By Evan Alexiou
Cold – the planet Rosen was always cold. Each and every corner of the planet’s surface was covered by snow. The black sun radiating this distant planet was not powerful enough to warm up the land. The people of Rosen lived in walled, isolated cities. The buildings were windowless and only had one entrance. The insides were modern and technologically advanced. Colourful. Full of warmth. The colours of the outside, however, were grey and white. The colours on the outside blended with the snow providing camouflage. You see, Rosen’s surface was ravaged by wild creatures during the night. The days were short, and the nights brought the Tingas – creatures so fearsome that not many who encountered them lived to tell the tale. Saef was a young Rosen who lived in a remote village. She hated her little community and always wanted to move on with her life. She grew up alone with no parents. She spent every day at her orphanage dreaming of adventure. Saef wanted to travel and explore the universe. There was a burning fire inside of her to venture forth. Unfortunately, that meant leaving the walls and the safety of her village. So, she accepted that her burning passion would forever be a dream. Until one day when fate intervened. Saef was working as a fish catcher in the local fish yard overlooking the river. As she was catching fish with her echo catching gun, she noticed something in the distance. It was just on the horizon of her view. A creature was drowning in the river. She dropped everything to help the poor creature. The animal was tall. It had four legs and a long body. It was black in colour and had a nice coat. It looked like something someone could ride on to travel great distances. Saef pushed the animal ashore which exhausted her completely. As she was catching her breath the creature neighed. She saw the creature had a saddle on its back. The intrusive thoughts won and Saef mounted the animal. Saef noticed that it had a name tag around its neck: Norn. The nametag started glowing turquoise. Norn’s eyes widened and it started galloping. Saef was taken back but she was shocked, and Norn was riding so fast. All she could do was hold on. Norn took her far away, further and further from her village until she couldn’t see her home anymore. Norn rode far and wide for hours, over snowy valleys and peaks. It even started climbing mountains. Saef was scared but also in awe. The planet had never looked so beautiful in her eyes. Unfortunately, the sun was setting. Norn took her to a forest next to some ruins that looked like old rusty technology. The creature stopped and Saef finally dismounted. Before she could even say a word, Norn disappeared into the forest. “Hey!” she screamed at it but to no avail. She decided to take a look at the ruins. In her eyes, the place looked like a junkyard. Old rusty pieces of technology and metal that had not been used on this planet for decades. She took a look and realised there were strange writings in this junk. The metal pieces had some strange symbols on them – probably a language lost in time. Before she could do anything further though, she heard a very loud noise. Saef turned around and came face to face with a Tinga. The monster was forty feet tall. Rotten flesh. Sharp teeth. Multiple eyes. Tentacles and claws on its body. It was the stuff of nightmares. Two more showed up. She was surrounded. She grasped her mouth so as not to scream.
Tears started streaming down her cheek. She started walking backwards in fear. As she backed off, she hit her back on a large metal object covered in snow. She turned around and saw one of those strange symbols. She felt compelled to put her hand on it, so she did. The moment her skin touched the symbol a loud noise was heard. Lights started sparking up the writings. And she felt the ground move. The junk was moving by itself. Not only moving but assembling. Like being pulled together with a magnetic gravitational pull. Objects start attaching to other objects creating what looked like a giant metal man. Twenty feet tall. With a muscular build. A large beard and wearing what looked to be giant metal armour. Saef was shocked. The giant man turned his eyes and looked at Seaf. Then, he turned around to look at the Tingas. He launched himself on the first one and started punching it repeatedly. The others tried to gang up on him, but he kicked them away. He grabbed a tree, ripped it from the ground and impaled one of them. He grabbed the other one and tore them in half. But the third one jumped from behind and took him down. Seaf wanted to help, she was looking around for objects she could hurl to help the giant man. As the Tinga was biting and scratching the man his eyes turned red. “Cover!” he shouted to Saef. She ducked inside a cave. Then the man turned his head towards the Tinga, opened his mouth and let out a wave of electric energy. It looked like thunder. With the Tingas now dead, the man offered a hand to Saef and placed her on a hill so they could look into each other’s eyes.
“What’s your name?”
“Saef,” she answered.
“Thanks for waking me up, Saef. I wouldn’t have taken so much of a beating if I had had my weapon. I need to find my hammer.”
“Wait what? Who are you?”
The giant metal man smiled. “My name is Thor. I slay Tingas. And I need my hammer.”
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