The Waking of Our Hero

Year: 573,709

Location: Luna

[Wake up!]

[Oi… Wake up! Please Wake up! You've been sleeping for only god knows how long!]

"Huh.. wha.." mumbled Noff as he fell from his bed.

[There you are.]

Who is talking to me? I don't see anyone. If anything, I'm completely closed off from the outside. There are four walls around me and everything is white. It really looks like a torture room for the mentally ill. Yet, it's so clean and well designed. There's a bunk bed, a sink, lights, a table, a chair and a closet. There's more furniture and trinkets in this room than in all prison cells on earth combined!

[Hello!?]

"Huh.. It's the voice again!" Exclaimed Noff puzzled.

[Jeez, considering how much sloths sleep, you made me think you were one of them!]

"Who is this? Who's talking to me? It sounds like this voice is coming from my head." I said while reaching my head with my hands as if I'm in despair

[It's m-..]

"I see. So you've finally woken up." Said the beautifully pale young lady calmly after arriving at my cell. She looked like the embodiment of peace. She had short white hair and was wearing a long white dress which left her shoulders and legs bare, accentuating her beautiful body. Her eyes were sapphire blue, fitting perfectly with the sapphire attached to her dress acting as a button below her breasts. Not to mention her collar was of the same style. Her earrings were made up of blue crystals of which I've never seen such. Her radiation was one of complete peace.

"Finally? How long have I been asleep for?"

"For quite some time actually… There's a war going on now in the milky way. We were attacked some 100.000 years ago. It's surprising that someone could sleep through all that noise for so long." She said sarcastically.

"100.000 years?!?!? HOW OLD AM I? WHY AM I STILL ALIVE AND WHAT IS THIS WAR ABOUT? WHERE AM I, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY WHO ARE YOU?"

"Sigh… One question at a time please." She calmly said while reaching for her chest with her hand, as if she became uncomfortable from the volume I posed the questions with.

"I am Selene, I am a sentient. I watch over Luna, the moon of planet Earth. You are currently residing in Luna's prison, which I also control. This prison is made for the most dangerous culprits there are in our solar system.

You're a human and you're 100.020 years old. Naturally, you shouldn't be able to live that long, but here you are. You were sent to me by someone all that time ago. I don't know what happened, but I doubt you were a criminal, since humans aren't that strong compared to all other living beings. I decided to take care of you due to my responsibility as the sentient of Luna. Strangely enough, I've been sensing some weird energy from you, but I cannot pinpoint what it is. It feels otherworldly."

"Sentients…. War…. What is this War and what are sentients like you?" I asked, feeling stressed.

"About 100.000 years ago our solar system got attacked by Infestation. The sun of our solar system has a Dyson Sphere around it. It captures energy very efficiently. The Infested are brainless maniacs, They cannot build such things, so they attack others to gain their powers. The energy gained is now used for their own benefit of procreating their species.

Sentients like me are here to protect the realm, but we have failed and they've captured the sun."

"HOW CAN THAT HAPPEN? ARE WE GOING TO DIE? WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?"

Sigh… This human is so noisy.

"One question at a time please." said Selene calmly, reaching for her chest again.

"Sorry." I Apologised while trying to calm myself down.

"There aren't many sentients left. Most sentients have been killed during the war. Now we're all spread out across different celestial bodies. We do not have the manpower to have a sentient oversee every celestial body, so we're spread thin. Not to mention that the Milky Way Galaxy is far bigger than our solar system, who knows if there are any other sentients we can ask for help or if they're already dead by the Infested. Not all hope is lost though, you can help us save our solar system. According to what I can sense from you, even though it's not much, it feels familiar, somehow."

[Hahahaha you hear that? That's what happens if you don't shower for so long!]

"SHUT UP"

"What?" Selene asked, extremely confused.

"Ah… Sorry, I was in a quarrel with my own mind, Selene."

"I see." Selene responded in a very non reassuring manner.

"So what do I do?"

"I'm not sure."

"..."

"Follow me." She ordered.

While I was following her towards her room, I got to see a lot of the prison. Though it seemed more like a palace to me. It had a lot of blue chandeliers with white candles lighting blue fire. The walls were made of marble, or is it moonstone? Yes, it's moonstone. I'm not talking about the stone from the moon, rather a type of precious stone found on earth. It's transparent, but it has a light blue-purplish glow. The floor was made of some soft material which I cannot pinpoint what it is, but it's quite… jelly? Maybe you could compare it with a trampoline. Your feet slowly drown every step you take, yet it feels very firm and it's not very difficult to walk on. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch a glimpse of any of the criminals residing here, as there are no windows and the doors are completely locked.

"This place looks very clean for a prison." I mentioned trying to get more information out of Selene.

"I take my job very seriously. I'm the protector of our solar system. If I cannot keep my own building clean, how can I take responsibility for the rest of you?"

"*The* protector?"

"Yes. Follow me."

We continued for about two minutes until we reached Selene's room. It appeared rather ordinary, resembling a typical office space.

"Currently we have 33 sentients, plus 1. T-..." Mentioned Selene before I could get my thoughts together.

"Plus 1?"

"Please let me finish."

I nodded eagerly

"Our solar system is made up of 8 planets, 5 dwarf planets, 146 moons and other asteroids and rocks. We have 33 Sentients who are known to be active. Meaning that I know of their existence and I can see and feel it. Obviously, 33 sentients cannot be spread out over so many celestial bodies. So we've assigned them carefully and tactically. I will give you a map with information which celestial bodies have a sentient active and which don't.

It is useful to mention that just because I don't sense an active sentient on a celestial body, it doesn't mean that there isn't one there. It might be injured or inactive. "

"All of this is starting to sound like a lot of work…"

"Rather become infected with the infested?"

I shook my head very firmly and let her do the explanation as her calmness became more intimidating rather than peaceful as time went by.

"Our goal is to have at least one sentient active on every celestial body in our solar system and defeat the Infested. We could start out with the latter, but we need the sentients to work together.

It's well worth knowing that sentients have a power ranking. Sentients can challenge each other to fights in an arena. The arena is on Ceres. Ever since the war started nobody has been challenged. If you ever end up at Ceres, please take a look, it will help you on your journey.

Naturally, we've spread out the sentients according to this ranking.

As for the 'plus one' sentient. Some long time ago, one of planet earth's sentients was defeated, she was brought in the direction of earth's core. I've lost contact, but I've never gotten the sensation of the sentient being killed. The sentient is still alive, if you can find it and bring it back, we will have another sentient to fight with us."

"Great story! But I'm just a human, why don't you do it?" I inquired with a touch of annoyance.

"I would if I could. I have other responsibilities that are far more dangerous and immediate than this mission."

"Sounds like a useful sentient…" I mumbled sarcastically.

Sigh… "I'll show you my powers when the time comes. As for you, what will you do?" She asked calmly like usual.

"I'll find the sentient."

"Let me take a look at the information we have so far."

Celestial Bodies home to sentients:

Mercury: [x]

Venus: [x]

Earth: [x]

Luna: [Selene]

Mars: [x]

Deimos: [x]

Phobos: [x]

Ceres: [x]

Jupiter: [x]

Oberon: [x]

Saturn: [x]

Iapetus: [x]

Europa: [x]

Charo: [x]

Uranus: [x]

Hyperion [x]

Rhea: [x]

Triton: [x]

Kerberos: [x]

Enceladus: [x]

Pluto: [x]

Hydra: [x]

Mimas: [x]

Titania: [x]

Styx: [x]

Ganymede: [x]

Neptune: [x]

Titan: [x]

Dione: [x]

IO: [x]

Tethys: [x]

Callisto: [x]

Nix: [x]

Extra:

All other celestial bodies without known sentients in our solar system: 113.

Lost sentient at earth's core.

"I have no idea what's waiting for me, I have no idea what the ending is going to look like and I have no idea if this is something I can help with. I'm being thrown into this world without knowing why or why it's me specifically that needs to do the job. But there's one thing I can say for certain. This is going to take a whole lot of work."

"Yes. The war didn't last 100,000 years for nothing."

She confirmed, while completely ignoring my previously mentioned doubts.

"The earth is still too dangerous for you. I'll take you to Greg. He's a dwarf and will arm you accordingly. Please close your eyes, and may we meet again."