It was considered a fact, that there are more stars in the universe, than human souls that ever lived in it. This statement is no longer true. Most of them died, or rather, were killed, leaving entire galaxies in darkness. But some said, „some” meaning the very last of humanity before even they met their end, that some stars still spark like diamonds in dessert sands. Across uninhabited planets and carcases of nebuli, their light guides a certain, troubled soul. And the darkness, right on its tail.

           Through the cosmic void, she was dashing hastely, the nimble comet that she was. Dodging her way out of an asteroid field, she was the only source of light there. Her name was Kori. And she was running away. From something that wanted to snuff that light out.

           The girl held on to her glider, aiming its beak between gaps, barely tight enough to squeeze through.

           The darkness that pursued her didn’t bother with avoiding obstacles. It would burst and consume them in its endless form. Grasping with its glassy claws and jaws that ate black holes.

           Kori threw her hand out, gattering stardust, charging her exo-suit and glider, stretching her fuel thinner and thinner. She was going faster, emitting ice clouds from the glider’s engine. She needed a boost. Altough, the source of that boost was nowhere to be found.

           She was slowly running out of light. The girl felt as her suit stretched and deformed from the pressure of the beasts’ breath.

           Beep. Close, but not close enough. Asleep, turned off, hidden.

           Whichever way she tried to ride in, the creature flowed in that direction like a raging canal of water. Pushing amidst the field, Kori grabbed a Luxdux from her belt.

           Beep, beep. The stardust flowed through her gauntlets into her fingers, charging the machine and emitting great whiteness that bounced all over the asteroid field.

           Beepbeepbeep!

           There it was. A fallen star. Awakened! But...

           She didn’t get to blink, before the light got smothered by the colossal jaws of the beast.

           Right in the glistening body of the creature, formed by husks of planets, glued together by darkness, she was drowning. Grasping against matter that was both liquid and form, digested cosmos that was swallowing her.

           She couldn’t breathe, didn’t know if she was even capable of, like in a dream. With the last of her senses intact, she found the star, cold and asleep. So, the girl made a decision. She pumped the star with fuel to its limits, feeling its shake tear the ebony skin of the creature. She put it in a pocket inside her chest. A flash appeared, her glider jumped into gear and with enough power, she punched through the belly of beast.

            She was gone. Gone, but not safe. Not for long.

           Drifting amongst dead celestial bodies, wondering how she herself was even alive. Laying down on her glider.

           Awaken.

           Her back jumped from the metal board, just as her hands jumped across her exo-suit. Like a skeleton outside of her flesh, it cracked in a couple of spots. Her mask, googles, gauntlets, valves and small pipes running with gas and helium. The girls’ heart pumped with euphoria. For a second, she was glad to be alive in this cosmos. Then realisation struck her.

           She was still alone.

           Wait, she murmered in her head. The reason why she found that star in the first place. Kori grabbed two things from her back. A canister, filled up to half with stardust and a small, metal block, shaped like an hourglass. Grains of dust were slowly pouring off of it.

           She wondered. Whether preserve the spare stardust or use it to boot up the machine. After rolling her eyes, she exhaled deeply and turned on her gauntlets.

           Such a small thing. It better be worth it.

      The block of metal turned on. With a simple, holographic face sticking out of the miniscule screen.

           The stardust in the canister depleted immensely, and she still needed to load up her glider. After detaching the run-down star from her chest, she connected it to the container to atleast make up for the loss in fuel.

           The small machine bopped its head intensely, barely hovering over the board in any form of balance.

         ­„INTERSTELLAR ROBOTIC INFORMATICAL SYSTEM activated” the robot spoke as smoothly as the nano-metal he was made of.

         It spoke. And she heard it. How? They were in the void. No way for them to understand each other, nor for her to gasp with shock.

           Kori widened her mouth as the robot saw only her mask that looked like a jellyfish. Words wanted to escape from her mouth but… she seemed to be unable to even squeal.

           „Please, accept my apology, as I automatically connected myself to your communication device, as well as your neural scan”. His voice was gentle and eloquent, yet still boyish, like a well-mannered child.

           „Uuhuh”, she mindlessly spilled, not able to accept a different voice in her head.

           „If you prefer, I can communicate with you through your neural scan, without the need for vocal cords”.

           „I-uh… I remember how to… How to speak!” she outraged, almost pushing the bot off the glider.

           „I beg your pardon then, miss Kori” he bowed, putting his right hand behind his back and the left one to the side, fingers curled with just the pointing finger upwards.

           „How do you know my name?!” her gauntlet started sparkling, as her fingers formed a glowing fist.

           „Your name is in my programming” he turned his bubbly head, unaware of the girls’ gesture. „Also, I am connected to your mind”.

           „Right. I’m not really… cool with that.” she shrank in posture.

           „Fair enough” she immediately heard him again through the comm in her mask.

           „I guess, it’s only fair for me to know… your name as well, don’t ya think?”

           „Again, fair enough” the robot nodded.

           „What’s your name then?”

           „INTERSTELLAR ROBOTI-

           „I ain’t rememberin’ all that, you small moon” Kori snapped her fingers against his head. „How about… IRIS?”

           „I… like it. If you want to call me that, then so be it” IRIS accepted his name with grace.

           „Great! Now, IRIS. Find me a star” the girl grabbed him by his hands and turned him around to face the void.

           „I was just looking at one, madam” his head turned back to her and his body right after it.

           „I mean a real star" she laughed. "You know, the one to use for space travel.”

           The thought occured to her. She laughed. It came so naturally to her, she didn’t even notice. She laughed again, giggling like a child, trying to squeeze words through her teeth.

           IRIS smiled, once more not understanding the girls’ behaviour.

           „I know what a star is”.

           „Congratulations, small moon. Now find one. There aren’t all that many left out there and you were made to sniff’em out like a Sirius”.

           „Why?” IRIS shrugged.

           „What why?” Kori did the same gesture.

           „Why are you looking for a star?”

           „I… have a mission. That’s all I know. Don’t really care ‘bout it, but.. someone’s gotta do it.” she swept her legs along the board and left them dangling.

           „Restarting the universe”. His holographic eyes widened.

           „Yup.”

      „You don’t seem happy about it”.

    „Why would I?” She turned her head away from his destructively child-like stare.

           „The universe is a beauuuutiful thing” IRIS spinned around in awe.

           „Was. Maybe. For a bit. Don’t really know”.

           „It still is”.

           „Listen, I don’t know what kinda world you remember but this ain’t it no more. It’s just a big corpse with a parasite in it” she hugged herself.

           „Orsus” IRIS stated. „That’s how my creators named him”. He added after noticing the girls’ confused stare.

           „Your masters… Can you lead me to them?”

           „Gladly!” IRIS jumped, lifting himself off of the glider. Fortunately, Kori catched him and put him back on the board. „Thank you kindly” he bowed again.

           „Lead the way then, little moon” she loaded the glider with some dust. Still enough for a jump or two.

           „Can’t wait to see humans again!” IRIS tried to jump, but immediately pulled himself back to Kori’s arm. Instead of flying away, he set up the coordinates for his creators’ location, as well as for a star in the same area.

           Kori remained silent with the void. She bumped the leftover star in order to power up her board, took a quick glance at her helper. Fully aware of the stardust inside of him gradually fading.

           „Keep your eyes open, IRIS, you’re gonna love that sight!” she attached the bot to her belt.

           „But I don’t need to bl-

           As a whistle across a forest, as white paint splashed with onto a black canvas. Like dipping your head in perfectly cold water. And right when you lift it up from the depths, you’re somewhere completely else.

           „Where are we?” Kori gasped in wild confussion. But also with… enamourment.

           This area of space had light. Different from stars. Deeply blue, with a bit of green. Waves upon waves of light, devouring each other.

       „We’re at the…” IRIS already prepared himself to be interrupted again.

           She leaned further, almost on the verge of the board. But that sight was worth it. „This is the edge of the universe!”

           A veil of purple nebuli, one of the eyes of the cosmos, tearing itself apart and regrowing, feeding the waves. And yet, no new stars were being born. In this place, the infite became finite.

           „Still no new stars at this eye” she sighed. „But the one we’re looking for should be close enough”.

           „From my scans, the star you mentioned should be… there” he pointed to a drifting wreck at the end of existence, holding itself together by its metal veins.

           Getting aboard the shuttle wasn’t a problem. It still had a functioning entrance. The metal door shivered, letting them inside Moses, as it was written on the scraped walls. The darkness seemed almost bright to the one outside. The only glow went off from Kori’s exo-suit. No other sound reached their ears except the howl of the glider, on which Kori was still riding.

           „Why won’t you step off from the machine? IRIS asked, tiptoing next to her.

           „My legs are tired” she growled.

           „From what?”

           „From not using them”.

           IRIS went silent and stopped in his steps.

           Kori sighed and turned around.

           „Let me help you” his arm was reaching her from the ground, just below her knee.

           She gave him a cold stare, but then… quickly changed it. Not for something much different, no. She lowered herself and grabbed him carefully, putting him on the board. Then, she put one foot on the ground, pushing herself with it further and further.

           „What’s the last thing you remember from your times?” the girl asked the robot.

           „Humanity conquering the stars. Enslaving them, until they started running out of them. Discovery after a discovery, not a single rock in the cosmos left unturned. That’s why I was created. To find the unfindable. And so, here I am, walking across the halls that birthed me, instead of venturing beyond the edge of the universe, like a proper machine should. Ironic, isn’t it?”

           „Mhm” she nodded, confused but weirdly enchanted by his words. „Poetic”.

           „In a different life, I would be a poet. Describe every, beautiful sight that the universe holds” he smiled. „What about you?”

           „I remember… this uniform. This mask. My mission. Not much beyond that.” she answered, losing her tempo for a step.

           „Did you ever take it off? If I may ask…” he forgot himself a little.

           „I don’t think so, no. I can barely remember my face. Not too keen on seeing it again”.

           They stopped in front of a ripped open door. Burned metal and flesh, smells so pungent that even a robot could feel their bloody aroma. IRIS’s radar started beeping, the stars’ signature should’ve been here. But the only things they found were a broken cage and a group of skeletons, laying on the floor. The cadavers, long dead, crystalized in their form, almost chrome. The last sign of their existence being dried up bloodstains.

           Kori jumped off from her glider to look upon the chamber in which the star should be held. She tried lifting the shards from the ground, putting them back, but to no avail. She punched the cell with all her might, not feeling a scratch.

           She heard a buzzing noise and so she found the source of it. A holo-reader, still working. With one, last message from beyond their cold graves. Kori had no mercy for the „play” button, but fortunately, she didn’t destroy the apparatus. A tall and skinny silhouette appeared in front of her, wearing long, brown hair and a metal, left arm.

           „I record this, truly hoping that this will not be our end. Nor yours” the figure stated grimly. „My name is Adam Henry DuBois.” he bowed, putting his right hand behind his back and the left one to the side, fingers curled with just the pointing finger upwards. „I am a scientist. And truth be told, an optimist. Enough to hope that our actions may finally bring something good to the world. I don’t have much time. You must find IRIS, and with him – the Forge. Beware of the Primordium – the beast that took away Earth’s light. Stay strong, Kori. And...”

           The message ended.

           Kori stood there, staring into the wall. It didn’t seem real. Nothing did. Just a mess without a solution. Her knees were crumbling, hands shaking, almost losing the grip within her gauntlets. For the first time, she felt the weight of her suit. The burden of it.

           „They’re beautiful” IRIS’s voice finally broke her, as he climbed on a desktop, near one of the chrome skeletons.

           „Beautiful? How can you say something like that now?” she felt the need to cry, but not a single drop on her cheek.

           „Even in death, they found something to strive towards. We are alive. What will we do now?”

           „Pff, yeah, you alive”. She leaned on the table heavily.

       „I beg your pardon?” his head raised as if he was raising an eyebrow.

           „Nothing. Just tired.” She waved him off.

           „Then why are you doing it?”

           „Because someone has to”. Kori scratched the table harshly.

        „That is not a logical argument. What reason do you have for it?”

„None!” she snapped at him. „There is no reason! And if there’s no reason for it, then there’s no reason for me to even be alive! What other choice do I have? I don’t care what the world will look like if I succeed. I don’t care if I'll succeed. As long as I have something to do. Nothing more to it.” Her voice broke.

Kori lost IRIS from her seight. But then, she felt his small arms around her leg.

           „You seemed like you needed a hug” he said calmly.

           „Let’s…find this forge” she smiled.

           Already outside of the spaceship, prepared for another jump, they noticed clear, dark signs across their field of view. The darkness was coming back.

           „One more jump, IRIS, get ready.”

           „Rea-

           Fwoosh!

           They reached their final destination. The Starforge. Older than the universe itself – Methuselah.

Primordium got to them faster than Kori expected, they had to hurry.

           The greatest of the stars was not asleep, but dead. And it needed to be brought back to life. So it could bring the universe back.

           Flying through the ribcage of the celestial body, they found its core. The anvil that needed power. Kori ran to the stone-like battery, in need of filling up.

           „Kori” IRIS whispered, hearing a thunderous crack. The planet being slowly devoured.

           The girl loaded the canister with stardust to the battery. All that she gathered. Not even half of what was required.

           „Damnit!” she shouted, breaking the stars and adding them to the source.

           Ground beneath them started shaking. She knew there was no running away from it. She took the engine from her glider, also sucking the stardust out of it.

           Kori screamed. Only IRIS could hear her. And it was enough.

           The bot stumbled near and put his hand onto the battery. Slowly giving away the dust that fueled him.

           „IRIS, stop!” she tried to rip him from it, but he wouldn’t budge.

           „It’s okay” he said, as the last grains of dust left his body.

           Kori held onto him, pressing him to her chest.

           „Be with me until every star goes dark” IRIS said to her ear. „And so, when the universe ends up black and hollow… I will still atleast hear your voice… And feel your hand in mine.”

           His metal body clang near the core. An empty husk of a friend.

           Orsus had her. Shattering down walls around them, it cornered her like a wolf trapping a sheep. The crystal teeth being the last light that she was meant to see. She stood up proudly before it. She was no sheep. But a phoenix.

           Kori found her purpose. Putting all her strength, she loaded the battery to the maximum. Her suit started breaking, while the shadow, for the first time, cowered in fear. Now, she was her true self. A living star.

           Methuselah was born anew. The light that emanated from Kori destroyed Orsus. The battery overloaded, two stars mended into one and finally… they burned all that was left of the previous universe.

           On that day, a new star was born. And many more after it.