It’s been four days since Yuga woke up in this house and since then not much had changed or happened besides his legs finally working. He’d spent the past few days willing his legs into working and after a while they did thankfully. His recovery was much faster than he’d anticipated, must’ve been one of the perks of being a voyager. All the while he was recovering, Kirveas went about his own business, occasionally leaving the house and generally ignoring Yuga when he got back. When he did pay attention though, he didn’t speak and merely observed his progress with mixed expressions on his face.

The one thing he helped with however was stocking up on fruits which Yuga was happy to run through every day. Yuga was finally able to move around and it was time to decide “what next”. Does he stay here? Leave? But to where, the endless snow? Find a city? Or…..

“Is there a way to leave this place? This planet”

“There’s a warp gate stationed at two points on this planet but both of them have been destroyed due to the fighting” Kirveas responds, sitting idly seemingly in thought.

“What’s the next thing a voyager like me should do?” asked Yuga.

“You’re not part of any clan, monarchy or a part of centros’ army so you’re an unaffiliated. You’re also unregistered, naturally you should go to a centros outpost and register as a voyager” responds Kirveas.

“How do I do that?”

“You can’t leave the planet at the moment because there are no working gates, at least not that I know of. Centros forces will come here soon to subjugate the planet and stop the war, you can approach them then.”

Yuga listens then nods in acceptance. He motions towards the door and begins to step outside.

“It’s dangerous outside, voyagers aren’t the only thing to be wary of.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m a lucky man” Yuga replies, then steps out.

It was very cold outside. Obviously. As cold as it though was he was affected very little, being a voyager was convenient like that, he wondered what else he could do. Could he cause huge explosions like the one Kirveas made? Or jump to the top of a mountain in the blink of an eye. With thoughts of all the cool things he could do filling his head, he walked through the snow with no particular destination in mind, he simply wanted to explore his surroundings.

***

About fifty metres from the house there was a forest with tall trees spanning as far as the eye could see. Towards the south was a village down a sloping path from where the house stood. He could see a cluster of houses, all of them identical to the other, nothing too large or too small, just enough for one household.

He plods down the slope and gets to the village. Standing at the edge of village, he stops to listen. It’s soundless, not even the sound of rustling leaves could be heard. He walks into several houses one after the other checking for food, supplies and if there was anyone else around in this desolate village. In one of the houses there’s a picture of a family. Memories left behind probably in fear and regret. He wondered if somewhere out there, there were pictures holding memories of him, memories he didn’t have anymore. He quickly waved away those thoughts, they weren’t important at the moment so no point in going down that road. He didn’t find anybody, everybody must’ve all left due to the war, and most of the food seems to have been taken or gone bad. He found a few decent clothes which he planned to take on his way back.

He walked all the way to the opposite end of the village. Before he gets there he’s assaulted by something could tell was familiar to him , the stench of death and destruction. At the end of the village he’s met with a gruesome sight. There was much destruction, houses destroyed and missing chunks of themselves, dead bodies strewn about, some missing one part or the other or simply crushed between rocks.

He stands and stares at the gloomy scene with a sullen look. This was the result of war and probably worse when there was war between voyagers. Blowing up stuff was cool, but taking away lives and causing pain wasn’t. Yet people always sought to harm others, for one reason or the other, never thinking much about the people being harmed. This was something he just couldn’t grasp. But that’s just how people were. That would never change.

As Yuga stood observing the scene, behind him, hiding in the camouflage of rubble was a predator. It’d sensed him the moment he reached the village and had been carefully observing him, watching and waiting for when it thought it was best to attack. It’d been a long time since it encountered live prey as most of the wild life had frozen to death or were killed. There were carcasses and meat everywhere but it didn’t find those appetizing, they were cold and lifeless. Living prey was warm. It would attack when the prey was least aware.

Yuga turned around to leave but as he was about to move, his senses went off. He instantly became on high alert, every nerve in his body coming online. He could feel a tingling in his neck, the feeling you’d get when someone was watching. He stood still for a moment and observed his surroundings. Someone or something was watching and he could tell it had nothing good in mind, he could feel its hostility. He senses something fly through the air, aiming directly for him, he instantly dodges the projectile by swiftly moving a few feet from where the stood. The attack misses him and drives straight into the ground where he previously was, obliterating the rubble in the area around there and burrowing deep into the ground until it was out of sight.

That was… dangerous. He stays on high alert and looks in the direction the attack came from. The enemy seemed to have changed spots while staying hidden. It would attack again soon. As if on cue a second projectile zipped through the air, this time aimed at his feet. He jumps high up to evade it and the attack misses him slightly. He lands on the ground and turns to flee and this time there’s a barrage of projectiles following in his wake, he runs in a zigzag whilst dodging the attacks, never once looking back to see what was attacking. He didn’t have the leisure of doing that.

The attacks finally stop and he breathes heavily for a while. He quickly surveys the area. He’d virtually run in a circle, coming back to where he was originally and there were deep holes mapping out the path he’d run through. The attacks were deadly precise. He’d run fast, very fast, faster than he imagined he could. After recovering for a bit he was revved, it was time to try out the limits of his abilities. He picks up a rock and and pauses for a moment, focusing his senses on where the opponent was. There. Behind a cluster of buildings twenty meters northeast, hiding. The game of dodge was fun but they couldn’t do that forever, he wanted a fight up close. He throws the stone with all his might and zips through the air like a bolt of lightning, landing where he’d sensed the enemy to be, completely eradicating the buildings that camouflaged it. That should get it out in the open

Once the smoke and debris and cleared he could see it. The enemy. Before him stood a monster on four limbs. He didn’t have any memories but he could tell he’d never encountered anything like that before. It looked utterly bizzare. Cool but still bizarre. From its back spurted huge spikes of different lengths in no observable order. Its fore limbs had claws, each one as long as a man’s entire arm. How in the world it moved around he couldn’t guess. It’s height was above that of an average man and its length was twice that. It oddly had no teeth and instead something like a sucker for a mouth. And most notably, it had a very long tail, wrapped in armored shell.

It shrieked at him producing the most ungodly sound you could ever hear.

I could make an alarm from that, nothing could sleep through something that sounds that bad.

The enemy stood a ways away ready to attack. At this point running away wasn’t an option, if he turned to run he’d die but that was fine with him. He attacked it ready for a confrontation.

He took a moment to observe the beast’s features. Its long tail looked powerful and gave it reasonable range, adding to its ability to fire projectiles. He looked along it’s length, trying to guess where it fired those objects from and what they were. Were they the spikes on its back?. Its massive claws would make it formidable in close combat so he’d better be careful of them if he got in close to attack.

He stood still, waiting on the monster to make its first move. It shrieked and fired off another projectile. Yuga concentrated hard, aiming to catch where it was coming from. He effortlessly dodged the attack once it got to him and it flew unobstructed till found its way into the ground.

He saw it, the projectile did come from the spikes but they weren’t fired from its back. The spikes were sucked into the monster and fired from its sucker. That must’ve why they were so uneven. One of the spikes had become slightly shorter as a result. After seeing this process he decided on his course of action.

He pulled off his shirt revealing a body that was fit with toned muscles. He had a few scars here and there, probably from countless battles wherever he was before Lehrone. He scrambled on the ground picking up rocks and dropping them into his shirt which he used as a sack all the while dodging the high speed projectiles aimed at him. After he’d picked as many as he needed, he stopped picking and took a throwing stance. He picked a rock from his shirt sack, mustering every bit of energy he could and threw the stone at the monster. It flew straight to its body and made contact but the monster seemed hardly bothered by it.

Tough skin

He picked another rock and threw again, with even more force than before. It flew straight for the monster but this time, not at its body but at the base of one the spikes. It broke through the base, felling the large spike and causing the monster to shriek in anger. It shrieked in that god awful tone and its long tail trashed about as it writhed in pain.

Score

His plan seemed like it would work. He couldn’t damage the creatures body with the rocks and getting in close would be a problem due to those projectiles. So he’d planned to use the rocks to knock them down from a distance, rendering it unable to fire.

It fired off a barrage of them in anger and revenge but Yuga was more than capable of dodging them at this distance now. He continously fired the rocks at the monster which knew now to dogde them. It moved faster than he’d imagined. It dodged a few but most of them hit their target and eventually it lost all of its spikes, crying and trashing each time one of them was felled.

Once he’d fallen all the spikes, he lunged at the monster at full speed. He dodged an attack from its tail, letting it fly far out of range. It’d be too long to use effectively in close range. Or so he thought but as he lunged at the monster, wary of its giant claws, the tail circled back and attacked from behind him.

He dodges the tail by jumping high in the air but the tail once again changes direction and wraps him by the ankle, flinging him to the ground with an incredible force. His entire body reverberated from the force of the slam. The monster flung him against the ground repeatedly until his entire body was sore. If he let this continue he’d be smashed to paste. He formed this his hand like spear, all five fingers set out straight and attacked the tail with all his might. He broke right through the shell and into the softer part its tail. The monster loosens its grip and he falls to the ground with a thud. He lands right in front of the monster and it lunges at him with its claws ready to rip him to shreds

He prepares to dodge and counter but before the claws can get to him the monsters face is suddenly split in two, both halves of its body falling to either side. It had been split right down the middle from behind. Organs spilled from either half and blood gushed like a fountain.