Prolougue: Dark Matter

Under the devastating conditions of harsh sunlight and overheating temperatures, these newly emerged creatures were forced to endure and live under this agonizing dilemma. For a million years, they have tried various ways to minimize the suffering caused by this ever-shining bright sun, but to their dismay, they were to no avail.

As their hopelessness were continuously sprouting, they managed to discover darkness within all the brightness. It was dark matter. The creatures built some flask-shaped structures for absorbing and storing this unprecedented element. There was a glimpse of hope for their haunting distress to finally be relieved.

Failures upon failures, as the technology on said planet was nothing more than underdeveloped, it was nigh impossible to suddenly be able to cough up the required methods and materials to complete something as convenient as suggested.

Nonetheless, they didn't expect much owing to all the failed attempts trying to achieve this very goal. They wouldn't dare to have high hopes, as the bigger the expectation, the bigger the disappointment. Many had given up on such an ambitious project and only few remained, continuing on this painstaking path. Taking advantage of their long lifespan of 300 years, they finally managed to break through and produce a satisfying result - building the dark matter storing flasks with Duranium, a silver metal which the creatures had concluded to be the toughest metal on the planet, with the extremely convenient and important feature of being able to absorb the dark matter itself. The excavation for the metal adequate for even one flask was even more excruciating for the creatures. Despite all the hardships and mishaps, they finally managed to build 4 flasks as which were as tall as two-storey houses.

With one adversary resolved, arisen another, which would be the problem of how to abate the severe radiance of the sun. In other words, even more painstaking work until more breakthroughs were achieved. They insisted on giving it a shot, albeit their pessimism and uncertainty.

However, before they could even begin with their seemingly never-ending experiments, all those who partake in the constructing of the flasks till the end coincidentally fell ill - or not so coincidentally. Unbeknownst to their knowledge, the dark matter had made their way into the bodies of the scientists. The five of them didn't collapse and become bed-bound, instead they felt more rejuvenated than they'd ever been and they felt... powerful. The dark matter could be controlled as they wished. Two of them could make the dark matter flow through their veins, two of them could do the same but with their nerves, while the one leftover, with his bones and joints.

With the newly attained power, the five of them decided to make use of it to abate the sun's light. They gathered the people around them, announced that the days of suffering would finally be over. Those in the dark had no idea why those five had such overconfidence, but with drooped postures and frazzled looks, they listened to their bizarre ramblings and watched on. then, unanimously, they raised their hands, aiming at the cruel sun that had been tormenting them for god-knows-how-long. Then, to the surprise of those gathered around them, dark matter filled up the arms of the five, and dark beams were shot at the sun.

Astonishingly, the light emitted by the sun seemed to be dimming gradually, and eventually, the brightness and heat became tolerable. Sensing that, the five scientists halted their firing and put down their arms. They turned their heads towards those around them, and announced with zealousness, "our days of torture exist no more!"

The creatures still couldn't comprehend what they were witnessing. Their bodies were as stiff as steel as they stared directly at the darkened sun like they've always wanted to, until one of them raised his head, straightened his posture and cheered gleefully, followed by all doing so in unison. Their eyes were gleaming with joy, the brightness surpassing even the used-to dazzling sun.

Dark matter, was what dug them up from inside the soil of despair and desperation.

The five were immediately given the title - "The Five Sages" and had been revered since that moment. In celebration to the vanishing of their everlasting adversary which existed no more, they began to refer to themselves as "Darkians".

The Darkians have been thriving ever since. They've built various containment structures that were more stabilized for holding more dark matter, while swiftly bettered their deserted planet's living environment, having it turn into an exuberant one.

As time passed, more and more Darkians acquired the power to manipulate dark matter within their bodies, which made their lives much easier. Just like the "The Five Sages", they could conduct dark matter through their veins, nerves or bones, but never more than one way. One more thing to note, was that there had rarely been any that conducted dark matter with bones.

It was supposed to be a "happily ever after" ending, but much to their consternation, things weren't going to turn out to be a jolly and pleasant one. Happy times couldn't be everlasting, could they...

Some anti-dark matter Darkians had been rejecting the idea of utilizing dark matter for their convenience, or anything at all. They believed that doing this would definitely take a huge toll on all of them, in one way or another. This raised the awareness of the people to the safety of dark matter, as well as questions of whether it was acceptable to keep using it since its original purpose had been fulfilled. Of course, there were many stickler who blindly believed in dark matter. They denied the possibility of dark matter bringing demise to the planet as the benefits provided by it were too magnificent to ignore. This incited more controversy among them. But the form of demise that the dark matter would bring upon them was anticipated by none but one of them.

Just when everything seemed to favor the Darkians' survival, their doomsday knocked on their door, uninvited. Numerous spaceships appeared in the sky of the Darkian planet. Bewildered, the Darkians stood still in a daze, having not the slightest clue about what would become of them.

Slaughtering, was precisely what took place afterward. The alien species launched endless amounts of artillery shells, missiles relentlessly at the unarmed Darkians. The Darkians, who had never been engaged in battle, could do nothing but frantically flee for their lives, but to no avail. Screams reverberated as repeated gunshots were heard.

All but one Darkian, Melzut, who was in the "anti-dark matter faction" anticipated such event would in the end take place. He theorized that life forms from beyond that dreadful sun would approach and wipe them all out. The others were never persuaded by his "bizarre" idea that other life forms existed, let alone an invasion. But oh how wrong were they.

Melzut insisted on constructing devices that each could hold a Darkian and voyage in space, with materials found on the planet and dark matter within his body, albeit no assistance was received. As much as he despised it, his theory came true. Only one device was finished. Without thinking twice, Melzut shoved his beloved young son who was scraggly into the device.

"Live on, Jogrin... I can't be a devoted father, I have to do this, I'm sorry," Melzut murmured as his eyes became teary. The boy, Jogrin, who wanted to reply froze after he saw the scene taking place behind his father. He then wore a resolved expression as if yearning to do something to save the people who were dying outside, only to have the door of he shuttle shut before him. He was trapped inside of the shuttle.

Dark-infused blood traveled from his heart to both his arms via veins, giving him immense strength that allowed him to toss the device into the unknown space.

And hence, the voyage of our protagonist began in one of the most painful way possible as he was unable to do anything.