[ WP ] `` I gazed at the casings strewn around . Each one held room for dozens of planets , but they were empty , robbed ; pryed open by something ancient and sour . ''

I gazed at the casings strewn around. Each one held room for dozens of planets, but they were empty, robbed; pryed open by something ancient and sour. This was the final fold of the multiverse, the last hope for the remaining life, but this time, not even the dry, dead planets remained. Only pockets of once hospitable air... 
 
 *The darkness engulfs his home, engulfs his subjects, leaving behind a wasteland with a raging storm* 
 
 `` Jupiter?'' Venus gently touches my arm, `` there is nothing we can do.'' 
 
 I looked at the girl, ancient and young, beautiful and terrible. The Romans fashioned her my daughter, but they can not quite understand our way. We are not family, simply the forces of the greater multiverse, each ruler of a realm. I am the eldest, but none of us are related according to the human definitions. We are the protecters from the impending doom. Like a great slug, a dark, consuming beast, larger then human imagination swims through space, it devours planets in ever plane, if caught unawares, we too are devoured. 
 
 `` Venus, if this plane too is dead...'' 
 
 `` Then the Milky way is all that is left.'' Tears spring to her eyes. Her beautiful, blistering world had fallen last, but like the rest of us other than Earth, she evaded attack. Somehow, Earth's great green and blue survived, and we have fallen back to protect it. Six remain, ever vigilant, while we searched for something else worth protecting. 
 
 Venus starts gliding towards the weak spot, we find the hole, and burrow into the next plane. Thousands of dead worlds pass, and we stop only to seal each entrance. When home, we deliver the news, but Mercury and Mars ca n't quite accept it. 
 
 `` We must find this evil, it must be destroyed.'' There is nothing I can do about the hot-heads, so I give them my blessing and a warning. 
 
 `` We know not where it resides, so do not give it passage.'' They agree, and promise to return by the end of the millennium. 
 
 As the turn of the millennium passes, we mourn our fallen brethren for their pray takes no prisoners. Venus asks, `` Who do you think won?'' 
 
 `` I do not know''. 
 
 The Oracles speak of other life, not realizing they preach history, not future. Below our feet, the people cry, begging for help from their gods. Venus sobs, but their cry for food pales when it is all we can do to stave off the world eater. We stand eternal guard against an evil that may never return but I will not fail Earth's people as I have failed my own.
