Author Notes: Alright. First things first. This is just a prologue and might be a one-shot or develop into a proper story. I am not sure, given my other project and how little time I have these days to write. So, if you guys want this one to become a proper story, then show interest in it through collections and power stones or through comments. This way, I will know if I should turn this one-shot into a proper story.
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Solaris-3
A world on the verge of collapse.
A world where civilization once thrived thousands of years ago, reaching heights that nobody alive today can even begin to imagine.
Yet, it was not to be.
The Laments. The Wails of Sorrows that reverberate across space-time.
The mass-extinction events that gave birth to 'lesser' disasters like the Etheric Sea, the Waveworn Phenomenon, the Tacet Discords, and many more.
Nobody knows where they came from or why they happen. All anyone knows is that they are disasters and brought civilization to its knees multiple times throughout history.
However, it is the fundamental law of the universe that every force, every action, must always have an equal and opposite reaction.
Just like the Laments are the opposites of Civilization.
So are the Resonators, born from the remnant energies of the Waveworn Phenomenon and the Lament, the enemies of the children of Laments, the Tacet Discords.
And just like there are Threnodians, born from the negative side of the human subconscious, drawing on the power born from the suffering of humanity, so are there Sentinels, the enigmatic and godly beings that guard civilization throughout their immortal existence.
Solaris-3 is a war-torn world. Perpetually locked in this struggle for dominance, where the forces of Civilization fight for their existence, while the energies and entities born from both human darkness and beings well beyond human imagination wish to drive humanity, and every living thing on the planet, to extinction.
It is a world where everyday life is a struggle for most people, with only pockets of civilization granting peace and tranquility to its people in the form of several nations across its surface.
And it is in this world that there exists a singular being, a strange entity, that has taken on many names and done many things, both good and evil, in the name of stopping the Lament.
They bore many names in the past.
The land where black blossoms bloom, a place that is dedicated solely to monitoring and preventing the Lament, they were known as the Astral Modulator.
In a land now lost to time and the Lament, they were called The First Resonator.
And in another place, they were called the God-Killer.
Many are their titles, and many more are their actions that reverberate to this day and age all across Solaris-3.
And yet, now, after ten long years of absence, this entity that struggled for so long between Civilizations greater good, and humanity's spirit has finally returned to Solaris-3.
This time, choosing to forgo all of their previous titles, all of their accomplishments and failures, they have taken up a name that they had not used for countless years.
Rover.
They who 'rove' the world, looking for a solution that might be impossible to find for anyone else.
However, will they be enough, 'I' wonder?
Will this entity, this outsider, this Arbiter, be enough to accomplish what they had failed to do for so long?
.....Perhaps. Perhaps they will be enough.
The frequencies of the world, the energies of the Etheric Sea, things that know the past just as well as they know the future, say that they will. They say that Rover will succeed in this new approach that they have taken after centuries of failure.
But, is it selfish of 'me' to ensure such an outcome? Is it cruel of 'me', to not trust this future that is yet to come? Is it unfaithful of 'me' to not trust my chosen to do what they were supposed to do, and probably will do in the future?
Perhaps.
And yet, am 'I' not a greedy, untrusting being in the first place? Was 'I' not like that from the very beginning? Before 'I' met Rover and made that pact all those eons ago?
Maybe that is why, 'I' have decided to take such a drastic action, to tip the scale as it were, to ensure 'our' victory.
'I' turned to the young human man, who physically looked no older than someone in their early twenties.
Yet, 'I' knew that this was not the case for his soul.
After all, one cannot claim to be in their twenties when they have been fighting the corruption of a formless, eldritch entity for countless eons within an isolated realm before I found them.
"You will be my 'insurance' as they say. Unfortunate one."
"You who has resisted an entity far beyond you for countless eons, through sheer will and spite. You will be my backup in case my chosen fails yet again."
"...Forgive me for pushing such a burden on you. But, for the greater good, and for my pact, this is the only choice I have."
I pushed the young man into the swirling vortex, made of transdimensional frequencies and energies.
He will arrive in Solaris-3, just like my chosen would.
Let 'us' hope that this will be enough.
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Over the skies of the area known as the Gorge of Spirits, a streak of light tore through the skies, catching the attention of three individuals who were already there to investigate a similar streak of light that had appeared a few hours ago.
"Chixia! Over there! I see him!"
The Junior Patroller heard the calls of the anxious Outrider and ran with all her might, making sure not to disturb the slumbering woman that they had found in the Gorge just a few minutes earlier.
Yangyang, the Outrider, followed the 'wind' as her power guided her to the source of the light that fell into the Gorge.
However, before she and her friend could reach the source, they spotted something that filled them with dread.
"Chixia! We got TDs!"
"Crap! I can't fight with this woman on my back!"
Yangyang observed the five Tacet Discords that surrounded the crater where the source of the light from before probably fell.
Four Fusion Dreadmanes, standard-class TDs, and one Havoc Dreadmane, an elite-class TD.
'This is going to be a hard fight.'
Yangyang grasped the handle of her sword, shouted back to her friend.
"Watch my back and provide cover fire! Target the Fusion Dreadmanes first!"
"Got it!"
Chixia carefully shifted the unconscious woman's body on her back and reached for one of her Pistols. She could only use one Pistol to attack for now since she was using her other hand to support the unconscious woman.
Her power of converting frequencies into flame ammunition filled her Pistol with powerful ammunition, capable of harming TDs.
With practiced ease, barrages of 'Flame' bullets assaulted the Fusion Dreadmanes, making them scatter from the crater along with the Elite-class TD.
However, since the Dreadmanes were also of the 'Fusion' elemental affinity as her, Chixia's attacks were significantly weaker when faced against them, and as a result, only caused surface-level damage.
And yet, she was not discouraged. Because she had done her job.
Just as the Dreadmanes were about to attack Chixia, A vortex of Aero energy manifested between the group of TDs, forcefully pulling them together into a single area.
Even the Havoc Dreadmane was not spared, despite it gripping the land with all its might by using its claws as anchors.
Just as Yangyang was about to unleash her full power, however, the Havoc Dreadmane had had enough of this humiliation and retaliated.
The beast roared with rage while infusing its power into the roar, forcefully cancelling out Yangyang's vortex.
With its brethren freed, albeit weakened, the Dreadmane locked its solid yellow eyes on Yangyang.
Havoc Energy, the very power of annihilation, concentrated on its tail, it attacked Yangyang with a tail sweep.
Yangyand had seen the attack coming, so she used her sword to defend herself while Chixia continued to harass the Fusion Dreadmanes, making sure that they would not interfere with her fight.
However, something happened that nobody saw coming.
The first ones to detect the sudden change were the Tacet Discords.
The Fusion Dreadmanes pressed their ears to their heads and whimpered as their tails tucked themselves between their legs. The beasts slowly moved away from the crater as their legs trembled in fear.
The Havoc Dreadmane had a completely different reaction as it roared in challenge towards the crater with Havoc energies still coiling around its body.
Just a few seconds after this change, Yangyang and Chixia saw a scene that made their breath hitch.
The TDs suddenly started levitating in the air as an oppressive energy filled the atmosphere.
The TDs howled in fear and anger as they writhed, trying to break out of the hold of whatever held them in the air like this.
Unfortunately, these beings born of the remnant energies could not hope to fight against the potent Paranatural energy holding them afloat.
And at the center of this anomaly was a young man.
His short black hair swayed in the wind as his glowing blue eyes glared coldly at the beasts.
"Is this a new trick that the damned Hiss is trying to play? I'm game."
The young man hooked his fingers into claws, grasping at invisible energies, and pulled his hands apart.
The result was instantaneous as the Fusion Dreadmanes screamed in agony. But these screams only lasted a handful of seconds before they were torn asunder by the telekinetic might of the young man.
The Havoc Dreadmane, realizing that things were not going its way, decided to try and escape the fight.
It pushed all of its Havoc energies into its legs and tried to push against the very air itself, hoping to 'annihilate' the energy holding it in the air and bolt out of the area.
But the young man would not allow the beast to do as it pleased.
His eyes narrowed with suspicion as he sensed the Havoc energy from the beast rising.
"That's not Hiss Resonance energy. Just what are you? Nevermind. Kill first, ask questions later."
Focusing his Paranatural energies into a single point, the young man pushed forward his right palm, imitating a palm strike from basic martial arts.
But the effect was so devastating that nobody could call it a regular palm strike.
The Telekinetic force tore through the air and blasted into the Havoc Dreadmane with the force of a freight train at full speed and loaded to the brim.
Simply put, the Taced Discord could not even withstand it for a single second before it was blown apart into frequencies that converged to form an Echo.
With no other threat in sight, the young man slowly levitated down to the ground and looked at the two speechless women with curiosity and excitement in his eyes.
"Sorry about that display, ladies! Based on the strange energies I sense from you and the way they feel so controlled and given that you are present in this strange Threshold, I take it you are Parautilitarians from the Bureau? If so, can you tell me where I am and help me contact Director Fayden? I've got a lot to talk about with her."
And so, an unknown variable fell into the world of Solaris-3. What changes will his existence bring? Will these changes be for the better or worse?
Only time will tell.