Past Life

Alright, ghost child. Sit down and I'll tell you a little story. A story about how I became Skulker, Ghost Zone's greatest hunter. I wasn't always this pathetic green piece of ectoplasm you see today. No, I was alive once, but not human. I was something much greater.

In the beginning, there were seven of us, sent out to harvest what would keep our race sustained for millennia. There was a rule: no lives would be lost in the harvest, as we would have to destroy an entire solar system to get what we needed.

Never destroy a sun around which a life giving planet rotates. That was our golden rule. The seven of us had great respect for all life.

At least, that's what we thought.

One of my brothers found a small planet on which he set the harvester. He found life there, but he believed it to be beneath him. He saw the humans as little more than insects, and grew to hate them. It was Earth.

We eventually got word of the fact that he'd intended to destroy a life-giving planet. None of us believed that. Our brother? One of the seven? Impossible, but we came to this planet to investigate, and, if necessary, confront him.

We found it was true. The humans were frightened of us when we'd landed; which is understandable, considering they've not been around a long time and were very primitive. We'd walked through the desert he'd come to and eventually found the harvester.

It disgusted all of us, but I was closest to him. Of all my brothers, he seemed the least likely to do something like this. He'd always respected what we did, and never even touched a world with plants on them, for he was afraid he would harm microscopic sentient beings.

Why then!? Why did he betray us!?

He must've seen something in the humans that frightened him. Now, more so than then, I can see what scared him. He must've seen what they are capable of. They sacrificed people to non-existent deities. They tortured young children who've done nothing wrong. Males taking females against their will. But then, we were ignorant to this, and it didn't matter. We started calling him the Fallen. I will always call him Brother.

All life is sacred. But now that I'm dead, I don't much care. I suppose you could say I've followed in my brother's footsteps. I like wreaking havoc upon the living folk, it's my turn to have fun after I sacrificed my life for them.

Yes, ghost child, I sacrificed my life for the humans. I and the other five of us.

The harvester needed a key to make it work, a key called the Matrix of Leadership, which he had in his possession. I managed to talk my brother into allowing me to talk to him. They knew I was closest to him, so they knew if he'd talk to anyone, it would be me.

I managed to steal the Matrix from him. My brothers sent a message to our kind about what we've done. We agreed not to tell any hatchlings about what had happened, and to change our language, so that our shame would be lost on us. Some older ones would be sent here to help rid the universe of the Fallen's army. They had deceived us, so they called themselves Decepticons, and marked themselves with my brother's face.

Myself and the remaining five gathered together on a mountain's face, and huddled together around the matrix. We'd decided we would overheat ourselves, going offline and making a tomb of our own bodies. None of us wanted to die, but we did. We did for the humans, the ungrateful bastards.

I closed my optics as I felt my body become warm. I went offline for a moment, and the next thing you know, I'm floating here; a mere molecule of my former self.

I see you're surprised. I'll bet you're wondering why I've told you all this, right?

You're eyes. They're bright red. No other colour. So much like my optics back then.

We're so much alike, the only thing I'm missing is the skin.

You can transform, I used to be able to.

I could teleport and I can teach you.

We both were betrayed by someone very dear to us.

What do we do?

Raise hell for everyone else.