Marushi

“Let me tell you, child: I've seen things you wouldn't believe were possible.”

“Like what?”

“This world that we live on. Our ancestors settled it in a great exodus from their homelands. This was at a time where millions would walk on the surface of a single planet; did you know that? But sorry, I'm getting distracted.”

“So our ancestors settled here. Cultivated the land, raised our homesteads. And time passed, which gave way to us. And things were normal, for a time.”

“But it appeared. Right there in the sky. Small at first, but growing ever larger. A new planet. An entire world appearing out of nothingness.”

“You're joking.”

“I'm not joking. This massive sphere, an entire planet with development and buildings appeared out of the sky. It had everything a planet needed: farmland, housing, industrial manufacturing space. But that wasn't even the strangest part.”

“What was, then?”

“It talked to us. This colossal structure, it sent us messages. An invitation to talk. And so we did. We told them of us, and they told us of themselves. Stories of figures from their past. A trucker with the waters of death. A swarm of stations, each one harbouring a piece of the whole. A toxic plant that threatened to choke out all life. A band of rebels, locked in their struggle with an evil wiping life from the galaxy. They told us of figures great and small, large and tiny. How the now-empty lands across their surface were once teeming with people. And they told us of themselves. The two-fold nature of their existence. They told us of how they were created, born from copies the same size as you or I. The struggles that they had faced internally, how their own fears, doubts, and uncertain existence had manifested. A force that threatened to tear them from inside out, but one that they eventually overcame. I can play you the records later, if you like.”

“Uh… sure.”

“But eventually… they left. Travelling onwards into the stars, in search of others like us. The people who made their exodus, and the few who stayed on every little rock, just like our ancestors did. I'm not sure exactly where they went; I don't know where anyone went. I'm not sure anyone living in our homesteads knows. But they wanted to spread these stories to all, so that they might never be forgotten.”

“And well, let me tell you, I'm not forgetting what I saw anytime soon.”