Castaway Planet

Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 153 of 365. Sol standard year]

Days after of Crash landing/ 2

Uninhabited Island / Ruins / Galley above the Scholar’s Rest

Galactic Standard Time / 0900

Zane looked at the organic wall and tried to swallow. These looked like the hard outer casing of a driloic, a species of communal insects from his homes. If this was like that thing, then this thing was before a birthing chamber. Plus going on the size, then these things would be as big as six feet.

“So, is this normal?” Zane asked after a few moments of silence.

“Not even remotely,” One of the guards said as he swallowed.

“I was dreading that,” Zane muttered as he looked at the guards. “Anyone got a spare blade?”

The guards all looked at him like he asked if space was warm. All of them pulled out small daggers and held them to him handle first.

“You think we can cut through that sir?” Another asked.

Zane nodded but looked at the guards. “Yeah, but I think I’ll need your names before we go in there. It’ll make this easier if I need to tell one of you to close the door.”

“Yes sir! I’m Legionary Karltics!” The first one said. He had bright blue eyes and jade-green hair. He had a foot-wide round shield on his back and seemed to favor speed. “I joined the service a few months back!”

“The name’s Ulistix, the best shot in the squad. And the longest!” Ulisstix said with a grin. He had jade green eyes and dark green hair. Unlike the others, he had a crossbow on his back his sword was on his belt.

“And I’m Cadritic sir. Been with the General for years and I’m a follower. Got no head for tactics or command!” Cadritic said with his arms crossed. He had green hair and black eyes and on his back was a crossbow.

Zane nodded as he pulled the blade of the dagger free. “Thanks. Now this looks like it might be nothing but a hive’s wall, but this is very bad. Get ready for anything.”

“What do you mean?” Karltics asked silently. When everyone looked at him he blushed and looked away. “I mean we came through this place. So why the worry?”

“Yeah kid, we came through this place, and that wasn’t there. So that means what?” Cadritic asked and Karltics looked at him before looking at the doorway.

“That something made something that big very fast. And it might even still be here?” Karltics asked and looked at the wall, drawing his sword.

Zane nodded as he looked at the wall. “And it might feel it when I cut it. So get ready!”

After he saw them all get their weapons ready, Zane stabbed the knife into the wall. Without a sound, Zane slowly brought the knife down. But moments later Zane felt something, from where he could say. He jumped back moments before a red chitin-covered fist broke through the wall.

Zane looked at the fist as a nightmare came into the galley. It was a six-foot-tall humanoid insect. Its red chitin gleamed in the light. It was thin and had four one-foot-long bee wings on its back. Its body had three arms, two that ended on clawed hands on the left in a line and the right ended in a large stinger. Its two legs looked thin but heavily built like they had compact muscles. The head of the monster had only one eye and a round open maw of needle-like teeth.

Zane looked at the creature as the others reacted.

“By the forest!? What is this thing!?” Karltics demanded as he raised his sword and shield.

“Nothing good kid!” Cadritic said with a glare as he brought his sword out, both his hands around the hilt.

Zane could see Ulistix staying silent, arming his crossbow before he moved out of sight. Zane knew that he had to be going to defend the door to the Window hallway, ready to cover their backs.

At first, Zane thought that this would be fine, a single monster was something they could handle. But then another one came into the galley.

“I’ll handle number one! Karltics, Cadritic? Handle two! Stay at that door Ulistix!” Zane roared as he looked at the monster insects.

He raised his rifle and fired at his target, but the monster flew to the right. He tracked it and fired three bolts. The monster dodged but the three shots had only been to line it for the fourth shot, right on the lower left arm. The monster was silent as the bolt burned through the arm and nothing happened. But only for a moment before the limb went slack.

As the monster started to fly erratically, Zane fired another shot that went through its head. But to his shock, it kept moving, and it didn’t make a sound.

Zane only stared at it for a second before cursing. “Nova and Storm! That thing has a hidden brain!”

As he looked at the monster, he tried to figure out where to fire next when it looked at him. Something told him that he had to move, but also to wait. When the monster threw its head back, he jumped towards the window in a roll. Coming up, he aimed at the monster and fired. This bolt flew lightning fast and hit the monster in the neck, tearing off the head in one shot. The body flew for another second before it fell to the ground like a puppet that had lost its strings.

Zane looked at the monster and saw his dagger near it. Walking over to the body he pulled it off but went still as he heard a strange sound. Looking at the body, he thought of something before he slammed his dagger into the corpse’s chest.

<>------------------------------------------------<>------------------------------------------------<>

While Zane had dealt with the first one, Karltics and Cadritic faced the other one.

“Keep close kid, and get ready to use that shield!” Cadritic snarled as he looked at the monster before him. He hadn’t thought that they would find a new threat when he woke up today, but here it is. All he had to do was wait and use his blade to kill this thing.

“Got it!” Karltics called out as he looked at the monster

Before they could react, the monster ran at Cadritic, its stinger ready to strike. Before it could hit him, Karltics was there. He blocked it with his shield, Cadritic shot forward, cutting off the stinger in one slash. As the monster moved backwards, all that came from the maimed arm was nothing.

It didn’t even react, only charged at them again by turning to aim its two to face them. Karltics dodged to the left while Karltics took the blows on his shield. He moved backward, causing the monster to overextend itself. This let Cadritic try and slash the monster’s head off, try and fail. The monster flew forwards, dodging the blow by moving past Karltics.

As it flew up into the air, it turned and looked at them.

“Keep moving Karltics! Don’t let it hit you, try and dodge!” Cadritic bellowed as he watched the monster. This thing was acting unlike anything he had ever seen before. It was acting more like a living target than a real creature. And why didn’t it have blood!?

Suddenly the head of the monster looked right at Cadritic and it spat a black glob. Karltics moved to block it and it hit his shield. But he cried out in shock and pain as he dropped it, and stared in horror. The black sludge had started to eat through his shield! In seconds it had been eaten away, the sludge bubbling as it dissolved the floor.

“You okay?!” Cadritic yelled and Karltics nodded as he put his free hand on his sword.

“Yeah, but how will we get this thing down?!” Karltics demanded.

“Good question,” Cadritic muttered as he looked at the monster as it flew around. “And it’s got us on range! And I know I don’t have a bow on me?!”

Suddenly an arrow impaled the monster’s throat, piercing it from the back. Black liquid ate away at the arrow and then it started to eat at the monster’s chitin. It fell to the ground and when it crashed they saw the black liquid on its wings. For a second all they did was watch as the monster tried to get up.

“Well’ that’s one way to handle these things,” Karltics said with a smirk.

“Yeah,” Cadritic said with a scowl as the monster twitched. “But man! Ulistix really is that good of a shot.”

Looking towards him, they saw Ulistix reloading his weapon before he went still and paled.

Turning around, they saw two more of those monsters moving through the doorway. But in moments, two of them had become headless as Zane fired.

“GO! Aim for their throats!” Zane barked as he fired at the last one.

Cadritic could barely believe his eyes as Zane ran at the final monster.

It looked right at him as it fired a glob of black liquid at him but he dodged to the side. He fired his weapon at the monster’s stinger and tore it off at the shoulder. As the monster fired another glob at him he jumped to the side and then lunged forward. He slid on the floor under the monster and stabbed the knife into the monster's right thigh. As soon as the blade went into the monster’s body the leg buckled. Zane rolled to his feet and aimed at the monster, blasting off its head at the neck.

“What in the name of the forest!?” Cadritic exclaimed in shock.

“Don’t know but I wanna!” Karltics exclaimed as he ran towards Zane.

Cadritic only shook his head and followed along, even

“Sir, what was that?!” Karltics asked and Zane only shrugged.

Zane looked at the door and stared into the distance, not turning. “Tactical motion, a ….. mentor taught me it a while back. And why I did do that? These things use gas to move their limbs. Break their shells and then take out the head at the neck, the only way to kill them.”

Cadritic looked through the hole and paled in horror as he saw what was beyond. There was nothing but lines of some kind of white rope leading from each of the crystals. But there was something else here, something he couldn’t register.

With a sinking feeling, he looked at the windows and saw all of them were down. There were lines of the rope-things connected to a crystal. Each line went down the corridor, and there was a glowing ripple flowing along each line.

“Well this is bad,” Zane muttered as he looked around.

“Yeah,” Cadritic said with a sigh. “Think whatever those things were made by draining the crystal?”

“Probably. Best thing is to destroy all these abominations. Anyone got any fire?” Ulistix asked with a snarl as he looked at the white rope things.

“But how long does it take them to be born or made!? We passed through here less than two hours ago!” Karltics demanded as he looked around, a note of panic in his voice.

“Yeah, but there's something else. That,” Zane said with a scowl as he pointed towards the far end

Following Zane’s finger, Cadritic saw what Zane had. It was far away in the distance, but he could see the door to the next galley was opened. For a second he didn’t understand, then he felt his heart stop.

“What about….. no!” Cadritic said as he paled. That room beyond the door must have the window Sir Yogix had seen the trio! That meant that more of them could be made there!

“Move!” Karltics bellowed as he ran towards the far side, pushing past the others to do so.

“Kid!” Cadritic cried as he tried and failed to grab the younger man.

“I’ll follow him! Cadritic, Ulistix! Stay here and destroy all the lines before following us!” Zane barked before he ran after Cadritic.

Cadritic looked at the line and grabbed one, trying to pull it apart but he couldn’t. “How hard is this thing?”

Ulistix stayed silent and just cut one of the lines from the crystal. He looked up and smirked, grabbing the severed end. “Might be strong, but it’s not tough! Start cutting!”

“Yeah…. Wait! We can use these, gather them up, and don’t cut them too short!” Cadritic said with a smirk forming. If this stuff was as strong as he thought it was then they might be able to use it if what he feared had happened.

<>------------------------------------------------<>------------------------------------------------<>

As the carriage rolled along, the person inside only sighed as they rode along.

“My lady? Princess Amilisra? Are you okay” A female voice asked the passenger.

The passenger looked up. She was a girl just entering her teen years, she had long jade green hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a long purple dress that to just below her shoulders. She was wearing a necklace of crimson stars, she had black stud earrings and blue metal bracelets on.

The person asking her was a woman with short forest-green hair and black eyes. She was wearing armor like Rogix and had a spear in her right hand. In her left, she was holding the reigns of the Riding Beast she was on.

“I’m fine General Wilmria. I just have…… thoughts about how I’m the one to get the Vow for my family. I thought my brother would be here,” Amilisra said and Wilmria frowned.

“So did I Milady. I don’t know why. He loves anything like this,” Wilmria said with a scowl.

“He does, doesn’t he?” The Princess said as she looked down.

“My master wants you to be seen, my Princess!” A voice cut in from the other side.

Turning, Amilisra held back a sigh. Along with her guards, her brother had sent along one of his followers.

The man was tall and was a bit rounder than the people her most war-like sibling would like. But the man was able to handle her brother’s day-to-day schedule and had only been brought along to help. But every time she looked at him, something about him bothered him. She couldn’t understand it, but it was there.

Gathering her will, Amilisra sighed and shook her head. “And why does my brother want me to be seen good sir Charatrix?”

Charatrix laughed, his bald head bobbing up and down. He finally stopped and looked at her, his bright green eyes looking at her. “Well, with how the position of Heir will most likely be decided soon, and with who might win. Well, my Prince thought that if you were the one to take the Vow you would be safe.”

“And why would my lady need to be safe!?” Wilmria demanded and Charatrix just shrugged.

“Well General, everyone knows the tale of the most recent Fallen Ones!” Charatrix said like he was talking to someone who was an idiot. As Amilisra took a deep breath, Charatrix just kept talking. “My master thought that this will keep you safe. While he doesn’t think any of your family will target you, the others? Who knows.”

“I see,” Amilisra said with a small frown as she looked down. The Fallen Ones were the term given to Noble Families that had proven themselves vile. They were stripped of their name to start. And for three generations their family would have a mark tattooed on their foreheads. All their property would be taken and anyone could do anything to them, anything but killing them. The punishment was only used on those who had done the worst crimes, rarely at that. To her knowledge, it had only been used ten times over their Kingdom’s existence.

“Your master has heard talk of that kind!? From who?!” Wilmria snarled and almost lunged through the carriage.

The last Fallen One had been created during her Great-Grandfather’s time. And they had been declared Fallen for killing a Royal! The story went that they had been a member of another faction, and thought the one they killed would win. And their faction was destroyed for their actions, with their Prince taking his own life!

Charatrix only laughed and shook his head. “None to be sure, but he saw a mark another day and thought of protecting his sister. And sending along people who would know to do it right.”

“YOU!” Wilmria snarled and almost drew her weapon.

“Enough General!” Amilisra ordered. “Thank you advisor, and thank my brother. But please would you double-check the gifts?”

“Of course, my Princess,” Charatrix said as he bowed. He urged his mount around and rode away, and as he left Wilmria started to growl.

“My Princess, I don’t trust him. There has to be more to this!” Wilmria said with a snarl.

“I know, but let it lie. There very well might be something we can’t see, but please. Don’t cause trouble,” Amilisra said softly. “And he might be truthful. My brother might be protecting me from the Battle in his own way.”

The battle for who would be on the throne was something that she tried to forget about. She was the last in line and had no faction behind her. She expected that one day she would be married off by whoever won to the son of their second-best backer. But then what more could she have? She wasn’t that good at fighting or tactics. She was a thinker, and she had longed to become a Scholar. But she was born to Royalty, and that way was closed by her birth. She even thought that going to the Rest was just picking at an old scab.

“Take heart Princess Amilisra, we’ll be done before too long. And we’ll see General Rogix soon. And he’ll have test…… what?”

“What is it?!” Amilisra demanded as she struck her head out the window and stared in shock.

Her carriage was in a convoy with a guard of over twenty soldiers on Ridding Beasts, Charatrix, and two carts of supplies and gifts. But what she saw at the front was what shocked her. Ahead of them was a battle! Strange six-foot-tall humanoid insects with three arms, one ending in a stinger were attacking a camp. There had to be over twenty of them! Some were on the ground, and others were flying around

With what she knew it had to be the place General Rogix set up. But the only ones fighting back were soldiers, some trying to defend a few locations. Plus she saw the remains of the three weapons he was going to test. They had been taken apart, and only one was still there, three of the monsters were even destroying them.