Chapter Text
Every time they saw light, their fists clenched around the spear and shield, shoulders rose, ready to thrust the weapon forward, towards whatever enemy or nightmare they would be face to face. Again. All change around them meant a fight, as it could only mean they were being set free out of the crystal.
But they would always go back to it. No matter what they fought, they always lost, they were sealed over and over.
Or maybe, they never were unsealed. Perhaps all visions, blurs of colors and magic, were nightmares, or a most desperate attempt of their mind to give itself something to do, but being so strained it kept coming up with the same scenarios over and over. Without movement in years, without light in centuries, without hearing anything but clockwork around them, perhaps their mind was teething closer to hallucinations than what they would like to admit. Perhaps the hits and wounds weren't real, just dull pain from not moving their muscles in so long.
Hell if they knew. It didn't matter that much anyway, it would always be the same thing.
With that same feeling of defeat, Galacta Knight looked at the bright orange and red of...wherever they were. Flames and lava illuminated the landscape, the warm light stretching as far as it could in the middle of the night. Seeing the stars shining above, the puffball took a deep breath of cool air and volcanic ash. It wasn't exactly idyllic, but anything was far more preferable than a crystal prison.
Strangely, it wasn't familiar. It wasn't like other summonings.
Because they saw…no foe.
Blinking, they slowly lowered the spear and their shoulders. Every time they were released, they saw a puffball. Armored or a child, but either way, they had to fight someone who's skill matched their's.
They turned around with a jolt, wings picking up dust from the ground and gripping their weapon again, thinking for a second that perhaps, only perhaps, the foe would be behind them. But no. All they could see were pink shards on the ground, and the outline of a grand volcano in the distance, spewing grey smoke into the black sky.
The silence was deafening, the emptiness of their surroundings made their stomach turn with disbelief, the stars seemed to invite them to take to the skies. Nothing and no one to fight. Nothing that could seal them again. No orders to go, or to stay, no people cowering in fear or charging to attack.
Nothing they had seen before.
And the broken crystal by their feet that would've brought them to tears if the shock weren't freezing their mind in place.
Because Galacta Knight knew they were free.
And they wouldn't let anyone seal them again.
In a lonely spot of the world of fire, Galacta Knight carved holes in the ground. From raw fury they attacked rocks around them, striking with both shield and spear. They were no fool. The realization that they might never find who sealed them burnt a black hole into their mind, seared hatred and bitterness within their heart.
After all they had done. That was how they were repaid?
They had been free for a few weeks by then. Yet, the thoughts and rage kept creeping back over and over. It gripped something inside of them and wouldn't let go. In the loneliness, the feeling of betrayal whispered them to destroy. To retaliate against everything and anything that lived in the universe.
But they wouldn't. They weren't a monster, no matter how much the people that sealed them insisted they were. They were powerful, a warrior that could destroy planets if they really tried, but Galacta still put life over their feelings.
They even took care to not strike rocks with mosses and plants growing on them. They did what they could to fly away from the planet's inhabitants when they spotted them, and they stayed clear away from the single city in the least volcanic part of the planet. It seemed irrational, but even in that ash-covered burning planet, life thrived. So Galacta would too.
Far away from any other sentient creature, as they still were unsure as to why they were free, and wouldn't take any chances of being trapped again.
They didn't need anything from anyone anyways. Their species was practically perfect for solitary lives in harsh environments, they could eat close to anything, even rocks if desperate, could fly long distances or over dangerous terrain, and Galacta /was/ the strongest warrior in the galaxy, nothing on the planet could truly pose a threat. And although it wasn't pleasant to shake ash from their wings every hour or so, they couldn't get themselves to leave. Yet.
For starters, they still did not know where they were. The planet wasn't recognizable, and thus, they didn't know what other planets were nearby, if there were any at all. Taking off to fly through space without supplies until they found a better planet to settle in was a possibility, but not a smart strategy. Not until they knew how far other planets were. Not to mention, they could very well be worse than the burning one. A cold or desertic planet, or a complete lack of living creatures, would be much, much worse. There at least, they could occasionally eat plants or unfortunate dead creatures (not everything avoided the lava and falling rocks as well as they did) instead of rocks. And they even found some water deep in caves scattered around the planet.
In caves was where they lived too. The outside could be beautiful, with that star speckled sky, but not exactly safe to rest in. The caverns offered a dark but cool shelter from dust and fire, as well as a quite intriguing place to explore. Flying through them wasn't easy, but walking and following the twists and turns was a way to spend time. It wasn't as if Galacta had much to do, just destroy rocks, eat and rest. A long time ago, they would've spent days training and honing their skills, but then?
With how easily those they had fought to protect had turned against them, any drive to train was stifled. There simply was no reason. No desire.
Just a cold resentment and blazing rage whenever they thought about it.
Noise in that planet was usually bubbling magma, crackling fire or meteors hitting the grounds. Sometimes, deep into the night, Galacta swore they heard the wind roar from the top of the volcano, and the fading echo of steps in the caves. Near the city, they were used to machinery and gears working loudly night and day, but the sounds made their skin crawl. They did not know what those engines powered, or why, but they didn't want to find out.
However, there was one sound that shook Galacta even more.
The sound of high pitched wailing, coming from the outside of a cave Galacta was exploring.
They felt an equal mix of curiosity, concern and apprehension at it. In such a dangerous planet, creatures getting hurt was not uncommon, they ran into several remains of unlucky inhabitants previously, and the fact it could be someone hurt twisted their heart over and over. On one hand, there was a possibility that, perhaps, with medical attention, if it were someone hurt, that they could recover. But on the other, it could be something gruesome and tragic to see, someone who only could be helped by being put out of their misery.
Yet, they couldn't leave it alone, it didn't feel right to turn around and find another exit. In either case they imagined, they could do something.
Their armor clicked against the rocks, a distictictly metallic sound that Galacta hoped would calm whatever was crying.
It did not, the crying got louder and louder, to the point they rushed out of the tunnel, despite the orange light blinding them for a second as they stepped outside, out of fear of being too late to help.
They almost ran past the bundle of a robe on the ground, with a small, small brown furry creature wrapped on it, screeching as loud as it could, as it tried to reach a small patch of moss on a rock wall.
The warrior's shoulders and eyes dropped, both relieved and underwhelmed. Well, at least there was no blood, or severed limbs. No bodies, no lava nearby. Not even meteors seemed to be raining in that corner of the planet.
Their eyes went wide and all relief snapped off when they realized that little thing was a child. In the middle of nowhere. On a volcanic planet burning nonstop. With no other living creature in sight.