His eyes began to well with tears as he recalled his parents.
"I don't want to think about you guys right now."
Feeling the cool stone beneath his fingertips. Caelum was flooded with a wave of memories.
Caelum's mom led a rebel group in Valtara that opposed the ruling council, whose king was a vassal of the Stellar Dominion. His mother had sworn an oath to free Valtara from the Dominion's control. To do this, she had formed an army of rebels, many of whom had fought alongside her in previous battles, including his dad. They were good people, trusting and filled camaraderie. Which was why they died. Betrayed by one of their own, their base had been ratted out to the council which sent their forces to secretly detonate their hideout into pieces. Caelum hated his parents.
'They deserved to die. They deserved to burn.' he thought, recalling his memory.
'Anyone who is gullible enough to trust should die.' he had vowed himself.
'Life isn't fair and doesn't care about one's intentions and beliefs.' Caelum learned at an early age, and he knew the truth of that statement too well.
'Love doesn't exist, it's not in human nature to care for others. We are all alone in this world,' Caelum told himself countless times till he accepted it. 'It was true, humans were selfish creatures. Even his own mother betrayed him in the end, leaving him in the slums to fend for himself, while she went on dying for a "noble" cause.'
Caelum let out a bitter laugh, his eyes stinging with tears. He quickly wiped them away. "Damn it... stop being so weak."
Suddenly, Caelum felt something watching him.
"Who are you?!" Caelum shouted, his voice echoing off the walls of the cavern. The man didn't respond. He simply stood there, staring at Caelum with an unreadable expression on his face.
"Can you hear me?" Caelum tried again, taking a few cautious steps towards the figure. "Where the hell am I!"
Still, no response from the mysterious man.
Caelum gritted his teeth in frustration.
A smile appeared on the holograms face has he pointed at the wall.
"What the hell are you pointing at, bastard?"
The hologram faded away into nothingness, leaving Caelum alone in the cavern. He looked over at the wall, puzzled. Suddenly, he noticed something unusual: a crack on the otherwise seamless rock face. Curious, he approached it and jammed his nails inside and pushed against it. The wall shifted, and Caelum watched as it slid aside, revealing a dark tunnel beyond.
"What the fuck..." Caelum mumbled to himself.
He hesitantly stepped through the opening and entered the tunnel. The further tunnel was no longer stone but smooth metal with the mark of a phoenix engraved on each wall. The tunnel was lit by semi-sphere shaped lights embedded into the ceiling. As Caelum walked down the corridor, he noticed several other doors lined up along it. There was one directly across from the one he had just walked through. It was thick, steel reinforced with a heavy lock holding it shut.
Caelum's eyes wandered to the metal door which had a porthole. He peered through it and saw that there was a ladder leading down into an abyss of blackness below. Caelum backed away from the door, his heart pounding in his chest.
"Where the hell am I?" Caelum asked himself, feeling as though he'd entered some bizarre alternate reality. He moved to the next door and inspected it closely. There was nothing special about it; it was made of normal wood like any other door but this one had a strange symbol carved into it: a pair of crossed swords with two flames burning beneath them.
Caelum ran his fingers along the symbol, wondering what it meant. He pressed his ear against the door and listened carefully for any sound coming from within. He heard nothing but silence.
"Fuck it." Caelum muttered under his breath as he turned the knob and stepped through the door. The room inside was spacious, with high ceilings and bare walls made of steel and concrete. In the center of the room was a large chair made of leather and metal, similar to an executioner's block except wider and slightly smaller in height. A chain hung above it, suspended from a hook on the ceiling. There was also an axe, its blade stained red with dried blood lying beside it.
On the opposite side of the room, was another door with the same symbol on it as the one he'd just come through. Caelum's eyes scanned the room, searching for anything of value or help. But all he saw were shattered metal and wood splinters scattered across the floor.
Caelum left the room and entered the next one. This room was much smaller than the one before it; only three meters in length and width. It had no furniture except for a table that stood in one corner of the room, and two chairs that faced each other across it. On top of the table sat a bottle of whiskey and two glasses filled with amber liquid.
Caelum slowly approached the table, careful not to make any sudden movements. After looking around for while he didn't find anything of note other than a wooden box containing paper, ink, and quills. He walked back out into the hall and continued exploring the facility.
The next door however was locked, and upon trying to force it open Caelum found that it had been sealed shut using some kind of magnetic field or something similar. He couldn't understand how such technology was possible when almost every other thing on this planet was either powered by fossil fuels or nuclear power plants that produced massive amounts of radioactive waste. Caelum's curiosity was piqued though so he decided to give this door another try later when he figured out how to disable the magnetic field.
"Alrighty, moving on then," Caelum muttered under his breath as he pushed open the door across from that one and entered a large chamber filled with metal shelves stacked high with crates of various shapes and sizes. Some were labeled with numbers while others were marked with symbols. Caelum walked past the shelves until he came to a row of lockers lining one wall. He opened one and found it contained a large amount of guns and ammunition.
'As expected from a rebel base,' Caelum thought as he closed the locker and continued exploring the room. He discovered several boxes filled with grenades and explosives, as well as piles of clothing ranging from jackets to boots. There were even pairs of combat suits made of Kevlar and armor plating.
Caelum picked up one of the suits and examined it closely before putting it back down again. He wasn't sure what use he could make of such equipment, especially since he'd never been trained to use firearms or engage in close quarters combat.
He exited the storage room and walked into a hallway lined with doors. He opened the next he came across and found that it led into another storage area filled with supplies such as food, medicine, toiletries etc. Caelum searched around for awhile before finding a heavy metal key
He returned to the locked door, and using the key he managed to deactivate the magnetic field preventing him from entering. Inside he found himself standing in front of a giant metal container roughly ten meters in length by four meters wide by eight meters tall. The sides were covered in numerous markings and symbols etched into the surface while the top was inscribed with words written in some unknown language. Caelum studied it for awhile but couldn't decipher any meaning behind them. The only clue he had was that one of the letters resembled a Phoenix with wings spread out. The container was open with a ramp leading into it. Caelum cautiously climbed up into it, and began exploring its contents. Everything seemed to be organized neatly, although some items appeared damaged or missing altogether.
Inside he found rows of shelves filled with weapons ranging from assault rifles to submachine guns and pistols. There were also boxes containing ammunition boxes of different calibers as well as dozens upon dozens of grenades. Caelum gazed around at the assortment of weaponry laid out before him in awe. He'd never seen so much firepower gathered together in one place before. In the middle of it all was a ring suspended in air by magnets built into the floor.
"What the hell is this..." Caelum wondered aloud as he looked around the room.
He noticed something sticking out from underneath one of the benches nearby and pulled it free. It turned out to be a tablet computer that looked brand new despite being hidden for god knows how long. Caelum fiddled with it for awhile until he managed to activate it and brought up a list of files stored on its internal memory. Most of them seemed unrelated to what he wanted so Caelum skipped through them until he found something interesting titled 'Phoenix Fleet Report'. He clicked on it and began reading through the document.
According to the report, Phoenix Fleet was a secret military unit consisting of soldiers specializing in guerrilla warfare tactics designed to fight against the Dominion armies. They operated independently and did whatever they pleased without fear of reprisal.
Caelum's interest grew even stronger after learning this information. He scrolled through the document until he found another file titled 'Last Mission Status Update'.
Caelum tapped the icon and opened up the file. The first thing he noticed was a photograph showing a group of people standing in front of a helicopter, dressed in black military fatigues and armed to the teeth. The man in the middle appeared to be the leader as everyone else was looking at him with respect. The picture was grainy but Caelum could make out some details like the tattoos covering his arms and legs. He had short black hair styled in an undercut, a strong jawline, and sharp features.
'Dad. That's definitely my dad,' Caelum thought as he stared at the picture.
'And that means the woman beside him must be...' Caelum felt tears well up in his eyes as he recognized the beautiful woman standing next to his father.
She had long, brown hair that framed her face perfectly. Her silver eyes sparkled in the sunlight, and her smile lit up her entire face. She wore a tight-fitting tank top and a pair of cargo pants tucked into boots.
'Mom.' Caelum's hands began shaking uncontrollably.
'If she's here... does that mean...'
His heart was racing as he searched through the file until he found a document titled 'Phoenix Fleet Deployment List'.
He quickly skimmed through the text until he found his name and birth date.
"No fucking way." Caelum couldn't believe his eyes as he read the line again and again.
'My name... is on this list. I was supposed to join the fleet too?!'Caelum scrolled and found a text titled 'Aether ring' and his hands began trembling.
'Aether rings are a rare type of artifact monopolised by the Dominion. It is extremely potent, and only the strongest people can withstand its effects. When a person has a Aether core they are capable of incredible feats such as flight, teleportation, and even healing themselves. It's extremely rare and very difficult to acquire. The power it grants is always different for each person and once placed on the finger, it dissolves into the soul and grants the ability to cultivate and peer into one's soul.'
Caelum remembered his dad telling him stories about Aether rings, but he never thought he'd actually see one in person.
'So if this is a Phoenix fleet base, then... this ring must be ...' Caelum's eyes darted across the room to the ring suspended in air by magnets built into the floor. He walked over and grabbed it, inspecting the band carefully. It looked like a simple metal band with nothing special about it except for the engraved pattern on the surface.
'Could this be it?'
Caelum held the ring up to his face and stared into the stone set in the middle of the band. It was black and shone with a faint purple glow. Caelum slipped the ring onto his finger and immediately fell to the floor as his vision went black.