In a sovereign territory free from the Sol Dominion's hand, a planet 15 times larger than Earth and almost 40% larger than Jupiter, floated a planet completely encircled in dark, gray rolling clouds. The clouds moved slowly across the giant planet as 13 moons orbited the mass in a mesmerizing manner.
The moons were a mix of 3 white, 3 blue, 3 purple, and 3red, with one of them black. Each of the 4 color groups rotated in a triangular formation around each other. The four triangles then orbited around the planet while also rotating in formation. The moons also had a very faint blue sheen, the result of the system's star being a blue one.
It was somehow a natural yet uncanny scene. Dominion scientists would have a field day with a situation like this, not that they would ever be allowed a foot on this region of space.
Aetherfrost Lunarkhosa.
This is the name its inhabitants gave it over 10,000 years ago, when its first settlers arrived. And yes, people live here. Even though the surface is droned in layers of unending snowstorms and streaked by lightning strikes from its moody clouds, people live here.
Most of them lived in ancient mountain ranges, deep underground, safe from all the chaos above. I say most because some people live in rotation on the surface to handle the occasional supply drops from unmarked stealth cruisers that drop by sometimes.
Now, miles underground, one of the planet's largest mountain ranges that spans nearly 6000 kilometres, more than double the Himalayas, lies a secret chamber. A secret chamber that is a secret to most of this planet's already scarce population. The chamber was covered in a supersized singular block of black marble streaked with white lines.
On the floor was a pentagram inscribed with complex geometric patterns intertwined with scripts that were reminiscent of a language spoken by one of ancient Terra's nations. A nation that was one of the main stakeholders in founding and establishing the Sol Dominion.
"Master... doesn't this symbol here look like the smiley face?" asked a boyish voice wearing a black cloak, slacks, and a white mask with only thin eye slits.
He was one of the many smilingly dressed individuals in the marble room, drawing the strange ritualistic circle on the ground. They were smearing their black gloved hands in buckets of blood. And then using that hand to draw the symbols and shapes.
"Not many people who know the original language are available to us. Most of them are nobles in the inner circle of the dominion's important planets." a man in the same fit but a more aged and deepened voice said.
He stood next to the crouched boy as he supervised his work. There were a dozen more supervisors like him, making up 13 supervisors. They had 3 disciples each. The disciples drew with blood, while their teachers looked on.
"Does that mean we don't know what any of this means?" asked an inquisitive yet cheerful feminine voice. It belonged to another of the man's disciples. You could hear an excitement in her voice as she cheerfully hummed and drew her portions.
"Well, we know of the characters. The one your junior brother was pointing at is pronounced as tsu...but I don't know what it means."
The teacher was at a loss as he wished he could research more into what this circle was for, but they had their orders and their duty. And trying to kidnap a Dominion noble from the central territories would be too loud. They believed in secrecy, even if it meant they could learn as much about this language.
"It's okay master! I understand that the cult can't afford to provoke those zealous nobles. They are so bent on worshipping that god king of theirs." said a more mature voice. The oldest of the three disciples. He had swiftly finished his portion of the work.
He slipped into his cloak and pulled out a packet of blood. He popped it open and poured it into the nearly empty bucket of his junior sister.
"This last refill should be enough. Good work junior sister." The eldest complimented the youngest disciple's work and gave her a pat on the back. He could see she had been practicing well.
"Thank you senior brother. I'll be done soon. And then we can all watch the ritual in joy!" she replied.
"I hope you never lose that energy of yours. We always need it." said the other male disciple with the boyish yet clear voice. He was almost done with his part
As everyone chatted and drew, their work was quickly done. They then celebrated with some quick cheers but were quickly berated by their teachers, who told them they weren't done yet. So they got onto the final step, which was to form a circle around the elaborate pentagram.
They then started chanting the following in a harmonic manner.
"They say the sun is yellow, but they all lied. It was never yellow but always white.
They said that height don't matter, but they always had a ladder.
They said that you had to be funny, but they never chose one with no money."
...
They chanted and chanted until, after a couple of minutes, the complex ritual circle activated as it glowed a crimson red. Every cult member finally felt that everything was finally worth it. The grueling years of smacking themselves with books and sleepless nights of studying. After doing nothing but that and academic debates, they finally felt like a cult.
This was no longer a hidden school of ancient history and languages. No longer students and professors, and researchers. They were finally a friggin cult. Their excitement was palpable.
As palpable as the pulsating ritual that had finally stopped glowing, the space within the room warped and was replaced by a wholly different interior.
No longer was there a glow of dim torches; instead, they felt the warmth and comforting nature of real sunlight. Sunlight coming in from smooth glass windows that were half covered by black curtains. The marble walls had been replaced. The floor was now a dark brown wood, and the walls had white wallpaper with black edges.
The room had a desk with ancient devices from Terra and shelves with real books. Some of the books were even cartoonish images of people wearing all sorts of outfits. There were even some where there were human and non-human females with almost no clothing.
In the center of the room was a king-sized bed with a single person sleeping on it.
"Uh...anyone know what we do now?" whispered one of the supervisors.
"No...the scripts said nothing about this..."
"What the hell was that manual for then. We followed everything it said."
"And look where that brought us. It's actual sunlight. It feels so goooood." The one who said this was squirming like a worm. As if the sunlight was some drug.
"The scripts aid that once we performed the ritual, we would be given a chance to live in a world where we can live in true warmth."
"Then this place must be it. But who is that person on the bed..." As this man was saying that, the individual on the bed moved.
The groggily took off the blanket to reveal a body covered in black metallic armor. It was streamlined to fit the being's body perfectly, as curved and bent where it had to. There were small horizontal gaps every few inches that glowed a light purple. The same color as the slits on the eye holes of the helmet.
The whole suit looked like some combination of futuristic and medieval Terra aesthetics. The historians among them were shocked by such armor as they had seen illustrations of it during their research of the early starfarring Terra time period.
"Is that what I think it is..." murmured one of them to her historian colleagues.
"I...think it is...exactly that..."
"That means this person is someone from that era?"
"Has to be... those armors were all special editions. DNA is not coded to be transferred. Gifted to only those beings who led humanity to the stars."
The man wearing the armor got up from the bed, "yaaaa..." They stretched and yawned in a voice that was somewhat soft for a man, but still masculine enough.
"You're right about that kid. These armors can't be worn by anyone else but their original owners. Not even cloning would work." said the armored man as he touched his toes while standing up.
"Though that has nothing to do with DNA, obviously. The mechanism behind it is much more special and impossible to fake, as far as I remember," he added while stretching sideways.
The academics...I mean, the cult members were stunned in place as they took in what the armored man said. This was some delicious lore about their world that they wouldn't miss out on. Even though they are cultists now, the academic soul they have has gone nowhere.
They watched i awe as the man went to his desk and picked up what seemed to be a digital clock with an LED screen. No fancy holograms, just a bulky black brick with the date and time on it. Seeing such archaic technology made the cultists even more eager to study it.
"11:59 PM, December 31st, 9999...." The man went silent after reading the clock. "It really maxed out..." The man's tone was somber, of sadness and loss.
After a few moments of being left to his own thoughts, the man turned and then approached the crowd of cultists.
"What's the date and time?" he asked politely with none of the pomp a being of his age or status should have.
"It's March 1st, 20318. 5:30 AM on standard Terra time, Your Excellency." one of the supervisors quickly replied. Even though this being was polite, they had to show them the due respect.
"Hahaha...no way. You guys are joking, right... it can't have been that long. Hahhaaha!" the armored man laughed as if he heard some joke.
He was expecting to sleep for a while, but not this long. One of his friends would have woken up before that, right?
"Your excellency, we wouldn't joke with you," quickly asserted the supervisor.
"Huh...seriously?"
"Seriously."
The armored man fell silent. He could feel they were not playing around. He felt strange inside as he had no idea why his friends had not come to wake him up. Regardless of this feeling of uncertainty, he quickly cleared his head.
"Are you all from Aetherfrost?" he asked instead.
"Yes. That is indeed the planet we were on." answered the nanother supervisor. They weren't going to let one of them hog all the answers.
The armored man chuckled and said, "You guys are still on Aethefrost. This is just a pocket space created inside a mountain."
Snap!
The armored man snapped his metal-covered fingers as the space once again shifted. The world around them distorted as they were right back in the black marble room.
The cultists were confused as they thought they had been sent to another world. Instead, they had just been in some marvelous spatial pocket.
"Looks just like how I left it. Except for the obvious bloody demonic circle on the ground. Can't believe I was childish enough to do this." the armored man reminisced about his younger days.
"Whatever, I bet is very cool and cultlike? Isn't that right, everyone?" he asked the cultists.
"Yes, sir! It was very cool." Some nodded and some cheered. The whole ritual was indeed a fun experience.
"Good. It seems my little play was well received. Now, can anyone get me in contact with the nearest Terra Alliance fleet?" he asked.
He needed a ride back to Earth. To see what his friends were up to for making him sleep over 10,000 years longer than the agreed time. The room, however, went deadly silent when he said this. It was a silence of confusion.
"Terra Alliance... what's that?" asked the cheerful and curious female disciple from earlier. Her energetic voice ended the quiet in the room but bringing a chill to the man's heart.
"Then what's humanity's territory called now?" he asked with quiver in his tone.
"The Sol Dominion!" replied the cheerful girl.
I'm screwed. Oh, I am so screwed. You fuckin idiots! You all will pay for having me clean up another of your shitty ass mistakes!
Just then, what seemed to be an ancient smartphone appeared in front of the man. A familiar tune played, and a melodic voice sang. It was something from the era in which the man was born.
The caller ID was: WIFE
Oh god! Save my soul. The man let out some prayers before picking up.