《The Spirit That Was Left Behind》


 A Millennia of thoughts - 1

    ¡°4,324¡­ 4,324 years since humans abandoned this planet. Abandoned me. All the other spirits abandoned their shrines over a millennium ago. I¡¯m¡­ the last.¡± A Torii gate can be seen sitting atop a hill off in the distance. A small figure looms below it. Her beautiful silver hair whips in the wind as she remains unwavering, watching over the once-thriving city that has been lost to time. Swallowed by the surrounding vegetation. The only remnants that hint at a city existing are the chunks of concrete and old buildings that came apart so long ago lodged in the ground. The figure turns to look out over the cliff. ¡°I wonder if they will ever return. I wonder if they even remember this place they used to call home.¡±


    ¡°Today marks another year since the day humanity left it¡¯s home behind. 4,324 years.. Another one spent waiting.¡± She scratches down a tally mark onto a wall hidden far back in the temple. Concealed from public view. The countless tally marks stretched far up the wall, way above what she could reach with just her arms alone. Looking at the wall she gazed for a moment. The magnitude of time lying out in front of her. Taunting her. Telling her to just let go and finally rest. No one is coming back. She smiled at the thought. ¡°They¡¯ll be back one day, if not tomorrow if not the next. They¡¯ll be back¡­ he promised¡­¡± Quickly leaving the temple she darted out the front door. Small water spots remained where she stood. Little drops of emotion left to dry.


    ¡°I have to make sure everything is in order for the day they come back! Especially the gate! Everyone will need a quick way to get around!¡± The little Kitsune continued her duties around the shrine. Dusting, polishing, and touch up of some small things around the temples aged buildings. Time¡¯s grasp had no reach here thanks to her hard work. ¡°Now time to check on the Torii gate!¡±


    ¡°Yuri.¡± A voice whispered through the wind calling out to our maiden. ¡°You must rescue him..¡±


    Yuri stops dead in her tracks. ¡°Huh? Hello?¡± Listening to the silence of the shrine the cool wind ran across the tall grass and flowers. It grabs her bright silver hair as it sweeps by, lifting it up as it dances around. Pulling in the cherry blossoms coating the ground it casts them into the air showering the sky pink and white with it¡¯s petals. ¡°Must of just been my imagination.¡±


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    Yuri continues on her way up the towering hill behind the temple. Atop lies the great Torii. It¡¯s bright red reflecting and splitting the sun¡¯s gaze into amazing colors that danced across the ground. ¡°My greatest pride as this shrines maiden.¡± Yuri stands at the middle of the great Torii with her hand outstretched. Placing her palm at it¡¯s center. A bright arc shoots out of her palm and the surrounding gate is engulfed in white light as she steps back. When the light faded a whole new place could be seen beyond the horizon of the Torii. No longer did it drop off to the cliff below, but instead a beautiful beach with an ocean so blue it was like peering through glass. ¡°I.. I can¡¯t wait to show you this one day.¡±


    Rotating her palm the gate snapped closed with a sudden flash. Just as quick as it closed a new doorway opened to a hilltop overlooking a valley. A lush green forest poured over the edge of the cliff. The remnants of an old city sat sleeping in the valley, dormant, as time ate away at the crumbling homes. The tall buildings buried peeked out of the ground reaching for the sky they once had in their grasp so long ago. ¡°I still remember when this place used to be home to thousands of people. Each with their own life going about their day. The city that used to tower over the sky, piercing the clouds and reaching for the stars flaunting the bright future of every person that once lived there.¡± Yuri turns her gaze from the ruined city to the sky as it starts to darken. The sun hiding its face once again as the stars peer through.


    ¡°It¡¯s that comet again.¡± The bright tail of the comet streaked across the sky. Tiny fragments of it¡¯s tail burn off as it speeds up trying to escape the pull of the earth¡¯s gravity, but never achieving it¡¯s goal. ¡°Every year it passes by this same spot, each year getting dimmer and dimmer as it gets closer. Today looks like the day it finally burns up.¡± Yuri kept her gaze on the comet as it started to dip into the atmosphere. Large chunks started to rip off and melt from the heat. ¡°It¡¯s getting awfully close¡­¡± Slowly the small figure of the comet grew larger and larger at a alarming rate. Before Yuri could finish her thought the comet hurdled by overhead crashing into the valley below. A shock wave poured across the landscape tearing any trace of the old city to the ground as the ground shook. The old rubble was launched high into the air rocketing back down causing even more damage to the decayed city. Dust and flames pour from the crater obstructing any view of the bottom. Yuri remained silent trying to not let her emotions get the best of her as she watched the last city she knew, the last city she called home crumble.

 A Millennia of thoughts - 2

    ¡°WARNING IF YOU CAN HEAR THIS MESSAGE YOU ARE WITHIN THE BLAST ZONE. EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY.¡± A robotic voice blared at the bottom of the crater. It¡¯s voice echoing throughout the valley. The loud sirens slowly sputtered to static as they ceased to function from the damage caused by the impact.


    ¡°There¡¯s someone down there!!¡± Yuri¡¯s emotions get the best of her as she dives through the Torii, completely disregarding the robotic voice and its warnings. She leaps plummeting to the bottom of the valley, through the storm of dust and flames. The rush of dirt and debris scratching up her face as she fell.


    Just before reaching the distant bottom purple flames spark and ignite to life around her. The light piercing through the smog and thick ash lit the area. Her descent slowed as an invisible force that could only have been created by her pushed back as she stepped down on the charred ground. The rubble and dirt crunching under her weight.


    ¡°Hello?! Whoever¡¯s here I came to help!¡± Yuri frantically ran around through the smoke looking for the source of the voice. Her purple foxfire pierced the vale of smog that blocked her vision, but only for a few feet before the smoke became too dense.


    ¡°WAR- WAR- WARNING¡­ BLAST- ZONE¡± The electronic voice powered down and the sirens ceased their static blaring. The source of the smoke begins to calm. The wind now able to keep up whips the smoke up and out of the valley like a blanket being pulled from a nicely made bed.


    Lying where the ruined buildings once slept was a chunk of a massive star shuttle torn apart and shredded almost beyond recognition. The only pieces to survive impact were the reactor bay and the medical wing attached by a thin hallway. The field generator seems to have been set to protect these two parts of the ship.


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    ¡°Someone came back¡­ After.. So long.¡± Tears pooled in Yuri¡¯s eyes as she approached the door to the medical wing. The charred and scorched ground crunched and hissed under her feet.


    The field generator was next to go. It let out a blinding arc and the blue sphere surrounding the wreckage dissipated. The mag-locks on the door disengaged as the power to the shuttle flickered. The dying reactor struggling to keep the systems alive.


    ¡°After all these years.. I finally-.¡± The door to the medical bay begins to slide open, struggling to pull itself through the bent metal of the hull, squealing as it dragged. ¡°Get to see you aga-¡° Yuri paused. No life radiated from the room, only silence. Just a single monitor glowed in the darkness of the derelict room. The lamps sprawled along the ceiling just hummed and flickered, struggling to burn to life and bring life to this eerie place.


    ¡°I knew it was too good to be true.¡± As Yuri turned to leave the shuttle the monitor screamed to life. Through the static a voice became audible. A message playing on repeat.


    ¡°To anyone who may find this message my name is Yuso. I have escaped from the Radiance Republic but my FTL drive was heavily damaged in the firefight. With no option left, I activated it with a blind jump plotted. The good news is I didn¡¯t jump straight into the center of a star. The bad news is I¡¯m lost in space orbiting this planet with little to no fuel. I¡¯m leaking O2 from multiple hull breaches. I sealed the medical bay to save what little oxygen I have left. As a last resort, I¡¯m going to put myself into cryosleep with no definite wake date to conserve resources. Most of the power will be diverted to the field generator to protect the main reactor and the medical bay. Due to this most systems including thrusters will be offline. I have no idea how long I¡¯ll be asleep. My only hope is that someone, someday will find me drifting.¡±


    Tears start to well up in the man¡¯s eyes as he speaks. The control panels in the background of the video dim and flicker as he gets visibly concerned and nervous. The groan of the weakening hull can be heard echoing in the background of the message. Saying nothing more the man wanders over to something resembling a metal coffin. The metallic door slid open pouring steam across the room as he stepped in. As the door sealed shut the video cut to static before repeating.

 A Millennia of thoughts - 3

    Yuri trying to get control of her emotions blankly stares at the monitor¡¯s repeating message. The static is the only sound that echoes throughout the room. She looks behind her. The pod the man stepped into sat in the corner of the room. Many other pods followed, but they were all empty and the glass was shattered. Approaching the lone pod a dim light poured from the tiny window. It stretched across the room reaching out to grab anything in the darkness it could, the only sign of life remaining on this derelict remnant of a ship. A small control panel sits on the front of the pod. Yuri steps closer to read it.


    ¡°Ship Reactor Status - Critical, Cryopod Status - Not Optimal, Field Generator Status - OFFLINE, Wake Date - ERROR.¡± The panel continues to flicker as Yuri reads not only making it difficult but also annoying. A small voice speaks from the panel drawing her curiosity. She taps on it.


    ¡°Critical power failure imminent. Inhabitant safety is not guaranteed. Wake protocol is highly suggested. Would you like to continue?¡± Flickering once again the control panel wiped away all the previous information replacing it with one single red button labeled, ¡°Wake¡±. Already touching the controls Yuri accidentally confirmed the sequence. The pod¡¯s lights changed from a calm and welcoming white to a deep red. The loud hissing of the hydraulic locks screamed throughout the room as they disengaged from the pod.


    ¡°Wait! Wait! I don¡¯t know what I did! Uh. Uh¡­¡± Running out of the room Yuri hides in the doorway of the medical bay as the room is filled with steam from the damaged pods also releasing their locks.


    ¡°WARNING ANTI¡­ ANTIMATTER CORE UNSTABLE REACTOR MELTDOWN IMMINENT. INHABITANT TEMPORARILY DAFE. DIVERTING EMERGENCY POWER.¡± The computer comes back online and the room begins to vent the steam pouring from the pods. Through the clearing smoke, a man leaps from the pod falling to the ground with a large thud. He was coughing violently. Blood poured from his mouth coating the ground. He coughs harder trying to grasp any air his lungs could find.


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    The metal hull of the ship hums and groans as the core becomes more and more unstable. The man stood after collecting himself and ran through the halls of the ship with a new sense of urgency. He sprints to the door in the far back of the med bay. Above the door sat a large monitor filled with static with the words ¡°Reactor bay.¡± Barely displayed. A dim red light illuminates the hall just enough to make out the shape of the door. Yuri remained hidden from Yuso watching in awe as he dragged open the unpowered door to the reactor room and sprinted inside.


    ¡°WARNING REACTOR REACHING SUPER CRITICAL MASS. ANTIMATTER CONTAINMENT FAILURE IN APPROXIMATELY T-10 SECONDS. EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY.¡± Yuri curiously watches staying hidden in the shadows oblivious to the danger she¡¯s in as she follows the man into the reactor bay. ¡°CRITICAL CONTAINMENT FAILURE IN T-9 SECONDS. REALITY SHIELDING FAILURE.¡±


    ¡°Reality shielding?¡± Yuri turns to look out the med bay door at the crater. The lush forest is gone and a city sits in its place.


    ¡°Mam, are you ok? Hello?¡± The man shook Yuri by the shoulders trying to snap her out of whatever she was looking at.


    ¡°Uh. Yes sir, sorry.¡° Yuri utterly confused apologizes to the man.


    ¡°Hey, no need to be sorry. I just wanted to make sure you were ok. You look like you took a pretty nasty fall. Is this your shrine?¡± He helps her out of the dirt and brushes the gravel from her silver hair. Her ears swatted at his hand as he brushed over them. The man pointed to the great Torii that was being constructed at the top of the hill in the distance. The hum of the construction bots can be heard from quite a bit away.


    ¡°Yes sir, it is. I just finished my training to become a shrine maiden.¡±


    ¡°Would you mind showing me around? I¡¯ve never been to one before I was always interested in seeing what wonders you guys had in store. It would also be some nice practice for you.¡± He smiled as he spoke. Yuri wanted to refuse but that smile the man wore pierced right through her rejection.


    ¡°Sure, I would love to. By the way you can call me Yuri.¡± She stretched out her hand and the man did the same.


    ¡°What a beautiful name. You can call me-.¡±