Cold is the void… That which we fear most is often too close to notice, yet mankind marches onward in it's quest for knowledge and power, oblivious to the horrific realities that are surrounding us at all times…

What happens when Man goes beyond it's realm of understanding, when curiosity brings about the end of days? This is what happens when we open the door to another world without considering the consequences.

That which makes us human is our greatest strength and also our greatest weakness, our insatiable curiosity, if not balanced be rational thought and planning can be the doom of us all.

It is not unlike the box, it's contents are truly unknown until it has been opened… and once it has nothing can truly close it… and yet hope remains.

Stephen M Matt-Robinson 6-12-2016.

This is the story of what lies ahead and is just one of an infinite set of possible scenarios of what could happen when we take that first step… it is also my past, as well as your future so pay attention humans, as this knowledge may avert oblivion for our race…

Chapter 1

What just killed my brother?

09-18-4767

2320 hours GST

Epsilon 298 system

Albedo snapped awake when his ES suddenly exited hyperspace, this startled him in a most unusual way as he did not anticipate a forced gate out much less to see warnings all over his HUD… The holographic MFD's flickered red and with the word's "warning system failure imminent" plastered all over them followed by something he had never seen before… binary code scrolling down every single display along with ear splitting white noise and then as quick as it started the code stopped with a resounding pop, his copilot panicked then oddly expired along with seemingly the ES itself.

He tried several times to reboot the system all failing, then another ship gated out above him this one obvious in identity a long red ship shaped like a sword with rotating wings flew overhead as the Simeon drifted helplessly and then raised it's shields, it's red hull suddenly glowing a slight blue color… Albedo looked at the ship and began to worry as it was not targeting him but something ahead, unseen 'hmm now what would be scaring you Rubedo?' he thought. Suddenly as if to answer a blinding red flash filled the cockpit followed by an intense feeling of fear and despair, the now unusually horrified URTV looked out to see a ship smaller than the Durandal moving towards it slowly, the ship was definitely not human or gnosis in origin… it's jagged black and red exterior had what looked like claws and spines jutting out in menacing positions and was as terrifying to look at as the terror inducing psionic signal it was producing.

The Durandal accelerated to combat speed powering up it's weapons and as it did so brilliant blue light arced across her hull and then discharged towards the odd alien ship impacting a red barrier and doing no damage whatsoever, whatever this ship was it should have been cut to ribbons by the hundreds of heavy ion beams that impacted it but instead did nothing to the tiny ship… Albedo, now genuinely terrified not only for himself but for his idiot brother as well could only stare in sheer horror at what happened next. The tiny ship now much closer had no humanly identifiable features and appeared to be approximately 1.5 kilometers long and 0.5 kilometers wide stopped instantly, then bright red lights formed at the tips of it's "claws" and then before they even discharged, cut holes through the Durandal piercing it's shields and hull clean through as a second later bright red beams followed through the hull, burning into the stars behind it… they did not cease however and began to literally carve the Durandal to pieces as explosions further tore the ship apart thump silently in the void.

As the beams nimbly carved through the ship the Durandal tried to retaliate before a quick series of extremely bright flashes tore through the main fuselage and severed the ship in half the "sword" shattering at the hilt as the beams ceased they're onslaught, escape pods began spraying out of sparse sections of the ships remains as atmosphere vented violently into the void as well as bodies, then as if that wasn't enough the alien ship began firing pulses at the escaping shuttles and pods annihilating them with ease… Albedo watched helplessly as the Durandal broke apart into thousands of chunks… and then he felt Rubedo die, he felt as if he had his heart ripped out and in a way, he did, but as he sat there he realized there was nothing he could do and even if there was he was literally paralyzed with fear.

He watched as the ship disappeared into the void with a bright red flash, and then began to feel dizzy and weak… He then was engulfed by a bright light and for a moment saw a what looked like a woman with blueish purple skin and two sets of arms stared at him, he immediately said "what the hell just killed my brother?!" the woman smiled before an obviously human albeit much younger woman joined her, this one with long bleach blonde pigtails and light almost pale skin and a blank expression on her face… the blue skinned alien said something to the other and then walked towards him while the human disappeared.

The alien spoke in a voice that was both calm and seductive but obviously not human "You have been chosen human… and will be saved, yet I am not sure if you are worthy… but I hope you will prove yourself in time." Albedo replied in a smart ass tone "well now… did you just decide you wanted to be a girl all of a sudden, and then become real? Because I have no idea why you are here or what you want, and I am certain you don't want to play now do you?" she smiled and said "You certainly are going to be interesting, I'll give you that… but in the future, assuming you survive that is, you WILL show me more respect, however, in the meantime you will be given a second chance of sorts and I will be watching, do not make a fool of me human..." Before Albedo could respond she disappeared and he was blinded by a white light that burned like plasma… and he saw something… a dream, but not a normal one as this one was extremely vivid and was terrifying but he didn't know why.

Before he could analyze what he had dreamed he woke up… in a dive pod. Now he knew three things 1: he had seen a female version of the ancient Hindu god Shiva. 2: he was in the Yuriev Institute and was much younger, and most importantly 3: he had the worst hangover ever…

Today was going to be interesting to say the least…

Meanwhile elsewhere someone else was starting they're day in a similar manner.

Next chapter

Chapter 2

"The big day"

ETC 06-14-2016

A/N As you can see I am just starting out and if necessary please correct any mistakes in reviews I had planned on starting this earlier in the month but I forgot about it until now… also there will be much more ahead for me… I mean Albedo but first another character will take the stage… and he's so screwed.

Please review and tell me what you like and don't like but keep in mind this story is not meant to be an 80's action flick (at least not in the beginning) so it is intended to start out slow. If you have any ideas on what to do PM me and I might consider it if it fits well enough… I love criticism so go ahead tell me you're thoughts but be somewhat polite, and if you have insults or otherwise non-constructive negative feedback… well you know what to do with it.

I hope you like whats to come as I haven't even begun, yet the box has been opened and you are powerless to close it...