The System

Prologue Ō - Part X --> Bond without rules [01]

    Once upon a time, in far, far outer space. A ship at the brink of destruction planned to self-destruct before a few million creatures on board found a way out. If its will wasn't suppressed, it would have done just that... But sadly, the ship's will had been suppressed by the one who built it. Now it drifted by, with no aim, no hope, and no planet in sight. It took solace in the last fact. Why give hope to someone who planned to leave it in this state? It would rather crush all of them if it could, but it couldn't, so it would wait until everyone on board slowly passes away...

Let's all die together! Right here, right now.

Crook shudders from a creepy feeling crawling behind his neck. His non-existing hair stands up and tries to yank itself free.

Beside Crook, breathing heavily, Kal takes a second to launch a good comment. "A bit too late to throb..." Kal takes another deep breath. "Don't you think... aha!" He hunches forward for more air.

Crook shrugs away his poorly constructed comment and eyes the ship with concern. "I think the ship is planning on killing us?"

"Dropped your brains during the space jump?"

Crook looks at Kal, still processing to catch his breath. "Awe... you poor thing." Crook clicks his tongue with pity. "Rest up. Let's do this when you have enough air to spare. Or make a proper sentence." Crook strides to the edge of the mainmast to assess the situation below.

'How is he not shaken up?' Kal asks himself.

"I've walked away from way worst odds."

"Did you–"

"I don't waste money nor time on useless skills–" Crook interrupts with a proper answer before Kal completes his question. "I picked up about malfunctions, system engineers, system failures, lost systems even. But I have never seen a system being taken away from somebody." Crook gives Kal a suspicious look. As Kal collected his thoughts to best answer the question. Cook turns to finish assessing the situation below. "Many rumors are hidden within facts and truths. Yet never I gathered any info or rumor of a system being taken." Kal senses Crook staring at him, even though he faced his back. Crook finishes the scan of his ship.

To summarize what Crook saw: the ship was a wreck. Parts of the ship broke under the malfunctioning enchantments. The runes and carefully laid-out enchantments, ores, and artifacts clashed with each other and tore everything around them to ribbons. Crew members hurried to save the little luggage they could, while the passengers made their way to parts of the ship that took more time to react and explode. With no place to run, finding a place that would detonate last was their only way of survival. The only good thing between all this madness is the closing wormhole/portal behind them.

Nature is a force to be reckoned with, and they rank a black hole amongst the highest tiers of natural forces in the entire multiverse. Lucky to be caught in an artificial black hole that a void folk create is the only reason they fought against it and survive. Artificial it might be, the after-effects still crippled many gods in their wake. That is the power of a Void folk.

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Crook realized this since he pissed off his first bug - his dad! When Crook was a four years bud. His dad drilled many morals into Crook that never stuck to him, but one thing he remembered among those warnings was a few hundred species never to cross. And Void folk being among the top twenty or ten. Crook just focused on the species' names, not to run, but to make sure he picked a fight when he got the chance.

And when he had the chance to fight one, he leaped at the opportunity. Even with all his experience, three and a half planets' worth of creatures backed him. Crook knew he won by pure luck. Placing all the pieces together, Crook learned Kal lost or, according to him, someone took his system away. Yet he didn't have the luxury to solve that mystery. It will have to wait in his list of mysteries to solve. With more pressing matters at hand. It's not like he can force Kal to spill any more of his secrets, anyway. So he focused on his responsibilities toward others onboard. After all, He is their captain. Not for long, but for now.