The Defector

A King's Request.

I released the king's hand.

Tying the scroll onto my belt, I faced him again.

"So. You summoned me here to regain control of various territories from demons.

Have you got a map that shows the cities, towns and noble dominions that are immediately affected?" I asked.

He led me to a room that had a huge map on an ornate table.

I saw the names of many places.

Some had Vul followed by a dash. For instance Vul-Den. A city that surrounds a massive bay on the East coast plains.

Ironically, the king pointed to it first and said.

"If we don't take this area from the demons, then we have no access to the port city of Den."

I noticed, with great interest, his careful avoidance of calling it Vul-Den.

"Vul-Den looks like a large city. It must be heavily populated."

"Just Den. We don't call it by the demons' name structure."

"Am I to assume that you acquired this map from them?" I asked.

"Of course." He scoffed proudly.

"What other regions of the world are inhabited by humans?" I asked.

"Just this kingdom. Why?"

"Have there ever been human settlements beyond this kingdom?"

"No. I don't see the purpose of these questions."

"After I arrived, I started to notice that I acquired a number of abilities.

Humans are not natives of this planet. You're from one that is further from the sun and is colder, more hostile and far less fertile.

Your ancestors sent five vessels to this planet in the hopes of gaining a solid foothold here.

Since there has been no progress, those who were sent were written off.

Please bear my absence."

I teleported and appeared on the other planet.

Ah, right in the middle of a blizzard.

I saw the layout of this world.

The vast majority of the populations remain in the frozen regions due to phenomenally heavy predator activity in the equatorial region that encircles the globe.

The widest part of the tropical belt is a vast plain that goes nine hundred and eleven miles North of the exact equator and eight hundred and ninety four miles South.

This vast expanse is home to two main predatory species.

One seems to be a sort of feline, while the other is... um... a giant toad...

To humans, they're known as elephant toads. Whereas the cats are called Dashers.

They do greatly resemble cheetahs, though these also sport six upper canines, four lowers and all seem blessed with seven claws on each front paw.

Watching one stand on the crest of a dorsum puzzled me until it visually locked onto a prey animal and nearly vanished as it shot off to attack.

It was so freakishly fast that I had a difficult time keeping track of it.

When it impacted the smaller animal, it used its speed, collision force and bite force to completely decapitate it's prey.

All in all, if one can see it's approach, they can simply sidestep to avoid it.