“Wh-” Jack tried to speak but was shut down by the figure in front of him.

“Don't ask any stupid questions."

“Who are you?” Jack understood the severity of the issue at hand and asked.

“Prince of the Tulorn race, Aeroth”

“Tulorn?”

Aeroth raised his hands and with a snap the blank white room suddenly shifted. Before the two figures was a celebration of sorts. The people draped in expensive raiment. High ceilings carrying massive chandeliers with bright lights. All the figures dressed  in various shades of purple, especially the figures that were standing at the very edge on an elevated platform.

Jack recognized one of them to Aeroth. But he was more happy, full of life than to the illusory figure standing next to him.

“A celebration. For the 267th year of the founding of the empire, what was supposed to be a joyous occasion..”  Aeroth spoke with a smile that masked something deeper.

“Glory to the Turnlorn Empire!” The crowd cheered.

“Fitting don’t you think?” Aeroth asked Jack.

“Huh?”

“You will understand soon enough.”

Aeroth waved his hands and they were transported into a wide open field. They seemed to be placed outside a castle in the middle of the night. Jack saw the night sky filled with stars glistening like diamonds. Among those stars resided three moons all which were in competition to see which one could shine brighter.

“See those four white dots?” Aeroth pointed towards a location garnering Jack’s attention.

“Yea.”

“Beautiful aren't they?” Aeroth asked.

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Jack nodded. They were quite beautiful, shining brighter than any stars he had ever seen.

“Want to take a closer look at them?” Aeroth asked.

Before Jack had the time to answer, the scenery changed once more. They were floating in space and as Jack looked around he came face to face with four giant objects.

‘Spacecrafts’ Jack thought to himself. They were truly massive, to the point where Jack could not even see the top of the spacecrafts.

“Is this where I  was?” Jack asked as he stood at awe at the sheer size of the spacecrafts.

“Hahaha. Trust me child. If one of these ships had trapped you, we would not be talking.” Aeroth laughed.

Jack tilted his head not understand what Aeroth was trying to say.

“The ship you were in can't even qualify as a scout ship built from spare parts from the nearest planet. The ones you see are juggernauts built to subjugate an entire planet.”

“That means…” Jack eyes widened at the revelation.

“Ironic isn’t it?” Aeroth asked a question but Jack knew better than to answer that type of question.

“But alas, past is the past. I can’t bring the dead back to life” He continued to lament on his misfortune.

Jack felt perplexed as he did not know what he could say to console him, especially since they just met.

“These were all sent him him” Aeroth sensed the mood chaning and shifted the topic.

“Him?” Jack asked.

“The collector, subjugator, destroyer. It has many names. No one is even clear on how it even came to existence. Rumors say it is  a robot that collected information about the universe. Until it gained sentience and was hell bent on completing its mission.” Aeroth spoke with hints of fear in his voice.

The figure stared at Jack and spoke “And its next target is Earth.”

Jack was not ignorant on the matter but felt powerless when he saw the sheer size of the spacecrafts.

“Why tell me all of this?”

“Because the power that I have now belongs to you.”

“That’s it?” Jack was perplexed.

“It’s not like I can talk to anyone else.”

“Do you think I can take on him?”

“If he sent his full force, not even a hundred of you would be enough. But..”

“But?”

“There seems to be more factors into play here.” Aeroth stated as he fell into deep though.

“Factors?”

“Why would he send a ship made of junk to begin his assimilation?” Aeroth asked hoping Jack would get the answer.

“Um..” Jack placed his hand on his head and thought of the matter.

‘If he posses such a massive and powerful fleet, why send one lone ship?”

“He is too far away?” Jack asked.

“That’s part of it. The other part would be desperation.”

“Desperation?”

“He is not likely to make such a silly mistake unless it was truly desperate. Earth has something he wants and he wants it fast. Any thoughts?” Aeroth cleared up Jack’s thoughts.

Jack thought about matter and came up with nothing. As he was thinking, at the corner of his eyes Aeroth’s body was slowly disappearing.

“Your body!” Jack pointed at his feet that were slowly vanishing into the air.

“Damn. I burned too much of my consciousness in that blow. Listen kid, get out of this ship and try to take as many captured huma--” Before Aeroth could finish he was swallowed up by nothingness.

Jack stared at the space where Aeroth once stood. And he felt nothing.