Chapter 1: Alone

I’ve been wandering in the ether for so long, I fear I’ve lost all form. The Wigglers keep me company as I float aimlessly through space. I don’t know if those are their official names, but it’s what I’ve decided to call them. If I’ve been counting correctly, I’ve been floating around untethered for the last eight hundred and six days without a destination in sight. My broken spaceship is but a distant memory, just like my homeland.

Some days I ache for my family, but I’ve accepted a long time ago that they’re probably lightyears away. All I can do is hope I make it to the planet that I see in my mind. My eyelids grow heavy, and I lie back with a yawn. Nothing but stars and an inky blackness surrounds me. I give in to the endless void as the wigglers maneuver around me. Their chitters are the only sounds I hear as I drift into a deep sleep…"

 

I feel it the moment I wake up. No longer am I held up by the lightness of space, but the weight of gravity. Where am I? I make my way to a stand, and that’s when I see them. Large, chibi-like eyes peering out of the bushes. One of them gestures towards me, and I tilt my head in confusion. I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. Have I been in space so long that I’ve lost the ability to speak? Or did I die long ago, and this is the afterlife of my design?"

I grab a nearby stick and do the one thing I know how to do well. I write. Their eyes light up, and their signs become more animated as they search for a stick to write back. It isn’t long before I learn I’ve woken up on Storyteller Planet. They called themselves The Myth Makers, and they were a part of a larger ecosystem that ran the entire planet alongside The Wigglers. They don’t remember when they were born or who built the Great Flame they fight so hard to keep lit."

They just know that they’re a found family of storytellers who love living on this planet and extend an invitation for me to meet the rest of the crew. My heart swells with emotion as I nod with a smile, wiping away my tears before following them to the forge. All this time, I thought I had imagined it. But here it was lingering on the edge of the galaxy. Storyteller Planet. Finally. I finally found my home."