Orien and Tiger X (One Shot)

 

“I probably die in this barren space.” A man laughed bitterly while watching the screen in front of him. It was black, which the only illumination was the millions sparsely spaced white dots. There was nothing there with him but the black mug beside him, the multitude of buttons and the handle held in his hand. Even the grey cockpit did only to highlight his loneliness.

“This is impossible.” He’d been going towards the dots, but to no avail. It was like he was on an infinite stretch of space. No light years or measurements could able to help him. Seeing nothing but darkness, it was as if walking across nothingness. And he just wanted to go back this instant.

Sweating, he had damped the military fatigue for days. Each trickle salted his eyes, but the training he had since young maintained his focus. There might be nothing on his screen, but he was sure of one thing. A slight mistake might endanger his life.

Recalling his first going into space, it was a novel experience. The solar system, his blue planet… they were breath-taking. How he missed his mother planet. It was the only one unaltered with metals and depressing smoke. The era of space voyage made it that humans propagated beyond its own galaxy. Like a locust, they changed the environment to their likings.

It was a mistake.

He shook his head. The man thanked his luck he’d been born on the mother planet than in other worlds. Maybe that’s why he felt superior against others. Right now, he regretted how he treated his subordinates. Yet they had gone now. And he was alone.

While nursing many thoughts, he went back. Thankfully, the return journey was far easier. He quickly saw a large ship, now in smithereens. It was a flagship named Father, one of the greatest ship of the Earth Galaxy. Equipped with it were state-of-the-art weapons and facilities. The United Earth Federation had confidence that they could face dozens of battalion with it. They did this for this ultimate quest. Yet, all of its entirety got destroyed before the peculiarity of space.

And even he, the general whom sat on the top of a galaxy, couldn’t change the outcome.

Flames thrusted on the back of his mech. It brought him closer. The ship resembled a broken biscuit. His mech clung on a jutted crook metal. Wires, as large as his mech, snaked and still producing electricity. Grabbing a large knob, he slid it, showing a large room. He quickly entered and closed the door.

Woosh. Gas exuded on his mech and the cockpit opened. Orien Ist jumped out and landed with a thud. Observing the oxygen pipes if still working, only then he removed his helmet. He inhaled deep to his lungs. It had been light years since he breathed a fresh air. Though engineered.

Orien looked back and stared at his mech. It was Tiger X. Its face resembled a tiger, and its claws could rupture any metal. This was his symbol. How glorious it was when he rampaged through enemy lines? But thinking about it, his enemies were still the same humans. The same blood. And when a true enemy finally appeared, they threw him in this damnable place. It might be called the ultimate quest, but his burning heart was not here.

He walked through a corridor until he arrived inside an enormous room. He noted the fruits, vegetables and trees forming a beautiful ecosystem. “Fortunately, these guys survived. At least, it will help me survive until the end of my life.”

Orien caught one apple and bit into it. It was too juicy and sweet, proof of its altered gene. He finished it in one sitting and couldn’t help but get another. After a long time, many leftover seeds scattered beside his feet. He was beyond hungry and chuckled because of his appearance. Many faces appeared on his mind, females who adored him and subordinates who believed in him.

“Would they be shocked if they see my appearance?” Hairs sprouted like grassland in his previous Adonis face. His tiger-like stature slumped and his eyes glazed like a fish. He smiled bitterly. He let them down. And he wouldn’t be able to share them with a single fruit anymore. One hand pressed on his steel chest, feeling the heartbeat. It was the ghost that made it cold. Teeth grinding together, he thought about what he could do when his opponents were nothing but ghostly apparitions of the past. Remnants that haunted them down.

“Just a ghost…”

Orien exited. He needed to voyage once again. His goal was to look for celestial bodies and possibly get help.

He randomly chose a direction and took flight. His speed was fast. An instantaneous burst could reach a light speed. Though he didn’t do it and maintained a stable velocity. Blistering heat emerged from a small core rotating on the mech’s chest. Another reason his Tiger X was greater than most mechs. This small object contained energy as powerful as a sun. He didn’t know when it would exhaust. And he didn’t want to know. Years of fighting together made him trust this large metal than his blood relatives.

A large bag laid beside him; it was his food source before he had to come back again. The long journey got cold and boring, especially after repeating it for a hundred of times. Hence, he pressed on the button. A small screen appeared his monitor and his glazed eyes became livelier.

“Martial General Orien Ist had proven himself once again.” A person talked merrily on the screen.

“Many are interested in how General Orien got where he is today. This is his secret.”

“He is a resident of Mother Planet, born in South East Asia and grew up in a scholar family. His father, a mathematician and also a farmer, discovered a tattered mech by chance. At first, he disregarded it because who will?” The person laughed. “We have seen mechs in our lifetimes, much less those people in the Mother Planet.”

“But then, he reconsidered. He felt a strange intimacy with it and brought it back home. And when the young Orien saw this mech, he immediately fell in love with it.”

“And when they fixed the mech, they discovered it was actually a Neptune Class Mech. Of course, with their clan breeding, they don’t need it. But knowing his son’s affection to the mech, the father used his connection to register it with the federation.”

“He is a genius, and they gave him the best resources. In no time, Orien got on the best military school and graduated with the highest honor. After that, he shortly joined an expedition. It was against a notorious space pirate.”

“But he defeated them! His reputation grew from then and only got bigger as he grew old.”

“Using his wealth, he outfitted his mech, and it soon became one of the strongest mech in the world. Because of that, people recognized his mech as Jupiter Class, even though only battleships and flagship could be called by it. The reason is that as long as he is the one piloting it, it will be undefeatable.”

“Just today, he defeated one of the largest leftist organization. The federation awarded him a title, God General, which is only eleven people has been awarded in the history of Earth Galaxy.”

“We now know him as Tiger God General of the South East.” The screen forwarded to a grand ceremony. Orien was there, standing with both pride and conviction as he received a medal. He was really dashing, tall and charismatic. People in different clothing shrieked. Adulation seemed clear in their eyes.

But the current Orien chortled. Only now he could spot what amiss in the video. Maybe because others were beneath to him. He could only see the rich and how they promote the mother planet. He thought he was fighting for the good of everyone.

“I’m better called as Dog God General, ain’t it?” Orien laughed while shame flooded his heart. “How will Piper feel when she saw this? She was born in Earth-13, just a poor brat yet she climbed up here while maintaining her innocence and pure eyes.”

Orien felt guilty. He could recall the passionate cries of those he considered garbage mechs as they shot towards him. It was unbelievable for him, in particular, the most enthusiastic youth who was courting death. “Does she know?”

“I am too blind. I killed people who I regarded as pest. Thinking back, maybe they just wanted to fill their stomach.”

“How many sacrifices have you made Piper? You got here, where many wanted to go. This is a very important mission for all of us humans. If we fail, then there is no hope for humanity. Only the best and the brightest can join. Yet you reached something only few could.”

“That day when you announced your feelings for me, I laughed it off. How could I be with you when we are on this important mission? And also, I don’t consider you equal. Your eyes were sad, but you didn’t despise me.”

“Thinking back, I’m just an arrogant prick.”

He could still remember a female lying in his embrace. Blood fell out of her mouth, but her pure eyes stared at him. “I believed in you. This is presumptuous, but I want to call you your name, General.”

“Orien. Orien-.”

He gritted his teeth until his gums bled. “That damnable place! Those ghosts! I hate them! I hate them for killing everybody! For destroying our hopes!”

His burning heart continued to pump out blood. But it soon extinguished by his cold blood. On the screen, the video continued. This time talking about alien species invading. They had blue skin and exposed brain. But without these two characteristics, they looked similar to humans. Humans tried to reach out for them and communicate. But it failed.

Human’s inflatable ego was far too large when they saw the dilapidated appearance of the aliens. They concluded the aliens were a defeated race and on the run. Because of that, humans wanted to take a mile and capture this foreign race. Thus, a war between two races erupted!

Hundreds of mech as strong as a Saturn Class Mech, the highest class a mech could reach except for Tiger X and Orien, exited the alien’s mother ship. Only thereon humans recognized what nightmare they were facing. They easily breached humanity lines and stole two worlds, Earth-29 and Earth-26!

Humanity established war zones forthwith!

Valiant soldiers and generals rose and fought for their worlds. They believed that with a galaxy-size of population, they could defeat their opponent!

Yet, although their opponents only had limited ships and mechs, they were like knives cutting through butter. Even with three God General, Orien included, they had no hope of defeating them. Their opponent’s technology was far too advance!

Humanity wanted to compromise, but the alien race didn’t bother to speak to them anymore. The latter just massacre humanity like the ants they were.

Thus, humans made a mission, a quest shelved beneath the mountain of papers and centuries of time.

“This is Shattered Lands. We called it like that because of its shattered-like appearance. Yet, each piece of lands are many times bigger than our mother planet. We detected a sign of life here.” A man filled with exhaustion pointed on a coordinate. He scanned each person on the table with strong yet pleading eyes. “This means habitable. And we wanted you to become a vanguard. Or at least, become the humanity’s last seed. Tiger God General Orien Ist, we will place everything in your shoulder.”

Orien regretted it. It was a heavy pat. He thought he could carry it. He believed so. And people believed it, too.

His eyes once again glazed. Orien only discovered that it’s been a couple of days already when a beep sounded. He thought he’d gone crazy though, so he dismissed the signal. He knew he was nearing insanity anyway, so he only chuckled. But the beep sounded once again.

“Impossible.” Light flashed in his eyes. “A life?” A dot flickered on his sensors. It was gradually nearing him with fast speed. His glazed eyes became focus. His entire body maintained a strange equilibrium between tension and calmness. Anyone who knew him would know that this was his serious mode!

When he completely saw the being on his screen, he felt taken aback. It was a human. The unbelievable thing was the latter could survive in space without a space suit. A strange feeling enveloped his heart. It was mixed of joy and wariness. After a long time, he found someone…

The human stopped and hovered in front of him. He frowned and said something, but Orien couldn’t understand it. The man’s frown deepened and waved his hands as if shooing him away. Orien finally understand that he wanted him to go away. Though, he got an idea of following behind.

Orien quickly maneuvered his mech away, but he accidentally saw a symbol at the back of the man’s collar. When he saw the symbol, his eyes instantly turned into slits.

Orien could feel his body spasming. His breathing cold, he huffed while saliva dripped out from his mouth. The hatred flooded his entire being like a broken dam!

“WEZARDDDDD!!!”

Claws flashed. Tiger X disappeared and arrived beside the man. But the latter had already vanished. The mech raised its head and saw the man looking coldly at him in a distance. The man shook his head. He was just a passerby, but the metal construct in front of him attacked so he could only retaliate. Thus, the man pointed his finger at Tiger X. Then, in Orien’s screen, he saw the finger enlarging until it was big as a mountain!

Roar. Tiger X sidestepped and encircled the finger. But he found another enormous finger shooting towards him.

“Wezard! Wezard!” Insanity broke his mind. The cold blood inside his body soon rushed to his head. Orien slashed through the finger whilst twisting his body. Grating sounds rang and the forces of collision vibrated all over Tiger X. A yellow hue emerged on his screen warning him, but he didn’t care. He lunged at the man with unending fervor!

On that stretch of space, two dots intersected and flew with high speeds. From time-to-time, a finger as large as mountain shot towards the other dot.

“I’ll kill you!” Orien just kept on slashing his way. Even though his mind told him that his opponent was on fourth stage of Wezard’s power classification, it didn’t diminish a bit the hatred he was feeling. Tiger X made its way through the space like a shooting star. He didn’t mind the mountain-size attacks coming towards him. He would just rip them apart.

Yet everything fell fruitless. He couldn’t close, no matter what he did.

“Is this it? Can you face your comrades’ soul when you can’t even kill one enemy? Huh? Orien?!!”

Metal chunks peeled off. Sloppy and scary clanking sounds clanged. Red painted his screen, but no matter what warnings, he continued his assault.

“I’ll get revenge even if I die!” Blood dripped from his nose. His eyes had already reddened, observing his opponent. He could see the latter scoffing and relaxed while dealing with him.

Roar! Like a true tiger, Tiger X kept pouncing in superb speeds. He weaved through the continuous attacks. But no matter how fast he was, an attack still caught him. He shot away like a broken doll.

“Piper, you shouldn’t have looked at me with those pure eyes. I killed your brother. I killed many people while treating them as garbage.”

“Men of federation, saluting me, were just a waste of your hopes. I’m a joke.”

“My brethren, I have let you down.”

Orien gripped the handle. His mech recovered, but Orien could feel its quivering. He felt anxiety. He’d been fighting for many years, but it was the first time Tiger X got defeated. For him, Tiger X was a living being, a brother who always helped him. And seeing him like that, Orien woke up from his frenzy.

“I’m sorry, buddy. I need you to help me for one last time, okay?” Orien caressed the walls of the cockpit. Closing his eyes, he felt his mech strong reliance upon him. This wasn’t something a blood relative could replace, the connection between them. He became Tiger X, and the latter became him.

Orien glanced at his opponent, who was staring at him. Even though there was no sense of up and down in space, he still felt the latter was looking down at him. And because of that, he would drag him down where he was standing!

Woosh. Tiger X became a shadow. His opponent’s eyes followed him and shot multiple fingers. Maybe because he wanted to finish it quickly, his attacks became like a net barraging towards Orien!

Orien felt his breathing. His burning heart pumped out blood. But this time, his cold blood boiled! Faster, faster, he thought! Tiger X's blue coated paint melted. The metal clanking sound rang in his head. The red warnings enveloped his screen. He’d never been focus than ever!

“Piper. Father. Everyone’s hopes…” A finger grazed him, making him tumble back. He bounced towards another finger. He got shoved until he didn’t know how many times. But Tiger X still flew without stopping. Right now, he resembled a meteor—red and on its last tail.

“Faster…” He murmured even though he was on the verge of passing out. Tiger X became redder, as if a sun burning out. They tumbled. They bounced away. But they didn’t give up.

One man. One mech. They pierced through a finger, shooting with endless momentum!

The man’s eyes constricted. He couldn’t follow the mech’s shadow anymore! Not good, he thought. He shouted as he shoved both of his hand in front of him. An aura of unimaginable might appeared and concentrated on his hands!

Suddenly, two island size palms congealed in Orien’s screen. He could feel Tiger X’s nervousness. He felt death that had been so far coming. “Probably, in the eyes of these bastards, I’m just an ant.”

“Ant.” Anger bubbled. It had been long bottled up. Those cursed lands that killed his subordinates one by one. The love given that was foreign to him. And the reality that struck him hard in the end. All these guilts transformed into hatred. A hate towards himself. “I’m narcistic, even though I’m just an ant.”

“What God General?!!” His eyes popped out. “You can’t even save someone who cares for you!”

“Talking about saving a galaxy! You are just a joke, Orien!!!” He met the palms. Tiger X roared mournfully. His claws danced and his body rotated like a drill.

“Ah! Ah! Ah!”

Blood went out of his orifices. The screen had long been blacked out. Many limbs of Tiger X had ruptured and wires dislodged. And the artificial oxygen canteens had holes in them. But both Orien and Tiger X felt something like never before!

Their speed became faster and faster! Their dance unimpeded! The dark space became a blur. Then, two souls merged and created something anew!

Pshk. It was unbelievable. The man looked at the metal claws puncturing his body, then to the red being standing before him. Its face was vivid and lifelike. The hatred almost solidified as its eyes bored through his sight.

“You!” But before he could finish his words, the metallic claws ripped him to shreds! Moreover, it continued to slice and dice the space in front.

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

Unbelievably, the pieces of flesh wriggled as if wanting to regenerate. But Orien had long known it beforehand. Stated in the texts left behind by the ghosts of Wezards that they could keep regenerating till their energy zeroed. Orien continued his actions until when he felt nothing was moving anymore. Only then he stopped, spasming and panting as he caught his breath.

“Tired…” The heavy lid of his eyes began closing. A few of his limbs had fused with the metal. He couldn’t feel them anymore, just a strange soothing feeling passed through his body. Only the pain of his bent leg kept him awake.

He stayed on that spot, wanting to recover. Yet, the vast darkness churned like a black curtain. Two gigantic sun flashed. Orien had been desiring to find a celestial body, but the distance was too great that light years of speed couldn’t measure. Thus, seeing two of it instantly appearing out of nowhere, he knew he was in peril.

The curtain opened and what appeared made Orien laugh bitterly. It was a titanic being. His mind blanked when he measured its size—a quarter size of the solar system!

“How could there be a living thing as large as this.” He shook his head, but he did nothing anymore. He had long accepted death. Only because his grievances were too strong that he held on for this long.

“Human.” Orien understood the word. It was unbelievable. In addition, a sense of familiarity appeared in his heart. Yet, the recollection remained on the tip of his tongue.

“You killed one of us even though we didn’t do anything to you. Thus, try your best to escape.” It was a calm but pompous voice. Suddenly, a swarm emerged at the being’s back. Seeing them, Orien could estimate their strength compared to the man earlier. At least fourth stage. There was even a possibility of fifth stage individuals. He shivered thinking that.

“Frozen scared? Don’t swear at me that I didn’t give you time.” The being’s voice boomed.

Hearing the pretentiousness, Orien remembered. Scenes of their journey appeared in his mind. Their feeling when they finally arrived. They discovered an ancient civilization and their researches. Next, they found out horrifying secrets and that led them to their deaths. Trees unkillable by firearms and monstrous snakes that engulfed the land. Tears welled up in his eyes. He threw his head as he laughed uproariously. “It’s you! The ghost! HAHAHA!”

“You made the research that destroyed an entire galaxy! You destroyed the Shattered Lands!”

“Not only that, it produced monsters beyond comprehension! What remained there are only the texts, researches and video records, remnants of a failed experiment. Just a ghost!”

“Why would you do that?!”

“Because of you… humans or any being couldn’t live there anymore!”

“Curse you!!!”

Bitterness pricked his heart as he roared. Even now, he still couldn’t believe the last recording sent by the federation. He may keep repeating the same videos, but only the last video he didn’t have the courage to watch. “If there’s a god, why would you fuck my life?”

“The mission was a failure.”

“And the humans in the Earth Galaxy… were wiped out!”

“You didn’t give us any chance!!!”

“Arghh!!!” Roaring, Orien actually met them head on! He dashed, transforming into a depressing red light. Though, it only resembled an egg thrown towards a wall!

End.