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I've had this piece floating around in my head for a long time and an anonymous friend was kind enough to help me realize it! A little background on some of the meaning:

In book one of my series Matthews and a team from the starship Kherson find themselves shot down on a strange desert planet. Being unable to contact the ship in orbit they're forced to make contact with the planet's inhabitents. Her second in command and her ranking marine make first contact with the people's leader Djikki, a toweringly large cheetah like alien. Seeing their poor state she brings the band back to their city. With no other option but faring the cold desert night the team agrees to go with them.

The city towers above the rolling dunes outside of its walls. Sharp angles and gleaming glass are a stark contrast from the natural and flowing lines around them. It's streets are filled with Djikki's people. Simple folk resembling hyenas with hunched backs and large triangular ears. Matthews considers for a moment that it's unlikely these people could have constructed such elaborate and massive buildings let alone covering them with metal and glass.

After resting for the night Djikki brings them into the massive pyramid situated at the center of the city. The roads stretch out from each of its corners only stopped by the wall holding back the sands. She explains this structure is the heart of the city. It, like the rest of the structures, were built by the race that created her species. Though gone for hundreds of thousands of years relics like these are still scattered throughout the galaxy.

She goes on to say that she and her people have been imprisoned here for five decades. Only she can access the technology of the pyramid but her captors have made it impossible for the equipment to respond to her. Her tone is that of someone telling an old tale, not one seeking escape. Almost as quickly as she had started explaining she was already moving on deeper into the pyramid. Matthews' eye is caught by a computer console with an odd glowing apparatus. Pulsing multicolored light leaked out from an inky black void at the console's center.

In a blink of an eye she found herself standing directly before it. Something about this device was pulling her closer and closer. From behind her she hear a coarse shreek, coming from Djikki, but its already too late. The device lunges out and attaches to her face and locking her into place. She struggles but the vice grip on her is far too strong. The soft shifting light quickly change to sharper and brighter patterns. They get faster and faster changing in ever more complex ways. Matthews mind slips away from her as seemingly every synapse fires simultaneously.

The machine only has her in its grasp for a few moments. When it releases her she falls to the floor slump and unresponsive. The fur around her eyes has been bleached almost white and her pupils have lost all black instead turning to a milky blue-white. Outside of the pyramid screams and crashes can be heard. Whatever the console did to Matthews coincided with systems and structures across the city failing.

At the same instant the marine's radios explode with traffic from the Kherson. No fewer than eight people are broad casting on all of the frequencies they use. In the chaos one of the junior marines is trampled and injured by civilians. Up in orbit the Kherson detects incredible powersurges from the city and across the planet. Massive explosions of plasma, sand and glass polka-dot the planet's surface. Seeing no other option the ship's captain is determined to land and evacuate his people.

Through their harrowing effort the Kherson not only successfully recovers her crew but also saves Djikki and her people as well. Before even making it back to orbit, however, a new threat appears. The destabalization of the planet had to have been loud enough to attract something near by. The ship's sensors detect a hyperspace window open in high orbit, but it is unlike any signature they've seen before. With an unknown entity high above and a dying planet just below the Kherson makes an emergency jump to hyperspace to escape.

In deep empty space the Kherson and her crew spend days and weeks recuperating and repair after their first major incident. The new civilian population is slower adjusting though the space constraints are causing friction. The medical facilities have finally started to catch their breath after the influx of new patients. Matthews, bed ridden and unconscious for the first few days, now lays awake in bed.

Ever since the machine attacked her mind had been filled with fog. Thoughts wont come to her easily and she finds herself completely unable to focus on tasks. During the nights her dreams are flooded with strange simbols, shapes and colors that she doesn't understand. The doctors slowly monitor her deteriorating condition but are unable to do anything to help her.

Another month passes. The Kherson continues on exploring the galaxy and trying to make her way back to Earth. While the crew is engaged in an event off ship Matthews slips into a coma. The doctors attempt radical intervention but nothing works. Her heart rate and bloodpressure are going through the roof. Her brain signals on the monitor appear to be completely impossible.

In an instant, faster than the mind could even comprehend, she is flooded by light seemighly as intense as the sun. In the next instant both the light and she are gone without a trace.

Matthews awakes in an entirely black black void. She looks down and sees her bare fur but nothing else beyond her edges. There is a surface under her feat but there's seemingly no sensation of texture or temperature. She opens her mouth to speak but no sounds comes. She tries to breath but her body doesn't respond. Panic floods her immediately.

As quickly as the sensation comes, however, a new one replaces it. Though she sees nothing she can feel a light touch on her shoulder. A voice even softer than hers speaks into her ear, "You are not alone." A voice, the same but still somehow different, speaks from her other side, "You are the seed." Now hundreds or thousands of the same voice, each still incomprehensibly different, speak out, "It is already in motion."

Her mind is overwhelmed. Just when the voices peak and her panic threatens to break her silence returns. A dim, soft light appears far off in front of her and slowly grows. As it gets closer it takes on the shape of a figure. Large, pointed ears become visible along with a long tubular and bushy tail. A faint glowing halo of light sits on the figure's head. When it is mere inches from her face Matthews can see it looks remarkibly like her people. The facial structure is different as is it's skeletal structure but the similarities are impossible to ignore.

It takes her face in it's hands and gently kisses her forehead. Emotion floods Matthews' mind and tears burst forth from the corners of her eyes. She's overflowing with a sense of comfort being held by this entity. A singular voice, this time coming distinctly from the entity, speaks. "We will always be with you. You will sacrifice everything but we will be here to see you through. Do not be afraid." It pulls away and locks eyes with her. The fear is inescapable but the entity's expression makes it feel small. Somehow, in spite of this entirely alien environment and everything that has happened, she feels like everything will be okay.

She awakes on the bridge of the Kherson wearing the medical pajamas she had been wearing before she disappeared. Gasps and tense breathing fills the room for the first few moments. Someone recoginzes her and says, "Oh my god, lieutenant!" She can hear but all she can see is black. As quickly as she had arrived she was once more unconscious.

This time she awakes only a few hours later and finally feeling somewhat more normal. The only thing out of the ordinary, at least for now, was that she cant see. Seeing her wake up the ship's doctor comes over to her. She explains that whatever the machine had done to her had caused permenant damage to her eyes. She would be blind for the rest of her life without replacing them with artificial eyes. The doctor explains its a simple matter but Matthews quickly pushes the subject away.

Pivoting, the doc then tells her about the new feature above her head. When she reappeared on the bridge she arrived completely identical to how she had left, save an odd glowing ring of light hovering just above her head. No one onboard can explain what it is, what it's made of of why its there. All they can tell is that it emits light similar to that from hyperspace windows but can't determine anything else. It doesn't appear to harm her at all but its permanently fixed to her.

What does this mean? Who are these mysterious beings lurking in the void? Where did Matthews go and what is intended for her? All of these questions are explored over the course of my book series. Thank you so much for reading and I hope to get more of this written so you all can enjoy!!

Art by anonymous
Matthews belongs to me @RaspberryWah

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