Exactly 27 years ago Humanity invented a new form of transport, a technology akin to the discovery of fire, it was the capability to create artificial wormholes allowing traversal through space regardless of distance, it was a light in the darkness for humanity, a way to ignore the numerous problems that arose from space travel.
At least it was.
The constant splitting of space caused space itself to become fragile causing fractures that would exert massive amounts of gravitational energy on its surroundings, this was "an acceptable cost" according to The United Galactic Federation and so the relentless expansion continued, entire solar systems terraformed in less than a year.
The Federation continued to ignore the spatial fractures even with thousands of civilian ships being accidentally pulled into the cracked space, that was until the fateful day known as the first fracturing, humanity learned they were not alone.
Perhaps in this universe they had not yet discovered other life but that did not mean they were alone, after all the beings that emerged from the broken space were most certainly alive, not just alive but thriving.
The creatures that emerged seemed incredibly strange, some outright defying the laws of physics, because of these creatures' unexplainable abilities many people that witnessed such beings began to worship, a practice that had been banned many thousands of years ago by the long dead rulers of humanity.
Seeing the creatures miraculous abilities The Federation sent multiple Mobile War Planets to hunt down these creatures for research and experimentation and for a time this continued with no major mishaps.
Then came the day known as the The Second Fracture, to this day there is still no clear answer for why 'They' emerged only speculation, perhaps they had taken too many of the strange creatures or perhaps it was simply inevitable, whatever the answer that day was the start of humanities greatest and still unending war.
* * *
Magnus looked around him, the massive metallic room was filled with children like him seeming to range across all ages, from children to young adults, the only thing they all had in common was a grim sense of determination and fear, around the edges of the room multiple masked guards stood, the cold sterile light gleaming on the tips of their plasma rifles.
The room had a single insignia on the wall, it was a a giant hand with seven bleeding eyes inside the palm, it was the symbol of oppression and mystery, it was the symbol of the organisation everyone in this room had come to join, it was the symbol of opportunity.
However all Magnus cared for none of that, unlike many others who had come here in search of something be it fame, vengeance or something else he was here for a much simpler reason.
After a few minutes of waiting a reddish light flickered on near the entrance door, seeing the light come on the guards all snapped to attention simultaneously with machine-like movements.
They began calling out names and one by one the people in the room trickled out each accompanied by one of the guards, eventually Magnus was called up and escorted out by the machine like sentinel, as he walked behind it Magnus shot curious looks all around at the corridors as they walked through it, strange diagrams of otherworldly creatures and formulas he could not start to comprehend were plastered over the walls.
Eventually they entered a large circular room with doors everywhere it almost looked like a panopticon, there was a small gathering of people already in the room all around Magnus's age looking around with a wary and befuddled expression.
After making sure Magnus entered the room the guard left locking the entrance door behind him, Magnus approached the rather confused looking group to see if they had any instruction on what to do here, unsurprisingly they were just as confused as they looked.
They had all signed up to assist the Fracture research project as researchers who would go into the fractures for reconnoissance and study if it would be possible for humans to live there, in other words they would be sent in like suicide bombers strapped with cameras and a survival rate lower than a kindergartens pet hamster.
Some people begun to converse with one-another quietly as if afraid they were being spied on, Magnus while enthusiastic about the research here was less than excited to talk preferring silence after a hectic day of examinations both physical and mental.
Noticing some of the people were beginning to choose their own doors in the panopticon, seeing this Magnus went to a unoccupied room intrigued to see what kind of living conditions they would be provided with.
Walking into the room the first impression he got was that of a prison, it was a cold and empty, windowless room, a grey coat of paint was slathered across the metal walls with rough haste judging by the bumpy texture, the only furniture in the cold, cell like room was a thin mattress on a rusty old bed frame and a small synthetic wood table that held a small lamp illuminating the room with a dim glow.
'What a place, this is practically a five star hotel'
Flicking the lamp off Magnus slumped down onto the mattress, listening to the growing sounds of chatter Magnus slowly drifted into an uneasy slumber, the darkness around him pressing down with excessive and ever increasing pressure.
He dreamed of a strange place.
It was a war-torn land, the ground itself devoid of even the smallest weed, blackened earth choked by ash and fire was all he could see in every direction.
The world felt empty
No matter how far he went there was nothing but the charred dirt beneath him, no sign of life or death, civilization or nature, this place was just endless plains of lifelessness yet no signs of death could be seen.
But this did not deter him, he continued walking, his march continuing with a machine like tenacity and momentum, he did not falter, he did not rest, he would not let himself rest.
Days passed, then months, then years and after that time stopped being a measurement and became static in the background, existing yet unnoticed.
There was no goal or end yet still he continued with singleminded determination.
He continued not because he wanted to but because there was no option to stop.