Chapter 8:
The Void’s Destiny
Castle Bleck, when viewed in its entirety, was a behemoth of a structure built on both the upper and lower sides of a flat black disc. The disc itself had numerous square holes chewed out of it, giving its edge an almost pixelated feel. Above the disc, only about a fifth of the total surface area was covered by the castle itself, even though from any point in the castle it would normally be impossible to see the other side. Sometimes, it helped to have advanced fog-piercing sensors that could display obscured objects.
Floating around this castle were the numerous, familiar Metarex ships, interspersed with occasional crystalline creatures or blots of darkness. It seemed a pathetically small force compared to The Fleet of All Worlds that was currently pouring through the door.
However, there was still the underside of the disc, and it told a different story: almost entirely covered in jet-black spikes that got larger the closer to the center they were. At the very center there was a spike over a mile in length that scraped the Void clouds like a defiant claw. Nested among these spikes were massive crystal dragons akin to the one that had destroyed so many ships at Hume, ancient machines of baffling design, and angelic beings whose faces spewed hate—the legendary remnants of Gaia, most of which were complete unknowns to the fleet.
The doors closed behind Flipside’s fleet, leaving them to stare off against the forces of Castle Bleck in the midst of the swirling purple Void all around them. But no one shot—no one let out a single peep.
The Enterprise drifted out ahead of the rest of the fleet, coming to a stop in the middle of nothingness, and sent out a standard hail to Castle Bleck, asking for peace and negotiation, as was Federation custom.
Castle Bleck responded.