Astela POV:

  I stared at the dishes at my front, as I had done for the last 20 minutes, and I continued to do so with a blank expression on my face, I had managed to choose majority of my dish and now only the proteins were left

  after a long period of eliminating everything on the table, what was left was something called “chicken, that was from earth, and practically extinct and another native of earth, …..shrimps

  after another few minutes of careful consideration I finally chose the chicken

  After piling the chicken on my plate I nodded imperceptibly, feeling content, I started by tasting the chicken, I was curious… it wasn’t everyday one ate food from the oldest colony

  I cut a piece of the chicken and placed in in my mouth ………… it was way nicer than expected, somehow the chicken was able to retain juices that burst into my mouth, I nodded my head sagely, feeling good about my choice

  I noticed a shift of movement in the peripheral of my vision, I turned towards the disturbance, it was just Grandpa who wanted to converse with me “so.. how is business” he asked me

  I smiled lightly and answered “its going well pops, I just managed to secure a shipping contract with a whole sector, for particular reagents and alchemical produce"

  He nodded happily and turned away from me, I had managed to escape further probing this time…. Thankfully

  I turned back to my meal, slightly impatient to eat the meal I had carefully crafted, as I was about to dig in, alarms suddenly blared, the windows rowed shut covered by meters of one of the hardest substances to the know universe

  From the table, sprang up a hologram, that showed Constantine conversing with someone although, no one was showing in the recording

  one could only hear a heavily distorted voice reply her, as the conversation continued, the faces of everyone got darker and darker, I tried swatting away the hologram away from my food but sadly, it didn’t work, I lay there, defeated as the whole family scrambled to act

  Soon enough I was the only one Who was left on the table, I took the opportunity to slide a few shrimps onto my plate,…..no one would notice

  A planet wide alert was issued to find my lost cousin, although he was the back sheep of our family, he was still part of it and a kidnapping or whatever it was, happening directly on the grounds of the family was more than just a minor slight

  The whole scenario gave me a headache, it was quite obvious that Othello had a good head on his shoulder, it wouldn’t be above him to fake his disappearance, but it was too drastic of a move. I had the idea that he was plotting something, he was a lot calmer than he appeared

  This wasn’t like him…..not at all like him

  days passed and he was nowhere to be found, all measures were taken and yet it was like he just disappeared, unsurprisingly no one really cared, you could even say some were delighted at his disappearance, as weird as it may be, the only one who seemed affected was his little sister

  She was utterly devastated, she almost looked like a doll at this point….just going through the motions

  And worst of all…………… she didn’t seem to be enjoying the food

  That….that was quite sad

  Othello POV

  It had been a grueling few days, who would have known that the sun never set around here, surprising right? And let’s not get to the fact that upon all my walking I had found no clues as to how to get out of this place, if not for the nano bots in my bloodstream, I would be dead by now

  I plopped down on the road once again, mumbling something about the vicissitudes of life, I had tried all that I could

  Nothing was working, wandering into the wilderness, digging,

  There really wasn’t much to do at this point, from my place on the road, I gazed at the unmoving sky and thought to myself “is this how I’m going to die”

  I lay there under this sun for what felt like days and drifted off to sleep

  It was around night time when I awoke, the stars we-“night?!” I exclaimed as I suddenly became aware of my surroundings, I now lay on a paved surface, not the paved road from before, “ This…is smooth stone?”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  I glanced around, surveying my surroundings, immediately something caught my eye

  In the distance there were signs of a civilization “although not an advanced one” I remarked

  The situation was getting more and more bizarre, nothing was making any sense “what in the world is going on “ I thought to myself

  I took a deep breath to calm myself, questions would come later, when the luxury can be afforded, and that time definitely wasn’t now

  I sent out a mental pulse through my link and once again the eye appeared, scanning my surroundings

  The aether levels were low with gravity of around 0.8 gs every thing seemed normal, except from the apparently lackluster level of civilization

  A few Deep breaths later, I set off in the direction of the horizon.. again

  hopefully this time it wasn’t a fruitless endeavor

  I trudged towards the horizon and little by little the horizon came to me, everywhere was deathly silent as I walked on the smooth stone

  A slight inward movement of my left eyebrow graced my face, something was unusual, something I couldn’t really place my hands on, everywhere seemed……… Dead

  “I really hope I’m not on a dead planet , or worse a dead A.G.S.O.B, that would be generally terrifying” my voice traveled in the dead silence, contested only by the sound of my feet hitting the floor

  Slowly but surely, the humongous body looming in the distance became clearer and clearer

  As I got closer to the structure the feeling of despair in my heart intensified and soon enough the full scope of the structure was revealed unto me

  Upon seeing it I couldn’t help but burst into a maniacal laugh “yeah I cannot deal with that “ I said while grinning

  A humongous structure made up of stacked hexagonal shaped “boxes” held up by giant metal beams and floating layers of what seemed like glass

  The metal beams were bent and warped, barely holding their weight, and the “boxes” which they held, rusted parts which spanned for miles, the “glass” layers were already crumbling, fine cracks already spread almost all the layers

  And on this dying structure, million of people buzzed on it, like bees in a hive

  I sighed again “I really wanted to stay around for longer, I just got here” I whispered sadly

  Suddenly, the colours of the world shifted a little, like a shift in perspective, a tiny one, but it made all the difference, as the one who was perceiving this reality it was only normal that I changed, wasn’t it?

  Like the little shift in perspective, I shifted a little, my slightly hunched back straightened, the smile on my face shifted to a neutral expression and I displaced myself on my right foot instead of resting on my left

  I stretched my limbs and casually started walking towards the structure, it didn't seem so intimidating anymore

  “ I'll get out of here one way or another ” I whispered weakly

  Constantine pov

  I was cloaked in darkness, my eyes closed shut, the darkness was ever present and ever growing, I struggled frantically, trying and failing to open my eyes

  The darkness slowly engulfed me, but as it was about to fully engulf me, I found myself in a room full of fog, an omnipresent light glowed softly faintly lighting up the room

  I swerved around, trying to figure out where I was, as I was doing so, my back came into contact with…… something

  I turned swiftly to the disturbance only to be met with a carbon copy of myself

  But it has no light in its eyes, it seemed….

  Abruptly, its hand shot up and grabbed me by the throat, it's hollow eyes bore down on me as spots appeared in my vision, I struggled and frantically shook my body, all to no avail, the blue and greens slowly filled my field of vision

  And right before unconsciousness took me, I saw hesitation in those eyes, those eyes were no longer empty, they contained something……….. something

  I woke up with a startling shriek

  I was drenched in sweat, and shivering intensely, my heart beat in my chest like drums of war

  I stared paranoicaly at the shadows as though they might leap at me at any point in time

  “Deep breaths deep breaths” I repeated monotonously

  I immersed myself in memories of gremlin, the memories were painful, but no matter where or how

  he always managed to exude a calming presence

  After a while I opened my eyes once again, the irrational fear subsiding

  I got up from my bed, and walked towards the door of my room, sliding my feet into my slippers, I gazed back into the room, feeling a shiver crawling up my spine

  The fear had subsided, but it definitely hadn't disappeared, the shadows almost seemed alive and it felt like it was gazing right back

  I slipped out of the room, slamming the door behind me, I strolled in the corridors of the hollow house, my footsteps echoing in the silence

  I walked where my legs took me, too awake to go back to sleep…..and also slightly terrified

  I gazed at the door at my front a simple number ‘5’ plastered on it, apart from this it had no ornaments crowding it, it was gremlin's room

  “The idiot disappears when you need him most” I tsked And swung the door open

  revealing an almost Spartan room with barely anything in it, only a neatly dressed bet say at the corner and at the the window a table was to be seen with various books scattered all over it

  I sighed and walked towards the table and sat on the chair it it's front” where in the seven hells is that idiot ” I whispered to myself heavily

  I naturally wasn't too worried about his safety, he was capable and he would definitely survive…..he had no other choice

  Either way his absence left a gnawing hole in my heart that I could only fill with fluff “not that I would ever admit that at his front” I grumbled as I reached into his left drawer and pulled two objects out, one was a thin slab that lit up briefly when I held it up, and the other was a circular device with small segments in it

  I held the thin slab gently swiping on its screen it's surface lit up and twisted to form words that spelt “insert your password” I tsked and placed the slab back into the drawer

  I brought the circular device close to my eye to study it well, it seemed old, way to old “I haven't seen this before” I thought with furrowed eyebrows

  My fingers absent mindedly traced the segments

  Suddenly the device started glowing softly

  And abruptly a full hologram of gremlin appeared at my front

  Dressed in some sort of robe, he stared into the distance for a while and the suddenly shouted “did you miss me!”

  He was answered by the device being thrown with full force towards the nearest wall