ALL NOVEL Book 1 – Arc 2 Prologue: “First Contact”
How had it all gone so wrong so quickly?
Memories from what seemed like ages ago, but had only been that morning, flashed through Yutu’s mind. He’d woken up excited, if tired, having spent the entire night preparing for today. That day would be their first hunt. A rite of passage for most, but more so for him. Yutu the coward, they called him, Yutu the mouse, always jumping at every little shadow.
That’s how it had always been, and if he was honest, they weren’t wrong. Yutu knew he wasn’t the strongest, fastest, or even smartest man in the Radiant Sea prairies. Not even Slatewalker village, regardless of what his mother told him. He knew he always hid in the shadow of Gan or relied on Zolzaya to stand up for him. But today was going to be his day! He’d studied for years, mastering the trap arrays used by his village. Today, he would finally be useful. He’d finally make it up to his friends and the village.
They had started out strong, a group of 30 young men and women heading out on their first official hunting trip since graduating from their apprenticeships. Officially, the group was led by Senior Grassreader Kallik, but they were on their own in practice.
Guardian Ulagan, a man only a few years older than the oldest graduate, had led the team of escorts that would follow them, but it was just as much a test for him as it was for them. When they returned, he would be raised to Senior Guardian, the youngest in five generations. They were even making great time, which several successful finds in only the first few days.
Then the Firmament cracked.
Yutu had heard of “Fallen Stars” before. Every child on the Skybreaker continent, from the poorest street rat to the most arrogant young masters, grew up on stories of the grand immortals. Stories of Heroes from legend overcoming their earthly bonds to shatter the sky and step into the realm of gods and celestials.
Many of those stories spoke of Fallen Stars; fragments from the realm beyond, gifts from those who had broken the Final Barrier so that others might follow them.
Sometimes they were mighty weapons on which dynasties could be built. Sometimes they were small mountains containing vast wealth. Other times it was jade tablets filled with mystical knowledge and esoteric secrets. Whatever their nature, every Fallen Star promised untold power and a bright future. That’s how the stories made it seem, at least. That’s how it should have been.
This Star only brought with it a calamity.
The thing that had broken through the Firmament wasn’t some gentle light seeking its destined owner. It was a raging torrent of destruction, like the wrath of an unknown god crashing down on the world. The pillar of fire that descended from the crack in the sky was bright enough to blind him in the second before he turned away. When it hit the earth, the entire world seemed to shake, sending shockwaves that rocked the surrounding prairies for dozens of kilometers. Great waves of stone and earth threw their group into chaos as the Trappers and Herbalists struggled to calm the pack beasts while the Guardians helped those who needed it.
Many in the group were excited; the prospect of a Fallen Star was tempting. Many of the Great Clans of the Wandering Cities had been uplifted thanks to these gifts from the heavens. This might be Slatewalker’s chance to get out from under the yoke of Jadewalker, they argued.
It wasn’t meant to be, however. Senior Grassreader Kallik used her authority to order a full retreat to the village. Yutu had thought it was a good call, personally; there was no way in hell they were the only ones to see THAT display. Who knew what other powers were headed in that direction at that very moment? Both man and beast. They were a freshly graduated group of former apprentices on their first real hunt. Even if they made it to the impact site without running across someone or something dangerous, there was no way they could lay a claim to the Fallen Star themselves, let alone keep it.
So, despite the grumbling and protests, the group had repaired and salvaged what they could, then headed off in the opposite direction. They might not have been coming home with a Fallen Star, but they could one day say they were there to see it fall. That itself was a story worthy of the fireside and one many of them would share for years to come.
As it was, they didn’t make it two kilometers before the Grassbreaker penguins attacked.
The attack had come without warning. One moment, peace, and the next, a giant flipper, gleaming with metal-affinity Spirit energy, had erupted from the middle of their group. It had cleaved through two unlucky herbalists before cutting through the prairies at blinding speeds toward Senior Grassreader Kallik. The older woman barely noticed in time, dodging just enough that she lost an arm and leg to the cutting flipper instead of being sliced cleanly down the middle.
Then chaos erupted. A dozen, much smaller figures burst from their surroundings. Everyone in the group was at least early-stage [Stone Body], so most dodged in time.
Most, not all.
Yutu could still hear the screams of men and women he’d spent the last week with, as they were dragged down by their necks into the liquified earth.
The Guardian’s reaction had been instant, taking position around the group and using their own earth-affinity to fight against that of the Spirit beasts, preventing any more ambushes. Zolzaya rushed to her mentor’s side, administering what first aid she could, but Yutu could tell it was bad. One of the other Herbalists grabbed the Grassreader’s fallen arm.
It could be reattached if preserved, but a penguin had already snatched her leg.
The group went into lockdown mode, with Trappers surrounding the carts as they started work on emergency arrays, while Herbalists took shelter behind them and the Guardians protected the group from the edges.
It wasn’t enough.
A normal Grassbreaker penguin flock numbered in anywhere from six to twelve individuals. As the “wolves” of the Radiant Sea prairies, they were aggressively territorial and didn’t work well with other flocks. The flock that emerged from the ground was larger than any Yutu had ever heard of.
Yutu’s heart felt like it would burst from his chest as he watched hundreds of dog-sized figures appear around them. They were screwed. The rest of the group seemed to agree with his assessment of their situation if the sudden, dead silence was anything to go by.
That eerie silence was broken by the choked voice of the Grassreader as she sat at the back of the large cart.
“Run.”
That was all it took. The group moved as one, making a mad dash toward the edge of the encirclement. Trappers and Guardians batted away the now swarming Spirit beasts as the large cart barreled through them, with Herbalists piled on the top or running beside them.
As Spirit beasts, the Grassbreaker penguin wasn’t all too strong. Flock leaders might reach peak-stage [Stone Body] or even early [Iron Body], but that was rare. The vast majority never made it past middle-stage [Wood Body]. Even an older teen could fight one off if they didn’t get ambushed. But there was never just a single penguin in a flock, and as ambush predators, they were highly adept at using their strong earth-affinity to stay out of sight until the very last moment.
That was the primary reason earth-affinity was required to become a Guardian; it allowed them to detect the pests before they became a problem. They could even apply their own authority to prevent the earth from turning to liquid under their feet. The earth-aligned Spirit energy in the area must have been in total chaos after the impact, or the beasts would never have ambushed them.
Only one had ever been recorded reaching beyond [Bronze Spirit], the step after [Iron Body]. It was an aberrant that had terrorized the Radiant Sea for nearly a decade before being brought low.
“Yutu! Watch out!”
A young woman screamed from the back of the large cart.
Yutu’s eyes went wide, snapping up from the array he’d been desperately working on, only for his vision to fill with a toothy-beaked maw. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the dog-sized penguin-like creature behind the maw dove through the air toward him. Yutu’s limbs felt heavy like lead as he screamed at them to move just a little faster, but in his heart, he knew he wouldn’t make it.
At the very last second, when Yutu could feel the creature’s hot breath and smell the rotting contents of its stomach, something slammed into it hard, causing it to skew off target and soar past him. Yutu flinched as hot, red blood splattered across his face. He could only stare forward, eyes wide open and his mind blank, before someone grabbed him by the arm and pulled him along.
After a few steps, Yutu’s brain restarted, and his eyes whipped toward the figure of the penguin with a large hunting spear buried deep in its side. His heart went from rapidly beating to threatening to tear itself from his chest. Yutu’s eyes then turned to the person dragging him along. Ganbaatar, his childhood frenemy, ran beside him, eyes locked forward as they raced after the others. Yutu opened his mouth, but the words came out garbled and low.
“Gan… I… I mea…”
Gan didn’t even look in his direction, not daring to take his eyes off their escape route.
“No talking, more running!”
In a rare moment, Yutu found he agreed with the muscle head and focused on their escape.
If they could only make it back to the village, they might stand a chance.
Either way, SOMEONE needed to make it.
Someone needed to let others know what they’d learned here today.
Not about the Fallen Star. That wasn’t their concern anymore.
No, the Wandering Cities needed to know something far more important.
Beast Lord Kusanagi was awake.
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For the third time, too many during this mission, Alpha’s consciousness flickered back online. Seriously, he had to stop passing out in the middle of a fight! It was getting embarrassing! Dangerous too, but mostly embarrassing! The last thing he remembered was being blasted through an ice sheet by a giant…
“!!! CHICKEN!!!”
Alpha sprang up, the TAWP groaning in protest, even sparking in a few places, as point defense torrents came to life, firing wildly in all directions before he realized he wasn’t still under attack.
Wait, why wasn’t he under attack?
Alpha turned the TAWP around, getting a better look at his situation but not liking a few of the sounds it was making. A quick diagnostic review showed most of his major systems were still functioning. His TAWP was in rough shape. The worst damage was to one of the front legs. The entire front armor section was totally ruined, with both the metal and nanites used in its construction reduced to slag.
“MY LEG!!! QAQ”
Its internal frame was slightly bent as well, causing mobility issues. He could still fight if he had to, but he sure as hell wasn’t pulling off any of the fancy maneuvers he had during the fights with the squid and chicken.
To make matters worse, that last attack on his hex-shield almost drained his energy core. It would take extensive repairs and a lot of time before he was up to even 15% full functionality. But that was future Alpha’s problem. Present Alpha had bigger issues to worry about.
Like getting out of this crater.
He knew the old saying was “dig yourself in a hole,” but he never thought it could be so… literal.
The crater he stood in wasn’t massive, as craters go. He’d seen bigger, at least. Hell, he’d made bigger (pffft, puny chicken). The bigger issue was that it was deep; Big Bird’s attack hadn’t just crashed him against the planet; it had bored him into it. The resulting crater was less a shallow impact crater and more like someone took a planet-sized ice-cream scooper to the world and dumped him at the bottom.
He couldn’t even make out anything past the rim of the crater, only the clear, empty sky above him.
… wait… clear?… EMPTY?!
“THEY TOOK MY SHIP!”
Alpha screamed into the open sky.
Why did he feel like he was yelling a lot today?
Ok, sure, it was the twisted wreckage of what used to be his ship, but still! It was the principle of the matter! No one steals from him! Only he’s allowed to steal!
Ohhhh, as soon as he figured a way out of this hole (both physically and metaphorically), he was sooooo going to show that chicken who the real cock of the walk was!… wait, that didn’t sound correct…
No matter! The point was, he was totally going to blow something of his up next time! MAYBE HIS BLOODY MOON! Ya! Burn it down! Now If he could just find some combustible lemons…
Scheming his future schemes schemingly, Alpha approached the crater’s edge. There was no way he was making it up the side with the RCS thrusters, and a quick test confirmed the TAWP couldn’t jump that high in its current condition. He doubted climbing out would work either; while the outer layer of the crater had been glassed, the earth underneath looked like loose topsoil, not something that could support his weight.
“Well, get your shovels ready, fellas….”
————
It had taken Alpha close to four hours to dig out a ramp larger enough to squeeze through and stable enough not to collapse under the enormous weight of the TAWP, but he’d managed it (if not without a lot of complaining and cursing, of course).
When he, at last, broke over the edge, however, Alpha had to stop and stare, not sure what to make of what he was seeing.
Instead of the lifeless, rocky core of an ice giant, as he’d expected, Alpha found himself on a seemingly endless prairie of strange, rainbow-colored grass, a few large, sparse maybe-trees dotting the horizon.
“… well, it’s definitely not Kansas. I can tell you that much….”
As soon as the words left his speakers, a small clod of dirt slammed into the TAWP.
Alpha turned an optical sensor in that direction to find a small, gopher-like creature angrily chittering at him from a distance.
The creature slammed a small paw into the ground, and another dirt clod magically rose into the air and shot toward him, harmlessly splattering across his frame.
Alpha sighed.
Everyone’s a critic…
Everyone’s a critic…