A Tale of Travellers Three
After a drought of about four hours of searching for the last Portal Glyph (in Korvax systems) I found my final Traveller (or so I thought…), Tr:avel/er Euru.
After a fascinating but fairly involved discussion, they pointed me to their grave. But I had one more of the three buildings in the complex to investigate before I hared off.
And to my surprise, this is who greeted me there. Another Traveller! The most humanoid Traveller I had ever met. After another, this time very moving story, they also offered me their grave, but since the previous one had done so and I expected it to be my last, I declined their offer. They were disappointed by my lack of interest.
I apologised for causing distress and hurried to my ship and with rising excitement headed for the grave marker. But decided to investigate the next set of buildings on the way. I beamed in on the landing post and entered the building. Only to find yet a third Traveller ! This one, somewhat resembled the first of this strange triumvirate, except for having large, mouse-like ears. I declined their offer, too, to show me whence they came:
Feeling somewhat baffled by these experiences, I decided to not stop at any more habitats or shelters and arrived at the final grave given to me by Tr:avel/er Euru but something wasn’t adding up. The name was wrong. It was the name of none of the three I had encountered in the last hour.
Upon interacting with the grave marker, it turned out to be not Tr:avel/er Euru’s grave, but projected teh image of the second Traveller I’d encountered today, and bearing a different name.
I gained valuable knowledge while gathering these glyphs, yet I am still left pondering the larger meaning of it all, as I suppose we all do in the end. And now I have finally gathered all of the known Portal Glyphs. 16/16.
I have now, like many other Travellers before me, earned the right to go anywhere in this Galaxy and eventually many others. Yet I am left with a feeling of melancholy.The completion letdown. A poignant sadness that spells the pause before the next great adventure. Sixteen fragmented stories, each a small part of a larger one to which I am also connected. I bowed my head in a moment of reverence, then stood and climbed into my ship. We rise into the skies.
Let’s see what’s out there…!