Understanding the Past

Braxton made his way to the base of the pyramid the next evening. The structure was clearly overgrown. The surface was steep on the side. He walked around the outside. This area was more sparsely coverage with trees and undergrowth. There were brick all around and some smaller structures hidden under the canopy. Ruined walls were frequent.

Creatures were less common in this area. They were also easier to see. He expected to find a set of stairs on the side between the two pyramids. But there wasn't one. He check his map with the two spots he had marked. At his best guess there should be a set of stairs but it wasn't here so he kept on walking around. In the center of the side he first approached he found the stairs.

He walked up the stairs. He could see a roofed building at the top. It could've been the same design as the one under the water. He didn't see a light coming out of the top though. At the top there was a circle it was metal but had no rust. He didn't even recognize the type of metal. It was similar to aluminum but wasn't soft. He stepped on it and it slowed lowered. It stopped about ten feet down.

The was a clear path it corkscrewed down gently. All along the path holograms played and words were spoken in some strange language. It seemed to be playing the history of an entire race. These people looked like the Merlude. This was clearly not their language though. The trail ended some time later by turning into the middle. There Braxton found a gate. It had a light making it look active. He stepped on it and another circle descended underground.

"Not what I expected but ok." Braxton thought to himself.

There were three portals in the new area. It was a small room one portal was north, one was east and the last was northeast between the other two. There were letters above each. They looked familiar. He had not spent much time learning the letters but, he knew them well enough to know they belonged to his grandfathers people.

He knew north was another pyramid. That was all he knew. He walked into the northern gate. Then ended up in another room similar to the last. There were two portals to him right and one directly in front of where he was. He went straight. Then appeared at the top of another pyramid with a corkscrew ahead. The roof was still closed on this one. The holograms played all the same. Again it looked like the history of a race. This race was different. It was a hairy race of humanoid he hadn't seen before. As he went down the pyramid they changed. He watched them evolve on screen. By the end they looked largely human, their muscles seemed excessive though.

Braxton went to the left path again. And found another small room with the same setup of portals. The same thing happened again. The only difference was the species on display. He noticed another pattern. At the end of the hologram, the stories seemed to show them fighting the same enemy as the last two peoples had.

At the end he went through it all one more time. The last species was scaled like a lizard. It also had a human like face. They evolved like all the others into a more human race and lost their scales. At the end they too fought the same enemy. The stories all shared he common thread of being exterminated by an aggressive species. They looked like a humanoid with horns, fangs and claws. Their legs ended in cloven hooves. They wore armor chest plates and their legs were covered in thick coarse hair. They looked like demons of some sort. Some were shrouded in darkness.

He stepped into the path one more time and saw his own footprints on the ground when he materialized. He went into the middle platform. He disappeared then materialized in a large round room. It looked like it could be the bridge of a spaceship. There were many computer like stations in the middle of the place. The windows overlooked the ruins and forests around it. He could see four pyramids surrounding the center building. They were equally spaced like one at each compass point.

At the end of the fourth set of holograms, he heard a name that sounded like Skaggar used yet again. He took hat to be the name of the common enemy species. He sat at a computer screen and a new holographic story played.

The story started out with four different races joining forces. They fought against the Skaggar together. The war waged many generations. The four species mingled and became one. They won the war. As a last ditch effort the virus was created and used on the new race. The video ended abruptly without telling he end of the story.

That was the most Braxton could understand. He didn't know the language or it would've been more informative. It did make him want to learn more.

There was an exit on this level. It was in line with the northern pyramid. He walked down the stairs. This wasn't a pyramid. It was a cone shaped structure and it had a flat level halfway down. It also had people walking around it. They looked human. Their skin was luminous though. They didn't look hostile and waved at him as he walked down the stairs. There was a small group of them.

Braxton waved in return. It seemed weird. They acted like they were seeing someone they knew return. His armor was a new design and merged technologies. It was not possible they had seen it before. Braxton didn't allow X system to learn the language during all the tunnels and videos. If he had by now he would likely have know it. Braxton didn't expect to find any living speakers of the language.

The walkway was twenty feet wide. The crowd spread out wide enough for him to step onto the landing. An old man among the group spoke to him. Whatever he was saying ran together meaninglessly. Braxton held up his hand to halt him. He wasn't trying to be rude, the man was simply talking to fast. Coupled with him not knowing the language it was a bit much. Braxton had already watched hours and hours of videos.

He summoned a new gate from his storage. Then he set it down and programmed it for his personal use. Then turned back to the crowd. They had gathered around to see what he was doing.

"X scan these people for nanites, diseases and anything else you can think of." Braxton thought. He said "Hello."

The crowd talked among themselves for a bit. Braxton waited for them to finish and give him their attention again. Then he pointed to himself, then to the gate, his ears. Then he walked to the gate and motioned out of the gate and walked back. He made a motion with his hand like he was speaking by opening and closing his hand. He hope they could understand.

"Scan complete. They have no nanites of any kind I can detect." X system responded.

He made one last gesture to indicate he was going to sleep. He. Stepped into the portal and returned home.