His chest burned, his legs screamed, but stopping wasn't an option. He was no match for something like this, not now, not ever, and Snowy's power was draining him faster than he could recover.
The giant's steps shook the earth, each one sending tremors up his spine. Pebbles rattled loose from nearby cliffs, pattering against the ground. Even the other black creatures fled, scattering like frightened insects. Snail-like beasts oozed across the ground, leaving behind slick trails of liquid that sizzled against the dirt. Acid, maybe, but Darian didn't have time to care.
Spider-like horrors skittered past him, eight limbs propelling them in unnatural, sliding motions. Now that he was closer, he noticed none of them had faces, no eyes, no mouth, no expression. Their bodies moved without hesitation, like machines that only knew how to advance.
'Can they even speak?' The thought came unbidden. There was no answer. How could there be? None of this made sense. It felt like a dream or a nightmare he couldn't wake from.
The only monster he'd managed to kill before had a face. But in the haze of fear, he couldn't remember its features.
Ahead, a narrow river caught his eye. It was far too small for the giant to enter. But the creature wasn't chasing the others anymore, it was following him.
Darian's mind settled on a desperate plan. Dangerous, reckless, but maybe… his only hope.
'I don't know if this will work… but I have to try.'
Still running, he turned, putting the river at his back. He had maybe ten seconds before the creature crossed a certain point. If he timed this wrong, it would be the end.
He fired a small ice shard into a nearby tree—his marker. Once the giant's foot crossed it, he would unleash everything. And if it failed… the river would be his escape.
Okay… let's try this.
9 seconds.
The air between them rippled faintly from the difference in temperature, warm wind from the giant's massive body colliding with the freezing aura around Darian. His boots crunched against frost forming beneath his own feet. Every muscle in his legs coiled like a spring.
8 seconds.
His focus tightened, power gathering in his arm. The cold spread from his chest outward, biting into muscle and bone, searing with its own strange fire. His breath came out in thick clouds, hanging in the air like smoke.
7 seconds.
Veins bulged as more ice surged through them, glowing faintly blue under his skin. A sharp, metallic taste filled his mouth, as if the cold was freezing the very air he breathed.
6 seconds.
"It has to work… please." Snowy's presence pressed against his thoughts, a wordless pulse of urgency. His fingers twitched with raw energy, his nails turning pale as frost crusted over them.
5 seconds.
His hair began to shift back to its normal color, strands of white falling away into dark again. Steam curled from his shoulders as parts of his body returned to human warmth while the rest still froze.
4 seconds.
The pressure in his veins felt unbearable. It was as though thousands of tiny icicles were forcing their way toward his right arm. His joints ached with the strain.
3 seconds.
Half his body had returned to human flesh. His strength was fading rapidly, the cold threatening to slip away entirely. His heart pounded... not just from exertion, but from the sheer terror of seeing the titan's shadow swallow him.
2 seconds.
The shard forming in his arm was no longer just ice, it was crystal, dense and shimmering like a weapon forged in some ancient winter. He could hear faint cracking sounds from within his own arm, unsure if it was the shard… or his bones.
1 second.
The giant's foot came down just past the marker, the ground caving slightly beneath its weight.
Darian fired.
The force of the blast threw him and Snowy backward into the river, the shock of impact knocking the air from his lungs. The cold water stung like needles against his skin, numbing him almost instantly. He barely had enough strength to let the current drag him into the mouth of a small cave. Then darkness took him.
He never saw the shard hit.
It was massive, over six feet long, harder than steel. And when it struck the giant… nothing happened. It was like a mosquito landing on human skin. The monster didn't even notice.
If not for the recoil hurling him away, Darian would have died.
Eight hours later, consciousness returned.
"Where… am I?"
He pressed a trembling hand to his forehead, feeling dried river silt clinging to his skin.
"SNOWY! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
His voice echoed through the cave, bouncing off the damp stone walls. Snowy lay beside him, still breathing but unmoving.
The biologist in him took over, even through the haze of fear. He adjusted Snowy gently against his chest and began looking around.
The cave walls were carpeted in a deep black moss that shimmered faintly under the dim light. It wasn't like any moss he had seen before, each frond ended in tiny translucent filaments that swayed as if sensing the air. When his breath touched them, the tips curled inward, retracting like shy sea anemones. The texture was waxy and cold, and faint sparks of bioluminescence ran along its edges like pulses of electricity.
Farther in, clusters of glowing stalks sprouted from the floor, their pale-green light casting ghostly shadows against the rock. Their leaves were broad and veined with silver, but each vein slowly pulsed, carrying what looked disturbingly like liquid mercury. The plants emitted a low hum, almost inaudible, that made his teeth vibrate when he got too close.
Then, near a shallow pool, he spotted something that made him freeze: Earth flora. Or at least, what used to be. A patch of bluebell flowers, long extinct back home, had taken root here. But they were changed. The petals were thicker, coated in a crystalline sheen that refracted light in shimmering patterns. The stems were twisted, almost vine-like, as if the plant had adapted to cling to stone instead of soil.
"This… this shouldn't exist here," Darian whispered. XERBAB-7 had nothing like this, and this cave was nowhere near either planet.
He slid his pack from his shoulder, pulled out a small sampling kit, and began collecting. He scraped a square of the black moss into a sealed container, then clipped two of the glowing stalks at their base. Lastly, he carefully cut one of the mutated bluebells, wrapping it in a thin cloth to protect the crystalline petals.
Whatever had happened to Earth… it had changed more than just the land and seas.
"Did we… hit him? I just remember my body returning to normal… then the spell…" His memory failed him. The pressure, the fear, too much for a human to hold onto.
"We need to hide, Snowy. But where?"
He lifted the fox into his arms and began searching for an exit. After an hour of weaving through twisting tunnels, light finally appeared ahead.
But the sight outside made his stomach sink.
The land was swarming with monsters. None were as huge as the titan he'd faced, but the smaller ones filled every corner of the terrain. And there, among them, was something new.
It looked like an octopus, its inky black body glistening. Eight thick tentacles flexed against the ground, lined with powerful suckers. Only 1.3 feet tall, but Darian could feel its strength from here.
He scanned the area. That's when he saw it, the desert.
It wasn't the sand itself that was strange, it was the monsters. They wouldn't cross into it.
Why? The beach hadn't stopped them before. The only reason for this avoidance was… something worse. A territory even they feared.
Darian's mind raced. One strong monster was better than a swarm. At least with one, there was a chance to run.
But for now, he was too weak. His body still trembled from the spell, and the swarm hadn't spotted him yet. He retreated deeper into the cave to rest.
His stomach growled. He dug out what little food he had brought from the starship.
"I wonder if I'll ever be able to get the rest…"
He took a bite. The taste was different, muted, wrong.
Is this what food tastes like when you're scared?
The thought sent a shiver down his spine.