{"sf1_id":689550,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Herald.1","author":"MagnumGit","words":797,"posted_at":"2014-04-06T19:25:00.000Z","tags":["Adventure","Aliens","Drama","Expansive","Fiction","Fighting","Future","Human","Mild Abuse","Mild Drama","Mild Romance","Military","Multiple Species","No-Yiff","Novel","Political","Sci-Fi","Series","War","dystopia","humanoid","prologue","space","story","universe"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/689550-herald-1","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/689550","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=689550\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\n\n \n                                               [_Event Horizon_]\n                                                            \nThis\nuniverse is a desolation of forgiveness. A boil of hubris and hatred on the\nskin of time, a blister on the foot of existence. It is an infection gone\nuntreated, for too long has war raped the people and possibilities that serve\nunder the great being of known sentience. Stagnation breeds' wrath in the\nhearts of mortals, and those among them who burn bright enough now take to the\nforge to make ready the mantle of war. This existence of war is in need of a\nplague; a devourer to rid the weak and simple minded, something to scrape the\nfools from their thrones to wallow once more in the dirt, to fear and loathe\nthe night sky and take the shoulder of man amongst them in compassion and stay\ntheir fists from the mantle. \n \n \n\n \n \nAvarice system,\n--- 883rd Post Colonial Solar Rotation-\n \nA ship once proud\nand noble now drifts endlessly, ripped and torn, burnt and broken. Disemboweled\nfrom the inside, all that remains is a lifeless shell.\nIt is a gleaming\ngray voyager of space, drifting soundlessly through the infinite expanses of\nthe void, a dull thrum resonating throughout the hull as a invisible force pushes\nit along on its tireless journey.\nIt's angled wings\nand tapered nose are marred with dents, barley visible on it's wing it's title\nis displayed 'Gray Lark' the\nonce refined vessel, the bird, the catalyst, it only knew itself as a fragment\nof times gone by. \nIts cargo has\nbecome its captain, while its captain has become even less then what it once\nwas, now only a slave to her intentions, a soulless husk of a faded name.\nAt the helm of\nthe craft, a queen sleeps on her throne, cocooned in resin like swaths of an\nunknown origin, encapsulated within, royalty slept undisturbed.\nWithin the void,\nsound did resonate as unknown hands gripped the metal bird and pulled it\ncloser, a craggy surface dotted with hubs of human life; the parasites of\nworlds some would call them. \nIt was if this\nplanet had called out to the dying ship, in need of its vital substance, the\ncure for its diseased surface, an antidote for the humanoid poisons it played\nhost to.\nSilently, but\nwith renewed purpose the unknown ship drifted closer to the ravished world. It\nfell out of the void, fire licking at its sides, systems long since decayed\nflickered back to life- the shuttle spread its great gray wings once more, and\ntook flight across a black-night sky, the starless night its only companion. \nLower, and lower\nit drifted, gliding down through clouds of soot, ash, and smog, poisoned rain\nbeat down onto its back, and pounded against its shell.\nSilence still\nruled within the great ships' confines, an egg like casing gently pulsed\nwithin. But a formless intruder desecrates its ageless rest, voice took place\nof its form, brash, and loud, it forced itself on sleeping ears.\nDemands went\nunmet, and outside the gray lark, fire erupted, the once great bird now fell\nprey to the will of others once more, its wings clipped, its soul crippled, its\nlast flight ended in despair.\nTwo greater birds\nof prey- Fearsome atmospheric fighters, swooped down upon it, fire erupting\nforth from undercarriage weapons; they sunder its flight, only stopping when\nthere is nothing more then formless metal hurtling towards the ground.\nIt spirals\ndownwards, lower and lower it tumbles, bits and pieces breaking off as the body\nfell apart and non-conductive metals failed. \nBut the gray voyager\nof space had served its purpose in its undeath. It no longer was needed, having\nplayed its small, yet important part in the vast cosmic play.\nNow it was time\nfor a new actor to emerge, as the burning wreckage crashed down into sickly\nswamps neighboring a vast sprawling city littered with factories. \nThe muddy earth\nerupted in a shower of gunk, smoke, and debris as the ruined vessel slammed\nhome. The hull slid forward, burrowing a trench for a yard or two before coming\nto a full halt. The silt-laden water washed over its bulk.\nThe two fighters\nresponsible for clipping this birds great wings flew past silently overhead,\ncircling twice before breaking off and returning to home.\nFrom the ashes\narose a phoenix; but this was no majestic bird of fire -no myth of the old\nworld- this was a carrion crow of hell, and this wretch was far too\nterrifyingly real.\nIt emerged- like\nthat of a stillborn child from the womb of it's mother, silent, cold, and\nairless.\nIt was not human.\n\nIt was something\nelse entirely.\nTwo terrible eyes\ncaught the light of the fire, but even its heat could not warm them.\n"}