A human soldier from a doomed futuristic civilization traverses through the fabrics of space and time to flee mankind's imminent extinction, only to stumble upon Zootopia - a diverse world unlike any other. Namely, an antiquated society filled with...
Enshrouded in abyssal darkness, I drifted, each passing hour merging indistinguishably into the next in this living nightmare. My isolation was not just eerie; it felt like an exile to the outermost fringes of existence, akin to being trapped in the deepest, uncharted chasm or the suffocating depths of the Mariana Trench.
Direction had lost all meaning. Up, down, sideways – such concepts were irrelevant in this void. The darkness was so complete, so absolute, that not even the silhouette of my hand could be discerned. Silence reigned supreme, a suffocating blanket that suppressed all but the sound of my breathing and the rhythmic beat of my heart.
The mounting anxiety threatened to unravel my mind. But just as despair began to take hold, a flicker of light pierced the void. At first, I questioned my sanity – was it a figment of my desperate imagination? Yet, the light persisted, growing from a distant speck to a discernible glow.
As my eyes, starved for any visual stimulus, adjusted to this new reality, I realized countless specks of white light surrounded me. They were stars scattered across the vast expanse of space – a sight of breathtaking beauty and overwhelming terror.
The only sound that accompanied me was the heavy, labored breathing echoing inside my suit. Outside, the cosmos lay in a state of deathly stillness, a silent, endless expanse devoid of life.
At that moment, the crushing realization of my solitude hit me. Surrounded by the infinite beauty of the universe, I was utterly alone – a lone voyager adrift in the cosmic sea.
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Amidst the vast emptiness, I entertained a fleeting hope that my men might have shared my fate. Perhaps they were here, too?
I scanned the perimeter with my HUD. "This is Cheribim, service number 01738-37789-CH. Does anyone copy?"
I waited an hour for a response - even for something static - and got nothing. No other life signs were detected. To my despair, the readings were amply clear.
My men were gone.
The thought was suffocating. We had made the ultimate leap, crossing dimensions, only to lose everything instantly. Our legacy, our entire history, was erased as if it had never existed. It was like shooting for the stars, only to burn up before reaching them. The solitude of space left me trapped in my thoughts, a prisoner to the haunting 'what ifs.'
For six days, I survived on the nano-food rations within my suit. Initially a lifeline, each bite soon became a bland reminder of my dire circumstances. I recalled a quote inscribed in a virtual cemetery where my grandfather was laid to rest: 'All good things must come to an end so that better things can come.' This thought, amidst the desolation, prompted a reluctant acceptance. If death was to be my fate, I resolved to face it with faith rather than despair.
The distant and cold stars offered the only semblance of light in the endless dark. I longed for the presence of my colleagues, yearning for any sign that they, too, had survived. We may not have been close outside of work, but they were all I had in those final moments. Their brilliance and unyielding pursuit of excellence had always inspired me, even if it sometimes overwhelmed me.
