The Lost Chronicles: The Realm of Twisted Stars

[Flaming]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[Flaming]

250 years, 51 days, 4 hours 42 minutes Aftermarch

They were led through what seemed like a small asteroid field. The navigator and software engineer pulled double time as the ship made dangerous maneuvers. The creature wasn’t kidding when it said they’d need the full capabilities of their ship. They got another message once they reached the end of the harshest area.

"THIS DIMENSION IS LARGER THAN YOURS. BUT THE PART THAT CORRESPONDS TO YOURS IS VERY SMALL. ONLY STARS AND PLANETS ARE REPLICATED ON THIS SIDE. WE WILL TRAVEL FOR ABOUT A WEEK, IN YOUR TERMS. WE WILL GET YOU TO A PLACE IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN MILLENNIA TO GET TO OTHERWISE."

Afaren almost didn’t believe it initially, but this information was comparatively normal to everything else that had happened in the last few hours. He wanted to ask the creature more about the relationship between the two dimensions, but he refrained. The important thing was getting to a habitable planet. Getting to somewhere where Indavrals could survive.

Eventually, after many minutes, they stopped. In front of them. there seemed to be a whole herd of those strange worm-like creatures that had attacked the Êmanka. Some of them turned towards their heads to them, but didn’t approach. A message came in again.

"THEY ARE WEAK CREATURES. THEY WILL NOT APPROACH SO LONG AS I AM NEAR. STAY CLOSE."

Captain Alertz couldn’t help but feel a sort of dread at the idea that those creatures were weak. If those things were weak, they were nothing at all. They maneuvered as close to the creature guiding them as the navigator was willing to, and watched as the “herd” swept out of their way.

Not much happened for the rest of the first day. Afaren’s first mate, second engineer, mechanic and cryostasis manager were awoken to fulfill the necessary duties as the rest of his awake crew went to the emergency chambers. None of them would sleep well. The last thing Afaren thought before he slipped into his fruitless sleep was please, by the nature of balance, please let this be a dream.

It was a foolish wish, of course. he had been wide awake this whole time. And soon, he would awake to a nightmare.

[Flaming]

250 years, 52 days, 1 hour 17 minutes Aftermarch
DAY 2
An alarm went off in Afaren’s temporary room. He woke with a start and nearly immediately went outside. At this point, it was the beginning of their watch. The crew was staring at the screen.

His Weapons Manager was the first one to see him. “Cap’n! You need to look at this.”

The screen showed a creature. If the creature leading them was elegantly large, this thing was purely eldritch. The creature leading them had many tendrils, but this thing was made of them. Each tendril seemed to be as long as their ship, and the creature dwarfed even the one leading them in size.

The terminal screen, meanwhile, showed a message, decoded into Indavral.
"YOU ARE PLAYING A DANGEROUS GAME, TARSSESSA. THE STALKER-LORDS HAVE TAKEN NOTICE ALREADY, AND MANY BLAME THE WALKERS FOR THE RUPTURE ALREADY. THIS IS A MATTER THAT SHOULD BE TAKEN UP BY A BEING HIGHER ON THE CHAIN. YOU WILL ONLY CAUSE TROUBLE FOR THE WALKER-KINGS."

Tarssessa? That was an Indavral word. It meant “Long Serpent.” A name? Another message came through.

"THIS IS A MATTER OF UTMOST IMPORT. THIS TINY PUSH WILL ENSURE VICTORY FOR BOTH THE WALKERS AND STALKER-LORDS. I MAY NOT BE A MESSENGER, BUT THIS IS IRRELEVANT. GETTING TO THE DESTINATION IS ALL THAT MATTERS, SÖELATA."

Söelata meant “tendriled.” Fitting. A final message.

"YOUR CLAIMS MATTER NOT. YOU ARE LUCKY A LEGIONNAIRRE WAS NOT SENT. KILLING YOU IS NOT MY ROLE. WE WILL SEE HOW OUR LORD-KINGS RULE. FOR YOUR SAKE, HOPE THAT YOU ARE RIGHT."

after that, the “Söelata” left, leaving them with the “Tarssessa.” once again.

Afaren had many questions. He had little confidence that most would be answered.

The “Tarssessa” sent them a message once again. "WE MAY BE CONTESTED IN THE FUTURE. FOLLOWING MY INSTRUCTIONS WILL BE OF THE UTMOST IMPORT. YOU OR I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CONTEST A LEGIONNAIRRE, IF ONE SHOWS."

Afaren wanted to ask what a “Leigonnarre” was, but he had the feeling that he didn’t want to know. And the less time they spent asking questions, the more time they would have to move.

[Flaming]

250 years, 53 days, 2 hours 27 minutes Aftermarch
DAY 3
The “Tarssessa” led them through another deep asteroid field, the guns working overtime to push away debris. They, miraculously, sustained no damage, as they pulled out of the dangerous debris.

"I AM SORRY FOR THE PERILOUS NATURE OF THIS JOURNEY. THE NATURE OF IT HAS FORCED ME TO EXPEDITE THE TRAVELLING. I AM ATTEMPTING TO ENSURE WE SHALL NOT BE KILLED. BOTH OUR FUTURES DEPEND ON THIS SUCCESS."

Afaren felt it necessary to respond.

> "YOUR HELP IS GREATLY APPRICIATED REGARDLESS OF THE NATURE OF OUR TRAVEL. THE ANOMALY WE WERE EXPOSED TO WOULD HAVE DESTROYED US IF NOT FOR YOUR SAVING US."

Afaren almost sent the message, but added something else.

> "WHEN YOU WERE TALKING TO 'SÖELATA,' IT CALLED YOU 'TARSSESSA'. IS THIS YOUR NAME?"

It responded.
"NO, 'TARSSESSA' IS A TRANSLATION OF MY SPECIES' NAME. WE DO NOT SPEAK A VOCAL LANGUAGE, SO TRANSLITERATION IS IMPOSSIBLE. YOUR COMPUTERS SIMPLY TRANSLATED THE DATA INTO YOUR LANGUAGE."

That made sense. These things existed in the void of space. There was no air- or even liquid- to carry sound. The only ways to talk would be visual signals; or using waves other than sound waves.

Then a heel realization burst into Captain Alertz’s mind. This is biological life in this dimension. From the “Söelata’s” conversation, he could ascertain that there were beings “Higher up on the chain.”

Those two creatures- the sapient creatures that could kill them in an instant, those creatures who dwarfed a ship with millions on it weren’t even apex predators.

New fears rushed into Afaren’s mind as he pushed his crew through the rest of the day. He had seen existential horrors before, the past few days, but now he wished for nothing more than to leave. It seemed like they were bugs in a land of giants. Not even annoyances. Something to be ignored entirely.

what purpose could this “Tarssessa” have for helping us then? he asked himself. But honestly, he didn’t want to know or ask. The reason was probably something beyond his ability to comprehend at this point. Every day that went on, he could feel he and his crew getting weaker. They were all barely eating, trying to conserve as many supplies as possible, and all of their sleep was shallow, with their days full of stress.

But they had to push themselves. They wouldn’t be in this place for much longer- at least, they hoped.

[Flaming]

250 years, 54 days, 14 hours 50 minutes Aftermarch
Day 4

The 4th day was largely uneventful, to Afaren’s gratitude. With the madness these last few days had been, he could appreciate a mundane day of travel. There weren’t even any asteroids! The Êmanka drifted through the stars at nearly top speed, the Tarssessa ever so slightly ahead of them. It had said that due to “complications” they would reach the destination sooner than expected; in only 5 days of travel.

Soon, as Afaren and his half of the crew’s shifts were almost coming to an end, they got a message on their comms.

"STOP."

Immediately, his Software Engineer spoke up. “Captain, you should see this. There are massive readings of energy. It’s like… a mechanical planet?”

Afaren looked at the readings. It was a… structure. A structure a little bit bigger than earth, completely made out of metals. It was a mechanical planet, all right.

"WE ARE NEAR. THIS IS THE WALKER-KING IN CHARGE OF THIS AREA. WE NEED HIS PERMISSION FOR YOU TO RE-EXIT INTO YOUR DIMENSION."

Afaren looked at the message, and audibly muttered. “…his?”

The Software Engineer exclaimed “Aknan! It’s moving towards us!”

The reading showed the planet moving at incredible speeds directly at the Êmanka. Afaren was about to shout an order to push back, but the Software Engineer spoke again.

“…It stopped. Just before we were in the range of its gravitational field.”

Another message came onto the comms. It was not from the Tarssessa.

"I WELCOME YOU. WE UNDERSTAND THAT THIS INCURSION INTO OUR TERRITORY MAY HAVE BEEN STRESSFUL FOR CREATURES OF YOUR STATURE, BUT ALL WILL BE WELL IN A FEW MOMENTS. WE SIMPLY HAVE A FEW REQUESTS BEFORE YOU GO."

Afaren was still stunned at the realization that this planet-sized structure was one sapient creature.

"SIMPLY PUT, WE ASK THAT YOU DO NOT SPEAK OF THIS EXPERIENCE TO ANY OF YOUR PEERS. DOING SO WILL INCONVENIENCE BOTH OF US GREATLY. DO NOT TRY TO ACCESS THIS PLACE AGAIN, EITHER. THIS ONLY HOLDS FOR YOU. IF FUTURE GENERATIONS OF YOUR SPECIES FIND THIS PLACE, THEY WILL GO UNPUNISHED."

The Software Engineer reported once again. “Captain, it looks like our records have just been edited. I assume it’s in accordance with what that thing… ‘He’ said.”

"THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION. I WISH YOU A PROSPEROUS COLONY AMONG THE STARS."

A few seconds after they received that message, a portal similar to the one they had encountered in realspace opened. They were pulled through- Afaren gave no orders to resist.

When they emerged on the other side, they were in a system. Their ship did readings on all of the planets, and they were shocked. 3 planets, all in the star’s habitable zone, with adequate oxygen for life.

They could process all they had seen over the days later. They had found a new home.