Rise of The Fallen

Kora-

I jerked awake, coughing from all the dust and smoke in the air as I opened my eyes and squinted into the darkness. A small bit of light was coming through a crack in the pod’s door, giving me just enough to see by. Had the damned seal broken when I’d crashed?

I’m lucky that isn’t the only thing that broke.

The pod must have landed on its side when I’d crashed into the earth because I was flat on my back and the door was above me, parts of the structure dented and abused from the impact. Placing my palms on the door, I did my best to push it open but it was jammed, refusing to move even an inch.

“Come on, you stupid hunk of metal!”

Groaning, I shifted awkwardly against the walls of the pod, trying to move into a better position in the small space. Bracing my back against the wall beneath me, I planted the sole of my foot against the blasted door and started kicking, hoping it would budge. By the fourth kick I actually saw some progress as the crack grew a little wider, light flooding in to illuminate some more of the pod’s interior. Encouraged by this, I kicked harder. Just when I was starting to lose momentum, the metal door finally broke off and I was blinded momentarily by the light that poured in from outside.

I shielded my face to block some of the sunlight from my eyes, blinking rapidly until my vision adjusted. Dropping my arms, I pushed to my feet, craning my head through the opening to see outside. There were tons of trees and other strange plants, different than any I’d ever encountered before.

Climbing out of the pod was a pain in the ass as I pulled myself up and over the side, grunting in frustration until my feet connected with uneven ground. I stood up and looked around at the endless forest, wondering what to do now.

There was a small impact crater surrounding the pod from its landing, but aside from that, there was nothing but plants and trees as far as I could see, most in varying shades of green while others were even more vibrant, covered in orange and yellow leaves.

“Ah, well this is just fucking great.” I looked up at the sky and held up my middle finger, waving it around angrily. “Fuck you! Pricks! You could have at least dropped me into a field or something so I could see my surroundings!”

Huffing, I turned my attention back to the forest and put my hands on my hips, trying to think of what to do next. I made sure to check my body for any injuries or cuts but found none, likely due to the tacky, skintight bodysuit they’d made me wear.

I guess emerging from the pod unharmed is a good thing…

What did I do now that I’d landed? Those bastards up above dropped me in the middle of nowhere, expecting me to die in the next 24 hours on this hostile planet. Most people who got exiled here would probably be having a panic attack right now, or falling to the ground and sobbing over their misfortune.

But I’d sooner cut down a hundred trees and lay them out in an open field to spell ‘FUCK YOU’ than to allow myself to succumb to the emotions I’d bottled up. Maybe if I made the words big enough, the planet’s surveillance teams could spot it.

Sighing, I turned back to the pod, leaning over the hole of the wreckage to peer inside. A small latch on the bottom caught my attention. I grabbed it and pulled, popping open a small door to a cubby I hadn’t noticed before.

Inside laid a rucksack that I quickly grabbed and dug through, feeling a glimmer of hope as I noticed the supplies inside.

Clothes, notebook, pencil, canteen, and a knife. That was it? Where were the rations? Or a flashlight? Who the hell made these survival kits? Rolling my eyes, I threw the rucksack strap over my shoulder and left the pod. Facing the forest, I looked for the most appealing path with the least amount of foliage and started walking. I had no idea where the hell I was going, only that I needed to find shelter, or flat ground to set up a small camp for the night.

The whole point of sending criminals down here was as a means of getting rid of unwanted civilians that used up too many resources, and to also hopefully learn a bit about Xanadis and its wildlife. Criminals were given notebooks to write about their experiences in their final days before inevitably dying to either the environment, starvation, or the wildlife. But who actually did any of that?

There was no way in hell I was just going to pause as a creature chased after me to jot it down in my handy-dandy notebook. It was ridiculous to even think.

Tugging the bag from my shoulder, I reached into the opening, pulling out my fancy new pencil and glaring right at it. These things were rigged to relay anything we wrote down to a data center on the ship to be studied. Krosa’s way of passive research without risking the lives of any scientists.

I still remembered hearing about how the first exploration team was wiped out in a matter of weeks. Half of them were killed and the other half went missing. Since then, they had struggled to obtain any research on the planet and had deemed Xanadis as unfit for proper reconnaissance.

All of my frustration and anger came back full force and before I knew it, I was reaching back into the rucksack and grabbing the notebook. Whipping it open, I jotted down a very firm, ‘FUCK YOU’ before slamming it closed once more and tossing it back into the bag. It didn’t involve cutting down trees, but the method was just as effective. After that, I snapped the pencil in half, wishing I could ground it into a fine powder beneath my boot. Instead, I tossed it to the forest floor.

If the Krosan government wanted information so badly, they could come down here and get it themselves. I wasn’t lifting a finger to help a single one of them.

Stomping along the makeshift path, I stared at the forest ahead of me, hoping to spot any kind of landmarks or man-made structures that might help me get my bearings. My first priorities were shelter, and then food. But honestly? I didn’t have the slightest clue where to go.

I stopped in my tracks as I noticed something on the path in front of me that seemed out of place among the otherwise green vegetation.

A blue, thorny vine was laying across the ground, much like a tripwire would be set for a trap. The only reason I even noticed it was because none of the surrounding plants had vines, or any blue coloring at all. It stuck out compared to everything else, and instantly I was wary.

Was this some kind of bullshit snare one of the other exiles had set, hoping to capture an animal for food? Or worse, another person?

Glancing around, I grabbed a stick on the ground near my feet and contemplated my next steps for a moment before throwing it at the vine. As soon as the stick made contact, the vine moved, snatching the stick in an instant and dragging it away into the brush, completely out of sight.

“Holy shit!”

I jumped back, waiting for something else to happen. But there was nothing. No movement, no rustling of the bushes.

“Note to self: Don’t fuck with the blue vines,” I muttered nervously under my breath. Carefully, I moved along, avoiding the spot where I had seen the vine and continuing forward.

I knew this place was dangerous and did my best to keep a good distance from any brightly colored plants. The last thing I wanted was to be eaten by some giant, alien version of a Venus flytrap or to get scratched by a thorn and start foaming at the mouth by some unknown disease. I wasn’t sure how long I’d last down here, but it would damn well be more than two days.

The sun wasn’t something I was used to after so long on Krosa, and it beat down on me the further I trekked through the woods. The heat was miserable, but I kept going, determined to find something other than neverending vegetation. After what seemed like hours of walking, I stopped to take a break, checking for more blue vines before sitting under a tree to escape the heat.

So far I hadn’t seen anything aside from trees, bushes and ferns during my journey and I was starting to doubt I’d find shelter before nightfall.

Sighing, I laid back against a patch of soft blue moss scattered over the roots of the tree, using it to prop my head up like a pillow. Staring at the tree branches swaying overhead, the warm breeze sliding over my face, it was impossible not to remember the last time I’d even seen so many trees. It had to have been when I was a child back on Earth.

I used to love running around outside and playing back then. There was always something so enticing about the great outdoors that fueled my imagination, even though my only proximity to nature was a tiny park near my rundown apartment complex. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before all the wonder and magic of my little slice of the woods was quickly uprooted and destroyed to make room for new drug stores and even more low-income housing.

I learned quite early on that people were greedy and only cared for themselves if they could be so crass to destroy one little park, and that knowledge had molded me into the woman I was now. There was no room for kindness, no room to be weak. Every day was a struggle to survive against those who looked down on you and tried to use you for their own benefit.

When I first joined the Krosa colonization program, I thought that it would be a fresh start, a chance to experience life away from the greed and the pollution on Earth, to break away from my measly life and be someone else.

And now look where I was. I’d been cast out, treated like scum by those that should have helped me, but instead left me to die. I had trusted Maxwell, and I mean really trusted him, and he’d attacked me.

And now I’m stuck here to live out the rest of my days in this new, savage world… But you know what? Fuck everyone else. I don’t don’t need anyone but myself. I won’t just survive down here, I’ll live…

I wouldn’t let someone take advantage of me ever again. I’d start a new life here, on my own terms and no one else’s, because if there was one thing I’d learned about life, it was that you couldn’t trust anyone.

???

As I slammed into the ground, I felt every cut, bruise, and stab wound covering my body. Everything ached, but I couldn’t give up now, even though my body silently begged me to rest. I had to fight, to defeat my adversary and prove myself worthy before it was too late.

Sitting up, I watched dispassionately as my own blood dripped onto the dirt from a laceration on my side, ignoring the sharp sting that only seemed to spread. Tasting blood, I spit, trying to push off the floor. I fell back down as my arms gave out. My muscles screamed in protest, the pain from my wounds multiplying until my vision wavered and dimmed.

“Stay down, you’ve already lost this fight,” my opponent chided, staring down at me callously, as if he’d already won.

My tail curled in anger and I clenched my fists, my claws digging into the palms of my hands and creating even more bloody wounds.

“He’s right,” one of my brothers spoke up from the crowd gathered in a loose circle around the two of us. My eyes met his and he shook his head. “Just submit, Elazar. It’s not worth losing your life.”

I grit my teeth, my gaze shifting to the female watching the fight from across our camp. My female… Only, she was standing there with her arms crossed, glaring at me with such blatant disgust.

My heart ached at the mere sight of her disapproval.

I’ve failed to prove my worth…

All the strength and fury I had before drained away, replaced by a much deeper ache as I lowered my head in submission, giving up.

I know when I’m defeated…

My opponent huffed before throwing a simple bone knife down in front of me. “Cut your braid.” He didn’t even stay to watch my impending humiliation, simply turning and walking away. The onlookers did so as well, not even sparing me another glance as they rushed to my opponent’s side. The same people who had once praised me were now congratulating him for his victory while I was treated like a bug in the mud.

Grabbing the bone knife, I reached up and sifted through my hair until I found a long, thick braid–a symbol of my status as a mated male–and cut it free from my scalp. I stared down at the severed strands in my bloodied hand, feeling as though my heart was barely beating as I struggled to come to terms with what this meant.

How could I have failed? I was a strong, proud male and yet I could not even defend my right to keep my own mate safe from another’s challenge.

She isn’t your mate anymore…

“Don’t fret so much, brother. Sometimes it’s just not meant to be.” My brother patted my shoulder before walking towards the center of camp, leaving me alone to dwell on my misfortune.

I didn’t acknowledge his retreat as I slowly made a fist, clenching the severed braid hard, unable to accept the fact I’d lost again. It seemed I was always destined to lose.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I rose unsteadily to my feet, holding my bleeding side with a grimace. My wounds weren’t severe enough to kill me, though part of me wished that they were. Maybe if I had died in the fight, I wouldn’t have to suffer the icy sting of defeat. I wouldn’t have to suffer the loss of another mate.

After one long, mournful moment, I released the braid, limping off into the forest in shame.