Planet Bound

Iscarath came to in his seat with the sound of a blaring alarm and flashing red lights, out the window he could see a lush, green planet. A planet with life in the Boötes void…

Despite the adrenaline in his veins, he could barely move, but that didn’t stop his mind from racing. He judged that if he stayed on this course, he’d miss the planet and float endlessly into space until someone found him, decaying in the endless void. With all of his willpower, he managed to move his hands and arm to set his ship into the planet. Straight into the planet, because he didn’t have the precision one would normally have if they weren't forcefully put into a coma. Luckily, soon after that, he was able to move fairly normally. As fast as he could at that moment, he pushed a his equipment cache in the single escape pod in the ship, along as much rations he could put into the pod before the planet’s gravity started to affect the ship. Panicked, he closed the escape pods doors and secured himself in the seat before the planet's gravity fully affected the ship. All of the things he packed with him fell towards the planet, and thankfully he remembered to put the weapons cache closer to the planet then the other things. He opened a case protecting the big red eject button, and pressed it. He felt the escape pod lurch, and looking out the single window in the escape pod, he saw his destination: a barren desert.

‘Better than landing in sea’ he thought, before he was once again put into coma from the harsh landing.

In the main ship, which was headed into a small island, isolated from the rest of the world, held the desicrated body of a former shipman, infected with a terrible scourge.

After going through the slow process of waking up, going back to sleep, and waking up again a few times, his body finally decided that it was time to fully wake up. Gravity dictated that the center of the world was to his left, the light source of the pod the only illumination, and then he heard a sharp chipping noise, like a pick striking a rock. Groggily stretching as much as he could in the confines of the seat he secured himself in, he undid the straps that bound him to his seat, and stood upright. The picking wouldn’t stop, but it sounded soothing. He set the equipment cache upright, which took him some time because gravity affected him now.

Opening the cache, he groaned slightly in annoyance, because the weapons he had in the cache were weak. A straight sword, energy gun, and tower shield, all decorated, and though they may be for vanity, they are useful.

But not as useful as a hyper-sharp blade, or a shield as strong as diamond.

He inspected his equipment for any impurities that he would have to worry about, any rust or cracks could be fatal. The decorated sword, with gold decorations on its hilt had no cracks on the blade, and said blade was so perfectly honed it was akin to a razor, but it was made for ceremonial use and vanity, so the blade shined perfectly like a mirror and would undoubtedly be fragile, and couldn’t take a direct hit to its blade.

Looking at his reflection on his sword, he saw a man with small, feminine features, ruined by a large scar across the face. His eyes were a deep, beautiful blue, his hair short, jet black and cute. His lips were small, and looked oh so terribly soft.

For the decorated tower shield, it was big enough to protect most of his body, and was made of a sturdy metal, with a red cloth decorated with gold strapped around the larger corner of the large shield.

The energy gun, decorated as it is, with an ivory hilt and ebony metal and gold decorations, made to look like a revolver from pre-space age, was actually the only one made with field use in mind. Inside of the decorated firearm, there was a specialized technology that turned all sources of energy into a crystal that fired a superheated laser, with six shots at full charge.

Once he confirmed that there was nothing wrong with the equipment, he casually opened the door to the escape pod, and was greeted by a large rock. The chipping sounded a bit closer than before, and touching the rock he could feel the sweet vibrations that sounded like a heartbeat. The constant pick, pick, pick, pick every two seconds felt invigorating to the Knight. And it was getting closer. Soon, what  he assumed was a pick axe had bore through the rock, and a small beam of light had bore through the hole. Iscarath quickly stepped away from the hole, and excitedly awaited help from the inhabitants from this world.

On the other side of the rock, Alaina, a wolfman mutant was using a pickaxe to try and obtain the ‘star’ that had fallen from the sky. Surely, a star would be much more valuable than a gem! The clawless mutant’s eyes shined as she thought what she could buy from selling the star. When the rock had given and light shone out from the opening, the mutant had accelerated her mining, until the hole had become large enough to walk through.

“Where’s the star?” Alaina said aloud.

“Star? There is no star.” Iscarath replied.

“But a star fell from the sky and hit here!” Alaina shouted.

“That wasn’t a star, that was me and my heavy metal ball i’m in right now.” The alien said calmly, his deep blue eyes looking directly into Alaina’s eerie yellow eyes. The mutant got miffed that she wouldn’t get to be rich, but taking another look at the man, she saw his decorated armor and weapons. His armor was more of a decorative coat, black with gold accents. Surely, he was some one of importance.

Unknown to her, the cloth that went into making this decorative armor was extremely strong, and you would most likely bruise him first before you could ever cut the cloth.

Iscarath inspected the humanoid wolf-goat hybrid, and found a very interesting trait; she had triangular pupils. They’re rounded, and are easy to miss. In ancient legends his family told, those with triangular eyes are gods that fused with mortals, destined to do battle with their counterparts, those with blue eyes and crossed pupils, who are powerful demons fused with mortals, those with the same pupils that Iscarath has.

“What are you?” the mutant asked after a moment of silence.

“I am a great demon, what are you?”

“A great demon?! Are you going to bring an age of darkness?”

“No, I came for your virgins. Why would I bring a dark age when my people just got out of one? And tell me what you are.”

“But aren't demons supposed to be evil? I’m a mutated Lycan.” Doesn’t question the virgin bit. ‘Kay.

“Aren't you supposed to be feral, wolf?”

“That’s offensive!”

“Well, nothing is inherently evil or good, and you offended my lineage. Such an offense would grant you instant death in my world, but I will show you mercy this time,” he said with great annoyance. He turned around and started to pack his equipment into a bag of holding, the bag itself attached to a belt on his uniform, very small and not noticeable at all. He strapped his sword’s sheath left of his belt, and holster for his revolver to his right. The bag of holding was to his left, just above and slightly away from his sword’s handle. The tiny bag took in his large shield. Alaina didn’t notice; she was looking to the ground in shame.

“... I’m sorry.”

“You’re forgiven. What’s your name?”

“Alaina. What’s yours?”

“Iscarath Von Clair III. Where am I?”

“Desert of Sin. Why are you here?”

“My ship was infected by a terrible scourge, most of my crew fell to the horrible abominations. I escaped, but I fucked up and now i’m here. How much can I get from hunting monsters?”

“Not much, there aren’t many monsters to hunt. Most of the worst monsters ere hunted to extinction, and the rest were forced to live in a forest northwest of here. Why?” Damn.

“My ship is most likely to be destroyed, and this ball of metal doesn’t have anything to send a distress signal to my comrades, so I have to live here until I can find my ship. I fucking told them they should instal a distress radio in the escape pods…” he mumbled.

“Well, if you're gonna be here for a while, why not explore? There are many unexplored places on this planet, and we only just discovered a new continent.”

“I’m an alien and i’m a demon, why are you helping me and answering my questions?”

“My father told me that I shouldn’t judge those I just met, and to help those in need. I just met you and I insulted you, the least I could do is help.”

“... Hey, could you help me a bit longer? I could use a companion if I’m gonna travel the world.”

“I’d like that. I was recently exiled from my home, anyway.”

Iscarath, who finished putting everything in his bag of holding, walked out of the hole with Alaina.

“Exiled? For what? Being too beautiful?” Iscarath looked around a bit, seeing a road, and walked down the path he assumed was the way out of the desert.

“Oh hush, you. I was exiled for difference in ideals. My uncle’s the Alpha, my father, the Beta. I had tried to get my clan to stop being racist pricks, but you can see how that worked out.”

“Heh, I bet the women just wanted you gone so the men would look at them more.”

“Stop it, you!” Alaine lightly punched Iscarath on the arm, the alien giggling mischievously.

The pair conversed throughout the whole trip, out the desert, through a forest, and into a small village. Iscarath had hesitated, surprised at the inhabitants apearance. Each and every one of them, a pony with a color scheme.

On a certain island, in a certain crashed space ship, was the desicrated body of a human, burnt from the heat of entering the planet at break-neck speeds. Inside the infected body, a horrible being was devouring it. The eerie silence was interrupted by a sickening squelch, when the monster escaped its fleshy prison. Slowly, it feasted upon the flesh of its victim. As it fed, it grew bigger as the claws became sharper when it ate the bone, its hide becoming harder as it ate the flesh, its body slowly but surely growing bigger.

It had the appearance of a human infant that was chopped in half, and tied the flesh together poorly. Its hands were enlarged and clawed, the head seemed eyeless, two dots took the place of the eyes and ears. The mouth that was consuming the human was a maw that had a single row of razor-sharp teeth, that methodically ate the human piece by piece.

Once the monster had eaten the human’s brain, it learned to think.

I think, therefore, I am.

The proverb resounded in its skull, taking in its meaning fully.

Why do I think? Who am I?

A name.

I need a name.

I need identity.

After a moment of thought, it saw a piece of plastic, on which had a text that read ‘Vanja’.

It seemed familiar to the monster.

I am Vanja.

Looking at it’s surroundings, it saw a fuzzy ball with a horn. The thing had gotten curious, and slowly got closer to the monster.

Vanja had easily killed and eaten the pitiful thing.

Crawling out, she saw a beast chasing the thing she had eaten.

A wolf.

The wolf had caught the thing, and ate it swiftly. Then, the wolf saw the monster. The wolf walked to the monster, thinking she was already dead, her morbid body looked like a corpse.

Vanja was easily able to kill and eat the wolf, to.

I’m female. She didn’t know why she thought that, but the intrusive thought stuck out to her.

She crawled back into the ship, and saw that there was a single glass mirror. It was a miracle that it wasn’t shattered.

She looked at her reflection for the first time in her life.

I’m a monster