"…ten years here, fifty back home, watch the green river foam…" Darian hummed. His voice alone on this planet covered every other sound around him; every animal and the rustle of the wind were drowned out by his voice. He tugged at the fishing line, staring at the water, "And another day goes by, under a dark twisted sky…" His voice wasn't perfect at all. In fact, since he had started to sing while fishing, some fish would barely go near him, scared away by his voice.
'My rhythm surely is bad… I haven't progressed at all these days…' thought Darian. As he looked once again at the ripple in the water, he realized that over the years he had completely lost count of how much time had passed. Since the robots that were sent with him had gone to another part of the planet to build a city, Darian had felt lonelier than usual. Even if he could call them at any moment, he had just decided to do something so he wouldn't break down: singing different songs from when he was on Earth and modifying them with his own experiences.
"And now… after all these years I'm still fishing in the l— Oh, I've got another one… c'mon…!!" The moment the line yanked hard, Darian cut his song short. Panting heavily, Darian got up from his chair, which fell to the ground, and with all his strength he began to pull as hard as he could.
"It's hereee…!!" Darian pulled once again until suddenly he was able to land the fish with his rod. The caught fish had a beautiful yellow color and only a single eye. "I've caught another Turfy… meh, at least they're good." Darian carefully positioned the fish back into the bucket next to him and realized that he had already caught four fish today. 'At least the Turfy are good… with their spicy flavor, I'll be able to have a great lunch,' he thought happily.
"Eh, I've been extremely lucky today, four fish in less than an hour." Before grabbing the bucket, Darian adjusted the chair and left it there. 'Tomorrow I'm coming back too… like any other day…' he thought as he grabbed the bucket and the rod, realizing that in all these years, humanity hadn't contacted him yet.
As he adjusted the rod, he looked up into the sky high above the horizon. The sky was totally different from the one he was used to on Earth; it was darker than that of his original planet because of a nearby black hole. Before leaving Earth in 2085, this planet, called XERBAB-7, had only recently been discovered, and they had decided to send a biologist there because the planet was nicknamed 'New Earth' thanks to all of its similarities.
'Oh, and don't worry Darian, a single year on XERBAB-7 equals exactly five years on Earth. Once you'll be back after ten years, only fifty years will have passed for them.' As Darian started to walk through the purple alien grass, he began to think again about the words the scientists had told him some days before he was sent away.
'But you didn't tell me that you would never contact me in these fifty years… like, I even tried to contact you humans, why couldn't you just send me a message?' Darian couldn't find an answer. 'Like, the only text you've sent me was the one when I landed here and you just said, "We're happy that you're on XERBAB-7, we hope that everything will be alright—" and tons of other boring stuff… have you forgotten about me?' thought Darian, amused, thinking that once he returned, everyone would be surprised to see him back.
Darian walked normally along the same path he had taken over the last few years when suddenly a nearby bush started to move uncontrollably. Darian took a step back, scared. 'There shouldn't be any dangerous animals… Aegis created a safe zone around my base, right?'
But Darian could never be sure, so he always brought a small knife. Once he understood that the creature inside the bush was about to come out, he grabbed it in his hands and positioned himself in a defensive stance, ready to attack at any moment.
But what came out of the bush made Darian calm down. The creature in front of him was a small fox, colored in a beautiful white with some purple shades on its tails. This creature didn't have a single tail like the animals Darian was used to, but it had exactly nine tails.
Darian, in all his years on XERBAB-7, had never seen anything like that. This fox was unique, the only one of its species, and it wasn't a danger at all. Darian remembered that it would sometimes pass near his base, but in the last few years, he hadn't seen it at all.
"Oh, hello old friend!" said Darian warmly as he looked at the fox below his feet, which made a big jump, landing directly on his shoulder. "Do you want to eat something? I've caught more food than what I can normally eat, I can give some of it to you," proposed Darian. The fox carefully looked at the bucket and turned its face away.
"Oh, maybe you don't like these fish? Well, the Turfy has a strong flavor… well, I should have some fruit back home, I'll give you that," Darian said, smiling happily. He knew that the fox couldn't answer him, but this animal was the only one who could actually hear and understand him.
In fact, the moment the fox nodded its head, Darian started to walk toward the rocket.
As Darian got closer, he hadn't heard it yet, but a strange alarm was ringing inside the rocket. As Darian got close enough to hear it, his heart began to beat extremely fast, and there was only one thought that crossed his mind the moment he heard the sound: 'It's time to go back home!'
Without even caring about the bucket and the rod anymore, he let them fall to the ground and began to run toward the rocket. The moment he entered his camp, the fox on his shoulder fell to the ground, but Darian was too focused on going back home that he completely forgot to help the small fox.
"No way… it has already been ten years… and to think that I was wondering how much time had passed just some minutes ago…" As Darian rushed into the rocket, he arrived at the display of the starship and read the text, his voice full of hope.
"THE BATTERY ON EARTH HAS FINISHED ITS CHARGE. IT'S TIME TO RETURN TO EARTH… calculating the coordinates…"
The starship's power was linked directly to a battery that calculated the exact number of Earth years needed to complete ten years on XERBAB-7, and once the battery drained out, the signal would arrive directly at the starship, sounding the alarm that the mission was finally over.
Darian, losing control, was about to press the button that would close the rocket and send him back home when he realized something. 'Stupid me… I haven't even taken all the samples of plants I've gathered in these years… I'll be back soon!!' Darian rushed outside of the rocket, and without him noticing, the moment he stepped out, the fox entered and curled up in a corner.
Five minutes later, Darian had grabbed all the samples of plants, rocks, and any other thing he was able to find on XERBAB-7. Before entering the rocket again for the last time, he looked at the camp behind him.
In his mind, the moments from when there was nothing, to when the first building had started to rise, and when the full camp was finally erected played in his head, and he smiled happily. 'I can't believe it happened… but I can't believe it's finally over, too.' With that, Darian left the last samples he had taken on a chair and pressed the button that would send him directly back home.
'Mom… dad… and you, granny Anny… I'll finally be able to visit your graves after all these years…' Before clicking the button, Darian looked at the picture of him and his family, taken ten years before. Then, the rocket closed its doors and started to rise directly into the sky. The moment Darian was sent to this planet, he was only 23; now that ten years had passed, he had turned 33.
"And now… I just need to relax…" whispered Darian as he sat down on the chair behind him. His eyes were caught by something he had completely forgotten about; Darian's eyes were caught by the construction of the small city that was being built. As Darian looked at it, his eyes went wide.
"The robots… I haven't said goodbye to them…" Darian looked at the city below him, and a sad look appeared over his face. When he turned back, a message arrived on the starship's console, near the buttons used to call the robots.
'I hope you have a safe return master, we will meet again in some years for you… though for me, it will barely be some minutes, eheh.'
At the sight of this text, Darian smiled warmly. This robot that had just texted him was called Pax, and over these years he had grown extremely close to Darian, especially because he was an AI capable of understanding human emotions, and so he had helped him over these years.
But Pax wasn't sent alone. There was also Aegis, who was a robot meant to protect Darian.
Mason, who had to build everything and had helped Darian in building his small base.
Sonar, who was the robot he had spoken with the least; he was someone who went into the caves and explored them to gather materials.
Ceres, who was the one that would help Darian and the other robots carry and move the materials around.
"Yes… we will see each other again, my friends," said Darian with a big smile. Pax from below looked at the starship going further into the sky.
"It has been good to meet you, Darian… we will see each other again in a few years," said Pax with a proud voice as the rocket left the atmosphere.
When Darian sat down on the chair again, he began to think about all the important days he had spent on XERBAB-7, and his mind drifted directly to one of the weirdest days he had passed on XERBAB-7: the moment he had met the nine-tailed fox.
It was the fourth year he was spending on XERBAB-7, and it had just started. While he was taking a short walk, he encountered the fox. It didn't do anything; it simply walked toward Darian, who was surprised as he had never seen anything like that. But before he could even do anything, the fox jumped into his arm and fused with him, changing his body and turning him into what looked like a snowman.
'I was so scared back then…' Darian remembered that the moment the creature fused with his body, his right arm pointed directly toward the sky, and an ice shard as huge as a skyscraper, which could be seen from almost all over the planet, was shot directly into the sky.
The shard traveled at a speed that Darian wasn't even able to comprehend, and in less than a second, it hit what looked like a creature in the sky. In fact, from all over the planet, a huge cry was heard, and before Darian could realize what was happening, the sky turned dark for a second, and then the creature completely disappeared.
'Space is a mysterious place… I'm not wondering about what that was… more about where that creature is… what's it doing now?' thought Darian. "Don't you think so, too? That fox surely was curious," said Darian, knowing he wouldn't receive an answer.
But he knew that he was supposed to be alone on the rocket. As he looked again at the creature in the ship, he jumped in surprise. "WHEN DID YOU GET HERE?!!" he shouted. The fox opened its eyes and, caught by surprise, couldn't help but jump and feel scared.
"Oh god, I hadn't noticed you… did you sneak in while I was gathering the samples?" spoke Darian as he kneeled down to grab the fox in his hands. "Well, I can't do anything about it anymore… still, I can give you a name," said Darian. Knowing that he would have to spend some days with the creature, giving it a name would be the right choice.
'It is white like snow…' thought Darian as he closed his eyes. After a few seconds, he came up with a name. "I'll call you Snowy! Do you like that?" asked Darian, and even if the fox couldn't answer him, he was sure that the creature was happy with this name.
"Maybe I should keep you a secret… who knows what experiments humans might perform on you, eheh," said Darian as he left the creature back on the floor and began to rest, as the only thing he was supposed to do was relax.
As the days passed, Darian couldn't help but feel his chest becoming lighter. 'I've waited so long for this moment…' thought Darian as he gripped the picture of his parents and his grandmother in his hands.
Darian was used to calling his grandmother granny. Over the years, this word had changed its meaning and had become a word used by grandchildren to refer to their grandmother. But Darian had never stopped calling his grandmother Anny, granny. His grandmother was the most important person to Darian; he could still remember how helpful she had been in his life.
'You've taught me a lot… you've taught me to take care of plants and helped me make the decision to come to this planet…' And while he could remember what she had taught him without any problem, he also remembered the promise he had made her on his last day on Earth.
"I… I promise I will not cry until I see you again, granny… I promise… I'll resist until that day…"
'And I've kept that promise… I haven't cried since that day, and soon I'll finally return to your grave… to cry over your death, just as we promised ten years ago…'
As the days passed, Darian inspected the creature, realizing that the creature loved eating, but it didn't need food to survive. In fact, it hadn't eaten for over five days, and while Darian was getting worried that it might die, nothing happened.
'I don't want to talk about that day… the rocket might get destroyed…' thought Darian. He was curious about talking with Snowy about that day in which the creature had fused with him, but the thought of creating another huge ice shard that would break everything scared him.
On the eleventh day, Darian understood that the journey was taking longer than usual. "Strange… I should already be there…" he whispered.
The battery calculated the coordinates starting from the sun, which for humans was point zero, and over the years Darian had memorized what Earth's coordinates were supposed to look like; even if he couldn't tell the exact place it was, he had learned to recognize them.
"Let's see the coordinates— EHHH??!!" Darian walked slowly toward the display and realized that the coordinates displayed there were nothing like Earth's elliptical path.
"No, no… was there an error?" Scared, Darian took some steps back until his body bumped against a window. As he looked outside, he noticed something that scared the hell out of him: Earth was still there, but it was completely different.
The first thing that he noticed was that most of the continents were submerged, but that wasn't the worst part. The most shocking part was that Earth was destroyed; in fact, it had crashed against a huge black planet.
"What's that…" whispered Darian, terrified. Soon enough, the rocket began its descent toward Earth.
Darian looked around. He knew well the place where he was supposed to land—it was Ukraine—but around him, there was only water.
The rocket soon stopped, and Darian realized that the water level was extremely low.
"What happened here…" As Darian went outside of the rocket, he noticed in front of him the huge black planet, which could be seen perfectly. At the sight of it, Darian gulped in fear. As he entered the rocket once again to grab his most important things, he looked at the picture.
"I guess I won't be able to visit your graves after all… I promise I'll return to get you soon enough, just give me time to discover what happened here." The moment Darian stepped outside the rocket, Snowy jumped on top of his shoulder and curled up on it.
"I'm sorry you won't be able to see Earth in all its beauty… let's see what happened here." With that, Darian, with Snowy curled up on his shoulder, began to walk for ten minutes straight until he finally saw land.
As he arrived close enough to the land, he noticed a weird, black-looking creature that felt like it was waiting for him. It stood around three meters tall, a bipedal nightmare of ink-black skin. Where a hand should have been, a long, serrated blade of bone grew from its forearm, extending down past its knee.
"Hello?" Darian called out. "Who are you?"
The creature didn't answer, and Darian walked slower, terrified. Suddenly, once Darian was close enough to the creature, the monster started to walk in Darian's direction too.
Darian backed away, reaching the water, and once the creature took a faster pace, Darian did the same. He reached the land, and the creature kept following him from behind. It felt like the monster was walking with a simply inevitable and crushing purpose.
Then, the ground ended.
Darian skidded to a halt at the edge of a jagged cliff, looking down thirty feet into a dark, silent abyss of water. He was trapped.
He had returned home after many years, only to find that the world had ended and the monsters were waiting.