Invincible (Comic/Show)spoilers if your against that sort of thing.
Sector 2828-Second moon, eighth planet from the sun
The waking world came to me an in instant. Feeling came just as quickly and with it, desperation. Fire burned in my lungs, blood and little else filling the spaces where I was sure air was supposed to be. I writhed, pain I wasn't prepared for enveloping my being.
I heaved, expelling blood and bile ahead of me, the liquid floating in a manner it took me far too long to recognize.
Space.
For a moment I wasn't sure whether to curl into a ball, or keep squirming, sensory overload mixing nicely with a lack of oxygen into a cocktail of unawareness that I almost couldn't overcome. Almost didn't, one thought keeping me from letting myself die in such an undignified manner.
What would father think? The greatest Viltrumite to ever live, the most powerful warrior the universe had ever seen. Shame filled me. I knew all too well what his opinion would be.
Weak. Unworthy.
I stilled, pushing the pain down with a shaking determination I could only call my own. I wasn't dying yet, not here, not now. I lifted myself up from the ground, floating forward and away from the surface of a natural satelite. I looked into the void of space expanding ahead of me. No sign of battle, no matter which way I looked. I needed to regroup. I had to prove him wrong.
I refused to look down into the mess of red hanging from where my stomach was supposed to be. My arm came up to cradle the wound. It wouldn't help to acknowledge it.
My vision blurred, my head throbbing when I turned too quickly in the direction of the local planet. I moved, shakily making my way onward. It was slow at first, and I doubted I would have been able to manage the journey if I made the trip from the planet to the moon, but once I broke away from the initial pull of it's gravity it was simpler to pick up speed.
I was till far, far too slow. I was moving at a speed the average members of a weaker species would call "Running." I pushed faster, frowning as blood and flesh started pouring past the hand braced against my abdomen.
It wouldn't be long before I lost consciousness again, perhaps an hour, but if I built up enough momentum it wouldn't matter. I was more likely to survive entry to the atmosphere than by waiting for some kind of aid. I grimaced, pulling my arm away from my chest and pushing.
My speed doubled, quadrupled, and more. My vision grew worse, the planet ahead of me faded into blurred speck of green on a canvas of black and white I was only half sure was the void and not my own fading consciousness. The only thing I had left was my sense of balance, but I was confident I hadn't changed direction.
That was all I needed. In less than twenty minutes I hit a wall of heat and resistance with red teeth bared in a snarl.
Awareness
I wasn't unaware of the irony of my existence. My father had been a champion to a people who abandoned him, he had safeguarded our people even when the Scourge Virus all but destroyed us. What he had once stood for had been broken time and time again. The truth was, the empire my father looked back on with pride, hoped to restore, and had raised me and my siblings to venerate, would have killed us on the spot.
The strength of our DNA was such that we could breed with nearly any species across the galaxy, but in doing so we would compromise the purity of that which made us superior to the rest. It gave us strength, it gave us speed, longevity and an ability to survive daunting to nearly every living species in the known universe. To mix it with an inferior species was to undermine everything we had built. Yet, the greatest of our kind, the Viltrumite bred to be the strongest and most unassailable individual being alive, went on to breed on a mass scale with a species more corrupting to our bloodline than any previously met, and corrupt it did.
Perhaps most ironically he was counting on it.
I was weaker than a pureblooded Viltrumite, I was slower, If I dared to strike my father my fist would shatter on his chest and he would tear me apart with a wave of his hand before I could even react. Even as my strength grows and I get older I doubt I'll ever reach the raw power of a pure blood.
My mother was one of thousands of Thraxans that man had impregnated. A species the direct opposite of the one I called my own. Who lived less than a single year and only survived as an advanced race thanks to their ability to learn faster than any other. Of all our kind, none of my brothers and sisters among the hybrids of those two races were any older than six years old.
Yet we had already reached maturity. Yet we were all of fighting age and we learned very quickly. A strength pulled from weakness. A clever move from my father, and one I'm surprised he had the courage to make. Within a few short years, a blink in the eye of any Viltrumite, he had restored our race from a handful of individuals to the thousands that marched alongside him today. All it cost was his pride.
My siblings and I had long since considered it our duty to prove to him that he had made the right decision, that our empire may have been changed irreversibly in blood, but that it had not changed in ideal. We would make this weakness into our strength.
I had my own thoughts on how to do so, thoughts I kept to myself for fear of my father's reprisal. I had planned on biding my time, earning his respect through cultivating my body and my mind, and eventually attempting to take control as the heir to his empire. Today had either been several steps back or forward in that regard.
When I next awoke I was certain several hours had passed. Some kind of insects chirped in a darkened forest surrounding the crater I now resided in. Light was fading into nightfall on this world, and the ground around me was partially glass and still hot from the impact. It was likely the only thing that had protected me from scavengers. The miserable state of my body had recovered somewhat. My legs didn't shake when I stood up, and at the very least I could breathe.
My stomach wound, and much of the softer parts of my body had been charred by the atmosphere. The pain was frustrating, but I didn't have to spend time tending to my bleeding. I considered returning to space, but I hesitated. The battle had to have been over by now. I wasn't certain we had won.
With my father at the head and thousands of my brothers and sisters at my back I was certain we could not lose, but what we found waiting for us on that planet was unlike anything I had ever prepared myself for. I remember...
My eyes narrowed. I remember an explosion I was certain would be the end of my life. Green energy emanating from a robot that had tried to interrupt my fathers battle with the last of Argall's bloodline. The traitor prince dueling my father with far greater success than he had any right to. I hadn't wanted to tip the scales further in his favor. We fought, and the blasted machine was stronger than me, I struck some kind of device on it. Perhaps the power source of an explosive. It detonated around me.
I lifted into the air, blasting into the tree line a moment later. If they hadn't found me yet they might not be looking, but I'd be a fool to stay.
If they really had won I was likely the closest thing there was to a true son of Viltrum left. I would have to be cautious. My ancestors must be rolling in their graves. I'd have to prove them wrong too.
I kept low, making sure to stay beneath the treeline whenever I was able. I didn't get a glimpse of any population centers as I was making my way onto the planet even if I could have noted them past the pain, but reports said the earth was densely inhabited. If I picked a direction I would find someone quickly enough. South seemed as good as any. The air was surprisingly agreeable on this world. It smelled...nice.
My pace was moderate at best, but I had to avoid doing lasting damage to the local foliage. It would be an embarrassment, and a blackmark on my reputation with my father if I was wrong. The alternative was worse. Day had fully given way to night when I found what I was looking for.
It was an idyllic mixture of nature and industry, a city of golden skinned individuals resembling Viltrumites flying about in some kind of harmonic dance of emotion and passion. It was beautiful, it was disgusting.
It was not earth. I may not have been familiar with the world apparently most biologically compatible with our species, but I had been briefed. My eyes drifted upward, to the large and pale moon orbiting this world, and the smaller and almost blue one hovering behind it. My nostrils flared. That fucking robot.
This changes things. I focused on the inhabitants of this world. They were strange in their ways. The fact that they could fly, the similarities of how they looked compared to my own species was contrasted by the emotion, the dance in their movements. Not one of them seemed to move in a straight line as they glided through the air, instead arcing about with smiles on their faces. In the past I had some difficulty imagining people described as "careless". I doubted I would have such trouble now.
Most frustratingly their attire was all but nonexistent. What was present on the forms of male and female alike was there to emphasize curves and sexuality. Something well suited for the temperature of this world. It meant the females here were pleasing to look at, but made it impossible for me to infiltrate on any level. The pale purple of my skin, and my dark, shortly cut hair would be called out immediately.
Hell, would they even be able to speak my language? I had never heard of such a species, and if they were a part of the known galaxy they likely would have been infamous for their resemblance to my own. I could read and speak Thraxan, Viltrumite, and number of human languages alongside basic, but that might well be useless here.
The robot must have sent me far.
My approach would have to be more... aggressive.
With a smile on her face Sornand'r flew through the city of Kathas, clutching a woven bracelet to her breast as she made her why back to her home. It had been presented to her by her father. It meant her suitor was close at hand to earning her fathers favor. She might not have known for certain which of the boys had earned his approval, or how they had done so, but she was lucky. Not one of the thirteen boys after her hand was undesirable, and each had professed a deep affection for her in the years going forward.
Few in any of the high families could make the same claim, even if parents were rarely so cruel as to select someone their child truly hated. There was always a worry in every noblewoman's heart that the man who approached them during ceremony would be a prison for the rest of their days.
Sornand'r weaved past a terrace, waving to a civilian family within as they had their final meal of the day, twirling in the air and humming a tune to herself. She would press her father for more about this mystery suitor. It was improper but she knew the man would break eventually. Enough threats of "Never speaking to you again!" and any self-respecting father would cave.
She smiled, taking a moment to sniff at the fragrant gift before turning to make her way to the palace. She had dallied long enou-she slammed right into what felt like a brick wall. Dazed, Sornand'r looked up into into the frowning face of a large man who was certainly no Tamaranean.
His skin was a light maroon. He was garbed in red and white, and covered from head to toe in cuts and gashes of a size she barely believed anyone could survive, let alone fly with. His abdomen was a blackened ruin, and she could only make out one eye beyond the blood and gore strewn about his face. The orb fiercely scanning her face, her form, and finding something about it disquieting
"Cor von drescal." The alien's tone was cold and his language was impossible to recognize, even if she could tell it was some kind of command.
Sornand'r screamed.