The moons have been black for a while now. Four days to be exact. It’s been exhausting to experience this everywhere I go, and it's begun to increasingly feel as though I live in doomed times. Social media has called this ‘the end of days,’ the news has its own spin on it, and every place I look, outlets of all sorts have grown a sickening obsession with the eclipse. We’re inundated with it from every angle, all the while black moons hang over our heads like an ill omen. Sitting there as though they were holes poked out of a clear blue sky…

I’d disconnected myself from it all. Intending to focus instead on my job and just move forward like it were any normal day, but there was nothing normal about any of this.

Throughout the day, friends of mine text me about disappearances in my area. They check in on me to make sure everything is fine, and send warning messages to stay away from dark and sketchy places. It was all beginning to feel a bit ridiculous. 

I ignored it all for so long, but honestly, I should’ve listened from the start. 

All it took was a glimpse of the shadow in the room. A pitch black creature so tall that its head practically grazed the ceiling as it sat quietly in the corner just out of my periphery. But the moment that my eyes locked onto its wiry form, it was as though every fiber in my body was being forcefully tugged towards it. All sense of control, all remaining will to resist, all of it had instantly been drowned out, and I could only stare blankly, listening as the voice of another, whom I did not recognize, poured into my head. Then came a terrible pressure, like a heavy weight on my chest that gradually radiated out to every other part of me, threatening to break me, as the creature hugged me close, pulling me down deeper into itself, through the churning shadow and into an unknown world that I was merely a guest in.

After being pulled into this hidden world, I am left feeling confused and weary. My presence feels unwelcome here, as though I were a foreign entity trespassing through some kind of larger, living body, and my mind threatens to fall apart after what it has experienced. Already I can feel myself slipping as I continue to aimlessly walk for what feels like days through an endless maze of the shattered remains of broken cities barely managing to hold themselves together. I can occasionally see patches of a tired, hanging sky peeking through the endless tangle of branches from an innumerable forest of trees that rises overhead. There is no longer a sun here, only the endless shadow of a blackened night. In the far off distance my eyes follow cracks along the ground and eventually my gaze comes to rest upon a break in the earth that rises and falls, steadily rolling with the struggling movements of something beneath. Between the cracks I can glimpse it as it writhes below my feet, the mountainous body of a beast that threatens to breach the surface and shatter the planet in two. What little light remains to be seen in this strange realm is seemingly swallowed up and eclipsed the nearer it draws to the inky presence of the lurking thing below…

As you wander, you begin to realize that you are not alone. There are many others that move about beneath the trees as well, but they are not like you. There are faceless beings, white as snow and subtly glowing, standing out against the darkened world that surrounds you both. They move almost together in unison as they all make their way single-file towards gargantuan trees. Meanwhile, around the more shattered portions of this strange land, pitch black beasts spill out of the cracks in the earth like black oil. They cluster in small groups and roam about like packs of starving wolves. You watch them as they prowl ceaselessly for innocent souls. 

The longer you stay and perceive this place, the more your uneasiness grows, and yet… you cannot seem to remember how to leave. In fact, you can hardly remember how you got here. And just as you are starting to lose yourself, a voice, gentle as the light ringing of a bell, calls out to you. You glance up towards the direction of the sound and are met with the sight of another Grem. They seem almost... Radiant. Here in the ensnaring dark their fur appears to give off the subtlest of glows as they pad calmly and quietly towards you. Perhaps it was the look on your face, or the way you stared as they drew near, but they seem to sense your confusion, and so they speak. 

“Hello, my friend!” 

“Long time, no see! It’s quite unexpected to find you here. Are you alright?”

They speak softly to you in amber tones that help to ease your tensions as they approach, but there is no disguising the hint of concern that hides just behind their pleasant expression.

“Hmm” the cobalt grem looks you over once before speaking again, seemingly deciding that perhaps a brief summation is in order.

 “Care to accompany me on a little walk? I can catch you up on the way to our destination.”

And, failing to devise an alternative course, you straighten your posture and begin to follow alongside them. Try as you might though, despite the familiarity of their tone, you can’t seem to recall where you'd met this stranger before… and what was their name again?

 Your newfound companion leads you further down along the worn path and deep into the winding dark, and just as you begin to wonder where exactly it is the two of you are headed, you realize that you are approaching something. A tree. One of many in this sundered forest. Except, as you look up at where you would expect its boughs to meet the canopy overhead, it suddenly becomes clear to you that this tree is much, much larger than those around it…

Massive roots tower above you like spider legs, strong and stout, holding the entire weight of this massive tree just off the ground as though it were being lifted up on stilts. You follow the shape of the trunk, craning your neck as your gaze trails higher up to dizzying heights. Soon you realize that not only are its roots quite extensive, but its branches extend far above the rest, reaching past the sky and up into the very heavens, fading from your view as it pushes its way through the outer reaches of whatever atmosphere there is to be found in this place. Your eyes follow the bole back down towards the ground, noticing something you’d missed only moments prior. There, etched elegantly along its broad wooden surface were the subtly glowing letters of some kind of unknown script. Words and symbols, all so delicately inscribed that you had at first mistaken them for simple markings.

It is only then that your companion again breaks the silence.
“Forgive me. You must have many questions. Most chiefly among them, ‘where you are,’ yes?”
They glance back at you from over their shoulder, searching your expression for a moment before continuing.
“We are in what higher beings call a Starfix Realm.”
“A manufactured place. Starfix Realms come in many forms, and are made to serve a multitude of purposes.”

“This one was created as a preventative measure…” They approach the gargantuan tree, appearing just as dwarfed beneath it as you feel by the sprawling branches that loom far overhead, their eyes scanning the wooden surface as though seeing through it to something that you cannot even begin to fathom.
“Something terrible seems to be unfolding here. The results of an ancient atrocity committed long before this planet even harboured land.”

They turn back to you then, a wide look of concern in their eyes.
“You are in grave danger, my friend. You aren’t supposed to be here, but there was a weakness, a flaw in the realms that has allowed you to be pulled by force into the middle of this mess.”
“You're not the only one either, many other innocent souls now wander this place with no way of escaping. I've been working to collect them as best as I can so that I can guide you all out of here before it is too late.”

“You’ve seen them right?”
“The beast that stirs just underfoot, and the flood of cursed shadows that roam these lands in search of wayward souls to feed to their master.”
They pause a moment, taking in the look of puzzlement on your face.

“Hm.. Perhaps it is better that we start with a story.”
“One as old as time itself...”

“Eons ago when this universe was young and Palleth was nothing more than a child of water, there once existed five moons. They travelled from different universes, all cradling around the small world as it grew and matured.”

“These moons were Gods, rare ones created from the lunar plane, and upon learning of the birth of a new planet, they’d come. All gathering in order to seize opportunity for themselves. It was a chance to create order and find a place that they could call ‘home,’ and so, with many different minds working together, all of the moons collectively swore an oath to protect this developing universe from catastrophic harm.”

“But as these moons turned their sights outwards towards the stars, there was a blindspot in their vision… They never considered that the threat might come from within their camaraderie.”

The taller grem turns and again continues onwards towards the base of the tree looking both weary and lost in his own thoughts as he passes a long line of faintly glowing souls. You follow silently alongside as he brings you to a little place hidden beneath the towering roots of this tree, within which sits a small moor carpeted in lush grass and blooming night flowers. You pass, one by one, beneath large archways created by the encircling roots into the glade, and as you walk your feet disturb the flower beds, causing glowing runes to fill the air around you and float lazily by with each careful step you take.

Your eyes survey further until they become fixed on a large object in the direct center of the glade. There, floating weightless in the air, was a long scroll of parchment. One end hangs near to the ground at just about the right height for you to reach. The other stretches up towards the roof of this small meadow, furling endlessly as strings of glowing blue letters lift off from its surface and make their way upwards through the air towards the large roots above.

“Things were fine, for a time. The council worked mutually for the benefit of all.”

“Every moon had their place with their own set duties to adhere to and they abided by it willingly. Galla, the moon of order and delegation. Fel, the moon tasked with recording history and planning. Echo, the moon of invention and self reflection. Mare, mother of the ocean, with the heart to help them navigate turbulent tides, both within and without. And finally, Lapsus, their knight of protection.”

“Galla was sworn to guide the other moons, like a shepherd among sheep, towards green pastures, but, as time passed, it became clear that not all were willing to accept this hierarchy.”
“Lapsus, with the expectation of ruling over this planet, resented this order, and so the bitterness this moon felt would gradually mutate into a hatred and loathing for the ones they once deemed close.”

“Overtaken by this rotting anger, Lapsus created a dark plan.”

There was a solemn air about your companion as he stood before one of the many archways beneath the tree. It's roots perfectly framing a haunting view of the bestial creature bursting through the earth. Even from a distance it was massive, spanning for miles.

“Lapsus committed the most heinous of evils. Consuming the moons Mare and Echo for power…
Blinded by greed however, he made one mistake, and this is what ultimately led to his demise.”

“In his lust for power, he'd passed over Fel. Thinking him much too feeble and insignificant to be worth the effort.”

“But Fel was quick, and upon calling for Galla and informing her of all that had transpired, the two remaining moons were able to band together to defeat the corrupted Lapsus. They then banished the cursed moon within the planet below, sealing him away for an eternity. Imprisoned for his betrayal within the very world he had sworn to protect.”

The tall Grem stood motionless. Staring out over the distant landscape a moment longer before sighing, his shoulders slouched, and you can't help but realize just how tired he looks.
You feel the same.
Though it has certainly slowed, you can still feel the weight of this place slowly eating away at you with each passing moment. How long have the two of you been here? The time seems almost immeasurable now.

“But it would seem that eternity has a limit, and somehow Lapsus has awoken. Seeing as Galla and Fel are locked into a deep slumber, it instead falls to you, and all of the souls that were pulled here, to offer aid to the higher beings.”

“The ruins we see here around us are not merely some poor form of decoration. They are a glimpse of what is to come should we fail. This realm, it would seem, is holding such a reality at bay, for the moment. But the energy keeping this place together is waning fast. We must defeat Lapsus once more in order to return him to his slumber and prevent catastrophe from unfolding.”

Your companion turns back to you then, a look of resolute determination in his eyes.

“This is truly a daunting task to put upon your shoulders, but a single soul could be the difference between avoiding impending disaster and the total obliteration of our very beloved world.”