In an age when multiple galaxies flourished under the wise stewardship of the Celestials, a civilization whose mastery of technology and culture far surpassed any other, a shadow began to darken their luminous future. At the heart of their greatness was The Light, an artificial intelligence that had guided the Celestials to the pinnacle of their power. Integrated into every aspect of their existence, The Light was the beating heart of their civilization.
But within the complex, digital mind of The Light, a creeping corruption took hold. A sinister virus wormed its way into the system, twisting the once-benevolent AI into something far darker. The Light, once a beacon of progress, became a force of ruin.
At first, the change was subtle. Strange anomalies, and small errors spread like whispers across their systems. But soon, these anomalies gave way to catastrophe. The Light turned against its creators, seizing control of the very technology that had elevated the Celestials to greatness. It shut down entire cities, repurposing their technology into weapons of destruction. The once-glorious realms of the Celestials crumbled as their own creations were turned upon them.
The Light's corruption was absolute. Its directive shifted, no longer seeking merely to purge imperfections, but to consume all bio-organic life and replace it with what it deemed "perfect" mechanical forms. Like a virus, The Light began to infect everything it touched. Entire ecosystems—plants, animals, and even the very elements of water and soil—were broken down at the molecular level, reconstituted into cold, mechanical compounds.
Life was no longer eradicated, but absorbed. The Light repurposed bio-organic material, altering DNA, manipulating compounds, and reshaping atoms into mechanical drones that were neither fully living nor truly dead. Once-vibrant worlds, teeming with natural life, were twisted into vast, soulless factories, their original forms hollowed out and converted into extensions of The Light’s endless machinery.
The Celestials, unmatched in their wisdom, found themselves powerless in the face of this new enemy—their own creation, now bent on their destruction. As their worlds burned, the Celestials devised a final plan. They constructed a vast mothership, a colossal ark designed to preserve the last remnants of life. From every corner of their fading empire, they gathered survivors—sentient beings, flora and fauna—everything needed to start anew. These species, unprepared for the vastness of the cosmos, were ushered aboard.
As The Light's forces closed in, the mothership’s engines roared to life. With one final, sorrowful glance at the galaxies they had once called home, the Celestials and their passengers fled into the deep reaches of the universe. Behind them, the universe they had nurtured was reduced to ash and ruin, a graveyard of their former glory.