It was around 9 a.m. when Darian woke up, finally, on a real bed.
Every time he slept on XERBAB-7, comfort was non-existent. It was, without a doubt, the worst sleeping experience of his life, and the only thing he didn't miss from that planet. And since returning to Earth? He wasn't even sure he could call it "sleep." The first night, he'd been unconscious more than anything. The second time had been miserable even worse than XERBAB-7.
Now, though? He felt reborn. Snowy was still curled up beside him.
He'd been woken by the noise of Rusty working outside.
'Pretty noisy, huh?' Darian thought as he got up, stretching. Snowy barely cracked an eye open before deciding to stay in bed.
"Alright, I get it. You like this bed. I'll bring you some fruit while you wait here."
Outside, he found Rusty tending to the seeds Darian had given him the day before.
"Are they growing well, Rusty?" Darian stopped just before entering the storage.
"It's hard to tell, Master Darian," Rusty replied. "I studied them yesterday. This soil is the bare minimum for them to grow… let's hope it will be enough."
"I brought some soil from XERBAB-7, but it's in the starship. Don't know if I'll ever be able to get it."
"Let's hope the monsters haven't destroyed the ship, it could be useful."
"I doubt it," Darian said, stretching again as he walked to the storage. "There weren't any monsters nearby. I only saw them on land. The one I saw in the water was too weak to matter."
Rusty didn't answer, returning to his work. Darian grabbed some fruit and headed back to the house. Snowy was still lying on the bed, more awake now.
Darian sat beside him and handed him one of the fruits.
"Here, eat up. We've got training today. Let's see if we can get stronger."
They both ate, then headed outside. Darian called over his shoulder:
"Rustyyy! Come here for a moment!"
Rusty rolled over. "Did you call for me?"
"Yes. Snowy, c'mon."
Darian held out his right arm, and Snowy merged with him. His body began transforming once again. Rusty watched with interest.
"Rusty, I want to try something. But first, I need to know what's actually happening to my body. Can you help me figure it out?"
"Hard to say, Master…" Rusty approached and placed a mechanical hand against Darian's side. "Hmm. Your body temperature is around -20°C."
"Dangerous?" Darian asked.
Using his scanners, Rusty examined him. "Your organs are still there, but… altered. It looks like some form of snow or ice has embedded itself within them. It's not damaging them, but… it's unusual."
"So a heavy hit could dislodge it and mess me up?"
"Possibly. But it looks stable and resistant for now. Let me record everything."
Rusty circled him five times, scanning both the inside and outside of his body before stepping back.
"Perfect. I'll study the data when I have time."
"Thanks, Rusty. We'll train now, you sure you don't want to watch?"
"I'll observe another time. I'd rather study this information first."
"Alright, your loss." Darian waved him off.
The training ground was a nearby cave, just ten minutes away. Darian wanted to test his strength on stone.
Inside, he spotted a large boulder.
"Perfect… let's go, Snowy."
Raising his arm toward the rock, he called out:
"Ice Shard!"
He felt the cold rushing through him. An icy spear formed in front of his palm and, in less than a second, shot forward, piercing the stone and leaving a small hole.
"Whoa…" Darian examined it. The shard had broken apart after just under a foot of penetration.
"Mmh. Not powerful enough yet."
He tried several more shards, but each time, the results were the same, around 0.9 feet deep.
"Alright, let's try something else… Ice Armour!"
Shards of ice formed around his body, encasing him. He immediately felt the drain on his strength and on Snowy's.
"Hmm… this takes a lot out of us. What if I try another attack while wearing it?"
He launched another Ice Shard, but it was slower, weaker, and the armor began shedding pieces.
"Yeah, no. Can't keep multiple spells at full strength."
Canceling the armor, he tried "Radial Freeze." This time, he focused on size forming a perfect ice circle with a 10-foot radius.
"Phew…" He felt the fatigue, but kept going. He shaped the ice into a wall, about 4 feet high. It was solid. Testing it, he fired an Ice Shard into it, which pierced through without shattering the wall completely.
"Alright, that's enough for today, Snowy."
The little creature separated from his arm, tired but still alert. They sat down to rest.
Darian pulled out his diary and began writing:
This creature I've named Snowy is unique. It seems to have ice powers that channel through its body.
It can't use them alone, it needs a host to fuse with to unleash its true strength.
Habitat: Unknown. It adapts to any climate, from extreme cold to heat.
"Good enough for now… I'll update this once Rusty figures out more."
Around two hours passed, while Darian was still thinking about what else to write in his diary, when a faint vibration ran through the cave floor. At first, it was soft, almost like a distant rumble, but it grew sharper, rhythmic.
Whrrr... whrrr...
Darian frowned.
"Snowy, wake up... there's something here."
Snowy instantly opened its eyes, slipping into a defensive stance. The sound deepened, now echoing through the stone walls like a swarm of mechanical bees. Dust began to rain down from the ceiling.
Then came the scraping, metal grinding against rock, fast and relentless.
"Is that... drilling?" Darian whispered, scanning the shadows. But this was no human tool; the tempo was too fast, the pressure too intense. Whatever it was, it was coming straight for them.
The walls shuddered. Sharp cracks split the stone as jagged holes punched through in a blur of motion. Shards of rock sprayed across the cave floor.
From the first breach, a strange figure lunged out, low to the ground, no more than 1.6 feet tall, but disturbingly fast. Three wheels under its segmented body spun at impossible speed, flinging gravel behind it. Where a face should have been, a gleaming drill head spun endlessly, the metal biting the air with a shrill screee.
More of them poured through the openings, their drills grinding and sparking as they chewed through the walls like paper.
Darian's stomach twisted. "Snowy... get ready."
Snowy leapt toward him without hesitation, merging into his arm in a cold surge of power.
The drilling stopped.
The monsters froze in place, their drills still spinning in low, menacing whirs. None of them moved closer... yet. But Darian could feel it... the tension in the air, the way the creatures seemed to be measuring him.
Then, in perfect unison, they tilted forward, drills roaring to full speed.