A large deer drank from the pond. Its dark brown fur slick and glossy in the early mornings sun, its white antlers jagged and errant in all directions. Its tongue lapped the small brook that lay below its cloven hooves. The creeks bubbling gurgled the little birds calls and the cicadas chirps. All around the deer sprawled dense foliage, dark green leaves rose above like a massive canopy, allowing a few shafts of light to enter the dense forest. Light green lichen rose up the redwoods trunks, traveling upward, hopeful and ambitious, just reach the sun. A formation of boulders flanked the deer, all stacked high by some unknown force. The igneous stones looked out of place in this tranquil scene. It seemed too forced of a job to have been done by time. Maybe these stones had been blown here during the hydrocarbon wars all those years ago.
The tranquil scene was disrupted by an alien presence. A shape sauntered into the fray, appearing from behind the boulder. Its presence was an irregularity. It’s skin was pallid, and slightly flushed. The deer stared at this fleshy being, noticing with wide eyes the things fur which seemed only to grow on sparse patches of its soft body. The deer watched as the stranger threw off its large bag, making a loud thud on the bank of the creek. The deer didn’t move, too entranced by the curiosity of this foreign thing. Slowly the creature shed its outer shell, a red material that seemed to be attached to its skin with odd metal bits. Under its shell was a strange pelt of thin black fur. He stripped off this pelt and threw it on his bundle. The deer noticed its pale flesh in the morning sun, it hesitantly took a few steps forward to the alien. The alien bent over the creek and with its long appendages scooped up large handfuls of water. It splashed its furry face, the water glinting off the white light, casting illustrious glints of light on its darkened face. It turned its long neck to the towering deer. The mysterious stranger paused for a second and with its hand gave a little wave
“Sorry to intrude, Mr. Deer” the creature spoke in a foreign tongue, his mouth curled into a sad smile. It ran its fingers through its hair, the cold water felt soothing on his sweaty scalp. “I don’t mean to cause any harm, just passing through” it continued and the deer gazed at the stout creature.
The being struggled to stand, but did so after a great amount of huffing and puffing,until it was eye level with the deer's antlers. The two just watched each other, the deers black eyes locked onto the creature's own, both unmoving. The creature chuckled strangely and went over to its pile of stuff. “How long has it been since you last saw a human, Mr. Deer?” It asked as it put on its black pelt, which it called a shirt. The deer remained silent to the question. The man chuckled at the silence once more and put on his red coat. “You aren’t even afraid, are you” He asked and threw on his bag? The deer scanned the man as he walked to the clearings edge, taking one final glance at his silent companion.
“Well you should be.”
  He trekked down the riverbed, following close to the small brook as to not get lost. He continued south, his large boots leaving muddy foot prints that could have easily been tracked. He took no care to cover his path, he was the only human out here for hundreds of miles. And that's how he liked it. A bird sang overhead, and a few crickets chirped, and air of calm washed over the lively forest. With a gloved hand he pushed a bramble away and ducked under a fallen tree, sliding below the snapped tower. “541” he counted and wrote it down on a little notepad. He walked over to the snapped tree and put a small flower in the knot of the wood.
He walked on, his tired legs aching, and hair getting stuck to his head from sweat. He scaled the vertical cliff, his ropes holding the weight against gravity. With great effort, he pulled up the stone face, his hands finding little holds as he progressed. He threw himself up the westward face, his legs dangling off the edge, his hands grappling the angled ledges. “Dammit” he cursed a hold broke and his was dangling off the cliff by a single hand, the winds swinging him about. His stomach was cold and he didn’t dare to look down, he knew it was death if he did so. Seen it too many times. With enough swing he leapt sideways, sailing through the air. He slammed into the western wall and fumbled around as he slid down the face. With one final effort he grasped a root in the wall, and dangled on the stable hold.
“Not today, Satan” he whispered, sitting atop of the stone cliff he climbed. His knees tucked under his chin, he surveyed the valley ahead of him. His sweat was cold, cutting through his layers like knives. His whole body trembled, his hands barely able to light a fire on the cliffs top. Every so often he would glance at the cliff he scaled and remember all the things he's seen. “Not today” he sighed, and in the fading sunlight examined the sky. Its hues of purple and orange painting the sky in an immaculate array of colors and beauty. He layed back on his bundle, pillowing his head, and watched the night sky change. As the night keep coming, the man thumbed through his notepad, reading all the nonsensical notes he had written down over the years. Page one just read, “Frigate Mortimer→Morty” and had a bunch of weird words scratched on with a pencil. He flipped to a few more pages and say a list he had made when he was part of Century crew:
“Milk
Eggs
Bread
Soylent
Protein Supplements
Ketchup(for Zeb)”
The Man smiled and keep flipping through his pages, often dog earing a few flimsy pieces. He turned over a white sheet and stopped. His eyes, glinting with the last remaining fragments of light, read one line over and over again. “Artificial Intelligence found→Viol.” “Artificial Intelligence found→Viol.” “Artificial Intelligence found→Viol.” “Artificial Intelligence found→Viol.” He snapped his notebook shut and with a sudden flush of rage, hurled the old tome  over the edge into the murky valley below. He could feel the pressure in his skull building as he unconsciously reached out for anything he could interact with. But to his relief, he was alone. He flopped on his ass and stared daggers at the void of the valley in front of him. The darkness had eaten up all the green and brown, leaving him with the black nothing in all directions. Little lightning bugs fluttered around in the darkness, making small glimmers in the shadows. He looked up at the night sky, and back down to the earth on the horizon. He shuddered, for all he could see was space. Infinite, crushing, empty space.
He kicked his fire apart, the smouldering ashes glowing a soft red as he scattered the coals apart, the heat singing his eyebrows. He inhaled the smoke and felt his lungs contract and burn. When he recoiled he felt a panic attack coming on as he gasped for breath, horrified by the space all around him. He fell back and fought to breath. After some loud gasping he remembered that he wasn’t in space, and began to breath again. He punted the coals off the cliff in a frustrated rage and watched them wink out with a sense of satisfaction. Like a star being consumed by the crushing void, the coals were eaten by the night below. The man leaned back and layed down on his bag, not bothering to set up his tent or anything. He knew it wasn’t going to rain anyway. The weather satellite told him so. He rolled on his stomach and buried his face in his bag. He took solace in the fact he knew the ground was below him, even if he felt like he was back in space.

“Perry!” a voice hollered and the man jolted up, his eyes snapping open. Above Perry’s face knelt a man, his face would have been young and handsome, save for the fact his cheek had been completely blown out, and his eye was so swollen it looked like a big red tomato on his dark skin. He wore plated white and blue plates, some kind of armor, and with a metal glove hoisted Perry to his feet. “Get up this place is gonna blow any minute now” He yelled and a confused Perry looked back the tunnel at which they had just slid down. The stone passage took on a sick red glow as a loud scraping noise echoed from the archaic entry. “What is that?” Perry asked, the man shrugged and pulled on Perry’s hand. “I don’t know and I don’t care!” He yelled all I know is that it got Xander and I really don’t want it to get me!” “It's not technological” Perry yelled “probably something engineered!” He sprinted after the armored man, who sprinted down the unknown labyrinth, away from the loud scraping sound. “Whatever it is, it's not friendly!” The man yelled back “Call Viol!” Perry felt a pressure in his skull and sent out the call, his eyes flickering with white light.

Perry shot up, drenched in a cold sweat, his chest heaving and eyes bulging in the darkness all around him. His cries shot into the void, his voice eaten up like the coals below his monolithic shelter. His breathing eased up to haggard breaths, he took to resting his hands on his knees. His eyes flickered with light as he probed around for the the time. 0417 Theater 1 standard time, thanks to Modus 1 meteorological satellite Notre Dame. About an hour till sunrise. He clambered to his feet and walked over to the edge of the cliff, his toes a few inches over the lip. He could feel the cold wind of the summer night, and for a moment he looked off to the dark night. For a second, he thought if he jumped he would just float. Like in space. But he knew that wasn’t the case. He would fall and break and that would be that. Eaten by the night, just like his memories, his warmth, and his voice. He looked straight across the horizon, at the void that threatened to consume him completely. His monster, the beast that shambled after him across the stars, had finally found its way back to him. “Well what are you waiting for” he whispered to the shadow in front of him. “Come on”he hushed “I’m still waiting for you”
The darkness made no noise, not a word was said, or a chord struck. The wind died and all around, things fell still, like something had paused time. Perry glanced over the edge into the nothingness below and he shook his head, turning around and heading back to his little makeshift camp. He flopped back on his pack and propped up his feet, looking at all the stars above him. The real stars. Some he’d even been too. He closed his eyes and with a little sigh, laid so that his back touched the mossy carpet underfoot. He knew that tomorrow would be good, he didn't know why but he just did. A kind of predilection of what was to come. He just waited on as the hour passed.
Almost on the dot, the stars all quivered. They were drove out by rogue bands of golden light that crusaded through the darkness, consuming all. The bands of gold were accompanied by purple retainers and red horses. Soon the sky was a constant battle between the magnificent solar soldiers and the empty. Gold streaks ripped through the inky blackness, the void gobbling up the loose strands of woven purples. The red shafts of light drove through the starry plain, charging high over the man's head. As the bright white light of the sun rose over the blue mountain on the horizon, the monster in the dark hissed in pain. Over the indigo peak at the end of the valley, the luminescent star rippled across the atmospheric ceiling, expelling the darkness back to its farthest reaches. The man sat level with the sun like it was an old friend. As the sun streaked over the violet peaks, the man looked down the cliff. It was gonna be a good day. He could feel it.