I had heard stories of the glory of its arrival many centuries ago, they always amazed me. My father told me that my ancestors had always dreamt of making it to other planets, and those dreams became reality upon its appearance. I could only imagine what it must have felt like to finally be able reach that which was unreachable for so long. While I don't know how that must have felt, I know how horrible it feels to know I'll never be able to reach what was once within my grasp ever again.

As I stare at the dead husk of the Traveler in the distance, I remember how I have lost my family and friends due the appearance of this entity. Although it brought us great prosperity at one point in time, I hate it for the plague that trailed behind it. Even so, there's been word going around that a civilization is blossoming beneath that thing, and we've been tasked with confirming this rumor.

I look around at the small scouting party we have assembled as we prepare to make the journey from our small civilization, which hides in the mountains and has luckily been unnoticed by whatever may be out there. Marcus and Darnell are twins, and they're both equally sizable guys so we have them do most of the heavy lifting. Cass is the smart one, she knows a lot of advanced subjects and a lot about history. She's also the one that keeps the rest of us from doing anything stupid. Maya is our group's sharpshooter; she's always spent a lot of time at the little range we have set up but she's also done a fair bit of hunting. As for me, my area of expertise is survival; what to eat, camouflaging, building shelters, safe and unsafe plants or animals, things of that nature.

Even considering all these things, we aren't exactly the best at what we do compared to some other people that we live with. We were merely the only volunteers because many others decided it would be best to keep our strongest for defense. They say that, but we all know the real reason is because they don't want to risk losing our strongest citizens to what could be a fool's errand. The more I think about these things, the more I worry about finding nothing beneath the giant floating ball in the sky.

I once more look at the Traveler, seemingly close but probably weeks away, maybe even a month. What awaits us on our journey? Will we even-

"Sam," I look around in response to the motherly voice that called out my name, "are you alright? What's wrong?" Cass asked as she looked at me with slight concern.

"Ah, nothing. Just doing a bit of thinking, is all," I respond as I return my focus to tightening the straps on my bag.

"Well, knock it off, thinking is my job," she says as she also returns to preparing her gear.

I smile slightly as I finish double-checking my bag before putting my arms through the shoulder straps and buckling the waist strap around my waist. I walk to a nearby ledge and look down upon the forests and snowy plains that stretch between us and the Traveler. The world seems still as I look on, save for the slight chilly breeze of the mountains.

I close my eyes and begin to breathe in the cool, fresh air before something hits my back and I begin to stumble forward. I instinctively clench my eyes and brace for a fall until I realize that I'm not actually falling. I slowly open my eyes and I turn around to see Darnell holding me by my collar as Marcus walks away from us, chuckling.

Darnell shakes his head while looking at Marcus before turning to me, "What have I told you about ledges and Marcus?" He asks with his deep, booming voice.

"I dunno, something about a bad recipe?" I reply with a shrug.

Darnell pulls me away from the ledge roughly, "They're a recipe for disaster, you best remember." He releases my collar and smacks his palm on the side of my head before going to lecture his brother about safety.

I rub the side of my head as the slight pain begins to dwindle, then I turn my attention to Maya. She seems to be sitting on the ground with her eyes closed and her arms angled behind to hold her body up, like she's sunbathing. I walk over to her and assume a squatting position beside her, squinting my eyes at her as if trying to focus on something.

"Maya," I say after a full minute of staring.

She jumps and looks to my direction before bringing a hand to her chest, "Christ, you scared the hell out of me. At least give me some warning before you do that."

I stand up and extend a hand to offer to help her up, "If that spooked you, I'm sure anything I could have done would have the same effect," I say with a slight smile.

Maya doesn't respond but simply glares at me as she accepts my offer to help her up then picks up her bag. Maya and I then join the rest of the group as we go over the final details in preparation of our journey.

AN: Hey everyone! It's been a while since I put anything up here but I was able to work up a bit of creativity and whip another story up! This is pretty short so I can get some input on the basic idea of it, so feedback is greatly appreciated. For those who follow me, it might still be a while before I make more for TFG; I've hit a rut and I'm not sure where to head from there so I thought a new idea might get my brain going. Thanks for everyone's support and I hope you all enjoy!