Last Report/First Report

An entry by Admiral PoisonRum

-- Broadcasting from a derelict freighter drifting along the edges of Euclid -- 

[CAPTAINS LOG]
[SET TO EMERGENCY BROADCAST]
Captain PoisonRum Report #4468 
Datestamp: v?k64sX 

kzzzkt — This will be my last report, we’ve been overrun… — kzzzzkt — The crew and I made a deal with a notorious band of Vy’keen pirates to smuggle black market goods into Gek Federation Systems. I should have asked more questions about the one-eyed creatures in tubes… but it is too late. The vessels containing the creatures broke during our last warp…– kzzzzkt — The crew fought valiantly, but the creatures vastly outnumbered us. I am the lone survivor… My exosuit is in critical condition, my boltcaster is burnt out. I will not make it to the hanger. If anyone is hearing this; DO NOT COME FOR US. —kzzzzkt 

-TRANSMISSION SET TO LOOP-

-- a recording lies dormant on the captain's personal ship in the hanger bay of the infested freighter -- 

[PERSONAL LOG]
[ENCRYPTED]
Iteration PoisonRum 
Entry #00001 

kzzzzkt — I am known as Iteration PoisonRum… I do not know where I come from originally. I have woken up, surged to life in thousands of different locations, thousands of different planets, systems, galaxies, and with a thousand different faces… I used to have trouble remembering how this happened, but the more it happened, the more I remembered. I cannot tell what is past, present, and future. Maybe it is all the same… I, if there really is an I… — brief silence followed by laughter — I AM INSANE, WHO AM I RECORDING THIS FOR!? — another brief silence followed by the shuffling sounds of the iteration composing itself — It doesn’t matter… maybe this is just for me to not feel crazy. I DO feel crazy. This might serve as a reminder that these experiences have happened to me… whatever I am. I feel eternally old, through these thousands of lifetimes I have done so much… and for as much as I remember, I have surely forgotten far more. I have been a farmer, an explorer, a merchant, a soldier, a pirate, a smuggler… I have warped through a million systems, surfed the edges of the galaxies, met other iterations of myself trapped in time itself like a ghost, battled against The First Spawn, mastered thousands of beasts, destroyed sentinels in a never-ending war alongside The Vy’keen High Command. In each life, a different story, a different ending, a different death. All of this pales in comparison to my interactions with The Atlas. I have worshiped at its altar, spoken to it, championed it, saved it, and in other lives I have cursed it; for even in this seemingly limitless realm… I still feel its shackles. I have attempted numerous times to vanquish it, DESTROY IT. — kzzkt —

I have found bits of peace through these lives, some… acceptance, I suppose. I recently met with these strange cult-like high priest entities from the Korvax. They performed a ritual, emitting extraordinary vibrations through my being… Eventually I harmonized with them. It placed me in some sort of trance… eh, dreamstate?.. In which I had a vision unlike any I have ever experienced. I could SEE my next life, my next iteration… there were other travellers similar to me! I could see this beautiful settled planet… it was a GLORIOUS EMPIRE of united beings THRIVING TOGETHER. No more was I just some interloper drifting through the infinite. It was home. — a joyful pause — I will live this life to its fullest as I have done thousands of times, BUT I must say I can’t wait to wake up there next time. — kzzzkt

[16 16 16 16 16 16] 
---END OF ENTRY---