Blurs of green, whistling wind, and a tremorous heartbeat overtook my senses as I stormed away from my pursuers in this labyrinthine forest I found myself enveloped in. My feet nervously bouncing off the grass, dirt, and vast amounts of flora in my path, my eyes searching for a route of escape, and my brain locked on the objective of survival. I turned my head back to take a look at my pursuers to track my progress, their slender forms a dozen feet behind, and seemed to be closing the distance with less effort than I could muster. In my haste, my legs ached from the trauma, yet I kept charging forward ignoring their pained response. 


        My path quickly snaked uphill and I felt my heart escape my chest as my body fell seemingly as weightless as a feather from a sizeable, grassy cliff’s edge. I quickly shot up from my landing zone once I felt a cool liquid coat my body rather than rock and earth. A quick examination of my surrounding area revealed that I had landed near the cusp of a river that thundered as a waterfall a short distance from myself. In the stream of water I gazed at my reflection, mesmerised as I saw my face for the first time. My mind recognized what I saw but was unable to put a name for the figure it saw. A slender, albino face peered back at me, seemingly canine in appearance and adorned with haunting golden eyes.


“You seem tired, scavenger. Such a shame that you came here unannounced, we do so hate uninvited guests.”  I painfully aimed my head towards the source of the piercing voice, emanating from the cliff’s edge. Three figures stood in unison with an attentive gaze fixated upon me, each wielding sharply curved daggers and sporting a bow paired with a quiver wrapped firmly around their torso. They appeared cervine in appearance, I noted as my mind recognised their shape and features, each one coated in varying shades of earthen brown fur with white tribal markings painted upon their bodies. “You seem speechless so I’ll spare the silence,” the middle figure chimed, noticing my complacency, “we want answers, not your life. If that was our intention, you would have been on the receiving end of a volley of arrows shortly after you left your aircraft.” My ears perked at his last words. They’ve been aware of my presence since I entered this planet’s atmosphere and crash landed, I thought. “I may have your answers, I may not, I assure you that I’ve just as many questions as you,” I choked out my words, finally getting a chance to think to myself without immediate danger clouding my mind.


The figures slowly circled around the cliff and towards me after the middle figure motioned to his two accomplices. Now only a few feet from me the cervine once again spoke up, “Then I’m sure you know where we stand. I am Adarza and these are my fellow praetorians,” he stated while noting his company, “we are scouts and defenders of the Ta Suil, which is our people, our species. As you may have noticed, you have invaded Breithe, our noble lands. I can tell by the puzzled look on your face that you are in need of this information.” Adarza slowly circled me, measuring my demeanor. “First and foremost, who are you, and considering how you appear to have arrived from an off-planet source, where are you from?”


This question was inevitable I knew, but having limited knowledge of my own origins compromised any attempt at giving a forward answer, which I knew would only further their suspicions. I felt a subtle, sharp pain circulating through my brain and I heard faint echoes, much like a hallucination. 


This is it, the culminating result of canis aureus experimentation. This Dr. Li requesting specimen HK-92 to be cleared for transport aboard the USS Eden.


The scholarly voice faded out from my senses shortly after it arrived and I seemed to have new memories embedded within me, my eyes shot back up to Adarza. “I was on board a ship, the USS Eden they called it. It went into critical failure in orbit and I managed to escape with the shuttle you saw go down. I was in some sort of stasis for most of my time there but I’m not sure why. There were others on the ship long ago, but when I awoke, they seem to have vanished. I don’t think I really had a name, more like a serial number, HK-92 they called me by.” I awaited Adarza’s answer to this and he seemed puzzled by this newfound information. He motioned me to follow once he spoke up, “Come, our elder will want to hear this, and we will see what he makes of this, but if you step out of line even once, I won’t hesitate to cut you down.”


        Without much of a better alternative, I walked alongside him as he began carving a path adjacent to the river, heading back into the vast forest. We seemed to be traveling for an eternity while the warm and charming sun that embraced me earlier was now dipping into the horizon as night approached, and we steadied our pace. My body grew tired and I felt myself attempt to drift off to sleep multiple times only to be ushered forward by the cervines accompanying me. 


        In time we arrived at the ebony gates of what I assumed to be the borders of one of their settlements, as guards dotted the area around it, who signaled Adarza to move forward, all of them eyeing me with alienation. The road leading in snaked into multiple paths circling many wooden structures, all paths circled a leafless tree, which seemed to be petrified. “This is our stop,” Adarza spoke up once we arrived in the center, underneath the tree. Adarza then grabbed me by the shoulder and forced me along to a rectangular structure with small towers protruding from the building’s edges, much like guard towers. After being shepherded inside, Adarza turned his head to me, “Sorry scavenger, but you’ll be staying inside of a prison cell overnight. Can’t be too cautious. We’ll continue this in the morning.” I nodded in understanding and crept inside of the cell when one of Adarza’s companions opened it’s bars and motioned me in, then meagerly locked it once I was seated on the small cot inside.


I lay down upon the cot and eased my head upon it’s firm, but inviting texture once all of the armed cervine retraced their steps, exiting the building. I thought about the moments that transpired on this day. A chance turn of events, I thought, I was unsure of what all my life was before the dawning of this day but this is I knew, it was just about to begin. I then let loose a sigh of uncertainty at these thoughts and eased my mind from the world around me…


        And closed my eyes.