The landscape terraformed before Aio’s eyes, spurred forward in flashing images that came all too fast, and not fast enough. Aio couldn’t really process fully the series of events which struck his psyche.
After Alyssa Kamakura’s encounter with the World Eater – a titanic Supreme Enthipid which stood as tall as Neo-Kamakura’s tallest buildings and sported a large serpentine body with wings lined with curved horns that spanned across the entire landscape – a…bond formed between Alyssa and the god. It wasn’t really something Aio could describe, for all he saw was a blinding light which enveloped Alyssa, but he knew that when the Supreme Enthipid disappeared afterwards that Alyssa, had become the first of the “bonded”, whose tradition carried out through her’s and the other founders’ descendants.
They became the Onyx Technicians.
Alyx…Aio thought. Was this what you wanted me to see?
As the storm died down, the other founders who witnessed the events saw a changed Alyssa. Her face and parts of her body remained the same, but a shining glow shone and pulsed beneath where her heart was, and her skin – black carapace lined parts of her arms, torso, and legs, and it was clear she wasn’t fully human.
Aio felt like he’s seem something like this before though, and then it clicked for him.
She was an Enhanced. The most powerful of all the Inners. Unlike Augmentors or Supplementors, all Enhanced, who have grafted both the body and core of the Enthipids into their bodies have had huge spikes in power, but in all of recorded history, all known Enhanced have succumbed to the Voices of Madness. Rather, Aio corrected that misconception. The Voices of Madness were, he realized, the voices of the great Enthipids which once roamed the land. Why Enhanced went mad still eluded him, but he realized the reason may be more deliberate than coincidental.
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Years passed. Alyssa, using the powers granted by her bond, terraformed the land. With help from the other founders, who directed the people’s efforts toward building and construction of the land, they managed to build the first of the many districts which would later make up Neo-Kamakura. Their combined efforts ushered a new technological age which spanned to this day.
The village system and community-driven society which once governed the remnants of Onyx were no more. Instead, what replaced it was the rule of law, also known as the “pact.” Drawing inspiration from her own bond with the World Eater, she decreed those bound, in metaphorical blood, must follow the obligations to see through the contracts imposed between those agreeing parties. She used her newfound powers, and made such a view the law of the land – a law, which subconsciously influenced all those who were tied down by her influence.
More than just words…
No, Aio thought. This binding of law into the minds of all hunters was more than just pretty words on a piece of paper. Whenever he had agreed to a hunt, or agreed to terms of a contract, he felt a subconscious force driving him to see through his duties. At first, he saw it as fervor, but the more it happened the more Aio realized now, that Alyssa’s influence was somehow still present. Is this why hunters are so accepting of the hunt? Did Alyssa create the hunter system?
Unfortunately, his vision didn’t extend that far. For Alyssa disappeared shortly after the city’s founding, and the founder’s descendants were left to take up the mantle in her stead.
Aio spoke up, “Why did you show me this?”
“Because you carry the blood of the chosen, and possess the heart of humanity. You…are…worthy,” a voice said.
“Worthy?” he asked. “Of what?”
A second later light enveloped him, and the world around him faded from view.
