet. The records stop at this point, so I suppose your ancestors defeated them. We then found remnants of a base on a nearby planet, so we assume the remaining Sless went there and ended up dying,"
Well, that is interesting. So the sky people are dead; we no longer have to fear their return. Still, now we have a whole new issue on our hands. I looked up at the captain, sitting there nonchalantly on his chair. "Now that I have answered both of those questions, I believe it is my turn again," Hex spoke up. I nodded in agreement. "You said that your mission was not done yet; why is that?"
"A bit further north lies the city-state of Rumelia," I replied. "It is a centre of learning, trade and culture, and one of the most important cities in the conglomerate. I can still feel the presence of a sizeable Piglin army occupying the city," I explained.
"So, you are heading there now?" Hex asked.
I smiled faintly. "No, captain, we are heading there now," I got amusement from seeing the perplexed face of Hex.
"Excuse me?" The captain asked as he blinked twice.
"Indeed," I stated as I nodded. "You see, if we were to go alone, we would be stuck in a siege for who knows how long, and the people of Rumelia don't have that long," I explained. "I believe that with your forces, and the use of your siege engines, we could drastically speed up the process. If you aid us in this endeavour, then we shall graciously continue with this conversation. Besides that, you seem to be coming from the south, from the Grand Kingdom of Fireza,"
Hex tilted his head once again, "The Grand Kingdom of Fireza?" Hex asked.
"Yes," I replied as I nodded. "It is the most potent, human state. I doubt such nation will enjoy you being in their lands," Hex narrowed his eyes. "Do not fret, though, as I have contacts within the Kingdom, so I can guarantee your safety… If you aid us of course,"
Hex remained quiet for a few seconds before replying, "Very well, you got yourself a deal. I shall aid you in this crusade of yours," Hex then stood up and extended his hand towards me. I stood up too and shook his hand as I had done previously. Hex then leaned back against his chair before chuckling. "For the record, though, we would have aided you either way," This surprised me. "You see, all soldiers of the Terrestrial Empire have sworn an oath to defend humanity at all costs. We will protect humans whether they are in our borders, or not," Hex replied with a smug smile. "Now, I suggest you go and ready your troops, time is of the essence, is it not," At this point, I'm not sure who outplayed who, but he is right, I better go and ready my troops. For it is time to cast judgement upon those Piglins, and send them back to their precious Netherworld, and make the heathens burn in their own hell…