Chapter 374: The Youth
During the Dark Age, aside from the limitations of spacecraft speed and communication delays, another problem plagued the Ji: the fleeting nature of an individual’s life span compared to the vast expanse of interstellar travel.
For civilizations engaged in space colonization, cryogenic sleep technology was a standard feature, significantly slowing the aging of passengers. Yet, the bonds and attachments between individuals remained an irreplaceable aspect of any society.
When a young Ji, brimming with hope and ambition, completed their rigorous training and bid farewell to their parents and siblings to embark on an interstellar journey, their youthful heart underestimated the challenges ahead and overestimated their own resilience.
After hundreds of years of travel, the young voyager awoke, as if from a long slumber, their concept of time blurred. Engulfed in battles, with gunfire raining and cannons roaring, injury and death became commonplace. Hardened by the trials of war, the youth grew and, if fortunate enough to survive, felt immense joy at the thought of returning home.
Yet another centuries-long journey awaited them. In the boundless cosmos, what seemed like insurmountable distances to mortal beings were trivial in the grand scale of the universe. Beyond the cabin windows, the stars still shone, most retaining their familiar positions, unchanged through the ages.
At last, the hopeful youth returned to the place of their upbringing. But a millennium had passed. What was once familiar had become alien. The time they spent in cryogenic sleep was lived fully by others. Their parents, siblings, and those who saw them off had lived and died without entering stasis.
The youth now understood the look in their parents’ eyes during that final farewell.
The realization shattered them. What had they fought and endured for?
This youth was emblematic of their era. Countless Ji warriors, bereft of emotional anchors, succumbed to despair and became hollow shells. They participated in wars across star systems, living solely for the purpose of dying.