The Nightfall That Befell Arca (Chapter 3)

Soft colors still endured in the rotation between sunsets, between the turn of night and the oncoming turn of light of day. All the haze softened the atmosphere and it was needed. All quiet forests and surrounding landscapes were still in a state of healing, in a way. But nothing the darkness of past events shadowed the light. It was felt everywhere.

The embattled dwelling area of well-built structures that blended with the surrounding environment of the woods and nearby bodies of water, had all but been destroyed by the forces of the servants of Dokk the Darkness. This malignant entity had embodied an army that came from a cloud of choking smoke and ash. As if flown in from hostile worlds of volcanic wrath.

Nackendara and Ackea stood in a small, circular room of a small dwelling. Dark with shadows and the sounds of explosions outside. Their eyes filled with dread and their faces showing the effects of a constant line of fear of the oncoming death and destruction that they knew they could not overthrow. Dark shadows encompassed their eyes and the only sparkle there were their tears. Their voices wincing in pain.

The dark landscape lit only by the event of a drawn away sun, eclipsing behind the presence of the planetary entity that appeared as a solid vast world of shadow was all the two sisters could see out of the window of their abode. The only way to survive the physical effects of hunger and thirst was to curse the darkness with all the energies they had left. Drained and near death, with tears heavy in their eyes and their faces collapsed knowing they'll be fighting this entity for what would appear to be ages into eons, they spoke of a way for their bodies to sleep in that circular room deep in the forests until some light could show again but the shadow overwhelmed Arca and the planet's power wouldn't be enough to sustain them as it would have been before. The instruments and coverings of what they gathered were cold and without any electricity of the grounding elements around them. The darkness of this evil presence was an illusion, it wasn't real, but it had gained so much substance from the conquering of Fiod's resources that it was able to project its evil through the evil will of Dokk the Darkness. The entity had been named and they knew what it was and terror was all that could be witnessed of it. Dokk brought death and an ending of any life that was remembered. Even if surviving the devastation, the way life was before was no longer the way life would be.

Dokk the Darkness was first embodied in what was mistaken as one of the people before the fall of Fiod's oldest empire and that was all the Arcans knew about this nightmare creature from the abyssal drop below their star system.

Knowing they could not sleep in the way they had desired until the evil could be conquered, Nackendara and Ackea traveled away toward the inner forests that lay on the other side of a vast stretch of flat lands. For a while they set out to find the passage to the tunnels of Mossy Way. It was a deserted landscape they traveled across without any plan or hope. And in the skies they saw a glimmer at first but it stretched into a longer stream of light and then spilling out light from its being it shone across the sky. Like a sharp beam it pierced the sky and slowed to a stop and rounded into a small globe that lit the grounds with a soft bluish, pure light. But the witness account of all that happened had to be voiced even if through silent anguish. Nothing good to mention. Pain and suffering they uttered and recalled. Someone had to know besides them, the effect of death, and dying in perpetual death and how it was all a lie. The light of the object stayed with them as they traveled. The message the two women silently sent was understood, but they continued on and the light cloaked itself to mirror the sky. They made their way to the secluded forests where the realm of the sanctuary was still intact. It felt empty because not many had made the journey to this hidden kingdom.

It's all a trick as Nackendara had once told Ackea. None of it could be real, it's not how Arca would have it. She spoke those words in a broken tone of sadness knowing that all of it was happening anyway. Nackendara fought alongside the rest, but the darkness of Dokk's servants was too much and the people of the small village they escaped from were overthrown. In battle Nackendara was only so skilled, but not enough to shield all the defenseless. That skill was not an ability to anyone. They all moved at the same speed and rhythm as the invaders did. The upper hand was for the side with the numbers. Which is why the dark servants of this evil attacked small areas of a populace at a time. Some of the stronger male inhabitants were slain and fell under the blades of the invasion. Nackendara being struck many times while trying to block or defend those being attacked. The memory of this evil played over and over in her memory. Even after all this time.

What was the foretelling of the ships from the skies? This was something Nackendara's companion survivors would ask her while she would stand and gaze in the hidden fortress sanctuary of tree and stone, staring at nothing but the movements of the wild. Nackendara never felt Arca's connection. Feeling as if only a living witness for archival purposes only.

The legend of the ships was that they'd come to all the surrounding worlds. They remain somewhere but unseen. We are, she would say, connected to everything, yet belong to nothing. In her case, she came from out there, a solar child. Looking out over the vast star field in the sky, she'd felt that connection but one that was viciously severed. As if there was no going back, but she never wanted to be away from. Whatever it was that she felt from beyond her experiences of life on Arca.

Arca would have never allowed the darkness of death to descend like it had. That world had fought against it with everything. The forest outside the watery borders south of where the survivors dwelt now was starting to grow again. Even after the winds uprooted and shattered it. Even though the vile dark of Dokk had placed spines of steel in the ground like poisoned spears. Nackendara paused to look out over the long range of the pathway that lay hidden to all outside eyes. She uttered softly that Arca still fought to survive, the spirit of what dreams and hopes were still harbored in the people's hearts. That remained, but very muted.

All the people and the various places of population of Arca had been so isolated for so long that any gathering would be a force that sent out energies that would surely alert any dark forces to it. Arca and the people of Arca were forced to give up so much. But the spirit of fighting and revenge against the evil that had been done was strong and that was something that could not be measured or honed in on. The energies were almost identical and elusive. An evil entity could not read with any certainty, the wrath of the people who were invaded as it was the same energies that flowed from that entity's own dark works and deeds. Blending like smoke into the sky and fading into nothingness. A power that could not be seized. And because of that alone, the people of Arca began a subtle accumulation of this very need for avenging all that was lost to them. To use the same power against their foe. It would be that energy alone that a sizable force against the enemy could be organized. But all on soft whispers spoken, slight vibrations of the drums and tones in the forests, and energies of living in a state of constant waking and awareness.

As disconnected to Arca and the surrounding worlds that most perceived, Nackendara and in fact, all the people left, were endowed with the power of their world. It was once so powerful that fighting off something as horrid as the entity Dokk would have been an ease. But a shadow had settled long ago from something small in the distance at first. The world's own creatures were much-loved and cared for with the utmost of honor and loyalty. But the shadow sought to take all the lives of everything in Arca's nature and absorb the energies of the pain the lost souls would generate. The shadow formed in the beginning on the world of Fiod and became as one of the people. In appearance only but still unlike any living being on the planet. The very darkness of this being was so treacherous that it would lead others into falsehoods and betray those who trusted they would be safe, only to find that their lives would end and any plans to conquer the strange presence of something that never belonged to the world but against it entirely and seeking the destruction of it. So it was that Arca experienced the same apprehension and recoiled from it. In doing so, the entity embodied as Dokk would begin massive war efforts against Arca, and because his evil was already interfering with Arca's own natural defenses, the people were weakened as a result. But the planet's powers were still building a defense from the energy of the core sun. Become one with the grounds, the rivers, and the trees. Rise up anyway. Arcans began to repeat the saying from long ago.

The vibrations began shifting, all off-balance, and the sounds of Dokk's dark curses and intent to harm and kill were now what Arca absorbed and itself was wounded by. As clouds from the grounds, a dreary haze from the skies, and the linear points of geometric travel lines scrambled to lower and burrow into other routes and planes. The worlds themselves had been conquered earlier, unleashing death on the living who were before protected by the living hosts that were their own planets.

And while Arca had still so much of its strength intact for the very reason it traveled close enough to the core sun, having that connection, the mover in the night that still lingered upon Arca's surface chilled the air at times and drifted like a ship that lost its way only to be guided by the mere pull of the solar system's own rhythm and function. To be connected to everything but belong to nothing was the notion and belonging to any one thought, journey, or outcome was the impossibility. That it was even more impossible to belong to a given world when all the origins in and of itself were scattered bits of mass that at one time, also, had no vibration or movement. Having to be created and designed. Formed and set in motion of something else. The solid world of Arca now could claim its inhabitants as its own but all the living and all those that passed on now, were all still individual points of energy and all their own life-force. Worlds within souls. And it would take so many to pour knowledge into the grounds through sound and telepathy and draw back the reflections from what the planet might convey. A process that could take so long in time. And so many to sharpen the memory of the past they saw and lived through and focus that as a concentrated effort. And still the grounds and the mass of it could just absorb it and store everything for much more time. And although the mover in the night had all but disappeared from the world of Arca, the damage of its evil was carried on because of the terror that the people remembered. There was no erasing these past events.

It was difficult to know how the planets reacted to adversity, and the task of finding the answer had to be considered without upsetting any more of the balance of its own light while it endlessly absorbed the light of the suns.

Guided Only By Instinct (Chapter 4)

Zoic made extra standard test flights in the ship, from one end of Fiod to the other. Passing through the gates of day and the passage of night. All ship's functions were in excellent condition as he readied himself to fly toward the planet Arca. Not knowing what he'd find there since being invaded some time ago as his own world had been invaded by the treacherous and malignant Dokk.

He took in the sights of the glow of Fiod's light and mass as he flew further away. It had been a long time since he had seen these sights. The world below still appearing as wondrous as it did back then save for the marked differences on its surface. And the view of the darkness of empty space and the far off lit bodies that danced brilliantly. He had forgotten the feeling of how these planetary journeys awed him so much. Zoic was relieved that the magic of it all, still remained. His blue eyes sparkled with hope and reverence.

Soon the globe of Arca could be seen, small in his viewing window. While it looked as beautiful as he'd remembered it, something was different about it. The colors were not as vibrant and the land mass was changed in some locations. On his approach he found that the old port was still intact, however it was abandoned. The lights burned dim and they droned on in a pattern of a perpetual flicker. He met up with a lone keeper of the port who came up out of the shadows.

"You startled me." Zoic said in what he could remember of the speech they spoke on Arca.
"It's been a long time since we've had any ships grace the platforms of an Arcan space portal." The keeper said in a serene tone of voice. Zoic asked him his name and learned that is was Khom. An ancient name in the Arcan language meaning sentry. A watcher. Someone who was familiar with the ways and traditions of Zoic's home planet that shared the same beliefs and values.
"Tell me, Khom, how long has this place been dark? When was the last time a ship visited here?" Zoic wondered.
"Nigh on to about three solar cycles of the closest sun. Not much more than that. We called for back up when the invasion here was in full force. A few ships took some of the people to the planets on the outer orbital plane, beyond the Triad Worlds" Khom told Zoic.
"Were they from Cova?" Zoic asked.
"One was, but it would be out at Arcan 748 still. It never returned even when more were waiting to escape." Khom explained. "After there was no return of the ships, the darkness of Dokk began to dissipate. We could fight the remaining attacks but there's few of us now."
"Was it a large ship? The one from Cova?" Zoic seemed almost distraught as he asked.
"No. No, it was a small craft." Khom answered. Zoic was relieved. The ship he sought and the man he sought from Cova would still be on Cova.
Zoic looked up at the sky, and the nearby moon and the distant Fiod shone and looked so close that he still felt connected to his world, and the bluish and lavender colors from the moon and from his world, swirled in patches of the foggy air that permeated the surface of Arca. He'd forgotten how mystical this planet really was. He breathed it all in. A small tear fell down his cheek. Khom stood silently gazing at the ship. He stirred asking finally what Zoic was there for. He explained his recent journey to the Arch, which is legend to the inhabitants of all three worlds. Zoic explained his mission was a more of a spiritual one and that he was being guided solely by what the universe was speaking to him. Khom understood. Khom also understood that Zoic would have never come by ship were the celestial vibrations of life not at work here.

"I have waited for you then." Khom said at length. "There are five comrades I'd like you to meet. Come."

The two men walked on through the pathways of Arca's massive tree lines that would appear as mountains from the distance. And the vast spaces in between of shallow waters that in the dim light of the moon appeared as dark, still oceans. Zoic strained to see the landmass on the other sides of the waters and could barely make any out. But he saw that the waters were still as he remembered them. That their magic was still there. He felt a longing that was more pronounced here than back home. Arca would always be an alien world to him but a paradise that he could spend long amounts of time in and still feel at home. Arca was calming but elusive. That was its beauty. Its vibration. Its force in the light of the suns.

Finally they approached a grove that appeared very small at first until they stepped through and found that there were multiple passageways to other areas within the forests. A network of individual groves that appeared to go on forever. Small firelight dotted the trees and stumps bearing lamp lights shone brightly once their eyes adjusted. Lone torches made of iron and twine lined small paths through this strange realm. The grasses that carpeted the ground reflected the moisture in the air to appear as starlight all around them. Zoic smiled and knew this was the first place he needed to come before the voyage to Cova. His heart was at peace as was the ultimate sign that he was on the correct path.

Khom lead Zoic deeper into the forest sanctuary and brought him into a dwelling made entirely of twine and iron, with a covering of a lattice of leaves overhead to allow peeks of the moons and their light through at night's turn and sun's light during the day's turn. "I will bring my comrades shortly, rest and take nourishment and drink." Khom said as he offered Zoic food and water. "What do you call this mythical place?" Zoic asked. "Hidden Ground." Khom answered. Zoic smirked a little knowing that it would be that. He had forgotten how simplistic and straightforward the Arcans were.

After Zoic had refreshed and rested awhile under the mystical nature of his surroundings, he heard footsteps coming in to greet him. Standing, he greeted the four warrior souls who had survived the invasion of Dokk the Darkness. Zoic beheld Nackendara, Ackea, Deba, and Kould. He had forgotten how beautiful the people of Arca were. Their statures of strength and nobility. After greetings they all sat down to talk about things that had happened, and they thanked Zoic for traveling by ship to their world. Coming to them in a time of great need. As he was awestruck by them, they were, perhaps, all the more fascinated by him. A priest of old. A warrior elder.

They spoke long hours past the night turn and into the next night turn. They told Zoic of the secret gatherings of the people to undo the evils done to their world. Zoic spoke to them about needing their assistance as he alone could not undergo the mission his elders gave to him. He spoke of his elders who expected him to seek and to gather a team.

"While the nightmare of a darkness that rages over the worlds, and everything being torn apart that you built and loved, and everything you love is taken away as the brutality of evil does, you're in a survival state of being. A survival state of mind. You even sleep on your toes, ready to fight or run. You're set in a life of battle and you have no time to genuinely rest or think about anything being different. You're just surviving." Nackendara told Zoic.
Zoic eyes glinted with tears as he heard of all that happened to these people, and he blessed them with a spiritual bond to him and offered them his loyalty and promise to be there with them now that a plan was being made and underway.

"But whenever there might be an end to the suffering, doubt, and the impulse to jump up running, when there's an absence of dangers that you've been conditioned to face all the time, you still wake up in cold fear from nightmares of a life that you had lived for so long. You'll look over your shoulder at the slightest sound of approaching feet, even the wind or rains. You have the memory of a hellish life that everything you've fought for could still be taken away at any time if the evil of that malignant entity should manifest again. It's a shadow of death that assumed power from the emptiness of the spaces between galaxies. An evil so concentrated that it absorbed the lifeless void and has a will to make all as nothing." Nackendara spoke as if she was reliving the horror again and her voice seemed to trail off to almost a whisper. Her tears and sorrow were felt by the rest. They sat in silence, knowing that she spoke of the trauma that still lingered. Like a shadow that never truly went away.

At length, they all slept for a turn of day and a half turn of night. After the rest was satisfactory they set out with Zoic to show him the location that Nackendara and Ackea escaped from after the devastating loss of life there. The surface vehicle they used was the same one the women used to cross the landscape to the hidden sanctuary off the Mossy Way. It was a little beat up, the six wheeled, light-silver covered mobile traveler had seen better days. But it was operational and they didn't have time to fashion another.

Along the way, they had made several planned stops to gather further supplies. After the invasion, small shops had been set up as traveling points between locations of Arca, as the main routes were all but lost or unearthed and turned into rumble. They had brought enough crafted wares with them for trading and collected among other things, power conductors crafted from ore and dense silver rods made to regenerate power for ships when close enough to magnetic sources like planets and moons. When they arrived at the location of the dark event spoke of at Hidden Ground, there was still smoke rising from the grounds and collapsed structures. A few inhabitants still remained and had begun to rebuild what was left of their lives. Nackendara pointed out the man who lost his young son, and the expression of the man's face was a torment that broke the heart. Another couple of folk were introduced, and some who had lost everyone they loved as they survived on, while probably wishing they went with the now departed. Zoic's soul was saddened, he knew all too well what the evil of Dokk was capable of, and he had to go back to Hidden Ground just to shake the effects of seeing what had happened as it all mirrored what had happened on Fiod.

Nackendara held the hands of a few of the folk while they expressed their hopes, then she took the hand of Comok who had lost his son and with Zoic, they all prayed and signaled the need for guidance and the willpower to go on. To fight another day and to gain an answer to what could overthrow this evil and to finally destroy Dokk that had destroyed countless lives. As the people of Arca did thirst for justice and to avenge their dead and everything taken from them. "Once again, my friend, would you not be willing to come to Hidden Ground to heal your spirit for a while?" Khom asked Comok. "I stay here in case my son should send his essence, of whatever is left, to me. This would be the last place he'd have remembered of his life here. I don't want to be absent should there be any sign I might miss." Comok explained. Nackendara and Deba embraced Comok before walking back to their land mobile. The others gave Comok a hug and a way to communicate with them should he and his fellow villagers need passage to Mossy Way or to Hidden Ground.

When everything had been documented by Zoic and Khom's comrades were ready, they made their way to the old port where his ship awaited him and his new traveling companions. Khom spoke of coming with them, but he was a sentry for the old port. He knew there would be other ships arriving sometime in the future and he had to make ready. They would go to Cova to retrieve the larger ship that remained hidden there for so long and to seek a man that was written about by the scribes as having the knowledge to pilot the large space vessel. The newly assembled team of Zoic, Nackendara, Ackea, Kould, and Deba set out. Neither Deba or Ackea had ever been off world before and Kould and Nackendara, as well as Khom, had only been off world ages ago when they completed a small tour around Arca's moons. A sort of holiday celebration of a vaguely remembered event that used to happen on Arca when they still celebrated the anniversary of their moons days of creation, that they witnessed in long ago happier times.

Now they were flying away from their world, watching as it grew smaller and moving away from them. There were no words of sentiment. There were no thoughts to speak of. They quieted their senses and cleared their minds for what would be ahead of them. As uncertain as they all were, the spiritual aura of their souls were being slowly awakened by a sense that they were connected in this existence. That there was a hope they never truly felt before and it began to strengthen their sense of confidence. This was the instinct they once knew, and it was sharpening within each of them again.

The Depths And Layers Of Cova (Chapter 5)

A far off speck of blue and deep gray shone in the glint of the nearest sun. Zoic piloted the craft toward Cova as the others prepared for their journey on what would be a treacherous surface of ocean and chasms that lead far below the massive basins that held some of those oceans. Zoic explained to the small crew of what to expect and that there are ports there that will be safe for landing. Many of them still fully operational.

They flew in ever nearer to Cova and upon approaching the planet, the crew was quietly amazed at its mass and water flows. From high above the surface they could see how Cova's massive oceans blended together in some areas to form an ever flowing movement of deep waters between basin to basin. And the darkness that lay underneath, caught at a few glimpses seemed so ominous and unnerving. There was a whole world of people who lived beneath all that mass of incredible stone and sea. The elements of Cova's layers of crust made up of fire quartz, and lead iron, one of the elements that made all the planets of the system on par with the density of the nearest sun, was more abundant in Cova. The planet's very movement could be heard if one listened closely enough. With the solidity of the suns, and containing an energy that would never cease within, made it the stability the planet needed to hold the basins thousands of feet above the ground layer.

"Its gravitational pull will take some getting used to, so don't exert yourselves when adjusting to Cova." Zoic informed them.
"You said there was a large ship there?" Kould asked. "And that it was hidden, how is it hidden?"
"There's a path of a great mountain that separates two major ocean basins. It's said to be in a mountain alcove. It's an ancient ship that can be found by a man we will be seeking out on Cova. The name is Rainier. That's all I know for now." Zoic explained. His eyes focused on the intricate layout of the planet's surface structure and looked for the landing at Cova's main port off a small platform above a larger platform that housed a small population that lay upon the waters of Givi. Spotting it, he hovered in for a landing. At once the gravitational pull affected the crew, including Zoic, upon exiting the small craft. They had to walk slow at first. It was painful because it felt like so much weight was put on them. Their movements shaky. Deba and Kould stumbled and they all held onto each other as they got their balance.
"It takes some getting used to." Zoic said as he helped them into the landing port's entrance way that lead to another area where visitors could rest and meet with the port's keepers. Had there been any port keepers there, they would have already been greeted but because there were little to no flights made to Cova anymore, the lofty placement of Givi was all but abandoned. It was kept clear, and free of effects of the elements, but it was a very lonely place that floated upon a menacing sea.

From the platform below, where a small population dwelt, there was a water flow from the sea of where it stood and it flowed down thousands of feet and crashed into another basin far below to be carried up again through the ecosystem of the planet's design. The sheer drop was terrifying to behold. Zoic lead them down to the main platform of Givi. They gathered at a small eatery and talked about what to do next. Finding this man known as Rainier would not be easy and they understood they may be on Cova for a length of time. But they had a place to start, and that was the ground layer kingdom of Anuna. One of the places that was deep in the shadows most of the time. As if at the bottom of an ocean itself.

They traveled down the descending pathway from Givi through the narrow steps and rounding large circular rock formations that resembled columns of an ancient world made from below ground and upward. The crew could not navigate the small spacecraft down to these levels, so they had to go on foot. With the powerful pull of Cova's gravity, they were at the point of exhaustion and had to stop for a length of time. They had found their way to Anuna after the turn of two Cova days, and were given instructions to speak with Cova's king leader Tuoce. An elder from Covan ancient times but the whispered rumor they heard was that he did not remember the ancient days very well. Any explanation Zoic would give the king would have to be that they were simply looking to trade wares for fire quartz. The small crew understood that they would be better off to not to share too much information with this elder. The darkness of Dokk was still a danger to them all and it was beginning to look as though it was growing and becoming more prevalent in Cova.

They were offered a dwelling area while they awaited their audience with Tuoce. The crew said very little to anyone. The darkness of Anuna seemed so bleak and oppressive. There was an unease about everything. But Zoic and the others noted that the people there were still thriving despite the growing darkness and the glow of light from above flowing waters and crafted crystal beads that extended overhead and around the various columns of stone sprawled throughout Anuna gave the settlement a very soft and mythical aura. This was an area that long ago had been underwater until the waters were set back on course and cleared out back to their channels, chasms, and basins.

"There's a volcanic lair somewhere on Cova, and from rumor, it still churns away, always re-creating the grounds that give way to the ocean flows that cascade over the basin where none can dwell. They set up a chamber on one of the nearby mountain platform but I'm not sure if anyone still mans it." Zoic spoke quietly to Nackendara and Ackea.
"Do you suppose this Rainier would be there?" Ackea asked.
"I feel as if that would be a starting point." Zoic mused.
It was eerily quiet in the air of Anuna. Even the sound of flowing overhead ocean waters seemed muted. They were not at ease. They felt anxious, but knew not why.

Tuoce was calling on the crew to speak with them. The messenger summoned them to the king's abode. They walked up the shimmering host of lights into a softly lit chamber where Tuoce beckoned them inside. He bade them to join him at his table and while food and drink was served to them, Tuoce began speaking of his memories of Cova from hundreds of cycles ago. Zoic and the others listened with interest as he spoke also of the Darkness of Dokk and how it had infiltrated the planet's stability and even confirms the ocean disaster being a direct result of treachery. But Tuoce seemed to make a distinction between the Dark of Dokk and the entity he named as a Water Spirit. When questioned about it, Tuoce had spoken of the people's mistrust of the entity and that its vibrations were off and disturbing to those that had witnessed it. Zoic and the others looked at each other and instantly recognized the subtle manner in which the darkness enters into the psyche of people. How elusive it appears and makes itself a mystery. Cloaked in purpose, and secretive, making itself unknown to a multitude, or holding to a singular belief, but shows favor with those that may be blind to it.

"The entity Dokk was once in human form, a grotesque form but appearing as human nonetheless." Zoic relayed to Tuoce. "On my world, Fiod, it was the form of Dokk in that form that betrayed many of the elders and killed many others. Those that survived had foreseen the evil that would be, but not how it would play out. Now they know. That was a lot further in the past than the tragedy you experienced here on Cova."
Tuoce fell silent for a few moments and seemed lost and pressed to know more. Zoic nodded as he took in a breath to recall the details of how Fiod had been able to identify and overthrow the entity from their world in the human form.

"It started out as a rescue mission, our trained warriors were sent out to one of Fiod's havens on the shallow sea near the mainlands. A chasm had opened up and was caving in over a lot of ground. The folks there at that settlement had to evacuate. The entity Dokk offered his help to transport the folk in danger and bring them to a safer location. As they hung on for life, some already fallen to the darkness below, there was a rush to reach them on time. But the only transport available that could reach the area in time was a ship. Any land surface transport was not going to do. The evil Dokk had gotten to the folk before any of our warriors could. Because it was an urgent situation nobody tried to stop him from taking a ship he had lingered by. The evil plan was unfolding just as he had plotted it."

Zoic went on, now with a very quiet and softer voice. "As they scrambled to make it to the ship he had control of, he stepped out of the ship and summoned to the folk to board. As they headed in his direction, they did not see the weakened ground he purposefully landed just out of reach of, and as a result those that headed in his direction were swallowed up by the ground giving way and caving in." Zoic took a drink before continuing, he stated everything with a calm manner but in his eyes there was wrath and sorrow.
"There were, of course, survivors who reported what had happened. But it's on their witnessing alone that we know that while the vile Dokk lead the folk to their deaths, he also just stood there and watched as it happened. All planned out beforehand. The betrayal was absolute and when he began destroying more lives in his wake of terror, he sought to destroy all of Fiod's planetary transports. So when word spread, we had to begin hiding many of the ships between Fiod and Arca. Likewise many ships were taken off world and hidden among the smaller worlds. They weren't safe on either Fiod or Arca any longer."
Tuoce was listening intently as Zoic recalled the long ago events of how this darkness and evil had destroyed so much. With another sigh, Zoic continued.
"When Dokk was finally dealt with and executed for all the death he caused, the darkness that made his being solid began to sink into the ground and poison the living element of Fiod. It took a while to clear it from the layers it had sunk to. A tangible darkness that was contained and our troops covered as much ground as possible to rid the planet of any of Dokk's matter. Then using one of the hidden ships. A scout ship that was expendable, the matter of its evil was jettisoned into space. But the darkness broke out in the void of space and its essence had poisoned some factions of the worlds since it was still within gravitational ranges. Conquering weaker souls to do the will of evil and to bring death. The true purpose of Dokk is death. The very enemy he represents in all that is its will. That a few rogue armies were assembled before the entity Dokk was finally overthrown, and they were hell-bent on killing all the people. As what happened with Arca."

Nackendara sat near a window lookout of the abode. Her eyes were sorrowful and with a grim voice, finally spoke. "We never hosted the entity so the evil of its being was far more difficult to point out. At first. We never really saw them coming, but we knew something was wrong, that something would happen. We saw the cloud of darkness descend on our world with a grotesque appearance. We too, had to clear the grounds after the bloodshed, the evil it caused. Arca is still recovering and there were massive spikes placed into certain areas to stunt the healing process. The ships that were taken off world, we've been awaiting their return. Fellow Arcans and Fiodians never came back. Even on a scouter or shuttle transport."
Tuoce visibly shuttered as he seemed to remember a thing, but didn't mention it. "Where did all the ships go?" Tuoce asked, wondering at this as all of Cova's ships were few and far between but accounted for.
"Arcan 748." Nackendara answered. "Sometimes we see a ship or two in Arcan skies. At night's turn. Even in the turn of day. But for some reason, they never land. Being a seer and a scribe, I can speak of what I sense. That there's something about the containment of the ships between worlds. As if landing back at Arca, or Fiod, would somehow bring greater danger. We still don't know if there are rogue elements of the vileness of that entity which roams to this day. I do know that those of us that survived had not taken them down. And the spines buried into Arcan soil still vibrate with an eerie sound. But we cannot remove them without aid of the ships."
Deba being almost in tears raised her head. "We haven't seen the killing rovers for some time, though. We don't know if they died off or are just settled in some isolated place of Arca."
Tuoce sat in deep thought. These tidings had not reached him. He had wondered why but even he knew that there are many things, secrets, and answers he hadn't sought out. Now his spirit was stirred as he too stirred. He bade them to rest and they slept for the remainder of the night.

After the turn of night, Tuoce gathered with the crew atop one of the higher levels of Anuna. He knew not where the man named Rainier dwelt. But he wanted to take the crew on one of his water transports and show them the vast ocean basin of Anuna. Which overshadowed Anuna's inner pathways. It was a steep climb and boarding Tuoce's craft they noted that it was made of the lightest gypsum with a rounded structure, as if a spaceship but resembling more of a seashell. Tuoce sailed on and let the crew bask in the Covan sun. He spoke of his Watery Spirit that would come and speak with him. The others knew not what to make of it, and Tuoce himself wasn't widely believed that he had such an entity he communicated with. At a certain point in the waters they sailed, Tuoce brought the craft to a stop. He pointed off toward an anomaly and they all noticed it.
"It will sometimes form into the shape of a being, and sometimes as just a wave that rides and flows against the other waves." Tuoce said while looking off in the direction of a slightly bent light just a few feet above the water.
"Is it speaking with you now?" Kould wondered. "I can only see a strange shadow on the sea water but I hear nothing."
Tuoce didn't answer. He seemed very far away. The others had an uneasy feeling, like the one they had when entering Anuna. Tuoce sailed back toward his home. As he stood on the landing that leads back below the basin, he spoke of the dangers to avoid while traveling Cova. He gave use of his water craft to the crew to use as they wish, to seek Rainier. He drew closer to Nackendara to speak of something he felt compelled to say. "You are from the stars." He said to her.
"We all are, isn't that a truth of our beginnings?" Nackendara said in return.
"No, no. Dear one. You are not from the same essence of the many peoples of the triad worlds. But a gift to the God of the Suns. You were from another god of stars and suns from so far back in the past that it's beyond recall now. You were given, or taken. Whatever the case may be." Tuoce told her. It seemed like nothing at first, but it had shaken her up. It was an ill thing to discover that the god she had believed in was not entirely everything she was told. That there were secrets formulated from darker layers, like those of Cova, of an obscure willpower of its own. Her feelings of being disconnected was beginning to make more sense now. Zoic had overheard Tuoce's words and comforted her. "He's talking to an unknown water apparition. It could all be a deception."

Nackendara knew that while Tuoce may have uttered a falsehood, it was not an intentional lie. He really believed it and because of the way Nackendara had felt for some time now, especially after the devastating losses the three worlds endured, it was something that shook her to the core. She somehow knew her instincts were letting her know, in her heart, what the isolation was.

They sailed out again and sought the volcanic location of Cova. To find Rainier. It would be a treacherous trek to reach the great mountain range where this fabled giant ship was said to be. But now they had a better chance with the sailing craft.

A Threshold To Destiny (Chapter 6)

As Zoic and the small group sailed to the other end of the great ocean basin, they spied a small settlement beneath one of the edges of a massive bio-garden just close enough to the level of the water where the ground rose up steeply from below. They went to investigate. It was a small area of around a dozen or more dwellings for people. Bringing the water craft ashore, and walking the pathway to what was called Winnow, a somber name, they were greeted by several of the inhabitants and explained that Tuoce sent them with the aid of his water ship to look for a man. The people were amazed of the generosity of their Covan king but the crew sensed that the people of Winnow had some doubts about his offering. When Zoic introduced himself and his crew and spoke of the man they were seeking, if they knew of him and if so, where he may be found. They immediately answered in the positive.
"Be cheered, good folk of Fiod and Arca, the man you seek is right here in Winnow!" A Covan said. With being shown the way to where Rainier was, all they had to do now was walk right up to him.

Upon their approach they saw that Rainier was a younger being, only around 1500 cycles of the nearest sun. He was working on a piece of farming equipment when he noticed the crew. Standing up he reached out to greet them.
"Hua!" Rainier said in his native dialect. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" as he shook Zoic's hand and nodded at the others.
The others all looked around and at each other and felt they should just directly ask his name.
"Are you Rainier?" Zoic asked.
"Yes, I am he." Rainier answered.
With a slight grin, Zoic's eyes gleamed as he delivered his words with a smile.
"Would you be willing to come with us and seek a ship that's hidden somewhere here in Cova?"
Rainier stood in shock. Having heard such tales, he no longer remembered them fully.
"It's alright, we've been assembling a crew and looking for a ship that's here on Cova." Zoic told Rainier who suddenly felt as if a dream was coming true, but oddly his anticipation had waned over the years so he felt some doubt and fear. After so long under the rule of Tuoce, so many things were quieted within him.
"You will also be asked to come with us in the ship and set out on a mission." Kould said.
"What will the mission entail?" Rainier wondered.
"Not exactly sure at this point. Just that we are to use it to find out if the fleet of ships from our planets are still located at Arcan 748." Ackea informed him. "The ship that's said to be here, can transport other ships inside and purify them if there'd be any traces of the evil of Dokk from the days when he reigned terror on our worlds."
Rainier sat down for a moment to regain his composure. He knew of the Darkness of Dokk and knew how real it was. He began to tell his visitors that the tragedy wasn't isolated to just their worlds but that much grief and loss was suffered by all Covans. He spoke of their leader becoming more and more distant and being lead astray by a spirit that was dark and elusive. Zoic assured Rainier that he knew about the spirit in the water.
"It was never understood how he came to be so dependent on it because it wasn't solid, there was no way to assemble any kind of council to reveal what its purpose was." Rainier explained. "But Tuoce gave in to it. From my personal feeling or instincts, it was the very entity that caused the collapse of some of the great ocean basins long ago. It has been working some evil in the way the system of our world flows. I remember what was then, and it's nothing like it was before. It gets worse as time moves on." The others knew without speaking that this was all the evil work of Dokk.
"Were there ever any legions that named themselves as the servant soldiers of this water spirit?" Deba asked.
"Here and there, they would come up from further tunnel-ways through the basins. And it was that alone that I believe began to weaken the stems, the structures of the mounted basins." Rainier answered.
They talked for hours about what happened on Cova and how Tuoce was enabling this evil to continue as he thought it was natural. How death was being accepted although everyone still fought it as an enemy. The most natural instinct being against such a destructive opponent.
"So! Now tell me about this ship." Rainier's mood seemed to lighten and he was eager to discover what these wonderful visitors had in mind.
"There's a volcanic region that I feel we must survey, it was said that we shall need a fire element made of natural magnetic energy." Zoic said.
"I know what you're looking for!" Rainier exclaimed. "There are gems that form out from a constant flow of fire and melted stone. Rare they are everywhere else, except at Nispetry. They are abundant there." Rainier was starting to feel something that had escaped him for so long, a feeling of hope and that there may be a way to defeat what he had resigned to accept in the long run should his world face an ultimate finality.
Rainier set about packing what he could carry and gave instructions to the people of Winnow on what to do with the tasks he had overseen since settling there. He assured them he would be back but not certain when that might be.

They walked to the water craft, and with Rainier as a guide, they would soon find their way to Nispetry. A fog had begun to descend in a thickness of soft white and blue as was the nature of Cova's atmosphere. They sailed along the lip-line shores of the basin sea between Winnow and Nispetry. Upon the horizon as they drew closer to their destination, a glow was present of glistening colors. Reddish and purple light seemed to slowly flash back on the clouded air around them. Rainier was awestruck for a moment because he knew the rare elements were close.
Disembarking from their vessel they followed the shoreline until it began to lead on to very solid and hard ground. The ground was that of rock and a rugged crystal exposed to thousands of turns of the sometimes harsh environment of Cova's exposed seas.
"This is a sign that we are extremely close." Rainier said as he picked up the pace. The others followed with the same footing. After an hour, the peak of the volcanic mountain could be seen.
"It's closer than it looks." Rainier said, pointing out the optical illusion of depth where the crystal grounds held in sparse light to appear as a black and deep ocean.

At first they traveled at a slow pace. Watching for any signs of cave-ins or glowing rock that would indicate a weak crust where magma would flow underneath. The trail was forged long before their journey. Lined with small statuesque rock formations that bore single gems resting atop each one. Zoic pulled out a mapping device he had of the old scrolls of his planet. They were mainly space courses from planet to planet, but he searched for the topography of Cova's landmass. The volcanic region would be the largest landmass of Cova and that's where the fabled ship is said to be.

The slopes gave a steady rise toward a cavern entrance not too far from the base of the mountain that lay before them. Within an hour they reached the entrance. Nothing remarkable could be seen in or around it. It was almost dreary in appearance. Rainier repeated a tale in part of the mysterious cave door and how the crystals would open the side of the mountain if adjusted in the right way. But his memory of the tale was hazy. Zoic looked out at the grounds below and the sparkle of the gems that lay scattered all around. Deep in thought he went over anything relating to this place in his own memories. He drew nothing that could be used as a means to open this ancient hidden ship.

"Could it be a certain time when the doorway might be shown? A direction to follow?" Ackea asked. Zoic stirred from his thoughts and looked around again. "I don't think there's a time, but there is a property of the gemstones here that might answer that." The group went about and carefully picked up only a few gems from nearby locations, and only the gems that lay on the ground. Zoic and Rainier piled them up on the ground just inside the cave mouth. They began to glow with intensity. But the only effect they had was to light up the walls within the cave itself. It wasn't a deep cave and they could see to the sheer stone face of the mountain inside. There were no other paths further in. But as the light on the walls danced, there were, subtle at first, markings that seemed natural. After long moments, as the beauty of the gems glowing inside the darkness enchanted them, a sound began to emit as if an echo were being rang inside. Faint it was. Barely audible. But the tones were familiar to Rainier. He had heard this before in old tales.

"The gems, they have properties of the suns. Bismuth and iridium, remnants of the sea of fire inside the fabled sun that died millennia ago." Rainer noted to the others. Zoic looked over his charts and specifically detailed the placement of the dead star in relation to the suns' planets, and their position to each other. Nackendara noticed the markings in the rock to be a vague map-like carving. "The gems have to line up with what the elements of each sun mostly comprised of." She said. Zoic confirmed that hypothesis and they set the gems to the chart of the wall rather than what Zoic's charts had detailed.

"Could also mean we must wait until a particular conjunction of the suns." Rainier mused. But as they smiled in a halfway attempt to remain hopeful, the sound became even more distinct. A tonic ringing had all but pierced the air and a slight rumble was felt. The rock walls slid downward as if melted into an unseen lava pit. The group began to make way toward the path they had come, and flee the area. Not knowing if it was a volcanic effect or indeed the opening of the passageway that would lead to the ancient space ship they hoped to find. The ground shook a bit more violently this time. Rainier looked all around and his face seemed aglow with a realization and looking over at Zoic, he saw the smile of knowing.

"Do you know what this means?" Rainier shouted. "The gems align with the suns, and carry the elements of the suns!" He laughed aloud as he tried to keep his balance. "A ship capable of reaching past the planet system and possibly break through the plasma and thermal barriers." Zoic replied. "An ancient ship that was constructed from a point in time before our worlds were crafted."

The ground steadily began to cease its trembling and the group cautiously walked back toward the cave entrance. Upon stepping close to the opening they found that the floor of the cave had a new feature. A smooth and almost transparent platform about twenty feet in diameter hovering about a foot from the cave floor. Beyond that, in the shadowy point beyond the now melted away rock wall, lay the ancient ship they came to claim.

The edges could be seen fairly well in the darkness of the mountain. But the size was hard to determine. The darkness would be hard to navigate safely to find a way into the ship itself save for the gems that still lit the walls from beneath the platform. They took their lights and beamed light into the area where the ship now appeared clearly to be docked above an even larger platform far below. "It's magnetic." Deba stated. Their lights bounced off of the ship as they searched for a way in. But as they looked, the mass of the ship was surprising to them. They hadn't expected it to be so immense. The lone symbol on the side was a number within an icon of twelve suns. The number was 773.

Sun Ship 773 (Chapter 7)

Leaning past the opened wall with every precaution, Rainier looked for any sign of track or adjoining cables that may lead to what appeared to be one of the portals on the ship's side. Deba asked Rainier why he was particularly excited about the gems in the volcanic region being remnants from the dead sun but Rainier would only speak of the possibility of their existence being proof of reigniting a dead star. Zoic studied the platform inside the cave's entrance as he walked around the edges. He stepped into the middle while the others carefully searched for a way to the ship. Faint at first, Zoic spoke a few muddled words. Finally he looked up at the rock ceiling and back to the others.

"What was the old tale, in your recollection, about the gems and the sound they produced?" Zoic asked Rainier.

"In one of the more well-known stories it's something that's sung rather than spoken. Sort of like a rhyme or a bit from a longer song." Rainier answered while trying to remember the words.

"The notes are what we're hearing but the wording has escaped me. It's been so long since I've been privileged to listen to the story of the once great sun and the beauty of its elements." The others looked on as Rainier tried to repeat the story he knew.

"It mentioned the gems, and it mentioned a light. The ship of the great sun and of all the suns we know. It spoke of gems being conductors, that lead to the door. An arc that held steady, that would lead into the skies."

Zoic motioned to Rainier and the others to come to stand with him in the center of the platform. As they all gathered to the center of the strange platform that held them aloft, it began to move. The group held each other's hands as it moved steadily through the opening of the rock wall and glided toward the ship. A singular step from the ship protruded from the lower right side and an entrance opened that would lead them into the ship. They marveled, but there was a bit of fright to the experience as it was quite a drop from the ship to the grounds below. Once the group were all inside, the doorway closed and the platform seemed to turn into a hazy cloud and dissolved completely into nothing. The cave entrance where they stood moments before dimmed and faded as the rock wall seemed to seal itself to its former state.

Inside the ship it was lit well enough for its new crew to explore and learn its secrets. They would be here for a while learning everything they could. This was unlike any other ship they knew. Rainier asked for Zoic's guidance, as Zoic himself was a more seasoned pilot of spacecraft.

 

The first stage of knowing the ship was to be acquainted with its engine apparatus and flight controls. These were ancient and although something of an energy still hummed in the ship to activate an open door for them, it was now time to figure how to operate the flight deck and get the ship out from the mountain-like dock it had been in for a long period of time.

 

The belly of the ship contained the engine's power container and the engines themselves. Inside a column-like area, they noted the engines were all smaller than expected. Quite compact. And there were twenty of these all lined up, four apiece up each level of five ascending sections of the column. Connected to that were coils that ran along the outside of the column encircling it in a perfect wraparound and then splintered off into small bead-like nodes. The nodes seemed to hang in the air but were held by magnetic features in the walls of the craft. The living area was basic enough and what would be a cargo deck was spacious and dimensional. It could hold much more than what it seemed. This was a massive ship. By any other standards, it was build to be a battle-worthy craft among other things.

Once Zoic translated the ship's controls and tested the ship's hover and flying moves, the next step was to figure out how to exit the mountain. Nobody was leaving the ship the way they came as it wasn't known how they could. So there was only one option and that was to take the ship and look for an alternative docking spot.

They discussed hovering up into the highest point inside the cavern walls, but the ship was simply too big the risk bringing the rocks down on them. In the space of two turns, and half onto another night turn, the riddle of how to exit the mountain was solved. The engines when fired up, simply radiated all matter around the ship and all natural, solid matter around it, dissolved into a thin layer of beam and scattered molecules. When the ship cleared the pathway it made, all the matter of rock and form melded back into its original state. That was the power of the ship's legendary capabilities.

 

The ship was made in various parts of the same gems they found back at the cave, but they were larger and appeared to serve a function for pulsating power from one to the other. Taking a look at the engine apparatus in comparison, it showed that the engine structure itself was more for the basic travel and nominal workings rather than what gave it its more advanced capabilities. When Zoic, with Rainier on standby, began to make way back to Tuoce they soon realized that the ship would react with elements all around it, and change in temperature and oxygen levels if exposed to extreme instances where it acted as a shielding device with having any onboard protocols for such things. They tested how it operated underwater. It was incredible. The vents of the craft enclosed like a smooth gel that pulsated with the sound of the waves present in the water. And coming out of the water left no trace of it as if the gel had combined with the air upon rising up from the surface, leaving no strings of the element from where the ship exited the environment. There was a soft glow about the craft that simulated the light in the element itself. Giving the crew the knowledge that this was a ship with the ability to cloak itself in between environments.

Zoic and Rainer took head of the control panel's system that lit the way to achieve cloaking within environments and ran a few more test runs in and out of the water. Nackendara and Deba were looking into the weapons system and taking account of what the ship had in way of defense mechanisms. The ship produced energy beams that could be concentrated and narrowed, to pinpoint a target. The overall defense of the ship itself was in the energy it produced. Making itself a shielding of its own without activation of any control measures from the crew. They discussed what to do next, and it was agreed to hold off on returning to Anuna to report of the finding of the ship to Tuoce and instead try space travel with the ship.

"We'll take it out two parals, and circle Cova from that point and observe the ship's reaction to the outer orbital planes." Rainier said. The others agreed.

Lifting off the surface and rising into the heights of space, they saw the ocean planet shrink from their observatory window that stretched from the bridge to the back deck. There was nothing isolated or closed in as the hull of the ship seemed to allow light from space itself into its structure. A very dim light, but light nonetheless. The ship was, for all purposes, an energy producing craft that absorbed whatever environment it was in and adjusted with it. The design was of no planetary make any of the crew were familiar with or experienced.

 

When they were out at two parals, Cova was still massive in their view but they were effectively in position for re-entry to orbit. They let the ship glide along and kept watch on the panel's readouts, Zoic translated the ancient symbols with Rainier's help. They tested the light factors and the capability of the craft to signal or make itself known should they hail any outpost or ports within the parso worlds of the system. There was success as the Cova outpost at Anuna did receive their signal. They instructed that Tuoce meet them at the highest landing platform. Stressing that the landing of the ship might be a bit tricky and that they are still in the testing phase of how to pilot the craft.

 

When Tuoce learned that the ship had been found and the mission was successful, a light of hope played across his face. He had forgotten what the feeling of hope was like. He was speechless that their finding was miraculously quick. He prepared to meet the new crew of what was remembered only by the eldest of Cova's population, as the Sun Ship 773.

Brave New Space (Chapter 8)

The crew navigated the ship close to Arca and Fiod, going further away from Cova. The orbital planes were similar to Cova's mass. From fifty parals the other two worlds seemed cloaked and hidden. Zoic extended the distance between the ship and the planets to seventy parals, and at his instruction the crew recorded the view at that vantage point.

"This will be important." He said. "The space our worlds are suspended in has had the effect of the shadow that came a long time ago. It surrounds the life force with a dulling effect, almost like it's choking the energy away from the planets and moons and drawing it all away into the void beyond. It scatters."

"It has since taken over Arcan 748." Ackea stated coldly. The other crew members briefly looked in the direction of the last remnants of the dead sun. At the sense to find a clear flight path to the world of Arcan, the crew signaled back to Cova and instructed that they would briefly speak with Tuoce. That there could be no planned mission as a first for the crew of 773, because there was no way to tell what the environment of space was going to present them with. They would have to play it by ear. Landing on the highest platform on Cova to address Tuoce's inquiries, it was simple and quick. Tuoce wished them godspeed and gave them one of his gems from his crown. A water gem said to have been formed in a cluster of solid rock matter that when entering the dead sun's glow, melted into water and solidified again when falling to Cova's surface.

The crew then embarked on a flight path that would bring them close to Arcan 748. Between the living stars of the system and the planet, it too was cloaked in a shadow and rarely seen unless positioning the ship in the pathway of its closest sun. The outline was barely distinguishable and distorted while the crew was in opposition at seventy parals. Moving along the orbit, the crew monitored how the world was reacting to the suns. It had been common knowledge that it was similar to the three main worlds. But at this event in time, it was drastically different. Space itself held the world in its orbital cycles but the movement was as if it was suspended and space was static as the ship got closer.

"When was the last time anyone from Arca or Fiod traveled to this world?" Rainier asked.

"It's been a long time." Deba answered. "As far as we know it was around the time the entity Dokk had already killed a good number of Arcans back home."

"We had reports throughout the cycles, but they were given as mere long lost fragments with no absolute detail." Zoic said.

"We have to make contact with the old outposts there, then." Rainier stated.

When the crew came within reach of the planet to hail to them, they were surprised that there were no longer any channels or ports still set up for receiving any form of ship's signal. Let alone any kind of standard greeting. While back in their home worlds it was rare, there were still outposts and stations set up to receive neighboring ships from the other worlds or from anywhere that may be. It was as if this world was silent, entered into a dead zone itself, like the dead sun.

"We have to pull back!" Zoic suddenly urged. "We have to travel out toward the dead sun before trying to make entry here. There's something holding this world in suspension like this."

"Do you believe it's the dead star then?" Rainier asked.

"Yes, I do. This world didn't produce this effect. A more massive and sinister force did this, and no way would they have just gotten rid of their hailing posts unless Dokk or something of that origin had taken over Arcan. And then we'd be landing in a warzone." Zoic explained.

Disengaging from their current course, they opted to head out toward the outer zone on the edges of paralis distances to find the last known location of the dead sun. It was out there somewhere but its mass had been diminished and its power nullified. The first charted course was the inner paralis where the planets circled the main star. It would be a while before they could complete a roundabout on the first paralis, so they settled in for a space journey they had very little idea of how long it might take.

The ship was exceedingly fast, and Zoic set a course while the crew prepared to use less energy to sustain life. Although they had enough supplies from Cova and a lengthy journey wasn't an emergency situation, they wanted to be sure to be rested up for any unknowns.

 

The dining area of the ship found the crew in a light mood despite the situation. Though everyone was quietly speaking with one another and going over mission charts and courses from the ship's archives. Zoic sat down at a small table where Ackea and Nackendara were drinking nutrient water. "I found the last known location of the dead star according to the database of the 773." He told them. "What tales from Arca have you heard about it?"

Nackendara looked out the viewing window and noticed that space was darker than seen from any planet surface. "It was said to have went supernova." She answered him. "But that was when the light from it ceased to be seen in the night sky, that was once also seen in the day sky."

Zoic noticed that her tone was still as somber but soft as it had been when he first meet the Arcan members of the crew. "You seem sad." He noted. "Yes, well, I've been in hiding." She said.

Zoic took a drink from his glass and asked what she was hiding from. "Everything." She told him. But stirring she looked at Zoic and met his stare. "I've not had much willpower to speak at length, with all that's happened. How could I? I've tried to process everything. I just need time. But now, with the ship, and this mission wherever it may take us, I feel..." She stopped momentarily. Zoic tilted his head to keep eye contact when she lowered her head again. "I feel like, at least something's being done about everything now. Before I just hoped for some resolution and now it seems resolution can be had. By force as it would seem. The darkness is vile in evil that still lingers out there." As she spoke Zoic listened intently and then nodded in agreement. His own feelings were that they would find themselves in a warzone regardless of trying to avoid it.

 

The ship had reached the first paralis and was effectively in the orbit of that circle. Space did seem a lot dense here. The 773 adjusted its own systems to keep all functions operating. While the ship was on course, the crew took their sleep and developed a longer pattern of it. Upon finishing the first paralis round, the crew updated the archives to include the substance of space now in these outer cycles beyond the planets. There was indeed a deeper shadow-like oppression and dark mass that seemed to be leftover burnout of the dead star.

The ship was going to be set to the second paralis circle and the crew knew that even longer sleep patterns would be needed. The adjustments were a bit jarring but in this regard, with this ship, it wasn't going to be a shock to their body systems. They were already preparing for longer space travels. The crew had not intended to search for the dead sun before dealing with the dark entity that permeated their respective worlds, but their goal now was to find whatever it was that was causing such a disturbance in the mechanisms of their worlds, and the dead sun was most likely the cause. Arcan 748 was the most ravaged of all their worlds. It was visible even from space.

Zoic and Rainier monitored the roundabout and sped up the process, setting the ship to take less time than what it usually would have taken. They were cautious to not set too much speed for the ship, it was still an unknown factor of whether or not the acceleration would be harmful to them. They pushed more of the limits when it was determined that they may have to go out beyond many more paralis.

It was strange to consider that the ship may have already made the journey beyond their own boundaries of space, but they were already facing the probability that they could perish if the ship wasn't designed to reach those distances. Rainier encouraged the rest of the crew that the ship was from beyond their system, that it wasn't constructed back on Cova. And when pressed about the knowledge of such a thing, he'd have no words and struggled to recall even the slightest mention of it from his past memory. There was so much uncertainty.

 

There was a signal that the ship picked up, like a drone from a fixed point somewhere in their desired destination. The pulse of the ship's own frequencies allowed for warp speed and when they reached the furthest region of known planetary boundaries they took the ship into the void. There were no frequencies beyond that. The connection to the planets of their system was just a weak strand of low vibrational energies that droned on in a steady flow. There it was, what Zoic was looking for. This would lead a way, like crumbs, to the source of Dokk's power. The ship would be engulfed in a state of plasmic matter and there were no grounds or visual light to show any shape or form of the space they now occupied. It was truly a void. It was death itself in a constant strain of nothingness yet existing as a force that managed a presence in everything it could reach with its tone. Its layers. Its being.

While the crew attempted to map the area, or world, or whatever was featured enough to draw up some form of map, the droning grew louder. Rainier used a tracking beam in an effort to find something solid to focus upon. Nackendara monitored the ship's integrity and kept the weapons ready for any surprises. It was dark all around the ship and the only light that existed was solely within the ship and the layer of the outer structure. Yet they knew that any other entity, be it ship or living source, would never be able to see them as the void swallowed up any trace of light. Like a thick fog that has turned to ice and then surrounded by a blanket of shadow. Hailing anyone or anything would be pointless as nothing reached beyond the ship itself. They knew they were in a place that was all too familiar of the way Dokk moved and suppressed all around its oppressive output.

"Lock onto the droning itself." Zoic suggested. "It's the only anomaly that can be detected by the ship."

Rainier focused the tracking beam onto the low, barely detectable signal and while it didn't produce anything other than a signal itself, it did seem to have a frame of beginning, out of some bottomless pit that kept enough form while maintaining a hollow non-existent origin. But the signal was definite. It was infinite to a degree that it seemed to have been there for unknown lengths of time calculated by any world they knew. But it was something. At first, the crew thought that following the signal to wherever it lead might be a plan of action. But there was no telling how long they might be following it. So they came up with a plan to harness the signal and weave another signal around it. Matching the frequency of it and perhaps enhancing the strength of it and echoing it back into the void from where it emitted.

Precautions were made that the frequency would not penetrate the ship and they made an adjustment to the ship's power that a mirroring effect would keep the frequency controlled giving them the ability to pull away if that should be needed.

But where would the signal eventually lead back to, they wondered. They knew it had to be connected to their own worlds, but it was certain that Arcan was heavily hooked up and it was feeding off of that world probably more so.

For some time the crew tracked the frequency back and forth as there was no beginning point and end point from their immediate location. Rainier took the ship back toward the region where the planets were visual again. Even as little sparks reflected in their view. But Rainier's hunch was right, the droning of the death-like signal was still intertwined with the ship's mock signal. Zoic looked over the charts in the ship's archives. There were several dead moons and objects that were scattered about the empty orbital planes that weren't governed by any central solar giants.

 

"Are there any gems or pieces of our planets aboard this ship?" Zoic asked the crew as he drew out a precious stone from one of his pockets. The rest of the crew had something with each of them that was a natural element from Cova and Arca.

Small sentimental objects made from their realms. There was a reflector, a type of tractor beam of the ship's mechanisms that could send signals and the vibrations surrounding matter into an energy field and pinpoint that onto a location. Finding the nearest object, a scattered field of debris from an unknown moon or pieces of a disintegrated planet, Zoic placed first the element he held into the reflecting beam and narrowed it onto the debris field. Immediately the dreary rock pieces started to spin and hurl into each other. An energy field was created and there was now movement. But as he took the beam away and retracted it. The rocks began acting once again as if in a state of suspended animation.

"We now have a conduit of how to draw the dark matter out of its core, where it's located." Zoic said.

Rainier unlocked a set of drones to encircle the debris field of what he dubbed as the "Forgotten Moon" and prepared some of the elements from Cova into a wire-bound cluster to set as a beacon in a placement most likely to survive impacts with other floating pieces of rock and ice. The ship hovered as the drop was made. And the crew sped away and observed as the debris began to react again to the element now present. For some time they waited. But their efforts would pay off.

The drones picked up signals while monitoring the Forgotten Moon. But their range was very limited. The 773 could not travel too far from that sector. Or the sensory would be lost and the drones would die out and cease to function. While the drones were expendable, the crew felt no immediate danger from the dark frequencies of Dokk's reach.

It was slow, but the depth of where the dark energy flowed from, began to swallow the outer edges of the parso and outposts long abandoned. It crept up like an invisible veil and covered its trail with a deeper darkness following its encompassing path. The crew had taken watches while they alternated their sleep. The Forgotten Moon was sending off signals more rapidly and the crew would all be awake and aware when the opposing frequencies clashed with the newly active space where nothing could be seen or heard before. Zoic locked onto the approaching signal. Like a dread humming, it sought to envelope its intended target.

Chaotic Harbors (Chapter 9)

It wasn't unexpected, but the force of the waves following the arrival of what was determined to be Dokk's destructive force, had hailed from an endless connection to something that could not be reached without knowing the exact pathway. Whether by wormhole anomalies or great speeds, this was something they had no knowledge of where to begin. But the wisdom of Zoic and bravery of the crew, would set about a plan to destroy what was itself, a destroyer.

"How did you know that sending out elements of your world would trigger the entity of Dokk?" Deba asked Zoic as he remembered the ancient name of Foid. He stirred and stated that it was an old trick. Like a distraction.

"Foid has many old names..." Deba continued but was cut off.

"To speak the name would not be wise at this time." Zoic assured her.

"I won't. I heard tales and legends. None very good." She answered back.

"The thing about the elements of Fiod are that they carry the vibrations of the original creation of the world in its entirety. Those energy vibrations are contained and dense in their form. The Forgotten Moon will be what we'll use to keep what's out there at bay, while we head back to Arcan 748."

Zoic instructed the crew that unless he finds a sea vessel with the name of Titan, they'll need the scout ship on board to gain access to the surface and look for a captain of a sea vessel, a then-young man of the old world of their time. From memory of what the elders spoke of, the name of his ship was Titan. And every sea entryway had been limited to ports allowing only for sailing ships of the sea. None existed now for ships from other worlds. No accommodations would be found in that world in its present state.

One entire region of Arcan was entirely abandoned and a massive dead zone. No signals, or radio equipment could be picked up if one should be stranded there. It was known as the Dead Lands in a world that echoed of death.

Zoic had pondered on the possibility of the elements within the stones and gems he sent out amid the cluster of the Forgotten Moon to harness the dark energies away from the planet. But the journey toward Arcan 748 was the first step, and they would have to remain unseen as much as possible. Depending on basic manual flight in a rudimentary fashion. Dark forces had already claimed the planet and all living souls there were set on thoughts of keeping the dark energy supplied with whatever means they had. Rainier brought the ship's drones back in and collected the data. They gave some vital and key information. With the ship secure and no readings of any hints of trouble, they made for Arcan.

Titan was the only ship on those oceans that never hailed from any channeled frequencies or was tracked by any means of Arcan's rulers. The captain was a robust ancient from the old days and his parents regaled him with stories of how they escaped Fiod and then Arca and fled to this new world to live in peace. They called him Pacno, but he had changed his name to Pann since his early years. Although no one knew his true age, he would have been to that world at least 459 of their years, of age. But because of his long times in the world he now called home, he had discovered many magical and mystical things about the seas of Arcan. About the flow of the waters and secrets of the lands. Long before the complete invasion of Arcan there were ports that could only be accessed with a special ship, and a rare wind. And at certain times of Arcan's year. Pacno also kept the book of names from his former world. Some of those names were key to accessing the hidden ports of Arcan from one world to another. Since the takeover however, Pacno doubted that any such access would again be successful. So he sailed the seas and slowly began to accept a death that would eventually come.

On this very idea, having begun to lay heavily on him, it was at this time of all times that Pacno decided to brave the hidden ports of the ancient Arcan world. And the ship he commanded was such a special vessel to access those ports. How he came to be in possession of an obvious otherworldly craft was on account of his father's lifelong friend who lived in a remote cabin far away inland, nearing the borders of the Dead Lands.

All was quiet aboard the 773 as they set the course for their next destination. The hum of the engines and lights whirred like a small and faraway steady tone. This journey would prove that the Dead Sun was in truth the Forgotten Moon. But with the dark energy now focused on another pathway, a release was made of the grip upon Arcan 748. Passageways would be open now. Though the condition of those ports was a mystery.

Zoic awoke and wandered around the ship, checking the monitors for any sign of dark energy from the drones, but their status wasn't changed. Zoic unfastened a leather cord and loosened a rare stone he wore around his neck. He quietly placed it in a small drone and jettisoned it from the ship. He sent it on the far side of Arcan's pathway toward the suns but reversed, so as to set it in the opposite direction of where the planet was traversing. For a while he watched and waited.

Far below the Arcan clouds, Pacno sensed the change in the air. Zoic spotted the ship Titan. He focused on its captain. And the focus wasn't lost on Pacno. He set course and headed for a forgotten palace built into a mountain, with decayed gates and a haunted entrance. This was at once an ancient harbor. The seas had long receded leaving only dry, petrified ground and mountain trees. Nothing lived there. But there was something there that even the presence of darkness never learned of, and Zoic knew of the very mechanism that Pacno was drawn to and headed toward.

After some time, the 773 set back toward the Arcan planet. On board computers gave a reading that the original shielding over the planet was still intact except for the layers of dust and carbon from the nearest objects geared to keep it on a parallel track. Zoic had just arranged the world to discontinue its parallel path and to catch up on a higher trajectory with the suns. The drone would guide Arcan's movement away from whatever was based on the surface or in the surface of the planet itself. Pacno knew the signs to look for. And when he reached the ancient harbor, he made haste and searched for the planet's sounding wave. It would be in the mountain's entrance, a short way past a set of iron gates.

The seas were restless and the darkness sensed things amiss. The seas answered back with fury and Pacno knew the sign very well. Dokk's power was weak and waning in this area of the world. There, Pacno set up camp, and with portable equipment, set up a beacon. Zoic gathered the crew and prepared them and the ship to dock at the isolated location. Beyond that, they would have to use the ship's scouting pods to continue on any missions further into the more populated Arcan territories.

Pacno hailed the ship that he knew was just out there, though he couldn't see it. Zoic signaled back giving Pacno the go ahead to open the mountain's smooth-stoned side. The crew spoke very little, but there were nostalgic soft sentences about this world and how it was perhaps the last world that was meant to be an escape from their own worlds in the grip of an evil they all fought and still did.

The sounding waves flooded the entrance and Pacno channeled them into the mechanism that held the harbors around the sea and the inlaying mountain within a tonic hum. The planet's own natural song. The object was twelve measures of man in height, and had the appearance of a rod, with beads that flowed within magnetic liquid streams spinning around the top layer that sprawled out into a bowl-like apparatus. It was a grounding instrument. Very ancient and very precise in keeping a steady wavelength between the water and the sky. This in turn stilled the space so to allow a ship to land without detection from other elements.

Rainier held the ship in a steady approach as he lowered the ship in the trench provided by the mountain's now open gorge, Pacno waited on the small step ready to greet the members of the 773.

"Clear." Rainier spoke as he leveled off past the mountain top. "Extending hydraulic supports." It was actually the first time he'd landed a ship of that size but Zoic smiled. "Pretty good, captain."

Once the ship was settled onto its ground, the crew prepared to disembark.

Zoic emerged first and greeted Pacno with warmth and an embrace.

"Welcome! Welcome brave Sage of the Great Three Worlds beyond!" Pacno exclaimed.

"How do you like the ship, my friend?" Zoic asked as he waved his arm toward the massive vessel.

"Impressive and Incredible." Pacno said as he looked on and shivered a bit. "The legendary ship of Cova?"

"None other." Ackea smiled as she shook Pacno's hand, to which Pacno grabbed her arm and gave her a mighty hug. Ackea smiled even more feeling that he was a friend to be counted on.

The rest of the crew greeted Pacno as he welcomed them all with a much relieved looked on his face that they were all there, and ready to take the next step wherever that might lead them to. Pacno, like Zoic, was closely connected to the elders of Fiod as his father had also walked in the realm of the Shadowy Arch, a place that tests the resolve of warriors and sages alike. Zoic may have never thought of himself as a warrior but the escape-world of Arcan would soon prove that his Fiodian journeys were quite needed. A place of sheer tranquility in the unknown and the deep. For that, the crew of the 773, were already seasoned in warrior-hood. And this planet would take much to find all the hidden trickery of what had happened here. Arcan was no different now, than any of their worlds. The only difference now, was that most did not retain memories of where they originally came from.

Pacno began preparing for the next journey that would take them to yet another harbor. One that would be dangerous, for there were agents of Dokk and other sketchy characters about. Mingled in with the native population of the sea port of Huvado.

"We'll take my ship, but there should be room to bring a couple of scouting pods, and please, you must call me Pann! At least around the natives. I'm incognito!" Pacno laughed as he helped the crew gear up.

"The next harbor, that will be guarded by fifty-foot waves, if the sea is in a bad mood!" He laughed again.

Rainier, Deba, and Nackendara checked over the scouting pods and gave Pacno the dimensions of their size to determine if there was room on his ship for them, along with any smaller weapons that could be attached and would be needed considering the previous readings from before.

Going aboard Pacno's sailing ship, Rainer was back in familiar territory. He was enchanted by how similar the seas of Arcan were to Cova.

"It's all by instinct, isn't it?" Rainier asked Pacno. A little surprised at the question, Pacno finished raising a sail and turned to him.

"Everything must be. Like your crew mate here, Zoic. He didn't get orders of any specific mission. It's all played by ear. I've been around long enough to know that no plans can be laid without design and detail. In those things it may be needed for a final move against an enemy. But in the beginning stages, and following through, nothing can be foreseen confronting an unseen enemy." Pacno said musingly.

"How did you know to be at the mountain without knowing of our arrival, then?" Deba asked curiously.

"A feeling. It was that and the air was different. Something shifted. Something went in another direction." Pacno said softly.

As they sailed into Huvado waters. Zoic made no mention of the drone ship he sent above the planet's tracking, its cycles that were, as Zoic witnessed himself upon their first approach. Instinctively refraining from landing then. He and the crew had to know where the grip of dark energy was holding from, and once he knew the method, he could set about disengaging the world from spiraling down into the bottom of the entire expanse of space.

Nackendara read Zoic's expressions, and she knew something was in the works.

"One of the drone pods was absent from the ship's bay." She told Zoic.

"I know. I have a tracker on it. It's still making a route. So far undetected." Zoic answered.

"And with a part of the ship tracking through space, we could be almost anywhere if we were followed." She mused.

"We'll need to take the 773 up into higher fields above this system sooner or later." Zoic reached and leaned onto the side of the deck to stand closer. "But what we're looking for here, is a stone element about sixteen inches along from one side to the other and shaped in an oval form."

"Could it be in the sea?" She wondered aloud. "No, not this element. Not this object. It's probably hidden in a very secure location." Zoic supposed.

"The solar and lunar apparatus have been changed since anyone's been by, they've been localized. A beam has been fixed to keep a constant portal open toward the outer darkness. Away from the suns." Nackendara said while looking over the ship's maps of what fields of frequencies used to be in place.

"The entire world has been placed under a grid, the only edges are those that lead away from both small and greater light," said Zoic.

The skies were ominous. They all retired for the turn of night. A questionable span of time, now that nothing was familiar or as it was before. For two turns of day and night they sailed on.

The sea started to move faster as they approached Huvado. Pacno adjusted the sails and made haste to secure everything and the crew. "As usual, too many ships coming into the port town!" He shouted across the deck.

As they observed, waves began to form and crash into the distant, but now the visible land. The structures of Huvado were made of materials from the sea and floods that would have swept through the settlement were quickly redirected into a large encircled trench and washed back into the sea. Any ship or boat in the water though, was a different matter. The sea was angry and Pacno prepared to turn away and head for Stee. A smaller port town, and less likely to be ravaged by the high seas that surrounded Huvado. Although quieter, it was a place that hosted some of the more vicious types.

"Make way!" Pacno called out. "We'll be a little longer getting to where we need to go!"

The seas calmed as they came into Stee waters and there they docked. Pacno and the crew stepped off the ship while he went about and secured everything. Rainier sought out a land ship or vessel that would be able to traverse rugged ground. The others looked around at the somewhat dreary and moody settlement. Almost as if on queue, a fight broke out between two groups of folk, one accusing the other of foul play and superstitions being ignored. Pacno was grabbed by one of the combatants, as if he were somehow involved.

He struggled to gain his balance and he swung around and knocked his assailant to the ground.

"It's mistaken identity. I'm not the wizard that betrayed you." He said, gaining his composure.

Rainier and Nackendara both drew their weapons and held the fighting elements in their sights.

"Best move on, if you know what's good for the lot of you." Rainier told them.

"I would listen to him, he's got no time for the time that's been twisted here." Nackendara added.

This was something that resonated with their superstitious beliefs, so they dispersed.

"How did you know what to say?" Rainier asked her. Nackendara shrugged and mumbled "I just wanted to give voice to something I wanted to say out loud."

Alien Pirate Pann (Chapter 10)

The land cruiser the crew had acquired and the few supplies they brought with them would get them to wherever Pacno was to lead them, however they first needed to head back to the ship to load the flying pods onto the cruiser's attached hauling unit without being too noticed.

Zoic tried to ignore the one thing that was gnawing at his thoughts. "Was there a wizard that betrayed anyone at Stee?" Zoic finally asked Pacno.

"Yeah that," he laughed. "It's a long story, but there was a spacecraft that was bound for Arcan, long time ago now. I was on that ship though I was much younger then. When the people who had hoped to live here without the death-grip of the Evil One and found that it was actually worse here or had gotten worse, they wanted to use the starship to search for another world."

Zoic was suddenly aware that this was the ship Khom had mentioned as never returning.

"From Arca the ship came here, and with it more survivors as it were..." Zoic stated.

"Yes," Pacno answered. "They know that the ship was hidden away, something like that was already a target. Many of the craft of the Great Three Worlds were being seized by the Evil One. And had begun to be gathered and used to do evil deeds. The wizard was the ship's last pilot. He was often, in his day, among the Elders of Fiod. Your home world."

"There's only one question that remains then," Zoic mused. "Why would those folk back there believe you to be the wizard and why do they feel betrayed?"

 

The air was still and barely stirred with a breeze. They would go quietly to retrieve the pods and get them covered well and head out. Standing and looking out from the lookout point they lingered and waited at, they readied themselves to move under the blanket of night.

Finally Pacno gave clarity to the crew's restless thoughts.

"The last pilot of the ship that never returned to Arca, was my father. And when we landed and all the passengers left to form new colonies and such, we stayed with the ship as my father knew there was something amiss. This escape world became the focus of the Evil One and his elemental goons. So my dad hid the ship. And when the people realized what was happening and that what they escaped just followed, they wanted to board the ship that bore them here, to escape again. But by then it wasn't possible."

 

Zoic, with these new revelations, asked calmly. "What about the core element of the ship?"

"The stone you're looking for is where I'm leading you to, minus the ship for I, myself, don't know its whereabouts. But I can take you to what you seek." Pacno smiled.

"If the ship is still to be found, that would also come in helpful." Rainier said.

...