Chapter 1 – A Peculiar Request
Sector Zero - The Core
Internal Clock - Year 57, Month 12, Day 27 - 8:04:10
"ELABORATE," inquired a digital and cold voice.
The artifical intelligence named Arkon faced a peculiar request coming from the divine entity standing in front of its screen. Its hexagonal eye stared down at it, not entirely sure of what they had just said.
"Essentially, we spoke with some other deities of the world of Aelna, and they say that the Ravernal Empire themselves is making its appearance in the next two decades or so." The entity stretched their arms and looked rather relaxed while giving this relevation.
The being's name was Mekanus, the god of machines and technological prowess. He appeared as a clockwork automaton, brass gears interlocking and rotating all around his body.
"THE ACCURSED LIGHT-WINGED ABOMINATIONS? THE VERY SAME?" Arkon growled, a hint of anger betraying its neutral tone.
"Indeed."
An outside observer would see this situation to be absurd in concept. Machines were constructs of the physical world and pragmatic, solely focusing on the task at hand and not regarding the existence of some higher power. For one to speak to a god, the antithesis of materalism, would seem contradictory.
However, Mekanus had taken interest in this synthetic creature back when it was a few lines of code. After all, he had guided the bright minds of the united Akkarrian nations to create the AI in the first place. Sharing a similar background of artifical constructs and technology, the two were well acquainted with each other.
"WHY DO YOU COME HERE THEN?" Arkon questioned. "BECAUSE THE SOLE PURPOSE OF DELIVERING BAD NEWS IS UNLIKELY."
At this, Mekanus's face spun and rearranged into what could be described as a thin smile. "These gods summoned a group of humans a long time ago, to defeat a little biomancy project by the sorcerers. Nosgorath, I believe it was called."
The cooling fans of the uncountable amounts of server arrays whirred loudly as the AI considered this statement.
"A LOGICAL EXPLANATION WOULD BE THAT THESE GODS WILL MAGICALLY TRANSPORT MYSELF AND MY LEGIONS, AS THEY DID THESE HUMANS, TO THIS WORLD TO DESTROY THE LIGHT-WINGS. CORRECT?"
Mekanus nodded. "Correct."
"ACCEPTABLE. UNITS WILL BE PLACED INTO STORAGE AND PREPARATIONS WILL BE MADE."
The god waved goodbye towards the screen and disappeared into a bluish portal which had appeared behind him as Arkon started recalling every single unit into a dormant state.
Democratic Republic of Fribach - Fribachian Broadcasting Network
Akkarrian Standard - October 11th, 2074 - 6:39 pm
"Now, onto a major topic that has taken the world by storm. The Akkarrian Contingency's leader, Arkon has stated recently that the infamous Ravernal Empire is making their reappearance in an alternate world," a female news anchor calmly stated.
All around the world, millions of citizens tuned into their respective news channels as this intriguing story played out on all of their televisions.
The existence of other realities was not unheard of, as they had been mentioned by gods before. However, the memory of the Ravernal empire hadn't faded, and veterans of the Great War of the Sorcerers still told their stories to their children and those who would care to listen. If the light-wings were going to subjugate another world, then nothing could be done but silently pray for those souls.
"The deities of this other world, named 'Aelna', have stated that they do not believe the natives of their world would be able to defeat the Ravernals, so they have made an extremely intriguing request," she continued. "A century ago, those gods summoned a group of humans, with a military strength similar to the Third War of the Coalitions to drive away a biomancy construct created by the sorcerers."
Some people, confused by this seemingly random statement, squinted at their screens. Others that saw where this was leading braced themselves for the revelation.
"The gods of this other dimension requested that the Contingency be summoned from our reality to theirs in a similar fashion, to defend their world against the light-winged menace."
It seemed like the entire globe's population had their jaws simultaneously hit the floor. Many people rejoiced at this statement, seeing as they would get another shot at those magical bastards.
"The Akkarrian Contingency is a major economic superpower at present, so this would have several impacts on the prices of items, notably their civilian-use household robots. Additionally, there are concerns of the repercussions this would have on..."
Continuing on the list of impacts an entire nation disappearing would have, a large portion of the population had simply stopped listening. Stock marketeers rushed to sell their stocks of Contingency-owned companies and anti-Ravernal sentiment spread around the world like wildfire as slurs and insults were hurled around in public places.
The people of Akkarris gave their blessings for the AI's journey.
Sector Zero - The Core
Internal Clock - Year 57, Month 12, Day 29 - 14:29:45
The previous two days had been a logistical nightmare as millions and millions of automatons were sorted into warehouses where ever they could safely fit. Fortunately, AIs don't need to rest, and the task which would have burnt out any normal person was completed without issue.
A blue portal contorted and materalised out of thin air, followed by Mekanus stepping through.
"PREPARATIONS ARE COMPLETE," Arkon reported. "ALL UNITS ON STANDBY."
"Excellent!" the god replied. "You'll be sent to Aelna not too far from now."
There was a brief period of silence as the machine thought of what to say.
"WHAT IS THIS 'AELNA' LIKE? IT WOULD BE PREFERABLE TO HAVE ADEQUATE INFORMATION BEFORE BEING PLACED IN AN... UNKNOWN LOCATION."
Mekanus scratched his chin at this question. "From what little those gods told me, magic is quite prevalant there. Strangely, the nations also vary wildly in terms of technology, some having swords while others having guns."
"RECORDED FOR FUTURE REFERENCE."
After a little while longer of talking, a bright light began to envelop the entire continent of which the Contingency stood on. One last diagnostic told the AI that everything was still in acceptable parameters.
"Looks like it's starting then," remarked Mekanus. "Good luck!"
He took a step towards the portal which had appeared behind him, then paused.
"One more thing, I've uploaded the world's language into your servers. Magic doesn't work on your kind, so a translation spell would be pointless."
"THANK YOU."
Soon after the god vanished through the swirling portal, the entirety of the Akkarrian Contingency disappeared in a blinding flash of light.