Beyond the Veil

Not Quite First Contact

"What is it?"

"I can't be sure, but I think it's human."

Isaac's heart thundered in his ears as unknown voices became intelligible. He lay still, barely daring to breathe, as he played dead. Something not quite sharp jabbed him in the hip.

"Might be an opossum," said the first voice. "It's playing dead like one."

The second chuckled. "It doesn't have a tail, and it's wearing clothes."

The pointy thing pressed against Isaac's upper lip, pushing it back to expose his teeth. Reacting on instinct, he pushed the object away from his face and skittered back until he hit a wall. Cuts and bruises began throbbing with the movement, and his ears started ringing.

Isaac's vision was blurred, and he felt along the damp wall for a means of escape as he continued pushing himself away from the colorful blobs he figured were the speakers from before. They made shushing noises at him and took a couple steps forward.

"Stay away from me!" he snapped.

"It talks!" exclaimed the first speaker.

It was smaller than the other, sounded younger, and looked mostly purple. Isaac squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head before squinting at the pair again, but it did nothing to help him focus. He thought the larger of the two might have raised its hands like someone trying to calm an angry animal, but he couldn't be sure.

"Easy now," they said. "We're not going to hurt you."

"Yeah, pull the other one," Isaac snapped. He'd scooted himself into a corner where there should only be trees. "Where am I?"

"New Tylebeckt," said the larger one. "Our backyard to be exact."

"How'd I get here?"

"You don't know?"

"Would I be asking if I did?" Isaac answered back.

"Don't know. Never met a whatever you are before."

They took another step or two closer, and they finally came into focus for Isaac. His stomach did a flip, and his vision darkened around the edges. He'd seen some odd creatures during his time in the Seelie realm, but nothing like the two in front of him now. They resembled nothing more than gigantic, bipedal sea monsters.

"Human," Isaac stammered out. "I'm human."

"I knew it!" The larger one pumped a couple tentacles in the air, and his skin flashed several colors before settling back to the original deep blue. "You're not extinct!"

The pair of them rattled off a stream of questions Isaac couldn't follow. His mind caught on the word extinct and everything else faded until a meaty tentacle waving in front of his face startled Isaac out of his reverie.

"What?" he asked, looking up at the smaller of the two.

"Told you it needs medical help," it snapped at the other. "You heard that thud."

The smaller, purplish creature turned to Isaac. "Come on, my brother and I will fix you up."