Stardust

Chapter 4: New Experiences

        "What if it eats us? That's what all the stories say." A concerned Reka said to her companion.

        "No no, the elders only say those things so that kids will behave." Yuval reassured her. He wasn't so sure of his own words, but it was best not to get Reka worked up.

       "Okay." She replied with uncertainty as her face scales turn a shade darker. "But if it attacks us, I'm not going to hold back." 

         Reka and Yuval had made their way into Captain Fenala's starship from their watch point outside the veil surrounding the Vedraxa star. The two of them were Leshouin Guardians, selected amongst the tribes on their planet to guard the barrier veil for generations. The Leshouin people were mostly humanoid, but where their legs should be, they had fish tails. Their skin is also adorned with patches of soft shimmering scales over most of their bodies and all of their face.

        As the two continued their discussion in the dark of Captain Fenala's vessel, they failed to notice Fenala herself approaching after having been awoken by their noise. At a sudden gasp, they both started and turned towards the cabin's only doorway other than the airlock door that they had entered through. There stood the thing, the monster that had escaped through the veil.

       "Halt! Don't run Hashran!" Reka said. Hashran was the term in the Leshouin language for the forsaken, those without a connection to their god. 

      "It cannot understand you Reka." Yuval said to her, his face scales shifting to a dark green. "We must capture it first, then we can try to communicate." As he spoke, he reached to cord that had previously been wrapped across his chest and behind his back. Holding it down in front of him, he swished his tailfin and propelled himself forward slowly towards Fenala.

      Captain Fenala, having no idea what was happening or what these strange beings were saying, simply looked on in pure amazement. Every time the creatures spoke, she could only ever hear a cacophony of sounds, some like ocean waves crashing against a cliffside, and others like the soft ripple of a stream running through a field. Suddenly, one of the aliens produced a rope in front of itself. She could not help but be drawn to look at it, the same pulsating colors of dust surrounding its entire length as did the veil. She didn't have time to truly think about it as she noticed that it was getting closer. 

      Fenala scrambled to get away from Yuval as he surged towards her in the small confines of the ship. She grasped for any handhold as she attempted to pull herself away from the alien quickly approaching her. 

       "I'm friendly dammit!" She yelled hoping it would somehow understand her words. She had cried out in vain. 

       Yuval quickly caught up to the fumbling creature, it had no chance in his eyes. Without the use of mana, there was simply no way it could move well enough in zero gravity to be a match for him. He grabbed it's leg as it reached another doorway. He called upon the well of his own mana, the scales along his body turning from the dark green of earlier into a deep red like blood. 

      "Praetora Hashran" He uttered softly as his power surged through his other arm and into the rope he had been carrying. The rope came to life, seemingly moving of it's own accord. Despite Fenala's frantic struggling, the rope slithered up her leg and quickly wrapped around her body and limbs. It was mere moments and the struggle was over. 

       Captain Fenala, the Hashran, floated helplessly in the small corridor between cabins. The rope wrapped tightly around her body at the torso, her arms forced against her own sides. Her legs were wrapped as well, keeping her from being able to lash out with even her feet at the aliens. The only movement available to Fenala anymore was that of her neck and mouth, which she was currently using to yell together a string of curses. Surprisingly, most of her curses, were directed at herself and not the aliens who now floated on either side of her constrained body.

        After about an hour of searching, the two Leshouin couldn't find anything they considered a weapon on the ship. Though they had located the case containing Fenala's pistol and rifle, they appeared to be more strange contraptions of the Hashran. They had moved the captain herself to her personal quarters, trusting in the power of the rope to contain her there.

        "It did not put up much of a fight.." Reka said looking down at the captain as she moved to float beside where they had left Fenala. "If I didn't know any better, I would say that it is scared." 

       "It likely wishes us to believe this. Then it will attack us." Yuval replied, his scales had now returned to their natural coral pink tone.

       Fenala, for her part, had mostly stopped her physical struggles after the first couple minutes. The rope wrapped around her still glowed with color, the light much dimmer than before. However, it still wouldn't budge, no matter how hard she flexed against its restraint on her body. The two aliens talked over her, as if she wasn't even there. She had tried to ask them a couple questions when they were moving her into this cabin. She even tried a few different languages that she knew some words from. Nothing seemed to catch their attention. Their own language was still a mystery to Fenala. She knew for certain it was a way of communicating as their mouths moved and they seemed to understand each other. She could sometimes hear a rhythm to the sounds of rushing water, like there was a soft singing deep within the tides of an ocean against a beach.

     "We should perform the ritual." Yuval spoke softly towards Reka as he joined her to float next to the captain. "We will need answers before we return with it in a few weeks." 

    Reka looked to him and nodded, the scales on her face flickering from her natural teal to a more muted hazel. "Will the mana reside within one who has no connection. The Hashran may die if we do this.."

    Without any further words Yuval placed his webbed hands onto Fenala's chest. He began to mutter quietly as his scales shimmered once again with a deep red color, the mana flowing from within him into his hands. Reka looked on with anticipation and not a small amount of anxiety as Yuval performed the ritual. She relaxed a little more as she could see Yuval himself relax. Yuval could feel as his mana flowed through his body and outward into the creature beneath his hands, the rope and her outer wrappings not prohibiting the flow of his power into her own body. He abruptly cut off his mutterings as the flow of mana stopped, the ritual completed. 

        He looked down at the Hashran and then back to Reka. "It does not appear dead. Perhaps the ritual worked."