"Every story, every event had a beginning,
everything does except him, All One".
Since the first human existence, they had experienced all event, from the dead of their loved one to wars, crisises, genocide, dictator and so on. Fast forward to 2030,human had advanced in term of medicine, machine, system, weaponry, artificial intelligence and more. You think this is normal, right? Since your timeline is close to ours, then you maybe thinking there is nothing wrong...
Unfortunately, in this timeline, in this year, was the biggest crisis, yet. When your world is still had more land for you people to live, ours barely had any fertile soil left. When your world economy is thriving, ours is faltering. When your world is based on democracy, ours based on capitalism.
We maybe advance than your current technology, but our planet was dying. There were barely any land left to lived. Thousand of skyscrapers build just to fit in one tiny slot. Even if we are able to build space station, our king however didn't wish to bring his people. He bring only the nobles, riches, politics and important figures to the ISSW, International Space Station Worldwide while leaving their people to struggle to survive.
It was unbearable to face this harsh world. So hard that you can't expected someone to save you, but yourself...
A group of scientists saw ours suffer and decided to change our fate. They researched and collected all the theories about space and teleportation. It showed progress, but it didn't give the result they wanted. Years past by and their research didn't fruit anything useful. They starting to give up.
Then, one scientist had a thought that he didn't sure why it appeared. He tested in the computer simulation and he finally found a way to make it happen.
He shared it with his fellow scientists and they began a construction project that they name it, 'Project Tesseract'. The king is delight to hear the news and gave them the permission to construct a ship. Unbeknown to them, a guardian was watching and was the one who give a piece of knowledge they need.
With that, they hired a million and million workers and divided into a few thousand group. With this massive number, the very first generation ships construction was finished in just 5 years. The king then launch an expedition program.
They then named the mother ship, 'Odyssey'. They test it and at last, the warp jump has been invented. Thank to this discovery, the humans was able to expand their territory, thus created a government that deal the galactic business. They call it, 'Union of Galactica Federation', or in short, 'UGF'.
Soon, they had escaped their biggest crisis and build civilizations on one planet and another. Colonized the inhabitable planets. Mining all old and news mineral resources and also find a fuel that suited the ship better. Build a city, build a life and this expedition continued on. Until, that day...
During one of the expedition operation, they located another inhabitable planet not far from their outpost. They decided to send a group of five people venture onto the planet surface and explore.
They land on the planet surface and the scenery of the planet is... Greasy. It had nothing but mountains, lava and black sand.
The captain, Koor found a cave in the stomach of a mountain. What they find inside was nothing they ever seen, they felt... Confused.
Confused with the writing on the wall that explain it history.
But when they wanted to continue on, they heard a voice.
"To all of passer-by, to all living being, to all of his creation, leave this place immediately! What wait you room is nothing but dark curse that waiting for its prey to fall to it trap.
"If you dear for your life, then leave this place instant!".
They heard the voice, but they take no heed to it. They insisted on learning the secret and found a door. One of them tried to reach the doorknob but before he could touch it...
His face became pale and his was sweating like crazy. He looked at his fellow friends and insisted that they should leave the place. His friends was confused so they asked him.
He answered that when he wanted to touch the doorknob. He saw a vision that he unable to comprehend it all. It so brutal that he thought he was gonna died.
Then he saw a figure flowing in the sky with a few bruise. It spoke to him in a deep voice...
"You sees this universe scar's, you sees it pain's and you sees what this world had become. This universe should be destroyed during judgment day long ago, but our creator insisted giving you all a chance, thus letting you people had advanced technology. I don't know why. We, Sentinel, the higher being, don't know why. Cause we know that the technology itself will bring more harm than good.
"Even the Angel don't know why. All his knowledge, all his plan,all his will, no one but him, all-knowing. We should all be glad that we still can see this universe live.
But, sometimes, his judgment is rather confusing. Like, your people position is way higher than ours. It really gave me a thousand of questions, but all of it can be answered by one event".
The figure looked at the scenery around him.
"This place, this war, was raged by my own people. They wrongly use their gift and call themselves God. They battled to see who is worth for the title. I'm ashamed of their action".
He looked back at the human.
He gulped in nervousness before he speaked.
"Ddidn't you ssays you are a hhigher being. Wwhat make you tthink that wway?", he said stuttering.
The figure chuckled lightly.
" You never possess a gift like us, so you don't know how big our responsibility we must carry. He gave us this gift so that we can bring peace to this world. Though I know he is the mightiest among all. Heck, even the devil obey him.
" He could be testing us. But who knows.?Again, he is all-knowing".
"Right now, you unable to comprehend all of this information, so please, leave this place while you can. Don't get your people involved. We can't save everyone".
Back to reality, he insisted on leaving this place. All of his friends think his is crazy. Another of them tried to touch the doorknob. Same thing happen to her meaning she is also frightening.
One after another sees the vision and they starting to believe him. But the captain, Koor, thought that they only acting on small matter.
When he tried to reach it, he frozed. Not because of fear, but a satisfaction. He smiled sinisterly and told his friends that the vision he saw was not fear, but a bright future ahead of him. Everyone is confused so they asked him.
What they heard is something they never knew he think like that.
"What I sees in the vision was actually telling us something very important. It tried to tell us that behind this door, contain a powerful power, so powerful that we can build our own kingdom. So powerful, we don't need to relay on those m*th*rf**k*r UFG.
"In fact, it is so powerful, we don't have to become the king dog's. What the figure tell you was nothing but lie. This, is the future!".
Koor had become obsessed attaining the dark curse. The man who firstly attempted to touch the doorknob, tried to reason with him, stating that they had family awaiting for them.
But when he looked at his friend face,he realized...
They don't have one.
Their family, they all died, trying to make their children life better while they had to suffered the pain. Their brother, their sister, their parent and relatives, they died to the king and UFG.
Seeing this, Koor convince them to follow him if they wanted to stop the pain that their people is dealing with.
The man gave up and finally left the group while the others enter the room. What come after is a loud of screeching of torture coming from the cave. But the man knew that what they got for ignoring the figure warning.
As he exited the mountain, a large explosion occur and the mountain split into two. A gigantic beast came out and released a dominant roar.
The man was so scared, he quickly ran to the ship, only to see it explode obliteratly from the flame that came out from the beast mouth. He looked at the beast and saw a man standing alongside with other three people. Instantly, he knew that man was Koor.
Koor looked at the man with a serious face. He raised his hand in the air.
"Arise".
The ground shook like crazy and a few big crack appeared on the planet surface. It continued on until the planet was unable to hold the pressure. And a roared that can only be referred as a beast. Two horn came out from the planet surface.
Then, another voice appeared. Only this time, it was different and had a sinister in its tone.
"Hahaha, finally. You had unseal my seal that the Guardian of time and space held me. You had released me from my endless torture. Oh how I miss this vase galaxy. Now, with him gone, I can finally conquer this galaxy and call myself...
a God".
The man don't know what to do. What he know, was that voice, wasn't a good guy.
"Oh, looks like we had unwanted visitors. It such a shamed you didn't join your friends. Don't worry, I won't kill you but..."
The voice led out a sinister laugh.
"Your 'friends' will".
Instantly, Koor and his gang jump high from the beast head and land in front of the man. The man quickly take out his rifle but before he could do anything,Koor stabbed him in the heart.
"I'm sorry, Daeng. You shouldn't walk away".
He let Daeng go and fell at the cracked surface, went to the planet core.
"This is a goodbye, my friend...".
Daeng thought he was going to die, he cried his thought that he had lost his friends the moment he walked away.
"I wish I could bring them back", he thought to himself.
Suddenly, time around him froze. Strangely, he can move while floating in air. A voice sound to him from the sky.
"O my servant. My creation, the Sentinel, had broke my law. They went over boarded the limit and wrongly use the gift I had gave them. They forgot that the power is mine and from the beginning, was never their.
" I only led them use so that they can punished those who oppose me and threatened my people. But they had forgot who created them from a single molecule. I will shown my wraith to those that call themselves God.
" And you, O my servant, will the one doing it".
A light of ball floathing above him.
"This ball of light, will give a gift, a power, to those who are willing to fight. Send Kraker a reminder, and protect your people as like how I protect you".
Then, a flash of light appeared.
Daeng wake up to see a beautiful scene from atop of mountain. He looked around and notice a big door. He went to it and open it. Inside contain advanced technology that the humans wasn't able to create it. He also saw a thousand and million of titan, standing, ready for battle.
He walked forward. A titan suddenly move and Daeng was surprised by this. The titan looked at him and scanned him.
"Greeting, master. I'm Ak-54,or you can call me Helios. I will be your guidance AI in order to fend Kraker and his men off from your home", said The AI titan.
Daeng smirked.
"You really thought that I was gonna believe that you're an AI?", he asked.
The titan flinched a little.
"Uuh, I don't understand what you talkin-I mean, command, sir", the AI answered.
"You can relax now. I'm not gonna tell anyone about you. Though, I'm curious. Why I'm feeling a surge of energy, contain in my body?", he said looking at his body.
The AI chuckled.
"That is because you wield a shard of my power".
Daeng was shocked to hear it. He pointed his finger at it, or him.
"If you are not AI, then... Who are you?", he asked.
The AI chuckled.
"Humans are truly forgetful. Led me introduced myself. I'm Helios, guardian of space and time, one of the mightiest among my people Sentinel. I'm the one who give you the warning. Look like you are the only one who heed my warning.
" Many of his creations has to suffer by Kraker ignorance. He nearly destroyed my home, shattered my body and oppose our creator.
He takes out his big rifle and armed it.
" And that why, I'm gonna bring some hell to Kraker and his men, send him some reminder. For killing my friends and for forsaken our responsibility..."
And so, that how Archie and project 'Guardian' exist.
The battle between the Crucible, a cult worship Kraker, against Archie, a group of soldier that had been given a gift by the creator to fight against Kraker and his men, alongside with Helios assisted Archie, had continued for a thousand years,with no sign of one of them is winning, or losing. Until, this day...
*******
The sound of metal colliding repeatedly fills the atmosphere of the planet. Smoke rises from the factory and scrap metals are being dumped one after another from the transport ship. The smell of smoke disturbs a lot of workers and yet they didn't complain. They continue their work under such circumstances.
Among the workers there are some of them who are old, some are young like 18 to 23 years old and there are even some teenagers. Everyone works at their best to receive their pay. At the top of the five story building, there are some, at least five rich people who have been tasked by the Federation government to govern the planet, sitting while eating high-quality meats, fine desserts and a lot of expensive wines. At this moment, they are drunk.
One of them wore a red uniform with a name tag that said 'Governor Von Debris'. He picked up a bottle of wine that was half full and poured it in his glass.
"So, how was your business doing, Sir Richard?", asked Von Debris. Richard, who was sitting silent from the beginning,not even bothering to eat the meals in front of him, looked at Von Debris.
"Not much though, I only increase my worker pay and their food supply. That's all", said Richard, dumbfounding the others.
Sir Leon, who is sitting at the left side of Von Debris, face-palm. He then looked at Richard.
"Why do you care about them so much? They are just garbage. It's not like the Federation will punish us for letting them die. Besides, there are a lot of wild animals and beasts roaming around this planet, so they have at least an income. In the market, it has a high value so the price is also high",said Leon before he takes a sip of wine.
"I know, but this beast you're talking about is not easy to deal with. In fact, a lot of them died due to the lack of equipment and…".
"Ok, ok. You can do whatever you like. I don't mind it", said Leon, not even bothering to hear the whole sentence.
"I do", said Von Debris.
"I already advised you like a hundred, no, a thousand times to stop helping this garbage. They are an embarrassment to our society for their act of crimes. They don't deserve to be treated like people",said Von Debris in a cold tone.
"I wish that was true", Richard thought to himself as his gaze went to the wide window.
At the work site, a lot of people collect scrap metals at the junkyard. They use a mech to pick up scrap metals from various sizes and store it in the storage backpack that the mech carries at it's back. In the middle of the junkyard, there is one mech that moves faster and collects more scrap metals than others.
An old man who is using a mech, watches it from afar. His face shows that he is in awe, probably because of the mech movement and the amount that it carries.
His wife notices him and goes to him. She then patted at the shoulder mech to see if his mech is somewhat in problem. When she sees his mech moving, she is relieved.
"What are you staring out afar,old grump? There aren't any young women to stare at", said the old man's wife.
The old man smirk.
"You think I'm that pervert?!" asked the old man back to his wife.
The old man's wife raises her eyebrow.
"Then, what are you watching?",she asked again.
The old man points to a mech.
"You remember the boy who was born on this desolate planet?", asked the old man.
"Well,if you think about it, there are tons of children born on this planet, including you and me, as far as I know", his wife replied.
The old man sighs. "I meant the boy who had been searching for his parents, remember?", asked the old man again.
His wife finally realized who he meant.
"You mean the boy who tried to build a ti-",the old man suddenly held her and caused her to stop finishing her sentence.
The old man looked left and right before he looked at his wife and said, "Look, I don't want you to say it or our son won't be able to be free from this planet".
The wife finally realizes her mistake.
The old man sighs again. "Don't worry. There's no guard here, so you do not have to worry", said the old man.
The wife ponders for a while.
"I'm actually jealous of this boy…To have such courage and desire to pursue his dream is something that none of us can. I lost my desire to reach it from the moment I see the terror of this world. If only I am that brave enough…", said the old man in a sad tone.
Suddenly, a titan class-garrison appears in sight.
" Oi, you there! What the f**k were you doing?! You piece of s**t are starting to learn on slacking, are you?", said the guard inside the titan in a sarcastic tone.
"I-I'm sorry, officer. We just discussed our finances,that's all. There's nothing to worry about", said the old man.
"Hm! You better be, or I will report it to the upper manager of this site. I just need one report paper to ruin your life, you b***h", said the guard arrogantly.
The guard then walks away with it's titan holding a machine gun. He then further looks for other prey to play with.
On the other hand, the mech still scavenge for scrap metals despite its storage backpack being almost full. The person controlling it looks for other scrap metals. It turns out, he was the person that the old man envied.
After picking up a few scrap metals, he then turns and goes to a place that takes a few hours to walk.
While walking, his earphones suddenly ring. He then reaches one of it and puts it in his ear before answering the call.
"Who is it?", asked the man.
" If it isn't Khairul here, huh? I thought you lost time again and forgot our meeting, huh? ", said the person on the phone.
"Of course I remember . It's just, I just want to play safe in case we didn't get anything from it. But, I need to bring back these scrap metals as soon as possible first. This mech battery is almost dead", said Khairul.
Although mech possesses incredible strength and speed if used properly, the mech had its own limits. Unlike the titan who doesn't rely on a regular battery, the mech needs it to work for a long period of time.
Thankfully, it only takes a few hours to charge for a few days of work. However, Khairul had been in the junkyard for a few days, so his mech battery was almost exhausted.
Right now, he uses emergency batteries, which contain two packs of batteries in case the main battery is empty or damaged.
During his walk, he sees that there are still many people working on site despite it already being late at night. He looks at the gloom sky that had not received any sunlight since the Federation occupied.
He still remembers the story that many people were told from a generation to another. The story told that this planet was once a green, beautiful and an oasis paradise. But a huge war erupted during that time and a ferocious battle was taking place the moment the Federation and the Crucible, the enemy of the Federation, took interest.
It took entirely five years and the Federation won the battle. However, the planet was in a bad shape and there were no useful resources that could be found in the planet's belly even though it was being drilled, creating a lot of underground tunnels and surprisingly it saved the animal and beast that lived on the planet . But the environment had forced the creature to change its form for survival.
From a beautiful and friendly creature to a vicious beast that had one main goal.. To survive.
And that is what his job is today, to catch a beast in an underground tunnel that spreads like an ant underground tunnel, but at a larger scale.
After a few hours of walking, Khairul had finally reached his destination. His destination seems to be a place where all the scrap metals that have been collected, will be counted depending on hours of work and records.
If the person's record is bad, not including the time before he or she was sent , then the price for scrap metals per kilo will drop. This place is called the Reception.
After Khairul finds his spot that he has registered , legally, he steps on the foot lock. Then, he exits the mech from behind, where there is a stair waiting for him.
A group of robots come and fix the mech so other people can use it.
After that, a crane carries the storage backpack from the mech. The mech with the robots on the platform descend to bottom. Then a robot reach a large cable tube and insert the mech to recharge the mech.
Khairul continues his journey and reaches the reception counter. But since it is already night, there are a lot of people on the queue and all of them wish to go home. Khairul takes a queue at Line number 5. He then waits for his turn.
What people thought at it simply takes a few minutes has actually become an hour. After waiting for quite a long time, it is finally his turn. Suddenly, a bulky man with a lot of tattoos cut the queue that Khairul had waited for his turn.
He tapped at the bulky man's shoulder.
"Excuse me, sir. Can you not cut people's line? I simply waited an hour for my turn, so I can't accept this. Please, go to the queue,now",said Khairul to the bulky man.
The man stare at Khairul body. "Or what, huh? You think your little pathetic words would be able to move my body. Who is talking to me, huh. Back off, p***y", said the bulk man with a threatening tone.
Khairul has no choice but to stay silent. He simply doesn't want trouble. No matter what, he can't simply pick up a fight at anyone.
He held deep anger and closed his eyes. He wishes that this man will quickly finish his business. Not even three minutes , the bulk man made yet again another ruckus. Only this time, the bulk man is angry at the reception.
"I'm sorry, sir. But your record indicates that you has stealing a various item multiple time, broken a lot of hunting equipment, beating up a few officer, murder five citizen and you hadn't paid tax since… never. So, following the rule, your pay will be cut by about 79 percent",said the receptionist, trying to explain the problem to him.
"So what?! I legally collected the scrap metals for three weeks. Three weeks! My pay should be the same amount of a three days pay",said the bulk man, defending himself.
"True, but CCTV-K4 caught you forcing three young citizens to do your work while you're sleeping. We cannot tolerate such incidents in our work place-".
The bulk man grabs the receptionist collar over the counter and pulls it near his face.
"You think I will give a f**k about your rules. All you do is tell us to do that and not to do this. Over and over. I'm done with your nonsense. Give me the money or I will kill you!"said the bulk man to the receptionist .
Receptionist tries to speak while she is choking .
"I like to see you try. The moment you 'about' to kill me, the bomb that was inside your neck will immediately explode. How about that? ", said the receptionist.
The bulk man is sweating when he hears about this. The receptionist could be lying, but what if it is true? At last he gives up and takes the credits that the receptionist had given to him.
" I can't believe he actually believe it. Like hell we know if they (the higher-ups) put it or not", the receptionist thought to herself.
After that ruckus ends, Khairul quickly goes for his turn to receive his pay.
The receptionist cleared her voice before saying, "apologies for what just happened. Please, scan your fingerprint, mister".
Khairul quickly scans his fingerprint on a device. The receptionist checks Khairul's record and is shocked to see it.
"Your record is so much better than that ugly dude. Your record is.. clean. So is your amount of scrap metals you collected",said the receptionist in awe.
"It's been quite long since I've seen this record and the amount of scrap metals. So I will give you your pay with a 10 percent bonus".
Khairul is shocked to hear it. Why did he suddenly get a 10 percent bonus all of sudden?
He wants to take the credits but the receptionist holds it and whispers to him. "I hope you succeed in building that titan. I can't wait to see it fly".
The receptionist let go of her hand before she wink at him. He doesn't understand why she did that, but nonetheless he continued on. He takes a metro train at the metro station and rides it until he reaches his hometown, Cease Town.