"It's beginning to feel weird every time I visit this part of the Space Ark…"
"Well, it happens to be one of the busiest districts with the great number of educational institutions and facilities.
What did you expect?
There are several ArkPoints established with the District and the Island States of the Atlaesyxrian Imperium to help the citizens utilise the facilities.
I'm surprised it hasn't grown further than it already has." Carter said to Esmond as the two floated above the Education District of the Spatial Ark Star World that took up several times the landmass of Manhattan.
They both found it quite amazing to see hundreds of millions of students wondering through the district, either to make to their classes or to enjoy the plentiful facilities like the enormous Arena that allowed for machine wars of all sorts.
Only certain places like Mars and Venus had a larger training arena set up to deal with tournaments that occurred now and in the future.
Akres the Planetary Spirit of Mars oversaw the grand venue and made it larger to suit the increasing number of Martians taking root across the planet.
Esmond noticed most students preferred to utilise the Arena's to battle and training because of the advance equipment that would go through constant development.
Most departments had their own Arena facility, but it depended on the number of students within the department that truly decided the number of facilities.
.
Carter decided to lead Esmond towards Halkgon's Workshop that was below its Smithing Educational Institution.
They didn't need to enter the expansive educational facility, since it was simple for them to appear beside Halkgon instantly, but Carter wanted to show their presence to the students and citizens, so they didn't forget about the leaders.
Some couldn't hide their astonishment and raced towards their idols.
"Oh my GOD!!
IT'S THE PRINCE!!!
LET'S TAKE A SELFIE!!"
"WHAT!
Me first bitch!"
"Ladies, who the fuck cares for the Prince, check out Lord Carter!!
The Celestial Ego is a BEAST!!"
Others found issue with the two of them and started to heckle them for the hell of it.
"Oi oi, look over here, Scarface with his stupid ass mask."
"That damn Ego isn't any better.
His own existence tells us he's a prick."
Esmond and Carter had to pause for a moment to register everything they heard.
From the good to the bad, neither knew what to say.
They knew better than anyone that the youth of the Spatial Ark Star World came to see them as celebrities instead of figures of authority.
While it wasn't good for them to curse the man that led and controlled the Spatial Ark Star World, they both sensed the students were only expressing their likes and dislikes among the idol scene of the hidden world.
"… I was not expecting that one bit."
"Yeah, I didn't think I would be treated like a celebrity here, even though we've done a lot to hide my presence on Earth." Esmond laughed aloud at the irony of his and Carter's efforts to hide him for unnecessary eyes.
Carter also saw the funny side of it but considering the reason they came to meet the High Dwarf Grandmaster Smith; he couldn't help but keep a stoic expression.
When they reached the underground smithery of the institute, both beings were hit by a dense wave of heat and sounds of metal clashing against one another.
"HHAHA!! Ya finally made it Bossmen!
Come, Come, there is much to show and discuss." Halkgon stopped overseeing some of the students as Carter and Esmond came into the reach of his Spiritual Sense.
"How have you been, Halkgon?
I thought you would have been busy forging Powered Armour Suits?" Esmond patted the High Dwarf's shoulder as they left the open floor of the Smithery and moved to the private room of the Grandmaster's.
"Ayy, I stopped that and passed it onto a student of mine, Master Esmond.
They've found an ingenious method to forge them through magical circuitry and materials.
One particular student wanted to set up an array formation to help stabilise the user while wearing the armour but she's finding some trouble to create harmony between them and the Virtual Profile Intelligences."
"I might be able to help in that area…" Carter said as they finally reached the Grandmaster's personal Workshop room.
"That'll be greatly appreciated, Celestial Carter.
Now… lets move onto the reason why your both here.
The broken gates from the Broken Divine Land of Atlaestreous…" When Halkgon pushed open the door, Carter and Esmond were stunned for a second by the sheer power emanating from the damned stone pillars.
"After you sent the pillars to me, Celestial Carter, I've worked out they are made up of a set of three.
Some Androids were able to find another set in Antarctica, but their too embedded into the ice that they can't be moved.
I've gone over to see it and its much more intact, but it needs repair before it can be used again.
However, I wish to try something else now that you're here.
If possible, I wish to see how the Pillars in Antarctica would react with these two." Halkgon showcased the mammoth pillars that stretched high into the sky to at least 20 metres.
Esmond felt the imposing nature of the pillars was greatly influence through a Divine force, but it was dwindling in strength as the days passed.
With a wave of his hand, Esmond stored the two pillars and nodded to Carter to open a path to the pillars in Antarctica.
Halkgon joined the pair as they appeared for the icy encased pillar with Drones working away tirelessly to free the Divine White Marble Stone.
Right as Esmond came to see them, the System decided to alert him that he was on the right path for his quest, 'Gates to a World of the Past'.
…
..
.
*Ding*
[Quest Updated!]
[Gates to a World of the Past…] [Direction Update!]
[Host is current standing in front of a secure gate to Earth's Ancient Counterpart World!]
[To repair the gate, Host needs to join Stored Pillars with the encased set before being back to activate]
[!¡! ALERT !¡!]
[Spatial Ark Star World connected to Earth through World Tree roots, which has acted as a stabiliser, will act as a greater power to stop the influence of Divine Energy across the planet by absorbing it]
…
..
.
"Hmm… let me try something." Esmond moved forward towards the ice encased pillars before removed the ones in his Inventory Space.
All the Drones moved away before they were crushed by the pillars that suddenly appeared.
They crashed into the glassy ice wall as they slammed into the other pillars.
Golden light encased the items until they merged together, influencing the area around with as well.
The ground appeared more stable and enforced while the pillars repaired themselves within a couple seconds, releasing copious amounts of nature energy to bring about the grow of cold resistant plants and flora.
Carter watched on without his expression changing but Halkgon started to freak out as the air started to ripple and air apart in a terrifying way.
The High Dwarf Grandmaster wanted to know what was going on but neither Carter nor Esmond was ready to explain anything, as they focus was solely on the pillars.
After the golden light settled, the stones pillars were largely repaired expect for the cracks and small chips that appeared across the mammoth structures.
"Are you going to enter now?"
"Might as well Carter…
I'm not needed on the Star Alcazar with Zaro, Gabriel, and Eddie handling everything.
The Star Primordis is undergoing some last-minute upgrades before being deployed.
Earth is practically settled and controlled so the only thing I have left to worry about is this."
Esmond was ready to enter through the sudden tear in space, as it would lead him into a world that he so curiously wanted to see and explore.
"Fine… just make sure you can reach us after you get through to the other side."
"Very well, Carter." Esmond stepped through the gate opened by the pillars, as Carter, Drones and Halkgon watched on in silence.
They didn't need to wait long before Carter received an answer that everything went well and that he could contact them on the other side.
Carter returned Halkgon to his Workshop before moved over to Esmond's current position in the CounterWorld.
.
"… This is not… what I expected at all…" Esmond looked around to find endless sand after stepping through the gate.
When he turned around, the gate had disappeared, meaning it could transport him anywhere on the CounterWorld.
"You're in… Egypt? Hm... Interesting." Carter appeared beside Esmond with unexpected news.
"How do you know?"
"Somehow… I can sense it… like I see all across the world.
I think its related to my species being a Celestial A.I Ego.
Hopefully we can get more answers here to what that exactly means…
Follow me for now." Carter started to lead the way, leaving Esmond to quietly follow behind as he tried to absorb the dense Spiritual Energy in the atmosphere.
There seemed to be a chaotic element to it that came from the desert itself but since his Class was Primordial Prince of Chaos, it all felt quite relaxing and soothing.
They were about to begin to long journey on foot through the windy sand dunes of the endless desert, but the two could easily fly, so they started to float through the air without any problems.
Esmond also decided to unlock a little bit more of his power for any unexpected attacks.
He didn't need to wait long for several attacks to be made on their lives from out of nowhere.
Several creatures appeared from underneath the sand dunes, roughly the size of large hills.
They raced in Esmond and Carter's direction, ready to destroy the two but none of the creatures expected to be beaten and ripped apart by the duo's brute strength.
One of the creatures appeared similar to a scorpion but with several extra claws.
Esmond kicked up the sand to distract the creature as he moved underneath to flip it.
As it turned helpless and unable to free itself, Esmond started to rip it to shreds with his band hands until all of its claws were removed and only the tail remained.
Focusing his Internal Energy around the eyes, Esmond burned off the creature's tail before piercing it dead with his fist.
Beside him Carter was doing much of the same after forming a stable physical body through his power as a Celestial A.I Ego.
Powered through a multitude of energy sources, Carter's physical body beat through another monstrous scorpion creature with just as much brutality and cruelness.
In their own mind, they thought of themselves as somewhat normal but truly… they were monsters… cruel monsters… that loved war and bloodshed.
Echo, Rahzil and a couple other members of the family watched on from the Spatial Ark Star World.
Most of them felt concerned for the two but Rahzil found it absolutely exciting that also unfortunate that he wasn't invited to participate in the battle.
He actually felt like asking Echo to open up a portal for him to go over, but he knew the strict Celestial A.I Ego wouldn't allow it.
Even more so if it would fuel Esmond and Carter's maniacal performance.
Thankfully he knew of the perfect person who would help him out without once ounce of worry over what the others might say.
'Igdra! Gotta find Igdra, otherwise the two will run around in a carefree, maddening, and murderous way without me!!'
.
"HOW MANY MORE MUCH DIE!!!"
"COME AT US FOOLS AND FACE DEATH!
MUAHAHAHA!!" Carter and Esmond fell into the madness of battle as they created mountains of corpses without a second though as all sorts of creatures and monsters appeared from the desert sand.
They'd been fighting for several hours at this point while travelling across the desert.
In the beginning it didn't seem all that troublesome but over time the creatures increased drastically in number.
So much so that Esmond achieved a breakthrough of his strength and evolved his Artus Anima Star, Body Refinement and Essence Energy into a greater state of itself that improved his power marginally.
This in turn helped Carter but it for a moment they needed to rely on Rahzil's help to manage the creatures during the evolution of power for the two.
Rahzil eventually decided to search further into the desert after receiving a calling of sorts.
Carter and Esmond totally forgot about him after they fell back into the routine of beating the living daylights out of the monsters.
Echo was busily transporting everything into the Spatial Ark Star World with great results that improved the Level of the Hidden World.
A part of his processing and computational power was focused on the creatures and their very nature as they entered various restricted zones of the Spatial Ark Star World.
Gabriel even sorted out a team of scientists to experiment on the creatures, but it was going to take time as the team continued to expand with more and more creatures being taking in of various sorts.
Eventually Esmond and Carter moved on, but not until they killed a large enough number of creatures that the no others came to both of them.
The two were drenched in the aura of death and blood, terrifying everything around them for hundreds and thousands of kilometres.
Rahzil even noticed them from where he was exploring in the desert, but it wasn't anything to be alarmed over because from what he figured, the three of them were the only people alive in the whole desert.
.
Eventually Carter and Esmond saw some resemblance of a village in the distance after fighting and wandering for hours on end.
It appeared nobody lived in the small rundown village anymore, but its vast size meant it contained something useful for the two at the very least.
After reaching the city and exploring for a couple hours, they figure the village was called Saqqara, necropolis for Egyptian royalty, with it being out the outskirts of Men-nefer.
Ptah served as Patron Deity for the village, while also doing the same for Men-nefer as a deity of creation, craftsmen, architects, and artists to an extent.
The various statues and scriptures through hieroglyphs helped decipher most of their questions but it still didn't explain why the place was so quiet and empty.
"Should we head to Memphis, I mean Men-nefer, Esy?"
"Naa, not yet.
I can sense something is hidden here but its deep underground and its… alive.
I'm just trying to figure out how to access some underground path or hidden entrance."
Esmond completely caught Carter off guard by his random discovery, since his mind told him that everything was only dead around them.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah Carter, I'm positive.
There is something alive and hidden deep underground.
I just can't figure out what exactly it is…" Esmond was positive of his discover and eager to start digging into the ground, but Carter held him off with a surprisingly good idea.
"Heyyy… why don't you use your skill to awake the dead?
Maybe we might get some answers from this city of the dead and a little help with the work."
"… I haven't tried it out, but this place feels better than any other." Esmond said just as he focused on his strength and activated his Army of Death Ability.
Everything from ghostly shadows, ghouls, decaying flesh and bones roared to life as raw energy of life and death came out from Esmond to form the creatures together.
Carter watched for the side as humanoid creatures of the dead became conscious and aware of their surroundings, but their loyalty was given to their master, Esmond.
It didn't take long for all of the creatures to come in front of Esmond with a glowing darkness in their eyes and across their bodies.
"Ahh… How's it going?
Right… you're all dead… ahahahaha!!
Sorry!
I'm a little broken hahahah!!" Unable to stop himself, Esmond poked fun at the dead until he saw Carter glaring at him to stop the tomfoolery.
"*Sigh*… First off, lets find someway to dig deep into the ground.
Also does anyone know their way around this Necropolis?
There seems to be someone 'Living' besides Us."
A few of the ghosts made some screeching noises that only Esmond could understand.
They explained there was a sealed entrance to a deep network of caves and tunnels that might hold the location of the other alive person.
Esmond asked the ghost to lead the Army of the dead to the sealed location, leaving Carter this time to follow along from behind with several questions on his mind, but little energy to be bothered to ask anything.
…
..
.
"Who knew Castro would be so easily dealt with once the promise and assurance of materials and goods was absolute."
"Saves us a war over nothing, which would easily alert the Americans.
Let's just hurry up with the transport of the goods to the trucks so we can grab some beers after this."
"Sure Boss."
Two Ark Citizen employees of Primal Management Groups cargo transport team were unloading countless items at the Havana Port built exclusively for Esmond's companies.
Even though Fidel Castro retired, he very much was involved in the politics of his nation, so when James brought his deal of cooperation, the old revolutionary accepted the offer of help as long as it made his nation significant enough to worry America through his strength.
When Esmond became aware of Fidel's main reason for cooperation, he found it laughable but at the same quite easily possible.
Ever since the deal was sorted out in late March, the small island nation off Florida was changing for the better.
It alerted the United States of America government about the movement of a large number of cargo ships docking with the ports of the nation but since their attention was focused solely on managing Guantanamo Bay, they didn't bother the ships.
One of the construction companies brought over to Cuba of the Aeternus Curatio Group helped to manage the beauty of the nation's architectural style.
Rosie was controlling the architectural company with Archie's assistance and wanted to ensure the nation wouldn't lose its beauty through external influences.
Gabriel on the other hand wanted to build up the healthcare and basic resources available around the nation island, which was rather lacking.
For example, the shipping transport company delivered several hundred tons of products and materials per day, making the port busy all day and night long with the constant ships docking.
Some military outposts and stations were set up to support the Space Ark's invasion of America but right now the focus was on developing the nation.
The infiltration of the political party and military was an ongoing project that couldn't be solved overnight but for now it was better than nothing.
.
..
…
"… This is highly unsettling…"
"… Naa, you're just being soft, Carter."
"Right… when you're controlling the creatures to charge at the massive boulder without zero care for the bodily form."
"… Shut up, you're ruining my fun, Carter!" Esmond pouted as the Army of the Dead finally smashed apart the rocks blocking up the path to the underground caves.
Looking on smugly, Esmond felt proud of his army that cared very little about their bodies, but Carter found it rather troubling because the bodies repaired themselves through energy taken from Esmond, which could be straining in the long run.
Right now, Esmond expected the ability took nothing less than a couple hundred MP, but as the creatures destroyed their bodies again and again, the number of MP being consumed was increasing at a vast rate.
Thankfully the ability was deactivated after a path was cleared up for the duo to walk through without any difficulty.
They quickly started to make their way through the caves, only to discover hundreds of coffins from royal family members and some of their retainers if they meant a great deal to them personally.
Esmond didn't bother to check anyone of them but by the time he sensed the direction of the fading life, he checked on some coffins to see who the people were.
He didn't know anyone out of the dead through written history, but it was only done to move on from his boredom.
.
The duo met up in front of a grand metal and gold door that led into a massive mausoleum where the fading life rested.
Carter bowed and comically gestured to Esmond that he could deal with their current problem.
With his current strength, Esmond didn't see it as a problem and strutted over to the door as he pushed it apart to open through the crease in the middle.
Cold air rushed out of the room and straight into Esmond as the doors continued to open up until there was plenty of space for the two of them to walk on through without any issue.
But when they entered, what they found was far different than what they expected.
A small farm and garden were constructed with a little cabin house in the distance and a coffin in the middle that glowed alive like the sun.
It all looked quite lovely and well managed, but on a closer examination of everything, it appeared to be fading away.
Beside the coffin in the middle of the sealed mausoleum was a faint man with faint light green markings across his skin and stretched black beard, Esmond and Carter were both drawn by the unique man's incredible height.
Easily over 20 feet, the man appeared more like a giant or God than anything human and normal in their mind.
"Ahh… buddy…?
Doing alright over there?" Esmond didn't know how to approach the unique person.
Carter was also petrified by the imposing figure of the man even if he was crouched down and leaning on the glowing coffin.
"Huh…?
Who… disturbs… me….?
Has… death… finally… come… for… us…?"
"… I don't mean to be rude or anything but that's a terrible way to communicate with som-"
Carter slapped Esmond across the back of his head before his said anything else and made their situation worse than they could ever imagine.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP ESMOND!!
THIS ISNT THE TIME TO FUCK AROUND!!"
"… You didn't need to scream in my fac- HEY!!
DON'T HIT ME AGAIN!!"
Carter couldn't handle Esmond's cheekiness in front of a possibly frightening being.
A big problem Carter discovered was the lack of information his natural skill as a Celestial A.I Ego could provide him.
When he looked on at the unique man, Carter couldn't sense anything about the person, but something told him it was best to not get on his bad side.
Much to his delight, the man thought nothing much of their squabbles and found it rather amusing after spending who knows how long in the enclosed room underground.
"Quench… my… thirst… and… I'll… stop…"
Esmond couldn't move faster as he instantly made a glass appear in his hand with some water from the Space Ark.
He continued to supply glass after glass to the crouching man until it appeared the thirst for water was fulfilled.
"Thank you, Child…
If you hadn't helped, I would have died… but I'm probably dead anyway with the current way of things in the kingdom."
"It's no problem, sir but if you don't mind me asking, what exactly happened here and what's wrong with your kingdom?
We suddenly appeared here through our travels, and everything seems to be eerily quiet so far." Esmond decided to hand the man a seat made through nano-polymers that allowed it to expand to comfortably seat the mismatching light green skinned man.
He also gave the giant man a potion to help replenish his energy, as it contained a few drops of the Universal Lifeform Sentient Essence Springwater.
It was quite a shock to the giant man's body after the liquid from the potion decided to improve his health in a unique way, which also helped the man gain some lost strength.
.
"I'm not exactly sure where I should start but I can say that the Egyptian world changed thousands of years ago when the connection between the higher plane and mortal plane broke apart.
It was quite sudden and extreme, leaving the higher plane in disarray.
This included other kingdoms besides Egypt…
Soon enough, everything delved into chaos with our world dying out without the necessary energy to produce water, food, and power.
The Gods tried to reopen the gate between the heavenly and mortal plane, but it was all for nought…
Nothing came of their work except for slumber of many Gods and Goddesses who failed a battle against the source of their existence.
I tried my best to save as many people as I could, but no item or object could help revive my friends and loved ones.
Most went into a deep slumber while leaving the matter in the hand of a few but now… all that's left of our former kingdom is empty lands with fading history, legends, and myths."
"I see… so may I ask for your name?"
"You can call me Ptah, friend."
"Ohh… its nice to meet you Ptah, my name is Esmond, and this is my spiteful enemy, Carter."
"Hahaha!!
Its great to see such carefree youth again in these tough times…" Esmond appeared quite relaxed beside the giant man named Ptah, but Carter was having a hard time trying to understand why the God of craftsmen, architects and artists was here.
Carter understood the deity before him was someone with the strength of creation, which meant if even he failed to stop the lands higher plane lands from dying then it would be near impossible for them.
But he also knew the power of the Spatial Ark Star World could easily help manage the damn done to the higher plane, but it would definitely be time consume.
Esmond thought the same as Carter and planned to use the Spatial Ark Star World, however he had other thoughts when he remembered specific information pertaining to the quest.
"Hey… ahh… Ptah, could you show me the throne of your Kingdom?"
"Huh…?
What did you just say?" Ptah couldn't understand why his young childish friend would ask such a thing.