Xen'tarza

Into the Unknown

After what seemed like a cycle, Shirakaya opened her eyes. She found herself alone, her body sprawled in a crater. At first, her vision was blurred. Even worse, she felt paralyzed. Despite fear gripping her, she fought it and tried to remain calm. After several minutes of struggling, she finally managed to move a muscle.

In time, her vision returned. Shirakaya found herself in a barren, rocky wasteland. Yet the heavens, if such a place existed, could not be seen. A dust storm had taken its place, blanketing the crimson sky that was devoid of stars. Squinting ahead, she used all the strength she could muster in a vain attempt to stand.

“Khal!” she cried out. “Yaro! Zadoya!” She paused for a moment. “Dojin! Rah’tera! Myris! Anybody!”

Taking a step forward, the freelancer gasped and fell on her face. She took a deep breath and struggled to stand again. This time, she rose and remained standing. Using her KLD, the soles of her boots gave a minor rocket-like boost of energy to hurl her out of the crater. Even though she landed on her feet, she fell again.

Getting back up, she focused on her surroundings: a seemingly endless badland wrought with geysers, craters, and vistas of cracked mountains in the far-flung distance. This confirmed her fear—she was all alone on what seemed to be a desolate planet, or an accursed realm of some kind.

Shirakaya dared to wonder, could this be the fabled Realm of Pandemonium, where the Lord of Chaos had been imprisoned eons ago by the eternal Goddess? Was this a nightmarish dream that she could not wake from, another universe, or something else altogether? What had happened to her crew? What happened to her starship? There wasn’t a single vessel or person in sight.

“Where in the twelve dimensions am I?”

Little did she know, she was beyond them. An unknown realm awaited her. It beckoned her. But first, she needed to gather her bearings—for the perilous journey that lay ahead would require Shirakaya of Aarda to be at her best.