I woke one day, drifting after leaving yet another insignificant planet—another forgotten place with an unremarkable part of my story. I left in silence, I always did. The hum of my ship was the only company I had. The stars called to me, as they always had, promising some distant purpose somewhere, some reason to keep moving forward. It wasn’t about where I was going, never was. I felt the pull of the unknown. I would find where I needed to be. For now.

  The soft buzz of the ship’s workings filled the surrounding silence, a reminder of my isolation. I sat at the control panel, the dull metal of my ship surrounding me, eyes fixed on the star map that flickered in front of me. The stars stretched out in every direction; each one was a possibility.

  There was nothing new, yet nothing familiar. Just the stars. Always the stars.

  I looked at the star map, searching for a cluster that felt right. I sat there for what must have been an hour or more, then I found one—a distant cluster, shimmering like broken glass on a beach. I set it as my destination.

  The journey would take roughly ten years, far too long to sit in this hollow ship, staring at the same cold walls, listening to the same hum. I could survive the time without using cryo and I had before. I did not need food or water, another gift of my curse. I did need sleep though, even I could only go for so long, although longer than anyone else. Cryosleep was my only real option. I started the process, feeling the familiar cold numbness creep over me as the cryo-chamber sealed around me. I would slip into cryosleep soon, my body frozen in time even though I guess it always is, but my mind would be free from the passage of years. There are times I think of just putting myself to sleep forever, letting myself float through space and time. The remnant of a lost civilization.

  What awaited me I could not guess, I gave that pastime up long ago, I was right only once and that was because I had guessed nothing. If it was nothing this time, I would just move on. Like I always did. I would find another place, another star. Another hope.

  I should have lost myself by now. Spending every waking and sleeping moment alone, it would have broken anyone else. But my curse somehow sustains me, keeps me sane. My life goes on.

  I closed my eyes and let the darkness take me once more. I trusted the ship to carry me through the decades undisturbed.

  This time, though, there was something waiting for me. I didn’t know it then. But I would soon.

  And it would change everything.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  I woke again to the faint hum of the ship, the soft sound of the systems pulling me from cryo back to consciousness. I always felt disoriented after cryosleep. Like I was falling backwards and forwards at the same time. Time seemed to flow by like water down a river when you didn’t age, but the edges of my mind always felt raw and aged after having an extended amount of time go by while in what feels like an overly long sleep.

  The chamber released me with a hiss, the tubes disconnecting from me, slithering like snakes. I stepped out, stretching muscles for the first time in ten years.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Ten years just like that. What was a blink for me was enough time for empires to fall, for worlds to burn, or flourish. Ten years was more than some had lived back home, before the Fall.

  I took a second to look towards where earth lay in the cosmos, very far away now. It was a sort of ritual for me. I kept a compass in most rooms of my ship. It pointed towards Home. Every time I landed somewhere new, I would take some time to look in that direction. It granted me a small bit of peace, to know where Home was, even if it lay in ruin.

  I glanced at the control panel. For a moment, I just stared.

  “Another hope” I murmured to myself, my voice gravelly and weak from cryo. The words were hollow on their own.

  The proximity alarms blared from the ship. It snapped me awake, pulling my attention back. I took in the readings, something was close by, unexpectedly; on a cosmic level. A debris field, maybe? Or some long forgotten satellite from a long gone people?

  I hit a few switches to focus the readings. The image cleared and my heart stopped.

  It wasn't debris

  It was a planet.

  And it wasn't just a barren rock or gas planet.

  It looked exactly like Home.

  My heart ached.

  Clouds swirled in its atmosphere, soft looking and white as snow, and between them were hints of blue oceans and green grass, vast and untouched, just like home.

  For a moment, I forgot to breathe. My heart ached longingly. For once in my millennia long life, I felt hope again.

  The ship's systems fed me data as I stared at a reflection of my past. Oxygen levels were perfect. The gravity was nigh identical to earths. There were signs of vegetation, of water.

  Signs of life.

  That couldn’t be.

  “Impossible” I whispered. "We all died."

  I swallowed hard.

  The odds of finding a planet like this were almost impossible. In five thousand years of wandering aimlessly, I had found places with some measure of life. Never like this. Never had I found anywhere that reminded me so much of Home.

  The planet had a name. How I knew it then, I'm still not sure. I put it down to my curse.

  “Telora” I murmured, in a trance. I let the name settle on my tongue. It felt ancient, sacred almost. Like scripture from a holy book.

  But something felt wrong.

  I took a proper look at the energy readings, and I felt a shiver race down my spine. I hadn't noticed before due to my shock, but something was there, faint, but I could see it. It lingered in the background, almost imperceptible. It was familiar, though I could not place it. Not only that, but it felt like The Pulse, though not exactly. What was it? I was scared for the first time in as long as I could remember. My past was coming back. Surely there wasn’t more of the gods?

  The feeling felt like an echo, tugging at the dredges of my past.

  My ship's AI chimed in, a monotone voice breaking the deafening silence.

  “Caution recommended :Unidentified energy signature detected, repeat caution recommended.”

  “I feel it” I muttered, my hands finding their way to the ship's controls and tightening on them.

  Despite the warning, I couldn’t look away. The pull was stronger than ever now, a gravity of its own. Whatever this place was, it had called me here.

  Adjusting my ship's course, I set out towards the planet. My engines hummed in preparation. I could be there in twelve hours.

  What would I find? Had other humans escaped? No, they would all be dead now. Descendants? Or just a separate evolution of humans? My mind spiralled.

  I had so many questions.

  I was close now. Twelve hours was like a second to me at times, I found my mind wanders easily, getting worse the older I get. My curse did not protect me from that. It just kept me sane.

  I took manual control of the ship, guiding it towards the surface of Telora.

  Void save me, it was beautiful. The green of its forests stretched endlessly, life untouched by the scars of industry and change. Rivers cut the land like blue veins, their waters glinting in the sunlight. There was a sun in the perfect position to support life, I had not noticed, again due to my shock.

  From orbit, it looked like paradise.

  I had long ago learned never to trust appearances.

  As I descended I braced for a rough entry, yet I found myself enveloped by the atmosphere, like a mother hugging her child.

  Mother, my mother is long dead now, before the Fall even, thankfully, I'm glad she died peaceful and did not have to see the Fall. I still remember her long black hair and bright blue eyes that had this effulgent glow to them, her smile covering her face. I felt a tear roll down my face at the memory. Dead now over five and half thousand years. So was everyone.

  I looked for a landing site and spotted a clearing near the edge of a vast forest. The ship’s autopilot took over, guiding me gently down.

  I landed, engines beginning to quieten and the ship settled. I sat staring at the world outside for quite some time.

  It was peaceful. Like Home was before the Fall.

  Grabbing my gear, my movements automatic, I prepared to step outside. A thousand thoughts raced through my mind, but one stood out above the rest.

  What was waiting for me out there?