The Second Drift

[Zamazenta the OS-Tan Fan]

1 hour ago, Tinkerer said:

It has some influences from the animes Speed Racer and Initial D. The biggest influence came from a group of Hot Wheels movies/mini series: Hot Wheels World Race & Hot Wheels Acceleracers.

...but ultimately, it's its own story.

So are you going to continue the series?

[Tinkerer]

10 hours ago, Zamazenta the OS-Tan Fan said:

So are you going to continue the series?

Aye. But it's a slow process and I can only really write on Fridays.

The next section is a bunch of mini sections with everyone gathering together, so it's really awkward to write.

[Tinkerer]

Zenith boarded the Galactic Flash’s flagship.  It had been some time since he’d been on his own ship, but there was no time for nostalgia.  The alert had gone out to all those members who had previously battled the Яeverse, alongside a few select members who had been too inexperienced back then.  They were all gathering together in the special Quark ship the council had been courteous to provide.  In the meantime, Zenith had taken it upon himself to bring the Immortals and the Draugracers together.

The Immortals were easy.  Once the Veni representative had dropped Zenith at his home, it informed Zenith that four Immortals would assemble at the nearby spaceport where his ship was kept.  They would be there within a quarter-rotation.  Knowing the Veni, Zenith trusted this without question.  This left just the Draugracers.

The mud golems were also surprisingly easy to recruit.  They were fairly easy to find, and upon his approach, one of them seemed to brighten noticeably.  The racer - the designated “number 2” racer on the team - identified herself as Jornin Zeruth Ze-vest: Zenith’s grandmother.

It was an unexpected, tearfilled reunion, and as much as Zenith wanted to talk and reminisce, the Яeverse threat imposed too much weight for him to forget.  Still, with her sway among the other spirit racers and Zenith’s explanation of the threat, it was not long before the whole team agreed to help.

Zenith sat in the navigator’s chair mulling it all over.  A holographic starmap shone dully in front of Zenith as the ship’s computer navigated itself back to the port to pick up the Immortals.  Azulune had alerted him that most of the Flash had gathered and that Dust was sent to pick up the Gaians.  He had been given an encrypted line to contact the main Excavator ship, but no matter how many times he reached out, there had been no answer.  The Excavator ship had sent an automatic message relay so Zenith knew that the ship itself was operational, but no one seemed to be on the ship.  Or, at least, no one who would answer.

A quick flash on Zenith’s monitor snapped him out of his reverie.  The flagship was over the port and he could see the four Immortals standing in a semicircle with their vehicles behind them.  Zenith nodded and allowed the computer to handle beaming them up while he went over to the entryway to meet them.

 

~~~

 

“Ugh, why am I on pickup duty?” an alien said, reclining in his chair with his spiked boots on the navigation controls.

“You are closest.  This is a direct order from Commander Zenith.” the ship’s computer repeated in a monotone.

“Yeah, but like, why do we need ‘em though?” The alien mused, absentmindedly fiddling with one of the long horns protruding from his forehead.  “This is just a race, right? I should be all you need!”

“You are closest. Thi–”

The alien tapped a button on the console, muting the computer’s repeated statement.  He stretched and got up, his translucent red skin glowed in the dim light.  He strolled over to the cargo bay where a beautiful white and gold vehicle sat parked.  “First Tachyon”, one of the trio of vehicles that had miraculously appeared when the group had touched the Horizon.

The alien - Dust - ran a long finger along the beautiful car.  He had been in the Galactic Flash for a while, but his role had always been suspect.  Azulune - and before her Zenith - only sent Dust on solo missions, solo races.  For almost the entirety of his participation in the Galactic Flash, it seemed like his role was to train and to get used to this car.  And now finally he was called for a group race and he wasn’t good enough?  He had to bring a bunch of folks from a no-name planet to help them?

Dust sucked some air with disdain before giving himself a small smile.  No point bringing racers who were weak, right?  There shouldn’t be any harm in testing these racers before bringing them, right?

 

~~~

 

Lenore Madoka closes the tome and sets it aside.  It was no longer the time to isolate, but there was little she could do in her state.  The tome would help.  It would help her if no one else could.  But for now, the threat posed by the Яeverse was too great.  Until the Яeverse and their puppeteers were taken out, she would not be able to help herself.

Lenore sighs and looks at herself in the mirror.  She was gaunt and looked like she had not slept in weeks.  Still, while her body appeared fatigued, her mind was sharp.  She knew exactly what she needed to do, and she knew what the outcomes would be.  The book had revealed as much.

Grabbing her phone, Lenore pressed a couple buttons to call Striker.  Lenore suspected that her son was the only one still out of the loop.  It would take a bit to fill him in, but more importantly, she needed to impart something to him before he went to help defeat the Яeverse.  The phone rang almost eight times before Striker finally picked up.

“Hey, Mom.” Striker said shortly.

“Good morning Strike.” Lenore said.  Her voice was coarse from underuse and she coughed.

“Are you okay?” Striker said.

“Sorry, I am just tired.  I haven’t slept well.” It was true.  As suggested by her appearance in the mirror, the tome had taken up much of her thoughts and time - including hours she would normally have slept.  “Listen Strike, there’s something terrible happening right now.  I need to see you and fill you in.  Please meet me at the sunrise spot.”

Striker gave a minute grunt.

“I am heading over now.  I will be there in a few hours.  How soon will you be able to get there?”

“I’ll be there.” Striker said.

That was good enough.  “Okay, see you soon.” Lenore said, “I love you.”

“Love you, Mom.” Striker said.  The line cut.

Lenore went to wash.  Striker was still upset with her, but it wasn’t something that could be helped now.  He knew the stories as well as anyone, and having grown up knowing about aliens and the atlanteans, she had no doubt he’d believe her and comprehend at least a little bit of the potential threat.  Not that Lenore was worried herself.  Why should she be when the Annals had already shown her what was to come?

 

~~~

 

Ædra could not see anything after Conelly laid a palm on his forehead.  He could not smell or hear anything either.  All he could do was feel, and soon he could no longer feel the hand on his head.  He was trapped in a darkness beyond anything he could ever have imagined.  Ædra tried to move his body, but there was no body to move.  Or was there?  Could he no longer feel himself touching his own body?  Could he know if he had a body or not if he could not use any senses to tell?

Without warning, a path of hardly luminescent silver extended forward from where Ædra existed.  The light was enough to make out a path, but not enough for Ædra to see anything else.  Slowly Ædra felt himself moving along the path.  It was impossible to tell as the path appeared unchanging and extending endlessly, but Ædra felt as though progress was being made.

He could not tell how long he was trapped here.  Was this truly existence now?  He had already mulled over the thoughts about the Яeverse, thought through his past conflict with them, mulled over the upcoming one, and had gone over it what felt like hundreds of times.  Thousands.  All the scenarios had been so well-trodden that they merely burned themselves out on this plane of nothingness and this path to nowhere.

His mind worked itself through his thoughts of the Prince.  His feelings of guilt, that he was responsible for the Prince’s death at the hands of the Яeverse, had been left somewhere along the path.  The expectations that had been imposed on him from the populace, his early successes and failures due to those high expectations… That took a while to work through, but ultimately all these experiences made Ædra into a person.  One of value, one that allowed him to work with the divine aspect of the universe.  This euphoric realization, understanding, and acceptance took a long time to work through, but soon enough it too fell to the wayside to the nothingness.

Had centuries gone by?  What even was my name?  Do I exist?

It was only as these questions popped into Ædra’s mind after a long time where he had no thoughts that something changed.  The path widened.  Ædra felt himself speeding up and now the darkness around the path began to encroach on the space.

Ædra felt a long dormant instinct take over.  The first “gap” was quickly approaching, looking almost like a log blocking a road.  Without thought, Ædra’s “being” smoothly drifted around the darkness.  But he had not done it well enough.  The next patch of darkness was right ahead, and Ædra had no way to avoid it.

Ædra crashed into the darkness and with the darkness came pain.  A sandscraping of his soul.  As the pain slowly subsided, Ædra once more found himself on the path.  His mind was soon clear once again and the darkness began to encroach the track once more.  Absentmindedly, Ædra drifted around the first dark obstacle and it seemed as though he could see more clearly now than he could before.  The line around the darkness was sharper, though Ædra was putting less effort in than before.

He let instinct take control and his soul responded with impossible smoothness.  There were times when he snapped into consciousness or misjudged a line and that often resulted in a crash and a re-scraping of his soul.  A scouring not intended for punishment, but for perfecting.  His self was being honed, even as he lost more and more of his own sense of “self”.

How long did this go on?  He had no clue and in the end it did not matter.  All that mattered was the current moment.

Eventually, Ædra came back to consciousness.  He had been on the path a while but he hadn’t seen any patches of darkness in a long stretch of time.  As this thought occurred, Ædra could sense his soul slowing down until it no longer appeared to move along the path.

In what felt like an eternity, Ædra heard something.

“It looks like you are ready.”

Ædra gulped the fresh air, finally regaining his body’s functions.  The dip into Conelly’s mind space and Conelly’s idea of “honing” Ædra’s spirit.  It had been far beyond anything Ædra had expected.  As his sense of self and his memories came flooding back, Ædra immediately expected to be overwhelmed, panicked.  But he just didn’t.

As thoughts came into his mind, it felt as though he was smoothly and effortlessly able to compartmentalize the thought instantly and place it somewhere to deal with later.  He felt freer.  Lighter.  More able to handle himself and things around him than he had ever felt before.  Even taking in the room around him, he was able to notice things he had not before.  Including the keys to the vehicle that he had left on his desk.

“Thank you Conelly.” Ædra said. “I am ready now.”

Conelly nodded and stepped away from the door.  Ædra scooped up his car’s keys and with newfound purpose, he stepped out of the room.