(This story is a continuation of Rediscovery: Part I, released in the 20th Issue of Dive: Legends and Beliefs )

 

        For hours on end, Anakalypsi had heard nothing but the light thuds of his feet, rhythmically echoing from the floor. An unfamiliar urge kept enticing him to walk forth and reach the end of the tunnel, if there even was one. He was walking through the tunnel for what seemed like hours, but still, he could not see the end of the tunnel. His mouth was dry, and his stomach gurgled constantly. His muscles felt like they were splitting apart. It felt as if he was walking the same road in circles, over and over and over again. The walls looked unchanging. But he kept on walking, until he couldn’t. His legs gave out, and he collapsed on the ground. The urge to continue was still there, but he could no longer move; his legs had become useless pieces of meat. He screamed and cursed as he lay on the ground, exhausted, stuck and clueless. He closed his eyes and thought of sleeping. “Sleep, yes, sleep. That could help. That could help me wake up from this damned nightmare.”, he thought to himself. He closed his eyes but he couldn’t sleep. He just couldn’t. He screamed once again and lay where he had collapsed for a while. As he lay, he noticed the small balls of light on the walls, glinting brightly. He pulled himself up to examine them closer whilst resisting the urge to move onwards since he realised that he had to resist the urge to find his way out of this place. He reached out for the light with his hand, and as he touched it, a subtle vibration went through his arm. The light left the wall and went inside Anakalypsi’s hand. He felt revitalised and renewed whilst also feeling dumbfounded and utterly confused. But he thought to himself, “As long as it keeps me from starving to death, I guess I will “eat” these balls of light.”. He absorbed a few more balls of light until his hunger and thirst were gone. He then examined the walls and the runes written on the walls. He couldn’t make much of the runes as they weren’t like anything they had seen before. But he noticed that as he touched the individual runes, they lit up. He continued to walk onwards as he stroked his hand across the runes. Ancient letters, slowly lighting up, followed him as he continued towards the unknown. After a short while, he began approaching an illuminated gate. A gate that blocked the tunnel. He rested his hand on the illuminated gate, and as he did so, the runes on the walls left their places and sped towards the gate. With a blinding flurry, the gate started to disappear and revealed a large circular room. Anakalypsi, with a feeling of triumph, walked into the room. The room seemed like it used to be someone’s dwelling. There were tables, odd gadgets, and hundreds of pieces of paper lying about. He approached a large table with various star maps, blueprints for what seemed like a spacecraft and hundreds of different measurement devices which he was not exactly sure about what their purpose was. After briefly examining the table, he walked around the strange circular dwelling. The walls were mossy, the lonely couch in the middle of the room and the untidied makeshift bed on the side of the table were quite dusty. He deduced that this place was abandoned by its owner a long time ago. He then looked up at a small crack in the ceiling. He could see the sunlight barely making it inside the deep pit. “Sunlight, finally,” he said, with hope that he was nearing the exit from this confusingly lush and mellow prison. He wished to escape this place, but strangely enough, a peculiar feeling inside him urged him to stay. To search. The strange feeling urged him to search for something. He needed to find this something. He didn’t know what, but this peculiar feeling inside him called out to him to search for this specific something. Something in this room. He walked around and stopped when he got to the table with the maps and gadgets. He knew that what he was looking for was on this table. He rummaged through the papers lying on the table. He pulled the drawers underneath the table and saw that they revealed even more papers with writings. He picked up one random piece of paper and started to read:

 

        “Such violence, such chaos. So much fighting. Unending. It never ends. They keep fighting and fighting. Heart or mind? Love or Reason? Is it really worth fighting over? It is a question to think over, yes. But fighting? Killing? Is there no other way? Sorry, I have to stop rambling. I visited the camp of the Dionyians today. To test the new cloaking device obviously. I think we know if it works or not since I’m able to write these words. They were busy with their usual plans of infiltrating the Appolian faction with their “superior understanding of the human experience”. They think that they are “more human” than the Appolians when they use their hearts instead of their minds, I suppose? Foolish. Neither they nor the Appolians are more human than one another. They are both equally blinded. By what? Pride? I don't think they even know why they keep killing instead of negotiating. This could all be resolved if the Gods weren’t blinded by pride as well. Their selfishness and pridefulness have made them think of humans as little pawns in their game. If only one could wake them up… Anyway, I acquired what I was supposed to from the camp of the Dionyans. I picked up quite a lot of paper, a lot indeed. Grabbed a few bottles of ink and also got a few spare quills just in case. Didn’t pick up food; I’ll get that from the underground market. Thankfully, I do have these people who don’t fight their own kind. Sensible people. But still, in pursuit of the answer for the same question as all others: Heart or Mind? Today’s entry was a bit chaotic. I guess I needed to unload. Anyway, farewell until the next entry.”

 

        Anakalypsi was now fully aware that this entry was written by the owner of this place in the ancient days, in the days of the wars of Heart and Mind. What he found interesting was that there weren’t many such pieces of history from that time, and this place was an enormous remnant of the ancient days with quite possibly hundreds of entries and various artefacts. Filled with curiosity and excitement, Anakalypsi rummaged through the papers on the table and examined the odd artefacts he found. He had to learn who the person that made the entries was. He grabbed another entry:

 

        “Today, I paid a secret visit to the Appolian camp, and I overheard a very peculiar conversation. Two old fellows were conversing about space. Space. You never get to hear those sorts of things amidst the conflict-driven world we live in. These two older fellows seemed quite sick of the violence all around them as well. How relatable. Not to stray away from the topic, I kept listening since the night sky always seemed magical. The stars, a bright future. At least, that is what I see when I look up to the skies. These two Appolians seemed to possess advanced knowledge regarding the study of what’s beyond our Earth’s boundaries. They kept talking about stars, planets, meteors, asteroids, cosmic rays, and so many other words I had not heard before. I couldn’t hide for much longer as my cloaking device was about to die out. Just when I was sneaking towards the nearest exit, the two older men left the room. When they left, I spotted their scientific gadgets, presumably used to observe the things they were talking about. So I grabbed quite a lot of the things on the table and chucked them into my bag. Now, after arriving, I examined the maps and gadgets quite a bit. Thankfully, I did steal a long book from the older gentlemen to be able to inquire about things I did not understand. Anyway, as I was reading the maps and taking notes from the books, one thing caught my attention more than others. A mysterious source of energy a few lightyears away; no one knows what it is exactly other than the high amount of energy it exerts. So, I kept reading and researching. I learned more about the possibilities of what this high energy source might be. Some say it could be a black hole, a gigantic dark hole that attracts anything that comes remotely close to it and pulls it into itself. Or it could be something entirely different. But I have a feeling that its mystery shrouds the answers to mankind's greatest question: Heart or Mind. All I know is that I have to dig deeper and uncover the mysteries of this mysterious energy source, Cygnus X-1. That is what they call it…”

        Anakalypsi was very intrigued and truly baffled by the possibilities of who the person writing these entries could be. But he had to dig deeper. He had to uncover who this person was, and what he figured out about the mysterious Cygnus X-1. Could it be? Could it be their long-lost saviour? Could this be the answer for mankind’s descent into imbalance? Could this bring about another balance in mankind?