Timeo

Over the next few years, my life was perfectly normal. I graduated college, got a job as a mechanic at a local auto repair store, and successfully evaded a love life. However, in the year 2688, something terrifying happened. Humanity had spread to the stars recently, and I even saw a video of the first colony ship jumping away. But today, on 4/6/88, the outermost colony went dark. The colony was in perfect condition, and was about to be able to send some people back to Earth, when it just...

Disappeared. No communication failures on their end, no sudden riot or civil war...

Nothing. That is, until we looked through our scopes to the planet and saw something terrifying...

It was gone. No destruction, no nearby black hole to absorb it, nothing. The planet had just disappeared. The rest of the uninhabited planets in the system were untouched, and yet a whole planet had just vanished. Everyone instantly started freaking out, and just when people were about to calm down...

Another planet disappeared. And this one was closer. The UTPB declared a state of emergency, and then another planet disappeared. Scientists started looking into it, the military tried to prepare, all of that. And yet, nothing helped. More and more planets were lost, until eventually, there were only five. At this point, everyone was prepared to die.

And then, just when the planet count went down to four, something amazing was discovered. Deep space stations from around the recently lost planet contacted us, and revealed that while they didn't see what happened to the planet, they had survived. They survived, because they were in space.

Everyone started rushing to the nearest space ports, making their own ships with AtomWare tools, and more. I simply finished my ship blueprint and started preparing. I got my family onto the nearest and soonest ship away, and watched as they were evacuated, and the count went down to two planets. I then went onto the last ship in my area along with my best friend, Goran Andersson.

We watched as fights were happening as people tried to force others out of their way, and we miraculously avoided it all and went to the nearest warp gate. When our ship got there however, everyone started weeping as they saw a fight around it as the military tried to keep the peace.

We approached, and were let through. But then, disaster struck in the form of a stray railgun slug tearing through a thruster like a hot knife through butter and sent us spinning. It also crashed into the warp gate. We went through, but I saw something terrifying about the gate. Instead of the standard forest green with teal streak portal...

It was crimson, with what looked like static. It also started collapsing, and yet we somehow made it to the other side. We went through, and saw a planet I didn't even realize actually existed...

A 'super earth' planet. They are massive rocky planets near the size of gas giants, sometimes bigger. Most have a high chance of being able to sustain life. And while this was amazing, something horrible was happening.

We were crashing. We hit the atmosphere and stabilized somewhat, as the pilot tried to steady us. I did manage to glimpse the fact that a frankly massive amount of people had followed us through the portal and were now flaming down into the atmosphere with us. We burst through the clouds and everyone started screaming even louder.

We were approaching a large mountain range with what looked like trees near the bottom, and I looked over to Goran and we nodded to each other. We calculated the height and, after a second, ejected from the ship. It is a mandatory feature of all ground to orbit spacecraft, meaning that it gives people at least a chance to survive.

I saw other people follow suit about ten seconds after, with about thirteen other people ejecting. We slowly floated down, me and Goran being blown away from each other by a strong wind. I watched as burning debris and falling ships rained down for miles all around.

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??? POV

"The reckoning has begun!"

"Forgive our sins our lord!" *chorus*

"The days of judgement are here!"

"Forgive our sins our lord!" *chorus*

"Give us the strength to survive this purge!"

"Forgive our sins our lord!" *chorus*

-x-x-x-

??? POV

I stared in horror as the sky darkened under a bloody crimson color, and the light of the heavens was extinguished. I then saw it spew out great streaks of flame that screamed down, piercing the skies and crashing down like vengeful arrows sent by the gods themselves. I watched in horror as they spread across all the land as far as I could see...

-x-x-x-

??? POV

"What is this!? You say that the prophesied purge has begun!?"

"Y-yes my lord, it is the conclusion of the sages. All the signs match, arrows of the gods raining down, a dark abyss of red extinguishing the light of the heavens for a while, all of it."

"Well, do something about it! Bolster the defenses! Prepare the mages! Whatever you do, do not let this kingdom fall!"

"Yes my lord! I will get right to it!"

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Ehud POV

I woke up, scraped and bruised, hanging from one strap of the seat as it hung a few inches from the ground, caught by the parachute still attached to the back. I struggled out, landing on my hands and knees as I gasped. I was shocked to be alive. Not only was it a miracle to survive the landing given the speed the ship was falling at, but the atmosphere was also breathable?

Amazing. On a scale of one to ten of luck, I would put myself firmly at ten trillion. I staggered over to the nearest tree, leaning over and puking on it's roots. As I wiped my mouth, I leaned up and looked around. I was in what appeared to be a forest, with my seat and a few burning pieces of wreckage nearby.

I salvaged what I could from the storage box attached to the underneath of my seat, grabbing my welder, the drill I had saved up for, and a grinder that I had found there but not mentioned. I also grabbed my S1g05d handgun, along with six magazines. I then grabbed some MRE's from the container, before grabbing the grinder and destroying all the wreckage. I did also find a second, damaged container that contained a flare gun, five ordinary flares, three green flares, and, to my shock...

A Sh0ckW4ve 'boom flare'. These are military flares that... well... boom. When launched, they go a massive two kilometers up, leaving a glowing white trail, before 'exploding', leaving a massive light that can light up the night, as well as sending out a massive shockwave in all directions so powerful it will cause a magnitude three earthquake. They are terrifying when used. But also very very noticeable.

I grabbed it, before climbing the nearest tree. I got as high up as I dared before looking around. There were smoke pillars everywhere, and I even saw a red flare hanging menacingly in the sky in the distance. I went in the direction of the flare, seeing as it was the clearest sign of life. After hours of marching, according to my watch, I reached it. I saw a mangled arm, lots of blood, a bloody and abandoned flare gun, and nothing else.

I assumed that the person had died, so I took everything of use and went to the nearest smoke pillar, which was in the direction of a mountain. I got there and found, to my horror, a corpse in a mangled seat that had clearly not survived impact. There was also an entire shuttle nearby that was burning, missing a large chunk, and clearly military. It's engines were also burning, and I knew it was a fuel fire and would likely explode soon.

I carefully went inside, grabbing the bits I could, that is some MRE's, some ammo for my handgun, a kevlar and carbon fiber vest meant to withstand bullets and tearing, and a helmet from a dead military pilot meant to cushion the head and protect from all blows imaginable. I then scrapped as much of the ship as I could before having to leave due the backpack I found being full.

I jogged away, now with a considerably heavier load, as I heard a boom behind me. I sighed, heading to the mountains.

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Goran POV

I screamed as my seat fell down, and activated the parachute before the automatic systems could. I calmed down as the seat entered a gentle fall, but panicked when the wind sent me drifting away from Ehud. I landed in a forest without so much as a bump, the parachute gently floating down and flopping on the ground.

I quickly unlatched myself, grabbing all I could from the seat cargo, getting a welder and a drill, along with MRE food packs, and a bunch of materials, enough for some armor, a 'survival kit', and a large battery to go with it. Granted, only the 'small' mobile version, instead of the dedicated version for true stations, but it's still awesome.

I then started heading towards the nearby mountains,

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??? POV

"So, the guardians of Terra have arrived, or the 'UTPB' as they call themselves. It is a shame that most of them died, but a few are still around...

"I can only hope that they survive and are not slaughtered before they get back on their feet."

A person walks into the chamber, saying "Grand Sage. The high council wishes for your presence."

The Grand Sage just says "Tell them... I need to watch the newcomers. I will not attend."

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Five days after the arrival

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Ehud POV

I trudged through the snow as I finally reached the cliff I had spotted. It had been a hard journey, and I even reached the altitude that snow covers year round, or whatever it is or is called. I was even attacked by some sort of weird, gray blue wolf, but a single shot through the head of one was enough to scare the others away. I have yet to be attacked again.

I set down on the cliff, looking at the view. Now, the altitude and low oxygen would normally affect someone harshly, but I lived in an area essentially five meters below the beginning of the yearly snow cap where I lived, and snow was always there except for a few of the middle months of summer. There would be more, but the planet was still warmed above average temperatures by the fallout from that nasty war.

I quickly set up a camp, sending up a green flare into the darkening sky, and then building a solar panel and an attached survival kit. I then used some canvas wraps to make a makeshift tent of sorts, and made a campfire and lit it with the welder. I then went and got in the tent, using some spare canvas as a hammock I hung on some metal poles I made with the welder and my backpack nearby.

I woke up the next morning, fired a red flare into the sky, and got to work. I began digging out a cave of sorts with my drill, bringing the stone over to the survival kit to be processed into various materials. I got iron, a bit of silicon and nickle, and some other side materials like gold, quartz, and cobalt.

After about four hours of work, I noticed something odd. One, the minerals in the ground here were way more abundant than on Earth. I also noticed that the sun was not matching up with the time on my watch, and looked like it was several hours behind. Maybe the planet has a longer day cycle?

I continued digging, eventually hollowing out a very nice mountain. I built a small foundation grid and a door frame in the mountain side, and I strung a cable out a bit. I then made another platform that I extended out over the cliff a little, with a support beam helping to secure it.

I then placed a small wind turbine, hooking it up to the cable, and then going and scrapping the survival kit to make a dedicated version inside the mountain bunker of sorts I just made. I then moved the solar panel and set it up on the mountain, hooking it up via cable as well.

I went inside, making a door, then moving most of my stuff inside. I left the campfire. It was about noon now, though my watch said it was 2:57 PM, so I mined a second sublevel to my bunker out, and used the materials from that to add to the wind turbine, making a second one, and then finishing the door and the frame plus floor around it.

I then used spare resourced to make a pair of 'oxygen vents' in the walls, one inside and one outside, and they were essentially glorified AC's. They were just vents that either filter oxygen, nitrogen, and a few other gases into the air to make it breathable in an airtight space, as well as heating or cooling it if needed, or...

They can attempt to extract oxygen and the other gases from the air. This is useful for both airlocks and, in my situation, filtering and cleaning the outside air before I breath it. That, and having a heater inside would be nice.

I set it up, quickly sitting in front of it as warm air rushed in. I sighed in pleasure and then put my hammock very close to it. I then started working on a very basic airlock, but only had the materials for a little bit. I went back outside and started a mine. It was very simple, basically a big hole in the mountainside.

Suddenly, I saw something unexpected. A flare. It was coming from the base of the mountain. I ran back inside, grabbed and fumbled with my pack, and then grabbed the flare gun and a green flare. I loaded it as I ran out, stumbling before firing it once in the air.

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??? POV

I followed one of those terrifying divine arrows to where it landed, and to my surprise I found something there. It was some sort of strangely shaped chair, with no legs and an oddly designed back that seemed to be trapping the person on it. And the person was also weird, their ears were small, short, and rounded.

There was a small bag sticking out of a box of sorts under the chair, and I grabbed it, opening it after admiring its soft, but very sturdy feel. Inside were a bunch of strange packages, and a very small, orange box. I opened the box after a bit of trouble, and found a gray and orange curved stick that looked very well made, nestled inside of this strange, black wool of sorts.

There were six strange holes to the left of the stick, four of which had weird cylinders in them. I grabbed one, and stuck it in a slot in the stick obviously meant for it. I looked around the stick before grabbing a part that almost looked like a hilt and waving it around. As I pointed it at the air, I pressed something like a door handle on it or something and the thing suddenly screamed, sending a large red pillar of smoke into the air.

I panicked, and as I was looking around, I noticed something strange. A green pillar of smoke like the red one the stick screamed out was rising and slowly drifting around from the mountain. I looked at the seemingly dead person on the chair before turning around and running.

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Ehud POV

I starred at the flare for a while. Nothing. No response. Odd. It also didn't seem aimed properly, it went way to the side before stabilizing. I eventually grabbed my stuff, shut and locked the pneumatic door, and started trekking down to the flare's source.

After another few hours of trudging along, I did two things. One, I decided I would make an ATV, maybe a jeep, and two, I had reached the source of the flare. There was some poor soul, still in his ejected seat, with a bag that had been searched through and an abandoned flare gun and kit. The person had never unlocked his seat, and was cold enough he had been dead for weeks. He also smelled like it.

I deduced something. Some person had searched through, and given the reckless firing of a flare, not taking anything from what I could tell, and all of that... it wasn't someone mentally stable. That or maybe, just maybe, it was a sentient or at least curious creature from this planet. It has plants and wolves, why not monkeys?

I stood there for a bit before finally deciding to grab the stuff. There were lots of MRE's - it was nearly all MRE's, so over thirty - and the flare kit, and the person that had them is already dead... and I'm Atheist, so I don't believe in such silly things as ghosts or spirits.

I took the stuff, putting it in my bag, and leaving. I did use my drill to give the poor person a burial at least. As I went up the mountain, I kept thinking about the ransacked stuff. Who did it? Why? Were they human? Why leave everything behind after firing a flare?

I was very confused, but I set it aside as I unlocked my bunker and went inside again, putting away my stuff. I then grabbed my drill and handgun - I had seen wolf foot prints - and went back out to mine more.

Over then next few days, I got little sleep, rose before the sun, ate only MRE's and a bit of semi charred wolf meat I tried to cook but didn't trust anyways, and finished the first and second floors of my bunker. By 'finished', I mean the floors, walls, and ceilings were all done, and I had made a stairway between the two.

I had also started working on a dedicated power system and proper ventilation. I completed this in about one and a half days, which is fine as I have lots of time. I started building a very ambitious project. Specifically, I was building a dedicated signal flare.

It was very basic, essentially just a large vent and a few other things that would suck in air, color it, and warm it up before releasing it through a separate output opening. It worked like a charm, sending what was essentially a cloud of green and orange colored air up. It was also environmentally friendly as a bonus.

After about one month, I had made a very nice bunker. Bare bones and proud! Yay. Anyways, it had lighting, ventilation, it was hidden - except for the tall colored gas column always hanging over it -, and I even had some rooms made!

Most of them were empty, but one I had made into a bedroom of sorts, and the other was where I had a computer to work with and a side project in sorts. Well, inside it was done, but the outside bit was still unfinished. It was a planetary observation antenna.

It was essentially a thing that would take data it learned about the planet and send it to the receiver, which would process it before updating a file about the planet on the computer. All complicated in the making, and it has been about ten days of my life I'm never getting back, but it will be worth it...

Probably. I'm honestly not sure. I finished welding the last plate on, plugged it in, and went back inside. I basked in the air a bit before going to 'the lab'. I turned on the receiver, opened the file it started on the computer, and looked. As expected...

Nothing! You have to wait days for something like this to start showing actual results. So far I knew the atmosphere contained oxygen from the machine - already knew that as I would be dead without it - so not much of a help. It did also contain a surprising amount of... Xenon? Huh. I'm not a chemist, so I have no idea what it means.

I went outside and continued welding a pleasure project of mine. I then strung up the canopy on it, and then sat down on the lawn chair I had made and stared out over the horizon... or something. I then heard whispering, and whipped around. Nothing. I then felt something like a claw lightly run across my neck.

I whipped around again, and again, nothing. The whispering was getting even louder and more agitated. I then felt the claw again, and this time I wildly tried to pistol whip whatever was behind me. I felt my hand pass through a patch of colder air before hearing the whispers... laugh. I then heard an understandable voice say "You betrayed us... left us to die by the sword..." I shouted "What are you! I've never seen a sword before, let alone kill someone with one!"

The whispering suddenly paused, before starting up again, but this time it wasn't directed at me. It slowly faded into silence. I then saw my vision start blurring, and reached around to feel my neck. The cut that I thought was a very light paper cut essentially was really a deep gash, easily half an inch deep. As I staggered into my bunker, I had the good sense to shut the door before collapsing.

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Grand Sage POV

I sighed as one of the Terran survivors collapsed after a vengeful mountain spirit mistook him for it's murderer. He was also one of the more promising ones. There were still nine other survivors to hope on at least. If even one of them can reach an advanced stage, the world will survive.

The same servant as before entered, saying "Why have you not left the scrying chamber? It had been almost a moon!" the Sage simply sighed before saying "Just an old man and his worries. Ignore it."

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Goran POV

As I trekked up the mountain after packing up again, I started heading for the top again. I had a feeling something nice might be up here. I might have to turn back though, as I am not well prepared, and I swear I keep hearing whispers. That's a good sign of low oxygen.

I did reach a valley of sorts allowing me to go to the other side of the mountain, which could give the same effect as reaching the top, and I went through. The whispering reached a peak, went silent, and then restarted when I passed an area. Weird oxygen problems again.

I went through to the other side of the mountain, and then saw something very weird. A pillar of orange and green... something was just floating upwards slowly, eventually dissipating after a certain height.

I looked closer, and brought out binoculars I found. I looked closer, and saw three major things. First, there was some machine spewing the smoke stuff, there was a base, and there was lots of blood without a corpse. It was across a massive valley however, one that would take me ages to cross.

I decided I would do it anyways. Even if nobody is alive over there, it would be worth it given their base. And if they are alive? Hey, more the merrier! I don't think they would mind letting me in with my sixty something MRE's and advanced AtomWare tools.

I continued my march, looting any crashed ships or ejected chairs or corpses I found.