Behind the permanent fixture of ashen clouds in the sky, the red sun was beginning to set. Merely a glow behind the perpetual smog of the planet’s upper atmosphere that rested like oil on water, it twinkled and glistened as patches of coverage blustered along before it. Dotted along the horizon were vast, tall columns from where this filament converged, climbing right up into the clouds above and disappearing inside. Far down below on the surface, covered with tendrils of mycelium-like vegetation that heaved and pulsated for the nutrients carried through the air, herds of beasts busied themselves for sustenance among rocks scattered from volcanic activity.
Each of them carried six gangly yet heavily muscular legs that helped them traverse the rocky, mountainous terrain that lead up into a cavernous body coated in rough rust-red skin. At one end they had a thick neck with pointed compound eyes that glistened with a platinum-blue luminescence perfectly suited to the dim light conditions beneath the cloud layer. At the other, a powerful tail kept their balance as they nimbly scurried to and fro.
A huge creature flew overhead, momentarily blocking out the second sun - more yellow, more massive than its counterpart, and still sitting high in the sky. The queer makeup of this system gave rise to a frantic dance of the planets between the two stars, causing seasons to be extreme and erratic. The life that had arisen here had evolved to be particularly hardy; able to withstand whatever came their way. The beasts didn’t even bother to look up as the shadow washed across the herd, still crushing rocks with their massive, powerful jaws to loosen the mycelium and fluffy fruiting bodies that grew across them. Short, thick mandibles scrubbed the vegetation from the rock and a long tongue directed what remained into their mouths.
While unusual, these were social creatures. They would fight for dominance with their longer front legs while perched upright on their back and middle ones, looking for an opportunity to get close enough to use their jaws to best their opponent. Within their group there was one great leader, the biggest of them all, with other dominant figures supporting their own smaller portion of the hoard.
White sparks appeared on a hill near the horde which then began to crackle and whizz with an ever increasing pitch until it became inaudible, followed by flashes of plasma - suddenly, a reverberation shot out across the rocky terrain and with one great flash boulders lazily cascaded downwards, loosened by the sudden shift. When the flash had subsided, a man clad in a skin-tight black suit stood where it had all happened. Bipedal yet digitigrade he stood on tall, slender legs with a delicate balance. His middle tapered into a muscular core ending with long arms that were tipped with protracted digits, tapered knobs at the end of each of his six fingers. Clutched between them was a staff of metallic crystals that refracted the light into a prism, the crystalline lattice forming long strands and square shapes as it built itself naturally over time. At the top of it, its thickest portion, sat an imperfect cube of the material with other crystals growing from within that protruded from its surface.
He gazed across the planet from behind the visor of his helmet, left and right, up and back down across the herd. Black eyes shifted from behind the glass, fixing and focusing on the beasts before him. He took a step forward slowly, his long toes gripping around the rocks through the suit. With a slow, deliberate movement, he raised his arm.
The colors refracted within the staff began to ripple and shift, pulsing like a beating heart as they shot up the rod seemingly into the tip. The clusters of crystals at the end began to hum in harmony as though they were singing a hymn until suddenly there was a burst that rippled through the atmosphere, shuddering the air. A wave rippled through the air between him and the herd, melting the reality of the space around it as everything bulged and compressed as it moved. Finally, it washed its way across the unsuspecting beasts. For a moment there was nothing, only the howling of the winds and the distant bubbling of liquid from deep below the cracks in the land. Then without warning, the beasts began to howl in pain one by one until every one of them felt the same impulse from within. Some began to run as though chased by some invisible threat as their body changed, some lay down, while others began to fight among themselves.
Their hearts began to race and veins throbbed against their skin as though threatening to burst, feeding the muscle beneath and causing it to grow. For some the stretch was enough that their dermis burst open into flayed flesh. This abrupt change, the fear, the confusion, drove them mad. At their mandibles a frothy, bubbly foam began to appear and their terror drove them to aggression. More and more began to fight against each other, but the man was not here to drive them to death. He had plans for them, after all.
With another wave of his staff another set of sparks began to jump, white, red, black, ending with another flash. This time, the flash sustained itself into a large tunnel with only one side. He stabbed the staff against the ground, and without word the beasts all stopped and looked. For a moment they just stood there, but soon the first began to move into the tunnel of light, followed by more and more until there was nothing but an empty plain left before him. He, too, made his way through before closing the portal.
The confused creatures found themselves in a lush valley, rocky like their own lands, but covered in soft moss. Tall ferns swayed in the gentle breeze and the soft hushing of water cascading along a brook filled the air. Frenzied chittering and cheeping came from above them as birds flew away in a panic at the sudden danger. In the distance through the clearing in the trees created by the water’s flow, built into the rocks of the valley, lay a city whose occupants were still unaware of the danger that was to befall them.
Sunlight dapped across the man’s visor as the leaves of trees gently blustered above, and with a slow turn of his lipless mouth he grinned with the imminent fruition of his malice. Once more he raised the staff, and the herd began to move forward.