The Devourer of Worlds
Merely by moving forward, its immense mass distorted gravity itself. Like a colossal whale gliding serenely through the cosmic ocean, the spacecraft sailed silently across the universe.
To call it simply a spaceship would be an understatement.
It was, without question, the largest structure and vehicle ever constructed in human history.
Approximately 30 billion kilometers in length, the vessel was named the New Earth-class. It was built in the year 5789 CE under the supervision of the United Nations, just before the Earth reached the brink of destruction.
All 15.8 billion inhabitants of Earth lived within its vast interior.
Designed primarily as a colony ship, the New Earth-class had wandered through space for eighteen centuries since humanity abandoned its dying home world.
The enormous energy required to sustain the ship did not originate from within.
Instead, it was harvested from the stars themselves.
At the stern, four gigantic arm-like structures projected massive energy shields generated by colossal tractor systems. These shields captured the energy of nearby stars, providing the power necessary to propel a vessel thirty billion kilometers in length.
The object known as L1551-IRS5, observed by humanity in the early twenty-first century as one of the largest known celestial objects, measured approximately 14.9 billion kilometers across. It was a vast mass of gas.
The rear section of the New Earth-class was large enough to completely envelop an object of that size. Such a structure demanded unimaginable amounts of energy, requiring multiple stars to be contained within the ship at all times.
Now, the once-in-several-centuries replenishment of its stellar fuel had begun.
Several trillion light-years from the Milky Way Galaxy, at the center of an unnamed galaxy, three stars illuminated their surrounding planets and moons with overwhelming brilliance, creating an environment far too hot for life to exist.
The giant vessel positioned its stern against this stellar system.
Without the slightest regard for the lifeless planets, moons, and drifting celestial bodies nearby, its four colossal arms advanced.
Gigantic planets were smashed apart one after another through sheer impact, scattering countless fragments into space and creating vast clouds of cosmic debris.
Then the arms extended toward the three stars.
Slowly, they unfolded outward, expanding immense energy shields like enormous petals.
That action alone generated gravitational waves powerful enough to shatter planets the size of Jupiter.
Nearby celestial matter crumbled into dust.
Like the tentacles of an octopus enveloping its prey, the New Earth-class wrapped itself around all three stars.
Moments later, they had become part of the ship itself.
From that instant onward, the captured stars became fuel.
Their fusion flames were drawn inward through an immense network of nozzles—each comparable in size to Earth itself—and transformed into the energy that sustained humanity's prolonged existence.
Having devoured the stars, the New Earth-class continued its endless voyage through the universe.
No one knew the destination of this Devourer of Worlds.
Yet one truth was undeniable.
Aboard this colossal ark, humanity had evolved from a powerless species into a destroyer of the cosmos.
The Devourer of Worlds — End