Ravagers

==

In the realm of Hyperia, one hundred planets orbited a single golden, youthful sun.

Among these planets, twelve were considered part of the Majoris, occupied and dominated by civilization.

Gaia, the world of Humans.

Almaz, the world of Dwarves.

Ao Abhainn, the world of Elves.

Ragnok, the world of Werefolk.

Karax, the world of the insectoid Krakital.

Eltunn, the world of the Giants.

Regia, the world of the Vampires.

Shade, the world of the Undead.

N'ghftyar, the world of the Mind Reavers.

Blaz, the world of the Demons.

Sefaria, the mobile planet forged by the Fallen Angels, for the true angels that reside in Sol, the sun of Hyperia, are bound to neutrality.

And finally, Voluntorillycanth, the world of the dragons. Now gone, teleported into the Beyond where none can reach.

The remaining 88 worlds were called Wild Worlds, for monsters dominated them and no single civilization had overtaken them fully. Each possessed a planetary Guardian that halted the encroach of invaders and protected the balance of the world's ecosystem.

Either that, or the Wild World was simply too insignificant to be worth occupying, lacking enough or quality resources to vie over.

Wild Worlds varied incredibly in size, but generally, the larger they were, the more important, and the stronger the monsters in them.

The largest ones, the ones packed with more resources that the Majoris races fought fiercely over, were the same size as proper planets, perhaps even larger.

The majority of the Wild Worlds, however, were smaller, some being the size of planetoids and others the size of floating asteroids.

Pluton was one of these Wild Worlds. A minor one the size of a small planetoid orbiting the very edges of Sol.

One that nobody really paid attention to, where the class of monsters did not exceed the Phantasmal rank with precious few notable resources to truly fight over.

The weaker Majoris races that did draw from Pluton used it for farming purposes, taking what fertile lands they could to supply their growing armies for the inevitable conflict of the Finalis when all races would clash in cataclysmic final battle.

It was on Pluton that a certain young Whelp sought to grow strong, and it was in the planet's atmosphere, in the cover of clouds, that a Dwarven Magitek spaceship floated.

A disc shaped flying saucer that looked suspiciously like a U.F.O but totally wasn't.

The disc span around a spherical core of metal dotted with multi-colored beeping lights, creating a field of anti-gravity that gave it flight and also lightly distorted the space around it.

Within the sphere, a surprisingly diverse crew of various races gently worked around their differences

"You stupid Weremutt! We are NOT eating him!" shouted Datu, a human.

Orrrr not.

Eluf snarled. He towered a full head over Datu, and Datu was not short for a human man, being one hundred and eighty centimeters tall on a good day when he wore shoes. Or atleast, that is what Datu told the ladies in his downtime.

"The imp stupid! Don't know anything anymore!" said Eluf, his canid fangs bared and his blood red gums highly visible in sheer threat. Muscular bulk rippled under his thick grey fur. He pointed a claw tipped finger to the end of the Gravship.

There, inside a cell of solid metal bars, an imp, one of the lesser variations of the Demon race, sat, twiddling his pale blue thumbs as he sat leaning against a dirty wall, making sure the chain and collar around his neck did not choke him.

"The imp has led us to here, and he has proven he knows much about the soul shards of the Ice Queen," said Datu. He put a hovering hand by his hip, where beside his green robes held tight by bright red sash, a sheathed sword lay.

"You will NOT lay a hand on the imp, not until we get more out of him," said Datu with an air of finality.

Eluf huffed, crossed his arms, and walked away, his claws clinking on the metal floor as he went back to his quarters, probably to chew his favorite bone.

Datu sighed and sat in his captain's seat, a set of control panels and magical-crystal fueled screens arranged around him, projecting the environment around him and detecting the approach of any monsters with core grades above Mystic level to avoid.

Datu was captain of the Ravagers, a group of Outlaws, criminals exiled from their homes or rebellious spirits that lived for themselves, that traveled the void between worlds, visiting Wild Worlds for loot or scrounging around in Majoris worlds as hitmen or arms dealers.

Some Outlaw groups were incredibly powerful, so strong that elites and nobles from Majoris planets routinely hired them with hefty sums of coin.

Just last month, the Bloodriders, a legendary Outlaw group led by Tiberius, a Highlord Vampire with a Sovereign grade core, had assassinated Wu Yong, one of the strongest warriors among the entire human race, weakening the humans even more for the upcoming Finalis.

Not that Datu cared much for his own people. There was a reason why he was an exiled Outlaw.

The Ravagers, however, were like tiny little mosquitoes compared to the mighty giants that were the legend class Outlaw crews like the Bloodriders, Brain Drain, and Firestorm.

All the Ravagers could do was barely scrape by day by day, hopping around to minor Wild Worlds, harvesting mana crystals, trapping a few Mystic grade monsters here and there, and selling the fruits of their labor to barely keep their bellies full and the parts to their Gravship going.

"Quit all your yapping and yelling, goodness," said Pav, the Ravager's dwarven engineer. He moved around the ship with a frantic energy, making sure all the controls were right and the ship's internals were functioning properly.

"We'll be rich soon, Pav," said Datu. "Making it big."

"What good is money, eh?" said Pav. "When Finalis hits, all of us die. Boom! Just like that. All our people Werefolk, Dwarf, Human, all in alliance, but compared to Demon and Vampire and Giant, eh."

Pav held his index finger to his thumb, leaving a tiny space. "We are nothing. Little bugs. And when one of the big Majoris peoples wins the Finalis, what use is money? All of us die. Or slaves."

"Come on, Pav, look big. What is the greatest treasure we can have?" said Pav.

"Good engines and magi-metalwork, oof!" Pav waved a gloved hand towards his thickly bearded, goggled face. "Get me going. That is biggest treasure."

"No," said Datu with a sigh. "It is life. Our lives. With the dragons gone, the Demons are the strongest Finalis race. The front runners to win it all.

And they want the Ice Queen shards. The last one that's been thought to be lost forever is here, I know it, the imp knows it.

What better place for the shard to be hidden than here? Pluton, a fringe Wild World that nobody ever cares about?"

Datu turned his rotating captain's chair behind him to a large table where a hand-drawn map of Pluton sprawled out. He withdrew a dagger from his waist and stabbed it in a forested area.

"And we know where it is," said Datu, gazing at the point he had stabbed with his dagger. "Roughly.

Torturing the imp more will break him, I know it.

We find the shard and we give it to the Demons, and in return, they will spare our lives and give us a nice and cushy spot among their own. In whatever new Realm order they create."

"Ey! I spent five hours drawing that map! And you stab it!? Ah, whatever, nobody respects dwarf hobbies, I tell you. All we are are Magitekniks, stereotypes, I tell you." Pav reached down to his waist and withdrew a metal flask filled with Goldgrain liquor, taking a deep swig from it. "Hm?"

Pav adjusted his goggles and looked up at a screen. He pointed a fat finger to it, at a blipping dot on the mana sensor. "Large surge nearby. 5th tier power, maybe. On Pluton, though?

Odd. Very, very odd."

"Steer the ship there," said Datu. His eyes were wide with greed. "We still have the Neuralizer we stole from the Mind Reaver ship. 5th tier power is beyond our grade, but with the Neuralizer, we can sedate the monster emitting it.

Sell it for a pretty price."

"Thought life was the greatest treasure, not coin, eh?" said Pav as he began to steer the ship, pressing his hand on a screen projected by a blue mana crystal.

"And we won't be alive if we starve to death by next week without coin," Datu growled. "Now shut up and get a move on."