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~~~~~~Hollow Bastion - Core Room~~~~~~

Blaring sirens from the core room itself was the only sound Nomis heard before the tsunami of darkness rushed out from its source. The steel walls, the floors upon floors of thick iron machines and constructs, built solely to harness the level of darkness they lay beneath them, nothing seemed to slow the sheer force of it, the darkness passing through everything and anyone, and clearly having some kind of effect on whoever they were. For Nomis, that effect was clearly not a good one. Clutching his chest, though not where his heart was, the older man fell to one knee, his cane still being held in his other hand as the darkness that had been released forced its way past and through him all at once. 

The once blue eyes of his, the only part of him to show some kind of healthy state of being, had been replaced by a deep anger filled purple, the rage clearly present on his face seeming to force the man to try and stand once more and to finally move against the waves of darkness in order to gain a stronger footing towards the core room door. Even as the dark veins once more returned, spreading up from his neck to this time reach his cheeks, the man continued on, now determined by some deep force that the raging darkness had brought out. As the large metal door to the core was suddenly torn free by the grinning purple eyed man, the last thing he remembered was that of a bright light followed by flying splintered chunks of steel. 

~~~~~~Unknown - Ten Years Ago~~~~~~

Darkness had ravaged a world, long silent and dead of any sign of light or life, not even a single person had stepped upon its surface for what must have been decades, the eroding environment covering everything in a layer of dull, bland dust. The massive ship descended down onto the world, parting through the black clouds and allowing just the faintest light to shine back onto the world, at least for the few moments it took for the dark masse to fill in the large gap. The ship’s design clearly showed it was new, the metal it was made of seemed to have no time to fade or wear with the passage of time like others, and as it finally landed and began to open its large doors to allow those inside to exit, it revealed a clean and pristine look inside as well. 

Leading the group of masked figures onto and through the ankle depth level of dust, the glaring Nomis seemed to know exactly where he was going, the ship having landed near a large outcropping of spire like struts of metal. Whatever structure they had formed had clearly been destroyed in some kind of explosion, the warped steel bending outwards to the elements a clean sign of such an event at one point in the past. As the group slowly began to spread out and search through what remained of some of the structure’s rooms, Nomis seemed to stay more or less within the centre of the area, staring down at the dark markings blasted into the very tiled ground itself. 

Crunching his foot down onto what could be described as the head of the markings, the man gritted his teeth in anger before he was brought to attention by the return of some of the group, each one holding a number of items in their arms. The large glass canister carried by one though was what caused Nomis to make his towards them, the three figures immediately stopping to allow the man to examine what they had found. Watching the once settled dark water inside the canister as it started to stir, had Nomis’ familiar grin return once more, especially as the large purple eye stared out towards him from inside the black liquid. 

~~~~~~Agrabah - Royal Library~~~~~~

The sharp pain shooting through his chest was enough to startle Nomis awake, gritting his teeth as he sat up from his chair within the large palace library of Agrabah itself. The thoughts of what must have occurred back at the Factory slowly returned to the man, also were the images of him limping through the palace hallways to the library itself, in order to find some kind of place to rest from the ordeal. 

Beginning to rise at the sound of other people speaking, at one other part of the room, Nomis only noticed the feeling of stiffness from his arm after trying to remove his grip from his cane’s handle. Clutching the arm along the bicep, the stiffness was felt even worse, especially as it seemed to travel all the way up his arm to his very shoulder. After a few seconds at trying to move, finally the arm seemed to regain its usual amount of movement, yet the statuesque stiffness of it still remained in feeling.
 
"Salforge, we have our work cut out for us." Ryoko voiced towards Salforge, the two having probably been discussing the recent events with the Emperor himself, something that could have ended very badly for the young General if it was anything worse. 

“After your stupendous failure that has occurred, I should think you do.” Said Nomis as he walked around some of the scroll-shelves of the library, his usual grin gone and replaced by an annoyed glare. 

“To think, a General no less, allowing a Factory to be invaded by an opposing force. Not just attempted invasion, but successful by reaching the very core itself and having an important experiment ruined. You should be grateful the Emperor has not taken your head for it.” Turning towards the library’s doors, Nomis pulled them open to reveal young Caleb already waiting in the hallway itself for his uncle to awaken.

“Let’s not have a repeated failure, and find the core before others do. I will be finding out what I can about this world, in the short time I am staying.” With a slam of the wooden doors behind him, the man soon was walking down the hallway swiftly, though his speed was nothing that Caleb wasn’t used to, the young man easily keeping up with his uncle the entire time. 

“Uncle, I know this might not be the best time, but there’s something I need to ask you. What can you tell me about my mother?”

“Your Mother is long dead to you, as is your Father. Why do you ask such a stupid question?!" Nomis quickly replied, stopping sharply in the hallway to turn and glare his anger towards Caleb, only relaxing a tiny bit after a few seconds of silent glaring. 

“Aren’t I the one who has taken care of you? Raised you? Made you stronger? It wasn’t your Father or Mother, it was me, wasn’t it? Haven’t I always done what is best for you?”