*WARNING*
This Fanfiction is rated T for strong language, intense violence, and sexual content. Read at your own risk.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the I.Z references or species. However, most of the characters in this story are OC.
Enjoy.
Ugrop is the planet of monsters.
A long, long time ago, when the second sun, Suglav, still gave light, there was tranquility in the stars around it. I was not alive to remember such a time, but the stories have been passed down from family and friends through generations.
I remember those stories... Ugrop was a peaceful place. A place of natural beauty, secluded and untouched. It remained that way for many years, I'm told. A place of tranquility.
I long to be able to live in those times. To see green grass billow under a gentle breeze. To sit underneath a tree and lay back, enjoying a feeling of calm. Oh, I do long for that...
But that past is dead and broken, burnt and burning in the fires of industry, trampled and rooted by the machine of war. All is gone. All is destroyed...
But I getting ahead of myself. To be honest, I do not know why I write this. Perhaps it is because I wish to be remembered, as we all do. Perhaps I wish to help those who will live after me. The answer remains shrouded, but I shall write this nonetheless. Should something happen to me, my stories and the stories of all the others shall be recorded for the future to hear.
No one knows when things changed on Ugrop. That moment in time is forever lost in the mists. But when the sun Suglav was destroyed out and most of Ugrop was plunged into darkness, all the peace... all the beauty...
All of the good drained out with the light.
I have read through the records that remain of this time, although most of them were demolished. I cannot gather enough information to truly understand what happened, but after years of research, I have found enough. I have found things that they have covered up. That they hope to keep hidden.
In schools, in meeting, in the new history books, they've always told us that Ugrop was an undeveloped planet. That there was no intelligent life here. That there was nothing but plants and wild animals, wandering amilessly across a barren world.
But that is not the truth. I have committed crimes to find the real answer, and the story that unfolded was enough to show me the light.
Before they came... The Skeiniba were the rulers of the planet. A race of aquatic creatures, who built vast cities of stone in the plains, and eventually, complex cities of glass and steel underneath the ocean. A sophisticated race. A people who were sure to find a balance between them and nature.
I found their writings in the deep archives, on their way to be burned. Reading through them, I was able to grasp just how nobles these people were.
And then... I found a journal. A journal written by a young scholar, who lived in the last days of the Skeiniba civilization.
As said in the journal:
'Drops of fire rained from the sky. The water of the sea did not quench the flames; rather, they continued to streak towards the cities below, hidden in the depths. Day after day, the fires pounded down. The supports did not hold for long. We were forced to flee our city and take refugee in the forests, a terrain long since unfamiliar.'
It goes on like such, until the very last entry. It is then when the truth is finally revealed.
'Everyone is gone... my family is dead. We thought we could be safe in the trees, but the enemy simply flattened the landscape. The fire rains down, singeing without spreading, creating dark holes in the ground where people once stood. I try to hide, but there is nothing anymore. Nothing but barren landscape, choking with dust and ash. Once the fire rain ceased, giant metal wasps descended from the sky, painted in purples, reds and blacks. It's the end of the world... these creatures have taken everything. Everything is theirs, now. My people are wiped out. I may be to only one left...'
The journal ends here. Although we do not hear from the writer again, his fate is clear. And it is very sad, in my opinion, that so much life was wasted because of greed.
That greed still exists within the people who stole this planet so many years ago. After destroying all life, they harvested energy from Suglav until it withered into nothing. There is not doubt in my mind that they are an intelligent, advanced race, but their ruthlessness doesn't earn them any respect from me.
Now dark, the planet was stripped of every resource, save a few small pockets of wild in places that were too hard to reach. Little by little, Ugrop was transformed from a planet of beauty and nature into one large city that spread out over miles of surface.
But that was not enough for the invaders. They continued to cut their way through the crust, building down when they could no longer grow upwards, creating an 'underground' city that mirrored the one above.
But one can only explore so far, and the deeper they dove, the more and more horrific the city became.
It took a while, but eventually, people drifted through Ugrop, settling down in the city build by murderers on the bones of the dead. Members of many species now live here, none of whom are native. But no matter who dwells in these buildings, even if they believe themselves to be free, they are all slaves of the people who stole this planet.
No one wants to live in the dark, even if the surface is no brighter. And so, the deeper levels of the city grew darker and darker in activity. The rich and the wanted lived in the meager light, while the drug dealers, the prostitutes, the rapists, the assassins and the broken who have nowhere else to go live beneath the ground.
Meanwhile, as all goes to hell below, the masters turn a blind eye. The soldiers around every corner above are all but gone in the 'Underworld.' And so, crime breeds in huge quantities.
These invaders who stole the lives of everyone here before... who lie about the history, who kill all those who dare question their rule. These are the people who we answer to. Who don't care if we live or die, so long as we worship them. Who strip us of our rights and treat us like animals. Who tear children from the arms of their mothers and beat them to death on the street for sport as the world looks away in shame.
These are the people who rule this planet now.
And it isn't just Ugrop who has this terrible fate. This empire of demons has spread, devouring all planets that lie within its sight, guided by the hand of two manics who care nothing for others and think of personal gain.
Ugrop is not the first world to fall. Nor will it be the last.
I have lost everything. Everyone. The invaders have taken all that is precious to me and tossed me aside like garbage, bleeding out and dying. But I have rebuilt myself slowly, growing stronger in the darkness of the Underworld, a place where they do not dare venture. I have gathered others who have suffered at their hand, and together, we are beginning to gain an advantage. We can hide in the shadows. We have grown in the dark. We can hit them quickly and disappear like smoke. It has taken me years, but I have built up an empire of my own beneath their feet. They know that we're here. They know what we want. They can try to defend themselves, but for the good of those alive and in memory of the dead, they must be exiled to a place where they'll never hurt anyone again.
Ugrop is a planet of monsters.
It is my mission to destroy them.
~ Juht Muutus, Leader of the Rebellion