CHAPTER 1 edited

——TENNO PoV——

Looking at the deep expanse of space, I felt uneasy. Something felt wrong, but I couldn't tell what it was. It didn't help that the higher-ups said we were the first settlers of this newly found system, which added an underlying excitement that seemed to nullify any worries. I was no exception.

"Tenno."

Turning my head, I thought I heard a whisper of a woman, but when I turned around, there was nothing. I just shrugged it off and paid more attention to the Cephalon teaching the class. However, I couldn't focus, and slowly the classroom started to disappear, and suppressed memories resurfaced.

———

Opening my eyes, I was greeted by the sight of stars and the corpses of an unknown species surrounding me. With how fast I was moving, even I was curious about who could've done this—after all, this wasn't done by a Tenno. Grabbing one of the dead bodies, I tried to examine it. It was nearly impossible to put into words, but one did come to mind: reptilian and ugly.

After examining it a little more, I threw it behind me and focused on my surroundings. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the number of dead bodies was decreasing. Interestingly, larger bodies appeared. Even though they were badly damaged, I could hear just how behemoth they were as I passed. With how fast I was going, I was a little surprised. But as I passed one behemoth after another, I was disappointed when they became less frequent until they stopped, leaving me with only the dark expanse of space and distant stars for company.

Looking at the stars and galaxies around me, I began examining my frame. It was in bad condition, with spores growing out of it and numerous cracks running up and down. Even a pinky punch could make it disappear into nothingness. Sighing deeply, I used some of my void energy to power the frame before quickly shutting it down again. In that brief second, I saw that the closest thing near me was an unidentified ship. But the cost of such information was that the frame's arm turned to dust, exposing my arm to the harshness of space. However, all I felt was slight discomfort. As I checked my arm, I didn't notice the big beast until its jaws were already closing around me.

——Time skip——

After finding a comfortable place and dealing with the stench, the inside of this beast felt quite accommodating. When I was first swallowed, I tried to blast out with a void beam, but the beast had a thick hide. So, I settled down. However, the beast was absorbing my energy forcefully, and even though there was no apparent danger, something still felt wrong. Thankfully, the beast seemed to be fighting someone, so maybe they could kill it—preferably at a downward angle.

As the explosions intensified, I heard screaming as someone came down the beast's throat. When it arrived, it wasted no time before getting up and stabbing crazily. It was a couple of seconds before the thing saw me, and with how it was stabbing, I felt more comfortable standing where I was. Stopping its stabbing, it slowly turned toward me, causing me to feel a little awkward.

But before it could say anything, the beast started looking upwards. With how slippery it was, the thing covered in yellow slime started sliding down. I tried to move out of the way but failed, getting hit by the yellow man and causing even more of my frame to disappear into dust. Unable to assess my damage, I quickly rolled away just as a blade passed over where I was before disappearing. Slowly, the beast fell.

Looking over at the yellow man, I saw that he was looking at me again. However, this time his blades were down, so I gestured toward the open slit. In newfound awkwardness, we both got up and made our way to the slit. Thankfully, he went first because I knew that if I went through in my frame, it would completely disappear. So, I exited my frame to leave the beast.

Exiting my frame, I quickly rolled out of the slit before summoning my frame back onto me. I immediately looked over the damages. The left arm was gone, and a few more pieces were as well. The most important damage was that half the neurotics were gone. The scan only took a few seconds, but it was enough to assess the damage and realize how much trouble I was in. Looking at the four-and-a-half beings staring at me, I quickly looked for an escape route. Then they started talking in a language I had never heard before, but it closely resembled mine. I stayed still and tried to decipher what they were saying.

"It's a kid—how the hell did he get in there?" the small one said, jostling with his oversized gun. 

"I don't know, but from the way it's looking at us, I guess it can't understand our language," the green one said. However, the last one started walking towards me with its hands in the air.

"Hey, little guy, where's your home? Don't worry, we're not going to hurt you," it said.

Thankfully, their language was close to mine, so I was able to learn it pretty quickly.

"Ee-ou can't hurt me and I don't have a h-ome." Okay, maybe I need some work on the words, but at least I can speak their language a little.

Now standing in front of me, the white one was surprisingly quick to offer me something.

"Do you want to come with us?" it asked, making the green one look at him funny. But before she could raise a complaint, I quickly nodded.

"Please, that would be very nice," I said. However, I made sure I was in the optimal place to escape in case something happened. After all, I had only just met these beings.