<<<Location: Unknown Space, Borderworlds>>>
-15 years ago-
The system was cold... dark... full of green mist gently illuminated by a single nearby star. Beyond the corona, little heat penetrated the cloud, and what little did was quickly absorbed by fields of porous rock. Countless numbers of alien organisms drifted through the cloud, from rock to rock, feeding on the matter... slowly breaking the stones down and converting them into gas to expand the nebula. The ecosystem was simple here, but was key in fueling the expansion of the universe.
A soft blue form slides effortlessly through the cloud, illuminated from within like a creature from the bottom of the darkest seas. Here, it is beautiful, the organic artistry of beings long past. The form glides between the rocks, propelled forward by nothing more than a wisp of photons... a stream of light. It's purpose is singular, peaceful... it gazes across the system searching for anything unusual, anything... human. It has repeated this task countless times since it emerged from the hive as a fledling nomad, drifting silently through the void seeking and searching to appease the collective. The thoughts, the emotions, the knowledge of every other one of it's kind echoed within it's mind. All worked as one, all felt as one... if one was injured or killed, all others felt it's pain, it was no different than a human losing his or her own limbs.
Many limbs had been lost to the humans, yet many more were growing. Life, natural or artificial, would always find a way to persevere. Nomads had but three objectives in life... serve the masters, protect their homes, and prosper as a civilization.
The blue being drifted closer to the sun, basking in it's corona, soaking up it's energy and relishing it's warmth. The tiny, amoeba-like alien organisms floating through space clung to the nomad, cleaning it of buildup from the nebula and hitching a quick ride to new asteroids.
As the being began to drift further from the sun to explore the darker reaches of the system, a painful scream echoed through it's mind. The collective spoke...
It's mind was filled with the bloody screams of millions of nomads dying all at once. The pain of it was unbearable, energy surged within it's body as the telepathic link to the collective overloaded.
Black... everything went black.
-Same location, present day-
Blurred... blurred vision, out of focus. Green, white, yellow... black... green again, soft light... black once more.
Slowly the surroundings came into focus, fading in and out of darkness. Lightning erupted in the cloud around him, striking his body back to life, replenishing it's energy. A storm... electrical storm... flashing, burning, quenching thirst for life.
Where... He looked around, scanning the environment with his mind. Pain... there was still pain, much pain... and confusion.
Silence enveloped him, clouded his mind. Why is it silent? Where are the voices? Memories... dissapeared... they were no longer, his mind was blank. He knew nothing, heard nothing, where was he? what was he?
Slowly, as the surroundings came into focus, glimpses of past memory began to flash at him. It was slow at first, vague... he could not understand what he was thinking, what he saw within his own mind. What does it mean? What are the voices? Why are they silent? Where have they gone?
Gone... yes... the voices were there once, he could remember that, but the voices were silent... gone. They were audible no longer. But why?
Confusion and panic set in. These were unfamiliar emotions, he did not recognize them but he knew what they were. The sensation was odd... it was fear, when he did not know what fear was. The surroundings... they were vaguely familiar... the rocks, the green, the yellow, the white, the darkness, the organisms that clung to his self as if grasping a peice of wood in the open sea.
Slowly he started to move forward. It was difficult, like trying to walk with legs that would not move. Ever so slowly he gained pace, regaining feeling in his "legs", re-learning how to create the light that allowed him to move. He was weak, his energy depleted... all he had was what had been given by the lightning, the storm.
He turned towards the light, towards the warm, glowing star. The heat and light of it would help heal him... yes, he remembered this, the warmth of basking in a corona... but why? why bask... to heal? yes, heal... replenish... recover.
As he drew closer to the star, he felt his strength returning, he felt energized. It's warmth was absorbed by his glowing blue skin, it was collected and held inside as an internal light, illuminating him for all to behold.
He sat in the corona of the star for hours, slowly rebuilding himself. Cells raced about, repairing the damage... the damage in his mind... what was it called? the nueral network? Yes... the collective... but it was not there. Where was it? why were the voices silent? Alone... he was alone... lost... panic set in once again. He began to move away from the sun, at the speed of fear and confusion. Somewhere... a tunnel... a tunnel of light... where? There!
Emerging from the green mist before him was the swirling vortex of a jump hole, a tunnel to somewhere... where? He could not remember where this tunnel would take him to, but he knew it would take him. He drifted forward, gliding into the gravitational well of the vortex until it pulled him in.
Light! He was surrounded by light, a tunnel of light stretching beyond comprehension. He was fond of the tunnels... he felt at home there, barreling through the darkest abyss on a chariot of pure light. The light ended abruptly, leaving him in cold, dark space once again. Stars... many stars... much warmth in the distance... three stars circling one another in a dance millenia in the making...
He struggled to speak, to make his own voice to the collective, to ask the others why they were silent. The speech was difficult to make, difficult to send. His mind was still damaged, but repaired enough to form the weakest voice, the smallest images.
No answer, only silence. Painful silence.
He sensed others, but where? what? They were not like him. They were flesh within steel, like organisms in asteroids. They did not speak, they did not respond to his call. Could they hear him? He did not know.
Slowly he began to move again, towards the suns. Must bask... must heal... must replenish... must learn...
He began exploring the system, seeking out others like himself, but they were nowhere to be found. The only inhabitants were those of steel flesh... he probed their minds, reading their thoughts... they were called 'humans'... he remembered this name. The humans, they were those who attacked before he blacked out, they were the enemy... but how long ago?
All he attempted to 'speak' with proved themselves to be aggressive and reckless... humans were indeed violent creatures, how is it that they have survived this long? This one calls himself "megiddo", he is a hunter of the living...
He does not understand, he condescends and threatens. His mind is a simple one... hunt, track, engage, kill, reward, and repeat. Those are his only thoughts, simple and instinctive, surviving on the deaths of others. He is Dark, a bringer of death, with no compassion, no emotion, no mercy... is his kind all humanity has to offer?
No... there is another. This one is different, it is female... but there is something else... it is telepathic. Like us, like him, but this one recieved the gift of voice articially and cannot control it. She is even more hostile than the one before... her mind is probed, he learns, her kind are they that killed so many of his. Hers are they that severed the collective, they that broke his mental bonds with the others, they that nearly killed him...
This one learns... He sees from her mind what has happened. His kind are nomads, theirs are human. Nomads serve the masters, defend their space... humans invade. Humans are the dark, we are the light. Humans attack, we defend... we are defeated, but not entirely. He understands now, there are more of his kind but he cannot reach them, cannot communicate with them, the bond is severed and must be healed.
He broadcasts a singular thought over the system, a warning to those hostile and a plea to those friendly...
The others... they reach out to him... they connect.
The one known to the dark as Kharybdis reaches out, extends the link, the collective. The lost one again finds himself joined with the others, joined with the mind share. Knowledge is gained, memories are given, the severed joins the whole, reattaches himself.
Much knowledge is shared, much history. The young one learns of his past, of events since the blackout... of the current state of things. He is enlightened, among the light ones once again... ***warmth*** ... ***light*** ... ***comfort***
It takes much time for the knowledge to be gained, for the memory share to fully integrate the new one. It is still not done, but much progress has been made.
The young one, the lost one, now knows his past. His memories have been unlocked... Before the severing he was a fledgling learning his function... to patrol, to attack and retreat, to defend... The Dark ones of green metal, who call themselves "Rheinland" gave this one a name during the war long ago; he is named Loki. He attacks and dissapears, he confuses, he plays tricks, he leads fleets astray... he is one of mischief in the eyes of the dark.
The other one, Kharybdis, wishes to test the dark ones, test their reactions... wishes for Loki to help, to observe. They are not successful... the dark ones attack, flesh of steel and weapons of burning fire, many dark ones... many names... the light ones are outnumbered and must flee.
Loki escapes but the other does not, the other one must be re-grown... the mind share allows this, allows immortality by repairing itself, it's limbs, it's nodes. Loki must rest, rest in the abandoned lair, in the space of green and yellow and black. The lair was once home but is now bare, dying, abandoned... Loki still views it as home, he remembers... there is always more to remember...
For now the mind share helps him grow, helps him learn, helps him heal. He is still weak, defenseless, but not for long...
The dark ones, those of steel flesh... they are strange. They are hostile and aggressive but do not have reason. They attack only to attack, destroy only to destroy, they are volatile... uncontrolled...
Loki has been hunted since his awakening by many of the steel-fleshlings, in many of the spaces. Spaces of green and yellow, spaces of orange, spaces of blue and black. In all spaces, In all directions he faces, they are there, waiting, hunting, hungering for his death without reason...
Not all are the same, there are different ones, ones of confused voices. Their speak is harsh, it is as muddy water... confusing... strange... their speak is of sound, it hurts us, it hurts him, they do not share their minds as we do, as he does.
The mind share makes him stronger, he is learning quickly, more and more as the cycles turn. There is still much to learn, many empty spaces, many confusions. Loki studies the dark ones, finds their lost bodies of steel flesh, floating silent in all spaces. He learns from them... these dead bodies show him the dark weapons, tools of false lights.
The mind share reveales many of the dark ones, the humans, that had attacked, captured, and killed the others. Loki took interest in one... dark name Dennis Jameson. This one is difficult to understand... it cuts the light ones, cuts them open, tortures them, fills them with pain and darkness.
Loki reaches out towards the spaces of blue and green, they were distant but just within reach...
As Loki cut the link, he turned his attention towards the approaching one... it was large, a massive fiend of steel flesh. Loki could sense lifeless nodes on it, fused barbarically with it's hull... this dark one uses the light against itself! How is this possible?
***Confusion***
It attacks, blasting light-fire in all directions. It burns!
***Pain***
Loki moves as fast as he is able, gliding between the light-fire, avoiding it... but it still burns him, sears his flesh...
He escapes... The steel-flesh is slow, cumbersome, it cannot pursue through dense black stones.