Familiar Face

A grey-skinned humanoid creature skulks before its prey, crawling on all fours with lanky limbs. It stares at the massive violet-skinned man with those skin-covered eyes, attempting to intimidate the man. The creature groans, claws clicking on the black rock as it dashes toward its prey with a speed that should not be possible with those scraggly limbs.

The creature squeals leaping toward the man with outstretched claws. It reaches forward as it nears the man, meaning to rip his throat out. However, its vision goes black as a spiked warhammer slams into the side of its body, folding the creature in half as its sent tumbling across the rocks.

Ingen glances at the unmoving Parasite that rolls to a stop several meters away. Something suddenly mounts his back, digging its claws into his shoulders. Ingen grunts in frustration, pulling another parasite from his back and slamming it on the ground before him. The Rajin raises his warhammer above his head, sucking in a quick breath as he pulls a hundred pounds of iron down on the head of the Parasite. Blood and brain matter splatter on the black rock.

Ingen sighs, setting his bloodied warhammer on his shoulder as he looks around at several other Parasite carcasses that he just dealt with. Their bodies are mangled with twisted limbs and of course, heads reduced to puddles of mush. Suddenly, a crash sounds from behind him.

Ingen turns to see a massive centipede with black scales and pale underbelly, its front half raised in the air. Atop the monster's head, Kyro stands, grimacing as he attempts to pull his sword from the centipede's mandibles. The struggling Rajin glances over at Ingen, who stands with an amused smile on his face, "Just gonna stand there?" Kyro yells the question.

Ingen only laughs, earning a frustrated grunt from Kyro. The blue-skinned Rajin looks at his sword held in those long mandibles. That white energy flows from his hands and along the blade of his weapon. Suddenly, a second blade grows from the middle of the original, piercing the mouth of the centipede and running through its body in a flash.

Organs and blood vessels are severed by the second blade until it finally reaches the bottom of the raised half of the centipede. The massive thirty-foot-long creature squeals and squirms, throwing Kyro and his now normal again blade from its head. The monster continues to thrash about as its organs fail and black blood pours from its mouth.

Finally, the thrashing ceases. The centipede's front half falls, slamming against the rock. It is dead.

Kyro stands several meters away, grabbing his sword from the ground with a sigh. Ingen walks up, blood staining his leotard, a slight smile on his face, "I didn't think you'd have that much trouble," he says.

"I usually don't," Kyro responds whipping the black blood from his blade.

Ingen raises a brow, studying Kyro's tired posture with skeptical eyes, "Withdrawals?" he asks.

Kyro meets his eyes, nodding, "I took the last sliver just before we arrived," he says.

Cage walks up suddenly, looking up at Kyro with furrowed brows, "This isn't exactly the best time to have withdrawals," he says, "I have to deal with the Massor, sure, but what if more monsters show up?"

Kyro gazes down at the black-eyed man for a moment, sighing "I know that. I just saw this as an opportunity to quit. I didn't think about it much," he says, looking out at the dead parasites and centipedes surrounding them, "When I think too much, I end up finding and justifying a reason to relapse."

Silence hovers above the three men for a moment, until Ingen finally sighs, "Well, let us hope that I can handle whatever else comes our way," he says, "I'm still not fond of being in the same space as a Massor, so let's get this over with."

The other two nod and Cage raises a brow, "Hey..." he calls, "...Are Parasites always as fast as the ones I just killed? The one that chased me when I first awoke here, it was slow. Much slower than those." Cage thought that it would be easy to slay just one Parasite, but he quickly realized his flawed thinking as his throat was nearly sliced in his surprise.

Kyro looks down at Cage, "You were weak before," he says bluntly, "The Parasite saw you were no threat and decided to enjoy the hunt."

"Oh," Cage responds. Kyro is right. At that time, Cage had been so weak that he could only stumble along quickly, running was impossible. I'll never be that weak again, Cage thinks. He turns from the Rajin men, looking at the dead creatures scattered across the black rock, "I need to absorb these before the Massor shows up," he says, stepping forward and getting to work.

"Move quickly," Kyro responds, arms folded before him. He looks over at Ingen, a brow raising as he notices something above Ingen's silver brows, "Wipe your head off. You look ridiculous."

Ingen shoots a glance at Kyro, then wipes his hand across his smooth head. Flakes of ash fall in front of his eyes, and grey and black smears across his hand. Ingen wipes his hand against his leotard, cursing under his breath, "Damn this miserable planet..."

Kyro ignores Ingen's quiet grumbling, watching as Cage moves across the rock, one carcass disappearing after another. His robed figure disappears behind a nearby volcano, probably to absorb the centipede wrapping to the other side. Ingen had helped in the slaying of that one, that is until the Parasites crawled from the mouth of the volcano, "Something is strange," Kyro says suddenly.

Ingen looks at Kyro's brooding expression, wiping more ash from his bald head, "What did you expect?" he responds, "Everything about Kalar is strange."

"That's not what I meant," Kyro says annoyedly, "We've been Collectors for the same amount of time... In the last two years, have you ever seen this many creatures in one place?"

Ingen furrows his bushy silver brows, scanning the nearby land. The Parasites are all gone, and so is the first centipede that died beside that volcano. Only the one that Kyro just skewered remains. However, Ingen remembers how many bodies there were before, "No... No, I haven't. I've never seen more than maybe two or three Parasites at once," he says slowly.

"And centipedes are a rare sight. To have two appear, well... We've had luckier moments," Kyro says.

"Think it has anything to do with the Massor?" Ingen asks.

Kyro sighs, "No, I don't think so. I know you can't feel it, but..." he pauses, turning his head and looking at the Stem miles away, a bright hole in the sky like the open mouth of a giant, "...I can feel a presence, a strong one. My Vas sensors are going haywire."

"Great," Ingen says, "So if we survive the Massor, we'll have the privilege of facing death once again. Great. Just great."

Ingen falls into another bout of cursing under his breath, causing Kyro to shake his head in exasperation. Kyro looks at that volcano, and after a moment, he hums, confused, "What is he doing? He already absorbed-"

Kyro tenses, focusing his senses. He suddenly bursts into a sprint toward the volcano, sword in hand, leaving Ingen in a dumbfounded stupor. Perhaps it was the interference by that daunting presence, but Kyro hadn't felt the presence behind the volcano until now. And it is obviously not Cage.

Kyro rounds the Volcano quickly and sees Cage with his back turned. He's speaking to someone. A figure looms over Cage, looking down at him. A Lion-class Tanzide with a white mane stained grey. A dented breastplate peeks out between his open coat, and a knapsack hangs over his shoulder.

"I thought only Rajin visit this planet. Why are you here, boy?" the Tanzide says with sneering words. He seems angry, for a reason unknown to anyone but himself.

"I could say the same to you," Cage responds, standing firm despite the vast size difference. He has gotten used to being around men bigger than him, "You were on Raj. I saw you in the Yellen City Library."

"Really now?," the Tanzide sneers, clenching his fists at his side, "You came here to kill me, didn't you!?" the man reaches for Cage's throat, causing Kyro to dash forward to intervene.

Cage raises his own hand, casually nudging the Tanzide's hand aside. The man's fur-covered arm drops to his side, useless. The Tanzide looks at his arm, fuming with anger, "What did you-" He looks at Cage, only to find a blue fist blocking his vision.

Kyro's fist cracks the Tanzides snout, sending the man flying backward. He lands neck-first, tumbling until he finally lands on his stomach. He lifts himself from the ground almost instantly, pausing on all fours as blood pours from his feline nose.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" Kyro steps up to the Tanzide, followed by a surprised Cage, and an oblivious Ingen.

The Lion headed man looks up at the Rajin, seeming to be a bit less angry than before, "My name is Krash. I..." Krash pauses, spitting blood on the rock. He looks up again, "How do you people deal with this? This anger?"

"What?" Kyro asks with an incredulous expression.

"Kyro," Ingen calls from the side, holding the knapsack that was ripped from Krash's shoulder as he tumbled. Ingen reaches inside and pulls a Rage Stone out, one side flat from being cut.

Krash leans back to a kneel, sighing and wiping his bloody snout with his coat sleeve, "I still feel the power," the Tanzide says, meeting Kyro's gaze, "I thank you for knocking sense into me. The anger I felt was... It's more than I've ever experienced in my life."

"You reacted negatively to the effects. That is good," Kyro says, clenching his jaw as his head begins to thump. He takes a deep breath, expression hardening, "If you would have reacted positively, well... you would never let go." No one knows that better than me, Kyro thinks, I experience all of the benefits and none of the side effects... Now I can't get away from them.

"Is your arm okay?" Cage suddenly asks. After absorbing all of the Parasites and the centipede, he instantly felt more powerful. Krash's clumsy attack was much too slow to reach Cage. He must not be much of a fighter, Cage thinks, did he actually think that I would stand there and let him grab me?

Krash raises his brows, lifting his arm, "Yes, it's fine now-" he snaps his eyes to Cage, beastly face twisted in confusion, "What did you even do?"

"I paralyzed it," Cage responds in a nonchalant tone, "Don't worry about it. Just be thankful that Kyro jumped in."

Ingen chuckles from the side, a glance from Kyro quickly shutting him up. Kyro looks at Krash as he stands, "I heard that you visited Raj, and I'm guessing someone told you about Kalar and the Stones. Or... you forced the information from them."

Krash pauses, the hesitation clearly displayed on his face. "I..." the Tanzide mutters, opening his mouth to speak again. However, the wide eyes staring at the sky and sudden battle stances of the men before him cause him to be silent.

Krash turns, eyes up to the sky. Suddenly, he is reminded why he had been hiding away until moments ago. His heart thumps harder along with the men behind him, and the pain of his certainly broken nose becomes a second thought.

The Massor has appeared.