Back home

"1901..."

"...1902...ugh..."

My muscles are about to tear. I can feel my bones cracking under the weight of 50 times gravity.

I'm currently back at home, inside the temple built by an ancient civilization, my mom was furious about the fact I destroyed the sleeves of my suit. She was even madder that I broke my mask under the rumble of the cave when it collapsed.

For breaking my gift she gave me, my mother forced me to do 2000 push-up under 50x gravity. This will teach me to better take care of my equipment. With sweat pouring down my body, it's yelling at me to stop. It can't take it anymore.

"Come on body... you can't fail me now... you know what will happen if you give" I thought as I'm trying to encourage myself.

If I defeated a Rogmogmagog King, then two thousand press-ups should be a walk in acid rain. It's not going to kill me. If I don't complete my task, I should be worried about my mother, cause she will be the one to put me in rest.

"1975..."

Twenty-five left and I will be free from the simulation pod, which to her greater, is working perfectly... a bit too well if you're asking me. She wasn't joking when she said that she fixed the damage on the machine. It's more powerful than before. It used to be able to amplify the gravity by 25x and not fifty times.

"1998..."

"...1999..."

"...2000..."

Hitting the two thousand marks, my body instantly collapsed on the ground. My heart is pumping so much blood through my veins that I thought it will burst. Just as my mom taught me I close my eyes and try to control my breathing.

"Count to four: one...two...three...four... inhale..."

"One...two...three... four... exhale"

After 2 minutes of controlling the amount of oxygen flowing through my lungs, my heartbeat returned to normal. The pain in my muscle stop and I could finally move again. I quickly hopped myself off the ground. I disable the simulation pod, before leaving it entirely.

"Next time, I should probably remove my suit before going all out against a evolve monster. Now, I need a shower."

Returning to my room, I turn on the water before going inside and closing the curtains. As I wash my body, I can't help thinking about the situation I'm currently living in.

Since the day I was born, the only human I saw in my entire life is my mother. Heck... she's partly human. For 17 years, I merely lived in this monster-infested planet called Markok. The surface used to be populated by a civilized race, to which my mom named them the Barabba. Apparently, they were a few in numbers, not reaching a population of ten thousand. The Barabba built hundreds of temples around the celestial body, acting as their save place against the different types of the beast in the wild. However, One day, they were simply gone without any trace.

My mother told me that they probably left the planet because of its hostility against them. The temples are a sign that they made technological breakthroughs in the past. Enough to leave this globe.

Hearing about how they had the technology to explore the galaxy, I used to beg my mom to design a rocket ship just like them to leave. It really broke my heart when she refused my request. She told me that we can't free our self this place because the universe is filled with danger... or was it that it is too dangerous for the cosmos. Either way, to this day, I still don't understand her words.

Why can't we ldepart? What danger? If the Barabba left, then they must have found a way to face the danger. We could do the same. You taught me how to fight and how to survive.

No matter how much I begged her or train for hours to show that I can protect myself out there, she still refuses me to leave this place. In the beginning, I thought she hated me and didn't want to give a small piece of freedom in my being. However, after a while, I realized she didn't wish to cage me inside this jail. Every time, she refused my request, she had a sorrowful expression on her face, it's just I didn't notice it before. I have the impression she, in fact, wishes that I could be out there in the universe, navigating through its corners and extremely. There was something stopping her from totally setting me free but I don't why?

Two years ago, after threatening to leave her behind and to disown her as my mother if she still refuses tor me to escape this rock planet, she promised me that we will both depart from here when I will turn 18 years old. Only 6 months left before she has to honor our deal.

Truth be told, It was an empty threat that I made. I could never cut off any communication between us and leave. No matter what, she's the only person I care about in this world.

Turning off the shower, I fetch myself some brand-new clothes. This time I wore a red jacket, red trousers and light sandals. These clothes are basically ninja-yoroi, to which they are painted red to help me camouflage my figure on the dessert since most of the land has a reddish/orange tone color.

"MAMA, " I yelled as I stood in the middle of the temple, looking around to see where she hid herself this time. She must have closed herself inside her laboratory. I wonder what she is working on again. Not willing to disturb her, I decided to take a small walk outside our house. A bit of alone time to fresh up my mind will do me good.

I look at my door suit hanging against the door of the simulation pod I shook my head as I decided against wearing it. There shouldn't be any monster like the Rogmogmagog King roaming around our territory. Last time the beast managed to get inside undetected when my mother was doing maintenance on our security system. Now that it's back on, meaning if any evolve creature came to our way, the computer will notice us.

Standing outside of my home, I filled my lungs with fresh air. With the acid storm gone, the smell of melting rock diluted into the atmosphere. The burn marks were still visible on the ground. It will approximately take a couple of days for the surface to heal itself.

"Uh.?"

I suddenly stopped marching as my stare caught something into the sky. An illuminating object was falling down at a rapid pace, around 25 km from my position.

"Well... this got my attention"

Needing to know more about this mass, I enhance my vision to have a better image of it. My eyes immediately widened as I recognize the object. My legs can't stop shaking and I can't even stay still. A huge smile is frozen across my face as I couldn't avoid my enthusiasm.

"... It's a spaceship!"