[ Destiny ] Eyes Up

A Beginning

"We called it the Traveler, and its arrival changed us forever.

Great cities were built on Mars and Venus.

Mercury became a garden world. Human life span tripled.

It was a time of miracles.

We stared out at the galaxy and knew that it was our destiny to walk in the light of other stars--

but the Traveler had an enemy.

A Darkness, which had hunted it for eons across the black gulfs of space.

Centuries after our Golden Age began, this Darkness found us.

And that was the end of everything...

But it was also a beginning."

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C O S M O D R O M E

Old Russia, Earth

• • •

The afternoon sun sat behind the horizon of jagged mountains, spreading its midday light across the cold barren land. A dusty draft picked up and carried debris through the plains, wafting towards a broken highway that was scattered with abandoned and rusted cars.

The remains of a mile marker hung dangerously over the highway and swayed in the chilling, light breeze. Remnants of an overpass stood beyond the main road with most of it having fallen into the river below. Not a single speck of life disturbed the dead world.

Blue light flashes behind an overturned car, interrupting the stillness of the land and a small rhombus robot floats out from behind. It glides to a car slowing down to gaze at it before moving on to another. The robot continues down a dirt path, moving from car to car, occasionally scanning a few cars with a blue grid.

•••

A patrol prowled through the sea of rusted cars. It was made up of three strange humanoid creatures, each with two pairs of arms and a weapon, blades in heavy armor. One of them stood in front of the two, clearly the leader as it was twice the size of the rest who already stood a foot above the cars. 

The three approached a small cliff that held a pile of cars and they climbed on top of the wreckage, gazes gliding across the area, searching for any signs of disturbance.

A small flash of light catches one of the smaller creature's attention and it quickly nudges its companion. It muttered in a rough growl, gesturing to the location of the flash and the other nodded before gaining the attention of their leader, informing them of the unwelcomed disruption. The leader snarled, bristling at the news. A new enemy is soon to be arising.

•••

The small robot reaches the side of an open mini-van covered in ivy and foliage. The doors were nowhere to be seen as the red dust of rust completely consumed the vehicle. In the driver's seat, a lone skeleton sat in an awkward position, slumped over with its face against the wheel. A large hole was blown into the top of its skull.

"Ouch." The robot cringed, scanning the broken skull.

It looked around at the rusted metal covered street. Hope was starting to deplete, as it began to doubt that what it was looking for was even here. Maybe a mistake was made. It took one last glance around once more when something caught its attention.

The robot whirred in eagerness as a small pull tugged at the light within. Actually... maybe the Traveler was correct. It floated over as the tug became stronger.

•••

The leader of the creatures snatched the binoculars from one of the hands of its subordinate and looked through the scope. It searched desperately for the menace that would soon destroy them when a little white spot moved swiftly between the leftover mechanical trash. 

There it is.

The alien snapped its head up and the other two jumped forward in attention, readying their firearms. The leader growled quietly and tightened its grip on the binocular before it barked orders to its warriors in a foreign tongue. They saluted and the leader let out a spine-chilling screech as the three began to stalk forward.

•••

The tug became a pull so strong that a trickle of worry seeped into the robot when it neared the source. It felt as if the sliver of light was on the verge of breaking out from the protective shell. Is this what the other ghosts were talking about?

"Is it possible?" It spoke in awe, before opening its shell into a sphere, its precious light now vulnerable.

A warm presence filled the robot's core as a lone soul shimmered to life.

 "There you are!" The robot said, relief flooding through its systems.

The shell quickly closed before opening once more with a blinding light.