Chapter Text
Where light goes, darkness follows. When light is cast onto something, its shadow is never far behind.
When the Darkness first appeared, everyone went into chaos. Gone were the scientists so confident that humankind would never be bested. Gone was the technology they had only just discovered. Everyone was gone.
Some were left to die on Earth, others escaped on ships, determined to survive. So is the curse of humankind.
With the curse of desperation to survive, though, comes the reward for the persistence, and so humanity goes on.
Elise had been determined to live. Newly turned 18, she wasn’t ready to hand over her life just yet. She had been waiting too long. With all she had left in her savings, she bought her way onto Exodus Green. A ship advertised as traveling the farthest out of all the ships, guaranteeing safety and a new life. Elise didn’t care where they were going, she only hoped that they would be far enough that whatever the Darkness did with Earth, they’d be long gone by then.
Alongside her closest friend, Xander, they had boarded the ship, determined to keep going. They had launched into space, and everyone crowded around the large window, staring at the Earth and the ones they had abandoned to the triangle-like ships that neared it.
Elise thought for a second about those she had left on Earth. Her family, mainly, but she was quick to dismiss the thought. They hadn’t done anything for her, and if she was here now, they obviously hadn’t done a great job of convincing her that they cared enough to come with her or beg her to stay with them.
She turned from the window, a sour expression on her face. She didn’t want any more reminders of the life she had left behind.
Besides Xan, of course, who had been with her through everything.
They found a few crates to sit on, away from the crowd of other passengers, giving them some time to talk.
“Do you know what planet we’re traveling to? I don’t think they ever announced it,” Elise asked.
“To be completely transparent with you, El, I don’t think they know either. I’m pretty sure we’re just getting as far away as we can from those ships for now, and that’s alright with me. Anything's better than that place,” Xan chuckled, running a hand through his brown hair and looking back towards the crowd still huddled by the window.
Elise wondered what would become of them all. Perhaps they would use that new SIVA technology people had been talking about and they would completely replicate life on Earth. Nothing would be much different. She could imagine it, but she wasn't exactly sure she liked the idea. She thought about the possibility of an entirely fresh new start, but maybe that wasn't possible anymore. After all, that white and gray ball that had entered Sol decades ago gave civilization so much they'd never quite be the same again. Perhaps it had even given too much; they could’ve done without the deadly ships.
She had been so eager to leave the planet but perhaps she should have looked deeper into what she was getting herself into. Was a death on Earth at least more reliable than a ship flying into the void of a solar system? What if this journey wasn't all it turned out to be? She had no idea what the higher powers above her were planning.
Elise was starting to take back all the bitter thoughts she'd previously had about her distaste for Earth, but there was no point. She wouldn’t be able to take back what she had done. Maybe she was overthinking all of this. The only person she had asked was Xan. Maybe someone else knew, maybe she could just go find one of the pilots. But just as she stood up, one of the passengers by the window took a step back.
“Are one of those ships coming towards us?”
And as more people started to back away out of fright, Elise was able to see past their heads and out the window. Against the pitch-black canvas of space was one of the triangle ships, slowly but surely turning towards their ship, which was flying farther and farther from Earth as fast as it could go. But somehow, Elise had a feeling the Darkness would catch up.
She was frozen in her spot as she thought back on every choice she had made that led to this moment. Deep down inside of her, she couldn’t believe she had put in so much time and hard work into the money that got her onto a soon to be crashed ship. She had given her whole life in money for a ticket that only bought her death away from the rest of human civilization. The movement of this ship would cause only the first ship crash Elise had ever experienced but surely, it would not be the last.