[IC] Eternal Galaxy: Shards of Starlight - Part I

[Koishi]

Celestoria System
Dark Side of Mortem's moon

---

The Reaper pulled out it's scythe.

"Justice shall be served this day." The Reaper said.

Quickly and elegantly, The Reaper cut through the skeletons like a knife through butter. Dozens of kunai impacted through the strings, cutting them apart, and thus, making the skeletons fall apart. It kept going, eventually, after aorund thirty seconds of fighting, it dispatched the skeletons.

"And then there was one." The Reaper turned back to the girl. "Your judgement of my character is flawed. I go where justice must be served, where the unjust must be punished harshly. You may think yourself as some all powerful entity, but to justice, you are nothing but vermin, meant to be crushed and eradicated." The Reaper replied.

---

Venturia
Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur

---

Mima sifted through the words until the line defining youkai caught her eye.

"Youkai is a designation for a Japanese folk creature or ghost." Mima glanced down to her ghost tail. "I think I fall into the latter category."

[Cucoo5]

Venturia
Celestora System
Dark Side of Mortem's moon

"Teeheheehehee~ You think I'm the bad guy? Hehehehe~ I'm the one saving the Galaxy." Then her voice lowered and her attitude changed. "Everyone...EVERYONE IS CAUSING THE GALAXY PAIN!" Suddenly, spider like black wings that appeared to be the same substance as the weapons of the skeletons spread from her back and arced to the ground. She lifted off of the ground, her face a mixture of sadistic ecstasy and miserable sadness. As she did, the strings of the skeletons regrew and they got up once more. Anankerisa held her head in her hands. "SO MUCH PAIN! SO MUCH SUFFERING! WHY PROLONG THE INEVITABLE?!? KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" As she screamed, space and time around her fractured for a moment and she disappeared. However, dark energy swirled around the area and her voice could still be heard. Laughing from everywhere. "You all call me Venturia, you all named me after the Galaxy, you all praise me as the one who guided this galaxy in its creation...YET EVERYONE CONTINUE TO CAUSE ME PAIN!" The skeletons charged at the Reaper again.
This time, they would not stay down as the strings would regrow quickly.
"YOU ARE THE ONES WHO ARE THE VILLAINS!"

Spoiler:

-----------------

Venturia
Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur

"So your a ghost." Aion crossed his arms. "Strange...and your supposed to be from Old Earth...but..."
"Something doesn't add up." Joe looked from Mima to Aion.
"How did you get here...?" Aion looked at Mima inquiringly. "Hitch hiking on one of the original Ships from Earth Billions of years ago? Spiritual passage of the afterlife or something?"

-------------------

Venturia
Nexion System
Planet: Nexus

Each half of the line of guards separated to create a path for the Spartan. The Guard in the middle stayed and addressed the soldier. "This way sir." And with that he led him through the great halls and stair-cases. "I will bring you before the Venturian Council, where you can explain your case. The Council is the governing body of the entire Galaxy and has authority in all affairs. Standard protocol is to simply be polite and do not speak unless spoken to during the Session. You will most likely meet with only Lady Avonna, as to gather all Council members for one matter is irrelevant. Lady Avonna is the head of the Venturian Council. As a man of the military, I would assume you would understand how to address a leader of a government, correct?"

[S121]

Venturia
Nexion System
Planet: Nexus

"Sir or Ma'am, correct?", John asked the man leading him to the Council room in a calm, almost emotionless tone.

In truth, John never actually met the leaders of his government. More often than not, John was either on a ship, or the front lines, killing hundreds of Covenant. The last thing John wanted was to be imprisoned, simply for misaddressing a government leader.

[Cucoo5]

Venturia
Nexion System
Planet: Nexus

"Correct. You could also address the Lady of the Council as Lady Avonna as well." They entered the Council room which was mid way up the tower. It was a massive hall which could make any cathedral seem insignificant. An oblong semi circle of seats ran across the back of the room, just below a massive window with a stained glass section in the middle with the depiction of Four knights. Each with different colored armor. one in silver, one in black, one in brilliant red, and the last one, a female, in ethereal blue. In between the four knights, was another girl with long blonde hair and black streaks running through it. she held her arms out and her eyes were closed as though floating on water.

In front of the mural of glass, was a throne which had a simple elegance in comparison to the rest of the room. In it sat what at first glance a human woman wearing an ornate white alabaster mask which covered her eyes and upper face along with an elegant white dress with a slight touch of blue which hung loose on her and having smooth black hair that seemed to be like that of obsidian. Upon further observation, one would notice the white butterfly wings that seemed almost transparent in nature.
Leading up to throne area were stairs than ran the width of the room. The floors of mosaic like tile were covered with a red carpet with gold trim on either side, which came well short of either wall to the sides. Trees and other vegetation dotted along the walls of the room.

The guard led John to an area just before the stairs in front of the woman. He bowed and left the room, with two guards closing the great doors behind him.
The woman smiled after a moment of silence. "The guard told you to wait until spoken to, didn't he? You do not need to follow those rules with me. Speak your mind."

[S121]

Venturia
Nexion System
Planet: Nexus

John was a little surprised by the the lack of formality and the almost casual tone of Lady Avonna. It wasn't a bad thing, only unexpected. Despite that, John couldn't help but have a little amount of formality when addressing the woman before him.

"Well, Lady Avonna, I.. really don't know what to think. This is a very unusual situation. I was trying to travel back to my home planet, Earth, and ended up here because of a Slipspace Drive malfunction., John politely said to Lady Annova.

John then had a question for Lady Annova.

"What exactly is this place,.. if you don't mind me asking?"

[Cucoo5]

Venturia
Nexion System
Planet: Nexus

Avonna's soft, kind smile remained as she spoke again. "I have heard what the patrol has reported. You are referencing the Old Earth, of what was known as the Milky Way Galaxy, correct? Then I must inform you that you have done that simply travel to another galaxy. You have traveled through time itself as with the present day, Old Earth is gone. It was destroyed about four hundred billion years ago."
She paused for a moment. "I'm sorry. To learn that what was once your home is no more must bear a great weight with it."
She then continued after another pause. "You are now in the Venturian Galaxy, the last refuge of the Humans. We, the original inhabiting races, welcomed them with open arms. You are currently in the Nexion System, the solar system closest to the center of the Galaxy. There are five other systems with habitable planets: Helios, Celestora, Egale, Venion, and Sol Incineron. We are currently in a war that has raged on now for millions of years. It has been called the War of Eternity. Despite this, most Planets are unaffected by it."

She stopped speaking, to allow the Spartan to process what she has just said.
"And what is your name, sir?"

[Koishi]

Dark Side of Mortem's moon

---

"Hehehehe." The Reaper made a low laugh.

"A challenge." The Reaper pulled out a couplle of special kunai, tipped with a green substance, known to most as Detonite.

"Justice shall be served this day." The Reaper then pulled out more of the kunai.

"Whether you like it, or not." The Reaper threw the kunai, embedding themselves in a couple skeletons before exploding, shattering, then disentegrating them.

It then leapt forward, stomping the ground, causing the walls to bend and for time itself to be disrupting, making the skeletons float in stasis, allowing him to start exploding each and every one of them caught in the stasis.

---

Venturia
Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur

---

"What I remember when waking up was me being on some island. Some guy named Cicero found me, and told me I was somewhere called the Mirror Sea. He took me to a big towr thing, which transported me to the another planet, where I met Nero." Mima explained.

[S121]

Venturia
Nexion System
Planet: Nexus

John was taken aback by what Lady Avonna had said and his breathing became shallow as he looked to the left, trying to figure out how such a thing was possible.

"That-.. that can't be right. I was only in cryosleep for three hours. Even if that was the case, i-it should take longer.", John said, as everything around him felt more and more like a dream.

"We.. couldn't have traveled through time, could we?", Cortana asked John inside of his helmet, unable to be heard by the outside world.

"I really don't know..."

After a couple of moments, John took a deep breath and answered Lady Avonna's question.

"I am UNSC Master Chief Petty Officer Sierra-117.", John said to Lady Avonna.

John had to find out something. What year was it? Were the Covenant still here? What about the Forerunners? John took a deep breath and asked Lady Avonna more questions.

"Do you know about the Covenant and the Forerunners? Do you know about the Human-Covenant War?", John slowly asked Lady Avonna in a serious tone.

[Cucoo5]

Venturia
Celestora System
Dark Side of Mortem's moon

The girl let out another frustrated scream, which seemed to originate from the very void of space itself. Suddenly the rift opened briefly again and the girl appeared again, her eyes seemed crazed while she smiled with a wicked grin. "You play tricky! My turn!" And with that she disappeared again, but this time the string and substance that the skeletons were using gathered together and formed a life-size replica of the Reaper. The shadow seemed to have the faint image of control strings coming from its body. It moved like a puppet slowly towards the actual Reaper with it's scythe held in its somewhat limp hands.

------------------------

Venturia
Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur

All eyes turned to Nero. "...uh..." he coughed and held a hand to his glasses, holding them up as he tilted his head down. "I...might have known about that...uh...ya...Also it's not the Cicero you think it is. It's like...uh...Cicero....uh....Baggins. Cicero Baggins....ya..." He took a few steps back away from the light.
Aion shook his head. "Well there's credibility in the story at least. So, the Mirror Sea? I happen to be familiar with the legends..." He looked up to the sphere. "I have some...personal experience...with the Mirror Sea. So if you say you came from it, then I believe you."
"That bastard, Revere..." Joe then muttered under his breath. "So this murder, Revere, kills Aion's family and then dumps Aion's unconscious body in the South Sea and he wound up traveling through the Mirror Sea. And of course, one does not simply travel across the Mirror Sea."

------------------------

Venturia
Nexion System
Planet: Nexus

"So, Sir..." Avonna paused as she seemed to struggle with remembering the whole name that the Spartan presented to her. "...is there perhaps something shorter you go by? Forgive me for asking, I am still but mortal."
"And to answer your question, The Archives would be able to provide you with the information you seek. I am not personally familiar with specific affairs of Old Earth, but I do know that the Humans have shown great valor in times of great peril. We, the first to be of Venturia, refer to the humans as 'the ones with the strength of will derived from both mind and heart.' ...Even when hope was all but lost...They turned the hands of fate to that of new fortune."

[S121]

Venturia
Nexion System
Planet: Nexus

John thought for a moment and spoke again, this time giving out a name that many people called him.

"I'm also known as "Master Chief" by many of my peers.", John said.

John then thought for a moment about what Lady Avonna had said and spoke.

"I guess I never really thought of it that way. We were nearly driven to extinction and simply did what what needed to be done. We simply did what we needed to survive.", John said, but soon went back on track to the question he wanted to ask.

"Could you show me to the Archives? I need to know if I'm really in another time period.", John said in a polite tone.

[Kristia]

Celestoria system

Mara was traveling to the closest planet as her ship was searching for whatever planet that could be safe to land and refuel in supplies for her.

Eating a fruit from her storage, the bioroid was enjoying such a nice object "To believe that such fruit could survive all this years, its firm and solid form, with a tasty juice inside of it.." she said taking a bite from the apple

The white haired had a good stah of the fruit in question as she enjoyed them since her childhood on the colonies

[Cucoo5]

Venturia
Nexion System
Planet: Nexus

Avonna nodded. "Of course, Master Chief." She then stood up and her wings seemed to grow opaque as the spread out behind her. She walked slowly down the steps past John and stopped in what seemed the center of the room. She held a hand out and a small orb of blue light formed. She then moved her hand around it and then the holographic screens ran along either side of her creating a sort of corridor. She then gently carried the orb with her as the screens rapidly scrolled through information. "You wish to seek what was the outcome of this war? The screens stopped on the Human-Covenant War. Avonna looked at one of the screens. "It seems the Humans succeeded in the end." She then created another smaller screen and accessed a small date calculator. "And the year, in Earth years, is the year 519,941,212,552,013."

[S121]

Venturia
Nexion System
Planet: Nexus

John knew about the outcome of the war, he helped end it. He was about to speak until he realized that she had his history. As soon as he heard that she had his time period's history in the Archive, his heart sank. Now, it was certain. John was no longer in his own time period. Everything he had once known had withered away and become dust. John, Cortana, and the Longsword were the only things left from his time. He was a dinosaur, a relic from long ago. As this wave of thoughts washed over him, John quietly sat on the steps and buried his helmeted face in his hands.

[Cucoo5]

Nexion System
Planet: Nexus

Avonna disabled the Archive screens and sat down next to John. "We have legends and stories here that tell tales that many believe to be simple bedtime stories for children. But they have a relevance to all things. Those that are blind to it live in ignorance." she looked at the Spartan and placed a hand on his shoulder. "The tales may provide a source of hope for you." She smiled. "There is a story of a place which exists neither in the past, present, or future. It is said that one could travel to other times from there." She looked forward again. "Even in the dark eclipse, the sun still shines, it is merely hidden from us."

-----------------
Celestoria system

A small blip on Mara's radar appeared. It was a lone fighter traveling towards the Alcyon Warp Gate.

[Kristia]

Celestoria system

As Mara looked at the lone fighter, she was confused "A lone fighter ship? thats odd, they usually roam in groups" she said to herself and traced the source from wherever it came from

The source led to the freighter´s ships location, but now there were debris of the remnants of the ship

("What the hell happened on the ship?") she thought now worried of the civilians. Maybe the lone ship was a rogue or has an explanation

("Even the military being violent doesnpt go destroyin civilian ships.. I got to find out what happened") the bioroid prepared a new route towards the warp gate