[The Second of Eight Granian Starship Citadels.]
A small transport ship carrying two Blood Mutants landed at the edge of the Citadel where it received a "hero’s welcome" of sorts.
Hundreds of Granians rushed to the ship and welcomed the Blood Knights and Granian that came with them, a strange phenomenon that neither had experienced.
Jim and Anya, the two Blood Knights, were welcomed to a strange sight of Granians who didn’t look like the Green Claws. The diverse scaled Granians were also marveled at the sight of two, pink-fleshed beings whose bodies looked soft to the touch. Their lack of scales, tails, extra eyelids, and horns was an absurd and out-of-place sight for them to behold, hence their strange attitudes towards the Humans.
"Let’s hurry and get this over with so that we get on with this War quickly." Anya muttered loud enough for one of the escorting Green Claws to hear. Quickly, the alien faced her and Jim and replied saying;
"This War isn’t going to end as soon as you expect." His words confused the female Blood Knight for a while as Jim tried analyzing more about what was said.
"Explain." He asked. "How long do you think it’ll take?"
"We’ve traveled from the Middle Ring to the Inner Ring in a matter of weeks. You must know that we managed to move that quickly because there were no extra wars for us to fight and mind you, we were moving in what you Humans would call lightspeed, much faster than any of your technology could achieve." Googlᴇ search 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩~𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖~𝙣𝙚𝙩
Jim gave a weird look to the Granian, surprised that it knew how Human technology was inferior to those of the Granians.
"You were among those on Earth, were you?"
"I was," it answered, "back to my explanation. We’re going to be moving from one sector to the other. Some sectors will be easy to invade, others will take quite some time. We could even spend Human months or years on a sector, depending on how large the enemy’s numbers will be."
"Give us an average." The conversation continued as Jim, Anya, and the escort Green Claw advanced further away from the Citadel facilities and into the wilderness. The Granian followed them while carrying a large bag on its back wearing a suit and mask to provide it with air to breathe. The Humans, on the other hand, underwent a quick evolutionary procedure conducted by their symbiotes which allowed them to breathe the Citadel’s thin air.
"I average about ten years if we’re using Earth’s orbit around the sun." it answered. Like Chris, this one liked to give lengthy expositions on topics it was well versed on and Anya was going to make sure to make it keep talking until it grew tired of it.
"Tell us more about this Citadel."
"We, the Granians, have conquered about thirty-two citadels. At the moment, our troops have landed on eight for now. We are on the second. Take note of the surroundings in the area. See how dimly lit the surface of the Citadel is? That’s because we’re not around any suns but are rather held in place by the orbit around the Black Hole Akrina.
"Because we have no sun, this planet is dangerously cold with a weak and thin atmosphere. It’s bad for farming but excellent for rearing flesh devouring beasts and mining the pockets of mineral deposits scattered all over. These Citadels are so rich in minerals that you can kick the soil and find some."
After walking for a considerable amount of time, the Granian and Blood Knights finally came upon two sets of footprints.
The prints were mixed between clawed creatures and creatures with flat, round toe-free feet. Judging by the looks of the prints, there must have been some struggle of sorts, or maybe even an...
"Ambush," the Granian mumbled, "looks like the raiders made it this far but were ambushed by Crawlers."
"One of the many beasts that naturally reside here." It answered. "We must hurry quickly, before the beasts kill them and rob us of the opportunity of investigating them."
The Granian, placing the big bag on the ground, took out a hand-held weapon shaped like a sharp staff and a smaller bag placed on its back.
"If you can’t keep up, I’ll go slower so you can..."
The Blood Knights already picked up a trail led by a scent of blood and followed it into a cluster of craters, canyons, and caverns spread across like a maze.
As soon as they arrived, their noses picked up on the scents of fresh blood that smelled like backed cakes with cinnamon, a scent that neither Blood Knights had smelled in a long while. This scent caused their stomachs to churn and growl with a blood lust growing in them.
"Wait for me. Don’t go in yet!!" the Granian shouted, eventually catching up to them only for it to be left behind in the mouth of a wide and dark cavern.
The Granian sighed, turned on the night vision function on its suit’s helmet, and whispered, "No wonder Chris and Lily dread being with these Mutants. They’re too stubborn to listen."
While it complained, the Blood Knights followed the trails of blood like bloodhounds sent after a crook. The two moved so quickly that clouds of dust rose to the ceilings of the cavern, masking and blocking the Granian’s vision.
"Don’t kill them. Please, control yourself." It pleaded but by the time it got there, Anya and Jim had already transformed into their Blood Knight forms, and in front of them were the surviving raiders and "crawlers" surrounding them.
"Are these the creatures you were looking for?" Anya snarled, her nose picking up delectable scents of blood from one of the already severed raider bodies. "They look quite small and yet..."
"Their blood smells delightful."
The raiders were no larger than junior-high children with thick hides of skin covered with what looked like stones acting as scales. their faces were deep within their skulls, their hands and legs as stubby as a short tree. Their eyes, tiny, black, and biddy, showed the fear in them as they witnessed the two horrifying beasts standing in between them and the crawlers.
"These things?" the Granian shouted angrily and ordered, "KILL THEM!! NONE OF THEM SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO LIVE!!"