Time: Unknown
Location: The Endless Frontiers
"So... What do you like to do for fun?"
How long had their trek truly been?
All around the two machines - one white, one black - the aether pulsed and shook. Turning one's head may have elicited glimpses of worlds that once were, that perhaps would be - or, simple shades that were glimpses of other, incoherent possibilities. The tides of the immaterial realm carried them back towards their destination, their home world... Or, so they hoped. According to Gail, whose company was pleasant and inoffensive, it was simply a matter of "retracing one's steps", and he had spent the majority of the time instructing Derrick on the ways and means of traveling between worlds, of which the Astranagant was capable.
The long and short of it was: Don't.
He had explained, at length and in great detail, the horrors that now resided between what had once been safe islands of space. Hordes of ravenous DAMON locked in eternal battle with the formless, malevolent masses of the Lamalice, spilling into and across worlds, until none but I'sola seemed to remain. Indeed, they had even seen chunks of space that had been devoured by the Crawling Dark, nothing but pitiless expanses of black that crept into the void, forcing them to carefully navigate past.
Ahead of the Astrangant, the Asclepius led the way, its binders flared, twin gleaming tails of neon green flickering behind it, thankfully making for an easy follow - but how long it had been since they had departed Zivon's realm was uncertain to both. Gail seemed unconcerned, simply stating that such was the way of moving between worlds - causality, he had said, seemed to merely hold its breath, because otherwise it would have to start making all kinds of unpleasant, and often contradictory calculations on the part of the lifeforms in question. Whether it was a lingering benefit of the Ur-Humans, who had paved these very paths in the past, or simply part of the fabric of the universe... Was uncertain.
In any case, the great beyond stretched out before them as they roared through its gullet. Supposedly, they would be reaching their destination "soon"...
...If only that word was not so suspect, in this particular instance.
Location: The Endless Frontiers
"So... What do you like to do for fun?"
How long had their trek truly been?
All around the two machines - one white, one black - the aether pulsed and shook. Turning one's head may have elicited glimpses of worlds that once were, that perhaps would be - or, simple shades that were glimpses of other, incoherent possibilities. The tides of the immaterial realm carried them back towards their destination, their home world... Or, so they hoped. According to Gail, whose company was pleasant and inoffensive, it was simply a matter of "retracing one's steps", and he had spent the majority of the time instructing Derrick on the ways and means of traveling between worlds, of which the Astranagant was capable.
The long and short of it was: Don't.
He had explained, at length and in great detail, the horrors that now resided between what had once been safe islands of space. Hordes of ravenous DAMON locked in eternal battle with the formless, malevolent masses of the Lamalice, spilling into and across worlds, until none but I'sola seemed to remain. Indeed, they had even seen chunks of space that had been devoured by the Crawling Dark, nothing but pitiless expanses of black that crept into the void, forcing them to carefully navigate past.
Ahead of the Astrangant, the Asclepius led the way, its binders flared, twin gleaming tails of neon green flickering behind it, thankfully making for an easy follow - but how long it had been since they had departed Zivon's realm was uncertain to both. Gail seemed unconcerned, simply stating that such was the way of moving between worlds - causality, he had said, seemed to merely hold its breath, because otherwise it would have to start making all kinds of unpleasant, and often contradictory calculations on the part of the lifeforms in question. Whether it was a lingering benefit of the Ur-Humans, who had paved these very paths in the past, or simply part of the fabric of the universe... Was uncertain.
In any case, the great beyond stretched out before them as they roared through its gullet. Supposedly, they would be reaching their destination "soon"...
...If only that word was not so suspect, in this particular instance.