Chapter Text
Sirens blared overhead. People were running through the cramped halls. The automated voice called over the intercom, directing everyone to abandon ship. Panicked, passengers and crew members alike shoved past each other. The ship lurched to the side and people stumbled. More screaming. There was a fire in the engine room. The ship was hit. Some kind of energy beam, cried several engineers that fled from the deck.
Tears stung your eyes as you ran through the halls. Your shoulder slammed painfully into the wall when the ship lurched again. A sob was ripped from your throat.
The Aurora was going down.
You were all going to die. You slumped against the wall, surrendered to your fate, but whimpered when strong hands pulled you to your feet. You heard them yell your name over the roar. You shakily glanced up and met the amber eyes of Ryley Robinson, the non-essential systems maintenance chief, and your supervisor.
“Get up. Get to your pod,” Ryley said, his voice calm despite the chaos surrounding you both. His appearance showed how much he was affected, though. His tawny skin, an orange-brown, was tinged pink and his deep brown hair with teal highlights was a mess.
He pulled you to your feet, shoved you in the direction of your lifepod, flashed you a thumbs up and bolted down another hall towards his own pod. You frowned at his retreating figure but turned your teary gaze away. He was right, you needed to get to your pod. You could do this. You HAD to do this.
You took a deep breath and ran the rest of the way to your escape pod. Numbers flew by as you dodged around people trying to get into their pods. Finally, pod 64 was within sight. You slammed into the wall next to the door and slapped your hand against the palm scanner. The pad beeped and the door slid open. You jumped in and activated the launch sequence.
The next moments were a blur. You looked out the window in your pod. Other pods ejected from the ship and shot down to the blue planet below. Not many got far, though, when a beam of light blasted through the Aurora. You watched in horror as lifepods, far too many to count, were caught in the explosion and exploded. Your pod, thankfully, was spared from the blast, but it was still too close. Debris from the blast crashed into your pod, throwing it off course. Fear and panic filled your mind as your pod spun out of control, your pods automated voice relaying information that fell on deaf ears.
This had to be a nightmare. None of this should be happening. Everything turned black before your pod crashed into the water.
You woke to ringing in your ears. Everything hurt, but you were alive. That was a good thing, right?
Shakily, you pushed yourself from your seat and took in the state of your pod. Panels were barely holding, and it looked like the systems were fried, but at least there was no fire. You don’t think you could handle fire on top of everything else right now.
With a huff you dragged yourself over to the storage unit in the back of your lifepod and pulled out the PDA.
“Please turn on,” You murmured and tapped the screen. Nothing. You groaned and smacked the side of it, “Stupid Alterra tech.” The screen flashed to life and you had to stop yourself from laughing. You should have known. Even high-tech crap needs a good smack every now and then.
“This PDA has rebooted with one directive, to keep you alive on an alien world,” the monotone voice of the PDA said.
You gripped the PDA tight, your knuckles turned white. You glanced up to the hatch in the ceiling of your pod. “That really happened,” Your voice rattled out, “It wasn’t a nightmare.”
Dread filled you once more and you rushed over to the radio and slammed your hands on either side of it. Shakily, you tried to turn it on. As if to mock you further, the whole darn thing falls off the wall.
Okay, now you’re really going to panic.
You collapsed to the floor and hugged your knees to your chest. What were you going to do? Were there any other survivors? Maybe you could find someone? What would Ryley do?
You slowed your frantic breathing.
Right, what would Ryley do?
You sat up slowly, hands shaking worse than a tree in a hurricane. You glanced up at the fabricator.
That’s what Ryley would do. He’d fix the pod up as best as he can and then go and try to find other survivors.
You pulled yourself up to your feet and approached the fabricator. As if the stars decided you needed some mercy, the thing powered up and allowed you to fabricate a repair tool. You gripped the tool tightly and turned to the damaged radio. Unfortunately, while you had managed to get the thing back on the wall (with plenty of struggling), it still wouldn’t power on.
“Everything else is working, so why aren’t you, you piece of junk?” You grumbled to the thing. You heaved a loud sigh and turned your gaze once more to the hatch. You had the PDA scan the environment outside and discovered that it was extremely earth like, meaning fresh air.
Almost too eagerly, you climbed the ladder and shoved the hatch open. Fresh, ocean smelling air filled the pod and you poked your head outside. You stared in awe at the surrounding scenery, but screamed when some weird bird-manta ray thing SQUAKED at you.
You fell back into your pod with an ‘oof’. With a mean glare directed at the creature flying away, you climbed the ladder once more and stood on top of the pod. You turned around to fully take in the surrounding scenery. To one side of your pod stood a large island reminiscent of the volcano islands of Hawaii. The idea of solid ground was enticing, but that meant you had to get in the water…
You shook your head and turned your gaze to the other side of your pod and noted what seemed to be a wall of rocky mountains in the distance. You followed the line of mountains to either side, only for them to disappear behind the island.
“Great,” You grumbled and sat down. You dragged your hands down your face and glared at the water below your pod. You turned your glare to the distance between your pod and the island.
“Only way I’m getting to solid ground is swimming. I left earth to get AWAY from the ocean, now I’m stranded on some kind of ocean planet. Why does life hate me?” You hissed and pulled out your PDA and read through its “survival guide”.
Alright, so you needed a scanner. You used your only battery and what little titanium you had to make the repair tool. What are the chances that this star's forsaken planet has titanium and batteries?
…
VERY likely apparently.
You cursed silently as you broke yet another rock that contained pure titanium. You had even found some weird mushroom that the PDA said could be turned into a battery with copper. After you had gotten over your awe at the beauty of this planet’s underwater world, you quickly grew annoyed at how easy it was to find materials that were considered rare back on earth. You plucked up the chunk of titanium and swam back to your pod and climbed in from the bottom hatch.
You sighed and plopped your newly acquired materials on the fabricator and input data for the scanner. You sat down on the storage unit and rubbed your hands together.
How long had it been since you crashed here? How were the others fairing? Were there hostile creatures here?
You’d only had to deal with a weird fish that… screamed? And blew itself up? You were thankfully far enough away that it didn’t hit you, but it was still extremely alarming.
You had no idea what kind of nightmares could be on this planet. Stars! What laid at the bottom of Earth’s oceans was still a mystery! Now you were trapped on a planet that seemed more ocean than anything. There was no avoiding the ocean.
You already had to swallow your fear and dive in. You just needed to stay in this little safe zone you found yourself in. No need to explore, right?
Wrong. You needed silicon rubber if you were going to make a dive suit and an oxygen tank.
“Where the hell am I gonna find silicon?” You grumbled and yanked open your pods hatch for what felt like the hundredth time that DAY.
You swam for a little while, which prompted your PDA to say that swimming is your favorite activity, until you found what looked like a kelp forest. Okay. Kelp is good, right? Maybe you can find something edible there, too? You were running low on rations.
Nearly fearless, you dived into the forest. The water turned green and murky the deeper you went, making it harder to see. The setting sun didn’t help your vision either. You looked around and found… glowing yellow blobs. Clinging to the kelp.
Alright. Not normal kelp. Right. That’s fine.
You swam over and managed to yank one of the things off when you heard something. You spun as best you could and held the blob out in self-defense. There was nothing but empty water surrounding you. You scowled, but the subtle burning in your lungs reminded you that you needed air. You kicked your feet and returned to the surface gasping. You glared at the setting sun and decided it would be best to hide in your pod until daybreak. There was no way you were staying in the open water at night.
Unbeknownst to you, something swam beneath. Red eyes followed you as you dived back into the water to retrieve more creepvine seeds. They followed you even as you returned to the metal bubble you emerged from.
Once inside the safety of your pod, you chucked the yellow blobs onto the fabricator to see what it could do to this. You were delighted to discover that these ‘creepvine seed clusters’, as the PDA dubbed them, could be processed into silicone rubber.
Gleefully, you processed all of the seeds you brought back into silicone rubber and had more than enough to make not only a whole new dive suit, but also flippers and an oxygen tank. Now with your new suit and tank, you were ready for more, begrudging, exploration. First, you needed to eat, drink, and sleep.
You held up your last nutrient bar and grimaced, “Alright, I’m gonna need food.” You glanced down to the half empty water bottle, “And water.”
You heaved a heavy sigh and slowly ate the nutrient bar before drinking the rest of your water. You then curled up on the floor of your pod. You can search for food and clean water tomorrow, now you needed sleep.
…
You don’t know how long you managed to sleep (not long based on how dark it was outside the hatch window still), but you woke to a strange sound.
Scritch… scritch…
Was-was that scratching?
You jolted up and scrambled away from the hatch as quickly as possible.
“Oh, hell naw,” You hissed and grabbed your knife. You may be a scaredy cat when it comes to the ocean, but this thing interrupted your sleep, and you REALLY needed your sleep after the crap day you had. You were going to stab the daylights out of its face if it tried to get in the pod.
Your pod swayed to the side and you stumbled from your perch and dropped your knife. The knife slid away and you fumbled to cling to the fabricator, your eyes closed tightly. The pod swayed one last time before everything stilled.
You clung desperately to the fabricator and turned your gaze to the bottom hatch. You waited and waited, but nothing more happened. The scratching was gone. Your pod was still. Whatever was out there was gone. You slowly pried your white-knuckled grasp from the fabricator and carefully crept over to where your knife had slid. You snatched up the blade's handle and darted away from the hatch.
“Alright,” You shakily said and pointed your knife at the hatch, “Alright. This… This is fine? It’s gone. Right?”
Everything was still and quiet. You don’t know how long you sat there, but by the time you finally moved, the sun had risen. You remained where you were for a bit longer until your stomach growled.
You jumped at the sound and pressed a hand against your stomach with a groan. Right, you had intended on searching for some food when the sun came up. But…
You frowned and turned your gaze back to the hatch. You inhaled deeply and looked up at the top hatch.
Better safe than eaten, right?
You quickly climbed the ladder and carefully pulled yourself out of the pod. The sky was clear and the water was still. You grumbled but leaned over the side. Nothing, not even a single freaking big eyed fish. You sighed in relief before you glanced up towards the island.
No. No no no nonononono!
The island is even farther than before! You fell to your knees.
Whatever tormented you last night pushed your pod away from the island. There was no way you were going to swim there now.
There was no way you would make it! You- you would drown! Or get eaten! You were fish food!
You curled into yourself, hands shaking as you pressed them into your chest. You had to get your breathing under control. You were going to pass out at this rate. And probably roll off the top of your pod.
‘Think,’ You thought, ‘What would Ryley do?’
You took a deep breath and tried to calm your fluttering heart. You opened your eyes and allowed them to fall on the now distant island.
Ryley wouldn’t let this stop him. He would find food and water. He would swim all the way to the island if need be.
You sat up and blinked. Ryley would fabricate a seaglide. You groaned and rubbed your hand down your face and slid back into the pod. You grabbed up the PDA and pulled up schematics. Thankfully, everything loaded up and you found the seaglide.
“Copper wire, titanium, lubricant, and a battery,” you said and smiled. You had some copper wire, a battery, and some chunks of titanium left in your storage unit. “All I’m missing is lubricant.”
You paused, looked up from your PDA, and just stared into nothing as realization hit you.
The creepvine seed clusters. They didn’t just make silicone rubber; they could also be converted into lubricant.
You dramatically slumped to the floor with a groan, “Un-freaking-believable…”
You had gathered a bunch yesterday, but you were so excited about the silicone rubber that you converted ALL of the seed clusters into it, not once thinking “Hey, I should make some lubricant too!”
You grumbled angrily and plopped your head against the wall next to the fabricator. It beeped a few times before the machine powered down. The moment of self-pity ended abruptly with the sound of your empty stomach. With an exaggerated huff, you pushed away from the wall and turned your exasperated gaze to the bottom hatch. You didn’t want to go through it, but you didn’t want to have to jump off the top of the pod.
You huffed and dragged yourself over to the bottom hatch. It opened easily and you scrutinized the water. Nothing. Again. You scowled and directed your eyes to the hatch door. No scratch marks, as if nothing happened last night. Your frown deepened as you gingerly pulled on your new wetsuit, mask, and oxygen tank. The water lapped at your flippers when you dropped your feet into the water. With a steadying breath, you dropped into the water.
Just as before, you were amazed at the beauty that surrounded you. Apprehension followed the awe quickly and you found yourself nervously looking around. Wherever your pod ended up floating to, it looked far different from the safe little biome you were in before. You could barely see the seafloor and what could be seen looked red.
Alright, totally not ominous.
You shuddered and swam out from under your pod and poked your head out of the water. You located the island and started swimming towards where you think your pod used to be. From there, you’d find the kelp forest and maybe something edible. Maybe you should try to catch one of those weird fish.
Except… There were no fish. No bug-eyed fish or pink fish. None. Not even in the kelp forest when you managed to find it. It was as if the fish were avoiding you.
Or something scared them off.
That thought did not sit well with you. You shuddered and quickly started to gather seed clusters from nearby vines. You shoved ten clusters into your pockets before you decided you had enough. While you were gathering the seeds, you felt as if… something was watching you. You would be the first to admit that you had spun around one too many times in an attempt to find what was watching you.
Surely you were just paranoid. You already checked the area. There wasn’t a single fish in the area, which still unnerved you. You just wanted to get back to your pod, construct the seaglide, and search the island for anything non-toxic to consume.
You huffed, allowing bubbles to escape your mask, and glanced one last time down into the kelp forest. There was nothing there. You had a bit more room in your pockets, you could grab a few more clusters before you left. Just as you were about to swim further into the forest, something caught your attention. Deeper in the kelp forest, in a far denser part of the forest, the kelp was pushed aside by something. You paused, perplexed, and watched the shadow move.
Was… was it getting bigger?
That was when you heard a deep rumble. The sound jolted you back to your senses and you spun around as best you could in the water. You needed to get back to your pod. NOW!
Frantically, you propelled yourself forward and away from the large shadow. Whatever that thing was, it was massive, and it was getting closer. You didn’t get far though, when another shadow darted out from under you. The new shadow, far smaller than the one behind you, was quick to cut off your path and it turned towards you.
Okay. So, you weren’t imaging things. You were being watched. More importantly…
What the heck was that thing? Some kind of weird prehistoric SHARK?!
Panic settled deep in your guts. The monster before you opened its elongated snout (oooh that’s a lot of teeth) and roared at you. With a muffled, bubbly yell, you pushed away from the creature’s jaws as they snapped close. It growled and swam after you, its mouth wide open once more.
You had to get away! But where?! There was a monster trying to bite your face off and another somewhere behind you. Would they leave you alone if you swam to the surface? That was your best option right now.
You flailed your arms and kicked your legs harder, but you only succeeded in tangling a vine around your flipper. You were trapped. You were about to die. Panic rushed through your bones. You never should have left your pod! The creature roared once more as it lunged at you. Instinctively, you covered your head and prayed your death was a quick one.
The kelp shuddered and swayed as a strong current rushed through. The creature you were about to be lunch for was suddenly silent and the water seemed to still. Bubbles escaped your mask and you peered around your arms.
There… there was nothing there.
The shark-thing was gone.
You hesitantly lowered your arms and glanced down at the vine wrapped around your flipper. Movement drew your eye further below and you felt your blood run cold. The larger shadow from before disappeared into the darkness, leaving behind what looked like blood and chunks of…
Oh. That was the shark monster.
You gagged and pressed a hand against your mask over your mouth and turned your gaze away. You floated there for a second, but it was apparently too long, because the rumble from before echoed from beneath you.
You squeaked and, with renewed urgency, you yanked your foot free from your flipper. You kicked desperately and propelled yourself away from the kelp.
Below you, two glowing white eyes followed your frantic swimming before they fell on the flipper you left behind. The owner of the eyes hummed deeply.
You breached the surface of the water with a gasp and desperately slapped at the water. The only thing that mattered was getting back to the safety of your pod. You had to get away from whatever just killed the thing that was about to eat you.
You swam faster than you had ever before. It felt like you were being watched, which only served your urgency. As soon as you got to your pod, you slammed the hatch open. You swiftly dragged yourself into your pod.
With a loud gasp, you cried out, “What the hell was that thing!? And what the hell ATE IT?!”
You shakily crawled away from the hatch and curled up near the storage unit. Tears stung your eyes and a sob ripped itself from your throat. You were alone. The radio didn’t work. You weren’t anywhere near where the Aurora crashed. You were going to die on this waterlogged planet.
Several more sobs ripped from your body and the last thing you heard was a deep hum before darkness took you.
Your eyes fluttered open and you gazed around the pod. You slowly pushed yourself into a sitting position and hissed. Your entire body was sore. It felt like you ran a marathon. What did you do?
You paused and glanced up at the top hatch. The sun was starting to set and your stomach rumbled angrily. Right. You went out to get creepvine seed clusters and was attacked by some weird shark, then…
You whimpered and rubbed at your swollen eyes. Something, possibly even more dangerous, saved your life. You were… relieved, but also scared.
Aaand hungry. Very, very hungry, you concluded when your stomach twisted uncomfortably. You sighed and pushed yourself onto your feet. Your legs wobbled and quaked, but you forced your way over to the fabricator and started converting the seed clusters into lubricant.
While you waited for the fabricator to finish, you murmured to yourself, “Have to build the seaglide and get to the island. There should be water and something edible there, right? There’s no way in hell I’m gonna die from starvation or dehydration when I barely survived a monster.”
The lubricant finished fabricating and you quickly pulled up the blueprint for the seaglide and plopped down the rest of the materials needed for the seaglide.
“Do I really want to leave my pod after that? Nope. Not in a million years, but I don’t want to be the idiot that died because I’m afraid of the water,” You grumbled and pressed a hand against your wrathful stomach. “I just need to get to the island, scan everything until I find something consumable, and head back to the pod-.”
You stopped and frowned, “Wait. Why come back? The only thing I’d need would be the med kit dispenser, the fabricator, and my storage.”
Why didn’t you think of this before?
“I just need, what, a habitat builder and the necessary materials and I can live on the island until rescue comes,” You smiled brightly and wiped at the tear stains on your cheeks.
With your new goal in mind, you pulled out the PDA and read up on what you’d need for the island. You frowned deeply at the list. You slowly dragged your eyes over to the hatch and shuddered.
Yeah, no. There was no way you were going back in the water, except to swim to the island and preferably stay there.
The fabricator beeped and you glanced over to your newly completed seaglide. It was a bulky, heavy thing, but it would serve its purpose and get you to the island safely.
Hopefully.
You glanced up at the top hatch and scowled. There wasn’t much daylight left. If you wanted to get to the island today, you had to leave now.
You quickly had the fabricator whip up a habitat builder with your remaining materials, which you safely secured to your belt alongside the repair tool. You then directed your attention to the storage unit. You grabbed the fire extinguisher (who knows, you might need it), the medkits, rubber, lubricant, and flares.
You heaved out a sigh and grimaced at the weight of everything. If these things weren’t designed to be somewhat buoyant, you were pretty sure you would have sunk as soon as you dropped into the water. As it stood, it was much easier to handle the weight when you were submerged in water than if you trekked across land. It also helped that the seaglide was what pulled the weight, really.
You smiled beneath your mask and used the seaglide to surface. The sun glinted off the surface of the water, casting the world around you in beautiful hues of orange and blue. Shimmering water lapped at the sides of the lifepod. You watched the sky, mesmerized as the sun lowered to the horizon and the twin moons danced overhead.
You shook your head and circled around the lifepod. In the distance, the island loomed. The distance was still daunting, but you were confident that the seaglide would get you to the island safely.
“Safety, here I come,” you said and ducked back into the water. With a bit of struggling, you managed to get the seaglide to start up and the device propelled you forward, easily pulling you through the water.
Despite your desire and NEED to get to the island before dark, you had to surface to get some fresh air and correct your course. Every time you had to surface, you twisted around until you spotted the sun. The sky darkened considerably since the last time you surfaced, but the oranges and purples that danced on the horizon around the sun were gorgeous.
The horizon. The sun was right on the horizon.
You were out of time.
You quickly dropped back into the water and stopped the seaglide, so you could activate the flashlight function. That was when you felt it. Your skin crawled and your grip tightened on the seaglide.
You were being watched.
You spun around, searching, but there was nothing. You frowned and slowly directed not only your gaze but also the seaglide’s flashlight downwards.
There. A ways below you, were a pair of eyes.
You stared, frozen. The eyes glowed red with a small white pupil. You slowly moved to the side and the eyes followed your every movement. Alright. That’s fine. Your instincts were totally not screaming “you’re about to get eaten”. No siree! You were totally fine.
It was deathly silent in the water as you and the red-eyed creature watched each other. The longer you stared at the creature, the darker it became on the surface, but that only allowed you to watch the bioluminescence of the creature light up. It was… mesmerizing. Slowly, the red-eyed creature shifted its gaze and low chirps and clicks flitted up from it.
You jolted. The thing was distracted. You could escape! You swung your eyes back to your seaglide and moved to turn it on but froze.
The deep clicks of the red-eyed creature petered out and soft trills and chirps echoed in response. The softer sounds grew louder as whatever was making them drew closer.
Shivers danced up your spine and your muscles locked, freezing you in your place. You shakily returned your gaze down to where the red-eye creature was and watched as a set of white eyes joined the first. They chirped and clicked at each other before they directed their gazes back to you.
You were frozen.
There were two of them.
Well.
The white-eyed creature titled its head (you guessed based on how the eyes shifted) and swam upwards, towards you. You jerked away, but it was only when the thing released a deep rumble that your blood ran cold, and dread settled deep in your bowls.
You knew that sound. You heard it back in the kelp forest when that shark thing attacked you. When you were almost eaten.
The white-eyed creature swam closer, its shadow becoming more detailed, and the rumble became louder. You could vaguely see petal-like fins lining its large round face and large sharp teeth. Bubbles escaped your mask with your panicked yelp. Before either of those things could act, you turned the seaglide on and sped away.
The one that rumbled made a new noise, as if surprised. You heard one of the creatures growl while the other chirped before they seemed to swim after you. You were not going to look back to check, though, because, frankly, you didn’t feel like becoming fish food.
You forced the seaglide to propel you through the water faster, ignoring the warnings your PDA was spouting about pushing the seaglide past the recommended speed. If the motor was burned out, fine. If the seaglide’s battery ran out, fine. You didn’t even care if the seaglide itself got fried. The only thing you cared about at that moment, was getting to the island and out of the water. Away from the monsters that were chasing you.
The water was dark and it was difficult to see. You were absolutely terrified at the idea that you were actually headed away from the island. That you were being herded further out. Your fears were put to ease, though, when the sandy banks of the island finally came into sight. You were going to make it. You escaped the creatures! You allowed a smile to spread across your face.
Lady Luck was never truly on your side, though.
Something large wrapped around your flipper-less foot and you were yanked back. Bubbles rushed from your mask as you screamed. The seaglide ripped itself from your grip, your hands extended helplessly as you watched the device launch itself into the sand just off the island.
You were so close! Why? Why couldn’t you have this?
A new wave of tears stung your eyes as you were pulled away from the beach, away from safety. Your hands clawed at the water futilely and your free leg kicked out, trying to pull away from the creature. It was hopeless. Eyes squeezed shut, you whimpered. This was it. This was how the foolish janitor of the Aurora died.
No… no… No! You were going to live! You were going to that damned island! And you were going to SURVIVE! This planet was NOT going to take you!
Your eyes snapped open and you snarled beneath your mask. You wrenched your free leg back and thrust it back at the creature. Your flipper managed to smack against the thing’s chest, but it did little to deter the beast. Instead, you heard the creature growl deeply and felt it tighten its grasp on your ankle.
Fine, be that way.
You snarled and snatched your dagger from your belt. You twisted and swung the dagger blindly down at your captor. Your adrenaline and rage fueled swing was halted, the blade hovered inches from the monster that held you. You swung your feral glare to the thing that grabbed your wrist and was ready to fight it, but froze.
The thing wrapped around your wrist (more like your entire FOREARM) looked terrifyingly like a hand. No. It didn’t LOOK like a hand. That WAS a hand! These things had HANDS! What fish had hands?
The rage that fueled your adrenaline swiftly turned into panic. Your free hand flew up and grabbed at the dark blue hand that was wrapped tightly around your wrist and met the red eyes of the creature. The red eyes narrowed and its mouth stretched into a sharp toothed snarl. It lowered its face towards yours. The first thing you noticed was how a crescent shaped mark cut across its face, leaving one side a deep blue and the other a silvery color. The silvery side looked almost like a crescent moon. The second thing you noticed was how BIG the creature was compared to you. Its hand covered your entire forearm and its face was several times larger than you own. The final thing you noticed, as your eyes snapped towards them, were the teeth that were steadily moving towards you, maw opening. This thing’s fangs were longer than your middle finger.
Oh hell. Those teeth could carve STEEL.
The other monster, which held your leg firmly, chirped sharply at its red eyed companion. You snapped your attention down to the white eyed monster and froze. Like the red eyed one, this one was also massive. Its body was covered in orange, red, and yellow scales with specks of white that seemed to glow. All along its body were long and flowy fins and its head framed with orange petal-like frills. Your eyes trailed the frills down to the creature's eyes and, upon seeing that you were looking at the white-eyed creature, the frills around its round face flared out like the flames of a sun and its mouth stretched into a sharp tooth smile.
Rightfully scared, you desperately tried to pull your leg away from the sun-colored creature, but found you were too lightheaded to put up much of a fight. It had been way too long since you last surfaced for air. The creature seemed to frown at your renewed panic and weak attempts to escape. It oh-so-gently tugged you closer to it, and away from its companion holding your wrist, but froze when your PDA spoke.
“Warning: 30 seconds of oxygen remaining,” The PDA unhelpfully provided.
The other creature growled at the sound of your PDA and your gaze was drawn back to it. Now that you looked at it(and weren’t focused on the teeth advancing for your face), you noticed that the red-eyed monster was darker and its fins were as frilly as the white eyed. It had a silvery white belly, much like the crescent mark on one half of its face, and the rest was covered in deep blue scales. Everywhere the blue scales were, glowing white scales were speckled about. It almost reminded you of the night sky, so full of stars. The creature was also covered in scars, more so than its bright colored companion.
The creature snarled and your eyes darted back up to its face. Once again, the red eyed creature brought its face closer to you, mouth opening. Part of you wanted to panic, to try and escape but another part was too exhausted and dizzy. Your lungs burned painfully and you were keenly aware that you were suffocating under your mask. You released a strangled sound and gripped at your chest with your free hand.
“Warning: Zero seconds remaining,” The PDA announced.
The darkness that probed at the edge of your vision swirled before it consumed you. The last thing you heard were alarmed chirps from the sunny creature and a deep rumble from the moon-faced creature.
So, this was how your tale was going to end.
Or… perhaps not.
You gasped harshly and you forced yourself to roll onto your knees as you hacked and coughed as a result. Your body shuddered with the force of the coughs. You pressed one hand to your bare cheek while the other sunk into cool sand. Where was your mask? You glanced around, no mask in sight. Instead, you found yourself sitting on wet sand, foliage of the island to one side and the ocean to the other. You… were on the island? How? Why weren’t you dead? You were certainly grateful, but there was no way. This had to be a dream. You were in the grasps of two monsters. You ran out of oxygen and were suffocating. You should be dead.
You heaved in a deep sigh and collapsed onto your side. You did not have enough energy yet to worry about why you were alive. The sky was dark, and you were so tired and it was so cold. Shakily, you curled up with your back to the water and hugged your knees. Tears pricked at your eyes and you closed them tightly. You would have stayed like that all night if the sound of splashing water hadn’t startled you into action.
You sprung up from your position as quickly as you could, only to fall back into the sand when the world seemed to lurch to the side. You whimpered, your vision swimming, and hunched over the sand.
At the water’s edge, not too far from you, you heard a gentle coo and a deep chirp. When those sounds didn’t encourage you to turn around, one of the creatures grumbled and splashed some water towards you. You yelped in surprise when cold water splashed over you. You shivered and flinched at the angry chirp, but the sound did not seem to be directed at you. Rather, it was directed at the one who splashed you, based on what sounded like snickering.
You scowled over your shoulder to find the sun and moon creatures staring at each other. Rather, the sun one was glaring at the nonchalant shrug of the moon one. Shivering, you wrapped your arms tightly around yourself and shifted slightly. The wet sand beneath you crunched noisily, drawing the creatures' attention back to you. The dark colored one narrowed its eyes, but the sunny one smiled brightly and cooed at you.
Now that you weren’t underwater and about to die, you could fully see the two creatures that sat in the shallow water a little ways away from you. They had to have been around 30 feet long, their long tails disappearing into the dark depths. Around their hips and necks were deep red frills, and their fingers ended in sharp claws. They were almost reminiscent of merfolk back on earth.
‘More like monstrous sirens,’ You thought and tucked your knees against your chest and folded your arms over them, trying to keep in what little warmth your wetsuit didn’t sap from you.
The sunny one tilted its head and cooed again. Your eyebrows dropped into a glare and you shivered against the cold air. The creature frowned and carefully placed a large hand on the sand. Your eyes fixated on the hand and flinched back when the creature pulled itself onto the beach. Undeterred, the sunny creature crawled closer, cooing when you whimpered, eyes filled with fear, and you pulled away when it reached out to you.
The dark one growled deeply and wrapped a webbed hand around the frilly orange tail of its companion and yanked it back. Once its counterpart was back next to it, the moon-faced creature smacked the sunny monster upside the head and hissed. You furrowed your brows at their antics, but decided it was best to put some distance between you and the creatures. You slowly turned to crawl up the beach, but your stomach released a mighty roar.
The chirping argument at the water's edge ceased and you hesitantly glanced over your shoulder at them. Red and white eyes bored into you and you felt your face burn from embarrassment. The three of you just stared at each for an uncomfortably long time. Long enough for your stomach to growl again.
The two creatures tilted their heads. The sunny creature chirped and pulled its body out of the water. Ever so slowly and carefully, the sun-colored creature dragged itself towards you again, cooing, while the moon creature fixed its glowing red stare on your stomach.
You scrambled away from the creature crawling towards you and flailed a hand out. “H-h-hold up!” You cried out, only to devolve into a coughing fit.
The creature closest to you jumped. Worried clicks and chirps fell from its mouth and it reached a hand out to you. The moon creature growled in warning, but its sunny companion ignored it and continued to call out to you. When you didn’t react, the sunny creature rumbled and dug its claws in the sand, pulling its body along the beach towards you.
You shuddered and covered your mouth, tears trickling down your cheeks. Just your freaking luck! Your throat was absolutely shot from before, there were freaking alien sirens staring at you, one of them was beaching itself to get at you, and you couldn’t even bring yourself to try and run away. You were too exhausted.
A soft coo sounded right next to you and you jumped and turned towards the sunny creature. It was hovering over you, its shadow blocking out the moon light. One of its hands settled in the sand next to you while the other hovered in the air. The creature trilled softly, tilting its head down towards you. Gingerly, the creature reached a hand out to you.
Scared, you squeezed your eyes close and bunched your shoulders up to your ears. Was your face about to get ripped off? Probably. Shaking, you prepared yourself for immense pain.
Instead of pain, you were met with a gentle touch to your cheek. Your eyes flung open and you were met with the gentle gaze of the creature. The sunny being smiled warmly and rubbed its thumb against your cheek, gently wiping away your tears. Shocked, you allowed the creature to cup your cheek. Its hand was so warm against your icy skin. Immediately, you leaned into the hand, seeking out the warmth your body craved. This unknowingly encouraged the creature to touch you further and drew the attention of the other creature.
The orange creature hummed and pulled the rest of its body closer to you. You tensed and flinched away from it as the creature slowly wrapped around you, its massive body caging you in. The creature settled around you and leaned its torso against your side. The encompassing warmth was so comforting, you couldn’t help but lean against the sunny creature.
The only sounds were the water lapping against the sand and the low rumbling from the creature warming you. This thing almost killed you, and yet you were taking comfort in it. Were you crazy for relaxing with what could only be an apex predator cuddling you? Absolutely. Were you still terrified? Certainly. Did you care at the moment? Not at all, you were finally warm. You sighed and practically melted into its side.
Dangerous and unpredictable, but so warm and comforting… The creature reminded you even more of the Sun. Yeah, that seemed like a good name for it.
The peace was abruptly interrupted by both your growling stomach and a very loud splash and thud. Startled, you yelped and pressed yourself into Sun’s side more as it lowered its head over you. You could feel its chest vibrate and it grumbled and chirped at the intruder.
Said intruder, being the moon-faced creature, growled back and dragged itself the rest of the way to you both. It shoved Sun’s face to the side and scowled down at your frightful expression. The moon creature huffed and reached out for you, far less carefully than Sun did.
You shied away from the extended hand, but that did not deter the creature from its goal. Which was… apparently poking your cheek with a claw? Your resulting squeak startled Sun and it hissed at its blue companion and shoved its hand away from you. The darker creature’s eyes darkened and it growled deeply before it brought up its other hand. Your eyes strained to see what was grasped in the creature’s hand, but the way the thing wriggled grossed you out.
Sun trilled happily and gently nudged you with its face. You jumped and looked back to Sun in confusion. Was it going to eat you now? At your fearful confused expression, Sun huffed and directed its white eyed gaze back to its friend. You followed suit and furrowed your brows at the surly creature glaring down at you.
“What?” You muttered, voice hoarse and timid.
The dark creature rumbled and lowered itself to the sand, laying on its stomach with its chin propped up on Sun’s tail. Now lowered, the red eyed creature held its hand out to you. Clutched between careful claws was one of those bug-eyed fish. The moon creature frowned at your shudder and pushed its hand forward again.
Your hands shot up and you gently pressed them against the deep blue hand that was pressing towards you, “What do you want me to do with that?”
Sun hummed and poked the fish before it pointed at its mouth. It then looked at you expectantly.
Yeah, no. You were still confused. Did… did Sun want you to give it the fish? Why couldn’t Moon (yeah, you were gonna call the grumpy one Moon) give it to Sun? And how did Moon even find the fish? Every time you looked, there were no fish.
Lost to your thoughts, your brows furrowed into a confused scowl. You didn’t even notice the chirps and clicks shared between the two creatures. You even failed to notice Moon pushing itself closer and lowered its face until it was level with yours. You did notice when Moon growled and drop the fish into your lap.
You squawked and threw your hands up and away from the flopping fish. Confused, you turned your eyes up to Moon, who was busy clicking at Sun. Lips pursed, you turned your gaze down to the fish and shuddered. Just what were you supposed to-
Your stomach rumbled loudly and you felt your cheeks burn when Sun and Moon returned their gazes to you. You lowered your gaze, but Moon growled and plucked the fish from your lap. You watched as it repeated the motions Sun did earlier, but this time Moon pointed at you.
You blinked, “You… want me to eat that?”
Moon cooed and dropped the fish back down into your lap. It laid down and its red eyes watched you intently as you stared at the fish. Behind you, Sun rumbled and laid its head down as well, a long sunray like frill slipped against your side.
“I… uh,” You turned your gaze away from the three sea creatures, two watchful predators and a helpless fish. What were you supposed to say? Did they even understand you? It seemed like they might somehow, but then what if you offend them? Were they just trying to fatten you up before they ate you?
At your hesitation, Sun cooed gently, and Moon rumbled deeply. You sighed and poked the fish, “Thanks, but I can’t eat it like this.”
Both large creatures titled their heads and trilled in confusion.
“Look, I appreciate it, but…” You hesitated and tried to curl into yourself but couldn’t with the fish still in your lap. “I don’t even know if I’m able to eat it.”
Moon rumbled and pushed itself up. It looked around and growled deeply, its fangs flashing in the moonlight. Meanwhile, Sun purred against your back and gently took the fish from you.
You sighed and lowered your gaze. Were they just going to eat you now? Instead of fattening you up? Being eaten sounded better then dying of starvation and thirst anyway. Your eyes dropped down to the tools still attached to your belt and spotted the white shell of your scanner. You stared blankly at the device before you gasped, “My scanner!”
Startled by your outburst, Sun and Moon shot up and flashed their threat displays. Sun’s frills flared out as it hissed, its colors deepening into dark reds and oranges. Sun’s eyes flashed orange and a glowing white pupil darted around, searching the area, as an arm wrapped around you. Moon’s frills quivered and bright, glowing patterns danced along its scales. Moon’s red eyes turned pitch black and thin red pupils locked onto the ocean, as if watching for any threats. Moon growled deeply and lowered its body over yours and pressed its hands against Sun’s side. You were effectively caged in between the two creatures.
You blinked.
You were, simply put, shell shocked. The way the two hovered around you, it was as if they were trying to protect you. But… Weren’t they trying to kill you earlier?
You paused and furrowed your brows, squinting at the brilliant bioluminescent glow that danced around you now that you were surrounded by their bodies. The more you thought about it, the more you realized that neither of these two actually tried to hurt you. If they had been watching you this entire time, which you were certain they were, then they must have had plenty of chances to kill you but they didn’t. Instead, they helped you. Sure, they scared you half to death, but one of them saved you from being eaten, one or both of them brought you to the island, and Moon even went out of its way to bring you food.
They weren’t trying to hurt you. They were… simply curious. That must be it. They were just curious about you.
You huffed out a laugh, bringing the two creatures’ attention to you. You offered them a meek smile and held your hands up slightly, “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to startle you guys, but… uh, I think I can find out if I can eat that fish.”
Sun chirped curiously and Moon titled its head. They both lowered their gazes closer to you, but their bodies were still tense. You could feel Sun’s muscles flexing against your back and see the rigidity in Moon’s body. You hummed softly, trying to ignore how nervous you were being sandwiched between two massive sea creatures, and slowly pulled the scanner off of your belt and held it up to them. The two tilted their heads at the strange device.
“I’m gonna need that fish back,” You pointed at the fish in Sun’s grasp and the large orange beast carefully dropped it into your lap as soon as Moon moved back. Before you could point the scanner at the fish, Moon’s hand wrapped around your arm and tugged it so the blue creature could see the device better. You immediately tensed up but quickly offered an explanation, “I can check the fish with this and it tells me about it.”
Moon rumbled lowly, its red eyes squinting down at the scanner, seemingly unconvinced that it could be useful. Sun, on the other hand, seemed curious and shoved Moon’s hand away from your arm. The orange creature then proceeded to gently push your hand holding the device down towards the fish. At the encouraging chirp, you scanned the bug eye fish. The scanner dinged and you pursed your lips as you pulled out your PDA. Moon hissed at the device, but you ignored the blue creature and loaded up the file.
The bug-eyed fish was called a Peeper and was categorized a prey item. You were, to say the least, disturbed at some of the fish’s abilities. You quickly skimmed the rest of the data entry until you spotted the assessment at the bottom of the page. “Assessment: Edible,” You read aloud and placed the PDA on the sand next to you. You turned your gaze back down to the fish and frowned, “Alright, so I can eat it, but it still needs to be cooked.” Sun chirped softly and you sighed, “I’m gonna need to make a fire.”
At the mention of fire, Sun perked up and clicked down at you. You looked back up to the orange creature and made a sound of questioning. Sun smiled and gently pushed you away from its side. Sun then motioned at its side where you could see bright yellow markings. You twisted around to face the sunny creature and knelt in the sand. You leaned closer to the markings, head tilted, when Sun trilled and the markings started to glow.
Fascinated, you leaned closer but jerked back when a wave of heat emanated from the bioluminescent markings. You scrambled away from the sudden heat and pressed you back into Moon’s chest, who rumbled softly at your reaction. You turned to scowl at the clearly amused creature, but tensed up when Moon’s hand reached around you and poked the scanner. You followed its hand as it then pointed to Sun. Sun, in response, cooed and laid its head down against the sand. You hesitated and twisted your hands together against your chest, unsure if you should try to scan Sun, which seemed to be what Moon wanted.
Moon growled, startling you, and scooped the scanner into its massive hand and held it in front of you. You swallowed the nervous lump in your throat and accepted the scanner from Moon’s hand. Moon dropped the sand back onto the beach and watched as you ran the blue light of the scanner across Sun. You frowned at how long the scan was taking, but sighed when your PDA dinged with the new data entry. You placed the Scanner down and pulled the PDA into your lap. Sun and Moon both chirped curiously, as if they were just as interested in what the PDA had to say about them as you were.
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Siren Leviathan, Sol subspecies
A leviathan class predator found on the smaller end. Siren leviathans are known to travel in pairs and hunt larger leviathans as their preferred prey.
1. Body: A muscular creature built for speed and shredding. The bioluminescent markings allow sirens to attract mates, prey, or scare off predators or trespassers in threat displays. The long, thick tail of sirens allows them to swim faster than most leviathan and lash out with incredible speed and deadly force.
2. Arms: This evolutionary trait is missing from most species on the planet, suggesting that sirens are likely one of the oldest species on the planet, despite their small size in comparison to other leviathans. Each arm ends in a webbed hand with each finger tipped with deadly claws designed to carve through stone and flesh.
3. Vocals: Siren communicate in a variety of trills, chirps, clicks, rumbles, growls, and hisses. The vocal range of sirens allow them to mimic the cries of other species. Sirens use their songs to mesmerize (enthrall) prey and lead them to their deaths. Sirens are able to release a roar loud enough to burst eardrums and stun nearby predators. If you hear a siren sing, then it’s too late.
4. Jaws: Powerful jaws and sharp teeth fit for tearing through the thick armor of larger leviathan-class species. Scans indicate sirens are able to survive on smaller prey, but their teeth become dull as a result.
5. Sol subspecies: Scans indicate presence of heat-proof tissues, allowing survival in extreme heat. Sol subspecies can produce heat from bioluminescent markings on sides of tail and torso. Alert: The markings can produce enough heat to cook fish or burn your skin off. Suggestion: Do not pet the sides.
The particular specimen scanned is male and a young adult. It can grow up to 70 feet.
Assessment: Extreme threat - Avoid in all circ*mstances. Reach not for the light, lest you be burned
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You could feel your blood drain from your face as you read through the data. Leviathan. These two were leviathans. The top of the top, and if the data entry were to be believed, these… SIRENS were able to hunt even larger leviathans. Your body trembled. Leviathans were nothing but fiction on Earth, but here? The accursed planet was home to those monsters of legend.
