Ari awoke before the sun could pierce the dusty haze of the wasteland, his battered body lying still on the parched earth. The gem Princess Tanya had given him rested gently in the pouch by his side, pulsing faintly. Despite the lingering ache that gnawed at his limbs, he remembered the quest that had appeared before him the day before. A full recovery reward awaited—if only he could survive the brutal challenges.
He stood up slowly, breath ragged and sharp as shards of glass. The first task stared back at him from the translucent screen still hovering in the air.
Task 1: Complete 500 pushups with a boulder on your back.
Ari looked around and dragged a flat, oval-shaped boulder toward him, gritting his teeth as it scraped across the dry soil. He carefully heaved it onto his back, positioning it just between the shoulder plates. His legs trembled instantly, but he dropped to the ground and began.
One pushup. Two. Ten. Fifty.
By the time he reached a hundred, his forearms quivered like jelly. The boulder pressed down like a mountain, each rep sending a new cascade of fire through his arms, shoulders, and back. Sand stuck to his shell from sweat and tears. His antennae twitched as he gasped through the agony, his fingers digging into the earth to push himself up again and again.
At two hundred, his breath was uneven, wheezing. At three hundred, his vision blurred. At four hundred, his body threatened collapse.
But his heart—the heart of a protector—kept him going. With Tanya's gem pressed against his chest and memories of her laughter in his mind, he roared the final hundred pushups into completion, collapsing flat against the ground when it was over.
He lay there for a while, unable to move, until the pain dulled just enough for him to sit up again.
Task 2: Complete 500 squats with a boulder on your back.
Ari grunted and lifted the same boulder, legs wobbling like they were made of reeds in the wind. He dug his feet into the cracked ground, took a deep breath, and squatted.
His thighs burned from the start, trembling under the weight. The boulder shifted slightly, and he adjusted, keeping balance. Squat after squat, he lowered himself and rose back up. His knees clicked. His breathing grew hoarse.
By the hundredth squat, his legs screamed in protest. At two hundred, he began shouting with each dip and rise, sheer will driving him. At three hundred, the world tilted slightly each time he stood. At four hundred, he bit down hard on his tongue to keep from passing out.
He thought of Hopper—of the wound, the fact that he was weak, the fact that he couldn't protect Tanya—and used it to fuel himself.
"I'll never be weak again. Never."
When he reached five hundred, he collapsed forward, the boulder rolling from his back. He lay on the ground, gasping. Every muscle throbbed.
Task 3: Climb a high terrain while carrying a heavy boulder.
Once his breath returned, Ari looked toward the cliffside to his left. It loomed like a challenge from the gods themselves, cracked and steep with jagged edges. He lifted the boulder again—this time almost dropping it—and trudged toward the base.
Gripping the uneven surface with shaking hands and battered claws, he began the climb. The boulder shifted, threatening to tumble and drag him down. His arms screamed with strain as he clung to ledges, using his shell and back as support against the wall.
Halfway up, he slipped. He caught himself on a jutting stone, his body swinging for a terrifying moment above the hard ground.
"I won't fall... I won't fall... I made her a promise."
With every ounce of grit left in his body, Ari pulled himself upward, inch by agonizing inch. His breath hitched. His shell scraped against the rock. The weight crushed him against gravity, but his heart wouldn't yield.
After what felt like an eternity, he reached the top. The boulder tumbled from his back, landing with a dull thud beside him.
He collapsed again, chest heaving. A drop of sweat fell from his face and vanished into the dust.
Task 4: Travel 10 kilometers while carrying a heavy boulder.
The last task. Ari could barely stand. But he forced himself upright, hands trembling as he lifted the boulder once more.
Each step felt like dragging a mountain behind him. His legs were stiff, his back roared with pain, and the wound from Hopper screamed every time his spine twisted.
He counted his steps. Every hundred, he forced a deep breath and kept moving.
He passed strange fungi that glowed faintly in the dust, passed trees that were little more than hollow stumps. The wind felt like knives on his skin. Hunger gnawed at his belly. His mouth was parched.
And yet, he didn't stop.
With each kilometer, he began muttering to himself— her name, promises, memories.
"Tanya… hold on."
His vision tunneled near the final stretch. He didn't know how many times he stumbled. When he crossed the ten-kilometer mark, his legs buckled entirely. He fell to the earth, clutching the gem to his chest.
The screen returned.
Quest Complete. Reward Granted: Full Recovery
Ari's body lit with a soft golden glow, and he felt it—an unbelievable wave of warmth coursing through every cell. Muscles knit back together. His scraped shell re-hardened. The stinging wound on his back vanished.
He sat up slowly.
"I… I don't feel any pain anymore," he whispered, stunned. He twisted his torso, jumped lightly in place. Not even a twinge.
A laugh escaped him—raw and disbelieving.
"It really worked. I'm healed."
He looked to the horizon, clenched his fists.
"Well… since that's the case, I'll keep going. And if a quest like this pops up again tomorrow—with the same reward—that'd be great."
He grinned, the faint spark of hope reigniting inside him.
Back in the colony, the sound of mandibles clashing like steel woke Isla from her sleep.
She blinked rapidly, then sat up. Her antennae twitched as she turned toward the source—just outside the chamber, on the edge of the training field.
Beatrice and Lily. Sparring.
Their movements were blurs—mandibles clashing with sparks, legs sweeping, mandibles deflecting blows with sharp precision. Each strike was fast, calculated. Neither could land a decisive hit.
Lily moved like lightning, spinning and darting with a grin, her sharp limbs dancing around Beatrice's strikes.
Beatrice, calm and unreadable, blocked every strike with fluid economy, turning counters into attacks without wasting an inch.
Isla watched in awe. Their duel was more like a conversation than a fight—each attack met with an answer, each movement a part of a familiar rhythm.
After several minutes, the sparring slowed. The two corporals stood across from one another, mandibles lowered, breathing slightly heavier.
Isla leaned closer, still hidden.
"I've decided," Lily said quietly. "I'm going to the fortress."
Beatrice's gaze darkened. "Anastasia's serious about this war. If you go, there's no going back."
"I know," Lily replied. "But I've seen enough. Hopper's not just hurting the soldiers—he's killing our hope. I won't wait for orders." And I have to take revenge for what they did to me, I've had enough of pretending and obeying them, its sickening, driving me insane.
Beatrice didn't speak immediately. Then—
"Then I'm going too."
Isla's breath caught. They were going to Hopper's fortress.
She curled deeper into her hiding spot, heart racing. The two best Corporals in the colony… and they were taking the fight to the monster that started it all.
She sat in silence, watching the dust settle in the field, mind swirling.
Ari was fighting. Rory was pushing himself. And now Beatrice and Lily were preparing to go.
She clutched her knees to her chest.
Soon… she'd have to decide too.