“I do not believe in ‘luck’,” Shockwave replies as he departs.
Zepar respectfully nods.
Shockwave leaves the cathedral, leaving many nearby to stare curiously at him and the group. Shockwave rarely visited religious sites, unless they held something he had a need for.
Zepar begins studying the Allspark hologram, almost as if he was looking for some guidance from Primus.
The cathedral’s Allspark hologram rested in a transparent dodecahedron lined with gold trimming inscribed with cyberglyphic characters. Three smaller projections materialize beside it: a readout of Primus’ ever-declining vitals, controls for the ground bridge, and a three-dimensional image of OL-2006-2-C, ringed by images of the four knights that our heroes had seen depicted in various installations relating to the Omega Lock, and glyphs spelling out the riddle that often accompanied them.
Gronius, the Splitter brothers, and anyone else nearby in the cathedral would be able to bear witness to this, as well.
“Who are these four Knights?” Zepar asked in Ancient, not realizing he was speaking the language.
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As if in response to Zepar’s query, five silhouettes appear in the blue-white aura of the Allspark hologram: the four knights, and Solus Prime, standing around the Omega Lock:
Zepar closely studies the Knights and Solus, trying to discern their identiities while mentally wrestling with the idea of just going to the surface and searching for the fortress himself so the Salvation can get the Omega Lock first.
The vision changes; Solus and the Omega Lock fade away as the four knights drift apart.
The Blue Knight stands between a wounded protoform and some strange, ornate tool that had been burnt and dented through unknown circumstances. The hoop-like shape of a space bridge looms behind him. A cyan aura surrounds this scene as the Blue Knight lays a hand on the protoform and the tool, their damages beginning to mend themselves.
The Green Knight stands in a a forest clearing, with bits of moss-coated machinery rising from the earth, with conduits emitting a faint dark-green glow. Mountains loom behind the Green Knight as she raises an open hand, and the machinery hums as techno-organic vines and saplings break through the soil, their branches bearing a variety of small devices.
The Red Knight hovers within a crackling blood-red aura, surrounded by ancient machines that absorbed the forked bolts his body emitted and fed off the energy they contained, their gears and couplings churning as they labor to complete some unknown task.
The Violet Knight sits cross-legged on a jagged chunk of rock, his hands on his knees and his eyes closed, a meditative expression on his face. Sharp, lengthy formations of crystalline Dark Energon surround this knight, and in the background, a vast expanse of shattered worlds and drifting metallic debris floats within a nebulous cloud of deep-blue and purple gasses, and the faint white glow of a dim star shines from behind the knight.
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Zepar’s optics widened as he had an epiphany: what if each part of the Lock was to be guarded by each of these Knights? He tries to have the ship scan the planet for any large structures, keeping the search limited to valleys, he has an almost primal fervor to his gaze, like a madman.
Motherboard’s scan proves futile. Salvation’s instruments were being heckled by interference: an anomalous signal present across the planet that rendered long-range scans useless.
“The signal is similar in nature to the one that interfered with scans and communications on OL-2006-0-C, AKA Planet Omega,” Motherboard comments.
Zepar growls and tries to get a high resolution image of the glowing super-geoglyphs to see if he could spot something else there.
He has Venture’s comlink ready to call if he found something.
Zepar would be unable to get a better image of 2-C’s surface from the cathedral.
He activates his comlink, “Venture, can you hear me? It’s Zepar.” He said, still in Ancient.
“Perhaps they crafted the Lock.” Thrust replied, walking up beside Zepar.
" I saw a recording, Solus worked for many months straight on the Lock alone, the Knights may have been her assistants but there is little more they could’ve done to help her." He replied.
“Well then, maybe they guarded the pieces? At least, until their deaths?” Thrust said, rubbing his chin.
“Or perhaps, they still guard the pieces in some way.” Zepar said, “We’ll know when we find the fortress.”
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“Zepar?” Venture says over the comlink. “Sorry, my Ancient’s a little rusty.”
“Y-y-yessir!” squeaked Blight. He shuffled his stance and replaced his rifle on his back.
“Heh, heh,” he murmured, trying not to cower.