Surrounded by darkness, a person clutches into a bloody stake covered in his own blood as he writes.
??? : My name is Ardam strainer. My rank... A mere foot soldier in the army of the Centorien federation.
The man mutters his words while writing. His lifeless eyes wandering to his surroundings as he kept writing without a pause.
Ardam: Two days ago, I was one of the unlucky fools selected for a recon mission... I was unvoluntarily added to a squad I never worked with, a mismatch of terrible soldiers who had barely been 2 months Into training. And now—
Ardam pauses for a second, immediately hiding his bloody pen back into his jacket and shoves the notebook beneath himself to hide it.
Soon the sound of something striking metal echoes, followed by a flash akin to torch as two figures walk towards the cage containing him.
Grey skinned, half reptile and bipedal, it was two beings of the race known as Nakars. The Nakars were a intelligent race akin to humans, the planet Ardam was on, was once their own personal homeland.
However about 4 Decades ago, the Humans who had destroyed their own planet reached them in a city sized space ship run purely on solar power and nuclear energy for their survival.
The humans's arrival was also well received by the Naraks at that moment. The leaders of Naraks even went as far as to provide shelter and food until the humans could completely adapt to the planet and the Naraks's customs and culture.
But now—
Narak guard: *bangs on cage with metal club* (aggressive Narak language)
Ardam: I know, I know. Don't need to be so aggressive about this.
Under the guard's suspicious gaze, Ardam slowly moves into sitting posture and extends his hand outside the cage.
Watching the submissive gesture, the guard grins with his reptile face, a type of saliva dripping down it's mouth as it bites with just enough force to make Ardam bleed but not enough to crush his hand.
The blood that flowed down was instantly gulped down in one go, followed by a wave of euphoria for the guard.
Guard: *turns away and moves to the next cage* (Insulting narak language)
Ardam: *watching the guard move on* These bastards real like torturing us don't they? As if capturing and killing most of us as food wasn't enough.
This was reality of current times, the humans were now treated as sworn enemies of Narak, treated as a source of nourishment and pleasure all for their blood and flesh.
Nevertheless Ardam knew he was going die as soon as he reached the Narak's base and gave up on escaping.
It wasn't the fact that he was scared of death, rather it was related to his current location. A apocalyptic zone know as "grey eye", a mountain range that neither the Narak nor the humans dared to venture into without necessary preparations.
Escaping just meant starving in the mountains before becoming scavenger food. Which compared to the instant death he would receive from the narak looked like mercy.
Yet just as the loss of blood kicked in and Ardam began drifting to sleep–
ROOAORRR!!
The transport cavern was awoken by a terrifying roar and before he knew it, Ardam was upside down in air with the cage slamed right out of the transport vehicle from a gigantic creature's tackle.
It was just for a moment, but as a moment of clarity hit him, Ardam saw the six floor tall beast with its head slammed against the vehicle.
Ardam: !!! A Rhowl!
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{Author's explanation}
{The Rhowl is a gigantic beast with the body similar to an earth's owl but it's beak is made up of four section that split in four directions like a claw.}
{The Rhowl also has three extremely flammable horns on back of it's neck to form a sort of armor with texture similar to a armoured bettle. Size variable from half a meter tall to a 8 stories building. }
___________
And as if to sprinkle salt on a injury, Ardam 's cage unluckily happened to be close to a ledge and the moment it landed on the ground, it collapsed into the neaby ravine, sent tumbling down into the darkness.
With each bounce of the cage, Ardam felt his body being flung around like a ball, each impact causing severe pain throughout his already injured body as he felt his mind fading into the abyss of death.
Ardam: what bad luck... First the ambush and now this... Is destiny trying to play around me or something. *looks at the approaching floor* curse my luck!
Each passing second made Ardam's heart palpitate, the blood flowing through his veins now being easily traceable as he felt his life reaching its end.
He knew he was going to die, his battery dead exoskeleton armor and all the bio-potions and enhancements were now nothing more than baggage he once carried and frankly, it no-longer mattered.
He watched the floor approaching and accepted his fate. His only hope now being that he could at least endure the suffering in hell for all the lives he had taken.
Ardam: *closes eyes* If I am reborn again, I hope it will be as an insect with no complex thoughts.
...
...
But wierdly there was no crash or impact but Ardam could fell the cage suddenly starting to spin and opened his eyes.
He locked around, his half broken hand still holding onto one of the metal bars he clutched mid-fall.
The cage was no longer falling, it was spinning– spinning down a web as thick as a human's hand like a ball being caught in a piece of cloth.
The cage never reached the ground, barely stopping after losing its speed about just 2 or so meters from the rough gravel and rocky soil of the mountains.
Yet Ardam wasn't thankful, the only thing in his mind was regret as his choice seemed to have been made by destiny itself.
Ardam: curse my luck... DAMMIT IT!!
Ardam looks around and finds a small gap in the cage bars.
Ardam: there is no turning back now. There is no such thing as a painless death in the wild... If I get off this place. I want to punch that fat commander even if it costs me my life.
??? : That's a good motivation boy. A fine goal if you ask me.
Ardam jumps to the other side of the cage as a masked person wearing a black cloak appears in front of him like a phantom.
Ardam: how did he get here!? I couldn't hear any sound at all. Its like he just, just popped out of thin air.
??? : don't grind your brain over the details, brat. I used this- *points at his Cloak* I sewed this out of a Gemstone Chameleon's skin.
The masked figure than pulls put a small bone dagger from his pocket, grabs it and slashed the metal cage open with a light wave.
Ardam watched as the figure jumped into the cage, walking towards him who was still clutching onto the metal bar.
??? : I haven't met a human as unlucky as myself in ages. But putting the pleasantries aside, We better get away from here before the big boys catches us.
Ardam: Big Boys? What the heck is that supposed to me— *gets lifted by the masked figure* Hey! What the heck Are you Doing!
??? : Getting us out of here is what I am doing! So you better shut your mouth if you don't want to be treated as Dinosaur feed!
Ardam shut his mouth Instantly as he was carried off by the figure in a piggyback pose.
He looked back at the cage, almost completely air-headed from the blood loss from earlier.
However his eyes were awaken as he watched a giant foot crush the cage, the web and the spider sleeping in the tree with a stomp.
Ardam: This guy... *looks at the figure* He really wasn't lying...! I don't know who he is but at least I know he isn't a normal person to live in this hell.
And before he knew it, Ardam eventually stopped panicking and overthinking and faintes on the man's shoulder, Half assured that his future will be decided on how he reacts to the man in the future.