The machine was traveling. Searching. It needed a new home; the horrible black had taken it's old one, destroyed the people that the machine had grown so attached to. So it had left, before the horrible black could catch it.
Now, it sensed a new people; potential candidates; oh, so much potential in them! But then it did the calculations. Would it be able to prepare these people in time for the terrible, horrible black to attack them? Suddenly, it sensed the black; not far off, just a couple hundred years away. Not enough time for it to arm these people, four-armed and full of potential.
They would fall.
So, the machine moved on, though mournful of the lost opportunity. Perhaps the black would ignore this world, these people, since it was not there. Perhaps the black would continue to chase it.
Meanwhile, Karik was struggling. He'd worked at an ether farm, but the soil had begun to... well, wither was the only way to describe it, over the last few years. The precious substance didn't flow out of the ground like it used to any more; it didn't add itself to their atmosphere as much any more. And since so little ether was coming, less workers were needed.
Which meant... some had to be let go of.
He stepped into his humble home a short walk away from the farm. Eliksni homes were fairly simple. A place to eat, make food. A screen that they would receive news by. A bed tucked into one corner. A cellar for storing whatever they needed to store. He signed, and closed the door. Karik would likely not be able to hold on to this small home much longer.
He went to his kitchen, but had lost his appetite completely. So, though it was unbecoming of an Eliksni his age, he curled up on his bed, trying to calm his breathing. I can find new job. But it was the duty of House Waters to tend the ether farms; even if he could find a house-neutral job, would he posses the skills to keep it?
He took another deep breath in, another deep breath out. The ether in this area was getting thin these days, due to the... unproductivity of the farm. It was unheard of, an ether farm going withered like that. He took another deep breath in, another deep breath out, tracing no shape in particular on the covers with one lower claw.
He wondered if any other farms were experiencing the same problem. He closed his eyes. He would check later. The chances of two farms going withered were one in a million. Surely, this wouldn't become a problem?
He shivered, a sliver of fear slipping down his spine. We will not run out of ether. That... simply does not happen.
Karik descended into sleep, completely unaware of the entity that had considered stopping at their system, completely unaware that the future had been changed.
Completely unaware of the events that would take place centuries after his death.
Okay, so this sudden thought came to me, and this whole thing is based off of one very simple question; what if the Traveler never visited the Fallen? What if the Darkness completely passed them by in pursuit of the Traveler?
The grimiore states that one of the things the Traveler did for the Eliksni was provide an infinite supply of ether, suggesting that there were ether shortages going on when it arrived, or otherwise, a problem had started. So, here we are. Before you ask... yes, there will be Variks in this; he's one of the main characters actually.
Things are going to be fairly different for humanity, without the Fallen pillaging their homes. For one thing, remember how the Fallen were locking away the Hive that started to invade? In this fic, the Traveler still arrived in 2014, in my head it just wandered around a bit more before coming to our little corner of the universe.
Don't expect frequent updates. I spend a lot of time playing Destiny and doing homework. Plus, because of my Twelve Days of RoI fic, people actually became interested in my obscure crossover of Star Trek/Harry Potter(we call it Pottertrek for short), so I'm naturally obligated to update that a little more frequently as well.
Well, here's to hoping you'll enjoy this!
Read and REVIEW!