01:00 IST, Eleventh day, First month, 3079 PV | Valker / Top of Mt. Igan
Before us stands a massive building. The site of the final stage of this altar. Perhaps this one will actually present a challenge.
Ray:"You ready? who knows what kinda hell is inside there."
"Ready as ever. Luce lunae per aspera ad astra et ultra right?"
"Of course, together we are unstoppable."
We exit our StarMechs, ensuring that we are fully suited up to resist the inhospitable atmosphere of Valker. Ray and I walk into the large building. We are quite surprised to find that it is not in fact, hell.
It is a large white room, filled with seven tubes and a large tube similar to that on the station. Perhaps to launch us back into orbit when we are done. It seems pretty friendly, I dont think they are going to torture us.
Ray:"Woah, look at those cool tubes, there are seven. I bet we get to go inside! What could they possibly be?"
Shesah Scientist:"Allow me to explain the last stage of the altar, you will go into these virtual environment simulators and be given a task to be completed together. As well as a bonus. Please enter the tubes, good luck."
Ko:"Well then, let's go!"
We enter the strange tubes. Immediately it syncs up with our neural interfaces and we get thrown into a virtual environment. It seems much more realistic than similar tech back on Earth.
We look around, we are on a grassy meadow. There are several tables containing.. Ingredients? There is also a large stove/grill, oven and even a rice cooker. A few moments after we enter, a hologram of a human female appears, must be an AI. She speaks.
"Greetings Contestants. Welcome to the first altar. This one is fairly simple, you must prepare a meal befitting the fire god. Do be sure to mind your spices, the fire god is very picky about his food. You should have everything required to complete this altar available. When you are completed, bring your dish to the temple over yonder."
She then points to a large marble temple and disappears.
What the klack? The end of the first altar is cooking?! What exactly are they basing their ideas off of?
Ray:"Welp, guess this one is up to you Ko. All that practice cooking for me wasn't for nought it seems. Go make a meal befitting a god."
Ko:"Wait, weren't we supposed to have a bonus objective?"
Ray:"Maybe it's hidden within the task itself?"
"You may be right, there are two parts to the task. Prepare a meal and 'mind your spices.'"
"Well a meal should be simple enough. However, the extra part makes it sound like we should spice it to be fitting of a fire god. Which means extra spicy. But that seems too simple to gain extra points."
"You're right. It says mind your spices. And the fire god is actually picky. What if it is the complete opposite and the fire god actually hates spicy things?"
"Glad we are thinking on the same wavelength. So, get to it, go prepare that guy a very bland meal I suppose."
"Gah, fine. Give me a few minutes."
I quickly think of what to make. It comes to my attention that I am only able to make pancakes and waffles. Well, im about to serve this god the best klacking plate of waffles ever.
I carefully mix all the ingredients together. It seems that they decided to simulate normal human ingredients in this space. Probably to help those who aren't familiar with the alien substitutions that would be required.
I wonder how the Quartet and Luna will fare with cooking. I wouldn't be surprised if Luna can't cook. She does kinda have a spoiled princess vibe about her. Also she seems to have undergone some stuff, I can't imagine that would include cooking training.
At least one of the Quartet can probably cook something. Macros is ex-millitary so he could probably throw something basic together from his basic military training. The others might just hinder him though. They don't seem to be the type that is too into cooking.
"It's done! The most bland plate of delicious waffles you've ever seen!"
"Mhm, looks delicious, maybe he wont mind if I just try one.."
I swat her hand away before she can grab one. "No, bad Genius Prodigy Superstar. I'll make you some when we get back if you want. Though, I don't know why you'd want bland waffles. I could do them normally instead."
"Yipeee!"
"I suppose we should head for the temple now. Though, I feel like this was far too easy. Like seriously, just cooking?"
"Ill take an easy win, though I was hoping for more of a challenge."
We spent a few minutes walking towards the temple. We approach and are greeted with a massive gate with two guards to the side. It seems they are made out of bronze, straight out of a myth.
The moment we enter, we are hit with an intense heat, which we can feel even in this virtual environment. There is a long pathway and at the end stands a massive throne. However, sitting on the throne is not what you'd expect.
It's a boy. He looks no older than fifteen. Yet I can feel as though he is radiating a very intense aura of power. The boy, who must be the fire god, speaks in a booming voice that doesn't match his appearance whatsoever.
"Greetings, mortals. For what purpose have you intruded upon my domain on this fine day?"
I take the lead on this one, "Greeting O great one, we have brought an offering of delicious food for your great self to delight in."
"Hmm, intriguing, of what nature is this offering?"
"We were told to bring you some delicious food by a being that we greatly respect."
"Mighty interesting indeed. A typical mortal might say something like 'raze a city for us O great one.' It is quite a pleasure! I shall be glad to accept your offering if you answer one riddle."
"Gladly! What might this riddle be?"
"It is as follows;
That which is inside,
That which is a path,
To which is outside,
To that which tears,
Yet it does not break."
Ray:"Ooo, I know this one! It's a wormhole isn't it?"
Fire God:"Correct answer, little one. I shall be glad to accept an offering from a pair with such wiseness as yourselves."
I then proceed to bring the plate of bland waffless up to the fire god. He takes them and motions for me to return to Ray. After I have done so, he calmly eats the waffles. Very slowly. It takes him about fifteen minutes. It seems he is truly analyzing every bite. Once he is done, the plate vanishes.
"My My, what a most delicious meal that was! I've been getting sick and tired of offerings always being super spicy. Much thanks, I have finally gotten to enjoy a meal for the first time in ages!
I bestow this crown of flame upon the two of you. The Valker Altar is now completed."
With those words, the environment around us evaporates and we are returned to our bodies within the tubes.
Ray:"We did it Ko! We actually appeased the Fire god and received the bonus crown, can you believe it?"
"You know, we can do anything together. We just have to put in a bit of effort occasionally."
Shesah Scientist:"Congratulations, Contestants, you have completed the first altar and even managed the bonus. Everyone across the universe is greatly pleased with your performance. Now, if you will, please enter these tubes and you will be returned to your ship. The coordinates of the next altar have already been sent to your Ship."
We are then guided past the other tubes, which all seem to be occupied with the other contestants. It appears that we were the first group to finish. We are then led into the bank of cannons. Great.
Shesah Scientist:"Just walk inside and we will, uh, gently raise you to space. Don't fear, it is completely safe, probably."
We step into the cannons and are secured tightly in the restraints. Moments later, I feel a great acceleration and instantly we are propelled into space. I watch as the planet slowly grows smaller as we streak through the atmosphere like inverted meteorites. We quickly slow down from our launch velocity of 7km/s. We then gracefully glide perfectly into receivers built into the orbital station. We exit the pods and are now in space.
Ray:"Woah, that was so cool! We got launched out of cannons into space! I wanna go again and again. Please tell me we can do it again sometime!"
Ko:"I'm sure we will get an opportunity to be shot out of a cannon again. Though, I can't say I particularly enjoy it. Though it is quite cool and stylish in terms of travel."
"Of course, nothing is cooler than being shot out of an orbital cannon! Too bad we left the StarMechs behind. I want one of my own someday!"
"Im sure Itokin could get one if you asked them, though perhaps not the prototypes."
"Ooooo Really! Lets call them up as soon as this trial thingy is done then!"
"Whatever you say Ms.Genius Prodigy Superstar Otaku."
We are then led back into the Altair. Alt greets us warmly with good information. "Good job on completing your first altar. We have received the next coordinates, please come to the bridge and we shall begin the journey.
We enter the bridge and are greeted by Beck and Initae.
Initae:"Welcome back you two, did you have a fun adventure? The whole net is going absolutely crazy, as expected, the Moonlight Duo was the first to complete the altar and even with the bonus!"
Ko & Ray Simultaneously: "It is just what we do. We are the Moonlight Duo after all."
Ray:"Jinx!"
Ko:"You know I do not ascribe to such things as jinxes so I have no clue why you would even try."
"Aww, you're such a spoilsport. We should be celebrating! It seems like our fame has risen even higher than before! We are probably the most popular duo in the universe."
"That may be true, but popularity only gets us so far. We still have many altars and later trials to go through."
"Geez, loosen up a bit."
Initae:"I agree, you two should be celebrating, you passed the first altar!"
Ko:"I am celebrating, but its important to remain rational, we still have no idea what the rest of the alars are, perhaps the first one was just designed to lower our guards."
This statement earns me a bonk to the head from Ray. She looks quite sad that I don't seem to be celebrating as much as she is. Oh well, one of us has to remain rational, this time it can be me.
Ko:"Anyways, we should set out for our next destination."
Alt:"Sure thing Admiral Ducker. Initiating navigation. Acceleration in ten seconds. Hyperspace acceleration in six minutes. Destination: Likaz, the planet of sorrow. ETA: 17:00 IST, current date. Please brace yourselves."
I immediately activate my countermeasures against the acceleration and hyperspace drive. So that we don't have a repeat experience of last time. It works wonderfully.
I then ponder our destination, Likaz. It will take us about twelve hours to reach, which means it is about fifteen thousand lightyears away. I breach the question on everyone's minds once we enter hyperspace.
"So, what is with this Likaz, why the klack we being sent to a planet that bears the title 'of sorrow'."
Initae:"Likaz is a fairly large aquatic planet. It is said to have many horrific beings lurking in its depths as part of an illegal biomodification program that operated secretly there before being shut down. The operation to shut down the facility lost many lives, and thus the planet was dubbed the planet of sorrow."
Ko:"Oh great, giant aquatic monsters. I'm sure this will be fun."
Ray:"Hey Ko! Let's go watch that old movie about that massive shark. It should get us in the mood!"
Ko:"You know, that's actually not a bad idea."
Ray and I then proceed to head to the officers lounge to relax. Initae says she is heading the way of the mess hall, probably to acquire some alcohol. We arrive in the lounge and settle down to watch the movie.
About thirty minutes in, Ray poses an interesting question.
"What do you think that altar was meant to test? I mean, it had to have some purpose."
"Our cooking skill perhaps? Maybe they just wanted to see us cook. It's hard to understand the thought patterns of an intergalactic organization responsible for determining the best of an entire species. Especially if our white-haired little devil was somehow a part of the design process."
"Fair enough, with Initae involved, anything is possible. I sure do hope we can figure out the meaning behind it some day though."
"I'm sure Iniatae knows, but she is enjoying our ignorance far too much to risk telling us anything major. Man, I wish I could know what she knows, she must feel so strange with all that information."
"Well, she has lived for billions of years. Seemingly with very rare close contact with others. It must be a very lonely time."
"Hmm yes, imagine if we weren't in this together and we were just each tackling this thing alone. It would be far less interesting."
"Mhm, but, don't forget our pact."
"I haven't, and won't. After all, we are the Moonlight Duo, and luce lunae per aspera ad astra et ultra."
"Yep, us together, until we reign victorious at the very end."
Ray says this while looking very tired, I guess high-excitement Mech climbing must've tired her out.
"It's okay if you want to rest, I'm sure Alt will wake us up before we arrive."
"Uhm, Sure." She says very sleepily.
She then proceeds to lay her head on my shoulder and quickly falls asleep. What a fairly typical ending to a completely insane chain of events.
Sitting here, just watching this move has given me new motivation. We will continue to crush these altars and come out on top. I have no doubt of this. So, bring it on.
End of Chapter 29
A/N: Hiya dear reader. It may be the author once again. The first stage of trial one is now over! Huzzah, though this pair still has quite a distance to go before they reach their goal. By the way, giant mechs are cool.
As always, if you are enjoying this little story, be sure to follow/favourite/share with a friend, it is always appreciated! See ya in the next one, dear reader.
Cathrix