Editing MonarchEndless:Introduction (section)

=Fiction=
''The professor fiddled with his presentation, bringing up a scene showing the Sun with all of its orbiting worlds, Earth included. “This is the Solar System,” he said as if he was instructing grade-schoolers. “Have you ever wondered how much it factors in the grand scheme of things?”

''He pressed a button and the presentation zoomed out at a frightening pace. The whole Solar System became nothing but a dot in in a vast disk of other, similar specks. “This is the Milky Way. Our world, and its sun, are nothing more than just another star within it. But it gets better.”

''With another press of the button, the image zoomed out further, until the entire Milky Way was nothing but a dot in a sea of other, similar specks, much like the Sun before it. “The Universe is big,” he said. “So big, in fact, we cannot truly grasp it all. And that’s not even getting into the fact that when it comes down to it, if the Earth was a golf ball, and the Sun were a basketball, they would be thirty three feet apart.” Slideshow ended, the professor turned to his students, all gathered in lecture hall taking notes. “You cannot truly grasp the sheer scope of the universe.”

''One student raised his hand.

''The professor gave him a stern look, displeased. “It’s not time for questions.”

''The student still kept his hand raised.

''Groaning the professor spoke. “Fine, what is it?”

''“Well, I was just thinking, if the Universe was so big...what would be out there? Would it be anything like us?”

''The professor mused on that for a while, thinking. “It is not our field of study today, but I will entertain this notion. Suffice it to say, should there be any life outside our Solar System, it almost certainly is going to be very different from what we might expect. One of the current theories about the Universe is that certain physical laws, such as, say, the gravity coefficient, or euclidean geometry, may act very differently within different regions. Any life that emerges from these locales is very certainly going to have different properties. Does this satisfy you?”

''The student nodded.

''“Good, but for that, I think I’d like you to stay after class. Speaking of, the rest of you are dismissed.”

''The student’s expression shifted into that of regret. Meanwhile, his peers all gave him looks indicating he got what he deserved. They all knew he got in trouble for derailing. None had any intention of staying with him.

''The student gulped and approached the professor, moving to podium. “Uh, sorry,” he apologized.

''The professor shook his head. “Oh, don’t worry. You’re not in trouble.”

''“I’m not?”

''The professor smiled. “I’m just thinking you might be interested in some other classes to go along with mine. You show great promise. Would you be interested?”

''“... sure. Which, uh, classes are these?” 

''In lieu of a response, the professor moved forward to shake the young man’s hand. As the student took it, he felt a sharp pain at the back of his spine, though it vanished almost immediately. In fact, every other feeling vanished immediately. He fell to the ground, still and motionless as a corpse.

''The professor let go of the student, extending his hand not to receive a handshake, but to grab hold of a creature now crawling away from the body. Its body was covered in spiny shells, like some sort of overgrown beetle the size of a bird. The professor allowed the creature to crawl onto his wrist, like a twisted falconeer. “What do you think?” he asked as he pet the creature. “Does he has what it takes?”''