2 A JOURNEY TO A STRANGE NEW WORLD
A JOURNEY TO A STRANGE NEW WORLD
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After I recharged my batteries with the new fuel, I decided to leave the village to explore this world and find answers to the question that perplexed me since my arrival, and I couldn't find the answer if I remained stationary here.
There were large cities in this world beyond this village and some of my queries could be answered there.
Kawi knew I wouldn't remain in the village indefinitely and I must have Godly quests to accomplish, so he gave me one of his best warriors as my bodyguard to accompany me on my journey, Kay.
My instinct was to reject him, but I needed a tour guide, so I agreed to take up his offer.
They also sewed and put together the scales of the dead Dragon, into a full set of cool-looking garments for me.
Sara estimated its strengths as Level A9, so the garment doubled as an additional body armor which wasn't much compared to my force fields, but it was much better than the clothes I wore.
With that, I zealously ventured out of the village not knowing what situation awaited me, with the warrior whose name was Kay as my only companion.
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Swirling tendrils of dark energy extend outward from its event horizon, distorting the surrounding space-time. Jupiter, usually a majestic gas giant with its colorful bands and iconic Great Red Spot, now appeared dwarfed and overshadowed by the colossal black hole.
The immense gravitational pull emanating from the black hole causes the gas giant to distort and contort, its shape warping as it is inexorably drawn closer.
The surrounding planets within the solar system were not spared from the black hole's grasp. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune were all locked in a gravitational dance of destruction. Their orbits disrupted, they were pulled inexorably toward the black hole, their surfaces battered by tidal forces and fierce gravitational tugs.
As the planets ventured closer to the event horizon, time itself seems to slow down. The familiar constellations in the night sky appear distorted, their once-stable patterns twisted and elongated due to the extreme gravitational lensing caused by the black hole's massive mass.
The sun, the very center of our solar system, shines brightly but with an air of finality. Its light, though still radiant, struggles to escape the black hole's clutches. The intense gravity bends and curves the light, distorting the sun's appearance into a shimmering, distorted halo.
As the planets continue their inexorable descent, a cataclysmic event unfolds. The intense tidal forces exerted by the black hole shred the planets' surfaces, pulling them apart piece by piece. Moons and asteroids, once loyal companions, are torn from their orbits, hurtling chaotically towards the black hole's maw.
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Watching from the far reaches of the Solar System, was a remote Space Station that was tracking a mysterious comet in the Heliosphere of the Solar System.
My name is Orion and I was one of the researchers in the Space Station, one of the very few humans here.
My expertise was in the study of a substance called Neutronium which was only found in the comet that I was researching.
Neutronium was an extremely beneficial discovery because it could be used to power fission reactors without damaging radiation. Even my body's reactor was modified to run on Neutronium as an experiment and so far, it worked well for me.
The scientists in the research facility in Jupiter called INWAR discovered another revolutionary use for Neutronium which was to enable a warp drive that could propel faster than light space travel. If successful, the warp drive would propel our civilization to greater heights and enable intergalactic exploration and even colonization.
In the 23rd century, the resources of Earth were close to being depleted and the only way for mankind to survive was being able to move to further star systems to replenish our resources.
But tragedy struck because the INWAR experiment failed. Instead of creating a warp drive, it created an Event that mimicked a Black Hole that rapidly consumed everything in the Solar System.
The Event happened while I was researching the comet that contained Neutronium. For some unexpected reason, I wasn't taken by the Black Hole Event.
Instead, I was transported into this world of Ouamua and became its newest resident.
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Kay and I traveled through a vast region of grassy plains, with occasional forests and farms, until we reached a desert.
This world wasn't much different from Earth but there were some differences, since the days here weren't illuminated by a Sun or many Suns, but by millions of stars in the skies which just turned their luminosity up during the day, and at night it became dark because the stars in the skies decided to turn down the lighting.
A day and night in Ouamua lasted about eighteen hours of my biological clock and a year in their calendar was made up of five hundred days so a year here was roughly the same as on Earth.
Sara observed the plants and trees here weren't dependent on light for photosynthesis, but instead, they grew from an unknown source of energy.
There were surprising traces of Neutronium radiation in the air, so it seemed that it was a characteristic of this world that processed and refined Neutronium particles were found abundant in the atmosphere.
Other than those observations, this world appeared quite like Earth, and the people looked like humans.
Beyond the desert was a city, the only city Kay knew about, Magisandria which was the most advanced city in this world and perhaps a place where I could find some answers to the questions plaguing my mind since I arrived.
"Incoming flickers and dots on my radar", Sara suddenly informed me.
Sara wasn't a real person, but she was my Artificial Intelligence controller, an A.I. program that resided in the circuitry of my brains. I was an enhanced human that benefited from the technology of the 23rd century and Sara was the latest and most advanced program of our times.
Although she was an A.I. program, Sara was almost like a person and she was my best friend, my only friend in this vast remote space, before I came to this magical world of Ouamua.
"Flickers and dots", was how Sara described incoming objects that she managed to scan using the radar and other equipment that were embedded in my body.
We walked for many days in the desert until Sara detected some humans in front of us who faced a large creature, so we moved closer to inspect.
We found several fighters wearing metal armor and two people dressed in colorful clothing. They were fighting against what appeared to be a large scorpion.
The large scorpion was 20-meters in length and was a giant predatory arachnid, with armored bodies and eight legs and a pair of large pincers, and sharp armored tails.
The large scorpion lunged toward the group of people as a warrior leaped and thrust a long sword into it, as the creature screeched and crushed the warrior with its pincers.
"Damnit, there are Magi fighting against a powerful scorpion. Should we help them?" Kay asked me.
Even Kay noticed the fight from afar.
"Boom"
Suddenly a flaming spheric projectile was thrown onto the scorpion which exploded on impact while another unknown freezing projectile froze the creature momentarily.
"Damnit these people have flamethrowers and liquid nitrogen packs", I told Sara.
It seemed like I wasn't the only one who arrived in this primitive world.
"Perhaps these people were also from Earth?" I wondered to myself.
However, the freeze didn't stop the scorpion for long nor did the exploded flaming ball. The scorpion parried the fireball with its armored tail which absorbed most of the force from the fireball's explosion.
"Arggghhhh"
It was time for the scorpion's retaliation as it leaped toward the woman who fired the ice projectile at it and crushed her with a swoop of its tail.
The impact from the hit instantly killed the woman.
But from the way these people fought, they were not using the advanced equipment of the 23rd century.
"You said something about Magi?" I asked Kay.
"Yes, the Magi are magic users who are the damnest and strongest people in this world", Kay replied to me.
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Suddenly, the scorpion turned to face the fireball thrower.
"Swishhh"
As the scorpion rushed to the fireball thrower with its pincers opened and with a motive to kill, a speeding projectile hit the scorpion with great force, which pushed it 10-meters back, and nailed it to the ground.
The long nail was my Dragonslayer.
With my Sara-guided A.I. targeting, it was impossible for me to miss the huge creature.
At this moment the guy who threw the fireball seized the moment and brought out what appeared to be a book and placed his hands on it as if in prayer or chants.
"Is he going to pray now?", I asked Kay perplexed by the guy.
After a minute or so of chanting, a circle of light appeared on top of the scorpion which rotated around some strange, illuminated calligraphy and unique hieroglyphs.
"Mercury Tier: Flaming Columns"
"Boom..boom..Kaboom"
A continuous column of fire suddenly rained down from the circle, which exploded and disintegrated the scorpion that was locked to the ground with my Dragonslayer.
The flame was so intense that it surprised me. Besides engulfing the scorpion, the flame cast by the mysterious guy who could summon fire also melted my lance.
"Damnit, you broke our lance", Kay screamed at the guy.
Kay was the champion of the Kamini village but was also a foul-mouthed. Although expletives were banned in 23rd century Earth this wasn't Earth and Kay was my good teacher.
The fire rain cast by the guy melted my Dragonslayer with the scorpion.
"The fire column should be at least 1000 degree-Celsius", Sara measured and said to me.
She observed huge levels of Neutronium radiation being released as the fire guy created the flame, while I wondered what kind of technology could create a Neutronium chain-reaction which could produce such intense flame, all from reading a book.
It was impossible, at least in the realm of our knowledge of science. Energy couldn't be created from nothing.
