Chapter 10: Records from the Vault II – Echoes of Evanescence

Access-level 6 and above precludes discussion about the record outside of this chamber as per safety protocol NOMEN.

Before this day I would have said keeping a journal was folly – what need would I have for something which my absolute memory renders redundant?

There is only one possible reason – that my mind, which boasts the strongest fortifications this side of the Great Divide, is not infallible as I had claimed. And so I write this now in frantic haste, lest a terrible fate befall countless others.

It all started with that blasted fool and his new toy. I had cautioned him again and again about the dangers of old and dark technologies, but his stubbornness was legendary. I gave in eventually – I could only say no so many times – and took a look at it his new distraction.

My hands shake in fear, now, in retrospect. And also, relief. Relief that I am still here to tell this tale, though the same cannot be said for .

He brought the object to me since my laboratory was the best equipped with analytical devices. It was inconspicuous enough – a crystalline structure that held within it a drop of red liquid. He called it The Evanescence, though he refused to tell of where he found it.

Now, it is too late.

How I wish the authority of time was under my control so that I may throw that cursed object into the nearest singularity. But it cannot be so; for once, the consequences of my actions have overwhelmed my ability to deal with them.

I studied the object with the proper precautions. For that I can at least be soothed: it was no mistake on my part that led to our downfall, merely that what we dealt with was categorically beyond our capabilities.

The crystalline casing was unreactive. More than that, it seemed to embody the very concept of ‘inertness’. I subjected it to the extremes of all environments, yet it remained unchanged. It had mass, therefore I was certain it existed on the material plane, yet even at the subatomic level its structure was unclear to me.

As these tests continued, grew more and more restless. Perhaps, this should have been my first clue. I should have realised the unnaturalness of his desire to break open the crystal. How ignorant of me. For one so self-acclaimed in the field of psychometry to not notice such a change in his closest friend. Though even if I had, by this point, our fates were sealed.

It had us.

And so, like a witch leaving a trail of breadcrumbs, it baited us as though we were children. Me blinded by my curiosity, and he blinded by his mania, we could not see the red flags that were as clear as daylight.

The first breakthrough was my discovery that the crystal was, in fact, several thousand smaller ones interlocked in a strange pattern. At this point, I was assured of its safety – were there any problems, no doubt they would have been revealed after the multitude of tests. Once again, I curse my own arrogance. When had I grown so conceited that I believed nothing existed in the galaxy that was beyond my comprehension?

I attempted to move those pieces, and I discovered a certain amount of leeway. I attributed it to the psychic imprint I had on the device after such a long period in contact, but I know now that it was merely by its will.

I came to the conclusion it was a puzzle – perhaps the thrown away toy of a long-gone titan. A few thousand moving parts may be difficult for some, but I had been solving such puzzles since I was a child a hundredth of my age. Though, the ease of my solutions should have been a warning sign. Nothing ever went so easily without a catch.

I solved it within a few days, though I kept from making the last adjustment out of respect for . By this time, he too was as delirious as I was. His ecstasy was contagious once I told him how close we were, so I hastened to move the last piece into position.

At first nothing happened. Then a crack. And a second. The crystalline object split apart into countless tiny pieces. I had it held in a stabilised field, yet those pieces simply evaporated as though there was no longer any need for their existence.

At long last, the crimson drop was exposed. It hung stably in the quantum field, and I safely studying from behind mana-infused glass. When I read the analysis on it, any thoughts I had about the inert material were thrown from my mind.

It was incredible. Such power, contained within no more than a millilitre of liquid. I double-checked and triple-checked my calculations. I even attempted to see directly for myself. All signs corroborated the same fact.

That drop contained the same amount of energy emitted by a supernova. An entire supernova. An event so bright that it outshines entire galaxies. Somehow held within that liquid.

Even I paled at that, lamenting the loss of the inert material that somehow kept it at bay. At the same time, I was secretly in shock – where could it possibly have come from? No civilisation in the modern galaxy held the capabilities to manufacture such a fluid. Nor any in the history I knew of, which was saying something. I chose to ignore the obvious answer – that the liquid looked strikingly similar to the biological fluid of many living creatures.

Such a thought terrified me. For a single drop of blood to coalesce such density of energy broke every law of common sense I had ever cultivated. Surely, if something like that had existed, there would be records? If not written ones, then physical evidence? Dead stars, swathes of destroyed space-

I froze with realisation. This was the wrong question. If such a creature did exist, then what could possible have happened to it that removed it so completely and utterly from galactic history.

While I struggled with these questions, had his hand on the glass, staring into the drop mesmerised. I had ignored him, lost as I was in my own fantasies. Abruptly, he turned and spoke to me, that such a discovery should be cause for celebration.

And celebrate we did, with good food and entertainment. I felt safe after having ‘solved’ the object – an obvious blindspot in hindsight – and that was my undoing.

Had it been any other, I would never have been caught so off guard. But I did not see it coming. attacked me in a frenzy. I hastily moved to defend, but my mind felt strangely sluggish and heavy. I vomited black bile as I realised with mounting horror that I had been poisoned. My thoughts moved like lead, and my consciousness soon faded to black. I heard a vague murmur from as I attempted a last-ditch activation of the emergency defence, but his speed was blinding and he incapacitated me with ease.

I awoke several hours later, bleeding from my mouth and nose. Staggering towards the laboratory, I forced my immense psychic power to flush my body of any impurities.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Abruptly, my thoughts cleared and I realised the gravity of what had happened. Just before he subdued me, I managed to overcome the poison for a split-second to get a glimpse into his mind. What I saw very nearly made me sick again. Where a robust and powerful mind should have resided, I saw something harrowing.

I can only describe it as Corruption. Leeches of red and black mutilated his higher functions, reducing him to a puppet for some unseen power. His mindscape akin to a world undergoing an apocalypse. Yet his pain centres were intact: as though his tormentor wanted him to feel what he was doing, and be unable to stop himself nonetheless.

I realised that even for one such as I, there was no healing such damage. was gone. What remained was a vile creature to be put down. I grit my teeth, forcing my legs to move.

Each step was a piercing agony to my core, the aftereffects of the poison still affecting my abilities. But I pushed through. The blinking red emergency lights illuminated the base in a crimson wash while the blaring alarms vibrated my bones.

I staggered, using the wall as a support. When I reached the laboratory, it was empty. No liquid, not even the field stabiliser was there. It was as though something had just scooped everything inside that room from existence.

The only thing that remained was . He knelt, face away from me, but his mind was dead. There was no soul in that body; just a lifeless flesh.

I too, collapsed to the ground as the wave of adrenaline subsided and I faced the reality of the situation. The liquid was gone. More than that, something had instigated our discovery of it, and its release from its cage. Something that my psychic powers were unaware of.

A clash resounded and I jumped to my feet. I turned around and breathed a sigh of relief. Just a falling box. But my nerves betrayed me. I was alone on the station now, too afraid to escape lest it follow me.

But first things first. I cradled his body, carrying it to the incinerator. According to customs, he should have been buried among his ancestors on his homeworld. But I could take no chances.

The blue flame burned with intense heat but even his lifeless body was resilient to an incredible degree. The machine was not strong enough, so I stepped in, intensifying the plasma until the chamber shone with an iridescent glow. Until nothing remained of my friend but white dust and memories.

But there was no time for mourning now. I never considered myself altruistic, but I had to do something to stop it and retrieve the drop.

And so I toiled. Hours passed that turned into days, that turned into weeks. I cut off all contact with the outside world, fearful of what contagions I may spread. The passing of time was like a light breeze to me, so deep into frantic mania that I barely stopped for food and sleep.

Eventually, I was done. My veritable magnum opus. A single device, the culmination of my centuries of technological and spiritual advancements. I had replicated the ‘inert’ material to a 99% accuracy – though that final percent represented an immense gulf, it was not something I could overcome alone. I simply lacked the sheer power required.

Yet I had improved its abilities: the device now had a simple function added to its containment capabilities. A search function. No matter what it was, if you could feed enough information about it, it could find it.

I tested it first, of course, tweaking it in iterations until it was as efficient as possible. Once I was done, I retrieved the data on the drop. Those mind-blowing numbers, as well as the spiritual signature I detected myself when I doubted the accuracy of my machines.

The crystal device flashed dimly. The flashes were slow as it attempted to lock on. Abruptly, they increased in speed and intensity. I spread my arms out, concentrating the entire might of my psychic powers to aid the device. I felt a tenuous link form, stretching out from my base across the sea of stars.

A thin string so fragile, yet so strong. It crossed the gulfs between stars, it dipped into the depths of the astral plane. Following its passage with my mind, I saw outer dimensions unknown. Flashes of passing interest from eldritch abominations battered my mental fortifications as I saw unfathomable and unknowable sights.

Eventually, after what felt like an age but was truly a few seconds, our speed dropped. We were deep in the centre of our galaxy now, past the Great Divide.

I saw it. The crimson drop shone magnificently in a way it never had in my laboratory. Its energy spiked tremendously until I was forced to direct my attention away, lest my ego be sheared from my mind.

I feared for a split-second, but my device functioned perfectly. The ethereal string dashed towards the drop. As soon as it touched it, both me and the drop were drawn backwards at immense speeds, like a fish caught on the end of a line. The dimensions blurred before my eyes as we returned all that distance in barely a fraction of the time.

But it would not be that easy. For the first time, I felt its presence fully. It was similar to the eldritch gods yet different. Somehow, it felt more alive. It understood what it was to desire something. And so it understood hatred when that was taken away.

A force like no other I had ever felt crashed onto me from all sides. A terrible wail sounded, seeming to penetrate directly to my brain. Distantly, I realised my body was bleeding from its orifices, but I had no more time to spare on such thoughts.

I attempted to fight back, but it was like stopping a tsunami with a glass of water. The sheer mass of what I faced was enough to overwhelm me, its alien anger threatening to subsume my mind.

I felt the edges of my mindscape wither, leeches of red and black appearing from the void to rip and tear at my consciousness. But my mind, at least, was my domain. With a flex of effort, I tore them free and tossed them into the void as they gibbered maddening cries.

It was then, in the depths of my desperation, that I understood the terrible truth. The crimson drop was not merely a remnant of some long-forgotten entity—it was alive. And it was calling.

A pulse, rhythmic and haunting, echoed through the station as the link between us grew stronger. My device, flawless in design, had done its job too well. It had become a beacon. My fortress, once impregnable, was now a glowing lighthouse in a sea of darkness, drawing forth what slumbered in the beyond.

Just as I thought all was lost, as the ethereal string was beginning to fray and an immense presence approached, fortune shone her golden light on me. Our flight through the dimensions stopped suddenly, as though a great hand had grabbed us as one does a toy train.

My mind reeled from the sudden deceleration. Ringing echoed in my ears, words attempting to be heard but sounding unintelligible to my damaged mind. It seemed the creature was not spared from this.

It screeched in agony. The kind of agony of one unaccustomed to being on the weaker side. Through my own pain, I spared a sadistic grin for its fate, thanking whatever higher being saw fit to interfere.

At that, I swear I felt a jolt of amusement. The cosmic presence that overwhelmed the creature diminished and I dared to open my eyes. An indistinct figure stood on the void before me, clutching a wriggling mass in one hand. His entire body was blurred, the subconscious defences of my mind working overdrive to protect my sanity.

He said something to me, but my recollection is vague. Perhaps, it was important, perhaps not. I will never know now.

He waved a hand, and my journey resumed with a whiplash-inducing speed. His figure disappeared among the myriad dimensions, only the echo of its hateful cry following me across space.

Abruptly, I returned. My palms were slick with sweat and I felt bone-tired, as though I had fought a battle for a month on end. My energy was drained and my mind exhausted. Without even moving, I submitted myself to the cooling embrace of sleep.

I awoke several days later and locked that device away, along with my memories of that trip. Some things, I determined, were not for a mere mortal to pursue. Though I believed myself far past such a humiliating word, the galaxy is wide and the universe far wider still.

But without the stress of survival on my mind, I was free to ponder the truth I had discovered. The creature from which that drop came from was still out there. I had no idea if the cosmic being was together with it or against it, but that was of little significance. For the final cry of the creature had embedded sombre knowledge into my mind: it would reclaim its echoes, and Evanescence will grace the galaxy once more.

So even now, centuries on, as I pen this in my old age, I jump at lengthened shadows and whispering corners. I dream of crimson drops circling and coalescing into horrible creatures of nightmare. I hide away, cooped up in my fortress, afraid of what awaits me out there in the dark.

And so, I leave this message as a cautionary tale to my fellow scientists and adventurers. Our galaxy is old beyond old. You who read this may be far in the future and magnitudes more advanced, but still I beg of you, heed this advice:

Do not search for the crimson drop. Do not seek to reclaim what was lost. For in the act of discovery, you will awaken what should remain forgotten. And when it comes for you, as it did for me, you may not be so lucky.

So, most of all:

Beware the Echoes of Evanescence.

This message was discovered by Uncharted Zones 2nd Colonial Expedition in the 5th millennium MGE. Its date is unknown – all known methods for calculating age fail. We cannot determine the veracity of its statement as no other records corroborate its story.

The lack of modern-day evidence for such higher beings decreases the trustworthiness of this record.

The following actions have been taken following retrieval 4987.23.2 MGE:

* Establish safety protocol NOMEN

* Temporary suspension on CONTACT experiments [rescinded 5234.3.5 MGE]

Viewing now complete. Prepare for removal of temporal lock by Singularity-class asset S-003. Please proceed to area C5 for subsequent thought containment.