An End or a Beginning?

[kismet_loop_mods]

All of Haven gathers at the center of the Junkpile, the six First-Forged and all of their Marked. They stand in the clearing around the shattered remains of the Pillar, directly below the nearly-closed Lambda. Today is the day. Today those who are returning to their homes, with or without their memories of this place, are to do so, and those who are remaining have come to see them off – a final goodbye.

Goodbyes are exchanged, laughter and tears shared before those remaining step back and the travelers gather closer. The First-Forged have told them that they will send everyone home in quick succession, but individually, as even those from the same Timestreams came here from different times in their own shared lives.

The First-forged raise their arms and their various weapons in salute to their departing Marked, then fly up toward the Lambda, Vector Prime leading. They flit about, Vector doing something with his powers and the others apparently lending him energy to help him do so.

The air tingles with power as the blues and teals of the aurora above shift and twist around each other with increasing intensity. But then . . . something changes. The air grows heavier, the movements of the First-forged falter as the hues of the aurora darken into shades of purple and what's visible in the center of the Lambda itself takes on a deeper and deeper black. The sense of something Not Quite Right grows almost palpable. In seeming confusion, the First-forged appear to begin to fall back.

They don't get far.

The pressure builds rapidly, almost too fast to process, until suddenly

It reverses, just as rapidly sucking away like a blown airlock in space, taking the very atmosphere with it. And then

Reality itself seems to explode.

Maybe it actually does or maybe it doesn't really. It'll be impossible for those involved to tell.

Because, in that instant before cognition itself fails

The utter blackness is absolute.