Most mistake him for a shooting star, dashing across the sky of every world as a brilliant streak of light. So bright is he, that for a moment, he is seen as beautiful. Then he turns, his wonderful flight of chance transforming into a decent of purpose, a purpose that is not that of beauty. His purpose is to find worlds seeded with organic life. His purpose is that of the scythe to the fall harvest. Whatever lies in the bosom of lush worlds will gaze upon him as a falling star, set to burn.

Why can't I remember? Has is been that long? It was so dark before. No matter, my name is not important anymore. I am light. I am warmth. I am entropy.

For millennium, the man made of stars shot through the cosmos. Only knowing his one true purpose bestowed upon him by the Seeker. Each world he found was, to him, a stray with a broken leg. His purpose was empathy. He could feel the suffering like like an ice pick being driven through his eye. The pain guiding him to these worlds as an act of mercy... Mercy? His mercy?

I am formless to myself. Nothing but a collection of whims to be set upon these worlds. I am formless but, I can be perceived. I am the comet they see, I am light. If I wish to be Seen, I am a man. I am a man made of light so brilliant and pure that me features are that of chrome. The Seeker gave me this. To the Seeker, I give him life. To life, I give unto thee wafer and cross.

The first worlds to be culled went with a whimper. Begging and pleading turned to rioting rage and anguish. The will of many seeping out to the rest of the cosmos like pools of blood soaking into a fine carpet. The fabric of reality was changing with every bit of light that was extinguished. The Seeker watched this brilliant dance of mass evisceration with glee. His hands danced as if conducting an orchestra.

Oh, how exquisite you are, my stellar man. I am still hungry. Will you bring me my wine and grape?

The Seeker watched each wold being harvest through the eyes of his loyal servant. His hunger never waning. Even when the worlds of the many began to feel the losses. They would send ship and man. They would send weapons of insignificance to what could only be described as an act of God.

Is your God still listening?

Must I keep feeling this pain? Must I got on for eternity to see the final act of entropy? Will his hunger ever wane? Will my light go out once he is satisfied? Another millennia, another world, more life put out with the mashing of his heel? My heel.

This world was lush and green. Emerald seas draped across it like a fine gown on a queen. This was the emerald stone of the constellation Orion. He looked upon it, like all others before, and he could see the trees. He could smell the oceans salty embrace, he bore witness to the giving of life. He felt the pain in the sorrow of their losses as their loved ones succumbed to life itself. He gazed upon if for a time. Longer than he should have. He turned down to it now, taking on the speed of light itself. He could see its molten center humming the song of existence to all those above it. It spun like a ballerina, and hummed with the familiarity and hope of a heart.

He pressed on, through the upper atmosphere that now began to show itself as a crimson dawn to those on the coast. He entered the warm depths of its sea, sending a wave as high as any mountain. That only lasted a moment as the water instantly evaporated, eviscerating every atom of water in the worlds ocean at once. He could hear their screams. He continued on through the crust. Deeper still, until he could feel the warmth of the the core. He slowed for an imperceivable amount of time. To him, it was an eternity, gazing upon the beating heart of it all. He continued inside of it.

I deliver thee, to the Seeker of all things. May this end begin that of what we seek. Let this be the beginning of the end. May this feed... Entropy.

In a flash the world imploded on itself for a moment. Once it reached its limit the Emerald shattered violently, sending itself in every direction with a stunning ball of fire in its center. Then... silence. Heavy, unyielding, silence.

And yet... he is still hungry. How many more... How many MORE!

Until it is done, my star...

Part 1: Ash and Fire

Her name was Eden. A human woman from Azury, the third planet in the Alnitak system. Her planet is part of the Orion Galactic Republic (OGP). OGP is made of the three stars in Orion's Belt, Alnitak being the primary stronghold for the OGP. Eden never knew anything else other than the orange fields of Azury. She often looked up into the sky at night on her parents land and wondered what the other Orion star systems were like.

The Flash came not three days after Eden had finally saved enough currency to travel to Delta in the Mintaka system. Years she worked as a teacher, barely making enough to live, let alone travel the stars like her mother encouraged.

The ocean of stars is something the soul must witness. The last great ocean yet to be explored.

Her mother traveled the stars as part of the Orion Peace Corps after the Great Cataclysm. Now, she stayed on their land, too sick to travel any longer. Her heart begged for the stars again. Eden had taken that wonder for the stars and placed it deep into her heart. For that is where her mother told her she would always be. The Flash occurred on an Orion planet in the Shield sector and could be seen during the daytime on Azury. The feed erupted with warnings, headlines showed casualty numbers, the people with connections there could not fathom what had happened. An entire planet, gone. Billions of people, erased from this reality.

What was this reality?

My soul... where did he put it? My mind is mine? I have become an instrument only to him. I am growing tired of this song. The song of eternity, the song... of Death.

The Teacher had been waiting in the main terminal for interstellar departures. The terminal was large with vaulted steel and aluminum ceilings. Many humans and Uhrs trod or rushed to their specified gates that arched high enough for a shuttle to slip through. Large holographic displays showed inbound and outbound transports for those without implants. The cold gray and ivory colors of it all always gave the Teacher a chill. Eden looked inward the the same way one might when daydreaming. Her internal implant stunned her with the news of the Flash. The pit in her stomach only grew as satellite imagery was being shown of what took place just prior to the Flash.

Is... was... was that a star? A star... colliding with a planet?

It made no sense to Eden. Her heart pounded and she could feel a cool sweat start to take over her pale skin. A notification hit the center of her vision.

Transport to Delta, Mintaka system, will be departing in five minutes. Please have passes ready for the boarding agent.

Eden shook her head as the notification faded from her feed. All she had was a knapsack and a hard case piece of luggage. She hoisted the hard cased container and let out a sigh. Her heart was now just starting to ease to its calmer rhythm. Even if stars were beginning to fall from the sky, what could be done? Life is finite, only an act of God could stop Eden from embarking on her life's dream.

Your God is dead...

My eyes see all. I am simply the organizer of the things yet to come. See it now, the canary in the mine. Your eyes saw my agents work and God, is it grand! Soon you will know your end. Soon you will know him. I see you therefore, he sees you.

---

Hey all,Thanks for reading! If you enjoy this idea I will be expanding this along side Void Heart. Been having a lot of fun writing again so if you have an comments or suggestions please let me know!!

-Mas

It happens now. In the moments we fear most. There, you stand before the ultimate finale. It ticks away as you try harder to run.

Much happens. Nothing changes. Time passes away. We are changes.

Closer it comes. Why does it judge me so?

It comes by day.

It comes by night.

Time passes.

Night.

Bye.

Day...

HAB-1 was put into low Earth orbit at the end of the year 2121. HAB-1 was no different than any other space station, except for its record setting size and ability to generate artificial gravity. The large spire was adorned with two rings called GravityWalk's. (very descriptive name I know.) At full capacity it can house five hundred crew with the ability to serve as a small staging port to the lunar and martian bases. For the most part, HAB-1 was a corporate scientific facility with the main goal of studying exotic materials that can't be studied on Earth. Now though, HAB-1 has become the place where rookie nauts come to learn how to do space shit before moving to the outer rim bases or HAB-2. (Freshly constructed with an even cooler name too!)

HAB-1 is being decommissioned after ten long years of service to NewGen. NewGen is the main space corp. from Earth. They took over the space agency NASA in the late 2100's after a few billionaires lobbied to privatize space (still trying to figure out how one can privatize space but hey, I am just a lowly scientist what do I know.) Like most corporations, NewGen only cares about one thing -- profit. There have been plenty of scandals around work deaths, horrible work conditions leading to death, and poor accommodations for their employees that (you guessed it) led to even more deaths. Fortunately, some politicians on Earth grew a pair when NewGen proposed the HAB station. Having a giant space needle that could fall to Earth with the same force as a nuclear bomb (gravity is awesome) made a few people a little apprehensive about the lack of government oversight of NewGen. That means the HAB is one of the most refined posts of any NewGen gig. Only the best can work here and given its the safest too, there is a lot of competition. Lucky for me though, my mommy works here.

I am sure you are disappointing I am a nepo-baby. To you I say, "go fuck yourself". I still had to go to MIT and Princeton for physics and work at CERN for five years. (That place is such a dump now.) So, I would say I am pretty qualified to do some bullshit material synthesis work on a dying station being put out to pasture. My mother, Erisia, is a doctor. Worked out of Boston most of my youth either At MGH or teaching at Harvard medical school. (We lived in Waltham but we tell everyone we're from Boston.) My mother always pushed for me to use my brain and pursue science. I wanted to be like my father and pursue music. After my first guitar lesson though, I made the executive decision to try science out. I actually ended up liking the world of physics by the time I started applying to colleges, and my mother really liked the fact I somehow got accepted into MIT. She even called her hair dresser to tell him.

My father was always supportive of whatever I wanted to do. Makes me wonder how a free spirit like him got with such a stiff-dick like my mother. (Something tells me a lot of drugs were involved, given the amount of Grateful Dead records my dad had.) Dad died when I was about fifteen. Some idiot kids stole a car from his university's student parking lot one night. Dad had just finished up teaching a night lesson for his classical guitar students. Those assholes didn't even stop. Cops told us the car was torched the next town over. First time ever I saw my mother cry. I had to move into the dorms the next day. They never ended up finding those asshole kids but I have three Phd's now so who's really winning now?

The shuttle up to HAB-1 is... janky as shit to put it mildly. My mother had done this trip half a dozen times but still prayed on liftoff and docking. I may have said a prayer or two myself. Docking went smooth, deck hands guided us to the spire lift in zero-g with impressive efficiency. I bounced off a few walls on the tube to the spire lift. (It was fun being a human pinball). My mother made one swift leap from the shuttle to the lift, looking at me as if she was about to scold me. "Stop acting like a child Zoey" she said through gritted teeth. (That made me shit myself a bit but my face didn't show it -- I think.) We rode the lift to the main GravWalk, about halfway up the almost kilometer long central spire of HAB-1. The lift opened to a long rectangular hallway with ladder rungs on opposite sides. Climbing down(up?) the ladder was a strange feeling as I could feel my body get heavier as we approached the bottom (top?) of the passageway. We both stepped directly onto a platform, being lowered down on essentially a service elevator once we both made contact.

- - -

The bridge of HAB-1 was our first stop after getting deconed getting off the lift. (I can still smell the Neutro-Spray on my jumpsuit and boy does it not smell like "fresh linen".) Captain Bron stood in the center of the bridge with his hands clasped behind his back. His jumpsuit was a little nicer than the main crews adorning a few strips down the side of each shoulder and buttons instead of zippers and Velcro. He turned as the heavy bulkhead doors slid shut behind us. "Ladies, welcome to HAB-1. I am Captain Bron, it is a pleasure to have you both on board as we make our final rotation." My mother reached out to shake his hand first, "It's an honor, sir. I was the first doctor on HAB's first rotation. It is truly sad to see the old girl go."

"Sad indeed." Bron let his head drop for a moment before turning to me, "You must be our new science officer, correct Ms. Smith?"

"Ms. Smith is my mother, please call me Zoey, sir. It's an absolute trip to be here for the first time!" My mother shot a glare at me. Bron just smirked and let out a soft chuck as he shook my hand, "Pleasure to have you aboard, Zoey. Martin over there will show you to your quarters and give you the grand tour. The HAB has seen better days so try to be careful and listen to Martins safety brief like your life depended on it." Bron let slip a devious smirk and then motioned towards Martin who was just behind us, getting up from his display station. As we began to part ways with Captain Bron a massive tremor shook the bridge violently. Display surfaces blinked sporadically and the sound of groaning metal was almost deafening. I almost went to the floor, as well as my mother. Bron somehow stood more steady. He barked over the yelps and sounds of groaning metal, "Status!" A young woman yelled in response, "Green sir, CMP-12665 test just finished. Looks like an aftershock from the labs. Hull is green, life support green. All other systems coming back online now!"

"Good." Bron said, letting out an almost invisible sigh of relief. The groaning subsided slowly as displays began to stop flickering. I steadied myself on a nearby railing, "What the fuck was that!" I yelled.

"That, Ms. Smith, is why we are all here." Bron smirked again. Martin ran over to my mother and I, "This way ladies." He said in a a monotone low voice. My mother and I shared a glance. (Not a glare this time at least.) Bron turned back to the main display, clasping his hands behind his back as we left the bridge.

This is the end of what I will expand into the prologue of Void Heart. This is a very rough draft after not written anything since high school. Please point out any errors and leave your comments/suggestions! I hope to release a draft of parts of this book regularly. (A few times a month hopefully!) Thank you for reading!

-Massimo (the author I guess...)

The ocean waves crashed onto the beach with power and majesty. The salty air brushed my face like the warm hand of a loved one. Perhaps that is what lies beyond the horizon. As my feet sink themselves deeper into the sand I look out further. Past every wave and ocean bird -- past the boats and the people they carry. All I see in the vastness of it all is nothing, only a place I wish to go. A place where the sky meets the sea. A place that seemed to be void of anything worth seeing. Often though, those are the places we seem to find the most in. Whether it’s the vastness of space -- or the deepest depths of the ocean -- when we think nothing could possibly be there, something always shows its face as if the game of hide and seek is finally over.

The ocean, she calls to me. Her mystic songs have enchanted me for too long, my heart aches with each crashing wave. I look up to the sky and see a swarm of seagulls extending their wings over the ocean surface. How I wish I could be a seagull. I would take to the sky with only one destination in mind. I lay back in the sand and imagine my wings soaring through the salty air. Seeing nothing but the ebb and flow of the sea with each passing moment -- finally I see it. I look down into one of the waves cresting in the tranquil waters. In the white foam of the crest I could see what I was and what I would be.

Happy -- That was all I was, all I could be, all I would ever be. I opened my eyes, the sun was setting. The song of the ocean had finally subsided. For the first time in my life -- It was quiet. Looking out to the orange horizon a feeling of peace swept over my body. The air entered my lungs as if I was breathing for the first time. One final wave crested in the distance. The waters went still and calm as if they had suddenly fallen asleep. I knew now what laid beyond the horizon, where the sky met the sea. We all know what’s out there. Our past, our present, and our future. The waters hold all of human history in every drop and wave. The oceans have been here long before us, and will remain long after. If you are lost, if you long for answers -- go to her. Find her and she will guide you. She will show you what lies ahead only if you surrender yourself to her. Then, and only then, will you find what you are searching for -- you will find where the tidal waves go.