Aren

Aren's Story and Acid Rain

Dedicated to Midinya. Thanks for the comments, you inspired this chapter.

Aren:

Feolis soon returned and I sat beside the newly made fire, watching him eat the squirrel across from me. He appeared thoughtful and considering, wiping juices from his chin. "Tell me about your planet," he said, taking another bite.

I frowned, "You want to hear about my planet?"

"Well, I want to hear about your life. What you've experienced in your long lifetime, how you ended up on this Earth."

I leaned back, spreading my wings out, "I do not know where to start." I murmered, thinking back to the last day on my planet.

"Just start anywhere," He said, licking at his fingers.

"As you wish," I said, and began.

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My world was newer than the humans, theirs being five billion years old and mine only two. We did not have what they called technology and weapons. We did not have wars over petty things such as where to live or what to think about. So, even though the human species were older than us, we considered ourselves much more mature and smarter than them. They appeared as children to us.

Though, we did not even know they existed until the time they invaded. I had been laying with my husband at the top of a hill when they came. His wings were wrapped around me in the native way of portraying great friendship. We were gazing up at the sky contentedly. Unaware of what was about to happen. Oblivious to everything but our own little planet.

"I have been thinking, Aren," Däshnoallan had said to me in our language, his eyes not leaving the sky. I leaned my head against his side, pushing closer to him.

"I think we should talk about having a child," he put his lips against my throat, fangs sliding over my neck.

I smiled, "I have been thinking that too," I sighed.

He leaned back and smiled at me, "When you are ready," he pushed the hair away from my front.

Then he put his mouth to my neck and his fangs slid into my skin, conveying his love in the mating ritual of our people.

Suddenly an explosion rocked the ground beneath us and Däshnoallan jerked away, his black eyes wide. I stood, "The village," I breathed and he nodded, taking my hand. We both jumped into the sky and flew as fast as possible to where the majority of my species resided.

You see, my species is big on love and being together. There are not very many females and we are treasured above all else and we all tend to stay together. We had not even heard of 'war' until the aliens, humans, invaded.

And that is what we found when we arrived at the village. War, chaos, and murder. Strange beings running around, killing my family and friends. They had bare backs and no tails and lackluster skin. They had bright things that I now know are lights. They blinded us, making us very easy to kill.

My husband stepped forward, trying to talk to these new creatures. But they didn't understand what he was saying and used strange objects that spit fire to kill him. My husband. I screamed and ran to him. The humans came at me and took me away from him. Däshnoallan. Red tears streamed down my face as they locked me in a small metal box beside many other boxes with many other women and men and children. I could do nothing but watch as my entire species was slaughtered in front of my eyes.

And then they brought me here, to that arena after a few days of being locked away, and watching the ones who had come with me taken away one by one to never be seen again.

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I pressed my face against my arms and muffled the sobs that came from me. Sobs that had not wracked my body since the night I had lost Däshnoallan.

Feolis watched, uncomfortable, before moving closer and putting his arm under my wings and around my shoulders. I looked up and blinked at him in surprise. "Is this the human equivalent of showing great friendship?" I questioned through my tears.

Feolis smiled and after a second he said, "Yes, I would say it is."

He looked at me strangely, a different look in his eyes. I was surprised I could see a difference at all, but I guess I had grown accustomed to seeing human's emotions in their eyes. It was different for my species. Our emotion was all in the tail and wings, the way we moved them and held them. It was complicated.

Feolis noticed me watching him and looked away, clearing his throat. Just then I felt the world darken and I raised my eyes in confusion. "Feolis, the clouds are grey," I murmered. It was actually very pretty.

Feolis looked up and I now saw panic in his eyes. "Oh no," he said and pulled me up, dragging me forward and through the woods.

"Feolis what is wrong?" I asked, confused. A crackle sounded far away and little marks of gray began appearing on objects around us. It appeared to be water, coming from the sky. I laughed, how strange.

"It's going to rain Aren. Rain is bad. We have to find shelter." He responded, looking around frantically.

"I saw a cave when I got you berries, is that good?"

"That's perfect," I grinned and tugged his hand.

"This way," I pulled him left, in the direction of the cave and the water began to come faster. A drop hit me on the cheek and burned like acid. I hissed and wiped furiously at it. More got my wings and started burning through the feathers. I cried out and Feolis gripped my hand.

"Hurry," he commanded. I hissed in pain and sped up, the cave appeared in view through the trees and I sped up. My wings tugged on brambles and branches and I left a trail of feathers in our wake.

Suddenly we were there and we dived in just as the drizzle became a downpour. Then the wind came and Feolis jumped up and dragged us to the back of the cave where it was dark and I knew his human eyes wouldn't be able to see.

We lay there in a heap, breathing heavily and listening to the storm. "How long will it last?"

Feolis didn't answer for awhile, until finally he said, "Days."

I swallowed thickly. We had no food for Feolis, no drink or other things a human needed to survive. It was cold and soon his teeth were chattering.

"Well, look at it this way," He said through clenched teeth, holding his arms around himself. "At least they won't be looking for us in this."

I smiled at his optimism and moved closer. He blinked in surprise as I slowly wrapped my wings around him and pulled him close. Warming him until his teeth stopped making noise against each other and his body heat filled the cocoon I had him in.

He leaned against me and soon his breathing slowed and he was asleep. I smiled and joined him in his slumber as the storm raged on outside.

Feolis:

Before falling asleep I pondered on what she had said. The government had lied to us when they'd said the aliens had found us and explained the kind of beings they were. They had claimed that the aliens had found us, proclaiming war on humanity and trying to take our planet. That we had only fought back in self defense.

The truth was that the human race was very belligerant, always looking for a fight. We had been the invaders and Aren had lost everything because of it. I couldn't help but feel responsible for the actions of my race, though that was stupid because I'd had nothing to do with the invasion.

I felt so bad for Aren. She was so nice and caring. Had been married and probably going to have a kid. And now she was stuck on this planet as one of the last of her species and she was dying also. Life was so wrong, so cruel.

I leaned my head on her side and got into a more comfortable position, feeling her soft and warm wings around me. I closed my eyes and tried to forget about the agony and cruelty of life for a few hours via sleep as the storm raged on outside.