My first planet. Let’s just say that I was excited. My other self may have been to thousands of worlds thousands of times, but that was not me. I was a man out of time, from a world where space travel was a feeble dream due to lost technology. Now, I was climbing down a latter to touch the surface of a land completely unknown and completely new. So, to reiterate, my first planet. I was excited. Unfortunately, it was an absolute shit storm.

Heart beating in tandem with the metal clanks of the ladder beneath my feet. None of us were donned our Huds, rather Sam gifted me a few sets of his rather plain clothes. He was the closest in my size, making the differences only noticeable when I stood straight up and the pants ended just above my ankles. I looked like some beach douche, but honestly, it wasn’t covered in blood, so I would not complain.

My feet slapped down on the ground, me giggling with euphoria. That was, until the unfamiliar gravity royally fucked with me, causing me to tip and fall over. It dawned on me that Perfection was adjusted to the gravity of Earth. This world was only slightly less, but such minor changes can affect you in wild ways. Key in point. As I jumped down, my foot caught the other when turning away from the ladder. I tripped and missed the handle bar, toppling down like a domino. It was the gravity, not my giddiness, and I will stand by that until the day I die.

              Even though I looked the fool, I was still giggling like a loon. Rolling to my back, I basked in the new world. All I could see though, was the massive testicle ship above me.

              “That… is a really ugly ship.”

              Huds do funny things to your body. Other than giving you incredible abilities and all together changing your life, something many people forgot was the increase in their cognitive faculties. That was one of the first things Marrin explained to me. Even though you can objectively watch the progress of your cognition, most people focused on the strength or speed, the glamor muscles you might say. If you don’t train the brain and increase its stats, then as you rank up, you will find yourself unable to cope with such power and speed. Though you can move fast, your reactions and thought power will be severely diminished and then you will die a horrible death.

              I have had little time to train the brain, but thankfully one received a boost in metal stats when first attuning to the Hud. When a thin, shiny thing flew into my vision, I subconsciously donned my armor in a flash. Instantly, I knew it was no Hud user for the simple reason that it was called up fast enough. The metal whatever it was, smashed into my helmet with such force that it deformed. I called the Hud up fast enough, though lifting my arms in defense was not.

              I felt nothing from the impact. Rather, the only thing I felt was my ear ringing from the high-pitched clang, and the back of my helmet smacking the ground from reflexes. The bent metal wrapped around my faceplate, covering much of my vision. Not really worried from non-users, I started my defense by spinning my arm around and snapping whatever it was in half. Twirling my legs around, I hit something, hearing someone cry out in pain. Using my momentum, I continued the spin and throwing myself back onto my feet.

              I figured what I was going to see when getting back up was a group of grown attackers, but I was sorely mistaken. Tearing the metal plate from my head plate, which ended up being half a spiked metal bat, I spotted my assailants. Two girls, four boys, oldest of them was perhaps sixteen. Unsure how far I would go in defense of myself, I notice that I didn’t have to. Four stood between me and two others. One was on her knees crying as the sixth, a boy, was coughing, clutching his stomach and puking out a fountain of blood.

              “ATHEA! GET DOWN HERE NOW!” I shouted.

              Besides her triage abilities, I have seen nothing else the woman could do. So, when I say that I may or may not have shouted out like a little girl when she flashed into existence right behind me, I’ll let you decide. With a loud pop from displaced air, Athea stared at the group emanating hostility. The air was electric around her Hud, snapping and hot, ready to strike like a viper. The perpetual scowling mouth turned and pointed towards me under her hidden eyes.

              “Wh…”

              “Help him. NOW!” I pointed.

            Athea saw where I pointed, not noticing the crying child originally. She didn’t hesitate; she didn’t think, she just reacted. Nasty hair hung along ratty clothes covered in patches and smelling of urine. Muddy faces and yellow teeth glowered up at us. I thought they may have been in their mid teens, but now getting a better look, they appeared to be incredibly malnourished.

              Athea was among them in a flash, tore the metal batons from their hands and shoving them aside.

              “Bas, keep them back.” Athea said.

              Then the fucking kids jumped us. Two leaped on Athea’s back, but being only children, they might have only been fleas. I ran up and plucked each off her back like…. Well, like petulant children. They screamed out, flailing their arms and legs, while the two I couldn’t hold were kicking at me and Athea.

              “Bas!”

              “I… am… ugh… KNOCK IT OFF! Trying my best!” I shouted.

              Shoving the others off her, I summoned up my blade. I didn’t call up my soul blade, rather one of the tiny pins Sam crafted for me. It grew into gladius and I held it flat, between Athea, the wounded child, and the other four. The one girl was still crying at the boy’s side.

              “WOAH! BAS! TOO MUCH!” Athea shouted back at me.    

              I turned towards her with wide eyes hidden by my armor.

              “What? I’m not going to kill them… who do you think I am?” I shouted back, astonished.

              Athea groaned, and I instantly knew my mistake.

              I turned, the four of them glanced at each other, then me, then back at each other. They grinned in turn, then jumped at me.

              “SHIIIIT!”

              I didn’t want to hurt them, so I dropped the sword, which was quickly snapped up by one kid. It shimmered back down into the size of a pin, and it was gone, disappearing into a pocket. I was curious how she knew how to deactivate the blade.

              “You little… Stop biting! You can’t get through the armor… just… gonna knock out… those teeth…”

              One side stepped me and jumped on Athea again. I grabbed the back of his shirt, ready to tear him back. Then then he screamed out in pain. I flinched back, heard him laugh, completely fucking with me. He then grabbed something from Athea’s back then scurry on off.

              “Filly little pin git!” He said in a foul accent, barley understandable.

              Athea, still trying to help the hurt kid, did nothing to shove off another one. He turned and hightailed it out. It seemed as if she was having just as bad of a time as me. The hurt one clutched his stomach and rolled around, groaning. He was spitting out blood and screaming out like a banshee.

“Something isn’t right… sit still!” Athea shouted.

              I felt small hands touch my side, then back. I turned to see the two girls just out of reach, grinning at me. The other boys were running off the platform the ship was on with… with my weapons!

              “You little… ARGGHHH!”

            Light exploded in my vision as lightning crawled across my body like an army of evil ants. Convulsing, I fell to the ground, having no control over any part of my body. I may have even peed a little. To my side, I spotted Athea was in no better state, her mouth opening and closing like a fish, trying to speak. Nothing but choppy groans coming out, while behind her, the crying, blood-soaked child was no longer screaming. He stood, light on his feet and with a wide smile.

              “Wee good on dem tourists.” He said in that awful accent. “Give us plenty.”

              He knelt, putting his face right up to mine.

              “Good hearts get ye death come swiftly.”

              He turned towards Athea.

              “Me thanks for good heart.”

              With that, he turned and hopped off with the others. Paralyzed, I lost them as they jumped down off the side of the platform. I was shaking uncontrollably, so was Athea, and all we could do was stared at each other. Five whole minutes went by before one of us could speak. It was her…

              “Y.. y.. you… are… su… such… an… idiot…” she stammered.

              “H… H… How… Is… th… th… this… m… my… f… faul… t?” I replied. “W… wh… where… a… are… the… oth… oth… others?”