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-.”