1/2 backstory chapters...
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In the year 2356. The Devourers first appeared.
A scientific team was investigating a recently discovered solar system. In one of the planets, they discovered a very aggressive group of organisms. All the organisms shared the same features, black skin, very resilient lifeforce, devoured different forms of energy, and were very aggressive towards other living beings.
Half of the scientific team died due to this new species. The Human Confederation classified the planet with a danger grade of 'S' and forbid the access to it.
It was the start of humanity's nightmare.
No much later, humanity discovered that the organisms they discovered were just the tip of the iceberg.
Planet after planet, system after system. All the planets located beyond that solar system were infested with devourers. Moreover, they were much more technologically advanced than humanity thought.
Capable of intelligent thought, with strong combat capabilities, and capable of interstellar travel. The Devourers, as humanity called the collective group of organisms sharing the same characteristic, became humanity's worst enemy.
It was not the first time that humanity made contact with another interstellar civilization, but it was the first time the results were so tragic. The Devourers seemed obsessed with destroying and killing all the other lifeforms in existence.
They were like locusts. Destroying everything in their way. After they invaded a planet, they killed all the lifeforms inside including plants, and then, they abandoned it.
They were destruction incarnate.
Since then, humanity and the devourers fought hundreds of battles. But the devourers prevailed most of the time. Many human colonies were lost, and tens of planets fell in the hands of the nightmarish creatures.
No attempt to communicate with them was successful. Humans despaired as more and more planets were defeated.
Then, hope appeared.
Valkyries, invented by a group of scientists led by the renowned bioengineer and ESPer Camila Norman.
They were humans turned into weapons. Each one was a weapon of mass destruction, able to fight fleets enemies singlehandedly. Valkyries became humanity's protector angels.
But the price of creating a Valkyries was very high. Each Valkyrie was an AI in a woman's body. In other words, a female ESPer was sacrificed to create a weapon.
Moreover, not every ESPer had the potential to become a Valkyrie. Only one in ten thousand female ESPers could be Valkyries.
And Valkyries had a glaring weakness.
They were machines in human bodies. Unable to think like humans, they were at a disadvantage against scheming enemies. In less than two years, the Devourers had found a method to deal with Valkyries without suffering too many casualties.
The war entered a stalemate for a few years. Until humanity made another shocking discovery.
Humanity was not the only civilization fighting the devourers.
Tens of different interstellar civilizations were facing the Devourer threat at the same time. Those civilizations gave to humans more information about this terrifying race.
The Devourers they faced were the weakest of the bunch. Some devourers were big enough to devour planets to absorb the energy of their core. There was even a rumor about a devourer swallowing a star.
Devourers were night indestructible. Their cells could survive in extreme conditions. Temperatures below 100°C were unable to destroy them, and they could survive being frozen for years. Even the void of space was unable to kill them. Once a Devourer fell in space, it would enter a hibernating state that could allow it to survive until 100 years. And if they managed to land on another planet suitable for life, they could start to reproduce again.
Finally, humanity learned about the reason devourers hunted other races.
Souls were the devourers' favorite food.
Scientists had discovered the existence of souls many years ago. No much was known about it, only that it was a very special kind of energy found in every living being, from insect to plants.
Beings with more of this energy were usually more doted in certain areas, and it also influenced the ESP potential of a human.
And this energy was what devourers desired the most.
Apparently, soul energy could accelerate the devourer's evolution, making them stronger and smarter.
After humanity acquired this information, they realized that the situation was grimmer than they thought. Humanity tried to ask for help from other civilizations, but all of them were too busy trying to save their own civilization to help. The best that was achieved was a treaty to share technological advances freely with some races, but even that required many compromises.
Ten years after the start of the war, a giant devourer fleet invaded the human territory. The fleet appeared suddenly, and nobody was able to foresee them. More than ten planets fell in just one year.
In view of the situation, the government requested the help of the most renowned scientists and ESPers of the confederation. They wanted to reunite them on a planet to work in a secret weapon.
But unfortunately, the devourers learned about it.
The spaceships transporting the scientists and ESPers were attacked by the enemy's fleets and more than fifty percent of them died or disappeared.
Including Camilla Norman.
Humanity was unable to recover from that blow.
Fifty years later, eighty percent of humanity territory had been lost.
Seventy years later, human civilization had mostly disappeared.
Only a few humans survived after escaping to faraway systems, hoping to forget the nightmare that lasted almost one hundred years.
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I don't know if the cover can be ready before the end of the month... Wish me luck...