Exploring Beyond

The Machine Army slowly poured from the wormhole, tearing down the building and replacing it with a dome. Hundreds of drones, constructors, scouts, soldiers and other types of drones assembled. Scouts were sent to investigate the outside area, constructors demolished the temple and built a dome in a matter of a few hours. Soldier drones accompanied the constructors and scouts as the threat of an ambush from an unknown force was still lurking.

The operation lasted only a day, a dome was erected around the wormhole, the previous building which was concluded to be a temple of sorts was demolished in the process. Now, it was time to explore beyond the confinements of Earth. The Machine Network was getting ready to exploit the other world.

A man along with two elite soldier drones emerged from the wormhole, he was wearing a black trenchcoat, titanium-flexible armor. His face was half man and machine. He was One. The King of the Hive, the central core of the Machine Network, a hybrid between man and machine.

"All Elites, report status"

"Drone C1 reporting, construction of dome complete, construction of energy plants and drone storages underway"

"Drone S1 reporting, scouting still in progress, a forested area designated as Reg 1 explored 70%"

"Drone E1 reporting, unknown bioforms detected, non-hostile. No hostile actions against drones"

Everything is going smoothly, he thought. He walked outside to inspect the construction. bright white light from the constructor drones illuminated the cloudy night. One wanted to see the night sky of this world, I guess I'll see it tomorrow.

One walked around the construction sites as the two elite soldier drones followed him. He observed the thick treeline that surrounded them. A cold wind breezed through the branches of the tall trees, creating a pleasing melody that calmed One's mind.

"This is nature, I forgot how pleasant it was"

One was the central core of the Machine Network, he had full control over all the simple AI that ran all the drones. Ensuring no deviancy to his power. Whatever his drones saw, he saw. Allowing him to make decisions on the spot.

He suddenly stopped walking as he observed one of the scout drones as it ran through the forest. The drone was detected a heavy concentration of heat signatures originating from beyond the forest.

"Drone S9, maintain vigilance"

"Affirmative" The drone replied. The drone sliced through the vegetation, forming a trail through the dense forest. It finally reached the outskirts of the forest. A wide field of tall grass stretched up towards a hill. A walled settlement was on the top of the hill, walls reaching 15-feet in height prevented observation of what was inside.

"Unknown Structures Found"

One already had the idea that civilization was present in this world, a human civilization to be exact.

"Classify group of structures as Settlements"

"Affirmative, uploading classification"

A smile ran through One's face. In his quest to rebuild Earth, he never once thought that bringing back life was possible, considered all options he had as non-reliable. With this wormhole between dimensions, not only will he be able to extract this world's lifeforce and transfer it to the Earth, he may be able to rebuild human civilization.

But, it wasn't all that easy. Over the past decades of repairing the Earth and researching the devastation. There was an odd discovery made by his research drones. The world had internal energy, this internal energy was present on the soil and the rocks that reached down to the core, this energy could not be harnessed nor could it be used, but from further analysis, it was concluded that the energy supported the life on Earth. It was called, Gaia.

Somehow, someone or something corrupted it. The energy was murky, traces of pure Gaia were found but in such small quantities, once exposed to the presently corrupted Gaia, the pure samples would either disappear or be corrupted as well. Due to this discovery, it was noted that if One was to repair the Earth's Gaia and bring back life, he would need to find a way to overcome the corrupt Gaia by finding similar energy that could rival it.

This world presented the opportunity, but there was a catch. If he were to somehow find a way to transfer this world's Gaia to Earth's, it will kill everything on this planet. He often thought this when the wormholes first appeared, he didn't seem to care about the people who were living in this world if they died. It didn't process, he didn't feel any guilt nor a conscience telling him it wasn't worth destroying a planet and killing off its inhabitants.

He was still human, but it seemed there was no humanity left in him.

"Drone S9, under attack"

One snapped himself from his thought, one of his drones was under attack.

A barrage of arrows poured on S9, the arrows bounced off its titanium armor. The drone immediately drew out its blaster as the arrows kept on falling from the skies.

"Do not attack" One ordered.

The drone still had its weapon drawn but replied in acceptance of One's command. The drone quickly retreated into the treeline.

"Multiple entities emerging from the settlement, entities seem to be riding on other entities"

Cavalry! they were sending out the cavalry. One didn't have complete Intel of what was to expect from this world and he couldn't risk losing a drone even if the weapons seemed primitive.

"Drone S9, retreat to the base"

"Affirmative"

Drone S9 ran through the forest with frightening speeds, slicing through the vegetation to pave a path for itself. The cavalry from the walled city was stalled by the thick treeline, the captain, a renowned noble, spat on the grass.

"Was that a new magic beast?"

The renowned noble placed his sword back on its sheet.

"I think so"

The cavalrymen then returned to the walled city. News of the new magical beast quickly spread through the city as rumors.

"Oh? A new magical beast? boys, this sounds like a new hunt for us!"

A group of adventurers who were famous for hunting magical beasts was more than excited to search for the new rumored beast. They didn't know, they were about to meet the end of their journey.