Authors Note: This is a joint story between myself and another writer by the name of Dexios. It's not the way you might be thinking however. This is a shared universe in where each of us writes our own character's perspective on our own 'channel' I guess you could call it. Anyway, long in the short, I have my version of this story, and he has his version of the story, so I recommend you check out each of our sides to this story.
Also, this is yet another squeal in my story-line; You could almost consider them to be the most detailed backstory ever.
The Fate of U-Doma, Chapter One: Shafted
Change is the end result of all true learning.
Space is an unforgiving place, even in the year thirty-three thirty-five. The human race once reached into the depths of space, colonizing everything we could reach, however, that led to unforgivable actions. The destruction of the Lunovian race is now a distant memory in our history, but I know why they were killed off, I know why the human race dropped from over a trillion to less than five-hundred thousand in a year, I know what killed us all… The only thing that kept us from the brink of extinction was an advanced cryogenics facility hidden in an asteroid belt outside the Sol solar system.
After awakening the people who would repopulate the human species, I set off into the void with my fiance and daughter, Jacqueline and Ella. Their planet was over forty thousand light-years away from Earth, and the chances of me ever returning to my home was slim. I wasn't going to just leave the human race on it's own, so I ordered my advanced Ai to recuperate the human race. I don't know what happened to my species or if it was finished off sometime after I left with my family, although just a year after arriving on the distant world I'd come to know as home, a distress message from Earth was picked up on my scanners.
I should've known it was a trap set by the ones that wiped out humanity in the first place; They obviously wanted revenge for the destruction of everything they knew. Only a few hyperspace jumps into my journey to Earth, I was pulled from the depths of witch-space, and spit out in decaying orbit around a black hole without fuel or thrusters to save me. I decided in that moment I was going to document my life so that the species within the Galaxy would know of what laid in the darkness. Every hour I spent recording my life story was almost twenty years in normal space, and by the time I'd finished the whole thing, just over three thousand years had gone by in the span of a week.
Everything I knew and loved was long gone, all my friends had forgotten me, my wife was nothing more than dust in the wind, and my children were forced to grow up without their father to take care of them. I'd never be able to know if they had children of their own, or if I had any descendants. I still had dreams of holding my family in my arms every night, only to wake up and realize over and over that they were all gone. It truly was the worst punishment to be given.
The upside to it all was my time left was limited, perhaps only a few hours remained before I'd be sucked into the singularity. The air in my dark and lifeless ship was dry from draining the recirculator for drinking water, and my food provisions were completely gone. We never developed artificial gravity, so floating around the ship hallways was normal. With each push-off from a wall, the ship creaked in rebellion, as if someone was driving a knife into a living creature. Every breath I made caused a white puff of fog to roll forth from my nose due to the failing life support. Temperatures were low the past few days, and steadily dropping as the hours passed. I didn't actually have a thermometer, however all my remaining water froze yesterday, so that's a pretty good indicator.
I eventually made it to the bridge, and sat down in my chair to gaze out at the last glimmers of stars as they rotated in and out of view.
"What do you think's on the other side?" The female AI asked in a wondering tone. "I bet we'll be taken to another galaxy." She added in a chipper tone.
Knowing your death is near is an interesting knowledge to have, it's a depressing thing to think about. "Martha, we both know it's just going to crush us." I said with a pitiful sigh as I pulled off my pearly white wedding band.
"Oh C'mon, you don't know that." She replied.
"Martha, it's not helping." I said with aggravation. "We've sent thousands of hyperspace capable prodes into these things, and haven't ONCE found a signal!" I shouted, not really directly out of anger towards the ship's Ai, but more towards being afraid of dying.
"...Sorry." She mumbled. "I just don't want you to be sad."
"I know, Martha… I know."
"I don't blame you, Sir. With the upgrades Starfire gave me, I'm afraid of what will happen when we impact the singularity, I just experience the fear differently than you."
"Did you ever find someone to love?" I asked while twisting the ring on my finger absentmindedly.
"No, Sir. I went on a few dates, but the Bio-computer made me feel funny whenever someone complimented me... I think it was broken."
"Heh-heh-heh… That's what real emotions feel like, Martha." I said moments before displaying a three dimensional image of my Wife's fluffy face in front of me. When I reached out to touch her cheek, my hand only phased through the hologram. "I think I'd like to sit in silence now."
"Oh… okay then." Martha said glumly before disappearing all together.
I sat strapped into my flight seat, looking at my wife's face for hours as the cabin temperature dropped colder and colder, eventually overcoming my compression armor's ability to keep me warm. I watched quietly as my time counted down to zero, and the closer we became to the surface the more the ship creaked under the gravitational pressure. I spent my last minutes looking at a picture of my family, and friends all standing together on my wedding day. When the ship's proximity sensors ticked off, I closed my eyes and took a final breath in.
Right as my lungs peaked in capacity, the sound of metal being ripped apart filled my ears as everything went numb, dark, and unbearably cold. I heard the sound of muffled screams and shrieks as memories of watching my soldiers die flashed before me. Eventually the screams gave way to whimpering as I saw my Arctic fox daughter curled up on her bed as she clutched a tear stained picture of me.
"Your time has not come, there is still one more task I have for you." A female voice whispered as a memory of all five Guardians stood in a line, smiling and happy as they wore their different colored togas flashed before me. Their various colored wings extended wide behind them, and I made out myself in the center, smiling and happy as I held a sphere of energy in my hand. I felt like I could reach out and touch the image of who I used to call friends. That memory stayed with me for awhile, and I began to wonder how our relationship degraded into total war. At first I thought about how it was all their fault, how they manipulated me into being the most powerful human in existence. As time went by, I began thinking of how I could be the one responsible. Never in the history of the Guardians existence had there ever been a rebellion so devastating as mine... Maybe it was both of our faults.
I took a breath in as I closed my eyes to contemplate the past, however, the instant my eyes were shut, I saw a blinding light on the inside of my eyelids. Opening the latter forced me to blink in rapid succession as my eyes adjusted from the dark void to this blinding expanse. The place I was put in left me confused and angry.
White emptiness as far as the eye could see. Everything was pure white, and their was no origin of the light filling this 'room'. I was very familiar as to what this room resembled, and knowing that sent me into an indescribable anger. "It was just a fucking simulation!" I screamed.
I remained like this for a few minutes, however, I calmed down upon realizing the implications of an unknown time in history being simulated. If it was just the time after I left for Earth, this was the best thing that could happen to me. That would mean my family was still alive. I then thought on what if the entire war against the Guardians had been simulated.
"All those people could still be alive." I muttered as I paced back and forth, eventually pulling up the holographic display integrated into my Compression suit's left arm.
"What's the probability of the last week being simulated?"
"Simulation probability… twenty three percent." The suit replied.
"...What's the probability of the war against the Guardians being simulated?" I asked as a pit formed in my stomach.
"Simulation probability… Incalculable probability, please integrate with mainframe to determine results."
"Worth a shot." I despondently mumbled; Besides the computer not knowing the question, just the fact that I had sensory perception meant that this wasn't a disembarkation screen from a simulation. It sure looked like one though, every detail was exactly the same besides the presence of sensory perception. I had a few ideas at to what this place could be, although I eventually dismissed the theories, thinking that they were far fetched.
"C'mon, give me something, anything to go on." I whispered to myself while slowly spinning around; Surely if this was a real place I'd see something out there.
A person... I saw a person off in the distance, maybe half a kilometer away, perhaps a little further. Too far to speak to, but close enough to acquire basic details. Black hair, white skin color and completely naked. Despite the universe giving me the shaft, I found humor in seeing that naked man stare back at me. "Heh-heh-heh, look at that fool..." I muttered, finding it comical that he was naked and I wasn't. I guess the thought of seeing another person naked prompted me to look down. "THE FUCK!"
Only moments after realizing my predicament, I found my vision fading before me, tunneling in until there was nothing but darkness. Just as fast as my vision failed me, I shot upright in the middle of a forest, still without any clothing. "Rachel… you won, okay. You fucking killed off the humans. What else could you possibly want from me?" I asked aloud, going over any possible option as to explain this situation. I then realized something that made my heart lurch into my throat. "My wedding ring." I thought at the lack of feeling the band on my finger.
"No-no-no-no-no!" I shouted while searching through the dirt. I searched and searched for the ring, to no avail. "Please, just let me keep it..." I whimpered as tears welled in my eyes. All I wished for was to go home in my own time, and if not that, just to say goodbye to my family one last time.
"C'mon, get ahold of yourself." I said while wiping away the tears in my eyes. After mustering control over my emotions, I began scanning the area for a direction I was going to travel on. Whatever place I was put in was relaxing; Green trees as far as the eye could see into the surrounding area. It appeared that I was near the bottom of a mountain, and as any knowledgeable individual knows, first thing in long term survival is to find out what's in your immediate area. That set my destination straight up the hillside, and into the unknown. With any luck, I would find a dependable position within a few hours.
The forest was quiet, but not so quiet that it was unsettling. Just the right amount of silence to make you relax. The air that had a cool, dampness to it as well, only adding to the peacefulness. Had I not been transported here through the complex methods of bullshitery, I would've been more relaxed than I was, although, after being in a sterile space ship without gravity a week, it was nice to be walking on dirt.
My pace was rather slow as I didn't have a destination set besides uphill, and the trees were obscuring my view of what lie more than a hundred meters ahead, so it was unlikely I'd be able to plot much of a rout at all. After about fifteen minutes of walking, I crossed paths with... well... a path. Judging by the width, it couldn't have been a hiking trail of any kind, maybe a game trail, but nothing that was used frequently or recently. Nevertheless, a trail would be easier on my bare feet than untraveled dirt and debris.
"Oh my gosh." I whispered from feeling like an idiot.
Just fifty meters down the trail rested a dinky cabin, and the first thing that crossed my mind was a hunting cabin, however I quickly remember Rachel's 'cabins' and all the lives they took. My heart began beating faster as the memories of the pain-stricken screams rang throughout my head. and I began stuttering a step forward in contemplation of running away or approaching the structure. I did make a choice eventually, and whether it would end in my death or not, at least I did make a choice instead of just standing there.
Carefully, oh so carefully, I began padding up to the cabin in a slightly lowered stance, and once I was within five meters of the Wooden structure I began searching for spore mines or any other possible booby traps that she may have put around the perimeter. Not thirty seconds into my search, I heard the sound of a male voice muttering something inside the glorified outhouse, earning my abandonment of the mine search.
"Great, I'm naked in a forest, probably being watched by Rachel, and I'm about to attack or be attacked by someone." I thought while making my way to the door with utmost silence. My breathing was limited, and I deliberately slowed my heart to minimize my noise signature. I couldn't tell exactly if it was just the one person or if there were more, however, it probably wouldn't even matter if it turned out to be a clone; I'd still be pummeled like a baby against their enhanced... everything.
Just as I reached for the door handle, it turned, causing me to dart behind the door as it swung outward. I was hidden visually, which is a good thing if you didn't know, but the problem was the door handle twisting caused an inadvertent release of adrenaline that rose my heart rate and forced my breathing to pick up. When the door shut and the man stepped forward, he was facing away from me, but I could still tell one thing. "Thank God he's not a clone." I thought moments before the man in jeans and a leather jacket whipped around and threw a punch at my face. I suppose in my realization of him not being a lab creation, I made a noise to alert him.
Nevertheless, my training took over and I automatically deflected his right hook, gripping at the wrist immediately after. Next, I grabbed his shoulder with my right hand, and stepped my left foot forward. I then hooked my right knee into the back of his knee and heaved forward, throwing the man to the ground below me. With a loud thud, he hit the ground and I was instantly upon him. My left knee pinned his arm at the bicep, and my right leg acted as balance while I held his other arm with my own. Using my free arm, I began choking him with my full body weight pressed onto his neck.
"Now's not the time to be checking my pecker. I think you have more pressing matters, and don't you even think about biting my junk!" I hissed while applying more pressure to his neck. Though the man struggled, with more strength than I would've anticipated, I held him firm to the floor as his face turned cherry red.
Then I dawned on me. I recognized this guy. "I'm going to release pressure on your neck, and you're going to tell me who sent you through the Void-Space gateway." I demanded with another Idea as to what could've transported me here. The stranger nodded in response, and I slowly released just enough pressure to return oxygen and blood to his brain. "Go on then."
"Okay." He replied with a sigh, and another glance at my junk. "I don't know about a Void-space gate thing... but I... I was sent here to stop something messing with the parallel universes, now could you get your junk away from me?" He asked with visible disdain.
Another Universe you say. Well, It wouldn't be the first time I was in another universe, however, I didn't remember what the dimensional shift looked like. It took a minute before I replied, simply out of pure deliberation whether I bought his story or not. "First, because it concerns me the most, I don't exactly have clothes, and I can't afford you breaking free, so deal with it. Second, were you that naked dude from the Void-Space gate? The-um... The giant white room." I said with growing wonder about this man.
Before the man replied, he let out an almost bored sigh. "Whatever, there are clothes in the cabin, and yeah, I guess I was the guy from the white room... I'm guessing we're here for the same reason though?. . . To stop the one screwing with the universes." He added, not really seeming to know jack shit about what he was saying… not that I knew much more than my speculations.
"Kid, I don't know where you come from, but it's a bit late for that." I replied moments before releasing the man, followed by walking into the cabin for clothes: A pillowcase would do, I just wanted something to cover my junk. First thing was to check the dresser. "You took everything BUT the underwear!" I shouted with annoyance upon opening the last drawer.
"Well I got here first, so suck it up princess, it's better than nothing!" He shouted in response.
Besides the underwear, the only thing that was left in the dinky shack was a bed with a sheet on it. Still better than underpants alone I suppose. Within about two minutes, I'd ripped a hole in one section and tied the rest into what boiled down to a dress. Not a single word came out of my mouth as I exited the cabin with a deathly glare. The stranger's response was a stifled a laugh as I continued down the path that connected to the one I came from.
"Hey where are you going?" He asked while watching me wander off.
"Somewhere else." I snipped with vexation, not bothering to tell him about the footprints I saw on the trail before me.
"Fine, beats hanging around here." I heard him grumble.
I remained silent as the man caught up to me, simply from not wanting to interact with anyone.
"Why did you end up here then?" The man inquired upon reaching my position.
I thought about it for a few seconds, debating if I should delve into how I died. He must've been sent here in a similar fashion if I saw him in the Void-space gateway, but if he didn't know what Void-space was… "How far into the stars have you traveled?" I asked.
In response, the man looked at me with slight confusion. "I never left Earth, except for here… why?"
"I mean, how far has your species explored space? And it's to help me determine something." I clarified.
"Well... I don't know, before the war we went to the moon, I guess..." He answered.
Ahh, yet another universe claimed by war. As for only reaching the moon, a typical occurrence in the multiverse, nothing that would give me something to go on. "Hmm… good to know."
I could tell be the way he looked at me that he was completely dumbfounded by my answer. "Okay... why did any of that matter? I just wanted to know where you came from."
"It's trivial. And for where I came from... it doesn't matter anymore." I replied glumly.
"Mhmmm… Don't suppose you know how to get back to our own universes?"
"Also trivial." I said just before stopping to face the stranger. "Listen, Kid. I'm sure you know a little bit about how you got here. Well let me tell you something you don't know. What sent you here isn't your friend, it will manipulate your emotions and impersonate those you love most. You may think you want to go back, but you're innocently ignorant to the world around you, and what a hell it really is." I snipped just before turning back to the large hill before me. "You're better off disappearing." I added, fully knowing what horrors could possibly lie ahead. Poor kid, probably doesn't know more than an infinitesimal portion of the full story about his travel here. Pretty hypocritical, I know. BUT, at least I knew what the Guardians really were.
What the man said next left me in wonder, wonder of how many screws were loose. With a shake of his head, he grumbled. "By the moon." Moment's later, he turned to me with a glare and odious words. "I think you can get me back home, so when I'm done you best have a way off this rock, or I'll strangle you with your bed sheet."
"… I'm very frightened, oh please don't hurt me." I sarcastically begged with trembling hands. "Why do you even think I can get you home?" I added.
"I don't know, you knew about the Void gate thing." Yep, he officially knows nothing about inter-dimensional travel.
"I do know about that, don't I... Doesn't matter, I can't make it without a specific material, and unless this universe has colon... nevermind. I probably can't make the machine. So congratulations, unless what sent you takes you back, you're stuck." I said with a forced grin.
"Hmmm, I see."
As we pressed up the steeper and steeper incline, I could see that the top was only twenty or thirty meters away, which incited me to ask a question. "So, think we're in the middle of nowhere, of there's a colony just over the mountain? I asked just before pulling myself up a five foot ledge in our path. "Personally, I think we're a few days out from civilization."
"…. I guess a small town on the other side, should be able to find some clothes there." He replied.
"And I was just starting to like the bed sheet." I said. Something crossed my mind after a few seconds of silence, prompting me to ask the man another question. "What's your name? Also, are you special in some way, it's not normal for someone to be sent to another universe?" I asked.
"Names Dexios, and the rest is trivial." He mocked. "And you?"
What a strange name, 'Dexios' perhaps it means something else in his universe. As for him saying 'it's trivial', perhaps just a joke, perhaps not. "The name's Elliot... I'm sure if we don't end up killing each other we'll share our secrets. For instance, you mumbled 'By the moon'. Either you're an idiot that thinks the moon is God, or..." I replied as I tailed off into deep thought. What if a Guardian revealed itself as a God of the moon, that would require some interesting manipulation of the mind to make that seem real. The question is, What kind of apparition would the woman call herself, and how brainwashed is this fellow if that's the case.
"Mhmm," He muttered, "Does it really matter if the moon is my 'God' or not?"
"No, not really. I just have a certain eye for the smallest of details." I replied moments before cresting the hilltop. "Well, looks like you won." I said with a gaze to a quaint little town surrounded by mountain ranges.
Before Dexios replied, I saw a shit-eating grin form on his face, probably from winning the bet. "And what about you... I mean, if it's true about being special to come here, what does that make you?" He asked.
"An ancient relic, nothing more, nothing less." I replied while looking down at my palms, remembering the day that Rachel cursed me with a power I could feel running throughout my body, but could not use.
"I see..." Dexios replied while staring at the town before us. "Wonder if they speak English…" He mumbled.
"Even if they don't, I can speak most languages known to my people and I have a knack for learning languages quickly, so if it really comes to it, I'll just kidnap someone and listen to their speech for a few days." I replied while continuing down the hunting trail.
The man was taken aback by my sentence, simply watching my descent on trail for a moment. "Do that often, kidnap people?"
"There isn't really anyone around to kidnap, so yeah... I'll let you in on a secret; I don't really don't have a value for life, it's just a statistic for me. But, I do suppose not angering whatever local security would be advantageous." I replied casually.
"I find that hard to believe that life means so little to you, life is what humans value most, even if you are just some old relic..." He said, trailing off into thought.
"Believe what you will, it doesn't matter to me."
"Fair enough. I imagine we will be parting ways in the town anyways, I have a planet to save and a world to get back to, and you... have something to hide from here evidently." Dexios said.
"It's not that I have something to hide from anymore, I simply warned you of what you should hide from. But yes, we will most likely be parting ways for the foreseeable future, I need to see how drunk I can get, and you have to 'save the world'." I replied while creating a grand banner with my hands.
"That does sound like a better plan, but how are you going to get drunk with no cash?" He asked.
"Duh, I'll just steal either the money, or the vodka." I said with a 'duh' hand gesture.
"Yeah, well after dealing with you all day, I think I need a drink too." He said with a sigh of longing.
"Okay, since I want to be able to go back to the bar, I'm just going to rob people. I propose a bet, whomever collects the most cash get the first round free."
"You're on." Dexios said with a smile. He probably has some kind of natural advantage over me if one of the Guardians coerced him into thinking it was God. Me, all I had was immense knowledge and zilch for morals. If I still had control over my powers, I'd be able to rob the town with my mind, hell, I could bring hell down on them if I had control anymore.
My plan was simple, first knock someone out and take their clothes. Second, find someone of wealthy appearance and force them to withdraw money from an Automatic Teller Machine. The risk would be increased from a simple mugging, but the payout would be massively higher if I pulled it off. Then again, I could also find some well off home and threaten the family into getting me the money, then just bury them in an eight foot hole, head first. "Ehh, I'll decide when that comes around. I need clothes either way." I thought while looking at my bed sheet.
"Ground rules; When the sun sets under that mountain-" I said while pointing to a two pronged peak. "We stop and reconvene at that tall building with the sword. Other than that, anything goes." I said while pointing to a building with a sword sticking out of a single spire.
"Works for me." Dexios said with a nod.
"Very well. See you in… three hours." I said while holding out my hand to the sun and horizon to determine the sunset.
A/N: Let me know if you like the idea of a shared universe, and be sure to check out Dexios' version of the story, it was quite humorous in my opinion.