Entombed Remnant Ch. 01

Chapter 1 -- Unearthed Adventure

Finally his time had arrived. Long he had waited for his new journey, destined to arrive at what he hoped to be the unknown. Amateur archaeologist Axel Rex had always dreamt deep and hard of making incredible discoveries of his own, far beyond digging up uninteresting trinkets with other researchers in local fields. Throughout his twenty six years, starting as a young child at least, many would accuse him of being a reckless gambler with little restraint. To him it was no accusation, but rather a compliment. Such risk taking was the key to worthwhile discoveries, or at least that was specifically his outlook.

From deep within the rural hills of England, he caught the next flight over to the east of Spain. Far from the coast within the south east were deserts with little history, as far as he could tell. Clearly he'd have to travel far and wide to have any fragments of discoveries, though he considered himself well prepared. Upon selling off many unnecessary possessions back home, he at least had enough for his journey. After purchasing a relatively cheap van, he filled it with long lasting food, various drinks, many versatile tools and some of his favourite books from England.

Truth be told, he wasn't fluent in Spanish in the slightest. He already learnt much Italian from a decade ago, which didn't seem to matter thanks to the numerous English speakers he met while filling the van. Many were friendly enough, yet none appeared to actually believe he was using his time well. Responses didn't vary much. Anything strange to be found would already be found, always has been regarded as being a less interesting desert, etc. Despite this, none had it in them to stop Axel, likely out of sympathy given how far he'd come to get here. At the very least they provided spare maps and directions, along with plentiful advice on how to endure or evade summer if he spent the entire spring there.

Clearly the odds were about to crush him with boulders, yet off he went, far out of sight from any civilisations. Clearly that wasn't stopping him. He happily proceeded to drive for days in search of potential points of interest. Off the roads he trailed, favouring areas with higher rocky structures and hills rather than flat ones. Only a few days in, Axel saw a strange sight, albeit briefly. People, far in the distance, entering some isolated desert village near mountainous landscapes. It was only for a fraction of a second, caught in the corner of his eye as he turned around to search. Afterwards, the distance held little more in its midst than crevasses and rocky hills.

Undoubtedly this was a mere illusion his own mind created. Axel was certainly one to get his hopes up, but given the circumstances, a civilisation that appeared only briefly clearly wasn't real. Closer inspection confirmed it. He'd grown so desperate for discoveries that this broken, barely traversable land flashed as hope. Disinterest pushed its way through his mind, almost compellingly as he began searching elsewhere.

If anything, breakages in the earth could potentially hold something beneath, right? His optimism beamed forth, as did his unstable stress from inactivity. Nobody else would think to excavate unaccompanied here, so perhaps this was a nice opportunity? Parking his van nearby before equipping plenty of food and tools in his giant backpack, he donned his gloves and Irish country hat over his shoulder-length dark blond hair. It was midday as he approached a large, cave-like boulder with major cracks along the ground at its side.

Vigorously he excavated the terrain with his well-crafted pickaxe. What he expected to take hours took minutes, the ground caving in with ease. Axel readied his torch as he proceeded to break down through the earth, forging a downward path in a spiralling motion ease the struggle of his return journey. The further he descended, the smoother the walls and floors became, with less rock and rubble to dig through. Upon an hour of travel, the strangely welcoming tunnel greeted him with a dead end, very evidently caved in long ago. Clearly this wasn't the end, not after a smoothened pathway like that!

Axel's next few hours were happily spent digging away at what appeared to be a collapsed doorway, a few meters in diameter. Regular breaks were taken, often shortened by his excitement. Had he finally done it? Only a few days in and he may well have discovered something incredible to report back home! His finger itched over the mere thought of utilising his camera and leaping up to fame!

Onwards he broke through, the small hole of hope increasing with every strike of excitement. Within time, he dug through to a dark yet spacious area. Beneath him was a far smoother and harder floor, like refined stone. Despite the countless stones barring his boots from properly feeling it, clearly this area wasn't exclusively owned by the earth itself. Axel's torch could only shine so far, finding little in the way of walls or structures beyond rubble. Keeping said torch on him, he rummaged his backpack for something notably more effectual.

Buried in there was a special dome shaped lamp, able to shine far and wide without causing much strain on one's eyes. Though he may not have obtained this through legal means, it wouldn't matter if it helped make an advanced discovery...or so he told himself at least. Resting it upon the floor after flicking its switch underneath, almost the entirety of the huge underground cathedral dimly reflected its light. A long pathway guided him forwards to a large elevated area with various broken statues made of sapphire. A strange pattern engraved on a shield served as a recurring emblem of sorts, scattered on various walls and floors. Large doorways loomed within every corner, though they'd seen better days, given they too would need excavation soon.

Glaring around the newly discovered cathedral however, were further hints of ruin. Not a square meter dared go without rubble of sorts, be it pebbles or clusters of boulders. The stone benches barely remained in-tact or properly aligned, pieces of the sapphire statues having flown far to join them. More ambiguous however were the shards of metal, varying in size, scattered far and wide. Most were grey or dark blue in colour, none in any salvageable condition.

"Time to take pictures!" he thought to himself. Axel retrieved his camera with excitement-induced energy overriding him. Having stumbled into a rare and undocumented discovery, his camera began slowly gnawing its way through the mass of free space that Axel had provided it. Every spectacle he'd found was ensured to be copied onto camera, along with plenty of new sights along the way. Strange writing on the walls, peculiar indents in the floors suggesting various weapon usage, even what appeared to be a metal arm lying on the floor beneath rubble.

This entire place felt untouched for centuries at the very least, yet whoever used this had already recreated body parts out of metal? To Axel, this felt too arbitrary to believe until a self-pinch to his side confirmed otherwise. Clearly this provoked further research, preferably starting with the collapsed doorways to the sides of the cathedral. They were far more subtle than the corner doorways, though if the left one led to a cramped room after little digging, the right side probably held more potential! To the right, the doorway wasn't even visible until hours of excavation, therefore nullifying as many chances for survivors to skedaddle with treasure.

Following a quick meal and beverage, Axel slowly tore apart the obstructing pile. Though it took some climbing and squeezing, he managed to enter the cramped room beyond, equipped with his touch and night goggles. From within, he stumbled upon plenty more dust and rubble before sighting an ominous humanoid figure leaning against the furthest wall.

Upon approaching the body, it indeed appeared to be a person, still intact with their flesh and clothes. With long dark blue hair pressed against the wall, her head was tilted with eyes firmly shut. Her body appeared to be above-average build with well-formed arms and bodily figure, with a long metallic gown of deep cobalt blue colour. This dress consisted of thin and long steel plates, made to fit elegantly around her body from bellow her exposed breasts, which appeared to lack nipples. Strange circular plates of silver colours were fitted around her shoulders, along with strange steel blocks attached to the sides of her head which appeared equivalent to that of large earpieces.

As Axel examined her closely with his torch, strange dark lines were drawn neatly around her arms, upper body and around her face. More subtle lines drew down from her closed eyes, down to her rounded cheeks. Though some dents and scratches plagued her hard skin all around, her being had seemingly retained much of its excellence. So much that it took Axel a solid half a minute to notice the thick layer of dust latching upon her.

Nothing about this appeared plausible, yet here he was, standing in front of what he could only assume was a humanoid robot. This would likely be passed off as a daft prank on first glance, though no such trivial details would stop Axel from reporting this kind of discovery! A further half an hour passed, as Axel excavated more rubble to 'carefully' remove the robot from her rocky prison. Carrying her out revealed their height to be mutual, at about 1.7 meters. Her weight less so, probably exceeding his own by a good 50 kilograms.

Placed against the nearest wall within sight of Axel's lamp, he captured several images of the strange robot girl, shifting focus between various details and angles. With a soft brush kept within his bag, he gave her a thorough clean of her dusty detainment, allowing her colours to properly shine through against the welcoming illumination.

After much work, a rest was in order. Axel sat down against some loose rubble, soon-to-expire sandwiches in hand as he gazed up at the beauty he'd just unearthed. Though mildly uncanny, she still held an odd elegance on her face and body, likely due to that exceptional craftwork needed to build her. Axel snapped a few quick pictures from where he sat, anticipating what other amazing artefacts he could uncover. Faint mechanical cranking muffled its way from somewhere as he bit into his sandwich. Took little time to notice the slight twitching from the robot's hand.

Axel sat in awe, only moving the muscles needed to resume eating. Over time her arms twitched, her head twitched, until finally her arms rose up as she opened her eyes in...confusion? Her reaction wasn't easy to read, though she likely needed a moment to gather her surroundings. That mechanical cranking from earlier didn't stop, though it sounded weirdly inconsistent and unsafe. Her shining amber eyes glared over to Axel, before scanning the entire area and its individual contents. Her glare drifted back to Axel, still with a lack of distinct emotion or intent.

"U-Ummm...hello?" Axel eventually spoke. Another awkward silence followed before he attempted further communication. "I um, found you buried away and...oh wait, you probably don't recognise English, um....Hola? C-Come stai...? T-Tu sai cosa sono dicendo?"

Axel stared hopelessly with embarrassment, noticing in hindsight how unlikely that would make any sense to her. He figured Italian was the nearest thing if "hola" didn't work, though really he just needed some way of speaking with her rather than at her. She retained her unflinching, unblinking stare. Her body occasionally twitched and creaked, though that appeared to be rapidly smoothening over time. All Axel could think to do was talk politely in hopes for the best, even if it were needless rambling.

"Errm, so uh...I'm from far away and I've been in dire search of strange forgotten relics and whatnot. I'm probably more confused than you are right now; this was probably the last thing I expected...." Axel paused upon the sight of the robot raising her hand to an earpiece, rotating the tip while maintaining her stare. A faint cyan light emitted from its tip. "I umm...found you in that room after I dug up that rubble. That and I cleaned you up just now. That dust wasn't very complimentary on you...erm...."

He paused again, hurt by the realisation that all he said was probably redundant. Squinting her eyes a little, the robot twitched her lips before speaking in a clear but quiet mostly monotonous voice.

"Continue...." she spoke softly, her voice an odd mixture of soothing and demanding.

"W-Wha-? You can speak? C-Could you understand all that?" Axel stuttered in disbelief.

"Continue...." she repeated, voice growing more audible.

"Ah...o-okay? I'm Axel Rex, an archaeologist. I've tried finding great new discoveries and I stumbled upon this place. I've seen nobody in days until I met you, and I...really wasn't expecting it. Nobody outside has ever seen any sort of machinery this advanced, yet you've clearly been here in this ancient area for a long time! W-What happened here? I know I'm not dreaming this, but I can barely comprehend anything I've found down here!"

A brief silence followed yet again, before the robot adjusted her earpiece to its prior setting as she closed her eyes. Her internal works kicked up a gear for a moment, Axel too confounded to dare interrupt. Slowly her eyes reopened, resuming her stare into Axel.

"Decoding of new language complete. Your language is titled 'English', as in 'Angle Language', correct?" Though her voice remained rather monotonous and slightly muffled, she still spoke clearly. Her accent almost matched Axel's aside from the major influence of her pitch preventing any major shift in tone.

"Y-Yes, I guess you co-, wait, how did yo-, never mind, yes it's English. Wait, how did you...already learn my language like that? D-Did you? Is it a prank?" The bewilderment was written brightly all across his face, at least to any human if they were nearby to observe it.

"Efficient language decoding and compiling was created long ago. This is nothing new. It only makes sense, due to the importance of good communication." Sounded rich coming from one who stared in silence, Axel thought. As it stood, he didn't have the guts to be snarky about this. "Regarding your ramble, you claim to be a far traveller in search of archaic arts and relics, correct? It is currently high priority that I properly deduce the reasoning behind your presence."

"Yes, that's right. I'm an independent archaeologist. To my knowledge, nobody alive today had discovered this place. I honestly have no idea what happened to this place or when it happened, but if you'd like to help with my research, I'd love that!" Axel regaining his usual vocal energy, reminding himself of his reason for being here and how lucky he was to have hit the jackpot in archaeology!

"No." spoke the robot, stepping forward.

Without warning, her right fist pointed at Axel while a small laser cannon unhatched from her arm. Blue glowing light surrounded its edges, with multiple magic circles slowly rotating around her arm in alternating directions. Strange lettering he couldn't read was printed on the circles as they floated around her wrist. Her right eye shifted from amber to crimson, with odd yellow flickering coating the eyeball. She retained the exact same lack of expression, only appearing extra focused in how serious her threat was portrayed.

"I definitely will not help with your research." she continued. "Intended enemy of our empire or not, your presence is a threat to us, due to your intention of exposing and degrading all we stand for. Not only do you eagerly request something counter-intuitive to us, but you also carry at least one ambiguous device that may cause us great harm."

"Device that can cause h-? No! Of course not! I have mining tools, yes, but I don't have it in me to use those as weapons!"

Some twitching and cranking ruffled through her body, before two smaller laser cannons arced over her shoulders to shine thin red lasers beside Axel. Six metallic tendrils burst out of her back and arced round her body, pointing at him menacingly. She held her left arm in front of her, part of it unfolding before projecting holographic cyan writing just above it. A mild tinge of anger crept upon her face, the first hint of actual emotion.

"Should you move to either side into the red lasers, they'll activate their full charge and ignite you. Should you try anything head on, this photon cannon on my arm will blast a hole through your chest. My six tendrils and additionally projected information all provide supplementary backup should you attempt to outsmart my main forms of weaponry." She was dead serious. There were no doubts in Axel's mind, nor was there any encouragement in rolling gambles.

"I-Is it the camera? Pl-Please d-don't hurt me! I want no harm to you! Study the camera if you wish, it's not an intended weapon, I swear!" Axel held out his beloved camera, arm shaking. She reached out to grab it, holding it up in various awkward angles with both hands.

"Incorrect item." she proclaimed, throwing it against Axel's body. "A specific device in your possession is emitting questionable signals. Show me that device."

After much confusion and scrambling through his hefty backpack, realisation finally struck. His phone. Might that be causing her distress?

"Okay, this might be it...." Axel reluctantly retrieved his smartphone, holding it out to her. She awkwardly held it with both hands again, examining every side as her crimson eye briefly shifted to shades of violet.

"Dangerous device detected. Device uses strange signals to inflict changes in other machines, as well as trickery for those who can't detect them. It is currently trying to communicate, so that you can expose us automatically regardless of your return."

"No, wait! You've got it all wrong!" yelled Axel, flinching as the photon cannon readjusted its aim, lasers closing in a little. "Please, here me out. That device is a communication device, yes. While down here however, it can never hope to interact with the world above. It's attempting to reach out to the satellite abo-, err, giant communication system beyond the clouds. While under even a few meters of ground, those signals can't ever hope to reach that system! Apart from taking notes and tracking the time, that device is rendered useless down here. That and it will probably run short of battery very soon anyway...."

"...limited battery...limited reach...." Averting her gaze slightly to examine the phone further, she appeared to pacify slightly before throwing the phone to Axel. "Dangerous device deemed redundant. Information on strange communication device updated. Estimations on current outsider machinery updated. Outside power appears disappointingly weak."

Axel sighed in relief over her understanding his phone better, though tried hard to hide his pain against her insult to humanity's technological breakthroughs. He slowly stood up straight, having put his phone and camera safely away.

"So...are we cool now? We've cleared that I'm not a threat to you or your so-called empire. I'm merely a traveller here out of curiosity. Could you perhaps...put those weapons away?"

"No." she adamantly replied. Her cannon's aim refocused to aim just below his neck, as the magic circles illuminated further with faster gyrations. "As you previously stated, you're a researcher on hidden areas and artefacts. This sanctuary appears unknown to your people, which is a factor that must remain unchanged. Your destruction is the only adamant way to ensure it. Forgive me, but this must be done."

"WAIT! STOP! I CAN HELP YOU!" shouted Axel in a plea for his life. Her weapon's charge seems to decrease, though not shut off. "Look around, your land has been annihilated! I've read all about fallen empires and buildings before, so I can provide much needed help. Aren't you confused as to what happened and what to do now? I-If it really means that much to you, I won't leave your side or communicate elsewhere without your permission!"