Caxilocks Mark

`Y-7 Memory Fragment from Shopkeeper Grufan Tuha`

It was another morning in the outskirt Oscdean city of Alphia, every morning at dawn in the Toruma District, shops and stores would open up and pile out their goods and wares to sell. It was roughly cold that day, freezing as matter of fact- but still, people came to buy goods, mostly food.

There has been a recent rise in Terran visitors recently, ever since the city borders were open to the outside world, most came to the district to experience food and wares from another world. However, there were also an increase in Arivi Guards recently, since racial violences had occurred several times in the district already.

I opened up the counter window and started to setup my wares- mostly scrap parts. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot a hooded figure walking towards the shop, The figure had traditional geometric outlines across the heavy coat, and a thick cape that was also a scarf, covering most of the face, I assumed it was someone from the Old World.

I slowly approach the counter to greet the figure

`“What brings you here today Old Worlder?”` I slowly said in Catin

The figure looked at me, strangely. A sense of embarrassment came that I sounded like gibberish.

Then A muffled noise came

`“Do you have any parts from a shipyard?”`  It spoke with a unrecognizable accent

I breezed a low chuckle of relief, I nodded and opened the door to signal the figure to follow me to the back of the shop.

You have to understand, after the October Conflict, the Oscdea Government decommissioned and scrapped 3 Koran Class cruisers. Out of desperation to build a stable city, most of the parts were available to the public, but most were..filtered out of course. It was highly illegal to get any kind of ship parts back in Taurus.

I opened the back storage unit, rows of neatly stacked metals and old parts lined up side by side. Back here, the figure still didn’t take off its long hood or scarf, it was strange but I was polite to keep my mouth shut.

The figured picked the frame off a old Ion accelerator off of the bottom shelf.

It looked at me, as if it wanted to know the price.

`“19 CM”` I said

It looked at meet steadily, then put the part into its satchel and reached into the pocket, handing me a few coins as it walked out.

“What a strange customer” I thought as I watched it exit the door.

I sat back down onto my chair not giving a thought about anything else and began to inspect my collection of valuable decommissioned tech. That’s what’s when I heard shouting.

It wasn’t Catin, which meant it was surely not some drunkard ranting about his “valuable minerals”. I looked up and saw two brute Terran’s, they spoke heavy Alermian accents and were blocking the path of the figure from earlier.

They were shouting racial slurs, and then one of them snatched the satchel away from the figure. I looked out of the counter, hoping to see any Arivi guards, but there were none.

The figure just stood there, looking at the broken strap of the satchel bag in the Terran hands.

`“What are you doing just standing there, freaky alien? Are you not gonna fight us?”` Said one of them

By this time, surrounding by passers started to notice what was going on, I quickly grabbed my tablet and started to contact for Arivi Guards to come.

`“Are you too Scared, alien? Is standing still your way of Crying?!”`

"You have a nice looking scarf, let me just take that away from you” said one of them as he started to grab the scarf

By this time, I reached the Arivi WatchFront Operator, I started to slowly explain the situation so they can send some guards over.

`“You need to send in some Arivi Guards over now” I said, “It appears that they are anti-Bu-“` As the Terran touched the figures scarf, its hand suddenly jumped out of its thick coat and with immense swift action a bright yellow white light glowed and a explosion.

When the snow and dust settled quickly, the figure’s hood fell back and the scarf was untangled from its face.

My jaw suddenly dropped when I saw the figures face.

The skin was white as snow, sleek gray and white hair slowly feel onto the cape, two large white and gray buns pointed out from where the ear would be. On her hand was a metal rod projecting out a long yellow white burning points on both side, almost like a staff.

The two Terrans were gone, instead they were 20 feet away down the district, smoke came out from where they lay.

I immediately recognized that appearance, it wasn't any Oscdean or any of the known Bullseyan races that migrated to this world. She was from the lost race of the Caxilocks

`Unidax Narradox Fragment/2-22-19/EN/``Y-7 Memory Fragment from Shopkeeper Grufan Tuha`

Now the commotion was **really** intense, at this point, everyone within the near central part of the district was either confused or terrified. The Caxilock….the girl, she looked backed at me and immediately sprinted off into a back alley. Seconds later a Arivi HB-1 Troop Carrier screeched into the front of the Central District. The Back of the truck kicked open, and around 7 to 9  Arivi Frontwatch units poured out, they wore light white camo and carried shock carbines, yelling and shouting at people to move onto the sidewalks. They immediately cleared the area and inspected the two dead Terrans while the other remaining Arivi’s searched for the suspect in the central district.

I slowly closed the counter shutters and began breathing heavily.”That girl, those blueish eyes..” I muttered quietly. An entire wave of memories flooded into my mind, something stuck inside me and I went upstairs. Before I reached for a box under my bed I looked out of the window, a large roar of engines shook the building and echoed over head. I immediately rushed towards the window. By this time, VTOLs were hovering over the district, its loud engine noises was what filled the nearby atmosphere.

I also noticed the 5 Arivi Guards right outside the shop, inspecting the black circular mark left by the explosion. Something inside of me tells me that they will probably knock on my door and ask for questions.

Well I perhaps spoke too soon, cause seconds later after that thought there were heavy knocking on the door.

My chest immediately froze. I quickly thought of something that might make it seem obvious someone else caused the attack. I slowly went down and opened it, there in the entrance was two Arivi Frontwatch guards. Both carrying Shock Carbines hanging from their vests. One of them wore a Halisayh Mk. 12 Visor, it looked like Virtual reality goggles, but slimmer and had a camera so the user can detect and scan things more easily.

`“Greeeetings”` I said cooly

`“Grufan Tuha, Shopkeeper, Former Vindictus Ove Engineer from 2969-2979”` Said the one with the visor
I slightly raised a brow “ Arivi gets all the fancy toys nowadays” I thought

`“Why yes, that is me, what brings you here today?”`

`“It was reported that you were one of the people that called the Arivi Frontwatch guards”` said the other one

I had already forgotten about that said something in the back of my mind.

`“Ah..ha, yes, I was calling to inform you about what was happening, but it seems like you got it under control”`

`“Do you recall any physical descriptions of the suspect that caused the explosion?”`

`“It..it was a women”` I said with a faint grin
A moment of silence came through

`“Is..is that all??”`

`“Yup!, perhaps it was a Terran, most likely if I recall correctly”` Another short moment of silence, than the two soldiers slowly nodded and and turned around to head back. I immediately slammed the door shut.

I ran up the stairs again, and this time I pulled out an old Journal from the bottom of my bed. I gingerly inspected it. Its pages forever preserved in a silky smooth coating. I let out a sigh, I had a huge respect for the Caxilocks race, and I feared anyone knew about them, since they were valuable due to their natural quirks. I started flipping through the pages, confirming my suspicions of what I have just seen. The Journal belonged to my *Rotruna* (Grand dad), who was one of the few people that actually met the Caxilocks decades after their disappearance due to a drop pod malfunction and a stroke a luck. He was lucky enough to be able to document about them. I started to read the passages.

*[11-24-70: “The Caxilocks……. the Caxilocks were a race of people from the remote parts of Taurus. They were thought to have been eradicated 170 years ago. Mostly, many of them were strong believers of the supernatural world, and are known for their small bits of their hyper engineering practices. They aren’t related to the Oscdean race though,as a matter of fact no one knows their true origins.”]*

I continued reading

*[11-25-70: “Most however, were imprisoned, enslaved to the Specialized Militant Gerbils when they started land expansions across the eastern continents, and were forced to build weapons and technology for them. They were mainly responsible for the creation of the Phoenix, the Pride of SMG. When the A/F and SMG war came, most of what remained of them were either claimed or killed off.”]*

Another 2 passages, this time at a later date

*[12-1-70: “The Caxilocks are no ordinary people either, they are very intelligent, master at acrobatics, and they fight with traditional weapons with unique properties rather than rifles or heavy machinery. They were best described as..supernatural. These Caxilocks were once notorious people, they were seen as outcasts of society and deeply despised by many, especially their practices. By the time nations rose, most were forced into hiding, rarely seen. Those who didn't were captured by SMG, often sent to the deep crypt labs.”]*

*[12-3-70:”They have built themselves an entire underground society deep within the mountains of the Mid-Northern regions. They were few, no more than 24,000, and established a monarchy-type government that ruled over the sustaining population. They wore cloaks of white and a violet gray. They carried unique weapons, mainly a metal rod with yellow arch light on both ends. When mastered properly, the wielder can engaged in hand to hand combat or from a distance………]”*

A rod with yellow arch...It was almost exactly what that girl had…

I slowly closed the journal and stared. I had questions, many questions…

Most importantly of all, How did they even get to terra?!