My search was a waste of both time and Cry. I did not find anything that could remind me of Otty. All I found were jellyfish and other similar creatures from different planets, all of which lived in water, but no mention of any slime. Except some fantasy concepts from old stories. So I decided to make a post and see if someone comments anything.
I thought for some time on what I should write, but in the end my stinginess took over. The Arena's forum was popular, so leaving messages there was not cheap.
So, I simply left a thread in the section of unique animal discussions, posting Otty's picture and asked, "Have you seen a creature like this before?"
Yeah, I know. It's not THAT expensive that I needed to make it this short. So, yeah, I just got lazy after searching.
But in my defense, I'll say that I made two posts. After some thinking, I added a similar thread where I asked the same thing, but posted the image of the moose-like being that Otty showed me with his thoughts.
I left these posts under a made-up name, so I did not have much hope from the get-go. People can see that the name is fake and might think it's just some kind of prank post and simply ignore it. It's kind of an unwritten rule to make serious comments or posts under a real name, and non-serious ones under a fake name or pen name. But I had no other choice. If I did it under my real name, people to whom I owe money and who now most likely consider me dead might find out that I am alive if they see my name. I'd rather they keep thinking of me as dead. After all, I still hope to get out of here one day.
And for a whole month there was no answer. People didn't even bother to joke about it. I actually forgot to check my thread after several weeks and went on with my life. Exploring and studying the ruins of the Great Evil.
*****
"Grampa, this is incredible," said a young lady in excitement, turning from a wall shining with blue light.
"It works. We really did it," she exclaimed, peering at the man standing at her side with wide eyes through her helmet's visor.
"Of course. The Vgath Tribe was one of the strongest among demonic tribes, but they were the most barbaric. They used Cry like a hammer, so to say. That's why their technology is the easiest to hack into." Said the man, gazing at the excited young lady with a gentle smile.
"But thanks to that, we can decode and activate the remnants of their technology. It may lay a start to understanding all the other remnants as well." Said the girl excitedly.
"Yes. Once we fully understand the simplified technologies of Vgath, it can serve as a key to decoding other, more sophisticated technologies too. But it takes years, my dear. And don't forget what kind of place this is." Said her grandfather.
A light vibration spread through the floor, making dust fly up from the surfaces of the cave in a cloud, blocking the view of the two people.
The young girl waved her hand and the cloud was blown away.
"Again?" Said the girl, with a sigh, before looking up at her grandpa with squinted eyes. "You jinxed it, Grandpa."
"Ho ho." The man laughed merrily. "That's just a coincidence. The ruined space is always like that. Third attack in a week is actually not so bad. I've had times when I had to fend off attacks twice a day for an entire week."
"Captain!" Shouted the man, flying through the wide, dark cave, with two beams of light shining from the sides of his spacesuit's helmet. As he saw the two people, yellow lights shone on his legs, and he adjusted his position slightly, landing in the small area lit by the pulsating blue light from the mural, near the young woman and her grandfather.
"Pirates are attacking again!"
"Yeah, yeah. I know," said the man, turning away from the mural and walking to the exit of the ancient ruins. "Relax. I sensed these guys quite some time ago, so they are just rubble. The dangerous ones are those who can hide from my perception." He added, patting his crewmate on the shoulder.
"Need help, Grampa?" Asked the girl.
"Nah, just enjoy tweaking with the machines. I know how excited you are. I'll take care of it. See if you can find something interesting by the time I return." Answered the man.
"Thanks! Love you, Grampa," said the girl, turning to her devices and reading through the reports she was receiving from them. She was intent on surprising her grandpa with at least one new finding by the time he returned.
"Stay here and look after her," said the captain after turning the radio to a private channel.
"Sir?" Replied the man, in surprise, on the private channel. "The young lady…"
"I know she is stronger than you lot," the captain interrupted him. "It's just, she gets so absorbed by her work that she loses all precaution and doesn't check her surroundings. Someone can easily sneak up on her while all her attention is on the work."
"Of course, sir. I'll guard the young lady with my life," said the crewmate, saluting his captain, putting his hand to his helmet.
"I'll go see what bastards are trying to ruin a good day for my granddaughter." Said the captain.
"Umm. Captain. We already studied this ruin in the past," said the crewmate on the private channel. "There's nothing interesting here. Just some stupid record of Vgath tribe's life."
"Shh. Don't ruin her excitement. Of all my descendants, Aini is the only one who shares my passion for exploration and archaeology. Let her feel the spirit of discovery." Said the captain with a smile, before pushing off with his two feet in a jump. He flew through the cave toward the exit, which was several meters above him, with gravity barely affecting him.
"I see." Said the crewmate, smiling back.
Several more explosions occurred outside, sending vibrations through the cave. The sound did not spread in the vacuum of space, so vibration was the only indication that something was happening outside.
As the captain came out of the cave, he saw several space fighter ships engaged in battle, flying around and sending shots in all directions. An ugly chunk of metal, welded from different old scraps of spaceships, was closing in on them from the distance, still barely visible in the black, starry sky.
He zoomed in on the ship and sighed in disappointment as his own ship, a beautiful vessel with stylish, shiny patterns all over its outer shell, looking like a masterpiece of elegance and art made by an artist rather than a shipwright, was coming into view, blocking the way of the piece of junk that flew toward them.
"Get back, fellas," the Captain said, sending orders to his fighter ships through the team's channel. "I'll take care of it myself. No need to waste any Cry on this trash."
Four sharp spikes formed on his back like wings, shining with a blue light before he soared into space so fast, only a trace of blue was left as an afterimage.
"What the? Their fighters are disengaging." Sounded the voice from the radio.
"Tsk. Amateurs. They are not even encoding their communications." Sighed the captain, closing in on the pirate fighters at tremendous speed.
"Hey! Look, what's that? Blue light closing on you from starboard?" Sounded the voice of a pirate from the radio.
"What?" Managed to say the pirate that was closest to the man.
Captain twirled his body in mid-flight, pointing his feet forward as if prepared to land on the spaceship. Instead of landing, he slammed into the side of the spaceship with both feet, so hard that the ship's hull bent forty-five degrees, instantly cracking and spilling all its insides, and shattering the cockpit windshield. The pilot was killed by the shockwave of impact before he could even understand what happened.
A second later, Captain bent his legs as if prepared to push himself off back into space, but the spikes on his back pointed backward, and instead of flying away, the moment his legs straightened, the huge metal body of the destroyed fighter jet was sent flying in the direction of another pirate fighter like a projectile. The man in a spacesuit, which was many times smaller than the space fighter ship, barely moved from the spot as if the spikes pointing backward on his back anchored him somehow in empty space.
"Oh, crap!" Screamed the man before the two fighter jets collided, bursting into flames that quickly turned into clouds of space rubble.
The man soared in the direction of the third fighter jet, closing in on it so fast that the man barely managed to turn his rudder.
"Oh shit, shit, shit! Nooo!" The panicking voice of the man was stopped when the captain's fist slammed into his cockpit windshield, obliterating the entire front part of his fighter jet.
"It's an immortal! They have an immortal in the crew!" Screamed the fourth man, who was already turning his space fighter to the side and engaging its engines to full speed, ready to disappear into subspace and leave his main ship and his crewmates behind.
The two shining spikes on the back of the Captain bent forward over his shoulder, pointing in the fourth space fighter's direction, and whizzed, charging the railgun.
The blue light in two spikes shone like two torches and, with a huge force of recoil, sent him back through space. A mere second later, a beam of red light flashed through the spot where he had been just a moment ago.
The man smirked, looking at the pirate's main ship.
"Idiots. That's a waste of Cry." He muttered. "Only a moron would try to shoot down such a small target with a 4GM cannon when it loads so slowly. You could have landed a hit if you had used a laser. The quality of pirates nowadays is really falling."
Normally he would use the other two spikes to anchor himself in place and prevent the throw-back of the recoil, but he intentionally timed it so that he would dodge the main ship's shot with his own shot's recoil while destroying the fourth fighter jet, just a second before it could flash into the darkness of space and escape.
Both railgun projectiles hit the fighter jet, blowing away a huge chunk of its hull and obliterating the cockpit. At the same time, the red beam shot from the pirate's main ship hit the surface somewhere in the distance, bringing no harm to the captain or his crew.
He intentionally held such a position where he was away from the straight line between his own ship and the pirate's ship. This way, all the shots flying from pirates toward him that he dodged flew by, either into space or landed somewhere far away from the cave where his granddaughter was. But even if they shot in the direction of the cave, his ship would make sure to block it with a shield to prevent any harm being done to the ruins and the people inside. But it was a waste of Cry, so he led the pirate ship's shots away from his ship.
It was obvious they feared him more than they feared his ships retaliation, as all their attention now was concentrated on him. This pirate crew was most likely already regretting their choice of coming to attack him and his crew, but he was not so merciful as to let them go, now that they had come here.
After dodging the red beam, the man rotated his body and changed direction, flashing toward the pirate's main ship like a zig-zagging line of blue light.
"Shoot, shoot! Shoot that bastard down! Don't let him come closer!" Screamed the panicky voice of the man on the radio. They must have forgotten to turn off the radio in their frantic actions.
Laser beams haphazardly shot toward the approaching blue light, while their main 4GM cannon was reloading.
"Aaah. These bastards do not learn at all." Said the man, shaking his head. "It's a total waste of Cry to destroy you with my cannons; I bet I won't be able to reclaim enough from you, lot, to compensate for the wasted Cry." He said and moved his hand over his back, grabbing one of his spikes.
It instantly changed shape, taking the form of a sword with a wide gap in between that started to fill with blue light. This light intensified within a few seconds, turning into a beam-like, translucent blue blade more than five meters long.
The captain twirled and rotated, dodging laser beams and projectiles.
"Kill him! Shoooot!" Screamed the voice, full of fear.
"Hmm. What? They don't even have a single rocket?" Muttered the man, evading all their shots with ease before dodging to the side of the pirate ship and rotating his body.
The blue beam blade passed through the pirate ship's hull like a hot knife through butter, leaving only a red-hot line where it passed.
The captain rotated several more times, each turn leaving huge, red, glowing lines across the whole side of the ship as he passed by.
Just a second after he reached the end of the pirate ship and flashed away from it, the ship imploded, bursting into flames and sending debris in all directions. The pirate radio channel finally went silent after a short, last outcry of pure terror.
The captain shut down his sword and put it back behind his back, where it transformed back into a wing-like spike.
All four spikes on his back shone with bright blue light, and small lights from the five destroyed spaceships shone in reply. These small lights formed lines and flowed toward the man as he flew back toward his ship, stretching behind him like strings. The brightest line was coming from the main ship, but was still barely discernible.
"Tsk. What idiots. They barely have any Cry at all. No wonder they were so desperate to attack a clearly noble-looking ship. If they wasted Cry with that cannon every time, they must have barely gotten by. How did such an idiot even become a pirate captain? Ptfui. Waste of time." Swore the man without throwing a second glance at the rubble of the spaceship.
"At ease, fellas." He said, looking in the direction of his own ship, that floated in space with a planet cracked into pieces in the background.
The ruined space was full of such planets that had once been flourishing worlds, but now were totally obliterated, beyond anyone's capability to ever restore them. From the spot the Great Evil first appeared to the spot it now lay dead, wherever it passed, only ruin was left.
A large part of the galaxy now mostly looked like a space desert, filled only with meteorite fields that were leftover from pulverized or cracked planets.
Some of the cracked planets, just like the one they were exploring now, still stayed in a cluster of huge space debris, where pieces the size of a continent orbited each other after they reached some kind of balance. But sooner or later they will be torn apart and scattered, like bowling pins by the gravity of a massive object passing by.
It was only a matter of time, as an unknown number of wandering planets, that lost their stars, randomly flew through this space now, without any orbit or trajectory, smashing through everything like giant bowling balls, destroying the leftovers that hadn't yet been destroyed.
The Great Evil consumed entire stars, not even leaving a nebula cloud as a reminder of their existence. As solar systems lost their stars, their satellite planets scattered throughout space, turning into mere giant, dead rocks. Now this cosmic desert left in the path of the Great Evil is called the Ruined Space.
However, not all destruction was caused by the demonic race.
Many star systems that fell into the hands of demons were turned into their outposts, and were laid to waste by Galactic Alliance counterattacks. The cracked planet debris they were exploring right now was also one of such outposts in the past.
Even when the alliance fell and everyone turned on each other, engaging in a free-for-all battle, the end result was still far less horrific than what was done to ruined space.
After a fragile peace was achieved through the Arena fights, people started reconquering this part of the galaxy, but by then it had become a haven for outlaws, pirates, bandits, and other scum calling themselves the Free People.
These groups were attacking anyone who dared venture into this space, stalling the reclamation and colonization of ruined space. For hundreds of years after the war with the demonic race ended, barely anything within that zone was recolonized, and thousands of planets still lay unreclaimed or in total ruin. Some of them, though, are now under the rule of bigger pirate groups that are no different from all other governments all over space, if not even more oppressive to the people living there. So, what freedom they were referring to, calling themselves this way, was unclear.
"What a joke." Muttered the man, passing by his ship and landing at the entrance to the cave.
The space was quiet. And with solid-state technology, their spacesuits stopped producing vibrations and sounds, plunging its wearer into an eerie silence. This silence was so oppressive that it unnerved everyone, no matter how strong-willed a person was. Once left one-on-one with their own thoughts, people quickly lost their inner balance and gave in to fear. The quietness made people lose their sense of reality and drove the weak-willed mad. Because of that, many people would start voicing some thoughts aloud. Simply to fill in the eerie quietness with a little bit of noise, as if to prove to themselves that they were still there, among the living. With time, this muttering would become a habit, and because of that, space travelers could often be discerned by their quirk of muttering something random under their breath.
"Aini, I am back." Said the man returning to the cave where he left his granddaughter.
Young lady turned to look at him with a sly look on her face. Her impatience could be easily seen through her spacesuit's visor.
The man raised his eyebrow as he flew over and landed near her, his legs sticking to the ground as if he were standing in normal gravity.
"What?" He asked his granddaughter, looking at her suspiciously.
"I've found something to surprise you, Grampa! Not one, but two things. Look!" Said the girls, sending him a few files, without bothering to ask how his fight went. She had no doubt it was a total obliteration for the enemy side.
The man looked at his crewmate, who stood at the side; both exchanged meaningful glances in silence, before he opened the files that the girl sent him.
Aini watched her grandpa with a happy and impatient face. Noticing the glance he exchanged with his crewmate, she squinted her eyes as the corners of her lips rose in glee. They clearly did not believe she could find anything of value here. But they were in for a surprise.
"Hmmm. Vgath tribe were hunters and considered themselves the best predators. This is a record of some animals that their tribe hunted. Even though the record is severely corrupted and images are barely discernible, we can say that these creatures are nonexistent in our universe, so they must have held records of things from before they came to our universe."
"I've found them." Said the girl with an excited voice.
"Yeah. You did…" Said her grandpa, not sure why she was so happy.
"No! You don't get it! I've found them! The two creatures from the record! Look!" She said, sending him two pictures. One was of a big creature with antlers, similar to those which could be found on Earth, the home planet of humans. The second picture showed a slimy-looking glob that had two antennae like translucent sprouts.
Her grandfather stared at the clear pictures of the two creatures, with eyes wide in shock for a few seconds, before a girl's scream shook him awake.
"Ha! You did not expect that, huh? Thought I would not know this is long ago thoroughly researched ruins? Ha ha ha! Take that! Boom! Surprised you!" The girl shouted, spreading her hands and jumped up, floating freely in low gravity once her legs left the solid floor.
"Wha…how did…where did you get these pictures?" Exclaimed her grandfather, in surprise.
"Acknowledge it! I totally shocked you! Say it! I am not telling you until you admit!" Said the girl pumping her fist up. She performed a winning dance while floating and then swiftly landed to the floor as if pulled down by the gravity once again.
"I am just a bit at a loss. Did you recreate it with AI?"
"No! I found these pictures! And what did you say? Slightly at a loss?" She said sending him another picture. This one showing his own face with his mouth gaping wide in shock seen through his space helmet's visor.
"That…is not me. You made it up with AI," said her grampa.
"You! You saw it too! Send me your record of his face!" Said the girl turning to the crewmate.
"Captain! I think bosun was calling me! Permission to leave the post?"
"Granted." Said captain quickly and the man scrambled away.
"Traitor! I remembered your name…" Shouted the girl then turned to her grandpa "umm, what was his name."
"Who?"
"The guy that… forget it." Said Aini seeing her grandpa's smug face.
"So, where did you find these?" Asked her grandfather.
"What?" Said girl with an obvious pretense of not understanding what he meant.
"These pictures. Where did you find them? Tell your grandpa, Aini, please." Said the man with a gentle smile.
"Oh, that?" Said the girl, bending her legs. "At the Arena's forum." She said and pushed off the ground flying toward the exit.
"Huh? Arena's? Wait! Aini, send grampa a link. Aini! Aininad Ashur Shalsheed! I am your captain! You can't ignore me!" Said the man with a serious tone but the girl kept flying ignoring his words.
"Humpf." Voiced the girl in pout. "I am sorry Captain Daneed Ashad Shalsheed, but your wife just sent me a message that she's waiting for me to dine with her in five minutes and I am more afraid of her than you, so I have no time to chat with you." Said the girl not even looking at him as two spikes on her back spread like wings and she flashed out of the cave with the blue light as her afterimage
"Aini! I am sorry! Alright! Grandpa will acknowledge it! You did shock me. See? I said it." Said the man flashing out of the cave after his granddaughter. "Now forgive your grampa, Aini and tell him where you found these. Please?" He added quickly gaining on her.
They both flew out of the cave and flashed toward the ship that was waiting for them in the sky above the cracked into pieces planet.
"Alright. But only because you said "please", grampa." Said the girls with a smug smile.
"Someone posted these on the forum a few weeks ago. I regularly scroll through topics on nature and archeology, so I noticed this post. I did not know what these creatures were back then, so I saved the pictures simply out of curiosity." Said the girl with delight, then she sent her grampa the link. "But the person who posted them seems to not know what they are and asked if somebody ever saw them. So far no one gave him an answer."
Captain Daneed quickly opened the links that she sent him and read through the short thread.
"Humph. How interesting." Said the man as they flew closer to their spaceship.
"I know, right? He even says that this moose-like animal is this slime's favorite food here in description. How does he know that?" Asked Aini.
"Indeed. But I meant something else." Said her grandpa.
"Hmm? What is it?" Asked the girl looking at him curiously.
"His name. He must have explored some ruins like us, and found some well preserved Vgath tribes records. But why does he use a fake name? Discoveries like that are valued and bring fame in our explorers circles. Why wouldn't he wish to post it under his own name? Instead he used such a haughty fake name."
"Haughty? It sounded kind of lame though. Ruler of a hole? What does it even mean?" Asked Aini.
"This is not the right translation. Humans have a metaphor for darkness, that literally means a hole so deep that it's impossible to reach its bottom and so dark that light gets swallowed by it. Something like a black hole, only more superstitious than scientific. That's what this word "Abyss" means in human languages. The word "Lord" is exactly as you understood it. It means ruler."
"Didn't know you are so knowledgeable in humans, grampa." Said Aini as they entered the decompression hatch and pushed the button to seal it. Huge metallic door slowly slid into place sealing the hatch and soon they heard the hiss of air filling the room. Shortly after the green light shone from the ceiling and the door on the other side of the hatch opened letting them into the ship.
"I am not." Said her grandpa as his helmet made a hissing sound before opening. A second hissing noise followed a moment later as Aininad's helmet also opened and folded into several parts, before transforming into a slim hood on her back.
"What saying?" Asked a beautiful young lady with pale blue skin that bordered with its hue between blue and white. She shrugged her head, spreading her platinum white hair before putting a few strands of wavy hair locks behind fin-like SS horns on her temples and took out two crystal-like red earrings from her pocket, fixing them into her ears. She looked at the man beside her with her crimson-red and translucent as crystals pupils, that made her eyes look like two ruby stones.
"If I remember it correctly, it sounds "When you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss starts to gaze back into you", or something like that." Said the man with the same pale blue skin and white as snow hair and beard that he rubbed with a thoughtful look on his face.
"Huh? Someone staring at you from a bottomless pit?" Asked the girl, raising her eyebrow.
"It is a metaphor. Many understand it differently, but basically, it means the darkness fills your heart if you turn to dark means or the more evil you commit the more this evil consumes you. I was very impressed by this saying, so I remembered how it sounded in human language."
"I see. It is indeed haughty. Abyss Lord. So, it means the ruler of darkness." Said the girl with a smile. "But it sounds so boyish." She said with a grin. "Is he a kid?"
"Indeed. Sounds a bit childish. But then, humans often behave childishly." Said the man.
"So you think he is human?"
"Probably, but I have not met any explorers among humans that traveled deep into Ruined Space."
"Maybe its a pirate. Could explain why be doesn't know anything about them." Said the girl.
"Do you suggest he actually met these creatures?" Asked the man thoughtfully.
"Welcome aboard, Captain!" Sounded the voice in their radio, interrupting their discussion. "Finished with this ruin?"
"Yeah. Send some guys to pick up the equipment." Said the Captain.
"Alright. Where to next, sir?"
"Oh, I think I know a…"
"Grampa! Enough with this children's excursion. I am not a child. You took me on an expedition, so let's go see some real mysteries of old times. Stop going around this safe zone, lets go deeper into ruined space."
"Aini there is a lot of danger out there."
"I know. And want you or not, but one day I will face this space on my own. If you truly want to protect me, then teach me its true dangers." Said the girl, looking back at him with a serious face.
"Your grandma will kill me." Said the man with a sigh.
"I will do it regardless, if you two don't get here in one minute. The dinner is almost ready."
"Grandma, we are on an expedition! People on expeditions eat rations and protein bars while studying murals for months." Said the girl with annoyance.
"Get your asses here or you will fly to the next destination tied to the figurehead at the bow." Said the voice in the radio.
"Let's go, Aini. You know your grandma will really do it if she is angered." Said her grampa with a shiver. "Flying through subspace strapped to a ship's bow is hell."
"Huh? You sound like you speak from experience, grampa."
"N..no. Nothing like that. Lets go quickly." Said the man.
"No! I wanna hear the story! Tell me grampa"