tedium's travels through the zulhaeliyn universe, part two.

i must have floated in my invisible sphere for hours, maybe days. time seemed to blur and distort as i faded in and out of consciousness, and i embraced all the sleep i could gather, basking in it like the presence of a sweet lover. but before long, i felt completely rested and my nerves had been somewhat settled. yet i still heavily pondered all the information that my mind had absorbed since this whole ordeal had come to be.1

the planet i had grown to love was somewhere billions of years in the future, apparently in an entirely different universe. at this point, it appeared that i would never be able to return home, especially since my world (and the universe that spawned it) didn't even exist yet. i dismissed my pessimistic thoughts and tried to focus more on controlling the situation at hand, but i found that extremely difficult while i was spinning around in an invisible sphere, in some area of a vast universe, trailing behind a blue creature with three eyes. then, suddenly, urkalu spoke to me.2

"you have been very quiet, timewanderer. do you fear that which awaits you?"3

i didn't (couldn't) respond.4

"do not be afraid. as i said before, no harm will come to you. you are in the hands of some of the wisest beings in this universe, and our intentions are not to slay you. if they were, we would never have bothered plucking you from your planet and sucking you back into the prima aeon."5

"what is the prima aeon?" i asked almost cautiously, afraid i might unleash another avalanche of unbelievable information.6

"it is the timeframe in which we are currently floating, and it is a very important one...possibly the most important aeon that has ever been and ever will be."7

"what makes it so important?"8

"because it is a time when a very special place became rattled by hate, chaos, and war. the fate of this entire universe is based upon the survival of this special place."9

"what special place is this? and why would you choose an earthling to do your bidding on some ancient, special place that i've never heard of?"10

"i did not choose you, timewanderer. therefore i do not have the answers you seek." there was nothing but telepathic silence on my end, for a long while. "but i am not the one to explain all of this to you."11

"are you leading me to those who are?"12

"yes."13

"and who are they?"14

"they are known as ip sil. they are interstellar warriors of the utmost skill and power. they were crafted from space rocks, and are the sworn defenders of the outer realms of the planet kandarua'an."15

that was the first time i heard the name of my new home. somehow it intrigued me, and made me feel more at ease knowing that at least i would be on a planet. hopefully it would be one similar to the one i was accustomed to, maybe it would even be interesting, somehow. i had absolutely no idea what i would really encounter there, but i hoped for the best.16

before long, we passed by a huge, apparently dead star. it seemed to float as though it were wounded, or completely drained of its power, and shined with a dim yet strikingly vibrant hue of dark purple. something about its glow seemed to paralyze my eyes, making it impossible to look away. when i finally did, i noticed that there was another star not too far away, one that looked young and quite active. its light and radiance instantly reminded me of earth's sun, perhaps because it was the only other star i had ever seen with my own eyes.17

before long, urkalu came to a stop. i looked ahead and saw that there was a ring of planets orbiting the young and active star. the five planets spun around individually, also around each other in the form of a ring, and also around the orbit of the young star. it was a peculiar sort of solar system that i never thought could be possible, but there it was. i was certain i'd encounter a plethora of inexplicable things out here in this ancient realm.18

four of the planets looked healthy and quite similar to earth, and when i first realized this i was filled with an extremely intense sensation of relief and utter bliss. it was very reassuring to my confused mind to know that i would at least be spending my time on a world somewhat similar to the earth. "which world will i be travelling to?" i asked.19

urkalu pointed to the fifth planet, and all of a sudden those assured, hopeful feelings completely vanished, and panic swept back over my body like a plague of insects across a crop field. the world he pointed to looked entirely chaotic, a place that had maroon-colored oceans and enormous spiral-like hurricane cloud formations moving quickly across the surface. it looked like a planet that had suffered a severe wound, or multiple ones, and was currently re-arranging its own face. a thick coating of dread enveloped my body and made me tremble. "that is kandarua'an," urkalu said suddenly, causing me to jump and nearly break through my sphere. "but don't worry, i will not be sending you to that world in its current state. you would not survive more than a moment there. the energy at its core is failing, and it is causing the entire structure of the planet to lose control and destroy all life on its surface. but do not panic, timewanderer. the ip sil will explain everything to you. we are almost there." i wasn't sure whether to feel reassured or completely afraid, so for the remainder of our interstellar voyage, they battled each other fervently in my mind. somehow i let them destroy each other and found a balance in a blank and nonchalant emotion i could not define. it maintained that mental equilibrium for the remainder of our journey.20

we went halfway around kandarua'an's diameter before we came to a stop. somehow i knew that we had reached our destination point. there were a few moments when urkalu remained still, pressing his palms together and whispering something that i couldn't decipher. it gave me time to watch the violent storms take their toll on the planet's surface. i wondered what kind of creatures lived there, how many complex lifeforms were currently being completely obliterated from existence. i wondered if any of those creatures were in any way like humans. pondering that thought further, i wondered if the human race and all the creatures of earth would someday suffer the same fate.21

"they are here," urkalu whispered into my mind.22

we were floating such a distance from kandarua'an that it looked to be around three feet in diameter, but up close it would be about the same size as the earth. when one of the ip sil floated down from the darkness above and hovered by kandarua'an's side, following the same size ratio, it appeared to be about four feet taller than the planet. the ip sil warriors were absolutely gargantuan. a total of five of them floated down from above and hovered slowly around the dying world. the rocks that their bodies were made of were cut into different types of armor plates. their eyes were simply pitch black sockets with dim blue pupils that floated independently in the centers. those that had hair wore it long, down past their feet, and it was hair that gleamed a vibrant white, bordered with blue. i could not believe what i was seeing. they held long sabres carved from a darker stone that looked like obsidian, reflecting light from the infinite stars surrounding us, seeming to have separate universes within the blades. they looked so intimidatingly alien that i found it difficult to register what exactly i was seeing before me. everything seemed so unreal, so unbelievably superior in uncountable ways.23

urkalu exchanged telepathic words with them for a long while. questions began building up in my mind, and finally i grew too impatient. "how will i interact with them, urkalu? surely they do not speak my tongue..?"24

"there is something you need to understand before we proceed any further. no creature in the zulhaeliyn universe or any other actually speak your language, timewanderer. what they do is absorb all of the information your brain contains, and use the language and personality you are accustomed to in order to interact with you." urkalu was fixated on the ip sil, a very serious and concentrated look in his eyes.25

"did you mimic the information in my brain as well, urkalu?"26

"the leader of the ip sil is prepared to address you now."27

butterflies took flight in my stomach, so heavily that it felt as though they would burn holes right through. i had no idea what to expect, how to interact with a gigantic being crafted from asteroids. urkalu moved in front of me, and spread his arms wide, shutting his eyes for a brief moment. when they reopened they were glowing white. he bowed to me and smiled, and began speaking on behalf of some of the most noble and legendary warriors of zulhaeliyn.28

"welcome, young one. we are the ip sil, sworn defenders of the planet kandarua'an. i applaud you for making it this far; we were unsure if your kind was capable of maintaining their sanity under these most extreme circumstances." urkalu's voice had changed entirely. it was something deep and almost rhythmic, but certainly something unlike anything i had ever heard. "i am sure you feel very confused and frightened right now, but please do not fear us. we mean you no harm. in fact, we are here to protect you. we want to understand why you have come here, and how it was possible for you to arrive in this realm."29

i was absolutely shocked. "you mean...you don't know how i got here!? this was not your doing?"30

urkalu shook his head, but the ip sil warriors remained completely still. "we are not aware of how you were able to traverse time and space, and arrive here at this exact point in time. we have called for your presence to further understand how this happened."31

i couldn't believe what was passing through my mind. how could they not know where i had come from? how could this have just happened spontaneously, so suddenly that even the proclaimed "wisest creatures of the universe" could not explain how i had traveled so far back in time?32

apparently they could read everything i was thinking. "urkalu has exaggerated, young one. we are not among the wisest in zulhaeliyn by any means. to him we may seem to be, but that is simply because he does our bidding. he and his 'space-island', as you have labelled it in your mind, are deeply connected to us and the world that we protect. he is one of twelve scouts that scour the universe for oncoming hordes of negative forces, on behalf of the entire league of creatures that defends this planet."33

i'd had my fill of absorbing overwhelming information for long enough. "i need to know why i am here and how i can return to my home!!" i thought angrily.34

"please, young one, calm yourself. if you want to continue living you must listen to what we have to say. it is true that our powers are vast, and we are capable of many things. but travelling through time to a future universe is something that we are unable to perform. this is why we must know how you arrived here, so that we may begin to help you in the best possible way. please, explain to us how you were able to get here."35

i explained everything to them. how i woke up one day and saw a bright white aura break through violent stormclouds, and how i was raised into the air and sucked into this energy. i explained how i watched my planet be destroyed from its outer realms, and how i was rendered unconscious after that, and woke up here. when i finished going through it all in my mind, i sensed that they were whispering to one another. i frequently heard a word that sounded like "aiuran" going through their strange and entirely inhuman language.36

"we have seen your home planet through the images you keep in your mind. it looks remarkably similar to the planet kandarua'an in many ways. as you can see, currently it is not stable and is on the verge of failing entirely. we believe that your arriving here is somehow linked to the event that triggered this destruction."37

"will you help me find a way to return home, somehow? there must be a way to get back, if there was a way to arrive..."38

"there is a creature from a distant world of zulhaeliyn, a scientist of sorts, who invented a vessel that was capable of flying through the universe at incredible speeds, and was also capable of returning to the past. his name was vaarsuh, and the vessel was called nakradamra. vaarsuh perished many centuries ago, but it is a well known fact that the flying vessel is still in good shape, but there are very few who know where it currently is."39

"it can only travel into the past? you're absolutely certain it cannot go forward in time?"40

"think of it this way, young one. if zulhaeliyn is a living, thinking being, then it would be possible for a creature of the universe to travel back to previous occurrences in its lifetime. since the past already happened, it is possible for a being to tap into the memory of the universe itself, and travel back through a sort of 'thought process' while zulhaeliyn is 'remembering' a specific event. the past was already there, and the atoms and particles that once were fused together in the forms of planets or anything else are still available, and the old universe could be reconstructed. the future, however, cannot be constructed or gone into, since the particles of zulhaeliyn had never fused that way before and would have no way of predicting what things would be like. so you see, there is little that can be done for you."41

i was silent for a long time. i had to accept that i was never going to return to earth, there was no possible way for me to travel into the future. i could only go backwards, but to what? to kandarua'an? what would it be like there? for all i knew it was covered in gigantic predatorial monsters that would devour me on sight. i had little hopes of staying alive for much longer, but for some reason i could not give up yet. something inside me made me curious as to how these monolithic warriors would be able to help me find stability. i decided to remain calm and wait and see what they could offer..42