1 Prologue
The year was 1980. The World Energy Organization has just announced that the world's energy reserves will only last another 30 years, and once the clock hits zero, the world will be plunged into darkness reminiscent of the dark ages.
Governments all over the world are at their wits end, and have been pouring millions of dollars into research to find a solution to the energy crisis.In the midst of this struggle, a shooting star brought a ray of hope to the Dravos government.
A large meteor crashed into a farm in the Dravos countryside, and the country's scientists rushed to the area to study the celestial mystery. The impact site was marked by a massive crater, emitting an otherworldly aura with fragments of extraterrestrial material strewn across the land.
After some inspection, scientists found that the meteor contained three artifacts with dimensions that were difficult to explain. The best the scientists could do was conclude that they resembled cubes, but all other aspects of these artifacts were otherworldly.
The artifacts appeared both big and small simultaneously, while their transparency varied from opaque to translucent and back again. The only discernible feature of the artifacts was their distinct colors: sky blue, emerald green, and deep blood red.
A few days of experiments went by, and the scientists finally found a substance that was able to interact with the artifacts. Whenever they used normal metals to try and carry the artifacts, the metals would react with the artifact and wither away, but a lead basteen alloy seemed to hold out long enough to move the artifacts.
Whether it was due to desperation or true scientific intuition is up for debate, but the researchers that worked on the artifact strongly believed that these artifacts would be the solution to the world's impending energy crisis.
The Dravos government believed their claims, as they were the sharpest minds around and they had never seen the scientists work with such vigor before. Many spent weeks without leaving the labs and even forgot to eat or sleep. They described their interest in the artifact as a trance that made them forget everything else in their lives and focusing only on its encapsulating complexity.
Because of this, the Dravos government recruited even more scientists to work on the project under the guise of a new solar scheme to solve the energy crisis. The government wanted to solve the energy crisis, but human greed knows no bounds. They kept the discovery of the cubes hidden from the world and hoped to profit massively from any discoveries that would be made.
Months went by, and there was no evidence that what any of the researchers had believed was true. All the scientists that had been invited to work on the project became entranced by the endless sea of possibilities the cube flooded their minds with. After about a year without any change in status, the Dravos government decided to involve military scientists in hopes of finding some evidence that their efforts would be fruitful.
Elric Lothar, a high-ranking Dravosi military scientist, was the first to release a paper that, with certain observations, showed that the artifacts did indeed possess a solution, and in his papers he suggested that the cubes possessed limitless power and that they would replace all other power sources.
All the other scientists disregarded his claims, seeing his findings as baseless and rash. Many believed he simply rushed the process to gain fame and glory.
Due to the lack of solid findings, the government lost faith in the project, and just as Elric released his papers, many of the original scientists that worked on the cube began to fall ill. Many of these scientists begin to describe out-of-body experiences where they would find themselves in places without knowing how they arrived in these places, and it is said some of the worst cases began to display cannibalistic tendencies; accounts differ.
In light of the lack of supporting research and the threat of an unknown extraterrestrial pandemic, the Dravosi government decided to shut down Project Oasis and put it behind them.
Many of the scientists were against this motion, but a large majority of them began to fall ill during this period, and therefore even those that were healthy began to side with the government in that the artifacts may have been more dangerous than they initially thought.
Elric, however, was fervently against the shutdown of Project Oasis, claiming that it was a blessing from the Gods and that the world would be foolish to bury such a treasure. Elric was not a pious man, but then he felt it necessary to mention beings of immeasurable power because that was simply the only thing that could explain the existence of the artifacts.
The government planned on sending the artifacts back into space because they did not know just how much damage they could do. Sending them back to where they came from seemed like the best option.
In a final desperate attempt to save the human race, Elric, with the help of his brother Gregor, who happened to be one of the highest-ranking generals in the Dravosi military, fled with one of the artifacts. Elric convinced Gregor that all he needed was a few more weeks to come up with something solid. They left their families behind and set out on what they believed to be a necessary mission to save the world.
Elric's son, however, was a military cadet and had caught wind of the situation just before they left.
"There's still time to turn back, Elric." Gregor said as he watched his brother cut his finger and place a few drops of blood on the strange emerald-green artifact. The artifact began to change shape vigorously with strange contortions and fold into itself in the most alluring manner.
"That was never an option, brother; we need to see this through; for Orvyn,for Bertha, and for the world, we cannot fail, and this is the answer." Elric replied as he stared at the emerald-green artifact, which fully encapsulated him with its inexplicable beauty.
Bang!
At full tilt, the brothers reached for their belt pouches, swiftly pulled out their pistols, and pointed them in the direction the sound originated from.
"Wow, Calm down; you didn't think I was gonna let my old man do this alone now, did you?" Orvyn said as he slowly crept up from behind the shelf he landed behind, hands raised in the air.
"You fool, do you realize what you have walked yourself into? I'll have your head for this boy!" Gregor exclaimed as he tensed up while realizing that his nephew had willingly signed his death sentence by joining him and his brother.
"Come on, uncle, I'm not a kid anymore. I know what's happening, and I want to help. Besides, we both know there's no training back at the academy that can challenge me." Orvyn replied
"I am the commander and General of the vassal corps, and you dare address me so lightl-", retorted Gregor before Orvyn cut him off.
"I think we both know that whatever titles we had before don't matter anymore, uncle, so let's just... "
"Get back!" exclaimed Elric frantically.
While Orvyn and his uncle were at each other's throats about how irresponsible he had been to join his father's suicide mission, Elric's previous enticement to the beauty of the artifact turned to fear as he noticed it slowly beginning to grow in size and give out strange pulses of energy. He instinctively stepped back and warned the rest to get back as well. Just as Elric gave his warning, the cube shot toward him.
Orvyn, being a military prodigy, quickly analyzed the situation and realized his father was in danger. In three swift movements, he swept past his uncle, summersaulted, and landed in front of his father.
"I SAID GET BA-!" Elric shouted before a massive explosion launched him and his friends through the walls of the cabin they had been hiding in.
As they regained consciousness, they were struck by the stark realization that the cabin had been in ruins and that the equipment that was being used to store the cube had vanished into thin air.
"The cube," Elric said in a state of shock.
Gregor exclaimed in a frustrated tone, "The cube! Where is Orvyn?"
"Oh,no"
