Guardians of the Rift

"Azalea Maranthias Nachrei Geminius..."
"Azalea Maranthias Nachrei Geminius..."

If I say it enough, I can almost remember what was lost, almost touch what never was and now will never be. It was the name given to me by my clan, but like everything else that was, or is, or will be, the name means nothing now, for my clan never truly existed.

It saddens me to hear the Xilon scribes teach the young of Acadia's glorious history, for they shall never know its true glory as I once did. My tribe was one of the earliest and most advanced of all Xilon. The great spires of Gem-Arcad, in the heart of our most sacred city, Nachrei, stood like tall mountains against the colourful skyline of my homeworld, beckoning all to jump from their majestic heights into the frosty, thin air of the atmos, wings stretched outwards to the early morning sun. Now, all of our cities are gone, our culture lost, my ancestors erased. They don't exist. They never did, nor will they ever in the vastness of time.

We were the first to traverse the Great Rift, the first to manipulate time and space - something which has become painfully commonplace amongst the Xilon people. It was our childish carelessness within the Rift that caused the great cataclysm, a mere caress of the Origin timeline, which caused our people to be plucked from existence itself. We were too young to realize that our actions could bring such dire consequences. We were proud, fierce; but we were also arrogant. We should have known that there is always a price for such pride...a price usually paid with the blood of the innocent.

I was drifting through the temporal void when the cataclysm occurred. Eventually, I found my way home, only to discover that everything I knew was gone. In time, I found others who had managed to survive in the Rift, set apart from all realities when the unspeakable disaster took place. My kinsmen and I tried desperately to reverse the effects, but with each change came further devastation. Our tampering with the timelines caused wars where violence had never before existed, and natural catastrophes so intense that they destroyed whole worlds, solar systems and even galaxies, threatening to consume the universe in its entirety.

At long last we found a way to reverse the worst of it, but we had forever changed the natural development of our own tribes, planetary landscapes - even the process of evolution itself. We had played at being Gods and failed miserably. Only one terrible fact ever remained constant - our clan would never again exist in any reality. Our memories were all that remained, and even they had become warped and lost to the Void. Perhaps we deserved this fate, but we will never allow others to suffer as we have suffered.

The children of Xilon cower in fear at the mere thought of facing us in the nothingness. For that is what we have become...nothing. Whispers in the dark. We are the keepers of time, Guardians of the Rift, legends spoken as a warning to the young. We wait within the Void for the fallen, those willing to change the past, present or future to achieve their selfish goals. Perhaps it is best to say that the memory of us is like a fog that slowly fades away with the passing of time.

Sadly, after an eternity within the darkness, we have lost much of what we were. Our wings and hair no longer shine with the color of our ancestors, aged and blackened by the soot of time. We have seen too much, faced both beginnings and endings, and have been denied the right to age or die. But we will never fully forget what was before or what will be...we can't. We must continue to be vigilant, for the Xilon of the known realities are still young and foolish. The Rift has not yet fully entrusted them with its secrets, nor have we entrusted ours to anyone since the fall of our own clan.

I am but one of the Guardians of that sacred space. I know all, I see all, and if any living souls chooses to play with the fabric of creation as we once did, I will find them. And when I do, I promise you this...I will ensure that their screams echo throughout all eternity, their last gasping breath forever whispering my name in the darkness...

"Azalea Maranthias Nachrei Geminius..."
"Azalea Maranthias Nachrei Geminius..."
"Azalea Maranthias Nachrei Geminius..."