Chapter 1 Strangers in a Strange Land

Toros suddenly woke up, fluttering his eyes. Instead of being dead or in a medbay, he was lying on warm grass, shined on by a sun, and surrounded by a forest. To add to that, he was wearing everything he had before dying, and even had in possession a standard AR 108, something he lost in the battle.

Plus his body felt less light than in Europa, obviously due to higher gravity.

The only place that had forests would be earth, and they were rare. So Toros immediately thought of dreams, maybe he was still alive!

Toros lifted himself up easily, motivated by the thought of him being in a dream. He looked around him, realizing something was off.

Toros was originally from Earth, he had lived there for 14 years, until his parents and him moved to Mars for jobs. He used to live near the Pyrenees, one of the last bastions of nature on earth, and he loved it there. Before wanting to be an engineer, he wanted to be a biologist.

He’d always try to get out and wander, documenting whatever living thing he could find. He would also ask for a new book on biology, zoology or botany—for any holiday.

So he’d be proud to say he had a good level of knowledge about anything living.

And the trees around him looked like normal trees, but he couldn’t find the species of tree they were. He tried checking his database of data in his suit, but remembered he was supposedly dreaming. However, his eyes widened when he could actually check it.

His heart skipped a beat.

Snapping out of his trance, Toros checked the database for any similar species to the trees—finding none! Toros could only stare dumbfounded at his HUD, before his mind exploded with tons of wacky ideas.

An alien world.

A different reality.

Isekai bullshit.

And many more! This only scared Toros, each of these possibilities weren’t good, as they would all mean one thing.

He was stranded, and no one could rescue him.

Toros sat down and whined. He wasn’t the average introverted anime protagonist, who forgot about his old home. He was a normal guy, who loved his family, his friends, and his home.

He fell to the ground, and cried for almost a whole minute, before manning up.

“I won't rot here! I’m gonna escape!”, Toros boldly stated. He stood back up, taking his rifle with him. He looked around his surroundings again, seeing the alien yet familiar plant foliage of the forest.

Toros readied his rifle, so to be prepared for the unknown. Toros began to wander through the impossible forest, noting each kind of new plant he saw. The further he went, the stranger things he found.

For example, he saw a red lavender-shape plant, which smelled the opposite of the usual pleasantness of lavender. It almost seemed like some had lazily copy-pasted some normal earth plants and subtly change some things.

However, the strangest thing was that there were no animals near him, not even insects. Toros could not find any probable reasons why he was avoided.

“Hombre, I wished I had a radio…”, he muttered, ignorantly. He then stopped, and face-palmed himself.

“Dios mi yo, I’m an utter buffoon!”, he lashed out on himself, before calming himself. He then took out his radio.

“Hel-“, his message was cut short by a loud strange roar that was very near him. He raised his rifle at the noise, before hearing some equally loud gunshots. Toros immediately ran to the area of the noise, seeing a huge lion-like creature attacking a MCM soldier.

“What the fuck is that!?”, he muttered in surprise.

With no care of the unknown, Toros quickly rushed the creature, using the stock of his rifle to hit it hard. The creature staggered a bit, before pouncing on the poor man. However, only the lifeless corpse of it lay on top of the engineer, as a shot passed through its head.

The Unknown soldier approached him, with their reflective visor shining

“Need help?”, Johnson’s voice asked him, while trying to hold his laughter. Toros' flustered face was luckily hidden by his own helmet.

“Yeah, Gilipollas.”, Toros casually swore in Spanish.

“Alright, also what did you say to me?”, the ignorant Rambo could only ask, before hearing faint chuckling.

“Maybe I’ll teach you later, but now get this thing off of me.” Rambo complied, and using his powerful exoskeleton, removed the feline from his companion with relative ease.

“You better, I won’t let that get unpaid.”, Johnson jokingly said in an old man voice.

“Ok, ok!” Between the two men a pregnant silence began, with them only staring at each other.

“Y’know, I didn’t really need help.”, Johnson, somewhat, pouted.

“Yeah right, show-off.” Toros rolled his eyes before removing dust from his suit.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Anyway, do you have an idea what that thing is?”, Johnson asked while pointing at the creature.

“Nah man, that looks like a Pokémon though.” Johnson chuckled at that. Before looking at the creature.

“I wonder how it tastes.”, he randomly states, earning a raised brow from Toros.

“That’s… a good question.” Toros couldn’t help but agree with him, it had been a while since he had eaten a real meal. However, he lacked the skill of skinning, sadly.

“Thank god I’ve got my knife!”, Johnson exclaimed.

“Hmm, so you’ve also got your usual set up, I presume?”, inquired Toros.

“Yeah, you too?“ Toros nodded, before unsheathing an company-issued combat knife from his calf, then showing it to his companion.

“I bet this is some bullshit magic!” Toros raised his fist to the sky, angry at whatever. douchebag god sent them here

“Before we discuss it , we should get a fire going and cook that.”

“Alright, but it’ll take some time trying to find the right materials, this world likes to mix things.”

“You have a lighter?”

“Yeah”

“Come here when you’ve got everything you need.” Toro nods at him, before going to the forest.

…

The short trek had been a productive one; Toros was able to find the equivalents of cinder, firewood, and actual normal twigs. He also liked the trek, as it gave him fond memories of him when he was a child.

And the exercise had helped get used to the higher gravity of this alien planet.

Toros also noted some strange herbs, and no, not weed. One of them was quite the refresher, as when crushed or chewed, it releases some energy that gives a boost to the user.

Another interesting plant, was one that acted as a mash of a grenade and a Molotov cocktail, as when lighted it will release really sharp pines at incredible speeds.

Thankfully, Toros was not damaged due to his almost invulnerable armor.

Toros arrived at their ‘campsite’, with an exhausted Johnson cutting big chunks of meat, and placing them on top of the skinned fur.

“Hey! I’ve got our ticket to a warm night!” Johnson almost jumped after hearing Toros, as he was very absorbed in his work.

“God, you scared me!”, Johnson complained, before moving his eyes to the pile of wood Toros had.

“Make that fire now, I’m starving!”

“Jeez, ok!” Toros smiled before dumping the wood. Toros looked around trying to find the perfect spot for the fire. After arguing with himself, he decided to start the fire in the middle of the grove.

Using nearby rocks, he created a ritual-sequence circle, later puting three logs together with the cinder, firewood, and twigs inside of them. After checking everything was alright, he lighted the innards of the future fire, and began blowing it.

After a minute of consistent blowing, the fire grew to the logs. Toros stood up prideful, before turning to Johnson who was lazing around.

“Dude, how are you going to cook the meat?”, Toros asked the obvious.

“Uh… like Marshmallows!”

“Seriously… ok fine.” Johnson stood up, and took up one of the long sticks scattered around. And began removing the skin of them. Toros did the same, using his own sticks.

“So…what’s your full name?”, Johnson asked

“Uh, Jackson Torres, though call me Jack”

“No Toros in it?”

“It’s a nickname…”

“Oh.”, Johnson said embarrassed, and led the conversation into another pregnant silence. The men continued their work.

“Your turn.”, said Jackson vaguely.

“What?”

“Tell me your name.”, Jack flatly explained

“Oh, well I’m—Derek Johnson.”

“Like that one lego dude from the old lego ninja show?” Jack showed a hidden quizzical face.

“Pardon?”, Derek merely stared at him.

“Forget it.” Derek sighed before finishing his last pair of ‘marshmallow sticks’.

“Finally finished!”, Derek shouted happily like a child, making Jack chuckle.

“I’ve got it!” Jack literally springed out of his seat, spreading his arms out. Now Derek was worrying that his new friend was nuts

“Why’d you jump like a monkey?”, he asked his eccentric friend.

“I remembered a way to cook our meat!”, as always, Jack only vaguely answered, which once again made both soldiers stare at each other blankly.

“Don’t just stand there, spit it out!”, Derek being fed up, angrily ordered.

“Y’know those stands, where old movies showed men turning a stick with a chunk of meat under a fire?” Jack motioned his hand turning a crank, Derek being a gun nut only continued to stare at him.

“Aren’t movies inaccurate?”, he genuinely and stupidly asked. Jack face-palmed himself realizing he was stranded with an idiot.

“Did you fail science or not read any books?”, Jack’s inner nerd almost screamed at Derek.

“Yeah…”

“Fuck me, that’s probably why you’re a good soldier.”, Jack stated. Before taking two other sticks, which had two branches protruding out at one of the ends.

“Yeah, I’m a gun nut, just like my ancestors!” Derek eyed his smarter counterpart, as he handled the strange sticks. Jack approached the fire, before planting both sticks at the outskirts of the fire, with them being parallel to each other.

Jack motioned Derek to give a stick to him, but Derek looked at his hand, dumbfounded.

“Just pass me one of your sticks, and while you’re at it, pass me a chunk of meat.”, Jack said, irritated. Derek just lowered his head, before handing out his sticks and the cut meat.

“Thank you.”, Jack said, before only taking a stick with a single chunk of meat. Using the stick, he impaled the meat like a kebab. He did this process, until there was no meat.

“We having Turkish?, Derek meekly tried to start a conservation, but his confident aura was gone, diminished by Jack’s words. Jack stopped before sighing, and turning to Derek.

“Look, I’m a bit short-tempered, and especially with…challenged superiors.”, he weakly apologized, making Derek give him a non-believing look.

“That’s a horrible apology, and I’m no kid, egghead.” Derek’s confidence came back.

“Egg-what!”

“Nerd then!”, Derek grinned, while Jack twitched. Jack calmed himself, before returning to work. Taking one of the ‘kebab-sticks’, he put it on the two other sticks that were near the fire.

“Alright, Derek we’re gonna wait a good while, so I’d sit down and relax.”, Jack suggested, which was taken. Derek sat a good 2 feet from the fire, sitting parallel where Jack stood. Jack then began to slowly turn the stick, which allowed the fire to touch all of the surface of the meat.

“So, Derek, where are you from?”, Jack casually asked, while focusing on not burning the meat.

“Section 4, or-“

“The Anglo Neighborhood.”, Jack finished his sentence

“Yeah, you?”

“Section 6.”

“I’d figure.” Derek fidgeted with his fingers, as he racked his brain for questions or facts, this evolved into a pregnant silence.

“I’m from an American family.”, Derek broke the silence, by stating the obvious.

“Anyone could find that out.”, Jack blurted out.

“As much as it hurts me to admit, it’s quite true.”, he could only admit.

“So, what do you think about… our situation?”, Jack asked.

“Confused as hell, but I think it’s quite, as-“, Jack stopped listening, he knew the man in front of him was going to rant a lot about anime. Now Jack’s mind only focused on cooking

“Jack, Jack!”, Derek almost screamed at him.

“Wha-what! Oh, sorry, I was lost in thought.”, Jack explained before staring at the forest around him.

“Whatever, but when’s lunch gonna be served?”

“Hmm, this one’s almost done, so I could give it t-“, Jack was interrupted by a female scream. Both men turn to the source, where a short and plump woman ran towards them, saying gibberish to them.

Derek ran towards her, seeing if she had any injuries. Once closer to her, she could see her hazel hair, and her strange golden eyes. He also saw that she was sweating a lot.

“Are you alright?”, Derek asked the scared woman. She only tilted her head, before asking him something in gibberish. Derek only raised his brow, making the lady shake her head, before pointing to a oath in the forest, she frantically said something in gibberish at the same time.

“What is it, Derek?”, Jack shouted at him. Derek didn’t respond, as his eyes widened after seeing a group of men with weaponry from the medieval times. Derek snapped out of his trance.

“We’ve got company!”, Derek shouted back with a hint of worry