Chapter Text
Glancing at the wooden plank lying down on the moist dirt, completely useless, Planet allowed the exhaustion to roll off of his aching limbs and carefully sat down on it. Bringing his knees to his chest, he sighed at how steep and uncomfortable the solid material was.
However, the dull pain slowly leaving him was enough to convince him to stay.
Darting his eyes around at his sleeping surroundings, scrutinizing for movements apart from the chilly brush of wind, his shoulders finally dropped after so many stressful hours. Planet breathed in the cold air that slithered into his lungs, his gaze drifting to the sky.
Consider it ironic or poetic; but Planet loved to stare at the bright stars dotting the eternal painting the night sky is, the music whistling in his ears being the soft snores of the loud, blaring day. After recognizing a few constellations, a gentle smile caressed his face.
When the sun shines upon the vast world, Planet dresses himself up with an imposing aura - one with a reputation to kill on a mere whim. No one has a clue as to why he does. Most live in the fear to encounter him, to have his merciless blade swinging around them.
But if these same people were to see him admire the beauty of stars, peace reigning over him, they would think they mistook him for someone else. No one would think someone with nineteen hearts would have a glint of fascination gleam in his pitch black eyes.
Especially for something as simple as luminous points among a colorless background.
Yet, here he was grinning at the familiarity of diamonds glistening somewhere far away.
He heard footsteps in the distance, growing in clarity. Planet didn’t need to turn his head to know Spoke was standing near him, his gaze settling down on his profile. Wordlessly, Planet moved to a side of the plank. After a moment of audible hesitation, Spoke sat on the freed spot.
Their sides touched each other through thick layers of clothing. Both of them quietly relished in the feeling of safety in this proximity, in this unspoken truth linking them. Although they were in their most vulnerable state, out in the open in a daze of thoughts, they liked to believe the other’s presence was enough to protect them.
Spoke’s hair felt the ghostly hand of cold air ruffle through his black hair, heightened by the warmth of human touch - even indirect. Often checking to see if Planet was still as curiously awe-struck as before, he reluctantly did the same. He ended up frowning.
“Why do you…?” he trailed off, unsure on how to voice his confusion.
Planet chuckled, a delicate sound that rained on Spoke’s ears.
He wasn’t surprised by the question. In one blink, he could recall how dozens of people before him muttered the word why with this odd need for reasons. And each time, Planet just looks at their faces and smiles, something faint that kisses all of their questions away.
Planet’s smile held a tranquillizing effect, could soothe someone in a second or two. At nighttime, with weary minds, anything pretty seemed almost breathtaking. Thus, it was normal, natural even that his smile alone washed away any of Spoke’s foggy concerns. He had a pretty smile after all.
For someone who craved to truly be a force to be reckoned with, his instinctive friendliness could warm up any heart - even one of rock hard stone. Even Spoke’s scarred heart, full of remorse, felt a speck of ease swirl around him at the reassuring sight of Planet’s smile.
“Aren’t stars so lovely ?” Planet replied in an adoring whisper, like he always will.
To that, could entail a variety of reactions.
Some scoffed at the overly dramatic atmosphere, feet dug too far into the earth to understand anything right above their heads. They’d leave after that. One slapped him with a sarcastic comment, and another grumbled a hasty good night with a yawn following it.
Most preferred to share his silence, though theirs were louder than his. He remembers Bacon shrugging and joining him in his peaceful instant, a sign of intelligence and respect Planet enjoyed. Meanwhile, Jaron agreed in an amused giggle. He still went to bed quickly after that.
For Planet, it was entertainment to wonder about what reaction the next person will have.
Even if a few years ago he was ashamed to partake in that game, as a young teenager afraid to stand out from the crowd and to bare the glares of his parents.
Spoke grinned earnestly. “I guess you’re… right. They are lovely.”
It wasn’t honest. Planet recognized the meaningful silence as an evidence of his uncertainty that didn’t quite grasp what he had meant. But, he was not to be blamed. Planet has learned an universal fact about humanity : everyone feels the want to please, to be simple to like.
Spoke didn’t love stars, didn’t see the point to look at them with that much fondness.
He just preferred to agree rather than disagree.
And for some reason, Planet felt the need to explain their complex, layered beauty.
“Lifesteal, and life in general, can be really chaotic, right ?” he started, earning a sheepish nod. “Most of the time I spend it confused on whether I should do that or this, on whether I even can in the first place. There are so many changes going at the same time, everywhere.”
He paused, feeling a weight leaving his chest he didn’t even realize existed. “However, stars will always be there in the sky. One day, they will of course die but I won’t be alive to see them disappear.”
Planet chuckled at that thought. “What I’m saying, is that it’s something stable among everything that is instable, that changes, moves and evaporates.”
“It consoles you,” Spoke attempts to continue as he raised an eyebrow at him.
“Mmh. It does.”
The stars have always been there for him, just floating around in the knowledge of how gorgeous they are. Planet was about to say something to Spoke, but he was no longer here. He must’ve left. A pang of bitterness at the sudden solitude swelled up inside of him.
Perhaps he could’ve told him to stay with him, to linger here and waste both of their times in the comfort of quietness. But Planet was incapable. When he once lived in the fright of dying by Spoke’s hands, he was never able to muster the courage to admit it afterwards.
It wasn’t healthy, he knew it. He should be able to trust his teammate blindly, despite how likely a heartbreaking betrayal can be here on Lifesteal. Sometimes, he wonders if he trusts himself enough to stay as strong as he currently is to the server. Probably not was a recurring answer.
How he trembled with dread at any situation, how he panicked in anticipation of a fight, how his hands became sweaty around the handle of his honed axe- someone strong wouldn’t know these feelings of sentimentality. Tasting saltiness on his lips, he realized he was crying.
Why was he crying ?
Was he losing control over himself ? No no no no- he can’t afford that. Frantically rubbing his eyes, he scrambled to stop himself from pouring another river of useless tears onto his galaxy-themed hoodie. Slowly, he saw the control escape his slippery grasp.
Hunching his back over himself, he felt like a terrified child all over again.
A part of him knew he was still one today.
“I want power…”
The words were murmured, akin to a tender prayer a believer would mutter in ugly misery. Planet was no believer; he doesn’t even believe in his own capabilities. But, somehow, the vivid desperation burning inside his chest went past his typical, easier silence.
“I want power,” he repeated lowly to himself, standing up from the plank. His poor legs were already back to suffering from cramps, but it was shoved away by the anger bubbling up in his throat. In a pulsating manner, his vision went blurry, out of focus like a camera would be.
“I want power !” he screamed to the top of his lungs, words plunging into the nocturnal darkness around him and eventually dying. Breathing heavily, as if the short-lived rage had physically drained him, he slowly came down from his rush of energy.
Remembering how all his strenuous efforts to achieve power, how it earned him a complete lack of respect, how tiny he felt in Lifesteal; he just sighed. The frustration he had built up had faded away once again, to be substituted by this sad sense of helplessness.
PlanetLord wants power, god he wanted it so badly. It was beyond humiliating.
Closing his eyes for a few seconds, he hoped - he hoped with as much will he could possibly find within the corpse he has become - to, one day, be seen as one of the strongest in the area, beyond his suddenly unforgiving weapon.
Now tired, he turned around and went back to his base with his head hung low in resignation.
Face covered in a diaphanous veil, the transparent fabric prickled in amethyst crumbs, the God slowly rose back from Their sacred slumber. Chest heaving slowly, They found themselves frowning at the lack of air around. It was a mild inconvenience They huffed at.
With a measured tilt of Their head, a dark tresse cascading down Their back, They surveyed the vast expanse of stars that stretched out before Them. The same ethereal resonance that had awakened Them now echoed once more, drawing Their gaze to the orb of blinding light whispering a nervous laughter, an awkward voice.
A human one, They assumed although the orb’s ability to awaken him intrigued Them.
Their boredom was wafted away, just how wind pushes away the dust.
Raising a slender hand, the Deity brushed Their fingertips against the sphere. In an instant, the air erupted into a tornado of swirling light, cyclic gusts ruffling Their light robe as the world dissolved around Them. It was replaced by a void of unbroken, pristine white.
With a gentle sweep of their thumb, the God watched as pitch black letters materialized at the delicate gesture. These words formed a single, ominous proclamation They noticed as those belonging to one of the laughable, separating langages mortals have created.
PLANETLORD
-I want power.
The God’s expression remained impassive for a while, for almost excruciating seconds that ticked away, Their hazy eyes gleaming with an unfathomable depth as They contemplated the words that were suspended in front of Them. And suddenly, They laughed.
They laughed, mocked the greed in this arrogant desire. If only mortals understood power like They did, like every God did. When they want strength, the temptation of destroying everything and getting their futile revenge surpassed all of their previously settled morales.
If only they understood what came with too much power, what came with deific greatness.
Power has always fascinated humanity’s vanity, the God knew.
But, Their finger still gently pressed onto those cryptic letters.
Immediately, an image flashed before Them. The human, named PlanetLord in this haughty fashion, was sat down all alone in front of the vast sky of stars - to which They hummed at, a rumbling, approving sound among this eerie silence that would’ve suffocated most living beings.
Eyes struck by tears, the human screamed his pummeling want with the desperation of a prey about to have their throat ruthlessly slaughtered by the roaming predator. Something about the lack of selfishness behind this typically pompous need pulled the God closer.
Screwing Their eyes shut, They skimmed through a long series of memories, each one putting the human in even more helplessness and misery than before. In one of them, the human willingly risked his life to assist one of their friends. For someone else.
With a heart laced in purity, PlanetLord wished to protect those he held close to his heart, wished to prove the cruel world his worth. He wanted power out of inflexible altruism.
The God was something close to impressed.
Now in the possession the previous knowledge of how the world had beaten him up so many times, the God was sincerely impressed. After careful examination, the human didn’t even once consider shifting to the easier side : the side of morally wrong individuals, villains even.
Even after bearing through all the pain imaginable, the human remained loyal to good, honest goals.
Annoyance then surged through the God, comparable to a shocking bolt of electricity. It was physically visible only by the slightly darkening color of the magenta particules always hovering near Their Elysian body - a detail as subtle as it is menacing, worrying.
They stretched their white, lean wings to their full width and in that singular movement They never did, Planet’s fate had already been sealed and inscribed in the stone of time.
A virtuous human ?
That didn’t exist.
And They will prove themselves right.