I find myself seeing a whole new world, as it embraces me and showered me with love and care. This new fantastic point of view sure did a number on my perception—I learnt that the world has more to offer than the doom and gloom that persisted in the dying husk of this civilization. A world of new beginnings, untainted by authoritarian rulings and the disgraceful devils in human skin that feed off of the system. I’ll tell you this in certainty—escaping this industrialized hell-scape and living in a rimworld will be the best decision that you’ll ever make. If only I could do so—I will certainly share with you my wondrous journeys and beautiful vibes that I will experience in this blissful paradise.

-An excerpt from “Why We Should Emigrate to a Rimworld” by Sary Mue

The heavens fell.

The serene night was torn asunder as fireballs descend from the skies in varying intensity.

Miniature debris that was peppered across the skies of this world will catch fire and eventually perish into nothingness in the atmosphere. The grand spectacle would be observed by many across continents, becoming the source of many legends in the foreseeable future.

Small chunks of metal showered all around the vicinity. Their impacts would leave behind craters of varying sizes while the carcass itself would forever persist, embedded onto the ground until it blends in with the scenery when nature reclaims her territory.

Massive chunks of debris split the very earth apart as they land. Most would bring flames along as they descend onto the soil, each of these chunks resemble the inferno itself. The terrifying heat they produce will scorch themselves into dust, along with anything and everything that surrounds them.

In the midst of the growing turmoil, three survivors faced the scorn of the heavens, as the oncoming inferno will surely give them a hell of a reckoning.

“Goodness…” Aria muttered under her breath. Her face paled while her eyes filled with anxiety.

Like an unending meteor rain, a lightshow was on display for the entire world to see, courtesy of a certain wrecked spacecraft. Unlike the average meteor rain, however, this one caused a tremendous impact on just about anything as long as it reaches the surface.

Debris from the shattered ship crash-landed on the surface with the force comparable to a scattered orbital strike.

Of course, the surface of the planet closest to the shipwreck will have to face the brunt of its impact—courtesy to gravity.

Place your bets.

Obviously, this meant that the plains and its immediate surroundings will suffer the most damage, its intensity matching a concentrated artillery barrage. Coincidentally, it was the location that the trio was situated in.

Bingo.

“Oh god!” Joshua shrieked as he pointed his finger at an incoming chunk. “Look out!”

Everyone else ducked on reflex and covered their heads. This action had been practiced in repetition over and over again since some time ago.

The small chunk of charred metal landed not far from the trio, spewing out tiny fragments of rock and metal as it impacted onto the dirt. Luckily for the lot of them, this only amounted to racking up another layer of dirt onto their clothing.

Thus far, they had fared well considering the circumstances that they now were mired into.

Jim had his bare arms nicked with a few skin-cut wounds from the metal fragments flying all around. He was simply unlucky and lucky at the same time. The former meant that he took a couple explosions and high-velocity fragments head on, while the rest of his companions are spared from its wrath; while the latter was indicated as most of the close-calls he encountered ended up with his protective equipment blocking the otherwise lethal fragments.

Now, he wears his suit of armor with metal fragments as long as human fingers jutting out from various odd angles like a medal of honor, although unwillingly.

“Aria, can’t you heal my wounds?” Jim gestured to his arms.

“We don’t have time to stop and bandage you!” She replied loudly while prancing about with her palms covering her ears.

The loud impacts had done a number on her precious eardrums. They had to scream at each other at first under the incessant rumbling until they got used to it. But Aria, on the contrary, had not adjusted yet.

“No!” Jim replied while gesturing at the other satchel she’s carrying. “Use that and it’ll heal instantly!”

“No, Jim!” Aria screamed once again, tension lingering in her tone. “We can’t use that on your minor wounds! It’s a waste!”

Indeed. It would not do it justice if such an important asset was used to remedy mere flesh wounds.

“Arrgh… fine. Whatever.” Jim groaned in frustration and dismissed it with a hand motion. Deep down, he too knew of the importance of that resource. But he could not help it but to associate it to Aria’s stinginess, although he chose not to act on it for now.

*BANG*

Another tremor rumbled beneath their feet. They knew another large chunk had crashed somewhere around here.

Not exactly a common occurrence around these parts. Most debris would have broken apart into infinitely smaller pieces once they started combusting as they entered atmosphere. It would be rare to have a large, bulky ship hull to maintain integrity after undertaking such an arduous journey to visit this planet.

The large chunk impacted quite a distance away from the trio. This didn’t stop Joshua and his keen eyes to be able to identify the contents of its embedded cargo.

“Look! I remember those metal lockers!” Joshua screamed in excitement as he raised his head from his hunched body.

“It’s from the armory!” He concluded.

Before anyone could put a word in, he broke formation and made his way towards that particular debris. At the very least, he exhibited due diligence and looked above properly before taking the step forward.

The other two had no choice but to catch up with him.

Some distance ahead, a sense of dread washed over Jim, urging him as to not take another step forward. Just as he felt during those close-calls at previous occasions, he knew not to question his gut instincts.

“Josh! Hey! Slow down!” Jim screamed. He held his arm forward trying to get a hold on Joshua that’s pacing in front of him.

“I said, wait!” Screaming louder, he suddenly panicked when he spotted the source of his premonition. “Wait—IT’S ON FIRE!”

At plain sight, it was hidden by the multiple layers of obstruction. But he saw the flickers clearly, fire danced inside the debris. Given that the crashed ship hull was part of the armory, more weapon lockers would be held under the crashed debris, not visible to the outside glance.

Moreover, a spark of green flame soon erupted from the debris, the column of fire gushed out with incredible ferocity until it was snuffed out thereafter.

The last thing Jim saw as he threw himself onto the ground was another dozen sparks of green flames—like embryos of destruction, undergoing accelerated growth.

*BAAAAANG*

An incredible shockwave rushed over Jim. He could’ve sworn that his helmet was melted by the incredible heat. Once the explosive rumble instantly regressed into a far echo of its former self, Jim picked himself back up.

Snap back to reality, Jim checked himself and found himself to be relatively unharmed. Unlike his expectations—his helmet was still solid, and his skin felt no sort of burning sensation. All-in-all, he was completely fine.

Walking over to that idiot, he inspected Joshua—who threw himself onto the ground with similar fashion. He flipped him over with a little too much force as he grabbed his arm and yanked it outwards.

Stares were exchanged in place of the usual salutations. Specifically—it was Jim’s cold stare clashing with Joshua’s pair of dead fish eyes. Disregarding his dazed companion, Jim extended his hand once again and pulled Joshua up onto his feet.

As he was dusting off himself, he saw Joshua’s panicked expression as Joshua sped off towards his back.

“Wha—SHIT!” Jim turned around and also responded in similar fashion.

Running towards Aria that laid face up on the ground, they could only see her struggling with her hands clutching her throat.

“Krrr—Errk…” Producing only a guttural sound, intense panic was evident in her eyes.

“Fuckfuckfuckfuck—” Joshua trembled as he scrounged Aria’s other satchel in a near-panicked state.

Meanwhile, Jon straddled Aria as to restrain her body from flailing around as her higher-order thinking had been concealed by the shadow of death. He then forcefully tore Aria’s arms from covering her throat and had it restrained.

What he saw was another grueling scene in itself. A tiny, precise cut had made its way on her throat, where it chipped away a tiny shred of flesh. Instantly, he deduced that one of the fragments was carried by the explosion and made its way towards Aria—slicing off some flesh and a small part of her windpipe.

“Krrrkkk…” Aria’s eyes staring deep into Jim’s eyes, as if broadcasting the fact that her death was imminent. Jim could only hope that the precious medicine would be able to save her from her demise.

Right on cue, Joshua emerged with a small metallic box in hand and a dyno-torch in the other. Under the intense glare of Jim, he clumsily opened the latch and pulled out a small syringe of polymorphic gel. Not bothered to attach a needle, he pulled off the sealing tape and unloaded all its contents onto Aria’s wound. As the excessive amount of gel spilled all over Aria’s throat, Jim swiftly wiped away the excess while using all his might to keep his trembling hands gentle when it touches the wound.

Meanwhile, Joshua pulled out another metallic applicator that was nicely fit into the medical kit. Pressing the first button—the power button, a small screen lit up, indicating the amount of its remaining content.

Pressing the second button while aiming the device’s nozzle as close as possible towards the wound, the digital gauge indicates that it went from ‘full’ to ‘empty’ with just a single, hard press of the dispensing button.

Several droplets of liquid, glistening like emeralds under the light flowed into the wound.

Under illumination of a flashlight, they could see the act of miracle happening in its full glory. Then it happened right before their eyes—the medical nanites restructuring the affected areas with the polymorphic gel as material. Within a blink of an eye, Aria’s wound seemed to close itself right in front of both men’s heated stare.

Under intense scrutiny, it would seem like no injuries had ever been located there before, let alone a single flaw on the skin tissue.

Aria sat up and caressed her throat as Jim cancelled his restraint. She took a deep breath as she wiped the tears that had welled up in her eyes, unknowingly.

“Goodness gracious…” Aria said as she lightly patted her thighs as she stood up.

Both men also sighed deeply as relief took over their overwhelming surge of panic when they witnessed the ordeal. Aria’s ability to speak meant that the medical kit had done its duties flawlessly.

All of them went on their way again, carefully navigating—watching the skies while avoiding any areas that were occupied by open flames.

None of them chose to comment on the previous ordeal as they continued their journey in silence. As each of them had unknowingly come to a consensus to set that memory aside, permanently.

Later, Joshua tossed the empty container of the miracle medicine randomly after he got fed up of fidgeting with it. With that casual flick of his hand, this object will now join the space debris that had littered the landscape—forever bounded on this planet henceforth.