At the end of the day, whether we call it a machine lifeform or a big white orb, I....still don't fully understand what happened here. At least, not on the world-traveling scale.
I mean, they're from somewhere else, but not one of the other shards, right? But if there are worlds outside of the fourteen shards of Zodiark--and I have non-machine-lifeform-reasons to believe there are, then....
"Then what?", I guess.
The worlds I know of, I only know because of their refugees. By now, their homes are either destroyed, populated by the group that drove them off, or unidentifiable. Or full of....machine lifeforms? Machines? I'm not even sure, to be honest.
But at the same time....why were we sundered? Were all the worlds similarly doomed, and their refugees' arrival was delayed? Did the ancients' creation abilities suck the life from our world, making its demise unique? But I don't exactly have an unsundered galactical history to reference--just questions.
I guess...I just avoided thinking about it before. This is the first time another world's visitors were still able to go home, though, so some of the possibilities are being forcefully crossed out.
It's a sad enough line of thought, but it's also not helpful for this shard or anyone on it. Nothing more than a distraction from the more relevant tragedy--a village chasing out its own children.
Honestly, the dig site chief seems to be the only one with a working brain between his ears. The others are coming around, but I'll be keeping an eye on them....and lending a hand or a boot as needed.
I can't forgive them completely, but it's also not my judgement to pass. There are a few loose ends that need to be sorted out, too, so....any dwarven deckings will be on request only.
Otherwise, all we can really do is rebuild Komra and hope Konogg returns. I'm not too worried about him, since he's sending messages back....but I'd feel better if I could at least come along. Even if the portal is closed, more than enough things have tried to kill us on this little adventure already.