music: follow me to the stars
Thunder rumbled in his ears, low and deep.
It prickled at his senses, making the hairs on the nape stiffen in response. Gu Yuzhi's eyelids fluttered, heavy but unwilling to lift themselves from the lull of sleep. Exhaustion seeped through every inch of his bones as he felt the weight of sleep drag him back down.
The thunder droned on in a ceaseless chorus. He was sinking, deeper and deeper—
Thunk.
Something collided near him—or rather, into him—but ran into an obstruction and sloughed off. Gu Yuzhi's eyelids trembled, but clung fast to unconsciousness.
Thump. Thunk thunk!
A few more muffled collisions followed, including one that knocked him sideways. The sudden change caused blood to rush into his head and finally, the eyelids opened. A pair of ordinary dark brown eyes peered groggily from a pale-faced, black-haired teen as he tried to process the sight before him.
The world was blue and iridescent, the air glittering with light. He seemed to be looking through something akin to glass, but much colder and with a faint silver sheen. His head leaned forward and bumped against the smooth, frigid surface that soon turned damp against his skin.
Ice.
Gu Yuzhi's eyes sharpened at the realization just as he found himself unable to move any other part of his body. He was hemmed in on all sides, lying in a rectangular, transparent box with his hands folded stiffly over his torso.
A frozen coffin? What kind of fairy tale setup is this...
While Gu Yuzhi was still sorting out his thoughts, a flash of white bumped into his container as it darted past in panic. The touch was light, but it still knocked him askew. He clearly saw the stream of bubbles it left in its wake, as well as the telltale curve of...a fin?
It was a shark.
Suddenly, the blurry blues and bokeh bobbing before in his vision made sense. He had woken up encased in some ice cube like a cocktail favor and was currently sinking in the ocean. The thunder he heard wasn't a storm at all, but the air bubbles rushing past as he plummeted into the depths. Occasionally, he could see larger pieces of metal and other objects falling past him in the water, perhaps the remnants of a wreck. Had he fallen from a ship? The possibility was high.
As for why the ice wasn't floating above the water instead, Gu Yuzhi could only sense a strong, almost magnetic force drawing the wreckage down from above. He also had no recollection of why or how he'd gotten here in the first place.
Hah...don't tell me I actually died from overwork.
While most people would be panicking by now, Gu Yuzhi was one of the highly evolved humans post-apocalypse who had developed abilities to survive in a harsh new world. He mentally searched for his ability core and found it sluggish, but stable in his abdomen. Then he slowly began to gather energy.
Right now his first priority was to melt the ice of the coffin around him enough so he could break through and swim to the surface. Compared to combat classes, his strength was only above an average human at best. There were all sorts of talents in the apocalypse, but Gu Yuzhi had been a Healer type with high survivability. He could recover from fatal injuries, cure a wide variety of wounds and diseases, and endure a lack of oxygen and increased sea pressure well beyond ordinary human parameters, but it'd be a problem if some giant chunk of wreckage decided to bury him beneath his bulk. There was also the matter of the strange force sucking him deeper underwater...
A section of ice in front of Gu Yuzhi began to crackle and hiss as heat radiated from his palms. Soon he melted enough room to move his hands and press them directly against the ice, speeding up the process. As his surroundings grew darker, the soft golden light radiating from his pupils shone all the more brilliantly in the depths.
Soundless shockwaves rose from his coffin and up towards the air, scattering panicked fish as they disturbed the surface of the sea above...
—
On the Svell Sea, northeast sector of Planet Glaciem.
Two lifeboats crammed full of people rocked on the waves littered with pieces of debris. Nearby, the hulk of what once used to be a cargo ship smoldered in the afternoon sun, burning down to cinders.
A tall man dressed in a black, skin-tight diving suit perched at the bow of one boat, peering down into the depths of the ocean. Although his expression was blank, a faint crease in his brows belied his displeasure at the course of events. The rest of the lifeboat's occupants kept a careful distance from their obvious leader—with the exception of one tousled-haired, eye-patch wearing youth who was also scanning the waters.
A few seconds later, Eyepatch threw up his hands with a groan. "It's over, Boss! I can't see a speck into that water and the radiation's too strong to send anyone down. We've as good as lost it."
The crease on his leader's forehead intensified, but the man didn't move. Seeing this, Eyepatch sighed and added, "Isn't it just some ancient artifact? Who knows if it's even compatible with our systems after all these years!"
"Argent." A voice like liquid mercury, smooth but utterly expressionless, interrupted Eyepatch's spiel. It was his one and only warning.
"Aye, aye Boss," the silver-haired man named Argent gave in and settled back to sit in the boat. "I'll wait for your orders to contact the ship."
The other man didn't reply, but stared deeper into the ocean's depths. He had been ordered to investigate rumors in this sector of the planet by imperial command about a treasure from Earthbound days. There was neither any description about the item or its intended use and purpose, but that was the usual when it came to relics from the mother planet. After humanity fled its surface over 20,000 years ago, most of its legends and stories were reduced to myths.
His group had tracked the energy signal of the artifact as far as this ship before it had suddenly exploded, injuring a portion of his men. Apparently, a freak warm spell had caused ice to melt into a segment of exposed machinery and caused the computer mainframe to malfunction. No living staff, human or otherwise, had been onboard at the time since the freighter was completely automatic.
By the time they found the energy signal of the artifact, it had already fallen into the ocean with countless other items. What's worse, the native radiation on this planet was too potent in the water for them to dive safely, even with the protection of their imperial-issued diving gear.
"This whole thing smells like a setup," Argent complained after a lull. "An item with no description, then a ship that explodes for no reason? Boss, we should just write off the whole mission as a clerical glitch. It's not like they have evidence to use against us."
His "Boss" ignored him, eyes still intent on the water. Moments ago, he'd been ready to abandon the cause, but the radiation particles in the water had suddenly started converging towards a fixed point. That place happened to be the location where the energy signal from the artifact was strongest.
Had it awakened somehow and caused this reaction? Artifacts from Earth were powerful relics with unpredictable effects. Some were capable of mass destruction, others of defense, and the rarest of all possessed healing and purification qualities. All of them were coveted treasures for the various factions in the galaxy. He narrowed his eyes again and held his palm over the water. Instantly, his fingertips glimmered before a tiny stream of dust flowed into the sea. The microscopic sensors contained within the particles measured the radiation levels and reported that they were decreasing at a rapid rate.
Moreover, the sea itself was starting to churn in the opposite direction, radiating ripples away from a central location. His eyes brightened at the obvious paradox. The artifact really had activated itself! Furthermore, it was clearing the path so they could retrieve it.
Argent was in the middle of another rant against the system when he heard a sudden splash. His head whipped back in time to see the tall, well-built figure disappear beneath the waves.
"Boss?!" Argent lunged for the edge of the boat and barely stopped himself from jumping in after the man. His pounding heart recovered slightly when he sensed the reduced radiation in the water too.
"This..." Argent's breathing quickened as the gears turned in his head. Did we actually hit the jackpot? He looked around at the remaining men and barked out orders. "Prepare retrieval procedures! Even if the radiation's decreased, it's not safe for the major general to stay underwater for long!"
The men—really soldiers—on the boats immediately got to work.
—
A transparent bubble of air had automatically closed itself around the major general's head as he entered the cool sea, automatically filtering in oxygen from his surroundings so he could breathe and talk normally. As he swam deeper into the depths, segments of his suit broke off and reformed themselves into a trail of round, floating lights to illuminate his path.
Not too far down, he could see the faint outlines of a rectangular object, white and cold. He guessed it was the storage unit for the artifact and quickened his strokes. Relics from the mother planet had been taken by humanity and spread all across the cosmos. They came in all sizes, shapes, and identities—sometimes even as descendants of rare creatures, such as the prized generations of peacocks raised by the royal family. However, the most common findings were spheres of varying densities that radiated powers and special abilities. Thus, despite the size of the large container, he was expecting to find something small and portable to take back with him.
He soon discovered that the material of the sinking case was made out of ice similar to the composition found on Glaciem. Moreover, his scanners indicated that the size of its occupant was quite big, occupying over 70% of its interior volume.
The major general stopped six feet away from the container, just beyond the range of dangerous radiation. Fortunately, his target had landed on a sea shelf that stopped further descent into the ocean. He analyzed the object and realized that a strong heat signature was melting the ice from the inside out. Perhaps the artifact? This would indicate it had some sort of intelligence after activation to attempt escape from its confines. More curiously, the radiation it absorbed seemed to be powering its efforts to break free.
The major general coolly ran through his options for capture and retrieval while the ice continued to melt.
Abruptly, the container shuddered. The absorption of radiation in the water increased at a frightening rate, causing the major general to subconsciously fortify his suit as the artifact struggled to break free. His fingers twitched, and more glittering dust emerged from the tips, waiting for a chance to converge. Additional lights disentangled themselves from his suit and floated towards his target, wreathing it in a soft white glow.
The next second, something punched the ice from inside. As the major general watched, a fine network of cracks spread out from the center of impact before the entire front of the box shattered. A figure broke through the sparkling shards, human in appearance and with motes of light weaving through his short, dark hair. For a second, he was wreathed in a web of glittering crystals whose facets reflected the radiance of his glowing gold irises.
Then quite alarmingly, he began to fall into the abyss.
—
Gu Yuzhi hadn't expected the suction force of the seawater to nearly triple in strength once he broke out of the ice coffin. He had absorbed sufficient energy from the waters to fortify his abilities, but this sensation was akin to fighting gravity itself. Just as he was flailing for a handhold, someone grabbed him by the wrist and scooped him into his arms, causing him to crash against a firm but unfamiliar chest. He was caught by surprise and coughed out a bubble of air, only to cling instinctively to the man's arms as the two of them soared up towards the water's surface. Before Gu Yuzhi could make heads or tails of the situation, the stranger and him had left the ocean, landed on a boat, and were currently being stared at by a crowd dressed in black and a silver-haired, eyepatch-wearing man while dripping on the deck.
"B-boss?" Argent was starting to doubt his vision. What happened to the relic? Where did this random kid pop out from? "...you didn't pick up a dead body, right?"
The sopping wet teenager in his leader's arms turned to give him a withering look, spooking Argent badly.
"Contact the ship," the major general ordered tonelessly. "I've recovered the artifact."
"Ehh?!"
You know When I saw The Book Name I thought of Yan “The Index’ prescript messenger”
I saw the KimDokja picture and I d a r t e d here
Ah yes, a person with taste
LOL i'm so sorry it's a stand-in until i decide on a permanent one, but his aesthetics does fit the MC so here we are~
@Ruyi it really does~