The Galactic Weave is dangerous, and its branches begin on the fringes of the far frontiers where we stake our frail claims in the endless void.

Even then, even with dead worlds and dark gates scattered across the night sky, it seemed better than the demons within ourselves.

Why we do this, I do not know. But at the time all I cared for was the promise of freedom. Somebody, something out there would be my salvation. Our salvation. I was neither foolish nor brave enough to journey alone.

The Cassiopeia Gate was where I met the others. I felt little regret watching the jump ship which had given me passage blink away. It did not take long to prepare our supplies, and after a mere two cycles on this arid, windswept world, we abandoned our shuttles and stepped through.

It let us pass with little fanfare, that portal which rested in the pluvial valley carrying another world in its maw. No light nor sound marked the beginning of our journey. As if across an ordinary doorway, we simply entered a different place.

There must have once been plentiful meadows on the planet where we arrived. We camped in the midst of shriveled grass-stalks, and when night fell the stars told us we were a quarter of the way to the fabled Prima Sagittarium. The dead vegetation kindled easily once dried, perfect for a campfire, so around the ensuing hearth we toasted to solitude.

Our maps, patchwork and incomplete, had not yet failed us.

In the morning, however, misfortune struck, and we became the first Weave travelers to uncover the true nature of this planet. We barely had time to shelter in a nearby cavern before the sky unleashed its fury.

We were the first to encounter this storm. We did not know how long it would last.

I had gotten to know the other travelers better, had learned that we all had our own reasons to come out here. Mine was not unique. Solitude loves company. We never talked about it, but we never needed to.

We knew from travelers before us this planet had two gates. The farther one, a week's walk away, led to an ocean planet in the tranquility between galactic arms. The closer one would take a mere day to reach, but none had ever returned from it.