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in the void, they dwell
chapter fifteen

Written by Ghost Capelton

Adair looked out of the ship. There were so many stars, and it’s all her mind could focus on after everything. But she didn't find peace in it. It was… subtle at first. Like a vast shimmer, only… dark, like a room. That was when she made out the shape of it. That monster, growing, for what purpose she didn't know. She was tongue-tied at the sight, only able to shakily point to direct the others’ attention. They showed the same brief confusion and curiosity on their faces, and the same dawning horror.

“We have to get the fuck out of here, now,” Bruno finally interrupted.

“How’re we supposed to do that?” Adair snapped back. “Our ship is gone, we have no way to get out of here, no matter what we do, we’re screwed. Especially with that… thing out there.”

“Die in a horrible explosion, die of starvation, go crazy and kill each other… so many fun options,” Florian said. “But… they aren’t really options, are they? All the paths end at the same door.”

“Then what do we do?” Cassian asked quietly.

“Stop the self-destruct sequence. Celebrate what little time we do have?” Bruno suggested quietly.

“Or...” Florian interjected. “We could still just let the thing blow. Maybe take out the big bad monster in the dark?”

She stared out again into that shimmering void... one which she knew was impossibly filled by that strange, unknowable thing in the dark. A god stretching across the cosmos. She had heard, as a child, old Earth legends. Boogeymen in the night. Strange, shapeless things that moved through the dark and snatched away the black of heart. She had hoped they had been just stories.

“It’s the best play we have,” Adair answered with a sigh. "Might as well go out with a bang."

She wondered, for a moment, if there ever was any other choice. If there had been a golden path they had wandered away from. There was no point in dwelling on it. No point in... anything anymore. Bruno, exhaustedly, sat on the cold, metal floor in defeat. Florian gazed into the stars. Cassian clasped Adair's hand in his as the timer ticked down.

"I'll find you in the next one, stardust," he said.

"You better," she replied. She closed her eyes, standing in front of the glass, feeling that presence on the other side.

And then she didn’t feel anything at all.

It could not be known what happened from there. Perhaps the gambit had worked and the beast had been destroyed. Perhaps they had died in vain. Any remnants that could tell the story had been vaporized. Maybe that was for the best, a prevention of the tale spreading, ensuring that the creature wouldn’t either. Or maybe that would just be the story anyone who found out told themselves to stave off the sense of something breathing down their neck. Of something crawling in their shadow. Of something shimmering in the sky above, just imperceptible enough to maintain the precious little lie.

If anyone knew for certain, no one was keen to share.

Art by M4ngey