The Lost Chronicles- The Realm of Twisted Stars

Flaming · November 8, 2023, 1:34am

zGry 20920398943739438th, 1600 CE, 30:25 UTC
ALTERNATIVE DATE: 250 years, 50 days, 21 hours 22 minutes Aftermarch

This was the date that Captain Afaren Alertz woke to. He wasn’t privy to any 20 quadrillionth of the month zGry, or to the idea that there were 30 hours in a day, so he was fairly certain that their calendar system was broken. Whatever designer had the idea of adding the “Aftermarch” system was a genius. Of course, he couldn’t remember what day the launch was- there was so much chaos on the ground that nobody really cared at the time. After he finished stabilizing himself, he was able to process what was going on to some extent.

He had been woken up. His first instinct had been that the ship had found a planet that was habitable; but in 250 years? The design of their ship was rather rushed due to the circumstances of leaving. While everything was safe, they weren’t travelling at FTL speeds They’d have been lucky to reach the nearest solar system by now, let alone to have reached a fully inhabited planet.

In the couple seconds he had to think, the computer that he was looking at told him; ANOMALY DETECTED. SHIP MOVEMENT COMPROMISED. REQUESTING WAKE OF ENGINEER.

Well, wasn’t that just splendid.

As he reached for the confirmation button, something in his subconscious told him to look at the problem first. He put in a command.

> CMD = "OPEN VISUAL FEED"<
OPENING VISUAL FEED...

All of the cameras focused on the ship showed no signs of injury whatsoever. But the cameras outside of the ship told a different story. A gigantic white and black… opening? It almost looked like a more sinister depiction of a wormhole. He couldn’t believe his eyes.

But there was no time for wonder or scientific inquiry. The cameras showed him something else as well. They were being pulled in.

Rushing to the controls, he attempted to push full throttle away from the anomaly. But the struggle seemed to only pull them in more. Error messages came up as well- some parts of the engine needed repairs. He couldn’t, however, reasonably call the engineer to fix things in these conditions. He resigned. If he continued to push the remaining engines, he wouldn’t escape, and even if he did, he’d have depleted energy storage so much that he wasn’t confident they’d be able to finish their trip. Better to be pulled in with engines- with hopes that being pulled in wouldn’t destroy them outright.

Captain Alertz found himself praying- despite the fact that Bvarai had no gods. He prayed that Indavrals would not die out. 250 years into an estimated 2000 year voyage, and suddenly there was a threat to their existence.

Yet all he, the captain of the Êmanka, the hope of Indavra, could do, was watch as he was pulled into the rift between dimensions.

Flaming · November 12, 2023, 1:49am

250 years, 50 days, 22 hours 52 minutes Aftermarch

Captain Alertz watched as his ship got pulled into the rift. The cameras blacked out for a moment. He couldn’t help but compare it to a game pulling one through a loading zone.

When the cameras switched back on, he was stunned. The black void he had been in seconds ago was replaced with a colorful background of dense nebulae, with red stars scattered everywhere and asteroids scattered everywhere. There was a beauty to it, of course, but his main emotions were a terrible mixture of horror and relief. The rift hadn’t destroyed them all, but it also wasn’t simply a wormhole, if wormholes could be described as simple. He had a feeling that they had just figured out that other dimensions existed beyond their own. by accident.

Just as he had this realization, of course, the rift they had come in from started to… close? its color dissipated, and it looked like it was fading. Before he could even start putting in commands, he wasn’t even sure it was there anymore.

Well, no going back that way.

Captain Alertz just let the ship drift, its weapons systems occasionally coming on to hit away stray asteroids. There wasn’t any plan of action he could really take. There was no handbook for getting stranded in space, let alone another dimension. Theoretically, he could simply tell the ship to push forward, trying to find an inhabitable planet in this alternate dimension, but he didn’t know if matter worked the same here. He wasn’t interested in finding out the hard way.

After an agonizing 30 or so minutes of floating aimlessly through the void, he spotted a snake-like movement through a camera. A Snake-like movement? In the void of space? What could-

He saw it. It was like a giant, sectioned worm, with eyes on its sides. It was massive, larger than his ship, He looked at it and felt a primordial fear. The fear of being hunted. And this was not a false fear- it was heading right towards them.

Immediately, he told the computer to fire at it. The projectiles did not seem to hit it, just disappearing when they got close. Did this… thing have some sort of advanced shielding? In a last ditch effort, he told the computer to move. It wasn’t a good strategy- his crew was still in cryo, and this place was full of asteroids which the weapons systems would be hard pressed to avoid at speed. But it was better than letting them be destroyed.

As the engines started, the creature seemed to sense something. it turned away from the ship. Captain Alertz tried to see on the computers, but he couldn’t discern any shapes.

All he could see was a bright light.

Flaming · November 24, 2023, 4:20pm

250 years, 50 days, 23 hours 22 minutes Aftermarch
Alertz wasn’t any biologist, but he knew one thing.

predators only run from bigger predators.

As the bright light faded and the cameras were actually able to make out the creature approaching, Captain Alertz was awestruck. The creature was massive, much larger than the ship holding over 1 million people and incredible amounts of resources that came with them. It was a long thing, with tendrils flowing down its body, with a form like a massive snake or certain depictions of dragons. The latter was closer, as the being was greater than any he’d have ever had an opportunity to see otherwise. It was mythical.

It turned its head to the ship. its eyes were a deep blue. Afaren’s heart raced. They had no way of defending themselves from that… worm… thing. This creature could kill them in an instant.

Instead, its eyes glowed even brighter. The computer lit up.

MESSAGE RECEIVED. LANGUAGE= INDAVRAL. DECODING...
DECODED. "WELCOME."

And audibly, for the first time in 250 years, Captain Afaren Alertz spoke. He asked, to nobody in particular, “What?”

Flaming · November 27, 2023, 3:38pm

250 years, 50 days, 23 hours 26 minutes Aftermarch
Before he could even dream of responding, the creature sent another message.
"YOU ARE LUCKY. MANY OTHERS WOULD HAVE KILLED YOU ON SIGHT. I AM MORE FORGIVING. AND YOU ARE NOT WITHOUT USE."

Captain Alertz had never been more confused. He punched a message into the computer, emitting a message to the creature (and hopefully nothing else.)

> "WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR MERCY. WE DID NOT WISH TO END UP HERE. WE HAVE NO CLUE WHERE WE ARE. IF IT IS POSSIBLE, WE WOULD ASK TO BE LED SOMEWHERE SAFER SO THAT WE MAY LIVE IN PEACE."

A long message for sure, but Captain Alertz hadn’t the faintest clue what this creature wanted. Diplomacy was all he had, in the face of overwhelming power.

It responded. "I WILL LEAD YOU BACK TO YOUR DIMENSION. BUT THERE ARE CONDITIONS. YOUR COMING HERE IS OPPORTUNE. WE WILL REMEDY OUR PAST MISTAKES. WAKE YOUR CREW. YOU WILL NEED THE FULL CAPABILITIES OF YOUR SHIP TO MAKE IT WHERE I WANT TO TAKE YOU."

How did this thing know what a ship was? That it had a crew? That the crew needed to be awoken? Did it know about those asleep? About the embryos that held unborn Indavrals that would be needed to kick-start their population?

Questions would get him nowhere. At this point, he had no choice to give in or be abandoned. Or killed.

>"I WILL WAKE MY CREW. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE."

Captain Alertz woke the bare minimum of his crew from their stasis. It took what felt like an eternity to get them ready to stand and perform their duties. The rest, like the doctor and botanist, could wait. In all, he had awoken his mechanic, software engineer, weapons manager, navigator, chief and second engineers, first mate, and cryostasis manager. 8 in all, 9 counting him.

He explained their predicament as best as he could, but all 8 of them looked at him like he was insane when he first tried. (which he couldn’t blame them for) They believed him when he first showed them to the main control room and they saw the creature, waiting ever patiently. His navigator had nearly swooned at the sight of it.

Afaren felt the mental drain that had been passing on him for the hours since he woke. It was one thing after another. But his crew was as ready as they could possibly be. The only way now was forward.

"FOLLOW ME. I WILL LEAD YOU SOMEWHERE ELSE. SOMEWHERE SUITABLE FOR ALL OF US."

The creature moved. The Êmanka followed.