The eternal heat, paired with undying light from the twin suns that orbited above; the wasteland of Vexra's surface was unforgiving. Each step across the wastes could be your last. 

Thus was the life of Jarvis, a scrapper among many, a scavenger who lived each day with a cautious, solitary pace. He wandered across the dunes, the sand crunching beneath his cloth-wrapped boots. His tan cloak billowed in the  harsh winds, his spiked motorcycle helm shielding him from the dashing grains that filled the air. The sandstorm wasn't dense enough to impede vision, but each particle could hit like a stray bullet if you weren't clothed for the environment. 

Today was a day like all others, but what even was a "day", out in this dry expanse? The eternal sunlight made it impossible to track the passage of time if you didn't have access to a clock every moment, and even then it was little more than a way to see how long you'd been trudging along the sandy surface to no avail. Not unless you had a path in mind, a clear objective to keep you in check, to prevent you from drowning in the wastes, lost and forgotten like thousands before. 

Jarvis most definitely had an objective: to scavenge, as was his path. To take anything he could find, trade it to fulfill the bare minimums, and repeat. It wasn't luxurious, but you could never truly call it boring, especially with the threats that wandered the same sands that Jarvis did. 

As if arriving on cue, Jarvis spotted five figures in the distance. Without a moment wasted, he dove behind a small hill, his cloak covering his body and blending him into the tan waves of the landscape. Peering through his binoculars, he got a closer look at what waited for him ahead.

Five robots, standing tall as they explored the wastes, each one holding a large laser rifle. The Vox, they were called; the original inhabitants of this world before humanity got placed here by accident nearly two decades prior. Their tall, dark metal bodies glistened in the rays of hot sunlight, their single red eyes darting about as they scanned the dunes around. 

Though the Vox were plentiful in number, it by no means meant that they weren't formidable foes; more than two Vox at a time was a death sentence for even a seasoned scavenger. But Jarvis had the element of surprise on his side, giving him a fighting chance. Even so, Jarvis was far more than a seasoned scavenger. The Vox may have controlled this planet, but Jarvis was molded by it, and had survived it his entire life...

...And he was sure to make it known. 

Pulling his trusty rifle from its holster, he lay against the sand hill, staring through the scope with a steady eye and trained breaths. His reticle landed on the eye of the closest Vox, standing right beside two others. His finger brushed against the trigger, his mind focused only on this moment, this shot. 

With a swift pull, the bullet darted through the blistering air, striking the target Vox directly in its eye. Triggering an explosion within its head, the metal dome erupted. The blast sent out massive shards at the other two robots, splitting them open and destroying all three in one shot. 

While just a single shot instantly brought down his foes from five to two, the surviving duo was on high alert, now acutely aware that they weren't alone here. The two robots sprinted to cover, hiding behind a chunk of sandstone emerging from the dunes. However, Jarvis had no intention of giving them a chance to counterattack. 

With a flash of sand, he burst from his hiding spot, leaping from the hill and crashing feet first below. He threw three metal spheres from his waistband, each one exploding in a blinding flash right beside the sandstone boulder and obstructing the Voxs' vision. Jarvis was quick to take advantage, pulling his machete from its sheath and slicing the neck of the nearest of the two. Just as its body crashed into the rock and fell lifeless, the last survivor lept at Jarvis, wrapping its cold hands around his neck and shoving him into the sand. He yelled out, dropping his machete upon impact. He desperately reached for the blade, his fingers brushing against it as the Vox's grip grew tighter. 

Thinking as quickly as he could under asphyxiation, he took the pistol from the Vox's waist and shot its shoulder, and with an explosion of orange oil and sparks, its arm went flying, causing the robot to stumble back. As the pistol flew from Jarvis' grip, the Vox soldier was quick to react, grabbing for the pistol. While Jarvis rushed to tackle them, it managed to fire a single shot, striking Jarvis in the thigh, blasting through the side. In a cry of pain and anger, he scooped up his machete and plunged it through the machine's eye, and with shrill metallic screams and desperate clawing slowly coming to a halt, the final Vox fell silent. 

Exhausted, injured, and covered in glowing oil, Jarvis dragged the two Vox bodies through the sand. He stopped in an open plain, and with a press of a button on his waistband, a previously-invisible hover car emerged in front of him, with an open top and a large trunk. He tossed the metal bodies in the trunk before climbing into the front seat, approaching the three dead Vox from the first shot. After retrieving all three, he covered the trunk in a thin white tarp before speeding off into the distance. 

He had done his work for the day, and deserved some much needed rest. Yet, there was still more to do. What awaited him was the only bastion of civilization on Vexra, and it came into view over the horizon. With dozens of tilted, decrepit skyscrapers dotted with smashed windows and stray metal beams, it wasn't a pretty place.

The Grave of the Empire, aptly named after the nation this city once belonged to back on earth, was the only hope for anyone who wanted to live to adulthood in the wastes. Though a hollow shell of what it used to be, Grave of the Empire had scraps of what could be called civilization, a rare commodity on Vexra.

For Jarvis, who was born shortly after the city had been teleported to Vexra so many years ago... this was home, and the only one he had ever known.