The shard shot towards the ground at full speed, Marion barely able to register what was happening,
The ground was getting so much bigger,
''AAAAHHHH!'' Marion crossed his arms and braced for impact, screaming and kicking,
But the impact never came, Marion braced but nothing happened,
He opened his eyes, and could see the ground underneath his feet for the first time in a while,
It was rough with patchy grass and weeds, with dirt and rocks, just like it had been on earth,
Marion felt somewhat at ease knowing there was something familiar or at least that looked familiar on this god forsaken planet,
Marion had noticed the sphere hadn't actually landed, it was still floating barely off the ground, the shard had somehow negated all its downward momentum instantaneously yet somehow Marion didn't feel any of it,
Marion breathed a sigh of relief, at least he would be landing safely on this planet, that was one thing to be thankful for,
The sphere landed on the ground and caused as much disturbance as a feather would,
''We have arrived, vessel, welcome to Asana, you will stay here until the hive comes to pick you up to decide on your fate,''
In truth the threat of a planet devouring hive mind was the last thing on Marion's mind right now, all he could think of was what had thrown that large tree at the two warring birds,
''to conserve energy, the shard will retreat into the vessel and be dormant until further contact is made with the hive, the survival of the vessel will be left to itself, the shard's survival is of the utmost importance, the failure to survive by the shard will be met with harsher punishment from the hive''
''Failure to survive? what the hell are you talking about, if i fail to survive i'm dead, shouldn't you be doing your best to help me, if i die there will be nothing left to punish'' Marion was exasperated, trying to hold on to any kind of help he could,
''Vessel, there are fates worse than death in the universe, your survival will determine wether you get to experience such a fate or not'' the voice was uncharacteristically somber,
Marion was stunned, he couldn't think what could be worse than death, that was it, no one could do anything to him after he was dead... right?
The shard shook, and then Marion fell on the ground, his feet and palms felt the coarse hard ground for the first time in he doesn't know how long, it was comforting to be back on the ground,
Marion looked around trying to identify the shard, but all he could find were trees,
He looked around until he saw a weird white light floating around, it wandered around until it rushed at him and at his chest, Marion was still on the ground but the light startled him enough he went to the floor,
Marion waited but nothing happened, the light simply faded into him,
Marion took deep breaths, trying to calm down, trying to assess the situation,
Here he was, a human from earth, stranded on a strange planet, not that where he came from mattered anymore, he was a human, in pants and a buttoned up shirt, in the middle of a forest with humongous monsters that could lob what he now just discovered were hundreds of meter tall trees into the air on a whim,
Nothing to fret over really, just another day for the average software engineer,
Marion laughed out loud, again noticing the absurdity of the situation, when he looked at a tree that caught his eye,
He sat up straight and looked around, looking at a particular tree first, then at all the trees, they were incredibly tall, the tallest trees he had ever seen, with trunks so wide you had to take a walk to see the other side, yet what caught his eye was the familiar feeling he got back on earth, when he looked at the other shards, that feeling of looking at something complete,
Perfect, or at least more perfect than he,
These trees were not just bigger but of a different quality from the ones he knew, the trees bark glistened in the light, the leaves were all somehow satisfyingly shaped, the wind rustled through them and even that was somehow unlike anything he ever saw,
Even the wind and the light were somehow different from the ones he knew, like everything was working together to tell him how inferior he was, that it was more perfect than he was,
Marion was entranced, his mind captivated by what he couldn't fathom, it wasn't on the level of the creatures from the hive, but nonetheless entirely captivating,
He knew he was at the bottom here, the absolute bottom of the food chain, yet that somehow excited him, he could change who he was, his essence, he could take all that was around him, and rise above, this was what he had always wanted, to prove his superiority,
He knew he could do it here,
This motivated Marion, he now had a goal, a next step to walk, he just wasn't sure how to get there yet,
He looked around, trees and trees, up above trees and trees, he couldn't see the sky even, just bits and pieces,
Insects chirping, leaves rustling, and he could hear something in the distance, yet he couldn't quite make up what it was,
Marion focused on that familiar sound,
''Water'' Marion exclaimed, moving water,
He knew what his first objective was, he needed to head to water, that was the only way he could survive, he thought,
Marion marched on, filled with determination, yet at the first step in his journey, he stopped dead in his tracks,
Across from him, just next to a tree he was facing, another was looking right at him,
A monkey, or what resembled a monkey, 3 meters tall, wider than a car, teeth sharper than a blade, vertical slit eyes, brown fur,
It looked at Marion, and so did he, Marion out of fear, the other out of confusion,
The monkey was stunned, what was this creature, it looked like one of its monkeys, but uglier, there was something off putting about the small monkey in front of it,
All thoughts in Marion's head vanished like they had never existed, nothing seemed to form in his mind, only fear and that same feeling of inferiority,
The monkey moved towards Marion, it walked slowly, curious, slightly amused, each step shaking the earth,
As it arrived in front of Marion, it looked him up and down, then smelled him, then went to poke him with its finger,
The monkey pressed its finger on Marion's arm, and its claws simply went in, going through his skin like there was no resistance at all,
Marion flinched and yelped in pain, looking at his arm where there was now a hole the size of a finger,
Fear, crippling fear, Marion couldn't register any other thought, he was impaled by a poke,
Marion wet himself,
His body was the only thing that could react to the immense fear he was feeling,
The monkey smelled what had happened and scrunched its face, its features twisting.