My first story ever on fanfiction! Hope ya like it, though there's still so much to work on. Rinec/Riddick isn't as tough as I'd like, because, honestly, I really find it hard to create truly 'un-caring' characters. It's hard for me to write really evilll/believable villains or anti-heroes. But I try. :)

Wish I could upload the sequels, but they're technically not fanfiction, so ... I can't. :/

Oh, yes ... a lot is different, some people don't appear and some scenes changed or whathaveyou, but, well, it's how I wrote it, unfortunately the characters wouldn't let me write it any other way. I'm also not entirely pleased with how stretched-out it seems but I don't know how to fix that. Anyhow, on with the story!

"So you want me to get rid of more monsters, as you call them." The man's voice was hard, gruff.

"They are coming. We just don't know when they will get here." The other's voice was quieter, more pleasing to the ears though the urgency of his tone distracted from it. "You must help us!"

"I won't do it. Isn't my fight," the first man spoke again.

"But you must! If you do not-they could wipe out all of humanity! They'll destroy all that we love and hold dear. After us, they could go to another planet, and do the same thing all over again. You are the only one who can defeat them!' The man protested.

All of earth was at stake. People-if one could call them that-were coming to earth to plunder and kill, and force the few acceptable to be their soldiers. They weren't easy to kill, themselves. They felt no pain. They'd die if a sword or gun went through their heart, straight through their stomach, but if they did not feel it—they would be and were seemingly invincible. If one was lucky, they might get close enough to decapitate a Shadok or two, unfortunately it rarely happened.

The first man who spoke was the sort of man who had been bred tough—a Lsai. His kind knew how to fight well, and made frequent use of it. They didn't tire easily, and could fight and win battles against mortals and immortals alike that most men only dreamed about. He was in his early thirties, had a strong build, and was very agile. He was naturally bald, had silver blue eyes, and his name was Rinec. He was dressed in all black, wearing a black cloak as well, black made it easier for one to melt right into the shadows—his exact intention, as he didn't like light.

Black was camouflage.

The other man was slightly taller and of African descent, solemn brown eyes staring into Rinec's own. He wore simple earthen colors and sandals, as was the custom of his people in this time.

Only candles lighted the room they spoke in, for outside was dark and they did not wish to attract too much attention on such a night. They stood at the foot of some stairs, talking quietly.

"No, Perel," Rinec said again. "I won't be drawn into yet another war. I'm sick of it, and it's the only time I'm sayin' that, got it?"

"Oh, please? Papa has told me how you defeated the other monsters. How come you can't help us now?" a little girl's voice was heard from the top of the stairs.

Both men looked up. Perel's wife, Anya, was standing there, her arms around their adopted daughter.

"What's your name, kid?" Rinec had never seen the girl before.

"Hush, sweetie. Don't say anything. Back to bed now," Anya spoke quickly. She didn't care for the man in black, with his uncaring attitude and wry humor. She was a bit afraid of him, despite him being her husband's old friend.

But the girl looked down at the solemn men at the foot of the stairs, the light from the candles flickering in their eyes.

"My name's Narusha, but everybody calls me Naru. I'm eight years old," she said.

Anya frowned down at her.

The man in black smirked. He looked over at Perel.

"Nice kid," was his only comment.

Seeing the girl there by the stairs, with her light brown hair, blue eyes, and tan skin reminded him of another girl many years before …

She also reminded him of all the innocent little children who'd suffer at the hands of the Shadok. And so in his mind he decided he'd help them, but being the sort of man he was, he didn't say he'd a 'change of heart.' No better weakness than to let people know one cared.

All in the house suddenly heard a rumbling, almost like thunder, as though the air itself seemed to be vibrating. "They're coming," Naru whispered as if to herself.

Rinec stared at her for a moment, and then walked outside, into the street. Perel, Anya, and Naru followed him. Outside, many others were staring up into the sky at all the grey ships passing overhead. Naru heard the tramping of many feet.

"The Militia is coming!" she cried, happy—the Militia was a huge group made up of thousands of local men who patrolled the cities to keep them safe from invaders.

Rinec's eyes spotted something else. A large amount of gray-clad figures hidden in the shadows of buildings, almost impossible to see. "Run!" he shouted.

The figures moved, and others saw them, and chaos erupted as people ran screaming from the hundreds of grey-armored Shadok. The soldiers started shooting at anything that moved, and smaller gray fighter ships shot lasers at buildings, blowing them up.

The Militia arrived and blasted away at the Shadok with their machine guns. Perel and Anya were running away, dragging the slower Naru behind them, heading for the bomb shelter. A woman screamed, and Naru looked back just as a Shadok looked up.

The Shadok's face was a pale white in the moonlight, passive and expressionless, as if he didn't even have his own thoughts and was a mindless zombie. A shadow covered his eyes, giving the appearance he had none; as if she were seeing into a dark, empty skull. The sword he held was bloody. Naru screamed.

Rinec was slashing and hacking at any Shadok who were unfortunate to be in his way as he worked his way to the top of a damaged roof to look at the ships. They were a dark gray, and even as they passed overhead, Shadok dropped from their open hulls into orderly ranks. Many of the Shadok had knives imbedded in their arms or sides, and hadn't even bothered to take them out. They seemed to have no pain, no capacity for anything short of obedience to whoever their leader was.

Rinec glanced in the direction that Perel and his family had taken. A small group of Shadok was just rounding the corner.

He leapt from roof to roof, crouching against raised sides whenever a ship passed over. He was almost to the shelter when he heard a girl scream 'Mama!' in such a way as to be easily distinguishable from the sounds of explosions, the yells and cries of women and children, the gunfire.

He ran faster. When he reached the edge of a roof, he saw Naru crouching against the opposite wall, a Shadok standing over her with a raised sword. Rinec just kept going, leaping from the roof and landing right on top of the Shadok. He wrenched the sword from the Shadok's grip, and with one swipe, the Shadok was dead. Rinec threw the blade away from himself and turned to Naru, who was kneeling by a body, touching it gently.

"Mama?" Naru pulled at the body's arm. "Come on, mama!"

Rinec knelt too, and looked at Anya's body. "She's dead," he said gruffly. "Where's Perel, Naru?"

She looked up at him, and he saw her eyes were wide and frightened. "Papa made one of the monsters follow him. He hasn't come back yet," she replied.

Rinec got up and started to walk away. Naru picked herself up and ran after him. "Where are you going? Take me with you!" Her terror of being alone was obvious.

Rinec sighed. He picked her up and set her behind a huge pile of rubble. "Stay here," he ordered.

"I'll come back for you."

He left, and after a few minutes of searching and backtracking the path of a Shadok patrol that'd caught his eye, he found Perel's body, and looked at it with regret. They'd been old friends. Taking a necklace that Perel always wore, telling Rinec once it was Naru's true mother's, he headed back to where he'd left Naru.

There were a few Shadok skulking around, he easily got rid of them. "Here," he handed Naru the necklace when he'd finished with them. "It was your real mother's. Perel was going to give it to you."

Naru took it from him, staring at it. Without a word, she put it 'round her neck and they continued to the shelter. Every time they came across a body, which was quite often, Rinec would either walk around it, or pick Naru up and step over it. Because of this and all the debris, the going was slow and more often than not they had to hide behind a building or in the shadows when a large company of Shadok came patrolling by.

They finally reached the shelter. Rinec opened the rusty metal doors and they decended down a few steps to a short hallway which lead to a huge, lamp-lit room. There were many others there already, talking in low tones, murmuring; many crying and others dressing wounds. There seemed to be no children but Naru, and he knew why. They didn't have need for children, only fighters. He led Naru over to a dark corner.

All the noise stopped immediately as the frightened people felt the shelter shake as something seemed to smash against it, and when they heard the metal doors creak open again, somehow everyone knew who it was.