The Kentarasa pentacluster was an unusual one. It was mostly empty, apart from the centre, which was filled with many tiny universes and the Life Goddesses that ran them. Outside the Sparkling Aria, Kentarasa had little in it, apart from a Darkspawn, a Voidborn birthing area, to the north, and two Decay Lord sects to the south. Anything else was just rogue nests of corruption, or complete and utter void with nothing in it at all. And even in the inhabited southern areas, the only major force around was the Alsyr Decay Lord sect, and their orbiting companion sect, the Ekthris. Both sects used be eradicator sects, set up to fight Voidborns from the south and Corruption from the west and north. But, weirdly, things had been quiet for a while.
The reason behind the quietness was two-fold. Firstly, the Pentathax, a massive, mobile sect, had passed through. They hunted down Corruption, notably the more dangerous strains, and they had achieved some major victories. But also, in the Patagenic pentacluster to the south of Kentarasa, the Decay Lord sects there had been busy. The Golden Doom Voidborn alliance that had caused carnage for many a year-string were all mostly gone now. The Alsyr’s biggest threat, the Goldblessed Voidborn cult, had been utterly destroyed, and no one really knew how or why.
Now things were calmer, the Alsyr had been attempting to do something new. Really, they just wanted to make the Alsirian Sea to be somewhat habitable and more inviting, in the hope that kinder beings (mostly Life Goddesses and non-Kronothrax Time Drakes) would settle down and start building things. At the same time, the Thastarii, the local uplifted, deified race had started reproducing again, after years of being made infertile by the Goldblessed’s aura-based weapons.
Most of the Alsyr were Thastarii or related to them. They were a tall, powerful, muscular draconic species, covered in heavy scales and capable of breathing some sort of element, like fire, ice or electricity. But they were also a rather muted race. The majority of Thastarii were dark-skinned, and most of them were black or dark grey. The only colour they had was the colour of their eyes, and a shining ephemeral glow around their bodies, matching whatever element they had control over. Out of the 9% that weren’t draconic beings, most of them were still reptilian but dog- or cat-shaped, or they were Zarians or Beh’evok from the neighbouring Tennoraka and Patagenic pentaclusters. Pretty much every member of the Alsyr was of a known race.
Well, apart from Dawnbreaker.
Dawnbreaker knew exactly what he was. He was a short, muscular but somewhat smooth being, with white and yellow organic armour, and a plate that ran up his head. But as far as he was concerned, he was the only member of his species. Sure, Dawnbreaker knew there was someone who looked similar to him, but his conversations with Electricshadow blatantly clarified that they weren’t the same species. On top of that, it seemed that no one had heard of Dawnbreaker’s species, and his universe just seemed to… vanish. No one in Kentarasa had really heard of any of the deities Dawnbreaker had described, outside of the name of an entity that had turned into some new strain of Corruption about a year-string ago.
As far as Dawnbreaker could tell, he’d drifted into the arms of the Alsyr from a completely different pentacluster, potentially from the Goldtorn Remains, since Dawnbreaker did look vaguely Beh’en-like. Apparently a Voidborn by the name of Ahkron had destroyed a lot of universes in the eniapent, not just in Kentarasa, and the Alsyr assumed Dawnbreaker had simply survived that rampage, as any universes the Great Collector consumed would glow brightly and disappear, similar to what Dawnbreaker recalled had happened to his universe.
But it didn’t help that Dawnbreaker… wasn’t really like his original species any more. His species had been a race of darkness dwellers. Hiding in pockets of the void, almost, living under sunless skies. But as Dawnbreaker accidentally escaped his universe, knocked out cold and trapped inside a ship that wasn’t his, his body had changed a little, and his connection to the shadows had disappeared completely. Instead, Dawnbreaker had strange light-based powers. He was designated as a Blade-Fae, with the ability to wield a sword made of light and white flames and summon clouds of blinding daggers. Dawnbreaker did find his new powers rather cool, and they were very helpful when it came to both Dawnbreaker’s Decay Lord trial and in his duties as a Corruption purger, but when it came to the rest of the Alsyr, all it did was cement the idea that Dawnbreaker was a female Beh’evok.
In all honesty, if Dawnbreaker hadn’t been very, very good at killing Corruption, he probably would have just given up and left the Alsyr and gone off on his own. But Dawnbreaker had no idea where to go, what to do with himself, and, yes, while the Alsyr thought Dawnbreaker was insane, they did appreciate him and they certainly gave him purpose and fulfilment.
Well, up until about five minutes ago, when two lower ranked Thastarii had just insulted and threatened Dawnbreaker while he was on his way to the hangar of the Forever Thunder, one of the Alsyr’s three flagships. He was just on his way to start a new mission, to track down an abandoned ship that was infested with Pantolou Corruption when they’d both jumped him, lifting Dawnbreaker up and pinning him to a wall. Of course, Dawnbreaker immediately blinded them both with a burst of light and immediately informed a superior officer, but the whole situation had left a bad taste in his mouth.
However, Dawnbreaker put that to one side, and decided to just focus on his current mission. The mindless slaughter of corruption would be a good distraction from the stupid altercation. Maybe, when his mission was over, Dawnbreaker could put in a notice to be transferred to one of the other flagships. He always felt better on the Shattered Wing anyway. The crew there were nicer. And Electricshadow, the only person vaguely similar to Dawnbreaker, also worked there, so he’d feel ever so slightly less lonely.
With a tut, Dawnbreaker spoke to the vessel master, who ran air control in the hangar, then made his way to his ship. The ship he had originally been found in was no longer flight-worthy and was kept in a small museum on the Shattered Wing, but at least the ship the Alsyr had given him, the Enlightened Shadow, was a genuinely nice ship that Dawnbreaker adored.
Also waiting nearby were Dawnbreaker’s four companions for this mission. All four of them were Thasartii, but at least Dawnbreaker knew them all, and they were all willing to follow Dawnbreaker’s orders.
“Got your coordinates, troops?” Dawnbreaker asked.
“Yep, all good to go.”
“Alright. I’ll head off first, you four follow my lead. Same as normal. We should be nice and quick.”
“Of course, Dawnbreaker.”
Satisfied, Dawnbreaker boarded his ship, and started the engines, same way he always did. But as Dawnbreaker and his team left the Forever Thunder and disappeared into the darkness, Dawnbreaker had no idea that he was about to fly into trouble…