Age 734
Planet Furnit
"There are three things you need to understand about the Saiyans, ones that defined the history of our species from beginning to end.
Saiyans have a natural drive for combat and for improving themselves, to the point where they believe themselves to be the greatest natural-born fighters in the Universe. There are no mutants in our kind – that I am aware of, anyway – and even a Saiyan baby can eventually grow strong enough to destroy a planet if left unattended.
Saiyans used to have a caste system, and still believe some of their kind are inherently worthier than others, whereas the lowest of the low deserve being treated as trash.
Saiyans hold their fellow man in utter contempt, someone who shows any sort of affection for things other than battle, or, at most, other proven warriors, are treated as lacking in Saiyan pride. They will gladly throw away their fellow kind and let them die, as long as they, personally, can crawl to the top.
All of these facets of our nature conspired to design my fate.
My parents were low class warriors, whose names I will never learn, and I don't particularly care to find out, either. They died alongside millions of others on Planet Vegeta. My power wasn't much when I was born, so I wasn't deemed worthy to remain on the planet – and thus, I was sent away. Saiyan toddlers are tasked to land on worlds, slowly grow in power, then exterminate everyone living, at which point they can be picked up by the rest of their race and join the ranks of their mindless, brutal warriors. Or perish – that is fine, too.
Can you tell that I hold some contempt towards the Saiyans? That I did not particularly enjoy hearing about my origins, when I was first told of them?
Anyway, the empire had selected a specific world for me to exterminate. Planet Furnit was an ancient, wealthy world which was the centre of a spacefaring empire some millennia ago, but fell to decline after the brief rampage of Lord Chilled in the Galaxy that broke much of their power. By the point when I was born, Frieza had no use for Furnit any longer, and as its native inhabitants were always rather weak when it came to average battle power, the empire believed that a baby like myself would be enough to finish the job.
Sending someone who was barely born to destroy an entire world does sound crazy on paper, now that I'm explaining it... but we Saiyans are born with a lot of instincts from birth that help us navigate ourselves and get our bearings even when we're infants.
Thankfully, after my pod hatched open and I crawled out to the forests that surrounded me, I didn't have to wait for long before I finally contacted civilisation..."
Several blob-like alien creatures, humming atop the branches of trees to communicate with one another and search for prey, suddenly took off, floating past the leaves and vines into the skies. The approach of a small group of monks disturbed them, and got one of the travellers to turn their eyes to the skies, smirking at the sight, then suddenly smack a nearby tree trunk with a large cane. The sound and reverberating force agitated more of the blobbers, forcing them to take off.
"They all are heading to the west. Something must be in the east that they don't want to touch, then," the alien commented, pointing in said direction with his cane.
They were Furnitians, all sent here by the warrior monk temple of Chaire City. Each one was a little under two meters tall, humanoid, with light grey skin and an almost stone-like texture to their faces. That is because it actually was stone – or rather, what other species would call stone was merely biology to them. Colourful robes fluttered past the leaves and flapped about – anyone else who might have stumbled to the woods would have easily been able to tell that these were temple monks.
Villagers living not far from the forest reported disturbances – foragers returning to their homes claimed that they witnessed an enormous, rampaging furry creature in the night. It destroyed everything in sight, and almost caught one of the fleeing villagers in its rampage. Missions sent out by the local guards found nothing like the report – yet, this disturbance to the peace got the Consuls of Chaire to order an investigation by the Temple. If secular powers could not find the origin of this mythical phenomenon, then perhaps spiritual powers shall.
"Master Otoman!" one of the younger monks suddenly yelled after stepping into a clearing – getting the older, cane-wielding Furnitian to perk up and walk up to his comrade. "I think I've found something!"
"By the gods..."
It was not a natural clearing – the fallen, broken trees told as much to the monks. The earth in the centre of the clearing had been uplifted and spread apart by a powerful impact, and in the centre sat something white and metallic. Carefully, the monks stepped out of the woods and descended down to the crater, approaching the object. Though some vines and moss had grown over it, it was, at most, a few years old.
"What is this...?" one of the junior monks muttered out, touching it to ascertain whether it was dangerous or not. Thankfully, it did not shock them with lightning or explode in their faces – no, it was entirely harmless. A ball, of sorts, with a hatch open, revealing a seat and some complex electronics inside... Master Otoman, crouching down to inspect the insides of the ball, scratched his chin and finally answered:
"I am not sure... but I believe it might be a vehicle for traversing the stars."
"What?" the junior suddenly called out, baffled. "Are... you sure, Master? I thought star travel was merely a myth..."
"I thought so, too... but this object seems frighteningly similar to the depictions from our legends."
Millennia ago, as the legends say, their ancestors too were able to harness the ability to traverse stars, but all knowledge of this power was lost after a cataclysm, and had yet to be discovered. In the aftermath of the Cataclysm, the Consuls of the cities of Furnit established a system keeping the technological level of the planet permanently suspended, to prevent any other cataclysm from the stars from striking again – and yet, it appears the stars had designs of their own.
Two other monks were still in the forest, having not followed the rest into the clearing and instead taking their time to immerse themselves in the nature. They could hear shouts and yells from down below, but not much beyond that.
"Think they found something big in that hunk of metal?" one of the monks asked another, in a dismissive voice.
"I'd guess it just being in the forest out of nowhere is important enough. That's not something you can just... find."
"Sure, you can. Some guard just forgot- wait, do you hear something?"
"Hear..."
The leaves were moving. The bushes were rustling. A brief shiver went down both of the monks' spines, an unease of feeling watched suddenly paralysing them. Slowly, carefully, they pulled their staves off their backs and readied for battle.
A growl screeched from behind the monks, and the one closer by turned around, immediately blocking a charge by a small naked creature. It was humanoid, just like them, but its skin was pink and flesh-like, rather than stony, and a mane of hair adorned its head. A long, furry tail flicked from one side to another.
"What is that thing?!" one of the monks yelled, raising his staff for a swing. In spite of its small stature, it could hold and pull back the other monk's weapon – but, it suddenly leapt off. Dodging a swing, it went for a bite, clutching tightly onto the monk's arm and forcing him to squeal.
"What is going on over there?!" Master Otoman yelled, finally noticing the screams and yells.
"Get it off, get it off!" the bitten monk yelled, shaking his arm, to no avail.
"Master! Master! Help!" the other monk screamed. Otoman did not wait a second – suddenly, moving at speeds faster than the naked eye could track, he sped out of the crater and smacked the feral creature across the skull with his staff, instantly knocking it out. Its teeth let go and it collapsed to the floor, letting the attacked monks sigh in relief.
"I'm sorry, master, it caught us off-guard, and we didn't know what to do..." one of the attacked juniors immediately began to apologize – however, their Master did not even notice. Instead, he crouched down, inspecting the creature he had just bonked. The other monks who had been inspecting the mysterious spaceship hurried to the battle site as well.
"I've... never seen an animal like this before," one of them commented, and another added:
"It... looks a bit like a Furnitian, just... alien. With that weird skin and tail..."
"It's not an animal, that's for sure..." Otoman commented and carefully picked up the knocked-out creature. "There is a lot more life energy being emitted from it than from any ordinary animal. And I suspect it has something to do with the star travel vehicle we found down below..."
"The... star travel vehicle...?!"
"For now, I am going to take this being to the Temple. There, we will see what story it may tell us."
"Only a few years after my arrival on the planet, I was discovered and taken away by the warrior-monks of the Temple of Chaire City – the city we're standing in front of right now. Back then, it was ruled by a Consul, a learned man elected from the people, who ruled with the assent and support of the temple monks. Aside from a small guard that patrolled the lands for feral animals or bandits, the Furnitian order of monks was the only armed force across the entire planet, and had temples in every major city. They harnessed ki, in a primitive form, that they used for martial arts. Pathetic compared to anyone but the weakest troopers of the Frieza Force, but incredible for the average citizen on Furnit.
The staff they whacked me with as I attacked them briefly shut down some of my most feral instincts, so, when I woke up in the temple grounds, I surprised them by being peaceful and friendly – from then on, they saw me not as a feral animal, but as an alien they can train in their ways and grow into a dutiful warrior-monk. I quickly picked up their language, as useless as it is now. They gave me a name, Tximino, but in all of Chaire, I quickly became more commonly known as Izarren Umearen – the Star Child.
Furnit was so declined, so decrepit, so blinded by their ignorance and tradition, that they managed to forget the technology they once used to traverse the stars – the fact that I came from space was such a shock to them that they gave me outright religious significance! And they truly were blind, too - when the first chance came to regain this technology, by taking my space pod and reverse engineering its technology, the monks ordered it to be destroyed instead. The Stars are a playground for gods and demons, they say – it is not fitting for a Furnitian to try to meddle in their affairs.
That species was doomed to go extinct one day. But, back then, I had no idea what was about to come.
I trained according to the regimen of the Temple – I studied the natural arts and history, I pushed my physical limits and got my first taste in ki control. A Furnitian needs decades of learning and just as much effort to push themselves past their ordinary limits – but I had no such limitation, for reasons I had yet to discover. I eclipsed everyone in the Temple with ease. I began displaying power that nobody in recent history had even heard of.
And... unfortunately for everyone in Chaire City, this was when the instincts that got suppressed away started coming back to my mind."
Fires were lighting up throughout Chaire City, buildings of marble and ancient wood were crumbling under their weight after getting slammed with mythical levels of force. Alarm fires were being lit atop outposts, sending the message to the other towns and villages under the rule of the local Consul that they were under threat. Was it an army? No, armies have not existed on the surface of Furnit for many centuries. It was a single man, taking down everything that tried to stop him in his path, a slow journey towards the acropolis in the centre of the city – there, the seat of government of the city was located, protected by the last and strongest guard sent by the Warrior Temple of Chaire.
A powerful explosive burst was suddenly unleashed in the middle of a group of monks fighting in the centre of a wide boulevard – blasting them all away. The helpless Furnitian warriors all flew to different directions – some slammed into the nearest buildings, others crashed through trees lined up across the boulevard, a few more simply slid across the pavement. Where was once an entire group of staff and sword wielding martial artists, a single teenager stood instead. He was dressed in a colourful monk uniform, just like the rest, but he was fleshy rather than stone-like, and his eyes betrayed killing intent.
"Stop that kid!" a yell came from the distance, and dozens of soldiers stationed on the rooftops and the streets opened fire. Arrows and primitive musket shots rained down – to the villain, however, all of them were harmless. With a smug grin, he ran forward, moving faster than any of the soldiers could track – in a second's time, he had already smashed through one guard station, then fired off a handful of energy blast to take down the others. Yet again, smoke and flames stretched to the skies, followed by cries of help and screams.
The teen did not care, leapt off the building and continued advancing through the boulevard.
"What a bunch of weaklings..."
The acropolis was clear in his sight. Ancient and guarded only by fragile minions, it was practically begging to be destroyed.
Yet, once the teenager stepped to the large, tiled, barren square surrounding the hill on which the building stood, a wind suddenly picked up, and something sped past the teenager. Two feet dropped down on the tiles, twenty meters or so in front of him.
"Tximino..." Master Otoman muttered, slowly pulling out the staff strapped to his back – he towered over the teenager, and watched him with pensive eyes. "A part of me always feared it will end like this."
"Of course it will!" Tximino yelled, then, with a grunt, unleashed a burst of energy from his body, sending forth an air burst that forced the master to briefly shield his face. "All you've ever done is hold me back! You, all of Furnit... you can't ever compare to what I've become – and yet you still think you can give me orders?"
"Is that really what you believe? That the only thing that gives someone worth is its power?" Otoman yelled back. Tximino did not answer – he lunged forward, with speed and precision that immediately put the master on the back foot, forcing to defend with swift movements of his staff. "A world of might makes right is one that never leaves someone satisfied, and one where you will eventually be outdone and left behind by someone more powerful than you. That is what we wanted to teach you, and all of Furnit! That there is a way to peace that does not involve such bloodshed!"
Instead of an answer, Otoman suddenly received a deck in the face that forced him back. The former pupil gushed out:
"You disgust me more and more with every word you say."
Otoman tried to attack for the first time in the fight – however, Tximino caught his staff swing with an outstretched hand and pulled the weapon out of the old Furnitian's grasp. After slamming his former master to the ground with a sudden downwards smash, he gripped the staff with both hands and broke it apart, dropping both halves to the ground.
"I am like a god compared to you all – and yet, you keep dictating me lessons, as if you still have any sway over me. I don't care for peace – I want to be free!"
"You fool..." Otoman muttered. That attitude did not leave Tximino in a good mood:
"What did you say?!"
A swift kick briefly sent the master flying across the vast square, sliding across the ancient tiles for several dozen meters. Struggling on the ground for a few seconds, Otoman pulled himself back to his feet and yelled:
"And what are you going to do with that freedom, kid?! Live all by yourself on a planet littered with bones? Freedom does not exist all on its own – without a community, without others to fall back on, a person makes themselves less free than the worst slavery!"
Tximino, slowly approaching his former master, briefly stopped in his approach, staring Otoman down, which got him to press even further:
"You can overpower and destroy every living thing on this planet, Tximino. I don't doubt that any longer. But once you become lord of the ashes, you'll see that everything you took for granted vanishes away. What, are you truly going to return to the wilderness, on the brink of death from hunger every night? Can you truly imagine yourself living without others, people you can call allies, friends? A place you can return to in peace, where you won't have to live by the rules of nature..."
The Saiyan stared his former master down, briefly immersing himself in his thoughts. As much as he said he despised his old master, he still could not stop himself from listening to what he had to say, the old instincts from his childhood took a while to vanish – and what he said did ring true. Frustrated, on a whim, he had broken out of the temple and began wrecking havoc across all of Chaire – and hey, now uncertainty caught up with him. What was his plan?
His thoughts slowly concluded. Tximino flashed a faint smirk and raised his hand, charging up an energy bolt.
„Don't worry, master. I'm not that stupid."
A powerful energy wave roared forth, engulfing the elderly Furnitian and tearing into the buildings surrounding the square. With an easier breath, the Saiyan turned towards the acropolis. Two elderly statesmen ran out of the building, frightened, and soon joined by other officials following them – the duo were the Consuls, the elected rulers of the city who now had nobody left to protect them from the living storm. After running down the steps, one of the Consuls collapsed to his knees in front of the Saiyan, begging:
„Please, Star Child! We-we will do anything, as long as you stop this bloodshed! Riches, slaves, power, anything you ask! Just... please..."
„Please don't kill us!" one of the bureaucrats behind the Consuls yelled out what everyone else was thinking.
„Anything, you say...?"
„For the average Saiyan, the story would end here. Those brutes would never make the mental jump necessary to achieve more than just the destruction of their homeworld. They murder everyone and then return to a state of nature, until the rest of their race contacts them, and they meet someone they cannot murder so easily, thus being forced to serve them instead. The cycle of death and pain continues.
I, at the very last moment, realized that this is not my calling. So, instead of being a genocidal murderer, I became a conqueror. The consuls and people of Chaire bowed to my will when I instilled them with fear, and soon, the other cities across Furnit would soon feel the same way. None of them had any defenses, except for small groups of monks, that all fell with ease – while I... I refused to be as blind as Otoman and the Consuls. I knew that true victory can only be achieved through violence and force of will. Peaceful monks and citizens became soldiers, and a curiosity that fell from the stars became worshipped as a God.
Futon, Cocho, Bedo, Stoule, Tesk... they all fell one after another, submitting to my will. Just think – if Frieza was anything more than a mindless brute, he would applaud me for a job well done. All by myself, I subjugated an entire planet, turned it from a degraded backwater into something that could once again improve, grow stronger. Such a world would have been a perfect addition to the Frieza Empire – if I knew that this was my mission all along.
That's not to say that people weren't suffering. Oh, no, lots of Furnitians hated the Star Child. But by then, a legend was building about me, a legend that was speaking in terror of my unstoppable power, that instilled respect even in those who despised me the most.
Sadly, it was not meant to be. The legend quickly fell, and all of Furnit with it."
„Star Child!"
A frightened courier ran into the halls of the vast palace that now stood in the centre of Chaire City. When their living deity placed the order, the Furnitians soon displayed that they could build more than modest houses and acropolises – the Palace of Chaire was a marvel, draped in all colours under the rainbow and filled to the brim with gold and precious metals from top to bottom. The unstoppable conqueror of Furnit made this palace his home, as well as almost a thousand servants, who tended to everything that he may have ever desired.
The Star Child, rising from his throne of pure gold, looked down upon the arrival. Compared to tall, heavily armoured guards or scantily dressed dancers, he appeared unassuming, barely an adult – and yet, just witnessing him could drive terror in the heart of any Furnitian. He did not show his power often, preferring to incite fear through presence rather than lavish destruction – still, everyone who lived in the palace knew of the legends. Though his clothing resembled the old monk outfit, it was now gilded and had an attached cape to signify his status.
„What is it?" the alien spoke.
A faint thud, as if coming from rolling thunder in the middle of day, reached the ears of the courtiers, instilling complete silence across the entire hall. Another thud followed, closer.
„We have... we have been visited. By more travellers from the stars, just like you. And they are not friendly."
„...What?!"
For a second, Tximino could not believe the news. It made sense that he was not the only one born in the stars, and yet... the idea that there may have been more, who may know of his presence here – who may know why he is here – never quite crossed his mind. Without speaking a single word, he walked towards the frightened messenger – then past him, towards the balcony that oversaw a beautiful, panoramic view of Chaire City.
„We-we are trying to stop them, Star Child, but each one holds unbelievable power, and-"
„It can't be..."
Tximino clutched onto the handrails of the balcony – staring to the distance, where the ominous thuds were coming closer and closer. If the battle was taking place there, then it, still being past the horizon, was already intense enough to be felt here. The power of these star travellers must be beyond any conceivable measure – beyond even...
...him.
„Star Child, do you know who they are? Can you confront them and stop them?" one of the dancers carefully approached the alien in despair, clutching onto the medallion in her hands – depicting the ruler of the planet, it was a sign of their undying loyalty to his cause of unification.
„I... I don't... I don't know if I can..."
„But... if they are your people..."
„If-if they are my people... I-I've never met them... I've lived here all my life..."
Questions and thoughts swirled in his mind, each one more difficult to comprehend than the last. If what the messenger was saying was true... then what could this possibly mean? Why were they here? Why was he here?
The periodic thuds beyond the horizon ceased. An ominous silence followed – no one in the entire court dared to speak, even their breaths were muted, every single person was certain that something was about to happen, yet they were unsure what. The wind slowly picked up, then grew greater and greater and greater.
Explosions, rocketing the city one after another, tore through buildings in a long line, approaching the palace, before stopping right before the enormous building. If a person was firing them, they were moving so quickly that no one, not even Tximino, could register their movement.
Suddenly, an air burst pushed the Star Child and everyone else to the floor, the average courtier crashing through the hall like a ragdoll. A person was floating in front of the balcony. Fleshy, much like Tximino, but with teal skin and long, dark green hair. An exotic suit of armour of white and brown adorned their body, giving him an imposing warrior appearance.
As soon as his eyes glazed towards the fallen, terrified teenager on the balcony floor, a smile curved up in his face.
„Saiyan..."
„Prince Zarbon was sent to Furnit when I had turned eighteen years old, as the Frieza Force got a hold of documents confirming that a Saiyan had been sent there a few years before the destruction of Planet Vegeta. There, he found me – and the truth was revealed. My birth name was Articho and I am a Saiyan, a member of an intergalactic race of conquerors. Everything that was a part of my identity in the past – it no longer matters. I had no people, I had no empire, I had no planet. My planet was gone years ago, and the only people I had were three others serving Frieza. Under such conditions... all I could do was accept, and leave a destroyed Furnit to do the work I was destined to do from birth.
Zarbon utterly despises Saiyans, of course – so, after giving me the briefest explanation, he thrashed me until I lost consciousness, then reported to the Frieza Force that I resisted recruitment and was thus not a reliable recruit. Before I knew it, I was already assigned to the most inconsequential garrison forces. The other Saiyans filled in the gaps in the story that he first explained to me. They told me what happened to Planet Vegeta, what the abilities and limitations of the Saiyans are, and where I stood in the hierarchy of our race. What's left of it, anyway.
Over time, I grew to accept that the life I used to call my own is never coming back. That Tximino is dead, and this galaxy only wants Articho. And so, I am now Articho. Loyal commander in the Frieza Force, rising through the ranks in spite of my inglorious beginnings, until I was finally selected as the commander of a new elite strike force being formed to replenish losses. You know the rest."
The tale took at least ten minutes to finish, if not more, and having finally explained it all, the Saiyan sighed, with an easier breath. Though the story droned on in places, Gomana listened intently throughout – especially as something told her this was probably the only opportunity she, or anyone, could get a chance to see Articho speak from his heart.
„I... see..."
„When I was first informed that we were heading to Frieza 1195, I knew from the beginning that I'll have to visit Furnit for one last time. And so, I took my time here to finally deal with my thoughts and memories."
„Do you... miss it?"
Gomana's question left Articho silent, so, she pressured further, asking again:
„You... clearly despise everything about the Frieza Empire. About being forced to serve there. Would you... rather be here? Would you rather be Furnitian?"
Staring off to the distance, the Saiyan finally answered after a pause. „Back on Furnit, I felt... alien, much like I feel alien here, but in different ways. Surrounded by people clearly of different species than myself, I couldn't understand what I was – and now that I do know what I was, I despise it. Neither path would ever give me the answers I want."
With a faint smile, Articho rose to his feet, and turned his face towards his fellow soldier. „I think it's rather foolish to hope for your home or heritage to guide you in who you should be. The only true identity you'll ever find... is what you carve out for yourself. With your own ability, with your own force of will."
An energy blast suddenly flew from the Saiyan's hand, descending to the ruins of the city in the distance, crashing straight into the partially collapsed balcony – and immediately engulfing the entire city. A dome-like explosion burned through buildings and bodies alike, leaving nothing but a scorched plane in the aftermath.
