The sounds of the dagger scraping against the wall as the creature whistled were in stark contrast to the pained groans coming from the other side of the hall. There was a dull echo as its hooves met the stone floor, its cheerful whistling and humming underlined by the screech of its dagger on the wall. Its legs were hairy and bent like a goat’s, and its cloven hooves were black and as scarred as the rest of its body. It had no clothing of any kind, and its horns were the same color as its hooves. They curled out like a demon’s, sharp and grisly.

  When the creature reached the end of the hallway, it opened up into a spacious grove-like area, with trees and wild bushes spread about. The sun filtered through the canopy like a holy light, washing the plants in gold. The beauty of the vista was undercut by the scene playing out in the center, however. The grass in the middle of the grove was coated in sprays of blood, gently swaying in the breeze as it dripped from their tips. There was a tree in the middle of the clearing that stood taller than all the others and was twice as wide besides. The thing the creature was here for, however, was the Tuskborne pinned to the center of the tree. Branches sprouted from his shoulders, legs, and even chest as if the tree forcefully grew them through the resistance of his body. Their leaves were crusted with dried blood, as if he’d been there a long time.

  Tuskborne were humanoid creatures with animalistic features, such as deer, lions and rhinos. This one looked part elephant, and he hung listlessly, letting out periodic groans of pain. The creature languidly made its way to the groaning man, taking a deep breath of the clean air as though it’d missed it. Standing before the trapped being, the creature stood there and stared for a moment… then retrieved an apple from its Vault, and took a bite. It looked like he plucked it out of thin air, the space where it plucked it from slightly rippling like a drop of water falling into a pond. The creature had picked up the fruit from a planet it’d recently invaded and infected with a seed of the very tree that stood before them now. It had massacred the entire planet, of course, as the seed could not propagate while the original inhabitants remained. All, except for one.

  The creature chewed for a long time before speaking.

  “I see the nature spirits had their fun with you.” Its voice was aloof, yet disturbingly casual, as though greeting someone on the street. “Not my type of fun personally, but to each their own. You need to let the crew unwind sometimes, or you might have a mutiny on your hands!” The creature took another bite of the apple-looking fruit. It was clear that it wasn’t an apple now, yellow juice dribbling down the creature’s blood-caked facial hair. “Mmh, I’m glad I could get the botany schematics for this fruit bush from your homeland before, you know, killing you all. This might be one of my new favorites.” The golden light bathed the entire area in warmth in what would be a perfect climate for a picnic on Earth. The leaves rustled peacefully, the breeze a gentle kiss on the mutilated Tuskborne that perfectly mixed with the clean air and sunlight.

  “M-…Mazikarn… you…” The Tuskborn managed to stammer out, with pained wheezes in between.

  “Yeah, yeah, I destroyed your home, slaughtered your family in front of you and all that yada yada.” Neither of the two were speaking English, but even the language of the System that pervaded their bodies had an equivalent for an expression like “yada yada”. The creature named Mazikarn even made hand gestures of similar nature, juice from the apple-like fruit and flecks of spittle flung as it did.

  “You virtuous types are all the same, so boooring. ‘I’ll make you pay this’ and ‘how dare you that’. Can’t any of you figure out something new to say? It’s like I’m legally bound to cringe every time one of you talks.” The creature sighed, looking at the delicious fruit in its hands, its appetite fleeting. It waved a hand, and the branches holding up the Tuskborn turned to dust, dumping him onto the soft grass. The grass was pleasant to touch and warm.

  The creature dropped the fruit, and crushed it with one of its scar covered hooves. The juice of the fruit splashed with the force, some hitting the broken Tuskborne, and some landing on the creature. It ran down its coarse leg fur, joining the dried blood of millions caked into it. The creature bent down, and before the Tuskborn knew what was happening, dropped a halberd onto the otherwise healthy grass.

  “I’m gonna be honest with you. I know you’ve pretty much given up hope at this point, so I’m going to do a bit of convincing for you. The next universe is being conquered soon, and I don’t want to miss the Raid.” The creature had two daggers in its hands, appearing out of nowhere. The Tuskborne kept his head down, not moving but for his ragged breaths. The creature smiled. It was serene and reassuring, and its goat-eyes were welcoming.

  “Would you like to know what your wife’s screams sound like? Since you were the leader of the defense, I went through the extra effort to record them for you. I have your sons and daughters too, and wow they are screechers. Also, why do you have so many? Do you know how much work it took to record them all? Thankfully, they were all quite voluntary after they watched me grow thorny vines out of their mother’s eyes, but still, it took a while to get them all individually. Especially your son. He was a tough one to crack. We had to work him nice and long, slow cooking on a-”

  The Tuskborne roared with pain and grief, the force of the sound blasting the creature back several meters. The grass and trees bent back but didn’t break, and the golden sunlight remained unchanged. The clearing returned to normal as the Tuskborn used the last of his might to grip the halberd with white knuckles, activating the skills that made him the vanguard of the Tuskborne planet that was now as beautiful and barren as the clearing they were in. The creature grinned and prepared itself. It having recordings of the Tuskborne’s family was a lie, of course, but it had enjoyed killing them nonetheless. However, it reveled in this even more. THIS was what it lived for, the blood and sweat, the uncertainty of whether they would live or die. The look of pain on its opponent’s faces, and their life leaving their bodies for nature to reclaim. It was Nature’s Champion, and it was the death that was a natural part of life. Its rictus grin grew, and with a blast of sound, it and the Tuskborn charged towards each other.

  The grass remained unbroken, the dirt only slightly moved by the pressure of their charge. The stunning vista remained unchanged, as blood made for the best fertilizer. A resource that Mazikarn never ran out of.

  Arthur Lindow spat out blood as he lifted his head from the dirt. He thought his nose might have been broken, but it was hard to tell through the rest of the pain he was in. He had just turned 21, and decided to go to a bar for the first time to celebrate...alone. He didn’t have any friends to share the time with because he was a bit of a loser, but he didn’t mind the solitude. He’d always suspected that bars weren’t his type of scene, but today he confirmed it. On his way out the door, he had noticed Henry on the far side, flirting with the women in the booth next to him. Henry was on the varsity football team and even had a scholarship, and the girls in the booth next to him seemed to be on a girl’s night out. The women clearly wanted nothing to do with him, but Henry wasn’t the type of person to let something as small as other people’s wishes stop him. He went on and on until Arthur “accidentally” spilled his root beer on him as he passed.

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  “Oh, bollocks”, he had said. “Sorry about that. I’m sure it’ll wash right out.” The snickering of the women spelled his doom. Now here he was, behind the boys’ dormitories with his face in the mud.

  Arthur heard someone say, “Hey Sawyer… I think you might’ve, uh, overdone it a bit.”, as he lifted himself up and onto his feet. There Henry stood, with a big smile.

  “Not sure how you managed to look even dumber, but I must admit, that arse-eating grin on your face does quite the job at it.” he got out between heaves.

  “I see you still have some lip on you,” Sawyer said. “I guess I’ll just have to bust it again.” Arthur went to say the catchphrase of one of his favorite superheroes.

  “I can do this all-” Henry’s fist crashed into his face, knocking him out cold.

  When Arthur woke up again, it was light outside. He groaned, feeling pain all over his body as he struggled to get up. He felt something in his hair, and when he reached his aching arm up to feel it, he jumped as a large bug scurried away. He grunted as the jolt of his actions shocked his aching body anew. He sat there for a while in the dirt and grime, contemplating the events of the previous night. He wasn’t sure if he should feel dumb for being relieved that he remembered his own name. He recalled spilling a drink on Henry last night, and then being jumped by Henry and his lackeys when he got back on campus. He jumped as he thought of campus and pulled out his phone, looking at the time. He groaned again, but this time with aggravation as he saw it was 11 am. He had missed the start of his classes.

  “Great job, Lindow,” he admonished himself. “The professor is certain to believe your story of ‘daring heroics’ instead of just sleeping in again.” He looked himself over. “In exceptionally dirty clothes, too.” He sighed.

  He had come to college with no real plan in mind for his future. He just went because it was the next thing to do after school. Despite his parents attempting to help him find a passion, he just… didn’t have any in him. Not for lack of trying either, he tried sports and sucked at it. He tried music and sucked even more. He refused to think about the time he legitimately tried knitting in desperation. His hands had taken an embarrassingly long time to heal. The doctor had been confused about how he’d gotten shards of a knitting needle stuck in his skin.

  He would tell people that ADHD was a difficult thing to live with, but by “difficult to live with” he’d meant he absolutely hated it. Focusing on one thing for longer than minutes at a time was almost impossible for him. Either he would fall asleep or lose interest in the blink of an eye, and reading textbooks was the worst of it. Even things he wanted to do would slip through his fingers if he wasn’t careful. On top of that, he’d learned later in life that he was autistic as well, which made other things he faced in youth make sense. He’d struggled to fit in with normal kids, but he’d always been… different. He’d also been medicated when he was younger, but his parents hadn’t liked the person it turned him into. They said he became incredibly robotic and short-tempered. He hadn’t noticed any differences, but they assured him that this was the case, so he believed them. If he was sure of one thing, it was that his parents loved him.

  He wondered if his parents were disappointed in him. He felt undeserving of their unconditional love.

  He sat in silence for a long time before finally getting up and dusting himself off. “Great… now I feel like trash both inside and out”, he muttered to himself. He had always struggled with his self-image, and self doubt plagued his mind now as much as ever. He began jogging in the general direction of his class.

  A few people snickered as he entered the room. Quickly, he shuffled his way to the back, trying in vain to avoid the professor’s line of sight. He stared at him as he made his way there, the snickering intensifying before being quieted down. Arthur kept his eyes down, unaware of a certain man’s inquisitive gaze fixed on him.

  The rest of the day sped past, barely registering in Arthur’s mind. His negative thoughts had been going strong all day, and as they reached a fever pitch, he made his way to the aquarium. He often went to the aquarium when his emotions got away from him, and he went enough that the staff there recognized him. In the beginning, he had paid every time, but the desk clerk learned to recognize his depressed face.

  “They moved his tank,” she said. “Go up the stairs to the new freshwater section. You’ll find him there. Go on.” Arthur shuffled his hands toward his pockets. She reached over and put her hand on his arm. “It’s fine. I’ll cover you this time, so go on,” she said kindly. He smiled at her gratefully.

  “Thanks, Carol.” She gave him a departing wave as he moved on.

  He found his only friend in a tank with other puffer fish like him, floating around aimlessly in the manner he always did. Arthur leaned against the glass and sighed. In his old spot, there was a chair near his tank. But with the chair gone, he either had to stand or sit on the floor. He wasn’t above either.

  “Hey Puffy. It’s been a few days, hasn’t it?” He poked at the glass where Puffy floated about. He could always tell which one Puffy was, even in a tank full of puffer fish. He never stopped to question why.

  “Sorry I hadn’t come to see you lately, but I’m not sure my parents would be happy about my spending money to see you as often as I do.” He laughed to himself briefly before going quiet again. Puffy floated along.

  “Carol is doing well, yeah? I forgot to ask her how her kids are doing. Their futures are bright, wouldn’t you agree?” Puffy floated along. The voices of the family in the room with him were the only sounds aside from the occasional bubbling.

  “They must’ve moved Jeff’s tank too,” he mused. “You’d tell me if they did, wouldn’t you?” Puffy turned around and was idle for a moment before floating along slightly slower. He chuckled. “Yeah, I suppose it’d be obvious.” The other family left the room. His face began to melt from contentment to neutral. He was silent for a long time before speaking again.

  “Carol let me in again for free,” he said. “She didn’t have to, but she did. It’s not just her either, all the staff here, my family…” He let out a long sigh. “I wonder… why are they nice to me?”

  The tanks bubbled, then a long silence followed.

  “I know I’m useless, I get it,” he said, his eyes becoming misty. “I don’t deserve everything they give me, so why do they do it anyway?” He smiled sadly. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they suddenly never spoke to me again. I’m never able to pay back their kindnesses, so I’m just leeching off of them, anyway.” He sat on the floor in front of Puffy’s tank. Puffy floated along.

  “Sometimes… I can’t help but wonder what I’m here for,” he mused, more talking to himself than Puffy floating above him. “A sack of rubbish like me is better off using his life to uplift everyone else’s, eh?” He looked up to see Puffy lounging in the water near his head. Despite everything, the fish’s goofy figure from his angle made him chuckle. He fell into an uneasy but comfortable silence before standing.

  “I gotta use the toilet. I’ll be back.” He walked off, not realizing Puffy’s perfectly still form, eyes seeming somehow bulging even larger.