The continuous, dissonant whistle of the approaching sandstorm hissed as it rolled over the Pygar sand dunes. Within a rocky, sandstone outcrop Epsilon, dressed in protective gear, lay perched on one of the sandstone surfaces. He brought his hand up to his goggles, before pressing a button on the side, activating their zoom in function. He scanned the landscape, before spotting several tents in the distance. Beneath his mask, he smirked. He pressed another button on his goggles, activating the thermal vision. The tents were empty, no heat signatures detected. A setback, but Epsilon wouldn’t allow this to stop him. His torment had refined his tenacity.
He got up from his spot and collected his gear: a standard-issue Core rifle and a combat knife. He twirled the latter in his hands and then holstered it. Slinging the rifle on his back, he began to move towards the tents. Although to him these weapons were crude and not his first choice, they were befitting for their single purpose.
To his knowledge Erik, along with Nova Hawken and several other staff, were on Pygar searching for a certain artifact. Although the rest of The Core believed it was simply another expedition for a profitable item, Epsilon knew otherwise. Although Erik could project strength and power, something which had earned him the moniker “The Invincible”, it was a great irony that he had been afflicted with an aggressive form of brain cancer.
It was unknown how long he had been suffering for, but once learning of this fact a lot of Erik’s recent behaviour began to make sense to Epsilon. He had become angrier, demented, and shut-in. Some of his recent decisions - such as the attack on Freeport 11 - could have perhaps been blamed on acting on sickly impulses rather strategy and tactics. Whatever the case, to the less observant, nothing would have registered as being abnormal.
For as long as Epsilon remembered, he served as Erik’s aide, albeit an amnesiac. He had been told that he was previously a feared Core pilot - having taken part in the Battle of Toledo. Once The Core had beaten the Order fleet, the Nomads suddenly appeared and began to lay waste to The Core forces. Epsilon was told his fighter was caught in the blast of a Core battleship and he was left for dead. It was only through the efforts of a salvaging party a couple days later that they found his ship lodged in an asteroid. He was in critical condition, wounds, and burns everywhere, barely alive, surviving on emergency oxygen reserves. The APM medics considered his body to be wrecked beyond conventional repair. The only other options present was to cryogenically freeze him in hope future technology could provide him with a means to live.
Once Erik Nodtviet took control and ushered in new breakthrough technologies via the H+ clinic, There was finally a means for Epsilon be operational again. The plan was to give him a special type of flight suit and mask that would nurture his body and prevent it from further damage, like a suit of armour. Epsilon would have to eat and breathe through tubes and filters, and special locks were placed on the suit to prevent disruption of its internal systems, rendering it non-removable. Although it was not the most comfortable way of living, such an existence was still a preferable alternative to death. To him at least. In a sense, Erik had saved his life.
After this and the rehabilitation, Epsilon was immediately elevated to not only a Guildkeeper, but the head of Arcani as well as Erik’s personal advisor. He oversaw many of The Core's more secretive black-ops operations within house space, before stepping down to focus on commanding The Core's forces during the Freeport 11 crisis in Erik's absence.
![[Image: Lythrilux.gif]](https://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/Lythrilux.gif)