. . .
CURRENT TIME: 16.47
STATUS: ALIVE
ACTIVATING DISTRESS SIGNAL
. . .
. . .
ACTIVATING RADIO
. . .
“…Hey?… alright? Respond… alive out there?”
In the middle of a canyon, smoke drifts out of an escape pod. The hatch was open and a body laid on the ground. The radio continued buzzing.
“Answer… Are you alive? Respond…”
The eyes of the of body opened and reached for the radio.
“Confirm… I’m alive, but just barely…”
“…repeat that?… little fuzzy…”
He got up and walked away from the pod and closer to the cliff, almost losing his balance. He raised the radio and responded once more.
“Confirm, Kedatte, Spiral Knight recruit here and alive.”
“Copy that. Nice to see a recruit surviving the drop. We’ve been getting survivors all day, but from what I’m seeing here… You’re not too far from the rescue camp. Think you can make it here yourself? Got your Proto Sword, Gun, and Shield on ya?”
The recruit looked around and found his weapons outside the pod. He raised the radio.
“Confirm. I’m a bit woozy but nothing a good walk can’t solve.”
“Copy that. Careful though, you might see some Slimes and Chromalisks en-route.”
“I’ll be facing what?”
“Slimes and Chromalisks, native creatures on this planet. Hostile. If you see any Snipes, ignore them, they’re harmless.”
“Ehhhh… Alright. Over and out.”
He shut off the radio and placed it in a pouch on his belt. At the pod, he gathered his weapons and stepped out of the crash site and into this new world. He followed the only path he saw and sure enough, strange blob creatures oozed out of the ground and rock walls.
“You must be Slimes.”
He dashed toward the blobs and cleanly sliced through two easily. The third one lurched back and lunged at him, colliding with his shield. Three hits and the Slime was pulverized. What remained of the creatures were bronze coins and warm orbs of fire. He took out his radio.
“I found some weird items. Bronze coins and orbs of fire.”
“…you must’ve found some Crowns and Heat. Crowns are the currency of this world and Heat is like a power source for our equipment, amazingly enough. Collect enough Heat and your weapons will… ‘gain a level,’ so to speak. The natives of this planet uses Crowns as currency, so you might want to collect any you find.”
“Copy that. Over and out.”
He gathered the Crowns and Heat, or rather the Crowns, as when he approached the Heat, they immediately enter his armor and weapons. After that, he continued on his mission: getting to the rescue camp. He sliced through more Slimes and found himself facing small, green reptile things.
“No arms, legs and tail part of head. I’m guessing… Chromalisks?”
One shot it’s tongue out at him and landed a hit on his leg. He dropped to his knee and winced at the pain. He looked up and saw three more tongues shooting out at him. Thinking quickly, he blocked with his shield and pulled out his Proto Gun. He aimed and fired the pistol at each of the lisks. Two of the lisks fell from the shots, but the third was still up and leaped at Kedatte. He intercepted it’s flight by slicing it with his sword.
He continued down the path before stopping. It had occur to him that he hadn’t taken a look at the environment of Cradle. He looked around and saw a few trees growing at the high cliffs, grass growing independently from one another, and the craggy ground continuing on one single path. There were weeds and bushes growing at random places and they seem to contain Crowns occasionally.
He continued on the path, taking out Slimes and Chromalisks. As he walked, he noticed that it was getting darker. His radio buzzed.
“Rookie, you might want to hurry it up.”
“Does this planet get more dangerous at night?”
“Sort of… Some different monsters spawn at night, might be a bit too much for a recruit like you.”
“…I see. Got it, I’ll start running.”
And he did start running. Slimes and Chromalisks started spawning at an alarming rate, but he managed to take them out easily as before. He approached a gate that jutted out the ground. He grabbed the bars and tried to force it open, to no avail.
“Must be activated by a switch…”
Kedatte slashed a bush and sure enough, there was a red, glowing button. Cautiously, he pressed the button, which immediately lowered the gate, enabling him continue forward. He saw red smoke drifting upwards and saw a few emergency flares scattered across the ground and two escape pods lodged into different cliffs. Between the two cliffs were sets of stairs.
“Must be close to the Rescue Camp…”
As he climbed the steps a small ball of feathers jumped at him! He was about to pull out his sword when he saw what it was- a weird looking bird. It chirped and looked at him, before flying off to the sky. He watched it fly off, before continuing forward. At the top of the steps, before him was a long bridge of ground. It was suspended a vast gorge. This gorge, however, was not empty. Steel pipes ran through it, steel walkways and lifts enabled transportation around it. Spotlights shined out into the sky, and cranes actively transported parts around the gorge. The lifts carried what appeared to be people up and down, apparently going deeper into the world, and escaping it’s depths. Gears grinding, pistons moving, and springs wounding all to make this place work. It was obvious Cradle was something much more.
Kedatte moved across the bridge and followed the single, narrow path. Nightfall had just hit and he could hear monsters coming to life. At last, he made it to the Rescue Camp.
It was just the beginning to something bigger.