Everglow: Friend From Far Away

4 - Not From Our Earth

It was hard to spot at first. The light of the sun made it quite difficult to determine where exactly the source of the anomaly was. But it was definitely there. And it didn't look right.

About fifty or so meters away, hidden deep within the bushes and trees, a very faint blue glow was soaking the surrounding shrubbery with light. At first Fischer thought it was just his eyes playing tricks on him. It had been a long night, and he was tired. It could easily be some sort of mind games.

He ignored the glow and focused back on his car. Turning the key once again, the car's engine sputtered to life. He checked his rear view mirror for traffic. A large orange truck was heading down the road, so he'd have to wait for it to pass. He kept watch as the truck grew closer and closer. Once it had passed, he flicked on the indicator.

But as the truck drove off, the glow caught his attention again. Something didn't feel right. He had never seen something like it before. But it was different from the last time he saw it.

It was now slowly pulsing, like a lighthouse. The glow seemed far too natural to be a man made object, but at the same time why on earth would there be a pulsing blue glow on the side of a highway in some bushes? It didn't make any sense.

Fischer pondered for a bit. He had started to become tempted. The voices in his head had switched from fretting about the ride home, to telling him to investigate.

What was it?

Where did it come from?

What was its purpose?

Who, or what, put it there?

Staring at whatever it was, he made up his mind. Opening the door and sliding out of his vehicle, he turned to face the direction of the anomaly. It had started to fade. The saturated blue had shifted into a dull cyan. It was definitely not a normal light source.

Taking small, cautious steps towards whatever was making the glow, Fischer began to feel like he was losing touch with reality. He became oblivious to the trucks and cars rushing past him on the highway, the sounds of the world began to fade and blur, creating an ambience of white noise. He became entranced, his gaze locked on the cyan bushes. He felt like his very essence was being pulled from his body, leaving only the thought of what was in front of him. The world became blurry, the voices in his head were seemingly absent.

Whatever this thing was, it was pulling him towards it, and completely removing his ability to even think of retreating.

As he came to the tree line, the glow seemed to dissipate. It got darker and darker until all that was left was a ring of fog, which also quickly vaporised.

The trance that Fischer was previously locked in had released it's grasp on him. Normal thought returned, his senses being flooded with the world once again. The sounds of vehicles screaming behind him, the wind blowing around him, his feeling of humanity had returned.

Now he was able to think clearly. Well, clearer than before.

Whatever this thing was, it was gone. Fischer began to have second thoughts about investigating the anomaly. Clearly it wasn't of human origin. It seemed to possess the power to remove the feeling from a human all together. That was dangerous.

Danger

It had never occurred to him that he could possibly be in serious danger approaching this thing. The thought hadn't even manifested in his head. He paused.

Was it worth it?

Even if he was to find out what it was, would it even matter?

It was probably just some random light source right?

That word also stuck in his head. Probably.

That meant that while leaning strongly to one side, there was also another side. A side that could be infinitely more interesting than the other.

"Fuck it," he cursed, swatting the trees aside. He slowly ploughed his way through the bushes and trees towards where the glow had originated from. It wasn't far, only a couple of meters.

Closer and closer he crept forwards, staying alert. He was almost to a small opening. The plants around him had begun to turn black, like they had been burnt by a fire. The smell of charcoal began to seep into his nose.

At first he suspected that maybe the glow was just a side effect from the carbon of a small fire. One which had burnt itself out. The surrounding trees and smell seemed to suggest so. But a fire didn't explain the sudden loss of all his senses. That was the true reason he was so compelled. What was so powerful that it could remove a person's entire state of feeling?

As he got to the edge of a small opening, he found out.

The opening was small, no bigger than four meters across. The ground was charred, black and grey. The stench of charcoal was intense. There were tiny blue flames on the ground and small cyan embers were hovering in the air around him.

But it wasn't the charred ground or the blue flames that had him speechless.

It was what lay in the middle of the opening.

The creature looked to be a similar shape to a human, around the same size as Fischer, maybe a bit smaller. But it was most definitely not a human.

It looked reptilian in nature, what little of its body that wasn't covered in a dirty ragged sheet appeared to be covered in pearly white scales. Its snout and the tips of its horns were a bright aqua, almost turquoise. It was a digitigrade, it's legs having three joints, much like a cat or dog, with dragon-like claws at its feet.

The creature had a head that resembled some sort of dragon as well, two big white horn-like appendages that sprung from the back, one of them appearing chipped or broken. It's nose was sharp, but not to a point. It looked like a squashed cone, with small nostrils at the tip.

A row of white and grey fins ran from the top of it's head all the way down its spine. The front of the neck was a different colour from the rest of the creature's body, a pale sky blue.

A large tail trailed behind it, semi buried in the dirt. The rags it wore were clearly not normal clothes. They looked almost like huge towels, ripped and torn everywhere. The creature also had what appeared to be some sort of collar around its neck, a blood red, adorned by white and aqua accents.

Fischer was frozen. This wasn't from earth. It couldn't be from earth. It wasn't a lizard, it looked too much like a human, but it wasn't a human. It lay there in the dirt, motionless. He didn't know what to do. Should he call someone? And tell them what? That there was an alien on the side of the road in some bushes?

Yea, plenty of people would believe that.

He racked his brain, trying to think of anything. Just when he needed those voices the most, they were absent. He was on his own, in the middle of the bush, with what seemed to be an unconscious alien. He raised his hand and smacked himself on the cheek.

This was a bad dream, a nightmare. There was no other explanation. His heart was beating so fast it felt like a live grenade.

As feeling returned to his legs after being paralysed for so long, he finally found the courage to move. But there was no way he was moving forwards, the only direction he was going was back.

But as he took a step, he was oblivious to his surroundings and his foot landed on an indented part of the ground. His ankle twisted uncontrollably, throwing his centre of balance away and sending him tumbling to the ground on his back, landing with a hard and audible 'thump'.