The Ring of Acies

Prologue: The Ring

The violet photoreceptor organs of the creature stare out at the planet. It feels uncomfortable, out of place, and fearful. It finds it an odd feeling since it has only ever known this place as 'home.'

'When' is not a concept the creature understands. It only knows 'where' and desperately wants to know 'why' and 'how.'

The planet is divided by large violet cracks carving up its surface like the arms of a lightning bolt. Its surface has been scorched black. It would be indistinguishable from the void around it were it not for its thin atmosphere reflecting what little light it receives from its dying star.

But that is not what disturbs the creature. At least, it is not what it finds most disturbing. Amidst the ring of garbage and twisted metal orbiting the planet lies a sea of inky black corpses, withering away in the void. It recognizes the feeling now. It is known to the creature as 'the final disappearance,' although this is far more twisted and wrong than it has known it to be.

This place is death.

The life and energy the planet brought have been torn away, and in its place is a vast sea of death and destruction. The creature wants to leave. It wants to go to the place that is not death in this moment. But it cannot. The fluidity of its existence is gone. It feels trapped; it drowns in the moment as its body stiffens. It no longer feels the energy of life it depends on to survive. Frantically trying to adapt, its black body takes several forms, trying desperately to survive, but it cannot. Its mind screams into the void as its life force fades, becoming just another corpse in the ring of Acies.