The Mist is a mysterious spatial anomaly of unknown nature, and is also the center of many galactic myths and local legends. It is quite widespread throughout colonies of the Universe, with many species and even governments taking interests.
Description
Supposed witnesses of The Mist described it as mostly being grey and looking very foggy, hence the name. Reports state that The Mist does contain stars, as well as some nebulous clouds of varying colours. It is unknown if there are any planets within The Mist.
There are many theories as to what it could be. Some say it’s an extra-dimensional/extra-universal area, existing beyond the boundaries of our reality, while others think that it’s merely a distant part of the Universe that we haven’t reached yet.
How does one reach The Mist?
The Mist is a myth so it can’t be said for certain whether or not it actually exists, nevertheless, there are many accounts of people accessing this elusive region. Accounts of accessing it are listed below:
Alcubierre Drive: An incorrectly assembled Alcubierre drive has been rumored to take users to The Mist. Rumors say that, after a while in warp space, an energy surge is detected as the outside world appears to warp and bend, as if the warp bubble is collapsing. In an instant, the user is transported to The Mist. It is said that drives of this nature are thrown in scrapyards.
Wormhole Drive: Malfunctioning Wormhole drives are rumored to take you there as there have been several cases of this happening.
Dreams: Many people claimed to have dreamed about The Mist although this could be a result of merely thinking about it a lot. Some lucid dreams exhibit very similar experiences to what the Accounts say, however.
Rifts/ Natural wormholes: It is said that portals to The Mist open up in random locations Across the cosmos and shut after an indeterminate amount of time, similar to unsustainable wormholes.
Accounts
While there are multiple witness accounts who apparently accessed The Mist, listed here are the more remarkable ones.
8963 CE: This one involves a ship manned by a crew of seven that had apparently located a mysterious “fit” within an as of yet, unknown system. Upon entering, they came upon a “weird, foggy space of some kind”. Intrigued by the place they had entered they took an alleged photo (see top of page) with one of their ship’s cameras. On board instruments and electronics started going haywire, almost as if there was some sort of interference. One of the crew members claims to have seen a gigantic “whale type thing” almost “swimming” in the space in the distance, along with “small glowing spheres” flying around the ship in a slow firefly-like pattern. Eventually they were able to get the ship working again and exit the rift, returning to normal space.
15768 CE: A local spacer (identity anonymous) states that he was powering up his ship’s wormhole drive when suddenly, there was a blinding white flash of light. After waking up, the spacer found himself drifting through a “strange, grey and misty space”. Confused, he stared at the mysterious surroundings, “it's almost as if I was teleported to another universe or a weird, far off galaxy of some kind“. After fiddling with the Wormhole Drive, he endured the same bright flash of light and was back in normal space. He doesn't exactly know what happened, though he compared it to a fever dream.
98,526 CE: Piloting a ship they had just jerry rigged, one by the name of Gbóer was flying through a system they had just discovered in the Milky Way when they decided to engage their drive and move on to another system to explore. A few minutes after engaging the Alcubierre drive, Gbóer reports that their warp bubble appeared to wobble and ripple, like it was collapsing.
What happened next is that their ship appeared to accelerate far beyond the top warp factor of an ordinary Alcubierre drive. Gbóer says they watched as their ship accelerated further, taking them out of the galaxy in a matter of seconds. In just a few more seconds, their ship had already left the local cluster. Eventually, all Gbóer could see was many streaks of light, creating a tunnel of blur.
Was Gbóer seeing galaxies? Clusters? Other universes? Then, darkness. The ship had began to report an energy surge as it was kicked back into normal space. Gbóer reports seeing weird streaks of darkness, later identified as Tangles, and a sky constantly changing colour. Gbóer describes it as being like in the middle of a hurricane, clouds swirling around them. One weird moment where the sky appeared to twist and shift later, and Gbóer was back on their route to the system they were trying to get to. After arriving at their intended destination, Gbóer was arrested for jerryrigging a navigation suite; posing a danger to others.
Lifeforms/Entities
A number of entities have been encountered or sighted within The Mist. They are as follows:
Leviathans: Massive entities that look like a cross between a mantaray and a whale. Witnesses describe them as having somewhat “lumpy” bodies with lots of tendrils on their underside and huge mouths. They are around The size of a small moon and could easily crush an averaged sized city. Leviathans squally fly in small groupings, similar to whales on Earth, though lonely ones have reportedly been sighted. It is unknown what they feed on.
Spheres: Small, luminous white spheres the size of an apple. They tend to “fly” in small groups although lone ones have been encountered. The spheres don’t seem to do anything as they’re just reported to aimlessly float about in a slow, almost firefly like fashion. These spheres could be responsible if portals to The Mist open at random location (assuming it exists).
Tangles: Strange hair-like structures that float in groups around The Mist. These are the smallest creatures/things recorded in The Mist, being only a few cm long and about 0.5 mm wide. Their color appears to be pitch black, as even the brightest lights do not reflect a tangible amount of light waves. There have been minimal tests on these strange follicles.
Sheets: Thin 'blankets' of assorted matter and elements, often times being carbon or water. Sheets have only been recorded in a handful of accounts and lucid dreams, making their nature hard to dissect. What is known is that they have a very broad size, (10cm²-50m²) and occasionally move as if they are alive. The only sample of Sheets have disappeared upon the travel back to ordinary space.
Storms: Odd weather phenomena that occur within The Mist. Despite The Mist being located in outer space, therefore having no atmosphere, weather like this still happens. Most travel logs have at least some presence of Storms, sometimes being as simple swirling clouds, but other times being able to cause ships to malfunction. Debris is also a probable issue in Storms.
Islands: Many 'islands' of rock and organic matter can be seen floating in The Mist. Some of these exit and enter, seemingly teleporting around The Mist freely. Some islands stand still, and even have forms of simple lichens on their surface. Strange organic creatures of unknown origin also dot the islands. Most islands are approximately a few meters across, while the biggest may be infinite.
Knowledge
Many people are aware of The Mist due to how widespread stories about it are along with people claiming to access it. The CoB has disclosed any statements regarding The Mist, seeing it as an irrelevant urban legend. However, a few alien news teams and governments have decided to investigate it.