Caelan and Graham make their way to the tower. It's a bit weird for the two with the primeval beasts being in a strange state, None of them are moving outside breathing. The trees look more damaged as they get closer to this tower.. It's clear something even more unusual is going on this planet.
"Alloy told us about these grades and How strong are you?" Caelan looks away from the unblinking primeval beasts. The thought of them acting so lifeless is uncomfortable. They kinda want to know Graham to get their mind off that...
"Uh... I should be grade D tier 5." Graham gets spooked by seeing one of those primeval deer beasts just standing perfectly still while not blinking. He gets a creepy feeling at seeing an animal not even moving but only doing shallow breaths. "How unsettling..."
"I haven't seen any of them act like this, this is unsettling to me as well..." Caelan tries to avoid eye contact with these beasts as the two walk. This feels like a nightmare to them, It's short of bizarre to be around them. How else should they feel about being about beasts like this?
"My scans show that tower as a huge hot spot for abstraction energy." Alloy speaks from behind the two. She's stuck to a slow walking speed since her leg joints are breaking. Caelan gives her a confused look since they have never heard of it. "Ah, Sorry! Keep forgetting you don't know certain things."
"It's a part of flow, One of the key energies needed to fuel our powers." Graham quickly thought of a simple way to explain it. He's no expert in the science of flow or how it works in the smallest details. He's only skilled in how to use it rather than its science.
"We viewed our powers as the connection to the great spirit; Maybe that tower is the reason?" Caelan is curious if they got their powers from the great spirit but they never explained it. That opens a question to why? There's a hole in the myths that they grew up on.
"If they have enough to create any super beings then it's likely why your people have powers." Alloy is interested in whoever built it. She's slightly concerned about how it's possible to gain that much abstraction energy. She looks towards some blue liquid on the floor, It's actually blood from a beast.
"Oh shit..." Caelan sees countless primeval beasts and monster corpses cover the path as they get closer to the tower. It's a gross sight with the ant's black ooze like blood making nasty mud around them. The beasts are all impaled with many spikes from those monster ants. It was clearly a brutal battle.
"Well, At least they took each other out." Alloy has little words for this horrible battle between the two groups. She just does a quick scan around in case any of them monsters are still alive. There's a monster far off like a mile away from them which is at the edge of her maximum strength scan.
"No monsters nearby, We can keep going!" She says while walking as Caelan and Graham look at each other before the two go back to walking. The monster's corpses melt as they decay into thicker ooze. The ooze doesn't have a describable smell, It's a smell that shouldn't exist. This idea is felt in their bones.
"Ugh... I hate this smell? Is this even a smell?" Graham has always been confused by this weird feeling about the existence of monsters. Their smell and appearance gives him a strange feeling that they shouldn't exist. It's just uncomfortable to think any deeper than that.
"Huh, I never understood why everyone mentions that but I can't smell it." Alloy scratches her android chin which is a mannerism that she just picked up from someone. She wasn't built to smell, So this weird smell has always been a mystery to her ever since it was first brought up.
"You're just lucky that no one sells smell sensors for androids anymore." Graham gives Alloy a smirk as he turns to her with that comment. He's being a little mocking that there's nowhere to get those smell sensors. He laughs for a second when Alloy gives him a grumpy frown.
"Wait, Why does her body have a noise if she cannot use it?" Caelan turns around to look at Alloy with a confused look. They have no idea what Alloy is but know they're a weird construct like their ship but having a noise while being unable to smell is confusing. Graham laughs a bit harder at this.
"It's a gas sensor..." Alloy slightly droops at saying what her noise is for. It's a chemical analyzer for gasses or whatever particles are in the air. Her AI brain doesn't get the feeling of the smell but the chemical data. She perks back up a second later. "I can say the air here is very healthy outside the monster fumes."
"Wait, Monster fumes!? Is it toxic!?" Caelan hears fumes and gets very worried about breathing in this weird smell. They saw their physical dangers but the idea of a chemical danger is much more scary. Graham looks back in concern as well since he has no idea as well.
"Superhuman bodies are able to safely break it down within the lungs, You're not in any danger." Alloy looks at Graham with some disappointment. He probably didn't read the whole monster files. She doesn't mind explaining to Caelan about some monster biology like if it's toxic or not. "Don't eat it, You will get sick for a few days."
That's a relief to the two as their trip towards the tower continues. It's past many corpses of beasts and monsters. The distance from their ship was decently far, It takes at least twenty minutes of straight walking for them to reach it. Graham looks at the smooth black tower with Caelan getting chills.
"Just like the myths, It's black as night-" Caelan's head hurts like it's on fire, Something squeezing Itself into their mind. They let out pained screams as it enters their brain. They grab their head in massive pain but they suddenly go still and lowers their hands. It's strange as they stand completely straight.
"Caelan? What just happened?" Graham has a worried look while turning to them. They have their eyes closed before slowly opening them. A pair of glowing yellow eyes looks back at Graham. A dreadful feeling forms in his stomach seeing this. He gets into a defensive stance at something that's controlling them.
"Is that you, Arwel? Has the queen sent you here to check the planets status?" A Feminine voice comes out of Caelan's mouth, It's not their voice. The yellow glowing eyes aren't like the beasts since there are pupils with deeper shades of yellow. There's a slight static sound in her voice which concerns Graham. "Oh... You're way younger than I remember, Who are you?"