Auberon Night Night May lore submission
Part 6 - Betrayed by Time
Waking up rested and ready, with a goal in mind, Aeon felt positive and allowed himself to feel relaxed for a bit.
Breakfast was boar steak, from the island boars, and eggs from the strange looking blue and black flightless birds he sees all over. Followed by swimming and bathing in the nearby river.
This part of the planet was semiarid with a number of mountains that rips up from the land into the sky as if in defiance of gravity itself. No obvious water erosion just wind scars all around each, revealing the layers of the rock almost like year rings of a tree. It looks almost as if forces of nature thrust up with such force that it broke a part of the land out of the crust and raised it high above the ground.
This land was beautiful but unforgiving in its heat. When the sun reached its peak and the heat was unbearable, Aeon started to feel as if the world is shimmering, while a feeling of cold settled on his chest. For a moment he felt intensely ill then his vision became darker and the world started to spin. Was he ill, or poisoned? As his legs folded and he collapsed he fell forward in what seemed forever and the spinning grew more and more intense until everything turned black.
The warmth of the sun on his face and the cold of the wet sand on his back was the first sensations he had. With a dry mouth and one hell of a headache he was at least assured he is still alive.
Sitting up took intense concentration and effort but he got up and saw he was where he had blacked out but it looked different somehow. The small river seemed much bigger now and the trees somehow bigger as well.
He drank some water and walked back towards his camp from the night before. The river seemed to wide to cross safely and he still felt poorly.
As he crested the hill close to where his camp was he expected to see guardian robots all over the plains but he saw none. What he saw was animals. Various boars and some smaller birds and other creatures he did not recognize all over. Confused he walked on and reached where his camp had been but not a trace was there.
Part 7 - Where or when?
It was still daytime so he could see clearly and there was no sign of his campfire, where he slept or walked around. The bushes looks different and generally it did not feel like the same place at all.
He walked to the nearest big hill to have a better look at the area. The hill seemed bigger than he remembered but he was fit and reached the top quickly enough.
Looking out over the area he realized the land was much greener than before. Filled with animals and not a single guardian in sight.
He made camp right there but no fire. Whatever is going on he did not want to be seen.
As night settled in and the last rays of the sun disappeared the stars finally came out to play and decorate the night sky. Aeon looked up and enjoyed the view while dreaming of his homeland. Then he realized that the stars look different than before.
As a child his father taught him how the stars moved over time and how to see what direction to go, what season it is and even what year it is, all from the stars.
That of course was his home-world and this is a different world.
But if the same rules apply and he is reading the stars correctly this is not the same time period when he landed here. This is almost a thousand years earlier. Or later. He was unsure about that part but based on the landscape changes with the stars he would say this was about 1000 years earlier.
Could it be that going through the rupture has left a temporal shift within him that took him back in time? And if so will it happen again? And then where or when is the guardians?
Was there even other sentient life on the planet or was he about to live and die slowly with no one else and no guardians to fight and no way to return to their time or his time or anywhere not here and now?
Part 8 - The bird people
After a good nights sleep Aeon set out to explore this world and start all over again. He needed information before he could make any further decisions or make a plan for the future.
And settlements would need water so he walked along the river following it northwards hoping he might find something. Where the river forked he stayed on his side and followed the fork that went further north. Some distance further he saw what appeared to be smoke on the other side of the river.
With some searching he found a shallow area and crossed the river. A small distance north of the river he came across a city. A sprawling city of stone buildings with massive stone slabs supported on marble columns.
A temple on a small hill stood out above the rest. But most surprising was the people.
Big birds with wings and all, wearing clothes and clearly surprised by him as much as he was by them.
The nearest one screeched an alarm and some even bigger birds came running and before he knew what was going on he was wrestled to the ground and arrested by a pair of giant blue birds.
And then they spoke. A strange kind of language that he did not understand but clearly a language.
Almost musical but clearly not friendly at this point in time.
He was marched away with an escort of four giant birds. All his belongings removed and a weapon pointed to him that he did not recognize but was fairly sure would kill him so he decided to not resist and see where this is going.
Thrown into a cell and left there for the rest of the day still with his hands tied and no food or water he started to wonder if the intention was to let him die there.
Finally guards showed up and opened the cell door accompanied by a much smaller bird-man with feathers on his head pointing out in all directions and his head tilted slightly to one side.
This bird-man started yammering on very fast and then stopped just staring at Aeon.
“Why have you arrested me” said Aeon, “I mean you no harm I am lost and needed some help”
The small bird-man nodded his head excitedly and waved one feathered arm in a motion to show keep going.
“What do you want with me?” “Are you supposed to be the man, erm bird in charge?” “Where am I?”
“What or who are you people?”
Suddenly small bird-man held up his hand as if to say stop so Aeon stopped talking and waited.
“Gallo, I are Bzzznip, you is…?”
Aeon just stared. What the hell. Did this guy just learn his language by listening to him talk for a a bit?
“Did I speak right?” “Your words new to me, I learn but maybe not good?”
“No, you are speaking very well, in fact it is just a shock to realise you learned my language so quickly and just by listening to me speak?
The small bird-man was literately bouncing and smiling his delight evident in his every action
“ I will be better soon, if I wrong please … ehm… adjust me…?”
“I am Bzzznip. Knower of tongues, learner of things. I advise the king. I am here to find out who you are and why you came here. And where from. We have never met one as you”
“Well I am Aeon from Mirsk. This might sound crazy but I followed a group of guardians through a rupture in space and time and ended op on this planet maybe a 1000 years into the future from now. Then one day was ripped back here in time and I am trying to find out what is going on”
Bzzznip’s smile faded and he looked concerned, somewhat confused as well, slightly agitated and even alarmed too.
“Better we go elsewhere and talk. If you are who I think you are this is bad time for my people”
Part 9 - Bad news to new friends
With his bonds released and no more guards he was left to follow Bzzznip as he scurried down the halls and out into the streets. He could move fast for a walking bird and Aeon found it hard to keep up.
After a short while they reached a building that Aeon correctly took to be Bzznip’s house.
Inside the decorations was sparse almost spartan but functional and comfortable. Bzzznip sang in a musical chime and someone else answered similarly. The conversation went on for a while then Bzzznip looked at him
“Sit down. Make yourself at home. My mate will bring you some drink and food shortly.”
“Until then please tell me more. Who or what is this guardian? And what was the rupture?”
“Best to start from the beginning as I know it then”
“My planet, Mirsk, was invaded by a force we came to know as the guardians. They were created by a being called Kaijun. Why we do not know. They make more of themselves by using the brains of local beings combined with robotic shells made from a crystaline material. Once all animal type life has been destroyed or taken over and only plant life remains they move on to the next planet.”
“A large ship full of them left my planet and flew towards a rupture in the space time continuum. I do not know how it was made but they knew about it even before it opened though they did not open it themselves”
“I followed them hoping to destroy the ship before they got away and destroyed another planet but was too late. I found myself here on this planet with them and then suddenly the world began to spin and I woke up here. Or now, as it were. As far as I can tell now is 1000 years before myself and the guardians arrived on the planet”
“And that is all I know unfortunately”
As he finished talking another bird walked in and placed some fruit and flavored water in a colorful spread in front of them then left.
“She does not understand your language and would rather not join in. Go ahead eat and drink there is more if you want”, Bzzznip explained
Bzzznip looked saddened and with a heavy sigh started talking.
“Our people have foreseen a coming of one such as you. But with your coming it means our end…”
Part 10 - The beginning of it all
This world is not only what we see and feel and smell. We already know other beings can maybe see and hear more than we do. We know through science that there are smaller things that make up all matter. That these smaller things are made up of even smaller things. And that in the end all things are but energy. If we and everything around us is but energy, then it stands to reason thought is energy. And if so, thought and matter are in fact the same and thus thought are able to affect matter. Or to put it more boldly, a single thought can create or destroy all existence.
Overly dramatic and a simplification of a complex statement but that is the best way I can describe it.
The various dimensions are simply matter or energy vibrating at different frequencies forming layers that we interpret as dimensions or planes of existence.
Similar to what light does when it shines through a transparent object and are broken into its various color bands.
When my people were made we were devoid of bodies and flying through space, living as what some may call spirits. We searched for for new experiences and people and in time decided to make our own world. So we may experience mortality. We would never truly die of course but to the mortal being death feels ultimate.
We poured some of ourselves into the void and made this world. Our different energies like colors of the rainbow flowing together to create all that is here. And then we created our bodies. With legs to walk and wings to fly and our feet webbed so we may swim. With feathers so we had no need for coverings.
We came here and build this city and lived here ever since. We lived and died and was reborn within our offspring. And over time forgot who we really are. Some already left this world and went back to the void. We even have offspring who is not reincarnated and has never been to the void.
But your arrival means our time here is at an end. Those of us who can must return to the void.
It also means we have to decide who will stay to open the way back and to close it again after the others have left.
While you are here we will help you. And once we have sent you back we will leave this world and turn our city to sand. And we will be no more of this world.
Your coming was foretold even though we hoped it would not be. The elders already built the black pyramid that will channel our essence and return us to the void. So we are prepared.
Some will stay within the temple and through a spell destroy the city. And a few will stay at the pyramid and seal that gate so none may follow.
So you see. While I am glad to meet you and we hold you no blame, I am also sad to see you as we will be no more.
We must return to where we came from. We must leave this home we made to the people who has need of it.