Starbuilders

Twenty years ago, the stars above Nothaar Akii's head suddenly changed.

Christening it the Sky Shift, Nothaar found that this event was merely the harbinger of a devastating metamorphosis that was about to befall his world. More than anything, though, it impacted the children. Newborns came out of the womb with strange physical features, far different than anything seen before. As they grew up, the youths intuitively spoke a tongue that no one else understood. After learning these conditions were not isolated to his far northern village, Nothaar set out on a long journey of discovery, taking him all the way to the southernmost tip of the land.

With his expedition seemingly completed, Nothaar decided to retrace his steps and share his discoveries with everyone he had encountered along the way. However, those plans were quickly waylaid when he chanced upon a gift that had come crashing down from the heavens. Expecting just to find a rock filled with rare and valuable resources, he instead met Syraaq Sec and Ifuwukoogeeq. The mysterious duo not only spoke the Language of Children fluently, but also possessed knowledge far beyond Nothaar's comprehension.

And then they declared Nothaar was the key to unraveling a great injustice, one that had been perpetrated upon his people and many others by the Starbuilders.

Starbuilders

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Shifted stars, altered children, a world in flux… As Nothaar Akii sought answers, he stumbled upon a dying universe he never imagined existed.

:: Map to the Stars

SINGULARITY

• PRELUDE I

Continuing to shiver in spite of the thick pelts and waterproof skins he was wearing, Nothaar Akii considered what he could do to rectify the situation. Although the necessary protective attire had been specially harvested from creatures native to the area and treated in a way to help keep the extreme cold at bay, Nothaar was still finding it difficult to understand how the beasts could survive outside in such conditions. Deciding to put aside his own discomfort, Nothaar instead turned his head to the right and asked in the language that his host spoke, "This is it? This is as far as we can go?"

"Yes," the old man named Baubu Yoordi confirmed, "Just as you asked, I've taken you to the southernmost point in the land. This cliff juts out further than anything else, thus making it the true end of the world."

Nothaar rotated away from Baubu and looked out over the dark and choppy salt sea. Given the fairly limited amount of time the sun would have shined overhead on that day, they had to use what useful light there was to complete the trek out to this locale, take in the boundless nothingness, and then make the return journey to Baubu's village. And all this had to be accomplished before the night fell and the predators that stalked under the cover of darkness discovered their presence. There's still so much I don't understand, Nothaar thought to himself. Expressing his concerns aloud, Nothaar declared, "These extremely short days are so distressing to me. Nothing like this happens where I'm from."

"It's the reverse in the summer," Baubu explained before a knowing, yet good-humored look spread across his face. "If I can convince you to stay that long, you'll see days when the sun goes to sleep for just a short while."

"The summer…" Nothaar trailed off, lost in his own thoughts and pangs of homesickness. "That's another thing that doesn't fit. When it's summer here, it's winter back at my birthplace. Everything is inverted down here in the southern lands."

"From my perspective," Baubu harrumphed, "your northern homestead is the backwards one. You said your village was on the northernmost tip of the world?"

"That's right," Nothaar confirmed. "Even the stars above changed as I crossed the great desert. I mean, of course, where the new stars have appeared, not where the old stars used to be."

"I'll have to take your word on all that and what your motherland is like," Baubu conceded, "having never gone very far to the north myself. However, I can confirm that the stars you have seen here are not the ones of my youth. Before the… the… what did you call it, again?"

"The Sky Shift," Nothaar answered in an almost reverent whisper. After all, it had practically become his religion and calling.

...

• PRELUDE II
• PRELUDE III

STELLIFEROUS

• CHAPTER 01
• CHAPTER 02
• CHAPTER 03
• CHAPTER 04
• CHAPTER 05
• CHAPTER 06
• CHAPTER 07
• CHAPTER 08
• CHAPTER 09
• CHAPTER 10
• CHAPTER 11
• CHAPTER 12
• CHAPTER 13
• CHAPTER 14
• CHAPTER 15
• CHAPTER 16
• CHAPTER 17
• CHAPTER 18
• CHAPTER 19
• CHAPTER 20
• CHAPTER 21
• CHAPTER 22
• CHAPTER 23
• CHAPTER 24
• CHAPTER 25
• CHAPTER 26
• CHAPTER 27
• CHAPTER 28
• CHAPTER 29
• CHAPTER 30
• CHAPTER 31
• CHAPTER 32
• CHAPTER 33
• CHAPTER 34
• CHAPTER 35
• CHAPTER 36
• CHAPTER 37
• CHAPTER 38
• CHAPTER 39
• CHAPTER 40
• CHAPTER 41
• CHAPTER 42
• CHAPTER 43
• CHAPTER 44
• CHAPTER 45
• CHAPTER 46
• CHAPTER 47

HEAT DEATH

• EPILOGUE I
• EPILOGUE II
• EPILOGUE III
• NOTES AND SCRIBBLES
•  -  THOUGHTS, HISTORY, AND DEDICATIONS
•  -  ADDITIONAL READING
•  -  ABOUT THE AUTHOR
•  -  VERSION HISTORY
•  -  COPYRIGHTS AND DISCLAIMERS

Additional Reading

Starbuilders is a work of mixed fiction and nonfiction elements. With the fiction elements, any names, characters, places, events, and incidents that bear any resemblance to reality is purely coincidental. For the nonfiction elements, no names have been changed, no characters invented, no events fabricated except for hypothetical situations.

Learn more about author J.P. Prag at www.jpprag.com.