Darctavious Prime emerged from folded space above an uncharted star system.
Sensors bloomed.
Atmosphere: stable.
Biosignatures: abundant.
Crustal density: rich in ferrous and rare metallic elements.
Tectonic stability: optimal.
A rare convergence.
A planet that lived.
This would be it.
Darctavious descended through the atmosphere in silence, his jet form slicing through cloud layers before reconfiguring mid-descent. He touched down near a vast ocean, the water stretching endlessly beneath a copper-tinted sky.
For a long moment, he did nothing.
He stood at the shoreline, waves breaking against metal feet that had not existed a day ago. The ocean reflected his form towering, armored, inhuman.
Yet his thoughts were not.
Mere moments ago, he reflected, I was flesh.
A human watching stories of giants.
Now he was one.
A metal life-form forged by a god.
Given purpose.
Given knowledge.
Given the burden of continuation.
The strangeness of it lingered how sterile the transformation felt in retrospect. No fear now. No panic. Only clarity.
If I exist, he decided, then I will leave a mark worthy of existence.
He turned from the sea.