Ascenders Rift

Chapter 41: A Strange Voice? The Earlington Observatory

Evan and the others soon quickly finished their meals as they went towards their classes, after the survival session with Angeline and the routine physical exercise that lasted the entire day. Everyone had separated to handle their personal affairs, Evan then headed off towards the entrance of the academy to wait for the others, he soon found a seat at the corners of the pathway and sat down.

The evening was now setting in as entirely a few students were seen moving back and forth from the entrance. Evan looked at this sight while thinking to himself.

"It's a bit early, but it's time to show them the true danger behind these rifts..." As Evan said this, his eyes became a little blurry as he shifted his sights to the sky.

There, he had directly focused his vision onto the crack that was now visible in deep space, surrounded by a spiraling sea of stars. In moments, it seemed as if he had fallen into a trance as his pupils firmly stared at the 'cracked' galaxy as they momentarily became shrouded by a myriad of stars.

While this happened, the Void Blood Pendant on Evan's chest began to heat up as a voice that seemed to have traveled from a place beyond time itself had sounded in his mind, "Inheritor..."

As Evan heard this voice, he was alarmed, he finally woke from his daze, and his previous changes returned to normal.

"What was that just now?" Evan muttered as he glanced at the strange sight once more, he wanted to ponder it in more detail, but it was at this moment he heard a voice.

"Hey, c-couldn't you have shown a little patience man, are you that eager to leave this campus?" The haggard voice of fatty sounded as he soon after appeared, he had jogged from a distance working up quite a bit of sweat on his forehead.

"Whew! Now I'm beat, all that strenuous movements to get here, I certainly hope that we're not going to some remote hills..." Fatty Joe said as he threw himself onto the corner seat, causing it to tremble as he wiped his sweat.

Evan smirked as he replied, "You... tsk! Even if we do it will do you good; it's better to lose all that excess weight."

"I do not want to lose my fat; everyone has their appreciation; my fat is my pride..." Fatty Joe said, only now finally catching his breath.

Evan shook his head at this no longer trying to convince him. He glanced at the pendant underneath his collar with a deep look as he thought.

"That voice just now... did it come from the pendant? Or was it from that space? If it was from space, then whose voice was it?"

Evan's eyes narrowed as he thought back to the scene, but no matter how hard he thinks to himself; he couldn't come up with any clues.

While Evan was thinking, Rick, Emilia, Breya, and Layla had also begun to arrive. They quickly gathered near Evan as they spoke.

"Evan, couldn't you have waited a bit for us?" Layla asked with a pout on her face as she leaned closer to him.

"Tsk! So impatient..." Breya muttered at the side while playing with a rubber band in her fingers.

"Everyone don't go saying that, I believe that brother Evan must have his reasons, maybe this place is quite far away..." Emilia said with a smile.

Evan grinned at their words as he got up and spoke, "Since you've all got so much energy then I suppose there is no need to rest, we can get started now,"

Rick saw that Evan didn't want to waste any time, he looked at him and curiously asked, "By the way, Evan, you didn't tell us where we're headed. How far is it? Just what are we supposed to do there?"

Fatty Joe, Layla, Emilia, and Breya also looked at Evan with curious looks on their faces as he didn't explain any of the details to them.

Evan smiled at Rick's words and replied, "No, I will not be taking you to some mysterious ruins or ancient temple in the mountains. For this trip, we'll simply be going to the Earlington Observatory."

Rick and the others were stunned at these words; they thought that Evan would take them to some unknown place to share some secret of the world.

Evan seeing their faces smirked and spoke, "Look at you guys, this isn't some story from fiction, what kind of unknown mystery could be hidden on our little planet? Well, other than those visitors, of course?"

"Visitors?" Layla, Emilia, and Fatty Joe asked in confusion; however, the faces of Breya and Rick were a bit different as they knew who Evan was speaking about.

"You'll find out later, let's get going... we should arrive just in time for the event occur," Evan said in a mysterious tone as he started to leave the campus.

"Che! I want to see just what he's planning on showing us," Fatty Joe said, seeing this followed behind him.

Layla and the others also followed along as their figures vanished from the compound. However, as this happened, an individual dressed in everyday attire watched the direction Rick had left carefully, before following along.

The night had slowly set in as the city was now filled with a myriad of lights, much like Norkton, the night-time atmosphere here was a bustling one as people from all walks of life sauntered about idly. If anything were to be different, it would be that those in EarlingStar had a more wealthy and vivid vibe, as it wasn't unusual to see sports cars, nor high-end luxury vehicles parked at random locations.

Much like the central squares of EarlingStar, the Earlington Observatory was a place that had a lot of activity, even more so during the night hours. It was located at the city's edge, built on top of a wide slope surrounded by high walls. Despite this, however, many different individuals were going in and out of its entrance.

Some carrying a scholarly vibe, while others had a more leisurely air. Most of these persons were only curious individuals with love for astronomy, while few amongst them were actual cosmologists, or those aspiring to be one.

At this moment, Evan and the others had arrived at the observatory. After leaving a self-driving hover cab, they then looked around the sight while walking towards the main dome-shaped building.

"I haven't been here in years..." Layla said as her eyes flashed with recollection when she saw a few large models of planets and other objects.

"Eh? You've been here before; you don't seem like the astronomy type?" Breya asked with a curious look.

Layla shook her head as she replied with a distant look, "I'm not... the one who loved astronomy was my late mother. She always had a thing for space and would always bring me here when she got the chance..."

Breya hearing this spoke with an apologetic tone, "I... I didn't know, sorry If I brought up sad memories."

Layla smiled as she heard this, she spoke in reply, "It's fine, it's already been a few years. I have come to terms with her passing..."

Fatty Joe and the others listened quietly without saying anything to stir Layla's memories, Evan, on the other hand, had a deep look on his face as he thought, "Layla's mother... this is the first time I've heard about her. So far, her mother doesn't sound like anyone strange; since this is so, then the next is her father. Maybe if I ask about him this time, she'll at least give a more positive answer."

Evan and the others had now entered the dome-like building. Here, were a series of star maps showing the various galaxies and their planets in this sector of space.

In the distance was a large telescope that stood at the center of a broad stairway connected to a platform. It stretched to the limits of the building, extending even further beyond reaching a few dozen meters above the dome-like building.

Fatty Joe and the others exclaimed at this sight.

"Wow! This is even bigger than I'd thought... how far can this actually see?" Fatty Joe murmured.

"B-Brother, this is the Maxion Scope 304, one of the latest telescopes of the UWN! It can capture the highest quality images for a distance of more than 250 billion light-years." Emilia exclaimed as she looked at the telescope, it seemed that she was rather knowledgeable of these things.

Breya wasn't surprised, as she had seen far better in MSS, what she was curious about was what Evan wanted to show them.

Rick, too wasn't all that surprised, based on his knowledge in the Imperial Palace. He's been exposed to a few top-secret projects as well.

Evan smiled as he saw their reactions, he then motioned towards the telescope and spoke, "What I am about to show you, is going to change your impression of everything. It's something that not just anyone can find, as it will only appear at a certain place at a certain time, only in particular conditions..."

As Evan spoke this, he recalled that this was discovered only one week from now by an Astronomer called Cline at this observatory.

After clearing his thoughts, Evan had then led everyone towards the telescope. But as he drew near, he couldn't help but see a skinny man with an angular face dressed in white uniform, with messy facial hair and round glasses.

He stood before a crowd as he spoke about a topic with a look of worry on his face. Yet, despite his words, the individuals merely looked at him as if he was some joke.

Evan's lips curved into a smile as he spoke, "So, even now, you tried your best to explain things. While you were among those who died early, your effort to humanity was remarkable..."

As Evan spoke, the figure before them grew clearer, as his words began to reach their ears.