Alterion 2099XX » Places

         The reactor was all but abandoned. Located on the very cusp of the final outpost, it served as little more than a tertiary method of providing the denizens of Memoriehm with clean, efficient energy. Armed with a skeleton crew, the reactor hummed along throughout its days and nights with little in the way of excitement. However, fate, the gods, or whatever cruel force that saw wickedness prosper in the realm, planned to change all of that.

It began as a speck upon the horizon. A dim, pulsing thing when compared to the luminescent reactor-- casting its ethereal glow across the countryside and staving off darkness. It streaked across the sky, a falling star jettisoning towards the earth and disappeared amidst the shining light of the reactor.

He did not recall landing, nor could he remember what transpired between the portal's opening and his arrival. All he could recollect of his arrival was the descent--the eternal fall that somehow left him whole and unharmed. Ex's head roared and a vicious pressure took hold behind his eyes. The man stumbled, finding purchase on a large stone outcropping bursting forth from the desert. With the pain came recollection, the shining star that collapsed upon the atmosphere...it wasn't him. He was pursued. Another sought to claim the prize, whether for nefarious deed was yet to be seen--but the man did not intend to give his would-be rival the opportunity to best him.

Ink colored tendrils unfurled from his form, the black ichor helping him stand upright before slithering back around his form.

"I'm fine," he assured his companion, knowing full well that the parasite had a tendency to fret worse than any matron in existence. Its voice, ever present in the back of his mind, whispered in chiding tones, but did not act of its own accord again. The black ooze solidified into fabric and deft fingers saw the dark hood pulled atop his crown. Ex doubted the seal upon his neck recognizable to any inhabitant of Memoriehm, but saw no danger in heeding caution. If his quarry was sought after by another, then no mistakes could be afforded.

Turning pale eyes to the structure in the distance, Exel hurried on his way, leaving naught but an ebon tendril of energy in his wake.