[ IP ] Stranded

In the dying light of the planet's sun, the pilot could already feel the ever-encroaching cold becoming worse. On his hands, face and feet, the numbness spread. He raised slowly to his feet. Turning to the still warm engine as a source of heat, he knew that time was running out. 
 
 The radio was rendered into a heap of scrap metal after the crash. An off-world rescue was a false hope he could ill afford. The only way he was getting off this frozen rock was by finding the Agreña. A joke. No one had seen the Agreña in decades. 
 
 The light fled from the approach of darkness on the mighty walls of the distant peaks. The success of his mission had become a matter of life or death. The engine, quickly becoming a cool block of metal, was a luxury he would need to abandon soon. The mountains surrounding him could provide shelter, but the risk of local wildlife occupying them was too high, especially if the rumors about this planet were true. 
 
 The only choice was to create his own shelter from the wreckage. He needed to start moving soon, but traversing the tundra in this twilight would mean a cold death. Either way, tofay could be his day to die. His thoughts had been often on death since... 
 
 A flash of light bolted him upright. Remembering his training, he pulled his sidearm from cover. His breath came heavy, and quickened when he saw the shape that approached. He shut his eyes and quickly offered a final prayer to the One. As his eyes opened, he saw that the figure was humanoid. There was a light shining out from its chest, a circle with a horizontal line going through. 
 
 The sign of the Agreña. Surprise, confusion and hope coursed through his mind in a wild current before he heard the figure speak. 
 
 `` Do not fear. I am of the Agreña. Your coming was foretold by the One.'' 
 
 Regardless of what the figure said, the fear remained. The Agreña were not as cut off as they used to be. The corruption that had claimed his own people could have spread by now. 
 
 `` How can I trust you? ``, he shouted from the wreckage. There was a silence for a few moments that felt like an eternity. The wind whipped through the clearing like a blade. 
 
 `` The One speaks of you by name. Your name is Kane. And today is not your day to die.'' 
 
 Kane stepped out from the crumpled fuselage to approach the Agreña. As he got closer, he saw again the flash of light from earlier. But this time, it grew in intensity until he could see nothing but himself. 
 
 Both Kane and Agreña disappeared. There was no indication that they were ever there, save for the lonely wreckage. And as the darkness reached it at last, even that was gone.
