A year passed. John had made weapons out of wood and stone. He had a bow, a spear, javelins and a wooden sword. His stealth circuit made hunting easy, and identifying wild herbs wasn’t a chore for John as he had the holocube’s help. He had a natural talent for cooking and ate in contentment. He thought of starting a farm, but decided against it in the end. One marauding monster was all it took to destroy it, and it would draw unwanted attention to this area.

John journeyed through the forest, to the place where he’d met the elephant a long time ago. He hadn’t dared ventured here since that incident. Now, he was stronger. He could handle himself out here. The elephant was still in the area. He could see signs of it everywhere, torn up trees, dung and scratches on rocks. John didn’t activate his stealth circuit. He stood upwind, letting the denizens of the area smell him. He wanted to be detected. The elephant charged at John as soon as it saw him.

John began to run towards the elephant. He threw a javelin right at its remaining eye. His aim was off and the javelin pierced the elephant’s back. He skidded beneath the elephant’s body, and attacked it from behind with his sword. Purple aura glowed on his sword and he cut off one of the elephant’s legs. The elephant cried out in pain as it fell to the ground. John climbed on top of it and finished it by piercing its eye and stabbing its brain. He was now king of the area. He’d be able to hunt in peace.

Several years passed. Hunger and thirst urged him on to venture deeper and deeper into the dark forest. Animals were getting scarcer near his cave, and the water bodies were drying up. He missed the days when all he had to do was train and learn, unconcerned with food and water. Sometimes the hunt would take several days before he finally managed to bag his prey. Today was a rather depressing day. It was the second day of his hunt and he’d seen no sign of any beast. The nearest watering hole was empty, traces of scat left from a few days ago.

Just then, John heard a peculiar noise in the air, just like when his aura blade sliced through the air. He looked up and saw a space ship circle and land several miles away, atop a rocky outcrop. John had been to that place before. There was nothing but stone there. The space ship was shaped like a dagger, green and orange light throbbing like a heart on the keel. The ship was not of Astari design. Who were these people? It didn’t matter who they were. They were people! Real people! John whooped in excitement. He would finally be able to get off this planet. He’d finally be able to have a conversation with a real person. He’d finally be able to touch and feel another sentient being. He’d finally be able to smell something other than the scents of the forest. He’d finally be able to taste real cuisine, mixed with salt and spices. He’d finally be free of this prison.

John ran swiftly towards the space ship, hope making him run like lightning. Trees and bushes flew past him as he sprinted down the animal trail. When the trail ended, he jumped onto a tree and continued the rest of his journey on the branches, leaping from one tree to the next without slowing down in the slightest.

“Don’t leave yet, don’t leave yet,” he chanted like a mantra. An eighteen foot anaconda was startled out of its reverie as he flashed past it. It sprang at him but he cut it down with one quick slash of his aura coated wooden sword. It was a pity. The snake would have made a nice meal. He hesitated whether to stop and take it with him. The aliens might want a gift. What if they left before he reached and he needed food? He marked the spot in his mind and continued onward. He’d come back for it if he needed it.

John soon made it to the alien ship’s landing zone. Hiding in the canopy, about a mile away, John examined the strange aliens. They were dressed in armor of various different shades of color. The one in golden seemed to be in charge of everyone, the pauldrons engraved with red runes, little symbols of silver emblazoned on the breastplate, a red plume from the helm flowing backwards with the wind, a red cloak draped around the alien’s back, a skirt of purple covering the under armor down to the golden greaves which were filled with red runes as well. There were others dressed in armor of blue, black, red and green, but none were as ornate as the golden one’s.

The green armored ones had the emblem of an orange phoenix on their breast plate and pauldrons. They looked lithe and agile. The black armored ones had the emblem of a red dragon. They were big and strong and carried massive cannons. The red armored ones had a more abstract design, white and black intertwined on each other like two comets mating. They looked to be all rounders, both strong and agile. The blue armored were the least impressive. They had the emblem of a white cloud. They walked with a clumsy swagger.

There was another person who caught John’s attention. She was not dressed in armor, but wore a long and colorful dress instead. She held a staff in her right hand, and a green crystal shard in the other. Her long brown hair was pulled back by a crystal blue head ornament shaped like feathers and flowed out like a waterfall. John soon identified the aliens after looking at the woman’s features. Tall and proud, with fine facial features and pointy ears, these were high elves. He’d learned about them during his holocube lessons. He’d even fought against some of their projections. They were tough opponents, fast and agile. Was this planet near their home world, the planet Ayrelar. Maybe they were not as proud as he had thought. One of them was laughing loudly and doing handstands.

John evaded the blue armored scouts as he crept closer. He could hear their voices, their strange and musical language, sweet to the ear. Any human sounding voice was sweet to the ear. The elves were carrying spherical devices that they planted into the ground. The spheres started shimmering and then spun into the ground, rock and soil getting thrown out in a steady stream through a hole at the center of the sphere’s top surface. What were they doing, wondered John.

He wondered how he should approach them. ‘Hello, my name is John. Could you take me with you when you take off, please?’ No, that wouldn’t work. It made him sound too distant and artificial. Should he force himself to cry and beg them to take him with them. ‘Please, please, I’ve been alone on this planet all my life. I’ll do anything for you if you take me with you.’ That might work. What if these elves were not good people and took advantage of him? He had to go with his gut. Something told him that these elves were decent people.

Dark clouds floated overhead. A sudden storm was brewing. A gale tried to disrupt the elves’ work, picking up the top soil and rock that the spheres had dug out. Thunder struck not far away and it began to rain. The elves were unperturbed, continuing on with their endeavor. John noticed an aura of blue cover the elf woman in the dress. The raindrops never hit her, and the mud and rock broke into dust when they made contact with her blue aura. She remained clean and dry. Who was this lady and how was she doing that?

John looked up at the sky as it started to pour. He had never seen a storm like this one. It was unusual. Nagging thoughts told him that something was amiss, a great danger was looming close. John planted his three javelins in the ground, placed his wooden sword by his side, took the arrows from his quiver and lay them in a bunch nearby. He readied his bow as he gazed around him cautiously. His instincts told him to run, but he had to save these elves. They were his only way off this lonely planet.

And then it came. Gigantic red eyes blinked open in the midst of the black clouds. A black segmented creature swooped down from the clouds and crashed onto the ground. It stood between John and the elves. The creature looked like a millipede. It was as tall as John’s hill and as long as half a mile, from what John could tell. It was one of the masters of the planet. John froze for a moment in fear, but the screech of guns brought John back to the moment. He had to kill it, even if it was a master of the planet.

John covered a javelin in aura and threw it at the monster. It did not seem to do much good. The monster ignored him as it battled the elves. He threw the rest of his javelins and then began shooting the arrows. His barrage was hurting it. John could see white blood flow out from the wounds he had inflicted on the creature, but it wasn’t enough. If John wanted to kill it he’d have to strike its head, pierce its eye like he’d done with the rogue elephant.

John sprinted towards the monster, jumped onto one of its legs and scaled its body, running near vertically for a few minutes. He ran on the monster’s back and eventually arrived at the head, aura turning his sword light purple. As he was about to stab the monster, it noticed him. The creature shook its head. He was off balance. His cut ended up being too shallow. The monster screamed. With a jolt, John fell into the monster’s mouth.