Little Lightning

Chapter 2

Run. Run. Run.

Lyricals mind chanted, her feet hitting the ground in a panicked rhythm. It was a miracle in an of itself that she hadn't already tripped on the unfamiliar ground. The mysterious alien planet was still completely foreign to her, though she had crashed here a little over two months ago.

Faster! Faster! She urged herself, but she had eaten as little as she could to conserve supplies, and her energy was low. Back on Earth, she could have outrun the strange aliens without a problem, but now... she was stuck. Stuck on this strange planet with no way to get back to Earth, limited supplies and a crew she couldn't stand. Though, the longer she spent with them, the less annoying they became. Guess that's what happens when you get stranded on an alien planet together.

She had been stuck on this alien jungle planet for... who knows how long. Days? Weeks? Months?

Kalypso and Kace were gone. Captured. She had to escape, she had to find them.

Lyrical stumbled on a root, crashing into the ground face first and skidding a few feet. She sat up, groaning, a hand going to her forehead. It came away slick and red. She was bleeding. She stood, fighting the wave of dizziness that over came her. Ripping the hem of her jacket, she wrapped it around her head as a makeshift bandage. She had to keep going. She had to survive, not only for her own sake, but for Kalypso and Kace, and all those they had left behind back on earth. She would survive. She had to. She was the only one who knew about these strange aliens who called themselves the Formus, and she had to warn earth of the invasion that was imminent.

A roaring sounded, sounding like a thousand helicopters all taking off at once. The strange yellow and white ship that the aliens had come in rose into the air, disappearing from the planets atmosphere in a matter of seconds. Lyrical watched, her body relaxing slightly now that the danger was gone.

The bushes on her left rustled. She started, and pulled out the one weapon she had on her: a potato peeler. She had been cooking when the aliens had attacked. She had a knife, but she had sworn never to use that again, even to save her own life.

Her vision was fading, and she was fairly sure that the makeshift bandage on her head was already soaked through with blood. But she couldn't die. No way she was dying here, on an alien planet with no friends there to say goodbye to. She refused to die without a fight.

She pointed the potato peeler at the bush, holding it in front of her like a sword. But rather than the aliens that were chasing her emerging, it was a human. At least, it looked like a human. The creature was female, and had deep hazelnut colored skin, long blue hair, and bright green eyes.

Before Lyrical could do or say anything, however, her body gave way. She crumpled like a rag doll, her breathing short and raspy. The last thing she saw was the person standing above her, mouth open and saying something, eyes bright and worried.

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Lyrical blinked slowly, her eyes focusing on the wood ceiling above her. What? This wasn't her ceiling. How did she... Everything came rushing back. Launching on the mission, crashing into an alien planet, being chased by alien people... all of it. She sat up, but a wave of dizziness and nausea forced her back down. Instead, she settled with looking at where she was. She was laying on some kind of bed, a small wooden nightstand next to her, bright paintings adorning the clay wall on the far end of the room. To her right there was a doorway with brightly patterned cloth covering the entrance. Light spilled in from a small square window on the wall that was across from the door way, odd plants on the windowsill and hanging down from the ceiling on either side of the window.

The cloth covering the doorway was pushed aside by a hand, and an elderly woman walked in. At least, she had wrinkles and grey hair, but other every part of her screamed that she could take care of herself. She had chestnut colored skin like the other one that Lyrical had seen before she had passed out. The woman stood tall and proud, a bright purple cloth wrapped around her figure. Gold stitching on the hem depicting plants and animals that Lyrical had never seen before. The woman's grey hair was pulled back into a tight bun, purple earrings dangling from her earlobes. But, most surprising of all, were the woman's eyes. They were a milky white.

The woman was blind.

The woman looked at Lyrical. Or at least, she turned her head in Lyricals direction.

"Oh, good, you're awake." She said, and walked forward, a wooden bowl in her hands. "Here, drink this. It will help with the nausea." The woman helped Lyrical sit up and pressed the bowl to Lyricals lips, practically force feeding Lyrical the green liquid inside. But the woman was right, it did help Lyricals heaving stomach. "You're lucky you survived the invasion, child."

"Invasion?" Lyrical managed, then remembered the crazy aliens with their strange white ship and strange guns. "Oh."

"What is your name?" The woman asked.

"Lyrical. Lyrical Cyrax." She responded. "What happened?"

"My granddaughter found you bleeding just outside our village. She was the one who brought you here, and you therefore owe her your life." The woman responded. "My name is Haven Gold, but you may call me Yia Yia, or Yia. I am the grand witch of this village."

Lyrical had her mouth open, about to ask who the lady was. She closed it, surprised. It was almost like she had read Lyricals thoughts. Haven smiled at her surprise.

"No, I did not read your mind." Lyrical jumped. "I just sensed the differences in your electromagnetic pulses and interpreted them."

"How do you--"

"Do it? Years and years of practicing." The woman smiled. "Now, get some rest. I'll explain more later. Right now, you must sleep." Lyrical yawned at the mention of sleep, suddenly noticing how tired she was. She hadn't gotten a good night of sleep since she had crashed here, but something told her she could trust this woman.

"Ok." She mumbled, already half asleep by the time her head was on the pillow. She closed her eyes and slipped off into a pleasant darkness.