In a mountainous valley brimming with life, the sun pushed the moon aside. The sky was a battlefield of blue and orange hues, and in the middle of that rainbow sea, five stars sailed across the heavens, leaving behind them an immaculate trail of pristine white.
The stars burned incandescently, crumbling as they met the friction of the atmosphere.
Inside each star, a person slept deeply.
A shadow, a star, a blind girl, a huntress, and an artist.
Unaware of their situation, the five capsules crashed into the ground, leaving around them a halo of scorched earth.
The heavy metal hatches were blasted free from the structures.
Inside one capsule, a small black-haired boy rose, groggy and disoriented, and looked around.
'A meadow.'
He gazed into the distance, farther still, where the edges of the mountains sliced into the sky.
For some unknown reason, a chill ran through his body at the sight of the virgin snow crowning their peaks.
He pulled his gaze back with unease.
'At least it's not that cold.'
Looking closer, he finally noticed four other capsules near his own.
He spotted movement in the closest one.
He jumped and hid behind his piece of scrap, bracing for anything. He clenched a stone he'd found on the ground and held his breath.
In front of him stood the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She was tall and slender, yet muscles were clearly defined beneath her pale skin.
A cascade of immaculate white fell and swayed in the wind, almost unreal—made even more so by the clothes she wore.
Pants and a shirt of fabric thick enough to hide her skin, yet thin enough to offer no real protection from serious harm.
Just then, the woman moved, sweeping the area with her impenetrable gaze.
Finally, two deep gray skies settled on the thin boy, studying him with a furrowed brow.
The girl did not move, but he could see her muscles tense and strain against her clothes.
'Sexy…'
For several seconds, they held each other's gaze—one expectant, the other stunned.
The silence was broken by the girl's deep, clear voice.
"Identify yourself."
The boy trembled and, unexpectedly, fell backward.
He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out—his lungs and mind were empty.
He blinked as he came back to himself, swallowed, and breathed slowly.
'I have to regain my composure.'
He stood carefully, avoiding sudden movements.
Once upright, he looked at the girl warily and spoke in a low voice.
"My name is Sunny, a… worker of the Northern Guild."
The girl seemed about to say something else, but something at her side caught her attention.
"Cassie!"
And just like that, Sunny was left alone—confused, lost, and in love.
'Huh?'
- - -
In the end, five people emerged from the capsules, with various items scattered around—food, materials, weapons, armor, and a dog.
No one knew anything about the dog.
In the end, it was the petite girl, Cassie, who named him Steve.
'Shouldn't it be Steven?' Sunny thought, but he didn't insist. It wasn't like he cared anyway.
Honestly, the two girls were pleasant enough. It was the other two he had issues with.
First was Effie, a bronze-skinned beauty with brown hair, very tall—tall enough that he had to tilt his head up to look at her.
That already irritated him, but it got worse when she kindly reminded him of it by calling him Dofus.
He didn't know what a Dofus was, but he doubted it was anything nice.
And lastly, there was the other guy in the group, the one who irritated him the most.
Overall, the guy was pleasant enough—tall, handsome, kind, with an angelic voice, tall and— 'Did I already say handsome?'
He had no real reason to hate him, but having him nearby made him irritable. After all, something ugly looked much uglier next to something beautiful.
'Who says I'm ugly?'
In the end, they gathered the crates and sat around them, clearly separated, with him off to one side.
By choice, obviously.
Eventually, Nephis—the white-haired girl—spoke.
"Does anyone know how we ended up here?" Everyone shook their heads.
Cassie raised her hand.
"We could say what each of us remembers. Maybe we'll figure something out."
After a moment, everyone nodded.
Sunny wanted to avoid uncomfortable questions, so he went first.
"I'll go. Uh… I was a worker in a guild. I was assigned to an industrial manufacturing post. One day, while the ship I lived on was traveling elsewhere, they put me to sleep in a cryosleep capsule. That's all I remember."
Effie widened her eyes and looked at him.
"What was the name of the ship you were on?"
Sunny tilted his head, confused.
"I don't know much. Just that it belonged to a famous northern guild."
"Seriously? Were we on that ship too?"
Kai raised his hand, excited to participate for the first time.
"Me too!"
In the end, they all concluded that they had been aboard the same ship, so at least they now knew they weren't complete strangers.
Cassie spoke again, this time a bit more nervous.
"S-still, that doesn't tell us where we are." They nodded.
Effie spoke next.
"Well, I know most hunting worlds. I can say this doesn't look like any of them, and it definitely doesn't look like a Bright World."
Sunny shuddered. That meant they were on a remote, isolated world.
'It could be…'
"That still doesn't really tell us where we are."
The group fell into contemplation once more.
Meanwhile, Sunny studied their surroundings more carefully.
Last time he couldn't, due to strange dizziness, drowsiness, and his chance encounter with Nephis.
If he had to say anything, it was that they were in quite a beautiful place—a long, flat meadow full of vegetation and animals everywhere.
Beyond the green meadow, a boreal forest collided in the distance with mountains that climbed endlessly until they cut into the sky.
These mountains surrounded the entire northern part of the area. To the west and east were also several smaller mountain ranges.
To the south stretched the infinite green plain, finally meeting the vast blue sky.
A smile spread across his face. It was a good place—quite beautiful, in his opinion.
Though, truthfully, he hadn't seen much else in his life besides alloy walls and the occasional image, photo, or painting aboard the ships where he lived.
He returned his attention to the group, who were still discussing where they might be.
He debated internally whether to speak, but in the end decided to do so. As much as he hated trusting and revealing things to others, it was important—after all, the chances of leaving this planet were almost nonexistent.
He raised his trembling hand.
The group turned their attention to him like hungry wolves, desperate for any information that might help them.
"I think I know where we might be."
All eyes fixed on him. He could almost feel them boring a hole through his face.
"At the factory where I worked, useless material, low-quality goods, or things we cleared from inventory were all sent to a distant planet, on the edge of the galaxy."
He swallowed as they stared at him expectantly.
"Rimworld—that's what it's called. Light-years away from the nearest habitable planet. As far as we know, there's no established civilization here. It's mostly dominated by criminals, tribals, and insurgent groups."
"How far is it!?"
"Uh… let's just say that, as far as we knew, there were no records of anyone ever returning from that planet."
After his words, a deafening silence settled over them. Most of them grew incredibly pale.
Except for Effie and Sunny. The former wore a serious expression, thinking deeply while biting her finger. Sunny, meanwhile, was nervous—excited.
'This could be a new beginning…'
For the first time in his life, he was free. He felt happy, nervous, and afraid of the unknown—but above all, exhilarated, as if he had just run a marathon. His heart raced, and he had to make a tremendous effort not to jump for joy and start screaming like a madman.
The other three were much worse off.
Nephis stared at the ground, completely dejected, the color drained from her face, as if her reasons for living had just been taken away.
Kai looked at the sky with teary eyes, his hands clenched as he murmured prayers.
And lastly, the petite girl, Cassie, looked utterly devastated—crying and muttering unintelligible things.
Seeing it was honestly heartbreaking. Sunny almost felt the urge to go and try to comfort the girl. Luckily, Nephis seemed to regain her composure for her friend.
For a while, he stayed there, watching everything with a heavy gaze.
Tired of the depressing scene, he stood and looked around, preparing to take a walk.
He grabbed a knife and a ration of food.
"Where are you going?" Nephis asked, her tone somewhat heavy.
Sunny gave her a brief look. "I'll explore the surroundings. I'll be back by midday."
She studied him for a moment, then nodded.
- - -
Sunny hadn't examined the surrounding area in much detail. Most of the time he'd been lost in thought, but he did find a couple of interesting things.
Right now, he was walking beneath the tree canopy toward the camp.
'If you can even call it that.'
He emerged from some bushes he'd had to cut away with his knife and stepped into the meadow.
In the distance, he saw movement.
He smiled. That was good. They shouldn't spare any effort if they were going to stay on this planet for a while—or perhaps their entire lives.
From what he saw, Effie and Kai each had a rifle. They were chatting as they carried wood from one place to another.
Cassie was still sitting where he'd left her, hugging her knees with her head bowed.
Meanwhile, Nephis stared into the forest with a furrowed brow. She seemed to be holding another knife.
When her gaze fell on him, the frown vanished, replaced by an expectant, almost happy look.
"Hey! The short guy's back!" the huntress shouted when she saw him.
Sunny's happiness collapsed.
A short while later, they regrouped.
"So, what did you see?"
He shrugged.
"Not much. Several stone ruins with nothing important. Most valuable things were already destroyed or looted. I also saw a strange stone structure embedded in the mountain. It was chilling."
That summed up his adventure—nothing interesting, in his opinion.
Effie and Kai looked disappointed by his report, while Nephis still watched him expectantly.
He shifted uncomfortably. "Uh… anything else?" he murmured.
She stared at him. "Home."
Sunny frowned, now even more confused.
She seemed to notice, as she immediately coughed awkwardly.
"I mean… a place to set up camp?"
"Honestly, anywhere could work," he sighed. "Are you looking for something specific?"
She nodded. "Water. Somewhere with water nearby."
At that moment, Effie chimed in.
"Being close to the forest would be good."
He'd almost forgotten about them. He turned to Kai and asked somewhat awkwardly.
"Do you want anything in particular?"
Kai nodded with a gentle smile.
"Somewhere pretty."
Sunny tilted his head, puzzled. To him, anywhere would do.
"Maybe… I saw a place over there."
He pointed west.
"Between two hills runs a river, and at the base of the mountain there's flat land, close to the meadow and the forest. Pretty nice, if you ask me."
They nodded, satisfied.
Nephis spoke, grabbing the group's tents.
"Take what you can. I'll check on Cassie in the meantime… We'll leave as soon as she's okay."
Sunny nodded and assigned himself to carry the food.
'I guess we're getting along. I just hope we don't run into any major trouble…'
He doubted it. This place seemed peaceful, after all.