"Tell me, what do you see?"
The strange-looking man handed the young boy a telescope. It was brand-new, the latest installation from Orion-Sirius Omnicorp. Sleek and silver, it was worth more than the entirety of the mining town they stood in.
Well, before it had been obliterated into a smoking pile of rubble. The boy, covered in ash, took the device into his small, numb hands. With a blank gaze, he brought it to his eyes robotically.
Gently guiding the boy's head, the strange-looking man lifted it back, pointing the scope at the vast array of the night sky. Unobstructed by clouds, the night sky on Decius was a sight to behold. Sometimes the boy would run away, taking to the surrounding hills just to gaze upwards at the thousands of stars.
"So, what do you see?" the strange man repeated his strange words. No-one on Decius cared to look upwards, and they mocked the boy for the folly of his actions. They called him a fool, that it was his unavoidable destiny to live and die in those wretched mines, so what was the point of looking up?
But the boy refused to listen. Night after night, he would escape. Away from the noxious fumes, the heavy gazes, the blanket of dread that surrounded them. Into the silent embrace of the night, under the warm gaze of the stars.
His voice was hoarse from the screaming, but he replied to the strange-looking man asking his strange questions nonetheless.
"I see the stars."
So many stars.
The strange-looking man nodded, as though satisfied, though at what the boy could hardly guess. He put a hand out, bandaged in that same odd way as his entire body, and introduced himself.
"I am Zahto Zen. What's your name?"
The boy stared at the outstretched hand as though it were an alien slug. Then, hesitantly, he raised his own soot-covered hand, grasping the man's lightly.
"I don't have a name. But the others always called me a slalgulathon."
The strange-looking man pondered for a few moments, before coming to a realisation and chuckling. He surveyed the boy before him, enveloped in the soot of despair, yet still hiding a spark of the stars in the depths of his pupils.
"Slalgulathon...'Starry-eyed fool', eh?", he murmured softly. He found himself following the boy's gaze towards the astral tapestry overhead. "Aren't we all?"
And so, in the rubble of an unnamed mining town, within the ruined continent of Toxir on the lost planet of Decius, an orphan and a demigod met for the first time.
Mortal and demigod, yet nothing more or less, than two starry-eyed fools.
***
Incident Report: Explosion on Lower Levels 497-502.
On the 2.3.14, at approximately 23:00 local time, sensors were tripped detecting abnormal heat and pressure from quadrant C234.213 in lower level 498. Emergency response time was 124.3 minutes, within deviation from average. First responders were unable to obtain access after complete collapse of the levels, and danger of further damage.
Relevant agents were dispatched to aid with the process. While rubble was removed, several samples were taken for wide spectrum analysis. Faint psychic imprints were found, though not enough to explain the explosion. Isotope analysis recovered clear patterns correlating with anti-matter type explosives.
As a type I banned artefact, this discovery elevated the incident to the priority level II.A. High Sleuth Salaz-Lar was dispatched.
Due to the heat, no bodies were recovered from the initial site. There was no forensic evidence, only organic residue. No artefacts such as shell casings or other personal objects remained that were related to the incident.
Several wounded were rescued from the periphery of the rubble, two surviving while one died en route. Total casualties were estimated from missing persons reports as well as registered inhabitants. Approximately 36 people were caught in the blast and subsequent tunnel collapse, with 34 deaths estimated.
We await further intelligence to refine this estimate.
Surveillance of holovid footage was delayed due to corruption of file. No usable video evidence was recovered.
High Sleuth Salaz-Lar is to complete a full report soon, however his preliminary analysis is as follows:
This is a clear, pre-meditated strike between two rival organisations. It is unclear at this stage the motives, or the exact groups involved.
Still, the ability to smuggle and detonate such a restricted class of weaponry speaks to both the lengths the aggressors are willing to go to, as well as their ability to infiltrate several security screening procedures.
The modus operandi is reminiscent of several high-profile assassination groups. Further investigation will be required to narrow it down, however the lack of evidence remaining is not a good sign.
Friends and relatives of suspected victims have refused to undergo interviews, as to be expected.
Overall, this event does highlight certain flaws in our security, though especially in the deep bowels, such incidents are not all that rare. Further investigation is deemed unnecessary and to be moved to a lower priority.
As such, incident has been filed as priority III.B. With the go ahead from High Sleuth Salaz-Lar, clean-up of the crime scene has begun. Estimated cost is within budget for unexplained attacks for this third.
Further actions are: clean-up and reconstruction of affected levels; addressing flaws in security screening; addressing flaws in surveillance ability. Lockdown was deemed unnecessary, as the incident was fairly self-contained.
This is all.
Records have now been archived under: "Incident AM2.3.14-III.B-HSSL". For further information, contact High Sleuth Salaz-Lar on internal lines.
***
In the darkness of his room, Slalgulathon clutched the warped, blackened ring of god-metal. His knuckles were white and his remaining eye was bloodshot. He hardly noticed his fingers digging into his palms, drawing out purple blood that dripped onto the floor.
All that encompassed his attention, was the deformed artefact in his hands, and the bitter gourd of the accompanying memories.
It had been a while since he had thought about where it all started, that forsaken planet Decius. That fateful night when the Coalition of Jax decided to punish the Orion-Sirius Omnicorp by glassing one of their mining planets, regardless of the ten billion inhabitants that called it home.
It was after days of deafening roars, in the hollow silence of the aftermath, that he had met the Zahto for the first time. And that his eyes were opened to so many worlds beyond his own.
The stars that had always seemed to slip between his fingers, all of a sudden within reach. And yet, just as abruptly, he had lost a guiding light of his own.
Slalgulathon did not feel grief, nor despair. He would not let such base emotions control him. What he felt was exceedingly simple.
Rage.