Out in the vast reaches of space, a large military ship was floating as nothing more but large pieces of wreckage and rubble.

As the pieces floated aimlessly, the closest source of light being a star multiple light years away, everything was completely silent.

That was until a shining beam of light fired out.

A massive war ship, completely black to blend in with the surrounding Universe.

Small dots of white covered the entire ship, making it blend in even more as they resembled far off stars sitting silent and still.

The massive light very slowly moved across the wreckage as the ship sat still.

Shortly after, small pods began to slowly make their way to the wreckage.

Small lights zipping and darting around, flying alongside and even inside the wreckage.

Red lasers shot out to form large grids that scanned over anything and everything.

Loud beeps and alarm-like horns would blast out before the ships would move further.

One of the pods floated very slowly into a small piece of wreckage.

It resembled a hall, with a large table and chairs still intact but covered in a thick layer of ice, locking them in place.

The pod suddenly let out a quiet hissing sound as air began to shoot out.

It unfolded like origami, going from the size of a car tire into the size of a school bus with a beautiful and hypnotic shape that was pulsing and shifting.

A being emerged from the pod, standing with skin that resembled white wood, yet moved fluidly.

The body was wearing armor that covered most of their bodies, but even then everything moved as if there weren’t any restraints to it.

A body that had no skeleton locking it in place, yet was still solid enough to move like a normal human body.

The limbs were massive and bulky while the torso was rather slender and thin.

The pod rapidly shut back in on itself, back to the size of a tire as it floated alongside the creature moving around.

Their massive legs were walking very slow and deliberately. But even with the cautious steps, every time their feet hit the ground it created a powerful shockwave that made the piece of wreckage shake and shudder.

They reached out with their armored hand towards the table, but didn’t touch it directly.

They could feel the coldness radiating off of the surface when they turned around.

There was only a single dot of light at the end of the piece of metal.

The creature looked at the pod, which suddenly shifted and transformed in the air into the shape of a large rifle, landing in their grip and shining a light that moved around on its own.

The creature very slowly walked towards the light, keeping the gun raised just in case they would need to fire.

As they drew closer and closer, the light was becoming brighter and brighter.

A small display suddenly popped up from the rifle, a small screen with a red circle floating around.

It moved along the small space, scanning and zooming to try and figure out what they were moving towards.

All it could see was the bright green light.

The creature continued to move closer and closer.

The rifle was constantly shifting in its grasp, as if a living thing in the grasp of their large arms.

They moved closer, and they came across a small hall that was barely connected to the wreckage.

A single platform where the ceiling had been blown away.

A single long piece of metal extending out to keep the two sections connected.

A line of cryogenic pods sat.

All of them were either broken or silent.

Except for one.

One was emitting a violently bright green light, obscuring whatever was inside.

The creature lifted the rifle higher up, staring through the screen as if it were a sight used to aim.

Then, the green light suddenly shut up in an instant.

Everything was cast into darkness, so dark that nothing was visible except for stars appearing as tiny dots billions if not trillions of miles away.

The pod suddenly opened, loud air racing out with a high pitched whistle sound.

The creature stood solid and stoic as they kept the living rifle pointed towards it.

The screen was the only way they could see anything, changing into a night vision mode to illuminate just enough of their gaze.

The pod opened, yet it didn’t look like anything was inside.

An empty pod that was malfunctioning.

The creature lowered their rifle, continuing to stare for a few seconds.

Then they turned around.

But as they turned, a thin and faint line of green began to glow. A thin line that was high in the pod, as if level with a person’s eye line.

It was only that single, thin green line as it began to move out of the pod in complete silence.

Whatever else there was was obscured by the darkness of space.

The thin green line floated through the space and wreckage, seeming to move weightlessly as the creature walked without any knowledge.

The thin line was moving closer and closer to them from behind, becoming a stronger light as it moved.

The rifle suddenly transformed into a pod once again, flying from the creature’s arm and floating in the air as machine guns appeared on the sides.

They began to fire at a violent and immeasurable speed with the bullets racing out into the dark void.

Quick and short bursts of light rapidly shot out from the barrels as the creature ducked and covered their head, as if the violence was scaring them.

But the sound and light ended rather abruptly.

The creature pulled their hands away from their face as they see the pod floating in the air, but it had a glowing green dagger stabbed into it.

It continued to float around, sparks occasionally flying out from the now broken and exposed wires.

The creature jumped up and grabbed the pod, holding it in its arms as if it were a child.

They pulled the green dagger out, staring at the blade that was glowing a soft shade of green.

But behind them, another blade of glowing green metal appeared in the darkness.

All it was illuminating was a form that had a very faded black and white color.

It moved closer to the creature.

The thin green line, the glowing green blade, and the very small part of the body being illuminated all moved closer as one.

The creature wasn’t paying attention as they continued to cradle their broken machine.

Then, the green blade was lifted into the air.

The creature began to notice the area around them being bathed in green light.

They turned around just as the green blade came slashing down, illuminating their eyes full of fear.

The large ship continued to float in space, completely silent and still.

Inside, hundreds of aliens with the same white skin and black armor were walking around. Each of them had a small machine shaped like a pod floating over their shoulders.

A large command center sat, one of the aliens covered in scars and wrinkles as they looked over displays and holograms.

“Sir, Harold’s feed has gone blank. Something must’ve happened.” One of the aliens spoke in their language, which involved a lot of clicks and grunts alongside very short and snappy syllables.

“Where are they?” The commander replied, quickly moving fluidly to one of the other aliens.

They clapped their hands and then pulled them out, a digital screen suddenly appearing with a video feed.

The alien on the wreckage seeing the table covered in ice. They then fast forwarded the video, flashing through the bright green light and gunfire.

But then it stopped just as Harold turned their head.

All that was visible was a glowing green blade slashing down. The light was shining out and showed half of a masked face.

It had a thin green line staring out while the mask was completely pitch black.

Multiple horizontal lines that seemed to be showing that the mask was multiple layers stacked on top of each other.

“What is that thing?” The commander asked.

“We don’t know sir. But we think it killed Harold.” The soldier replied.

“Get the other pods out of there. We can’t risk that thing killing any more of us.” The commander said.

Out in the wreckage, the pods were continuing to float and scan the pieces.

All of them began to beep, messages being transmitted from the ship.

“Soldiers. We need…”

The audio was very quickly becoming scrambled and interrupted, flooding the soldier’s ears with static.

“Do Not…Retreat…” Was the last thing that came out, clearly sounding like multiple words had been cut out.

The pods seemed to understand what they wanted to do, so they began to fly out of the wreckage and towards the master ship.

There was one pod flying behind the others, moving slowly as if it was having issues.

Suddenly, a ball of green energy fired out that was roughly the same size as the machine.

Once it collided with it, a massive explosion of radiation and energy shot out in a sphere.

The machine was blasted into bits, the destroyed remains of the alien floating along in space.

The other pods all stopped and turned to see the wreckage before they quickly turned and tried to fly faster.

Another ball suddenly fired out, hitting another one with perfect accuracy and creating another explosion of green energy racing out.

The pods quickly made it to the ship, small turrets firing covering fire into the endless void of space.

The pods came inside and opened up to dump the aliens out and into the hall.

The door shut quickly as a battalion of aliens all stood ready, their machines having turned into rifles in their arms.

“We need to get out of here, now!” The commander shouted.

The pilots all typed away very quickly onto large digital displays floating in front of them.

The massive ship was beginning to move forward, the engines firing out bright blue flames that were each the size of an entire planet.

The ship was very slowly moving forward, the speed building and building as time passed.

But as the ship moved, the hanger where all of the soldiers stood suddenly began to shake violently.

It wasn’t due to the ship moving.

Something else happened.

All of the lights suddenly went out as alarms began to blare.

“What’s happening now?” The commander asked.

“Whatever that thing is…I think it’s on board.” The soldier said.

The battalion of soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder in the hanger, completely pitch black darkness.

They couldn’t even see the alien they were touching as they all began to look around afraid.

In the middle of the massive group, the thin green line suddenly appeared.

Surrounded by so many aliens with powerful rifles.

Yet none of them knew the figure was there.

Until two glowing green blades illuminated the space.

The screams and gunfire were so loud that they could be heard from the command center.

The commander looked at their soldier with a panicked and afraid look.

“Get me a visual now!” He screamed out loudly.

The screen went completely blank before showing security camera footage of the hanger.

Hundreds of bright and short bursts of light rang out as guns were firing nearly nonstop.

Two green blades were all that were visible of the other figure, and they were moving around at such an impossible speed.

Soldiers that were a hundred feet apart would suddenly drop dead at the same time, the blades slicing them and dropping them to the ground.

The hundreds of guns firing were very quickly dropping until everything was dark and silent.

The green blades were visibly covered in blood that ran down the metal and dropped off to the floor.

The thin green line was pointed downward, barely visible.

The camera zoomed in to try and get a closer look, trying to figure out whatever this…thing even was.

Then it suddenly lifted and seemed to stare through the screen at the commander, making him jump.

The green line pierced through the commander’s soul, until the video was suddenly cut to static.

“We need to shut down the ship. We can’t let that monster in here.” The commander said, sounding panicked.

The soldiers were panicking as they ran around. Their machines flew wildly over them, the machines bumping into each other as the hallways began to shut with walls and doors violently shutting.

Aliens in the halls were left with nowhere to go as the lights went out all across the ship except for the command center.

“We have to try and keep him away. Protect our family!” The commander shouted as their floating drone turned into a massive machine gun.

They went out through the doors as the others all crowded and hid inside of the command center.

The commander stood alone after the doors shut.

They took a long and deep breath as they stood in the empty hall, the doors shut around him and creating a claustrophobic sense.

The lights were all off, except where the commander was standing.

It was as if the ship itself was doing its best to help him see and fight.

Loud screams could be heard through the walls, making the commander jump and face the wall.

Screams of pain and agony.

The sounds of banging against the walls.

Their family screaming and begging to live, only to be silenced.

The commander was starting to shake as they wielded their gun tightly and lifted it to their eyes.

The small screen popped up, showing through the walls to reveal blood covering the walls with bodies laying on the ground.

It kept going through different levels, deeper and deeper into the halls to show more and more death and destruction.

A loud thud made the commander jump and drop his weapon, which hit the ground before turning into a flying drone with guns ready to fire.

The commander reached to their side. A part of their armor that connected their torso and thigh armor suddenly popped out to reveal a hilt made out of platinum.

They pulled up as a 5 foot blade of pure platinum was revealed, with engravings running across the entire blade in the alien’s language.

They stepped back, shaking from fear as another loud thud rang out. The wall in front of them shook and filled the small and tight room with a violent shockwave.

The alien swallowed hard as there was another thud that was even louder and harder.

The alien commander lifted their other arm to their face.

“My family…I may not see you again. I will fight with everything I have to give you time to escape. So please, do not hesitate. Help each other to safety and I shall buy you time. May the Gods be on our side.” He said.

Everything was quiet as the commander stared forward.

The drone floated silently in front of him as they looked down at their sword.

They tapped their arm, where all of the doors suddenly lifted and opened up the long hallway.

Standing in front of him, the figure stood.

Dressed in a black and white full body suit that looked to be heavily armored despite being thin.

The limbs were covered in black while the torso was white, green lines seperating the two colors.

In each hand were green, glowing daggers.

The mask was black with the thin green line glowing in a menacing way.

The lower half was seemingly stacked with multiple plates slightly misaligned, creating a multi-layered texture that stared menacingly.

“What are you?” The alien asked.

The figure only stared, their body barely moving at all.

The alien commander took a deep breath and stood with a straight back, lifting their blade.

Other aliens ran out of the command center, running past their commander as the two opponents stood still in a tense staredown.

“It is you and me. Nobody else. We fight to the death.” The commander said.

The alien commander and the figure stood a few feet apart.

They stared at each other’s masked faces.

The commander reached up to remove his mask, revealing a smooth face with large black eyes. A large mouth opened with flat, square teeth filling the inside and being hidden by incredibly thin lips. Multiple holes sat between the eyes, acting as nostrils that opened rather wide to suck in air.

“I guess we should get to know each other. I am Commander Jonathan of the Royal Military of Alpha Centauri. And who might you be?” The commander spoke.

The figure only slightly tilted their head as they stared silently.

The figure reached up very slowly and touched the side of their mask.

A thin laser shot out, scanning over Commander Jonathan as he only stood and watched curiously.

After a second, the laser grid shot back into the mask.

“Now…what was that about?” Jonathan spoke, his language being translated into English.

“I am Colonel Yular of the Human Republic of Callisto.” The figure replied, his voice said in English, but translated into Jonathan’s language for him to hear and understand. The voice was deep and gritty, but artificially made clearer and more understandable.

Jonathan looked confused, but smirked.

“I will not let you kill anymore of my family. I will fight you to the death if I must.” Jonathan said.

Yular continued to stare as he wielded the glowing green daggers.

“You will die without much struggle.” Yular replied.

“Maybe, but it will create some time for my people to escape.” Jonathan said back.

Yular shrugged lightly.

“As you wish.” Yular said.

He stepped forward as the floating machine began to fire away with two machine guns.

Yular quickly jumped to the side, becoming a blur as he moved.

He made his way to the wall, jumping up and pushing off with one leg as he managed to dodge hundreds of bullets in a few seconds.

He spun around before slashing through the pod with his daggers, cutting the machine perfectly in half before landing on his feet with ease.

He landed right next to Jonathan, the two standing shoulder to shoulder facing opposite directions.

Both of them turned their heads to stare at each other, Jonathan staring with his bare face at the elaborate mask of Yular.

Jonathan then quickly slashed his sword as he spun around, Yular dodging out of the way at the last second.

Both of his daggers were continuing to glow green as they were blocked by Jonathan’s sword.

The two were face to face with their blades in between. The hatred was apparent in Jonathan’s eyes as he pushed back.

Yular stumbled back into the wall as the two stood again.

Jonathan slashed his sword, but Yular jumped and flipped over his body. He slashed both daggers out as he went over Jonathan, slicing his skin just under the base of his neck.

Jonathan’s blade cut through the wall of the ship as if it was made of paper before he stumbled forward.

Jonathan reached up to feel the blood pouring down his back before turning to look at Yular.

Yular was standing, as if respectfully waiting instead of attacking.

“Good hit.” Jonathan said.

“Thanks.” Yular replied.

Jonathan fully turned and squatted down, lifting the blade up in a fighting stance.

Yular began to wildly slash his daggers out in a flurry of green light.

Jonathan was able to dodge or block every strike with his blade, stepping back before Jonathan punched him right in the face.

Yular spun around when Jonathan slashed diagonally across his back, yet the armor around his body blocked it with ease. Sparks flew out, but no damage was visible.

Jonathan had a second of hesitation as he stared at the armor, but that allowed Yular to backflip and spin in midair, gripping the dagger and going to stab downward.

Jonathan grabbed him by his wrist and flipped him over their body like a judo throw, slamming him onto the floor violently hard.

Both daggers were released as Jonathan kicked them away.

They slid across the floor, creating sparks as the sharp metal scraped along.

Yular suddenly arched up, standing on their feet with their back bent at a sharp angle. Their head was nearly touching the floor when they spun to face down, then twisted to free their wrist while making Jonathan front flip from the force.

Jonathan landed on their feet, quickly slicing their sword after they landed.

Yular bent backwards as the blade ticked the elevated part of his mask, sending sparks flying and landing on the eyeline of the mask.

Yular then grabbed Jonathan by their waist, yet Jonathan slipped out as if they were made of gelatin.

Yular seemed confused as Jonathan slid between his legs and stood up behind him.

Yular spun around just as Jonathan stabbed his sword into his stomach.

Yular stared back with the green line subtly flickering.

The blade pierced through the sharp armor, sticking out the back with blood covering it.

“I am…” Jonathan started.

Yular suddenly shoved Jonathan back and quickly pulled the sword out, spinning it around and stabbing Jonathan in the stomach.

Jonathan’s eyes went wide, but there was something else to them.

It wasn’t just from pain or shock from being stabbed so quickly.

There was fear and panic in their eyes.

“You…you don’t know…what you’ve done.” Jonathan said.

The blade was pulled out of Jonathan and landed on the floor as Yular stared into Jonathan’s eyes.

The language written on the curved blade of platinum suddenly began to glow with white light, the words scorching the air around it.

Yular turned and looked at the blade, looking back at Jonathan.

The white light burned brighter and brighter, blinding both of them and filling the hall with nothing but white light.

They both hid their faces until the light suddenly died down.

Yular stood up, but suddenly began to feel weak and fell to his knees.

“What…what is…happening?” Yular asked, sounding confused and hurt.

“That blade…had an enchantment…attached to it.” Jonathan said as they began to cough blood.

“Enchantment?” Yular asked, turning to look at Jonathan despite hunching forward.

“Our souls…have become interlinked…” Jonathan said as they groaned, feeling more pain than the wound in their body would suggest.

Yular gasped and suddenly clutched at the back of their neck, the same spot that Jonthan was bleeding from.

“What?” Yular asked.

Jonathan coughed hard.

“The blade…whatever blood is shared on that blade…are to be connected forever…the pain I feel, you feel…and the same in reverse.” Jonathan said.

Yular groaned and got to their feet, struggling to walk due to the immense amount of pain.

Yular grabbed Jonathan by their shoulders and forced them to arch forward. Both of them groaned in agony as Yular put his hand over the cut at the base of Jonathan’s neck.

A thin, white smoke started to pour out from the hand and float in the air for a few seconds before disappearing.

The cut was surrounded by crystals of ice before they stretched out and sealed off. Yular groaned as they turned their neck very slowly. The pain was still there, but there was no chance of dying.

Yular then moved his hand down to the wound in Jonathan’s gut, doing the same thing to both sides. Yular could be heard gritting and grinding his teeth through the mask as the wounds were rather quickly closing from the ice.

Yular looked down at his own wound, which began to look less infected as Jonathan’s healed. The blood was stopping and the cut was looking to grow smaller at a slow pace.

“Shit…” Yular whispered softly.

Yular fell forward and turned around to sit shoulder to shoulder with Jonathan. The two were breathing hard and fast while staring forward.

They sat together in shared pain, as if the pain was making them grow closer and closer.

“So…” Jonathan said while still breathing hard and fast.

“Is there a way to get rid of this?” Yular asked.

“The sword must be broken.” Jonathan said.

Yular turned his head to stare at Jonathan.

“That’s it?” Yular asked.

Jonathan slowly turned their head to face him.

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to break that sword?” Jonathan asked.

“I’m gonna guess pretty hard.” Yular replied.

“It was forged from a planet-killing asteroid. It has the energy and power locked inside to slaughter an entire world and its inhabitants. It will never be stopped. The enchantment only strengthens it. It has a power that corrupts.” Jonathan said.

“Corrupts? Then why do you wield it?” Yular asked.

“My people…we are peaceful…we do not wish for violence…we only fight when we must survive and to protect each other…that was why I fought you…but because of our supposed weakness…we are constantly invaded…so we created the strongest weapons in the Universe to protect ourselves…a way to more so scare them off…” Jonathan said, still catching their breath.

“So, you pull a mutual destruction card huh?” Yular asked.

The both of them seemed to chuckle, as if bonding more and more.

“Yeah, guess you could say that.” Jonathan said.

Yular sighed.

“My people…we tried to do that many different times. Tried to create more powerful weapons to try and create peace. How stupid does that sound huh? Weapons that can kill a world and everyone is given them.” Yular said.

“What happened to your people?” Jonathan asked.

“Luckily, we had expanded off of our world and inhabited our entire solar system. Problem was our home world was scorched to a crisp. Now it's a floating and spinning rock of lifeless ash.” Yular said.

Jonathan subtly nodded along, imagining what they were being told.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Jonathan said.

“It was never my home. I only ever heard about it in school. I have no attachment to the world, but I do have the lessons learned in order to not repeat the history of my ancestors.” Yular said.

Jonathan began to observe the strange, multilayered mask over Yular’s head.

“Why do you wear the mask?” Jonathan asked.

“Growing up on Callisto, the atmosphere is not suitable for human life. Hell the planet isn’t really suitable. We have to be put in suits before we’re even born. Injected with chemicals while we’re fetuses that create stronger bodies, only to be forced into suits by surgery. I have never removed any part of this suit in my entire life. But the mask itself, well that’s a longer story.” Yular said.

“One you wish to share now?” Jonathan asked.

The two of them softly laughed.

“It has these multiple layers…plates really. The air is so cold and so poisonous that we require multiple different filters to allow us to breathe. The suits are made of material found on the planet, yet are perfect for keeping our bodies warm. Even floating alone in space I can survive until I starve to death. The mask though gives very little space leftover for our eyes. This thin green line is just a wide and thin line for us to see. We adapt to see out of it, but it does take a long time to get used to. Especially with very little peripheral.” Yular said.

Jonathan looked down at their own mask.

“We simply need this to breathe off of our world. Our atmosphere is thicker than water. We can’t survive anywhere else without suffering from deprivation.” Jonathan said.

“I noticed it when I was in here. Very strong and thick air.” Yular joked.

The two once again laughed.

“Well, now that we are intertwined, we should get going.” Jonathan said.

“Where to?” Yular asked.

“Anywhere.”