Chapter 1
Blackness.
All around; blackness.
It seemed to be all there was. It was endless. Was there really anything there? Was this even real? Was anything real?
The void was all she knew, though she did not know herself.
Who was she? She did not remember… Her memories were scattered, torn asunder, non-existent. Simple fragments and glimpses of what she once was were all that remained. She seemed to recall being a once great ruler, with many subjects…but what exactly did she rule over? Frustration ensued as she realized she, once again, could not remember.
Why was she here? That question alone, dominated all the others. She did not find any familiarity with her surroundings, as they did not exist. It was all darkness. Not even the tiniest glimmer of light was to be found.
Was she even alive? More importantly, did it really matter? If so, what was her purpose? So many questions, so few answers…
After what may be perceived as years, the darkness loosened. Slowly, vision came to her in a gradual releasing of the blurred shadows she had been subjected to for so long. Small lights came into view, hardly there but shining true against the black.
The lights, they were so…so what? She could not find the word for them. She reached out to touch one, but quickly realized that she could not. Why weren't they reachable? Were they even there, or were they just simple figments of her imagination? Then it hit her.
Stars… She thought, now I remember. They're called stars.
Every so often, a small shred of memory returned to her mind, ever so gently piecing back together the convoluted puzzle in her head. Slowly, her speech began to come back to her, discovering that she was only able to speak in a strange tongue that she did not recognize, but for some unexplained reason, understood perfectly. Perhaps it was simply the last language she could remember? How many languages did she used to know?
Long periods of time passed as her eyes adjusted to the thick shades surrounding her. The stars became more defined, the innumerable phenomena at last revealing their concealed faces. Countless times over, she floated past what appeared to be rocks suspended in the void, gliding gracefully through thin fields of dust. On occasion, a star would soar across the black, disappearing in an instant.
She stared in amazement at the bright, colorful wall of infinity. What was this place? Did it have an end? Who put it here? Why did it exist as it did?
Space…stars…asteroids, planets, moons… It's all coming back to me.
She thought long and hard, scouring what remained of her still small memory. She couldn't escape the feeling that everything before her had, at some point, been revealed to her by something, or someone. She had not discovered this utopia on her own…someone had shown her, but who? What other beings existed? She could not name a single one, nor could she name herself. Did she even have a name? What was she exactly? She looked down at her thin body, examining every detail visible.
Two arms, two legs, one torso…two unusual mounds on the chest…so many slender curves…
She touched her soft face, exploring with her fingers.
Two eyes, one mouth, hair…What am I?!
The word was on the edge of her tongue, she could feel it. Alas, it slipped back down her throat, disappearing once more, into her short memory.
She took a deep breath of the nothingness, attempting to calm her agitated nerves. As she gazed across the empty spatial gulf, she noticed something; a small shape, not relative to any of the others she had seen before. The tiny, crescent-moon shaped object blotted out part of a distant star cluster, its strange alien shape appearing fuzzy against the spotted background.
It looked so…familiar. Where had she seen it before?
Slowly, the shape began to approach her. At first, it had appeared to be very small, but proved otherwise as it closed its distance. Its frame became clearer, revealing what appeared to be tentacles sprouting from its back.
The shape drew close enough for her to touch it. It was absolutely massive, being easily over a thousand times her size. She reached out to feel its rough surface, quickly pulling away when her hand was met with warmth.
Heat? She thought, but, it is merely a space rock…is it not?
She sensed a faint rumble exerting from the asteroid. She reached out once more, realizing that the faint tremor was indeed, coming from within. It was alive.
She froze, taken aback. It was moaning, groaning; perhaps it was in pain?
There was a strange sort of familiarity with this apparently living meteor. Where had she seen it before?
A sudden warmth washed over her body, as though she were near an open flame. She felt herself filled to the brim with energy, strength, will. She looked down at her hands, watching as tiny blue bolts slithered across her palms and wrists.
Phazon… She thought, then wondered were the word had come from.
Had she somehow, in the past, acquainted herself with this strange matter? And how did it come to her now? Could it have been from the strange rock?
Leviathan… she remembered, Leviathan seed, child of the planet Phaaze. Phaaze…the phazon world, my home…
She looked up at the lone Leviathan, caressing its thick husk.
…and I, its ruler.
I…
Dark Samus.