Traitor From Outer Space

Bork

Planet Syror reigned with tall infrastructures: giant radar dishes set in rooftops constantly moving as if scanning the horizon; buildings with unusual architectural design cleared out most of the plains; landscapes and biomes stretched out in the most random areas, almost unsure where they are supposed to be; plants sprouted in different directions. It was nighttime, and neon lights somehow did not pollute the clear sky.

Syror streets were populated by the same creatures as Cyrus, but different in size. Some were small, some were large. Billboards scattered here and there with moving pictures advertising a new restaurant that showed various luxury meals. Holograms showed up in bulletin boards displaying a map of an area updating in real-time.

Cyrus's stronghold consisted of strong and sturdy walls surrounding it. The scale of the area would fit three or more baseball and football fields because aliens, damn it.

The spaceship hovered around a landing area flickering with strobe lights to assist the smooth landing.

The bloodline of the Pallas family ruled Syror since long ago, prioritizing peace and resources for neighbor planets. With age, all that was left was Cyrus, the eldest among them. Nero, the middle and Eli, the youngest. The Pallas' long held the secret of their infinite resources: the relic of Ceres.

Ancient stories told that most of the powerful stones are found deep in planets that are devastated with impacts of millions of meteors. The stones held power of a certain kind. Other planets also found their own, mainly planet Xasica who held the relic of Pax, which was soon stolen by Syror.

The relic of Zorak however, was stolen by Eli after realizing what his brother was up to: claim all the three relics at the same time, breaking the rules and thus hold immense power. He fled the planet with a small spaceship capable of travelling light years ahead until he found a habitable planet: Earth itself.

He had his moments as a human. He took long walks on many parks and witnessed beautiful grass patterns, floral displays, water fountains and posing statues. Rode horses. Paid bills. Met a wonderful girl, and swam with dolphins. Well not as a human anymore as he can shapeshift.

Eli can shapeshift into objects. Could be a vase or a toilet plunger. Animals and other living things too, only if he had enough knowledge about them. Eli knew about rock golems as he read about them on fictional books and watched them on television. He knew about the fastest birds on Earth. He knew about bears, lions, giraffes. Was he still planning to fight back? By transforming into giant invincible creatures?

Aye, dude. Growled the dog in front of Eli.

"What?" Eli barked back.

You gotta tell me, how did you turn into a dog? Asked the dog, wagging his tail.

"Oh, biscuits. You saw that--"

Ooo! Ooh! Biscuits? Where? The dog jumped in circles, scanning for biscuits.

"No it's like a... something."

Oof, thought I was gonna have some snack.

"Alright now, small dude. Do you know of anything like umm a big dog or something?"

What do you mean small dude? We're the same size! The same looks too! Said the dog, surrounding Eli while sniffing him often.

"Just answer the question"

What was the question?

"Big. Dogs. Do you know any of them?"

The dog found himself distracted by group of butterflies landing on top of blooming flowers set across the park.

"Hello?"

Oh! Um sorry, what was it?

"Oh this isn't working" growled Eli before he shapeshifted back into human form.

The dog jumped in joy patting her paws on Eli's pants while barking as if he's demanding something.

Eli turned around to walk out of the park.

Bark! Bark! Bark!

"Quit it!" he walked faster, the dog still behind him.

Eli could talk with other animals assuming he's in the same form, too. With Eli back to being human form, all he could hear from the dog was barks and woofs instead of clear messages.

He walked at the side of a beach, leaving sets of footprints. One for a human, one from a dog. The sea was like a rippling blanket of brochure-blue. Waves rippled on his feet in a gentle motion. The opera of the sea soothed Eli, the wave-music seemed welcoming. Behind him, was the dog, far away from the shore and waters. Behind the dog, a sight of catastrophe. Orange and red dominated over the skyline as the city, still, is burning.

"Scared?" said Eli.

Bark!

He rolled his eyes. Afterwards, he crouched and immediately, he was a German Shepherd.

"Look, I don't know why you keep following--"

Dude! Privacy! I'm taking care of business here!

"What? Oh, gross!" he covered his nose with his paws and stumbled back into the shore. It's no use. It came to his mind that dogs have strong noses that could track an object by its scent.

"Can't you do that somewhere? Jeez, man"

Hey, I'm not a man!

"Oh, right. You're a dog."

A good dog.

"Look, I'll be leaving this planet soon so you best forget about me right now, alright?"

Leave? Planet? Oh! Oh! You mean those twinkles up the sky?

"Umm yeah? And nope you're not coming--"

Let's go! Woof! Oh boy!

"No!" Eli growled, and ran towards the burning city. The dog followed.