Katharsis – the purging of all of one’s humanity via the Katharízo ritual. What’s left is a husk. Devoid of all emotion and imbued with incredible strength.

.

..

Apóvlita stepped out of a dark compartment to find himself in a long corridor filled with several other humanoid beings that looked almost exactly like him.

They were rigid looking beings that varied in height.

A boney cap covered their head, from the nape to the bridge of the nose. Deep holes at the front of the bone cap revealed their lidless eyes.

Their limbs and torsos were covered in form fitting plates of bone. Their fingers and feet were also made from segmented pieces of bone.

Their faces and joints were the only things not made from some sort of calcified structure.

They looked like they were made from caked scarred tissue and their joints were the same. Dark red and fleshy in appearance.

[Proceed to the assembly hall.]

A voice said from above.

Apó, along with his lookalikes, made their way down the hallway.

Their steps were in unison and not a breath could be heard as they made their way into a large hall.

The hall was made from a material similar to that of the compartment Apó came from.

Large rib-like arches lined the roof, great pillars lined the walls and there were only three doors, one of which was behind a platform at the halls end.

Apó and the others lined up in front of the platform in neat rows. There were twenty four of them in total.

On the platform stood two humanoid beings, clad in a matte brown, form fitting jumpsuits that had several tubes running in and out of them.

Apó stood in the row directly in front of the platform.

“If you find nothing, return immediately.” One of the jumpsuit clad beings said, its voice muffled under headgear that completely covered its neck and head. It also held in its right hand large bag.

“Yeah, yeah. I got it. Although, if I remember correctly, there’s a cluster about a kilometer further-“

“No.” The second one said, interrupting the first.

“Ugh, fine. Oi, everyone in Omáda one, follow me.” The first being said as it walked off the platform.

Apó felt compelled to follow the first being and so he did.

Same with seven of his lookalikes.

They followed the masked being into the door to the left of the platform.

The door led to another corridor which led to a cubic room with a single door at its end.

To the right, were several heavy duty suits similar to that worn by the masked being.

Apó heard the Door behind him close, but he paid it no mind.

“Here we go again.” The masked being muttered before a loud hiss came from the seam of the double door which then opened allowing a wave of air to rush into the room.

Apó’s eyes quickly adjusted to the natural light that flooded the room and his gaze fell on a vast expanse of dark grey sand.

The masked being walked out of the room and Apó, along with his look alikes, followed.

They emerged from the room and found themselves in what looked like an endless sea of grey sand.

The sky was completely covered in dark clouds that lit up as bright sparks flickered within.

Apó and company then traveled five kilometers south at a steady pace and every now and then the masked being pulled out a rectangular device from his pocket.

He periodically checked it for reasons that Apó didn’t know..

The masked being dropped his bag before placing its hands on his waist.

“Alright then, you know what to do. Start digging and grab any Technoúrgima you find.” He said as he opened his bag, revealing several shovels.

Apó felt compelled to pick up one of the eight shovels and so he did.

He then began digging into the ground.

His look alikes did the same and so they all shovelled away as sand carrying winds blew against their bodies.

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..

Three hours passed as Apó shovelled.

He then discovered a large vehicle embedded deep within the ground.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

It had four wheels, a ruined rectangular body and had a part Apó couldn’t identify in its front most compartment.

Apó dug the vehicle up and pulled it out from the hole he’d dug himself into.

Large concrete structures lined his path upwards and large chunks of steel and wiring could be seen poking out from various places.

Apó ignored them and he eventually climbed out of his hole while carrying the vehicle which weighed about half a ton.

“Oh! That’s a big one!” The masked being said as he approached Apó, who placed his find in front of him.

“Mmm… almost everything should be terribly worn. But we should be able to salvage the metal at least.” The masked being muttered before pointing at the hole Apó crawled out of.

“Go see if you can find any more of these.” The masked being said as his shiny silver visor reflected the light of the flickers of light in the yellowish sky.

Apó did as instructed.

He hopped back into the hole and eventually found himself where he found the vehicle.

He looked around at the massive rectangular concrete structures.

He deduced that he wouldn’t be able to find any more vehicles within them and so he marched forward in what seemed like an underground city.

Well, the remnants of one.

Apó then spent the following minutes scouring the buried city.

[Alright, that’s enough. Get back here.]

A voice said from within Apó’s head.

He then made his way back to the surface, where the masked being and his lookalikes awaited in a single neat row.

Behind them, was a massive pile of devices of various make.

Apó joined his lookalikes as the masked being eyed the pile.

“Mmm… about half of everything here is usable. Dammit.” The being muttered before looking to the south.

“Hehe, let’s see if we can’t increase our yield.” The being said before pointing back north.

“Four of you, take all this to entrance W1. The rest of you. Follow me.” The masked being said before walking out into the sandy expanse.

Some more wind blew past Apó and three of his lookalikes joined the masked being on his journey further south.

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..

They eventually stopped at a point one kilometre away from their previous dig site.

“Get to it!” The masked being said as he crossed his arms.

Apó dug deep into the ground and almost in the next instant, Apó struck a concrete surface.

He struck it several more times before completely breaking through, revealing that the structure beneath was hollow.

Apó jumped into the opening he’d made and landed from a drop of about fifteen meters.

He looked around to find that the structure was cylindrical and even thought it was almost pitch black, Apó could see pretty clearly-

Apó spotted something at the farthest end of the hollow structure.

It was a woman wearing nothing but a silky blue dress.

Apó looked around to find no other signs of life.

The structure looked stable enough to house living organisms, but the same couldn’t be said about other environmental factors.

Apó then turned his gaze back to the woman who sat on a pile of concrete and rusted metal.

Who is she? Apó wondered with a chilling level of clarity.

How is she still alive without a hazmat suit?

“Mmm…” Apó droned, only to be shaken by the sound of his own voice.

“Hello?” Apó called out as he reached out towards the woman in blue.

The woman simply raised her hand and beckoned to him with a hand gesture.

Apó hesitated.

He wanted to go her.

He wanted…

Apó slowly approached the woman as she sat listlessly in the dark.

As he got closer, more details about the woman became clear.

She had long black hair that reached her waist, slightly slanted eyes that were closed and strange markings on her skin. A mixture of vertical and horizontal lines that were etched all over her dry looking skin.

“Hello?” Apó said as he stopped about five meters away from the woman.

“Who are you?” The woman asked.

[Mmm… dust storms coming in. Everyone, get back.]

A certain voice said from within Apó’s head, but Apó didn’t move.

“My name is Apóvlita.” He said as the woman placed her hands on top of her lap.

“What are you?” She asked, her voice low and soothing.

“I am a Kélyfos.”

“Why are you here?”

“To find and retrieve Technoúrgima.”

“Why are you not dead?” The woman asked and Apó felt an overwhelming sense of unease overcoming him.

[Oi! I’m pretty sure there’s supposed to be four of you. Where’s the last one?]

The voice in Apó’s head asked.

Apó looked back at the hole from which he’d descended before turning back to face the woman.

“Come with me.” Apó instructed.

“Why?”

“It is unsafe here.”

“For who?” The woman asked making Apó stumble backwards slightly.

“For you.” He eventually said.

“Who am I?”

“I do not know.”

“Do you want to know?” The woman asked and again, Apó shuddered.

He squeezed his hands into fists before nodding.

“I am Uzuri.” The woman said.

[Hey! You! Get over here, dammit!] Someone yelled from behind Apó, who looked to find that it was the masked being. He had his head poking through the hole Apó had made.

Apó turned to look at the woman, but she was no longer there.

He then quickly ran back to the spot under the hole where he jumped up before pulling himself out.

“Sheesh! What in the world were you doing?” The masked being asked as harsh winds blew by.

“I… saw a woman.” Apó said.

“Mmm… looks like you’re going to need to purge soon. How old are you again?” The masked being asked.

“Four hundred and twenty one.”

“I see… ah well, we’ll take care of you when we get back to the dome. So come on, let’s go.” The masked being said before walking northward.

Apó and the other Kélyfos followed as the winds grew harsher.

.

..

Apó looked up as he approached a gigantic dome which was sixty meters tall and was made from a material that resembled tree bark. Although had a slight metallic sheen.

Apó and his fellow travellers placed their findings in front of a large double door and the masked being walked up to the door before sticking his right hand into an opening next to it.

The door then began to open with loud squeaks.

“Alright, drop all that in there.” The masked being said as the door opened, revealing other masked beings clad in hazmat suits.

They all watched as Apó and the other Kélyfos moved their findings into the large bay within the dome. The bay’s floors and walls were made from a dark brown material that reflected almost no light, even thought there were several large lights across the ceiling.

“Is that all?” One of the masked beings asked.

“Pretty much. Wait! One of the Kélies needs a monitored purge.” The masked being Apó had travelled with said.

“Oh? Ok, take him to the Katharízo device.” The masked being inspecting the findings said.

“Ok. You, come with me.” The masked being said before leading Apó out of the bay and into a corridor that led deeper into the dome.

The two travelled for some time down a series of corridors and they passed several doors before reaching a certain one.

The masked being placed his hand into an opening next to a door and after a loud clank, the door opened revealing a rather small room which had a large cylindrical device at its centre.

“Go on.” The masked being said, its body still protected by the sturdy looking hazmat suit.

Apó stepped into the black cylindrical device to find a mouth piece and another component that aligned almost perfectly with his pelvis.

Apó opened his mouth and placed it on the mouth piece as his body aligned with the other components.

The masked being then sat by a nearby chair before sticking his hand into an opening on the device.

“So… you said you saw a woman, right? Mmm… let’s see if we can change that.” The masked being muttered before a low drone filled the air.

Apó then felt an extreme sense of calm overcome him.

He felt at ease.

Complete relaxed.

“Detach.” The masked being said before Apó walked away from the dark device.

“So, do you remember seeing a woman in the cluster?”

Yes.

“No.”