Radiation, Part Two

6/6/115
0200 hours
Luminaire System
Caldari Prime
Somewhere in the Kaalakiota Mountains


Aracturus awoke from his dream, and was greeted immediately by the pain. He gasped for air as pain surged through his lungs and his body, forcing him to consciousness. He rolled over on the floor of the small shack he had taken shelter in, to find that the radiation shields had turned off. He gasped in pain and placed a hand on his head, only to find his hair come off in his hand. as he rolled to his hands and knees, he saw the generator nearby, off. He began crawling towards it, but something stopped him.

A sound.

The wind howled through the rocks, and he stopped and listened to it, in wonder. The more he listened, the stronger he felt, until, feeling a surge of strength, he stood.

He knew what must be done.

Leaving his gear behind, he strode to the door, stepped out the door, and set off down the path, his feet seemingly following their own will. And as he walked, he felt an immense sense of purpose. His mind clouded, and he thought back to the dream of the night before.

He had been high above the world, in the clouds, shapeless, formless, and alone. He flew over the flat, dead, lifeless world, weeping. He had been this way for years, he knew, but somehow, he felt today was different. He suddenly felt something tingling on the back of his neck, and he turned and saw something entering the atmosphere. He flew towards  it with great speed, and when he arrived at the object, he stopped in awe.

It was a probe of some kind. Marked upon it in were strange symbols he did not understand. As it hit the ground, it was soon followed by another object.
A colony ship. Terraformers.

Joy surged through his veins as the terraformers surged to life, and people emerged from the colony ships, and he flew down to greet them. to his horror, they could not understand him. Or even see him. But he didn't care. He wasn't alone anymore! As the terraformers continued, mountains grew, and seas... but then a flash from the sky happened... and the people vanished.

For millennia he had sat, weeping, even as the terraformers transformed the world into a near-garden. It was still cold. Cold cold cold.

Then one day, he saw a small light in the distance. Swooping down towards it, he found a little fire, at the mouth of a cave. and a man sitting by the cave, on his knees, begging something to hear him.
He listened for a moment, and could almost understand him if he tried very hard.

The man was asking for food.

An idea came to his mind, and he saw a small animal nearby. The man could not see it, but he could. As his anger flashed towards it for evading the man, lightning surged from him, striking the animal, and killing it.

The man was amazed, and as if he could see aracturus, thanked him, and scurried to collect the animal.

The man whispered something as he ate.
North Wind.

The man would later found the Raata Empire.


As his vision cleared, aracturus stopped dead, and found himself standing before the shrine of Mountain Wind. A boulder had fallen onto the entrance, and dangled precariously over the small entryway

He crouched down, and began to squeeze inside.... when suddenly, the rock moved, and fell.
He was knocked flat on his stomach by the impact, and it took him a minute to realize... his leg was still under the rock. Feeling a surge of strength, he pushed with all his might on the boulder, pushing it off his leg. He screamed in pain as the rock rolled off, and then rolled right on down the path, off the mountainside.
Looking around, he saw rocks blocking the place where the wind was supposed to enter the shrine, which was made of many tall pillars in odd shapes.

Standing, he limped to the rockslide, and began shifting rocks like a madman. He could feel the pain from his leg along with the weakness and illness from the radiation creeping back into his muscles, but he carried on, until the rockslide was clear. As he shifted the last rock, his strength gave out, and he collapsed onto his hands and knees.

Dragging himself to the center pillar of the shrine, he heard the wind come whistling into the shrine.
And as his eyes closed for the last time on Caldari Prime, his mind was filled with one last vision of the Winds...