Alone with all the others

[squidofsymphony]

Chapter one: The awakening

*Light*
The first feeling known to the newly awakened Nomad is the ecstasy of the place he was reborn in. The immense pressure of this feeling as it pulsates through the structure and into the young Nomad's body is overwhelming. He wishes he would be allowed to stay here forever, but sadly his wishes are cast aside as he is ejected from the warmth of this place and into the cold space.



*Confusion*
Why had this been done to him? The young one was welcomed into it's new life with what is most likely the greatest feeling it will ever feel, and then rejected by the source of it, cast into the cold space where the radiation scorches and slowly flakes away the young Nomad's skin. He does all he knows he can do in such a hostile environment...fly, and fly quickly he did. He flew to the nearest object he could see from where he was, a small planetoid close to his birthplace. Nearing the planet he found something, a structure of sorts, left behind by previous inhabitants of this place.



Were the ones who built this like he was? Were they much older? The young Nomad found himself with a wealth of questions as he advanced through the strange structures. He encountered another object at the end of the makeshift tunnel, a gravity well of some sort?

*Pain*
Perhaps the burning radiation of this place was here for a reason - he needed to leave it. he flew cautiously towards the gravity well, and soon found him self at the point of no return. The strange phenomenon was pulling him inside with a force so strong that he could not escape. It finally pulled him inside and he was greeted by a tunnel of the most fantastic light, as hypnotizing as it was terrifying. He'd tried to get away but his efforts were in vain. Where ever this tunnel led, he was going whether he liked it or not.



The tunnel spat him out in a world he was very much unfamiliar with. This world was shrouded in darkness, inhabited by mechanical animals. These ones were not like him, they did not see the darkness they were born into. One of the metal creatures approached him, and spoke a language unfamiliar to the Nomad to his fellow steelskins.

"Nomad in Penny! Alert to all human forces! Nomad in Penny!"

The young one was able to see into the strange design of this creature, as it was not a creature at all, merely a vessel for a much weaker creature to manipulate. These creatures, however weak were clearly destructive. They burned everything they found. Into the metal box he could see the burning liquid used to propel the ship forward, the strange burning substances used to power the devices that these creatures used to burn each other.

"Taking it down."

Spoke the strange metal vessel and it's organic parasite. It began to spit fire at him. The burning energies lit up as they left the devices that fired them. They burned the skin of the nomad as they ricocheted off his body.

***Come***

The voice came from the only source of light and warmth in the system. The young Nomad flew quickly towards it, swerving violently to avoid the fire the metal creature continued to spit at him. He began to feel the warmth and healing energy of this fireball. Eventually the young ones wounds began to heal. He flew as close to the fireball as he could. He discovered that if he flew too close to the fireball, he would feel the opposite effects that he'd felt before. The energy became so intense that it boiled the skin of the Nomad, so he kept himself at a comfortable distance from the fireball.

"Systems overheating, losing power! Weapons failing! Radio shutting do--"

The mechanical beast had ceased to function in the heat of this fireball. With the previous danger past, he bathed in the warmth of the massive fireball before making his way to the dark rock where the metal beasts swarmed, he would try to reason with them and they would not listen. When the beasts began to spit again, he knew he needed a way to get out. There was a strange machine close to the dark rock, of a ring shaped design. The young one, with effort, was able to manipulate the flow of energy in this device and could see into the primitive design. He activated it and was taken away from the place where the metal beasts swarmed. Deactivating them as he beamed across to the next one, he was able to keep the creatures behind him.



He exited the tunnel before reaching the end, where more of the hostile creatures swarmed. He'd decided to travel through open space from hereon, as it was far too dangerous to travel where the mechanical ones were. From a distance he was able to see into the design of another one of the machines. This one was created to create artificial gravity wells like the one he'd encountered before. He waited until the metal beasts were fewer in their numbers before activating the device. Like the last time, he was sucked in by the mechanical ring and entered a tunnel of light, bound to go where ever it leads.

---

Let's get wilde.

[squidofsymphony]

Chapter two: The Journey

*Darkness*

The young one emerged once again from beautiful light into threatening darkness. Everywhere he traveled he found himself the subject of torture by the hands of the metal beasts as fire rained down upon his fragile skin. All he knew to do was to run. The young nomad found himself living in a state of near permanent exhaustion. Guided by a instinct alone, he made his way around the new system, this one too shrouded in the darkness of the cruel ones who sought pleasure in their own destruction. It angered him greatly that a race could be so pitiful as to hate that which is equal to themselves. Following blind instinct, the nomad found another mechanical ring, it's destination yet unknown. However, like before, the young one felt a near irresistible pull towards the object. This one was unlike the others he had encountered before. It was surrounded by metal which exploded as soon as it was touched.



After scouring the surrounding area for what seemed like an eternity, he'd finally found a passage through the exploding metal asteroids leading to the mechanical ring. This one was protected more so than the ones he had encountered before, but the design was still primitive. The nomad manipulated the energies that flowed through the ring and was able to activate and enter the device. As he flew at speeds faster than light to his yet unknown destination, the young nomad found himself with a wealth of questions. Perhaps the most peculiar of which was...why did he know the answer to most of them. He had only been alive a few hours yet had memories of entire generations. The memories he could not recall the source of were terribly fragmented. Bits of information holding no sense of time or place, simply instruction, littered the nomad's mind. Before he could finish his thought, he was cast from the tunnel of light into another hostile, yet somehow familiar place.



Fire rained hard upon the nomad's body. The energies cast from the metal beasts were much more potent here, and the beasts themselves were a lot more threatening. He focused all his energy into speed in order to avoid the fire. His efforts were in vein. These new monstrosities were able to spit a device which redistributed the energies of the nomad and in turn brought him to a halt. The fire crushed into the nomad from all directions. Just as all hope was lost, and a little bit after that, the nomad felt a feint comfort...a warmth of some kind. Blue creatures appeared from the strange mist and began to spit their own fire upon the metal beasts. The young one was able to escape the crushing blaze of flames just in time to save his own life. After several of what seemed like the longest minutes in the nomad's life, the battle was over. Won by the creatures of light. As they approached him slowly, the largest of them began to glow. The glow increased to a blinding light before a beam of energies left the creature and stemmed straight into the mind of the young nomad. Suddenly his mind became flooded with even more memories, feelings, thoughts of war and pain. The sudden flow of memories was far too much for the young one's relatively small mind. The thoughts quickly overwhelmed him, and his mind began to shut down...

***...Awaken....young of 'ours'...child of light...your time has come once again..*shock(!)*..***

*Light*

The young one awakened in for the first time in a place he could recognize as his own. This was the place he was destined to find, the place he needed to find. There to greet him were his saviors.



***..Follow..***

Called a voice from the creature of light. A creature he now knew was family. He followed his savior through the dark, yet beautifully light, nebula to what used to be his home. It was waiting for him there, waiting for him to reclaim it as his own. To once again become part of the collective he was needed for.



He entered his home. As soon as he entered, thousands of strange devices rushed to his aid. As they cocooned themselves around the nomad, he could feel his battered body begin to heal. He saw a flash of light before memories once again flooded into his mind. This was not like before though; there were much, much more this time. In a matter of seconds he had learned the history of his race, the dark ones who destroyed everything they encountered and the war between light and darkness. He could hear the voices of all his brothers simultaneously. He was now one with them. Reunited with them, he once again was part of the mindshare. He was once again, Eshmun.

---

Let's get wilde.