The Concealed Puppeteer

[Tomtomrawr]

<Location: Open space, Omega space>

Nimsala sensed the distortion long before the beast that he flew. It was as clear as the sunrise on New Berlin; a distinct point in space-time where the composition of the Universe showed a significant difference. As Nimsala neared the object, the perception became no clearer. No new information was provided by the distance from the object. Even the beast gave little help in the matter, only reinforcing the detection of the distortion with continuous streams of numbers that only a computer could truly comprehend.

Kran'shi could obviously sense his confusion, because she sent a reassuring mood across the Mindshare, and began to approach the anomaly.

***...'Fear not'...***

***...'Follow'...***

Nimsala had yet to develop his voice within the Mindshare, so could do nothing to respond as Kran'shi neared the space-time distortion. He almost panicked as he lost all contact with the Bergelmir. He could still see the beast of Kran'shi, but the sensors of his beast and his own mind could now only detect the change in space-time caused by the distortion. Then, it was gone. Lost completely.

Nimsala believed that Kran'shi knew what she was doing, and followed her order to follow. He approached the anomaly with caution, then grew in confidence and eventually reached the last place he had seen Kran'shi. He continued, and suddenly felt the distortion change. It were as if the unknown object was in fact an animal, and Nimsala had now fallen into a trap and was about to be eaten. The beast was consumed by a mouth that consisted of pure energy, which was when all was sensed by Nimsala. It felt like a tunnel in the Universe itself, linking points in space that would normally take years to traverse.

He fed on the energy that surrounded him now, and his beast shot forward like a bullet. It continued like this for several seconds, and then abruptly stopped. The view outside of his beast and turned from the pillars of light back to the normal view of distant stars.

He began to sense new objects in the distance. Kran'shi was next to him, her human face showing no emotion, but her mind emanating a small sense of pride in his progress.

***...'Follow'...***

Her beast began to accelerate once more, and Nimsala was forced to follow.