Side Story: The Departure of Abrus

“Stay close, little ones. Don’t drift too far,” The great earth spirit said as it and the surviving spirits went, the only one with the will to try and manage the rest as they travelled through the void, the weight of what they’d lost heavy on all of them in the face of their first true disaster.

Their home was gone and their people dead, the invaders who’d come to claim it having made sure enough of that that by the time the third swarm had arrived they’d had no choice but to leave.

Their numbers which had seemed endless from their eons of peace had been brought down to a few scant survivors as the great one tried to be strong, not just for its own affinity but for all of them as the rest of its kin were left reeling from the blow. What good were they as guardians when a real threat had arrived to put them in their place? It was worse than humbling, it was a devastation, with the cost higher than they’d ever expected to bear when those monsters had first arrived on their world.

At first a curiosity before growing to be an annoyance, not to the earth spirit or its kind but to the other life they shared the planet with, perhaps if they had been more proactive from the get-go when those monsters began eating their way across their world then things would have been different but they’d waited too long, not acting in earnest until the first of their kind died, with those beasts only growing stronger with each new arrival.

It was that exact sort of negligence that had doomed them and once two of the great ones had been killed as well it was clear enough that there was going to be no victory, the great earth spirit’s attention turning to the new great water and fire spirits who’d replaced the ones who’d been lost, the first retreating into themself while the second burned in quiet rage, each of them knowing that their existence meant the loss of one they’d loved before them.

All of the other great spirits were dealing with the loss as well, the pain of it leaving them no fit to guide those who loved them while reality itself stretched on forever.

For all of the misery it holds. It told itself. Space, time, if only the two of you… No, I suppose that even if you were both here it wouldn’t have changed much. Perhaps it’s better this way, I can at least imagine the two of you and all you’d left with as safe.

But what now? Live out between the stars forever? Possible but enough of our natures mean we’d despise the option. I’d despise the option. What we need is a world but…

But from what little it knew of the broader galaxy, were there any planets that would accept them? It wasn’t often but every now and then their home would be found by a passing void species, to be met with curiosity and interest for what seemed to be a unique nature based on what their visitors would say and the great one would never forget what the first one to ever arrive had told them. How much bigger the universe was than they’d thought and how much more full of life, with they themselves appearing to be some of the strangest among it.

Not energy beings like some of the star and void races would produce, nor physical like the life of his own world beyond his kin, instead being something else entirely and yet, that wasn’t the biggest thing to set them apart. They alone seemed to be an intelligence not designed by a higher power and if they did want to try to join a new world, they’d have to follow whatever rules the ones already ruling it set.

Or become invaders ourselves. The thought came to the front of its mind, only to immediately be dismissed. They were better than that but even if they weren’t, they couldn’t assume they’d win either. The earth spirit didn’t know for sure how powerful any god might be, even with the few encounters with them it’d had but it knew enough to know they were beyond itself. Maybe if they’d abandoned their home with the first invasion then they’d have the power to throw their weight around but as things were they felt powerless.

No, we'll continue to drift until we arrive somewhere. We’ll make a home and we'll make it work. We just need to pick a destination.

“There,” The great spirit said to the rest, picking a star in the sky out at random. “We’ll go to that one and if that doesn’t work then we’ll go to the next from there. We’ll find somewhere we can rebuild.”

As the only one in any shape to try and give orders, even the other great spirits listened, none of them aware of one small detail. Space was large and light traveled far, without a proper sense of that fact then at the speeds they were going, even thousands of years wouldn’t bring that particular destination in reach.

---

“Stop,” Life said, speaking up after a decade into their journey, not for any complaints about how long they’d travelled without any clear progress but for what it felt. “We’re passing close to a swarm.”

“One of the void races?”

“I don’t know what else it could be.”

“Alright, how should we handle this?” The earth spirit asked the rest, getting silence in return.

A few years weren’t enough to blunt the loss they’d been through, what they needed was someone to rely on with their focus turning to itself, looking for an answer as it made its choice.

“Alright, all of you wait here. I’ll go see if there’s anyone there I can communicate with.”

It didn’t seem like they had been noticed, at least no one came to meet it as it drifted through space, nor as the great one entered the swarm, taking it in as the spirit tried to work out which among it all were the sapients.

A handful of experiences with void races wasn’t enough for it to properly judge their behaviour but one commonality he’d seen in the past and was seeing again there was that ecosystems would act more like organisms, moving as one through space with predator and prey alike intermingled in a vast area. It felt certain there’d be rogue bits of life breaking off but they were in essence islands of life in an empty sea, clinging to each other for all of the benefits it held.

With evolution free of gravity allowing for forms unseen in any terrestrial design, based on how they moved the great earth spirit was sure it’d found the sapients among them, long, shelled tubes blinking with light, possibly how they’d communicate but not something it could determine itself. Only a few seemed to notice the spirit’s presence in its more humble state, not advertising that it was there in either action or mana which told the great one that their mana sense was as primitive as the other examples it’d seen in the past.

And I don’t have it in me to learn how they speak which means I need to hope that their god-

<Curious, what manner of thing is sneaking through my flock?> A voice spoke in its mind, cutting off the thought while giving the earth spirit the very being it had been hoping for as it answered.

“A traveler looking for a place to rest,” It said back, knowing it was speaking to a god. “The void races I’ve met in the past have usually been willing to talk, I was hoping that yours would hold true to that trend.”

<So you sneak into my home?>

“This is how I exist, I can’t help if your people didn’t notice but I’ve done nothing but watch them.”

<Hmm, true enough I suppose. What type of creature though? You seem more akin to a ghost than anything else I’ve seen in my travels.>

“The first void god I’d met named my people spirits if you need something, we’re simply the mana of this realm.”

<Simply, as if that’s some common thing?> The god chuckled, the sense of warning when it first spoke gone. <But I suppose there’s no way for any being to know how strange they might be unless given the chance to compare to another so tell me spirit, what was it you wanted to talk about?>

“...My home, my world was conquered. I was hoping that one who travels the stars might know of a place that I and the rest of my surviving kin can settle.”

<You’re terrestrial?> It asked. <I wouldn’t have guessed. It doesn’t seem like you have to be.>

“I don’t but it’s a matter of comfort. I won’t feel whole without a world below me.”

<And conquered too.> The god went on. <It seems no inhabited world is going to be spared that hunger.>

“Hmm? What are you talking about?”

<If it’s the same group that I know of them yours isn’t the only world that’s felt their touch, you won’t find any who make their home in the void getting too close to any stars either. No need to draw too much attention from whatever’s decided to claim each rock this galaxy holds but by the point I’d stopped and what I’d heard from others, I’d say half of every inhabitable system’s been lost, with only more to come. If you’re looking for somewhere safe, it likely won’t be so for long.>

It was an answer that felt more like an attack. It had never considered that they weren’t one-off victims and to know it was so widespread was only worse. Was that it then? No place was safe, they’d need to accept their spot in the stars and simply bear with it as the horrors they’d gone through were repeated on countless worlds?

It hammered home their defeat as strongly as when they’d fled and the earth spirit almost collapsed under the weight of it, something the god looking in his mind could easily pick up, offering it a small glimmer of hope in the end.

<But others have survived.> The deity said, sounding like it was trying its best to comfort as it pressed into the spirit’s mind more deeply, creating a map in the great one’s head. <I can make no promises they’ll still be there by the time you might arrive but at the very least, a new planet has been built among them, taking in refugees from all worlds that have fallen. I can say nothing of anywhere else but if you go there, you should at least be welcome.>

“Welcome to what? Wait until that world falls as well?”

<Or welcome to fight back. I won’t tell you what to do, you are not mine and the consensus among the rest of us in the void is to not interfere, the few of us who’ve already tried were lost despite impressive levels of power to bring, but if you need a new home and allies to go with it then there’s nowhere else for you.>

Was that what he needed? Allies who’d all lost, just as it and the rest had? It could see its people and knew they needed something, could that be a purpose to reignite the spark they’d lost?

…Does it matter? Whether it could be or not, it can be home, at least for a time. And if it seems that world will fall too, well, as long as we don’t grow too attached, we at least could survive.

Cold and callus but that was what his people needed, not that he was concerned. The idea that some new world might have a draw that would make him want to stay for its downfall felt ridiculous and at least for the time, it really was the best option they’d gotten.

“Thank you,” The great spirit finally said. “I won’t forget this favour.”

<No need, with the galaxy falling around you, a map is nothing. Just do your best to survive. A species like yours, I can’t help but imagine that the universe is richer for its existence.>

The conversation finished, the earth spirit parted, back to its waiting people with a true destination and a way to get there clear. Whether it would really be a home they’d fight for was something they’d all need to decide but hopefully, there’d be time enough to do just that.

Author’s note

So here we are and hopefully this chapter didn’t feel too clunky. I was trying to write it from the perspective of Abrus before he’d named or bothered gendering himself since I’ve said multiple times that that’s just something they do for mortal convenience but as someone thoroughly mortal myself, not using a name when addressing a character and just having what it is as a descriptor was very apparent during writing. Still, hope you all enjoyed