Chapter 1: A whole new world

He heard a loud, annoying ringing in his ears and felt his head resting on something hard. He slowly opened his eyes and lifted his head. He couldn't see anything. He reached forward and touched some metallic wall. He searched for a short while and then he grabbed a handle. He took a deep breath and pulled.

The hatch flew away and he crawled out of his escape pod, blinded by the light. His comlink suddenly came to life:

"Come in, PJ, do you copy? This is Recon knight Rhendon, do you read? Over."

"I'm here. What happened, Rhendon? Where are you?"

"I've crashed not far from your position. Head north, we'll meet at my pods crash site, but be careful! There are hostile creatures everywhere."

"Roger that, Rhendon. PJ out."

PJ was a young recruit of the spiral knight order. He was known by his instructors for being a "slowpoke warrior". He always took his time, taking cover, waiting for the right time to strike. This led to increased consumption of shields and, in some cases, armor, but was rewarded by fallen enemies.

He was wearing a Spiral Brigandine, a Spiral Crescent helm with a com unit and helm-mounted visor. He was also wielding a standard proto sword, gun and shield. He collected his weapons, attached the shield to his forearm, prepared his sword and vent to meet Rhendon.

As he was cutting his way through dense foliage, he heard a strange noise. He got to a meadow and saw a chameleon-like creature looking at him.

"Okay. Come here."

PJ covered himself with the shield and it automatically projected a barrier around him, protecting him from all kinds of damage. The creature wasn't doing anything. PJ slowly walked toward it. It was standing still, just looking at him.

"Are you a friend or foe, little one?" said PJ to himself and lowered his shield, "What is your nature?"

As he finished the sentence, the little creature jumped toward him, crouched and launched its tongue at him. It hit PJ hard enough to launch him backwards. He landed on his back and shook his head to shake off the concussion.

"Why, you little son of a…"

He didn't finish, because the bushes on the opposite side of the meadow shook and three pink, translucent cubes of something disgusting came out of it. PJ jumped to his feet, covering himself again. The four creatures slowly moved to him. PJ, based on his previous experience, determined to crush anything and everything in his path, charged at them, striking his sword. The hit severed the chameleons head, but the blade got stuck in the soil. Before he pulled it out, one of the cubes got close, twisted and rammed him. He grunted in pain, pulled his gun out of its holster and jumped away from the monsters. He took careful aim and made short work of the slimes. He reclaimed his sword and headed to Rhendons position.

"Ah, PJ, I'm glad to see a friendly face and not another hostile."

"You and me both, Rhendon. What happened?"

"We have landed on the surface of the Cradle. A planet we have been scanning when… well, I have no idea what happened. There is a camp set up by the other survivors just up ahead. I'd go with you but there may be others coming through here. Go on ahead, I'll see you back at the camp."

"Huh… Okay. Good luck, then. See you at the camp."

He moved ahead, leaving Rhendon behind. Then, he spotted three other knights.

"Friendly!"

"Yes, we see you. Come here."

PJ came to the knights. They were high-ranking veterans and they were just as confused as he was. That comforted him a bit.

"Hey, you're PJ, aren't you? Rhendon said you were coming."

"Yeah, that's me. Can we just get to that camp? I'm looking forward to a hot meal."

"You and me both. Let's… Wait, something's not right."

Out of nowhere, two puppy-looking gun turrets popped up, along with a large, mechanic creature. PJ was shocked.

"WHAAAT? What is that thing? I didn't sign for this."

"None of us did, so shut up and fight!" yelled one of the knights and attacked one of the turrets. PJ snapped out of the shock and flanked the mechanical being, attacking from its six o'clock. When one of the knights saw this, he quickly teamed up with him, drawing the beast's attention to himself, allowing PJ to deliver fatal blows. After they mopped up, they were done quickly.

"Whew, I don't want any more of this stuff, no thank you."

"Yeah… I hear you. Good job, PJ. Not bad for a recruit. Now come on, let's get to that camp."