There was no sky, only a black nothingness. No stars. No sun. No warmth. No wind. They were lucky there was breathable air. The rest of existence consisted of floating platforms covered in large golden pillars and overall very curvy but perfectly symmetrical architecture. Nothing at all seemed to move.
“Well, this is gloomy and depressing…” Retvik sighed as the portal snapped shut behind the Dessaron.
“Totally agree. This is creepy as hell!” Elksia exclaimed. Tenuk though, who seemed excited at first, quickly fell silent and remained silent. There was something about this place he recognised.
The Dessaron’s attention though was suddenly distracted elsewhere. Directly behind them, on a separate floating platform, was a group of four unusual beings. Like the Dessaron, they varied in size and colour, but they appeared to be of a matching species. They looked somewhat mammalian, large, upright creatures with long arms that reached the ground. Their heads were long and square, with large jaws and a pair of large, curved horns that stuck out from the side of their heads.
Not wanting to appear rude, Retvik tried calling over to them. He was on his best behaviour now, since his last attempts at being disrespectful had failed so spectacularly.
“Hello!”
“Hello!” the largest of the creatures shouted back.
Retvik hesitated for a moment. Perhaps they were just mimicking him? He decided to shout something else.
“We are Rethans. We come in peace!”
“That is so… Thrope-y…” Arkay muttered.
“Shush.”
Rather than repeating what he said, Retvik noticed that they were pulling some sort of facial expression with their teeth bared.
“Think they’re aggressive?” Elksia asked.
The creatures stopped pulling that expression and waved with both arms. “We are Tavrans! We too come in peace!”
“Nice to meet you!” Retvik shouted back. “How about we meet up properly?”
The Tavrans all seemed to want to do that. Both sides hesitantly jumped across floating platforms to meet in the middle. Upon closer inspection, they seemed to all be quite large, equal in height to Retvik and Elksia, not to mention rather bulky and very well armoured.
“Good to meet you!” the leader of the Tavrans, a large, purple and gold being, smiled enthusiastically. “My name is Mauvan.” He pointed at his allies in turn. “This is Kitrin, that’s Nikos and Brooding Silent Tavran is Galazin.”
Kitrin, the small, yellow Tavran, seemed the most excited to meet them. Nikos was less sure. Something about Galazin seemed to make Tenuk perk up a bit.
Retvik introduced the rest of the Dessaron to the Tavrans, then asked where the Tavrans were from.
“We are from our own little binary solar system. I doubt I could give you coordinates though…” Mauvan sighed. “The Galaxia is very large.”
“Well maybe we could visit if we have time later?” Arkay suggested. “We might have some tracker stuff that might help back at home.”
Mauvran seemed curious. But before he could take the Rethans’ offer, something exploded between the two groups, quite clearly separating them. It was the creature who had brought them here.
“Ah, my first arrivals!” the being beckoned. “You may call me Stasis, Keeper of Order in this universe. Welcome to my realm, and welcome to my Challenge…”