It was impossible to determine the speed at which the elevator accelerated at from inside the elevator itself. The four were completely adamant about positioning themselves in a way that wouldn't result in them collapsing to the decrease in gravity, failing to realize that they were indeed blasting off into space like the launching of a rocket. The elevator's cables were also destabilized from years of degradation, making the launch bumpier and jerky.
Ardine pressed both of his hands on opposite sides of the elevator to balance himself from falling over. Lyn dug Alfaic into the elevator walls and held his handle firmly to keep herself from falling over, while Claire clutched Lyn's right leg tightly in a seated curled position.
The flickering bright warm lights above the elevator began to flash crimson red as a warning alarm blared through the small enclosure. A whirring gear on the elevator began to sound a high-pitched screech, signaling the braking mechanisms beginning to take effect. The elevator shook and rattled even further before coming to a near complete halt. The elevator's halt stalled itself as attached itself to an unknown platform, coming to a complete close.
"YOU HAVE REACHED THE FINAL LEVEL," The female automated voice calmly stated. "PLEASE ENJOY YOUR STAY AT THE QLIPHOS SPACE OBSERVATORY."
Claire stood up after holding onto Lyn, glancing over at the elevator's exit. "Is... it over?" Her voice trailed off in fear.
"I certainly hope so." Lyn said, pressing her palm against the exit. The automated door opened, revealing a pitch dark area only dimly lit by the elevator's light. The singular room inside featured an elongated curved sectional sofa with an unknown color of darkness. Lyn, although hesitant at first, was the first to approach the darkened room followed by her allies. They tried to scan the premises of any clue to turn on the lights, but there was no sign of anything around the poorly lit area.
"Hey, Alfaic," Ardine called. "Do your job, yeah?"
"Shut up, man." Alfaic retorted.
Their banter was broken apart by the sudden shut of the elevator's automated door. There was nothing but pitch black darkness enveloping the small room, now. The whirring of the elevator's gears powered up again, descending all the way down to the lower level where it would presumedly destroy itself with no bottom floor left to support itself.
"What's going on?!" Claire cried.
Lyn continued to scan her surroundings when suddenly, multiple large window panels that blotted the outside world began to retract upward, revealing the light source of the stellar stars twinkling beside them. Upon initial contact, the room lit itself from the support of the darkened atmosphere of space, revealing the floors they stood upon to be made up entirely of the celestial colors of comets and neon galaxies. Above their heads stood a circling planetary model crafted from intricate gears, servos, and models of planets. It began to rotate, showcasing the many colorful palettes of planets orbiting beside METIS on a global scale.
The beauty of the observatory was well renown. The infusion and combination of celestial colors of blue, purple, and white entranced an innocent Claire with eye candy for her senses. Lyn, Ardine, and Alfaic stood beside her, looking up as the planetary model began to shift itself and move in tandem with the observatory from the outside. The stars were now fast moving twinkles of dust that scattered across their vision.
"Look!" Claire pointed out with her finger as her face lit up in joy. A cosmic streak of light moved out of the corner of their eyes. "A shooting star!"
"Since the beginning of time, humanity has all but lived in one singular planet; METIS," A feminine voice above the planetary automatically played. The planetary model shifted onto a singular blue and green planet, presumed to be METIS. "Life was simple. The purpose of humanity was to survive and live for another day. The cycle would continue as humans sought happiness and joy in their every day lived experiences, wanting to extend their inevitable deaths with an arrangement of lifelong memories."
Lyn and the others watched as the model of METIS expanded in size. A singular yellow dot formed in the center, pulsating like a sonar would after locating its target.
"But over a long period of time, the planet's resources were depleting rapidly, and soon, humanity would cut thin in half," The automated voice continued. "On its last legs, the population desperately searched for a way to restore the age of survival. It was on this exact moment where mankind created an entity, a guardian whose primary purpose was to search for innumerable methods to find a cure. But the guardian was exposed to the truth of humanity; war, bloodshed, greed, and death."
From the same pulsating yellow dot sprouted an animation of red lines from it, pinpointing their destinations to multiple green lands and infecting it with its red color. Lyn and the others were shocked to realize the truth of it all, to the point where they were incapable of discerning of whether it was a dream or reality.
"And so, the guardian punished all humanity by spreading its influence across all of METIS," The automated voice continued. "A gift that mankind has nicknamed... the Rot."
"No fucking way..." Ardine mouthed off, pressing his palm against his forehead in utter shock.
"Humanity... created the Rot...?!" Lyn voiced out, remembering the Rot Mother as the worshipped guardian of the bunker. Putting the pieces together, that would mean that the Rot Mother was a humanoid, presumedly still alive to this day.
"But that's impossible!" Claire exclaimed. "Why would humans create something that would destroy them in the end?"
"Because they destroyed themselves," Alfaic reasoned, putting one and one together. "They had no other option. They needed a failsafe. A way out. And the guardian was their way out."
The model of METIS expanded, showcasing a single piece of land stretched beyond control, along with many smaller red dots aligning the radius of the land. Lyn and the other studied it further as the outside space began to hue up in red to match the ambient lighting.
"Before humanity knew it, the guardian was the only one living on METIS," The automated voice continued. "But because the guardian was created by humans, they too learned the concept of sympathy, and reconciled with its past to put a stop to all death. They searched for an ascendant, one true soul whose purpose was to create a new world where evolution was possible."
"Ascendant...?" Lyn whispered. The terms were becoming clear. It was similar to what Nia had stated before.
The model zoomed out and moved toward another stretch of land in the far distance, which still remained green and lined with white trails to serve as mountains. Yellow pulsating dots across it scattered and blinked.
"Luckily, not all of humanity was extinct," The voice continued. "A small group of surviving humans who preserved themselves in safety managed to repopulate the planet, creating what humanity calls the METIS Populace. But the guardian's influence reigns supreme, spreading its light to all who try to take it away from them, transforming the aged humans into grotesque creatures whose sole purpose is to separate the weak from the strong. To find the ascendant. To ascend them to the new world."
"I knew it," Ardine said. "The old humans... are the Rot."
"The guardian..." Claire whispered, pressing her fist against her chest. "The Rot Mother..."
"I need to say something to all of you," Lyn confessed, gaining their attention. "Down at the hideout, when I encountered Nia and I saw the past... she called me the "ascendant." She told me that I was chosen... and I have yet to understand what that means."
"Really?" Ardine asked. "She called you that?"
"Yes," Lyn said. "The ascendant to the new world, where evolution was possible..." She repeated after the intercom's voice. "And it's something that Nia wanted to be... for some reason."
"You were born from the Rot Mother," Alfaic repeated. "A construct. But a special construct... meant to ascend... is what my father spoke about. He always spoke of this ascension to my brothers and I. He wouldn't sleep for days in our mansion. He always prayed to the Rot Mother, praying for ascension, day and night."
"What does it mean, to ascend?" Claire asked.
"I don't know..." Alfaic disappointingly stated. "But whatever it is, it can't be good."
Lyn's eyebrows furled downward, disturbed by her own creation being part of humanity's destruction. It almost felt like her responsibility that the planet was wiped out, but she knew that her birth couldn't have signaled such a thing. Why was she special? And for what reason? Those two thoughts surrounded her mind in a bind, wanting to search for the answers that lay dormant across METIS.
"The Rot Mother has disappeared," The automated voice continued as the planetary model of METIS zoomed out to view the entire galaxy. "Her influence scatters across the world in the form of lifeless trees, seeking to spread her mission of searching for the ascendant. Once the ascendant has been found, research shows that a carefully constructed set of events shall unfold, leading to the rebirth of a new world. The cycle will never end... until then."
"Lifeless trees..." Ardine said, revealing his leather pouch seating three of the Rot Mother's fragments within.
"Research from Qliphos Space Station personnel have determined the location of all five fragments, where their energy signatures deign them in the area," The voice continued, pinpointing five white dots across METIS. "One housed in the blood forest, one housed in the depths of the desert, one housed in the warm core..."
Lyn and the others determined the first three spoke of Llafiella, the Bountiful Sands, and Qliphos itself.
"One in the center of dreams, and one in the abstract dimension," The voice finalized. "Once they have all been found... will the Rot Mother return once more to finalize her decision. Painting light across the world's blackened husk, searching for the entrance to the new world."
The voice silenced itself as the entire planetary model lifted itself up toward a hidden chamber, sealing itself from sight. The colors of space from the outside faded away, revealing the distant planet of METIS infected by a combination of red, green, and blue colors. They were piercing through the skies passing through space, halting the moment the observatory's scripted play had ended.
An influx of lights beamed down upon the four, revealing the exit to be an automated door in the corner of the room. The four attempted to piece together the puzzle of the truth in silence, and managed to do so accordingly.
"So, if we find those last two fragments, the Rot Mother will come, and we can finally kill her," Ardine said, with hopeful eyes. "Maybe there is an end to this cycle of death after all."
"One in the center of dreams... and one in the abstract dimension?" Claire voiced out. "What does that even mean? Why does it have to be so convoluted?"
Lyn looked at Alfaic, who hovered away from all three of them alone. "Blade?" She called.
"I... have an idea," Alfaic said, turning around. "But we need to get back to METIS-"
Suddenly, the automated door burst open with a gigantic fleshy Rot tendril swarming through the observatory. It extended itself against the glass and seized control of Lyn, wrapping itself around her waist. Before it could draw Lyn through the door, Claire lashed her left hand forward, disintegrating the tendril upon first touch. As the door was clear from the infectious tendril, three large battle droids all corrupted by the tainting of Rot pustules on their bodies entered the observatory, firing their malfunctioned bullets at the group.
Claire conjured a golden barrier to protect Lyn and Ardine. Alfaic snuck from behind the three droids and performed a single horizontal slash toward their blooming pustules, popping them and crumbling them to utter ash. After Claire stopped the barrier, Alfaic flipped himself into Lyn's hand, sounding the approach to the end of their journey.