In the forgotten corner of the universe where starlight rarely touched, there drifted an insignificant planet which could be considered a graveyard of the galaxy.
A world built not by time but by trash accumulating from a thousand civilizations over many centuries, this planet was stitched together by decay and the Passing of time. The stench of death hung in the air like a permanent fog, and silence was broken only by the occasional crash of fresh waste colliding with the ground.
The planet had no name. Locals, if they could be called that, simply called it The End. They believed anyone who ended up here, whether they were drifters or the abandoned, they were destined to die without meaning. No legacy and No return. Just slow, forgotten death, it was impossible to leave the planet.
Yet from this pit of despair, three young drifters would emerge, these three humans who arrived too young to remember their own names. In time, they would name themselves Solen, Zen and Thalrik. The names gave them identity which was something they never had as Orphans of this lost planet.
They lived in a rusted-out shell of a ship, half-buried in junk. Beside them lived an old man who was half-machine, half-blood, and possibly older than the planet itself. He told stories with a voice like gravel and eyes that had seen stars burn out. The boys never knew his name. He never offered one. But his tales, full of lost wars and forgotten loves, were the only light in their otherwise hopeless world.
One day, beneath a dying red sky, the old man sat hunched over as usual, muttering
"When I served in the 3rd Calamity War for the Zen Kingdom… my brother…his name was.....Casa..he was the last person who gave a damn about me. To the Zen Kingdom, I was just a tool but he… he reminded me I was human and not some kind of mass killing weapon. he taught me how valuable a life was But then a God had come, One of them razed the kingdom, killed half its people. My brother died… saving me. I should've died that day."
Zen rolled his eyes. "you don't really seem that strong to be a weapon old man...you seem kinda frail"
"Frail?!" the old man being annoyed. "I'd kill you right now if my legs worked, child." Zen also feeling threatened stood up saying "Hey Solen, can I hit him just once?"
Solen sighs telling zen "Do you seriously want to hit an old man on his last legs?" as Zen looked into the eyes of the Old man, it looked like he was devoid of any humanity and that filled Zen with an endless void of fear and confusion. As he tells him "Are you scared of what you see child?" As zen mutters under his breath unintelligible gibberish and thats when the old man removes his robe to reveal his chest, it seemed to be completely mechanical running on some kind of core that was energizing him surrounded by metal and glass as he says pointing towards his chest "this core you see here has the power to power an entire planet, but it has no use for a dying old man like me, so why not take it from me? If you do have the strength to take another life that is" As Thalrik says "we don't even know if your telling the truth, what if it doesnt work?" to which he replies "After everything I told you....you really don't believe me?" As Thalrik looks at Zen and Solen and asks them "should we really be doing this?". Solen stops for a moment and looks around him, the everlasting stench that surrounds them, the mountains of trash that he scavenged through for food over the years and the life here that made him feel sub-human. As Solen asks the old man "let's say we do remove the energy core, what are supposed to do with it?". As he points to something behind them and says "you see that ship your living in? That's my ship". The ship was filled with rust and was buried into the ground, it seemed like machinery that could never move again. As the old man continued " It's over a century old but if you use the energy core it should work and take you out of here" as Zen interrupts him saying "let us....let us..think about it" as the Old man begins ranting "you soft brat, everyone in this cosmos uses each other so that they can survive and you're out here worrying about me?" To which Zen replies with a concerned look on his face saying " but you're not....., or more like...it doesn't feel right after all the time we've spent together" to which he replies "tomorrow you're coming and removing this core from me or someone else on this planet might take it instead". Solen then gets up and tells Thalrik and Zen to ready a fire and set up for dinner as he is about to go food scavenging to which Zen asks "can i not come with?" And Solen replies "....you know it's dangerous Zen i can't afford for any of us to get hurt here...maybe next time" as Solen smiles and then uses his hands to make Zen smile by stretching each side of his mouth wider and pats him on the head to which Zen just looks annoyed whispering "suit yourself". As Solen walks through the damp alleyways of trash that was centuries old he feels his feet sink slightly into the ground by every step, the dark sky filled with pollution and the stench that filled the entire place, even after all these years Solen struggled to get used to the planet and begins gagging in a corner after seeing a couple of decaying bodies that landed recently, the bones still seemed slightly red and there were bits of flesh all over, until the flesh slowly began to vibrate, and that's when Solen see's the flesh beginning to grow and multiply as the flesh began bubbling over itself as it begins to form an actual hand, after which it regenerates to the point where half a head slowly regains it's flesh and a mouth appears but the regeneration freezes at the bodies nose, as Solen begins screaming "what the fuck are you???? Did you just come back to life???" As the mouth slowly begins moving which makes it seem like it's trying to talk but it doesn't seem able to. Solen closes his nose with one hand as he slowly gets close to the body and drags it away from the rest of the bodies and trash as he finally gets a clear look at the body, only one of the arms and half of the chest was regenerated while the rest of the skeleton is covered in surface level flesh, slowly he see's the vocal cords generate as his neck slowly connects to his chest. Finally the mouth opens and speaks "brat...brat.....I cannot hear but I know that you can hear me, feed me.....feed me and i will see to it that any wish you have will come into fruition" but as Solen went through his bag that was worn and years old but could still hold food, all that was left from his searches was a half eaten apple but Solen knew that this moment could possibly change his life forever because he had just seen a Man come back to life from being a mere skeleton and as he stands in front of the half regenerated body and opens the mouth and slides the apple down its mouth, immediately the person begins regenerating instantly as a surge of steam exudes from the man. Solen can vaguely see a figure that slowly begins walking up to him with a big smile and embraces Solen, he couldn't see his face clearly as there was steam everywhere as the man whispers in Solen's ear "don't worry Son...it will all be alright very soon" as the steam suddenly becomes a strong gust to which Solen closes his eyes and after the steam dissipated there was no trace of the mysterious man who came back from the dead. Suddenly a loud scream had come out from far away but Solen knew from which direction the noise came from, it was Thalrik and Zen, Hearing them scream made Solen's mind go blank and only think about one single thing, his two brothers who are the only things he has ever had in his entire life, as he begins running as fast as he could towards their home, each step went deeper into the ground of trash due to the weight of each step as Solen ran as fast as he could. Finally as he reaches their home he see's Zen bloodied up and knocked out lying near the usual campfire with his clothes ripped apart, Solen crouches and embraces His bloodied up brother as his blood soaks Solen's clothes and at this moment Zen slightly opens his eyes for a second to see Solen have the most angered expression he had ever seen him have, his eye brows furrowed and teeth biting his own lips to the point of bleeding. Solen then gets up and searches for Thalrik and see's him A little away at the entrance of their home, he was on the floor still coughing as his head is bleeding as he looks at Solen and starts crying as he tells him ".....they took the old man...they want the core....please save him Solen...you have to"
As Solen holds Thalrik he tells him "both of you are staying here and you both get into hiding, I might have an idea, and that's an order your both staying here until I come back" as Solen runs away and vanishes into the mist filled wasteland. Far across the dumpfields, in the heart of the junkyard, loomed the stronghold of the Rando gang, they are known as warlords of trash, hoarders of food and above all ruthless. They controlled the flow of scraps, and in doing so, controlled the planet, Solen assumed that they are probably the only ones that would have something to do with the Old man's disappearance.
Solen stood before their gate which was an 8 foot tall slab of iron, smeared with a dried trail of blood going inside entailing that Something had been dragged through it recently but He didn't care.
He slipped inside. The air was thick and metallic. Distant screams echoed. A flickering torch glowed at the far end of a narrow, dark corridor. As he approached, he saw them, the gang members as they were laughing while torturing someone but he couldn't make out who it was.
His body moved before his mind did as he lunged into the table behind the two gang members and pushes it onto them and pushes them down the platform just to see the body of the old man tied up, covered in blood and at the verge of death, his body looked like it was ripped apart as they tried to extract the core from him,it seemed to be a miracle that he was even alive. Solen begins tearing up saying "I never.....I never thought this would happen...I don't know what I'm going to say to Zen and Thalrik." As he slaps himself in the face and tells the old man "im going to save you alri- "can't you see I'm basically dead? Half my body is missing, stop your whining and take the core chi-" the old man replied abruptly as his eyes become lifeless and his hands just hang in the air. Solen begins grabbing him and screaming "you can't die on me, not now man wake up, i can't leave you like this" as the core falls out of his lifeless body. Solen stands in one place traumatized by the recent events and slowly begins zoning out and is at the verge of fainting as a long ringing noise is blaring in his head, that's when he hears a loud crash in another part of the Rando base and snaps back into reality and tries to grab the core with his hands but it keeps slipping as it's covered in blood. Solen manages to pick it up and begins running out of the room But as he turned the corner, he slams into something unmovable. As he looked up he had met the cold gaze of Rando himself. He never heard his name before but Solen just knew deep down that this was Rando, he had scars all over his face and looked like he had survived a hundred battles with arms the size of men and almost seemed inhumane due to his immense stature and pressure, Solen looked and felt inconsequential while standing in front of the Great Rando
"what are you doing with that energy core there?" Rando asked in his coarse deep voice.
Solen didn't answer, as Rando' massive arm smashes Solen into the ground and as Solen tries to get back up He can see blood flowing down from his head and gradually begins to lose consciousness as he looks at the bloodied core in his hands with his wavering vision.