An Awakener's Peradventure

Chapter 4: Planetary Sanctuary

Afrim opened his eyes to see himself flying. He saw his brother flying alongside him, unconscious. A pile of debris also flew alongside them. They had fled from their planet and were now zooming through their galaxy. The seventeen planets in their solar system were all wrought. They all had a giant crater that dug deep in their core. The outer rims appeared dried up where only a few puddles remained. The brothers sped through and had left their galaxy. Afrim took one last glance back before it faded from view. Void woke up just as they had left.

"We actually made it?" Void asked.

"Yes brother," Afrim said, "We should be safe."

"Where do you think we are heading?"

"Hopefully, somewhere far away. A place that he can't find us at."

They had flown across the universe for many weeks for what felt like days. The brothers were in awe of seeing the entire universe outside their galaxy; their many formations were tantalising. Afrim took out his notepad and drew quick sketches of each galaxy that they passed. He had even gone as far as giving each one a name.

They eventually arrived at a white star galaxy with four spiralled tendrils. They entered its arm, two-thirds away from the centre. Their destination was a vast planet, coloured blue with hints of green and wispy white clouds floating above.

They were blinded by a bright light just as they zoomed downwards and crashed into a hilltop. They saw a blue sky with gigantic clouds floating above them, a gigantic mass of water in the distance, and green forests around them with towering mountains from every angle.

"Where are we?" asked Afrim.

"I'm not sure. I don't think I have seen or heard about this planet ever," Void replied.

"I don't even know about this galaxy. Are you certain we have heard nothing about it?"

"I memorised every discovered galaxy and their solar systems. Not one page mentioned anything about a planet with green vegetation."

They heard faint grunted from below. It sounded as if this unknown creature was dragging something through the nearby dense forest.

"You don't think-" Afrim said.

"That would be impossible. There is no way they could have tracked us down that easily," Void assured him.

The grunts got louder as it walked by closer.

Afrim asked, "Should we see?"

"It's too risky," his brother replied. "We do not know what it could be."

"Let's just take a quick peek."

"Fine. We keep a safe distance away and assess its personality. If it is the enemy, we will leave immediately."

"No objections there."

They both slid down the hilltop. The slope was steep, and their boots struggled to grip the grass. They had reached the bottom, where they followed the noise into the forest. They crawled through the pampas grass, careful not to make a sound. The grunts transitioned to panting, which was followed up by indistinguishable gibberish. They peeked out of the grass to see a hairy, bipedal humanoid creature.

It had peachy skin, two arms and legs, had hair on the top of its head and long strands covered its face and body. Its physical body seemed to be in its early thirties. It also wore vegetable fibre clothing around its waist.

They notice another creature was resting beside it on a Peruvian Peppertree. Its skin was made from scales, was forty-three feet tall, had gills on its sides, and had tiny legs with webbed feet. A broken spear tip can be seen on the side of the creature's heart where red liquid trickled down. They see the humanoid creature pick it up and began walking away again.