A Race Against Time (Open)

Sad, desolate and abandoned planets weren’t anything new, not to someone with such a strange perspective as Nervan— a strange deep perspective that ran beyond however long they existed, a byproduct of how they had come to be.

In this case, after being informed by Prophos’ mystic tome that there would be a planet of interest, one that had rare non-metal components for technologies and magic as well as a strange phenomenon, Nervan felt that odd perspective grip them, as if they once knew the world that Prophos had described, or had known someone that did. Ordinarily, Nervan would have simply been curious and made the trip anyway, but for some strange reason it felt personal.

As such, equipped with an entirely non-metallic magical spacecraft created by Prophos’ magic, Nervan was off on their way to a world redder than the blood of most mortals, crimson and boiling to the point that it almost put planet Plant’s aesthetic to shame. From the viewport of their modest magical craft, Nervan simply gazed upon this world with a ceaseless stare. They were trying to figure out what it was about it that they wanted to know.

However, before they could come to any conclusion, something had careened past the viewport violently, and it was headed towards the planet at an alarming speed. It was a ship, wasn’t it? It definitely looked like one.

Was some poor soul about to crash, and on this planet?

That didn’t sit right with Nervan, not one bit. So, they tried their best to track wherever that other craft had gone and drove their own down to the surface of the planet somewhere in a craggy area, sure it lacked lava but it wasn’t great here either.

Exiting their magical craft, Nervan called it into their Potara earrings, so that they would not lose it. Now all that was left to do was to find that other spacecraft. Jaggedly shambling along in various weird ways, Nervan came across many downed vessels, but all of them were old crash sites coated in amber-ish pink dust. What Nervan had to look for was smoke, the problem being that there was a fair bit of it around on the horizon, mostly thick dark smoke from natural lava which didn’t even rise all that high given the gravity of the planet.

Just when they thought this would be a failed investigation, Nervan had caught sight of something in the distance, something floating just above ground— it looked to be a bipedal shape! Somewhere near there, Nervan saw thin smoke that was near dissipating. Was this what they were looking for? Only one way to find out.

At a hurried pace, Nervan made all sorts of impractical and probably impossible movements, hoping to get within earshot of whoever it was they had just barely seen. “Hello?” Nervan called out curiously in a strange mangled yet cohesive chorus of voices, their expression unblinking, mouth unmoving— it was unclear how they even spoke. Sonic projection? Ventriloquism? The truth was uncertain, save for that they spoke at all.

Nervan only just barely heard what was said to them after catching up somewhat. Could whoever was floating up there not see too well? Maybe it was because of whatever they were kitted out with, it looked somewhat cumbersome but they likely had a good reason to wear it. “Down he—” Thud. Nervan had comically tripped over bit of some kind of tow-bar that was being pulled in a different direction. For a second, Nervan remained face first in the ground before eventually choosing a way to stand back up. They conjured some sort of strange slime around them and above them, sinking into what was around them only to re-emerge standing up. “We are down he—” Unfortunately, by the time Nervan had managed to be standing up, the other person had floated away further. “Oh, bother.”

Luckily for Nervan, this person that they had found eventually came to a stop once again which allowed them to catch up. It seemed as though there was something of interest in the distance, but Nervan couldn’t really make out what it was aside from it being quite large. Damn, if only they knew that trick their Tuffle friend could do to see better in these sorts of crappy conditions. Unexpectedly, the other person began to speak, asking a question. “It is complicated. We have vague memories of this planet, or something close to that, memories and vagueness of thought not entirely our own. We came here out of curiosity.” Which of course might sound ludicrously idiotic since Nervan chose not to mention that they arrived on a non-metal spacecraft. “We seek the source of what causes crash landings here.” Which also probably sounded foolish, and rightly so without knowing Nervan’s perspective.

There was a rumble, was it from the ground below? Was it something else? Nervan had no idea, only that it was far away from here... For now.

“No, there is only us.” There was a pause, not so much for dramatic effect and more like a realization. Lots of people were getting confused by this, and ordinarily Nervan chose to just ignore it or in some cases someone else like Illuma would explain it, but given that this person before them was wearing some cumbersome suit that impeded their vision, Nervan would make an exception. “Er, singular, we are one being. We are Nervan.” Interestingly enough, their name was spoken with a singular voice. Hopefully that was enough for Gandigan to make sense of in this moment where things were a bit more tumultuous.

“We have a ship, yes, though it is non-metal, it is magical.” At the mention of tools, Nervan did recall that Prophos left a tool-box in there, it too was non-metallic. “Tools as well, yes, though we are unsure if they will be of much use, as they are magical tools, not mechanical tools.”

Gandigan also came to the conclusion that something had purposefully pulled his ship to the planet. If his ship was the one they were closest to, it, like the others, was metallic. All pieces of evidence so far put themselves together properly. “If it was anything like a proper tractor beam, then all of these ships would be going to the same place...” Nervan suggested, thinking through what had happened so far a bit more. Unfortunately, their train of thought was derailed once again by the roaring in the distance that came after the low rumbling.

The phenomenon dropped Gandigan from the air and slammed him against his ship which began to break apart even more. He probably needed that ship, even if it was useless there might even be something important to Gandigan on board. “Brace yourself. We are creating a portal to safety.” Nervan raised their hands without hesitation and conjured a bunch of staticy grey slime off to the side under a cliff that was pointed away from the pull and the rest in the direction where Gandigan and his ship were being pulled, hopefully it was enough to help. “Apologies if travel between the two locations causes nausea!”

“A portal, yes.” Nervan explained, shuffling over to Gandigan after he had slumped under the cliff face. “Perhaps not one you are used to. We are many things, and one of them is being that which people are not used to.” Nervan spoke of this without regret, seeming content in some way with however strange it is that they were. If anything, they were used to it.

“Your suit? Does it have metallic components, then?” Nervan’s head suddenly tilted to the side with an odd wooden creak that went on longer than the near instant motion. As for the atmosphere, Nervan thought for a moment. The circumstances of their creation made them different, and hazardous environments did little to plague them, but they had enough experience to discern how bad it could be for other people. “From what we can tell, it is a breathable atmosphere, though very likely to be noticeably unpleasant to someone that is not like us.”

Gandigan questioned the idea of the vague memories and feelings, now finally able to give some thought to it, Nervan backtracked to prior trains of thought. “We have the memory of several others that once walked this world a long time ago, though it is faded, one thing is consistent; they were magical people, and they feared something, a legend of theirs. The more we stand here on this planet, the clearer these thoughts become. However, they cannot possibly paint us an entire picture. The answers must be here somewhere.” Thinking back to the roar and the pull, Nervan looked around for more answers, to the spacecrafts littering the landscape, wondering how many bodies were now trapped here. “The noise, it does not sound at all like the activation of technology, it is inconsistent...” Nervan held their head, willing themselves to make sense of this. “The people, the legend, the sound... What does it mean..?” Unfortunately, nothing seemed to work by forcing the faded memories once owned by those long gone to stitch themselves together.

Looking across the desolate landscape, Nervan tried their best to examine various nearby wreckages. Now that they had a bit more time on their hands to do so, they noted most non-metallic parts were undisturbed aside from eroding away in these conditions. “Unfortunate. For the suit, we mean.” Nervan’s head tilted in a strange way, though they spoke apologetically all the same.

Gandigan eventually chose to ditch his suit, revealing to Nervan that he was a Namekian. “Oh, we see, you are a Namekian. We understand that your people have an excellent constitution, what with the ability to regenerate and all. It is likely that you may even fare better than most would out here.” Well, that was a relief, however small.

“Indeed. A natural occurrence of some manner is highly likely in our opinion... Precisely what it could be eludes us.” If it was the planet itself, then this phenomenon may have a fixed location, perhaps an area where gravity doesn’t work how it should anywhere else? Nervan held a hand to their chin in contemplation. The more they thought about it, the more the alternative made them wonder. That noise, that roar— it sounded alive.

“May as well.” Indeed, there was only one way to find out for sure. Lurching upwards, Nervan began to follow Gandigan, only to come to a dead stop, unmoving like a statue. “Yes. We seek the source. The faded memories we possess drive us to seek it. As you say, we could simply leave, however, we want to honour the ones who once had these memories. Give them closure, complete their story. Besides that, we find ourselves personally curious.” A bizarre thing to be curious about given the circumstances, but Nervan was as bizarre as they came.

“No, not at all.” Nervan responded plainly and honestly. There was no reason to say otherwise, they really had no idea that Gandigan was a Namekian— at absolute best it would have been a guess among the trillions of bipedal species among the cosmos of his average size, and the likelihood of being correct was excessively slim. In any case, it was fortunate that Gandigan could handle the atmosphere here himself in some capacity.

“They once belonged to someone else, yes. However, those people are gone in the traditional sense, and their memories linger within us, because...” Nervan began, sounding both sad and hopeful in explaining. “We are a being that was created, created through a complex ritual gone wrong where the souls and bodies of others were used. It seems that one side effect of this ritual is that their memories, or at least some of them, remain within us.” As grim as such an origin could be seen, Nervan sounded like they were at peace with it and had motivation to use it for what they saw was a better purpose. “Like we said, we wish to give them closure, complete their story.” Nervan repeated as they had said before, the tone identical to the exact words from earlier. “If we do not, who will?”

Still, this was not exactly the place or even the time to have such deep conversations. So, Nervan nodded in agreement when Gandigan chose to return to the search. Nervan didn’t have the ability to sense energy, nor did they have a scouter; energy sensing was more Illuma’s thing but since she wasn’t here they had to deal with it.

As Gandigan flew upward, Nervan’s gaze clicked around their immediate surroundings before they conjured and threw some of the satic-y grey portal sludge upward which stopped mid air somewhere off to the side near Gandigan. Conjuring more over their head, their head popped up through the rift near the Namekian. “We should have mentioned, we cannot fly. This is the best workaround we have at the moment.”

Looking around, Nervan’s gaze followed Gandigan’s for the most part. Soon enough, Gandigan brought attention to something. There was something down by that toppled freighter. Was it another ship? A bizarre light seemed to be coming from it. “Strange...”

When Gandigan floated down lower, Nervan seemed to headbutt the portion of the portal that their head was sticking out of, causing it to also drop a few meters down to match Gandigan’s flight level. “Yes, we see it. We will be right behind you.”

Reaching the ground once more, Nervan looked around as best as they could while tagging along with Gandigan. The light had disappeared which was quite annoying but with decisive steps forward and a relatively decent sense of direction between the two, Nervan and Gandigan still found what they were looking for. The two reached the sad remains of a ship that they had seen from their vantage point.

“What a dismal sight... A dismal smell too.” Nervan commented, also climbing their way into the cruiser. As bad as it was, there were signs of life, and recent signs of life too. This put Nervan on guard somewhat while Gandigan examined the mirror on the table. For a moment it looked like they had found the source of that light too. As Gandigan made the discovery aloud, some feral man had attacked him, biting into his neck! Both the attacker and Gandigan fell from the cruiser entrance, however, since Nervan was mostly on guard in the moment, they were able to react reasonably well as they jumped, lunging for the attacker, attempting to unleash palm stikes and strange pulses of static Ki with varying tints of colour each time at the attacker! “Hey, get off him!”

It was pretty likely that this was another victim stranded by the phenomenon of this planet— and Nervan knew this could be the case in the back of their mind— but to be reduced to acting like this? It was pitiful and wrong just as much as it was distressing and sad. It filled Nervan with a strange ability to relate to such a plight, yet be offended by it all the same and this mix of feelings spurred them into action.