Emperor Mekbaal III reigned over the Xothek Empire, a galactic domain stretching two hundred million light-years from the world that would one day be called Astashica. This vast realm was ruled by a million kings, each sovereign over their own planets yet bound by fealty to the Emperor's supremacy. For countless eons, the Xothek Galaxy knew an uneasy peace — until King Xil'rath, consumed by ambition, rose to challenge Mekbaal III for the throne.
The Xothek were master geneticists and strategists. They perfected the Azurevat cataclysmic missile — a weapon capable of obliterating entire continents. Thousands of these devastating warheads were mounted aboard their formidable fleets. When civil war erupted, it devoured the galaxy. Kings turned on kings, forging fragile alliances only to betray them when the hour came. Battles raged across countless worlds; entire star systems were reduced to drifting rubble. Amid the chaos, the unstoppable power of the Azurevat missiles turned planets to ash.
At last, the galaxy itself succumbed to annihilation, collapsing into a massive retrograde black hole that consumed every remnant of Xothek civilization.
Yet moments before the final collapse, six Asemeri chieftains — Cosmus, Val'katl, Salgar, Gorak, Uxnall, and Meiannia — united in desperation. They hijacked the Defiance Vanguard, a mighty Xothek war cruiser, as it lay grounded on planet Asemeri for resupply. Foreseeing their people's extinction, Chieftain Cosmus orchestrated an exodus, rallying millions of kin, livestock, tools, and relics into the ship's cavernous holds.
Among their most precious spoils was XENOVIS — an advanced Xothek system, more than just a database. XENOVIS was a vast, sentient grid of autonomous AI nodes, originally designed to run starships, genetic archives, and entire planetary operations with absolute precision. Aboard the Defiance Vanguard, it catalogued mechas, starships, seeds, and genetic blueprints — an ark of memory for a dying empire.
As the Defiance Vanguard rose into orbit, it came under relentless fire from loyalist Xothek warships. But its reinforced energy barriers held. Its plasma cannons retaliated with brutal efficiency, carving a path toward escape. Knowing that flight required more than engines, the Asemeri reprogrammed one of the ship's Azurevat missiles, amplifying its destructive power tenfold. The blast tore open a wormhole in spacetime. Guided by force barriers and controlled detonations, the Defiance Vanguard navigated the unstable Rosen-Einstein bridge — a desperate passage into the unknown.
Three days later, battered and half-crippled, the ship emerged in an uncharted galaxy. After exhaustive searching, the refugees found a strange yet perfectly habitable world: Astashica, blanketed in dense subtropical rainforests and regulated by ancient weather-controlling monoliths known as the Xalaks.
The Defiance Vanguard descended, its engines scorching a twenty-five-mile swath of forest to ash. Around this colossal ship, the Asemeri built their new capital: New Asemeri. From there, they expanded, conquering the primitive native kingdoms with the unstoppable force of Xothek science. For three centuries, the Asemeri — beings of human and Xothek lineage — reshaped Astashica into their dominion.
In time, they deployed a forked version of XENOVIS, no longer confined to their flagship. The Asemeri embedded this sentient AI grid deep within Astashica itself — anchoring its nodes beneath cities, throughout command towers, and hidden vaults below the surface. There were no satellites circling this new world; instead, every digital system — from power grids and communications to defensive cannons and archives — ran through the living mind of XENOVIS. It became the hidden nervous system of their dominion, watching and recording everything in a world that could no longer forget.
The Boy of Verdantis Nexus
Generations later, in the fertile village of Verdantis Nexus, a young farm boy named Tlandar Varn — a descendant of Chieftain Val'katl — tended his family's cattle on sunlit pastures. Life was harsh but peaceful, wrapped in the soft hum of distant skimmers and the old stories told by his father around the hearth.
But peace does not last forever. Marauders from the Ixtiel Dominion — opportunistic raiders who preyed on weaker border dominions — struck without warning. They plundered villages, slaughtered families, and took captives to sell to the highest bidder.
One morning, as Tlandar guided the cattle back toward the pens, he saw dark shapes breaking across the horizon. Skimmers — dozens of them, too many to stop. The raid came in fire and blood. Kaelis Varn, his father, had always warned him this day would come — but nothing could prepare him for the sight of neighbors slaughtered, cattle scattered, and their ranch house under siege.
Amid the smoke and chaos, a shimmering figure appeared before him: a woman of impossible beauty, white hair drifting in a wind that did not blow, a radiant orb resting in her palms. Her eyes were ageless.
"Tlandar Varn…"
Startled, he staggered back. "Who are you?"
"I am the spirit of Astashica," she said. "I need your help. You have been chosen to lead the fight against the Asemeri overlords who are tearing this world apart. If nothing is done, they will unleash the Azurevat cataclysmic power again — and all will be lost."
Tlandar's heart hammered in his chest. "The marauders are attacking my family! I have to help them!"
"These marauders are but shadows of the true threat. The Asemeri chieftains will bring this continent to its knees. Act now, valiant one. Take my shield and protect your world — or fall with it."
"I'm just a farm boy," Tlandar pleaded. "I have no training. I don't want to fight in any war!"
"You will not stand alone. Meet Akashma Xil'ha — my Valkyrie. She will guide you to your destiny. Now go — save your family. But remember this: when the time comes, you must follow her. Because I have chosen you."
The vision faded like mist in the rising smoke. From the shadows emerged Akashma Xil'ha herself, her cloaking device disengaging with a shimmer of refracted light. Crimson Order sigils glowed faintly on her combat armor.
Tlandar ran — through flame and gunfire, the spirit's words echoing in his mind. He found his family defending their homestead alongside Kaelis. They held the marauders at bay for precious moments, but more raiders poured in, torches and blades raised high. Kaelis led his family through a hidden tunnel to the skimmer hangar. There, they fled aboard a battered Verdant-class transport ship — vanishing into the dawn sky while Verdantis Nexus burned behind them.
In the ashes of his village, Tlandar's path was set. The spirit of Astashica had chosen its protector — and his war for the soul of this world was only beginning.