Chapter thirty two

We cannot see the fallen, their flaws, their faults, their weaknesses. We can only admire their shadows, their legacies, and strive to surpass those great ones of old.

Clank. A sleek, black and red spaceship docked at a giant cube, one so black it seemed to be swallowing the very void, floating in a purple expanse. A figure, decked out in a large, clunky suit of armor, stomped into the cube, the hallways lighting up with a crimson light as it passed. As if heralding an angel of death, all doors opened in front of it, nothing standing in its way. As it walked into a cavernous room filled with what seemed to be obsidian coffins, it watched them flash with deep crimson strobes, mirroring the grinning sanguine skull on its black helmet, its eye sockets seemingly burning with a hellish fire. “Good, my men are ready. Soon, my comrades, soon. Soon it will be time for us to rise once more, and for this universe to hear our name once more. They will hear, and they will tremble! We have crushed a trillion galaxies, and we will crush a trillion more! For we are the Forgotten Legion, and we are Death!” Every coffin in the room suddenly shone at the figure’s words, filling the room with a bloody light and phantom roars. Soon, the coffins’ light died back down, and the figure returned to its ship, tearing open reality and disappearing. The cube continued its eternal journey, floating through the dim light.

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Clunk. Lights come on, a dark blue glow suffusing the room. In the centre, an obsidian coffin opens its top, ultramarine strobes spilling out. An armoured figure sat up, then stepped out of the coffin, metal boots clanking on the barren, metal floors. A door opened in front of it, and it stepped into another room, full of more coffins. It stepped towards the centre of the room, where an indigo flame burned vigorously in an elaborate cradle. “Soon, my comrades, soon. We have guarded the flame for a thousand eternities, and we will guard it for a million more. We have slumbered for far too long, locked in our cradles with our wings clipped. But we are patient, and we can wait. The universe has long forgotten our name, but they can be taught again, just as we taught them so long ago. We are the Eternal Fleet, and we will soar again!” The coffins pulsed at the figure’s words, ultramarine light and phantom cries filling the room, before the coffins quietened down again, and the room was quiet once more. The figure clanked back into the coffin once again and lay down, and the rooms were dark once more, except for the flickering of the flame.

Thunk. Another coffin opened, this time in a room with only 9 others. Another armoured figure rose out, but its armour didn’t have any colours, and was black as the void. It stood up and looked at the other coffins. “Soon, my brothers, soon. The ark has awoken, and the boxes are stirring. We were once a proud empire, spanning untold galaxies. Now look at us, reduced to a handful of dregs. But we will not falter, we will not despair. Even when we were non-sentient animals, so many eternities ago, we outlasted our prey. We have persevered, and that is what has allowed us to survive. That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die. Sleep well, my brothers. Death cannot touch us anymore, for we are eternal. And soon, Death too will die.” And with those words, the figure lay back down in his coffin and let it close over him. And the room was silent once more.