The Scout and the Old Parish

Humanity, in constant reach of the constellations, have now grasped its core and ignited their futures. With planet earth now uninhabited; Gaea set forth on rejuvenating her surface. Lush forestry exfoliate the concrete jungle with hyacinths and hibiscus, skyscrapers became the foundation for moss groves to germ and populate.

Until, beside the vermillion deserts and rigid mountain ranges, our former surface was smeared with a glimmering, bold panoramic green.

Old infrastructures, once upkept with exhaustive palms, now stand abandoned beneath the weight of the ocean; a shelter of time. Forced to hold sway with no purpose; embracing its own empty screams, clutching them ever so gently against their crumbling walls.

In the Beta Centauri star system, adjacent to the Solar (system), a coalition of curators (built up of scouts and archivists) travel to and from; taking images of a gradually progressing Earth without our subsistent neoteric hand.

From their research, they’ve unveiled that 99.98% of the Earth’s surface was submerged in water.

All structures immersed, all construction subjected to nature's iron call. all, but for one.

From satellite footage captured above, there was a geographical locale that hadn't succumbed to any assimilation.

Further from any cities, over the expansive seas, located out in the biome of Tundra; there perched a cobblestone parish. The sensors caught the cathedral enclosed within a deep pit, surrounded by a rising wall of seawater, with a crimson glaze glossing the organic floor.

One of the scouts from the coalition is tasked with the mission to investigate the anomaly.

Lena Royale, junior scouting prospect, is given the assignment without having really properly trained for missions outside of her star sector; however, due to the magnitude of what could be a historic discovery, she is reluctant to pass up the chance.

She enters into a hyperspace transporter; a cylindrical phone booth with a touch pad display on the outer hull (set for entering galactic coordinates prior to advancement).

A technician was on stand-by, having utilized the console to line the destination out for the fidgety explorer.

As the transporter’s ceiling begins to whir; Lena’s body begins to faintly glow. Her bob cut fluttering back and forth, hair follicles radiate a tint of absinthe green. Her beige jumpsuit demolecularize, as her bosom fades from her chest, faintly met by her neck; remaining limbs, a wistful expression is kept on her face. The engineer catches a glimpse of this before her head vanishes, traversing the vacuum of space. A tear ran down the technician’s cheek; the reason for this emotional display eluded even them for many years to come.

Tremors arise as Lena lands, as an emerald lightning bolt striking the ground. As the dust clouds linger; she transmutes a physical body to rise up from her own ashes.

a few feet from the entrance of the church she notices the wall.

As high as the astral itself, it seems to narrow the viewing of the stars to a single radial point; a giant pothole in the heavens, with no jagged edges.

The dirt was bustling with black tendrils with roses filling up the circumference; no words could describe her feelings witnessing such majesty upon a planet lacking all congeniality.

Her steps cause rose petals to cascade and roll from turbulent strides, she’s being drawn to a force as she enters the stony abode.

The interiors of the parish were bleak.

Sandalwood benches were riddled in cracks; imagining the former joyous psalms may have kept the holy furniture intact.

Though out of all the strange, vivid scenes Lena had noticed on her arrival, it appeared there was one that set all apart.

At the back of the church, where the pulpit was located, there appeared to be a heart-shaped brass locket .

As she approached, grasping it in her trembling palms, it pulsated with an ominously suffocating chill.

The contents of the brass necklace, that of which were empty; beside the dried blood splatters decorating the exterior, seemed to make Lena extremely faint.

Then, blackout!

The wall of water fell with a sudden collapse.

The churches foundations caved in; its existence was lost underneath several leagues.

Whilst the red roses danced on the surface of the ocean; harboring a glittering jewel upon its petal and a lost scout with no utter toward their salvation.