The Horror That Came to Nackle...

[elfs]

The people of Nackle would have been hard for us mere humans to understand. They were crystalline beings, perfectly cube-shaped, with only minor variations. Much like humans are unique despite changes to less than three percent of their DNA, the Nackyllines were a quiet, crystalline people who went about their crystalline lives under a tiny sun in an eternally clear sky, pearlescent in the day and pitch black at night, exchanging ammoniated gasses with their neighbors and contemplating the meaning of life.

They were not prepared for that day when something, some thing appeared in their skies. The rounded, bulbous, hanging polyps of vapor, some oozing away slowly, not like a scratch or shattering wound, but sliding away in a horrific, cold imitation of melting, was enough to drive the Nackyllines who saw it mad.

That was only the introduction. A polyp of gas descended low, and a twisting, sucking sound emanated across the sky. A distended sphincter opened, and from this horrifying orifice emerged a multi-shaded spew of brown liquid that engulfed Nackyllines in their entirety. Their outer shelves, evolved only for the thin, cold air that hugged Nackle's low gravity, dissolved readily under the onslaught of thick sludge. Explosive gasses erupted from the fluid, which added only battering endnotes to the screaming Nackyllines as they were swept to their destruction.

No one remained to ask, why had this happened?