The Lysander Gospel- Prequel to Melancholia's Elegy

Part Four

   We toiled in secrecy, cloaking our ambitions in discretion as the ship took form in the

 InterSolar Orbital shipyards. Engineers and laborers who had privately joined my cause worked

 diligently, their silence a testament to our shared convictions. This vessel, which I named the

  Icarus, poetic in my mind with its sleek contours and hidden purpose, would carry our hopes 

 and dreams to a world of sanctuary where we could cultivate a society rooted in faith rather

 than technology. As the ship neared completion, I carefully selected those who would

 accompany me on this audacious journey. I sought the truly devoted, the fervent believers,

 everyone a perfect thread in my vision. 

   When the moment arrived, I gathered my followers under the cloak of night, Finally, the day

 arrived. I stood before my followers, the dim light of the control room casting long shadows as I

 spoke. "We journeying not merely as passengers, but as pioneers of a new beginning. Here, we

 will forge a community where faith is our foundation, not a relic of the past. The energy in the

 room was electric, a shared pulse of anticipation as we ascended the ship's ramp, each step

 echoing with purpose.

   As we settled into our designated spaces, a deep calm enveloped me. For the first time, I felt

 we  were stepping into our destiny, leaving behind the oppressive weight of the ecumenopolis.

 But just as I allowed myself to dream, the alarms blared—harsh, jarring sounds that cut through

 the stillness.I rushed to the control center, heart racing. The screens flickered ominously, and

 panic gripped me as I saw the readouts for the antimatter reactors. Instability. "How.... why.

 Eyes wide with fear. This isn't happening this should be destined, its destiny, mu destiny.

"Evacuate! We need to get out—now!" I shouted, but the words barely broke through the

 cacophony of alarms.

    Then came the tremor—an earth-shattering jolt that sent me and others reeling. The ship

 shuddered violently, metal creaking under pressure as alarms blared louder, drowning out my

 commands.In that moment, time seemed to slow. I watched it in horror as the reactor readouts 

 spiraled into the red. My heart pounded in my chest, and I felt the ground shift beneath us as the

 ship's systems began to fail. Then, with a roar that consumed everything, the ship erupted in a

 blinding flash. The heat was immediate and overwhelming, I swore I could hear my flesh

 making a sizzling sound, but that may have be imaginary because they then it had engulfed us

 in its inferno of light and sound. I was thrown back against the control panel, the force breaking

 my spine from the intensity of the explosion.

    The chaos unfolded in mere fraction of a second, but my thoughts crystallized in that instant—

my dream was turned back into primordial smoke,  aspirations shattered in the blaze. The ship,

 our liberation vesse;, our Ark, disintegrated. Plasmatic like fire raged, engulfed, incinerat ing and

 vaporizing all in a split of a second, metal twisted and contorted remnants, a violent dance of

 destruction that swallowed everything we had built.