Erath S21, 27/7/2015
It was summer of 2015, July 27th, 02:52. The night was clear and chilly, the sky full of stars. Or more precisely, about 13 thousand distant blazing balls of gas that could be seen through the mostly nitrogen atmosphere of this planetary body. The planet was passing through a trail of debris left behind by a comet. They burned in the air, as they followed the irresistible, inescapable pull of gravity. The indigenous life-form calls them 'falling stars'. In this particular case, they might add 'bloody lots of'. Most of these beings would however, never see this occurrence, as the meteors are lost to them in the lights their settlements produce. Ironically, most of them would think 'tis impossibly beautiful.
******
A rain of stars above its head, the creature walked slowly up a hill through a golden wheat field. The 'humans', as the creature knew they called themselves, planted these grasses for seeds, which they subsequently processed and fed upon. Digestion of material was not an unknown method of nourishment to the creature, but it failed to see the appeal. It did however, see a certain appeal in the roughly homogenous area of the dry plants as it danced in the wind. The wind here was strange. It felt somehow round and phlegmatic, even in the fiercest storm. Now, it was restless, laying at moments, waking at others. Each time it woke it brought up the dry smell of wheat. From time to time the chirr of a lonely cricket penetrated the quiet.
The creature came to a halt when it reached the top of the hill. It was a serpentine being, long tail, two front and two hind legs, a gracile head adorned with rilles and whiskers - as was the most of its body. And four obsidian eyes that never blinked. The dark night would all but hide that the creature's body reflected light like a metallic object. The creature adopted this form long ago, as it seemed easily understandable to most sentient life-forms it knew. It was waiting.
According to the information the creature had, it was currently located in the middle of a continent known as 'Evropa', in one of the higher-set state territories, that the humans seemed to maintain. Looking around, there was a black road beneath the hill, there were coniferous forests. And there were fields. The landscape was irregularly shaped in waves; hills similar to this one. The creature sat down. It felt the soil beneath its feet and a pinch of cold, smelt the fungi from the forest and heard the water stream somewhere below. It observed the details of a straw of grass alien to the ones around. It counted the average frequency of meteor falls. And it kept on finding new objects of interest while it was waiting.
Finally, it excitedly threw its tail up into the air and let it slam the ground. Up in the sky, among the meteors, there was something significantly larger falling down. The creature shivered. Maybe this is a terrible mistake. Still, it's not too late to think it through.
The burning object was falling down in an erratic line.
******
The only thing he could be aware of was pain. It hurt. It burned. So hot. He tried desperately to slow down the fall. But the thin membrane of his wings was charred. He was doomed from the very first moment he entered the atmosphere of this world and he knew it. The air burned through his scales and started stripping the flesh away, like a ferocious beast. He let out a scream, filled with hopeless pain. It was lost in flames, hungrily licking his body. Instinctively he inhaled. Blazing gasses burned his lungs. Pain engulfed him all over again, just when he didn't think that it could hurt more. His eyes were forcibly opened and evaporated. His body twisted in agony of indescribable pain. He wished from the depth of his soul that he would die soon. But he didn't. His life-support wouldn't let him die until he was absolutely unsustainable. It was a fiery eternity. The end wasn't even hot. It was cold, but none the better. It was lonely and frustrating. Yes, that is death.
******
The creature stepped on its hind legs, agitated. Too late it sensed the death of a sentient. It waited until the dragon's body hit the field before it. Though his technology failed him up in the stratosphere, it protected his body from destructive impact now, when it didn't even matter anymore. The creature was puzzled. It knew that kethean technology didn't fail just like that. It tilted its head and examined the corpse. It was burned so badly that the scales lost integrity when it touched them. They were turned to ashes and blown away. Dragon. Kethean military seal. Probably male.
The creature didn't like this; the necessity that arose before it. It needed some of what he knew. Telepathy was nothing difficult to it, but no-one liked looking in the mind of a dead being. And this one was very dead.
It touched the charred body and looked for remnants of his sentience. The creature caught them easily. Burning, falling. Much harder was getting past his death. It simply rushing backwards in his memories, could tear his mind apart - he has just died in a horrible way and dead sentience is a fragile thing. The creature took a deep breath. It had to obediently live through his last moments, feeling every second of it just as he did. Finally the cold. The dragon's mind tried to lead the creature back into the flames, but it didn't let that happen. It went deep into his fading memories. They felt pale, distant and almost unreachable. Only the fiery hell he experienced was leaking through uncomfortably close and real. The creature posed question for identity. The dragon's memories flowed before it to create a metaphor; an image of what he may very well have looked before he died. The data was falling to corruption - the memories were fading. He was speaking meaningless pieces of information, his voice was resonating and glitching; he'll fade away soon. The creature didn't hesitate any longer.
"Commands to state. Query for: Mission. Located in: Near past."
"Kethea is- ... faaiiling. Time-warp identified aAttack. The kin dying. Find th.e Lord Conscii! Bring help! Squad dead-- Time-wwwarp trespasszion. Find th Lord! Hol~d your law,, Llord!"
"Commands to state. Query for: Time-warp attack. Specifically: Form thereof. Located in: Present Kethea."
"Kethean enerrgy supplies failing. Kethea hazz faaallen. Kin dyin'g! It belongs too the Lords."
"Commands to see. Query for: Present Kethea."
The dead metaphor before the creature fell apart. Though it was visibly trying to reassemble itself, it was burning. It won't answer anymore. For a moment torn memories have taken over the creature's mind.
******
Chaos. Everything was failing. The structure above them was about to fall. The dragons around them were either dead or trying to get out. He looked at his squad leader. There was no doubt in her face, only determination."The base is over. This is the last leave. Mission is to find the Conscii Lord! Find Ar'saathe! Bring her back here! Let's go!" He heard himself accept the command and take off with the others.
******
Kethea. Before any of this happened. A beautiful erana, one of his kind. Flying away. The light of the bright Star twinkled on her wings. He couldn't see her very well against the sun. It's a shame...
His eyes closed.
******
The creature couldn't see anything after that, but meaningless scraps of memories. The dragon's mind withered, it was decaying. Dying. This felt strange to the creature. Kethean dragons used their technology to call for the minds of their dead. The planet lost power. It won't work. He will die here forever. The creature didn't even know his name. It found itself breathing heavily, exhausted and unsettled.
"I'm sorry, dragon."
Ar'saathe. So they knew about her. And apparently, so did someone else. Well, that ruled out any 'thinking through'. She would have to step forward as Ar'saathe, Lord Conscii. She was a she - also something the creature adopted because most sentient life-forms understood it well. She looked up. The meteors falling through the sky. Burning. Like the dragon. But that was far away.
Down here, the wind woke, chilling but pleasant. The wheat rustled. The forest responded in whispering. The cricket chirruped to the sound of a distant water stream. She took a breath of that nice nitrogen air,... looked at the corpse and into the distance.
"Planet Erath S21, then? A bad copy. It's nice here. You picked out a nice place to die, dragon."
******
A FEW NOTES, a.k.a. for the curious and the less gifted.
------'Evropa': Obviously the creature didn't do all of its homework and didn't look for information all around the world, otherwise it would know most people call it Europe.
------"It hurt. It burned.": This proves once and for all that dragons are not very well fire-proofed. Take this shocking revelation and write a shocking article for a shockingly shameless tabloid with a shockingly huge three-inch title: "DRAGONS NOT FIREPROOF!!! OMGOMG!!! TROLLOLOLOL" And that will make it empirically proven.
------"Kethean enerrgy supplies failing.": Kethean dragons have brilliant technology that never fails. That said, they over-overuse it (hmm, what a great word). So in case you're wondering; If the attacker figured out a way to make it stop working, he doesn't have to do anything else. Just sit back comfortably and wait for all of Kethea to die horribly. Mwa.Ha.Ha.
------"... A beautiful erana ...":Dragons of Kethea call the females of their kin 'eranas' much like humans call their females 'women'. The 'why' is very simple; I don't like to call them 'dragonesses'. Look at the word to find out why.
------"Lord Conscii": In this realm, the sentient beings that evolved first got to change it a bit. So, being greedy, they chose to keep that power. Which wasn't entirely stupid, since it prevented the later real ugly races from getting any cake. Anyways, these earlier races are called the Lords. Lords Conscii are known for telepathy, featuring mind-reading, mind-control and Lord's-mind-control. Terms and condition apply.
******
A rain of stars above its head, the creature walked slowly up a hill through a golden wheat field. The 'humans', as the creature knew they called themselves, planted these grasses for seeds, which they subsequently processed and fed upon. Digestion of material was not an unknown method of nourishment to the creature, but it failed to see the appeal. It did however, see a certain appeal in the roughly homogenous area of the dry plants as it danced in the wind. The wind here was strange. It felt somehow round and phlegmatic, even in the fiercest storm. Now, it was restless, laying at moments, waking at others. Each time it woke it brought up the dry smell of wheat. From time to time the chirr of a lonely cricket penetrated the quiet.
The creature came to a halt when it reached the top of the hill. It was a serpentine being, long tail, two front and two hind legs, a gracile head adorned with rilles and whiskers - as was the most of its body. And four obsidian eyes that never blinked. The dark night would all but hide that the creature's body reflected light like a metallic object. The creature adopted this form long ago, as it seemed easily understandable to most sentient life-forms it knew. It was waiting.
According to the information the creature had, it was currently located in the middle of a continent known as 'Evropa', in one of the higher-set state territories, that the humans seemed to maintain. Looking around, there was a black road beneath the hill, there were coniferous forests. And there were fields. The landscape was irregularly shaped in waves; hills similar to this one. The creature sat down. It felt the soil beneath its feet and a pinch of cold, smelt the fungi from the forest and heard the water stream somewhere below. It observed the details of a straw of grass alien to the ones around. It counted the average frequency of meteor falls. And it kept on finding new objects of interest while it was waiting.
Finally, it excitedly threw its tail up into the air and let it slam the ground. Up in the sky, among the meteors, there was something significantly larger falling down. The creature shivered. Maybe this is a terrible mistake. Still, it's not too late to think it through.
The burning object was falling down in an erratic line.
******
The only thing he could be aware of was pain. It hurt. It burned. So hot. He tried desperately to slow down the fall. But the thin membrane of his wings was charred. He was doomed from the very first moment he entered the atmosphere of this world and he knew it. The air burned through his scales and started stripping the flesh away, like a ferocious beast. He let out a scream, filled with hopeless pain. It was lost in flames, hungrily licking his body. Instinctively he inhaled. Blazing gasses burned his lungs. Pain engulfed him all over again, just when he didn't think that it could hurt more. His eyes were forcibly opened and evaporated. His body twisted in agony of indescribable pain. He wished from the depth of his soul that he would die soon. But he didn't. His life-support wouldn't let him die until he was absolutely unsustainable. It was a fiery eternity. The end wasn't even hot. It was cold, but none the better. It was lonely and frustrating. Yes, that is death.
******
The creature stepped on its hind legs, agitated. Too late it sensed the death of a sentient. It waited until the dragon's body hit the field before it. Though his technology failed him up in the stratosphere, it protected his body from destructive impact now, when it didn't even matter anymore. The creature was puzzled. It knew that kethean technology didn't fail just like that. It tilted its head and examined the corpse. It was burned so badly that the scales lost integrity when it touched them. They were turned to ashes and blown away. Dragon. Kethean military seal. Probably male.
The creature didn't like this; the necessity that arose before it. It needed some of what he knew. Telepathy was nothing difficult to it, but no-one liked looking in the mind of a dead being. And this one was very dead.
It touched the charred body and looked for remnants of his sentience. The creature caught them easily. Burning, falling. Much harder was getting past his death. It simply rushing backwards in his memories, could tear his mind apart - he has just died in a horrible way and dead sentience is a fragile thing. The creature took a deep breath. It had to obediently live through his last moments, feeling every second of it just as he did. Finally the cold. The dragon's mind tried to lead the creature back into the flames, but it didn't let that happen. It went deep into his fading memories. They felt pale, distant and almost unreachable. Only the fiery hell he experienced was leaking through uncomfortably close and real. The creature posed question for identity. The dragon's memories flowed before it to create a metaphor; an image of what he may very well have looked before he died. The data was falling to corruption - the memories were fading. He was speaking meaningless pieces of information, his voice was resonating and glitching; he'll fade away soon. The creature didn't hesitate any longer.
"Commands to state. Query for: Mission. Located in: Near past."
"Kethea is- ... faaiiling. Time-warp identified aAttack. The kin dying. Find th.e Lord Conscii! Bring help! Squad dead-- Time-wwwarp trespasszion. Find th Lord! Hol~d your law,, Llord!"
"Commands to state. Query for: Time-warp attack. Specifically: Form thereof. Located in: Present Kethea."
"Kethean enerrgy supplies failing. Kethea hazz faaallen. Kin dyin'g! It belongs too the Lords."
"Commands to see. Query for: Present Kethea."
The dead metaphor before the creature fell apart. Though it was visibly trying to reassemble itself, it was burning. It won't answer anymore. For a moment torn memories have taken over the creature's mind.
******
Chaos. Everything was failing. The structure above them was about to fall. The dragons around them were either dead or trying to get out. He looked at his squad leader. There was no doubt in her face, only determination."The base is over. This is the last leave. Mission is to find the Conscii Lord! Find Ar'saathe! Bring her back here! Let's go!" He heard himself accept the command and take off with the others.
******
Kethea. Before any of this happened. A beautiful erana, one of his kind. Flying away. The light of the bright Star twinkled on her wings. He couldn't see her very well against the sun. It's a shame...
His eyes closed.
******
The creature couldn't see anything after that, but meaningless scraps of memories. The dragon's mind withered, it was decaying. Dying. This felt strange to the creature. Kethean dragons used their technology to call for the minds of their dead. The planet lost power. It won't work. He will die here forever. The creature didn't even know his name. It found itself breathing heavily, exhausted and unsettled.
"I'm sorry, dragon."
Ar'saathe. So they knew about her. And apparently, so did someone else. Well, that ruled out any 'thinking through'. She would have to step forward as Ar'saathe, Lord Conscii. She was a she - also something the creature adopted because most sentient life-forms understood it well. She looked up. The meteors falling through the sky. Burning. Like the dragon. But that was far away.
Down here, the wind woke, chilling but pleasant. The wheat rustled. The forest responded in whispering. The cricket chirruped to the sound of a distant water stream. She took a breath of that nice nitrogen air,... looked at the corpse and into the distance.
"Planet Erath S21, then? A bad copy. It's nice here. You picked out a nice place to die, dragon."
******
A FEW NOTES, a.k.a. for the curious and the less gifted.
------'Evropa': Obviously the creature didn't do all of its homework and didn't look for information all around the world, otherwise it would know most people call it Europe.
------"It hurt. It burned.": This proves once and for all that dragons are not very well fire-proofed. Take this shocking revelation and write a shocking article for a shockingly shameless tabloid with a shockingly huge three-inch title: "DRAGONS NOT FIREPROOF!!! OMGOMG!!! TROLLOLOLOL" And that will make it empirically proven.
------"Kethean enerrgy supplies failing.": Kethean dragons have brilliant technology that never fails. That said, they over-overuse it (hmm, what a great word). So in case you're wondering; If the attacker figured out a way to make it stop working, he doesn't have to do anything else. Just sit back comfortably and wait for all of Kethea to die horribly. Mwa.Ha.Ha.
------"... A beautiful erana ...":Dragons of Kethea call the females of their kin 'eranas' much like humans call their females 'women'. The 'why' is very simple; I don't like to call them 'dragonesses'. Look at the word to find out why.
------"Lord Conscii": In this realm, the sentient beings that evolved first got to change it a bit. So, being greedy, they chose to keep that power. Which wasn't entirely stupid, since it prevented the later real ugly races from getting any cake. Anyways, these earlier races are called the Lords. Lords Conscii are known for telepathy, featuring mind-reading, mind-control and Lord's-mind-control. Terms and condition apply.