Nine days ago, Bianca stood in front of the black planet for the first time. It was huge.
She could see it like no human ever had, and she was about to take a step onto it.
Thanks to her magic, Imitatio, she had taken the shape of a krukin, she was now a krukspy.
Before approaching the planet, she found a small cave to rest in. She had to preserve her strength; she didn't know when she would be able to rest again once she stepped onto the black planet.
She saw some krukspies returning to the planet and managed to join them without arousing suspicion.
The black planet was extremely close to the earth, so you could simply walk across to it, no jump or other effort required.
Bianca could see that the impact had been brutal. Where the earth collided against the planet, there was a hole.
Once she started walking, following the other krukins, she became the first human to ever set foot on the black planet.
The planet was completely black. There were trees, but they were all black as well. Bianca couldn't see much, but she could make out only trees stretching around her.
Then, without warning, the krukspies all went off in different directions. Bianca began to wander the planet, searching for something significant.
She spotted it immediately, a group consisting of a human, Rhihamr, Garwhole, and Leobruns.
The human was a female Bianca had never seen before… but she looked very strange.
She was human, yet resembled a krukin.
She still had white skin, but half her face was black, and she had a horn.
How is that possible… thought Bianca.
Then she was spotted. The woman walked up to the krukspy and licked it.
"Ew, stop licking our brothers," said Rhihamr, pushing her away. He then picked up the krukspy in his arms.
Bianca's heart was racing. Had they discovered her? Why did Rhihamr take her in his arms?
Rhihamr began slowly petting his "brother," trying to calm him down.
"Well, you know how I am. I like to try new stuff," said the woman.
"Yeah, but when you came here you literally tried our mom's body and her hair," said Leobruns.
'Mom? what do they mean...' Thought Bianca.
Garwhole flew onto the woman's shoulder. Bianca now realized just how big he was, his wings were as large as a human's face, and his body barely half that size.
"But they were good… you know humans sent me away because I usually tried everything I found on the floor," said the woman.
"Well… by the way, Sappho, are you coming this time too?" asked Garwhole from her shoulder.
Garwhole's voice was as annoyingly grating as ever.
"Yeah, I've never been to Skar-Zhul. I wanted to try the soil and the rocks there," said Sappho.
Sappho was a woman in her twenties with a strange habit of tasting anything she found on the ground. Humans saw her as an oddity and pushed her out of their cities.
Once she reached the mainland, she killed some krukins on her own and began eating them, that was why she now had a strange horn on her head.
She had long black hair and wore a purple tunic. Bianca assumed it must be the kind of dress humans here wore.
"Well, at least we must thank you. You're helping so much in the fight… even if I'm still against your power," said Rhihamr, still petting the krukin in his arms.
Bianca's heart started beating faster.
"Eh, like it's my power, and it works so damn perfectly," said Sappho. Bianca wanted to know more about her ability.
"We should probably search for Anacreon, who will create the portal, and for Phocylides, who will prepare our plan," said Leobruns. Then he seemed to remember something else.
"By the way, the other human who came with you… I completely forgot his name…" he said to Sappho.
"Oh, you mean Archilochus? He's currently on a mission in a city, spying on them. He's slowly preparing the fight for us by studying the enemies, but I completely forgot which city he's in right now," said Sappho, turning away.
"I guess I'll go search for the others and we'll prepare the attack, alright?" Sappho said as she walked away.
'No! I need to know more about her power!' thought Bianca, beginning to wriggle in Rhihamr's arms.
"Oh, the krukspy wants to go down. It's probably scared," Rhihamr said, gently placing her on the ground and smiling warmly.
Bianca tried to follow Sappho, but Leobruns blocked her path.
"She'll probably just kill you and use you for her power. Stop there, go play with your other friends," said Leobruns, slowly moving the krukspy away.
"Leobruns, by the way, are you coming too this time?" asked Rhihamr.
"Sadly no, my katana and armor are still being repaired. Are you going, Rhihamr?" Leobruns asked.
In the meantime, Garwhole had flown closer.
"Nah… we should probably go and ask Mantblast and Liztawul, even if they're both a bit crazy…" said Rhihamr.
"Well, I guess I'll go find them. Liztawul is probably around here, while Mantblast will probably be alone on some mountains on the green planet," said Garwhole, flying away.
Bianca began moving away too, still nervous. She turned back and saw Rhihamr smiling warmly at her.
'I guess that rhino isn't that bad…' thought Bianca, running as fast as she could.
She made it back to Earth, but the krukins had said many strange things… especially that they would attack Skar-Zhul. Bianca had to return to her city quickly.
She didn't know how much time she had before the attack, but she had to move fast.
In Skar-Zhul, Darian woke before the other two, so he decided to wait for them before going to have breakfast. He felt a bit embarrassed to go alone.
Then he remembered he hadn't updated his diary lately, so he took it out and began writing.
'Mhmm… what should I call the worm-like creature…' thought Darian. Then he simply wrote: Krukwomy.
He wrote the number 3 next to it. That creature was both dangerous and huge, three was the perfect rating.
'This creature is both strong and fast. Its body is highly resistant. It usually wanders underground; every time it moves, the earth near it shakes. It's around 30 feet long. Its tongue is shaped like a spear, it could pierce Alerya's armor, so it's extremely strong. Its saliva is worse than acid.'
He then turned to the page where he kept the commanders' entries and added two of them. He started with Leobruns:
'This creature has the shape of a lion, but it can stand on two feet and wields a katana. I don't know if it's his only weapon, but he was extremely fast. His armor is basically unbreakable, but once Alerya broke it, she was able to damage Leobruns' skin easily.'
Then he began writing about Rhihamr:
'This creature has the shape of a Rhihorn, but it stands on two feet. He wields a hammer, and it is incredibly strong. He can create multiple fissures in the ground, and when he slammed it with all his strength, he created a whole earthquake. It seemed the hammer was made of stone, the stone and minerals on the black planet must be extremely resistant.'
"How many horns did it have…" Darian whispered to himself.
"It was two, Darian," said Liro, next to him.
"Oh, two, right…" Darian began to write it down, but then realized something. He looked up and saw Liro and Vane watching him.
He jumped in surprise. When had they gotten there? Snowy opened his eyes in alarm.
"We got here when you started writing about Leobruns… you were so focused on that diary you didn't even see us," said Vane, rubbing his fist against Darian's head.
Darian gave him an annoyed look.
The three of them then headed out for breakfast. Their time in Skar-Zhul had just begun, and they wanted to enjoy it as much as they could before the krukins attacked again.