On Nevermore, the Fall’s Edge

An excerpt from Arcanum, the infinite codex

By author unknown

“And then, with but a simple gesture, as the obsidian sword cut through the air, we observed the flagship of our fleet severed in half far above our heads, engulfing surrounding hundreds of smaller vessels in a giant ball of white fire.

With another gesture, the lone figure casually walking towards us stabbed the air in front of itself, and the nearest thousand men collapsed to the ground with their hearts pierced.

Despite the sheer scale of the horror, the bravest of us leapt at the defender in order to wrestle the sword out of its hand, and it let them.

As they touched the sword, they each broke into tears and immediately let go. The defender didn’t kill them. Our heroes collapsed to the ground and their tears have never stopped since. We all dropped our weapons and awaited our deaths.

Instead of ending us, the hooded, unimposing figure walked right up to me. Terrified, I looked into its eyes. It wasn’t wrath I saw in them, it was sorrow. Such deep sorrow.

I understood.

We left, but not before restoring the helpless planet we invaded. As best we could, anyway. We returned, but not home. Not before we restore them all, somehow.”

• Fragment of an engraving found on a monolith on an empty, dead world, deep inside the Wilderness, left there by a warrior race lost to time