The Unrepentant Rift Tearer

20260218

Written for Bradley Ramsey’s “Flash Fiction February Day 18”.

Desperate times called for desperate measures. And, with an alien force sweeping across the universe devouring all matter in its path, humanity was desperate enough to try anything. Even unleashing the last reality-destroying threat they’d only just managed to contain.
Though they had prepared a special leash.
“Tsk.” Void flexed vir fingers experimentally. Ten stubby little digits limited to only two joints. Modelled closely on their bodies, naturally. “This form will take getting used to. If you’d thought to consult me on-”
The voice of the human soul forged into the suit grated against vir mind. “You should be grateful that you are being offered a chance at redemption!”
“Why would I be grateful that the creatures who locked me away finally let me out? You should be grateful that I’m humouring you.”
“Would you rather be sealed again??”
“Obviously not. That’s why I’m humouring you.” Void twisted vir head back and forth. Trying to learn the limited range of motion allowed by this tangle of metal and magic. Deeply reminiscent of the ‘vessel’ ve had spent decades trapped in, though thankfully this was only mostly constraining.
Still, the situation was irksome.
“I can only hope that dying for a noble cause will cleanse at least a small part of your soul.”
“Dying?” Behind the featureless metal visor, what would be a face on a human twisted with amusement. “Do you really think you can drag me with you, mortal?”
“The forging has fused us, and cannot be undone.”
“Is that so? Then, congratulations on joining me in immortality. I hope our eternity together helps you learn a proper sense of scale.”
“No sense of scale could BEGIN to justify your crimes!”
“I rearranged some atoms. Your species does the same all-”
“YOU MURDERED OVER FIVE HUNDRED BILLION PEOPLE!!”
“Such a peculiar obsession with such a small percentage of the atoms I rearranged. It’s not like I sought your civilisation out. You simply happened to have outposts around one of the stars I wished to experiment with.”
“Why did you not find a different star to ‘dismantle’ and ‘experiment with’??”
“Why would I?”
Grief-soaked fury scratched futilely against a mountain of baffled indifference.
“That star was moving into the final stage of its lifespan anyway. Your people would have needed to move on soon enough.”
“It wasn’t due to expand for another three million years!”
“As I said. Now, then…” Void mentally felt out the pitiful connection this mobile prison allowed to the void - the true void, the well of endless potential which humans had amusingly named vem after, so limited was their understanding of the primordial chaos which flowed around reality like a river parting for a pebble. “You expect me to fight a ‘fathomless army’ with this?”
“I will not be fooled into empowering you further!”
“Is your entire species this unreasonable, or have I simply been unlucky in the specimens I’ve interacted with?”
The soul’s fury was increasingly incoherent.
Void pulsed in something akin to a sigh. “Fine. Where is this threat you want dealt with? Since you’ve made it almost impossible to sense anything.”
“Ahead.” The soul snapped curtly. “The fiends are devouring that asteroid field.”
“Really? I can’t feel any power.”
Pinch two bits of space-time, stretch them so they touched, and they were in the middle of the asteroid field.
“I still can’t sense anything. Are you sure we’re in the right place?”
For a moment the soul was silent. Seemingly reeling from shock. Then it demanded “What did you do??”
“I made where I was and where I wanted to be the same place. I thought your species had teleportation?”
“Not… like that.”
“Oh? Imagine what you could have learned by now, if you weren’t so reactive.”
That shook the soul from its stupor. “We learned enough to control you.”
“No. You learned enough to hamper me. You’re about to witness the difference - assuming we ever find this ‘immense’ army of yours.”
Silence. Then another scratch of the soul against vir mind, this time carrying a direction. “Fifty-six parsecs this way.”
Pinch, pinch, stretch, touch - “Ah. Yes, I can feel something tapping into the void.”
“You are related!”
“It’s as likely as you being related to any given hydrocarbon entity.”
How to go about this? Normally it’d be a simple matter of figuring out the dimensions of space containing these ‘invaders’ and erasing that space from existence. But of course the humans couldn’t risk given vem anything close to the power ve’d need to shatter this containing magic shell, and since their creation was so very fragile…
Oh well. Think of it as a fun little puzzle.
“They don’t feel very threatening. I’m not sure they can even think.”
“That’s worse! Nothing we tried affects them - they just swallow it somehow!”
“Interesting. You can’t seal them?”
“We can’t even get close enough.”
“Let’s start by getting a close look, then.”
Ve started drifting towards the nearest disturbance - and was hampered by the suit fighting vem.
“Do you not grasp how dangerous they are??”
“Why stressed? You said you’re now immortal.”
“I said no such thing!”
“Oh, that’s right - you were going on about wanting to die horribly.”
“In righteous battle, having struck a mighty blow against the fiends! Not by just, just waltzing up to one!”
“Ugh. Fine.” Void concentrated and threw out an existential ‘pop’. “There. If they’re reality warpers, they should be able to sense that. But they can’t eat it, so we’ll see if they have anything beyond the desire to-”
A flutter in space-time and suddenly they were surrounded by pulsing tendrils of void.
“Ooh.” Void mused, as the soul screamed frantically against their mind. “Well, we’ve confirmed they can think on some level-”

Prompt was “Invaders sweep across the cosmos, snuffing out stars and planets in equal measure. They are legion, but you? You are worse. Your crimes are unforgivable. As punishment for your sins, you have been chosen to wear an exosuit that fuses with your body and your mind. Once donned, it cannot be removed. Ever. As you march into battle, take comfort, for there is redemption to be found in a glorious death. May the fires of war wash your soul clean…”