(Three months earlier)

"By the God King, we actually found it." Remus exclaimed.

The winds of the obsidian sandstorm howled around them like a thousand furious beasts as the trio descended into the dark, icy desert. The weather was not a surprise, though; they had known about the fiendish ambiance of Sardus Arcemius and had come prepared. Or so they thought.

Half a league in front of them, the old, strangely curved, dilapidated towers formed a circular perimeter around the humongous black pyramidal structure. The complex had been the single most prominent construction on the planet, visible even from outer space.

"Watch out." Kiri yelled. Remus had a barely landed on the dark sandy surface. A huge boulder came rolling towards him, propelled by the winds.

Remus had already let go of the hoist rope. He was essentially in free fall now. He had only one choice left - he activated the lowermost thrusters in his suit. Kiri figured that he was planning to bounce off the surface, but also realized that he wouldn't be able to make it in time. She had more on-field experience. Before Nasdaal, her home world, was brought under Irvanian rule, military service had been mandatory for all youth.

Grasping her hoisting chord tightly, she swiveled, and activating the forward propellants in her suite, she pushed herself towards Remus. Norman, startled, asked on the comm from behind, "Kiri what are you doing?"

Remus landed on the dark sandy surface with a crunchy thud, and realized his mistake immediately. The boulder was already there right in front of him. Though his thrusters had warmed up by now, and he had already activated an upward push, he won't be able to make it in time. He had underestimated the velocity of the speeding rock. But Kiri reached him at that exact moment.

Amping up her forward thrusters, she grabbed Remus's hand, and diverted him away from the incoming boulder. Their combined momentum was enough to change their trajectory. The boulder missed them by several feet.

But they were soon about to realize that their misfortune was only just beginning. The boulder, now several feet away, changed its trajectory.

"This is not right." Norman's voice was cold as always, but stress was evident in his voice. "It can't possibly be propelled just by the winds."

The boulder arced and now was once again speeding towards them. It also seemed to have gained velocity. "We are being targeted?"

"I am sure of it." Norman hastily pulled open a defensive shield launcher from his backpack. The huge jagged obsidian stone was barely twenty feet away now. As he activated the device, a light blue hemispherical shield popped up in front of them.

"This will stop it right?" Remus was gasping for air, breathing heavily.

"Unlikely. This is not military grade equipment."

"What?" Remus was surprised. Military grade equipment required strictly regulated licenses for expedition guilds or imperial armada. And the trio here were students - the Magisterium made it almost impossible for civilians to get hold of advanced gear.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

The boulder hit. Its momentum was arrested, but not completely. The shield lit up brighter, and even though it padded the impact they were pushed back several feet.

"Prepare to flank" Kiri activated the lasers on her suit, and with a soft whir the long green lights attached to the arms of the suit lit up. Panting and out of breath, Remus took position on the other side. Norman had to stay in the center to keep the protective dome steady. Visibly strained now, the surface flickered as the boulder continued to push through.

Remus and Kiri activated their lasers, and streams of green light assaulted the boulder from two sides. The bright glow lit up the dark, and when the boulder's surface was illuminated, Norman's suspicions were confirmed.

On the surface of the rock, letters were carved. Unmistakable, Old Yaskhin text. Any lingering doubt in Norman's mind that this boulder could be a natural construct, evaporated.

"It's a warning..." Norman barely managed to get the words out, when the rock was shattered under the onslaught of two heavy duty lasers. They had managed to fracture the rock, but hadn't thought it through. A hail of smaller stones and particles rained over them.

Thankfully their dark metallic suits took bulk of the brunt. But one large chunk directly landed on Kiri's foot. She let out a scream.

"Kiri, you ok?" Remus reached out and grabbed her by the shoulder before she could topple.

"Yes, Give me a minute."

"We may not have that kind of time." Norman intoned. A rumbling could be heard in the distance. Norman adjusted the long range scope in his suites. Sure enough, there was another boulder approaching them. They had now crossed the broken circle of ruined towers. The dark, sloping wall was only a few hundred feet away from them.

"We need to head back." Remus pleaded, "This place is dangerous."

"Yes, but we need to take shelter off the ground first. Otherwise we'll never be able to make it."

Norman agreed with Kiri. "We had thought these boulders were just natural rocks being hurled around. But now I am sure they are part of ancient defenses."

"What?" Neither of them had noticed the letters carved on the rock surface. And Norman didn't blame them. The Yaskin text shared no lineage with any human language and almost nobody in their current generation could read it without help from a translator.

"There were Yaskh warnings carved on the surface. We need to get off the ground now."

Of course, in this wasteland, off the ground could mean only one thing. Up on the steps of the Ziggurat.

They quickly and carefully secured a makeshift harness around Kiri, and pushed through the vicious storm. Soon the steep walls of the ancient pyramid was upon them. The second rumbling boulder too was now only a dozen or so feet away. It had been a close call the last time and none of them were too keen to try their fates again. They had no idea how many of these things were around.

They hastily adjusted their climbing gear and began to scale the steep wall. Just as they were barely five feet above ground, the boulder smashed onto the surface with a thunderous sound. Even a few seconds delay would have seen them crushed.

"What the hell is going on here?" Remus collapsed on the first of the steps.

Kiri brought out a first aid kit and started tending to her foot. Taking apart her shoe, she lathered her foot with a foamy disinfectant gel.

Norman pulled up a snapshot of the writing on the boulder recorded by the cams on his suit. Zooming into the letters on his tablet, he showed it to his companions. He may have recognized the Yaskin text, but translating it accurately was a different matter. The on-device translator too had difficulty translating its exact meaning.

"Warning...Observatory terminated|sealed|shut...Access attempt violate imperial mandate..."

They gaped at each other. "How are these machines still functioning? This structure is, what, two million years old?"

"And surprisingly sturdy for its age." Norman turned its attention towards the ziggurat itself. The ancient stone walls were almost entirely unscathed. They had expected dilapidated ruins, if they were lucky. Not a fortress with active defenses.

"Let's head back up then?" Remus's voice was almost pleading. He looked towards Kiri. She had finished bandaging her leg after cleaning off the wounded skin. The suit would help support her, but Remus knew walking about in this difficult terrain was going to be painful for her.

"There seems to be some interference." The device was not able to connect to the locator on their ship up in the orbit.

"Guys, I don't want to sound alarming, but that looks dangerous." They turned in the direction Remus was pointing, and in the distant north there was a barely discernible outline of a hurricane. It was far and challenging to make out in the dust all around them, but they were sure it hadn't been there before. Which meant it was likely headed in their direction.