Connected Through Worlds (BoyXboy)

THE SANDMEN.

Hauri's POV

I was eight when they came. The forest erupted in a sparkle of fire that roared, it was unlike anything I had ever heard at that tender age. Loud. So loud. It sounded angry, full of rage and judgment, yet we were the convicts—the punished. When my eyes met that of the rage I was swept up into the arms of my mother, as if shielding me from the reign of anger only meters away. My mother who was a woman of grace and elegance fled like injured prey that was being pursued by a dangerous predator.

I could see glimpses of panic, person and creature alike, abandoning home and fleeing the anger. My mother's pace slowed, tight. She was holding me so tight, my breath on hold. She came to a sudden halt. I could hear her gasp. It was as if she had been bitten by the frost, held in place by some element I couldn't yet understand. When I turned to look, I too must have been bitten by the frost like her. My eyes became wide, my breath hitching as my body started to tremble.

The fire drank up what used to be the settlement of my people, the orange flicker that was undoing memories, undoing work, undoing heritage. The strangled cries of those caught in a final dance with the embers filled my ears, overloading my senses.

A small whimper escaped my lips before my mother began to run once more, clinging to me as if I were some sort of safety net. She spoke to me in panicked whispers "Hauri we need to go to the sacred caves. We need to find refuge from the flames." Our people continued to flee from the anger as if we were cattle in a herd, the flames being our dictator.

Many of our people followed along, each one yearning for the safety that the sacred cave could grant us. Amid the panic and confusion, there appeared many dots of red from every angle of the brush. These mysterious crimson dots littered our bodies, glowing. Our people clustered together as if trying to merge as one. Noise could be heard, rustling in the bushes. An animal? What came out from the bush was like no other.

A man? Well, some variation. He had skin that resembled the color of sand, the sand that I would play with on the edge of the lake. He wore some sort of uniform, was it his tribal gear? It was a dark grey color with shades of black and red. It had many lights and sharp ends. I had met members of neighbouring tribes but yet my young mind could not understand why this one looked so different so....alien.

He lacked a tail, his limbs short, and his eyes small, he had five fingers unlike our four and he had no tribal markings, wearing some sort of see-through mask. He looked nothing like me. Nothing like us.
He was holding a clump of metal that was emitting the dots. 'Was it some sort of weapon?' My mother gave me a sudden squeeze, holding me tighter.

Her eyes darted in a crazed frenzy of panic which my young mind could not fully grasp back then. My eyes followed hers, many more sand and mud-skinned men had surrounded us. Each one with features that mirrored that of the first one we encountered.

The same short legs and small eyes. Each holding the metal clumps that emitted the dots. It was almost as if they were pointing the metal at us. The adults of my tribe formed a circle of protection around me and the other children. The sandmen reeked...reeked of threat. Threat and aggression.

The leader from my tribe approached the first sandman, his steps full of caution and suspicion. The sandman opened his mouth, speaking some sort of language that none of us could decipher. It sounded angry, his voice was deep and gravelly. He is not like us. He pointed the clump of metal at our leader, the red dot trained on his forehead. Our leader spoke with a booming voice of authority in which the sandmen boomed back in that same angry language.

My memories of that day grow foggy after that. I recall snippets, things I wished had remained in the fog of my mind. My ears twitched as I heard a loud bang followed by blood, the crimson liquid erupted from our leader's pearly white skin. It reminded me of the time I had cut my finger while learning how to hunt, the blood seeped into my new tunic, the one my father had made for me out of the skin of the big grey lizards that lived deep in the forest.

It took him weeks to craft it for me and yet I had stained it. When he found it on the washing line covered in blood he came into my room, his voice dangerously soft. "Hauri. Why is the new tunic I made you stained?" I was shaking in fear, afraid that he wouldn't believe my words.

I mumbled out an apology, my eyes trained on the floor, not daring to look up and face what might become my father's wrath. Yet that wrath, the shouting, the anger...it never came. He left my room stopping only to say the words that have never left my head, that have hung over me like a dark cloud "disappointment" My mother tried to get the stain out but in the end, it was tossed. Like how the sandmen tossed our leader to the ground.

I didn't understand at that moment why our leader remained on the ground, unmoving. The crimson liquid had stained the grass that he was resting against, his eyes were closed. His body was limp. Was he sleeping? Why would he sleep at a time like this? Time seemed to slow down at that moment, so many questions were running through my childlike mind.

I was snapped out of my thoughts as I was once again swept up by my mother. There was a chorus of bangs along with blood-curdling screams. I was so confused as my mother held my face to her breastbone, shielding me from the horrors, the massacre that the sandmen were creating. I could hear my mother's feet thumping softly, moving swiftly across the lush forest floor. Her ragged breath as she mumbled out words of prayer.

I could hear the distant sounds of shouting, those grave voices, the sandmen, they were after us, like a cruel game of cat and mouse. My mother continued to run, shifting me to her back. I clung to her as she began to climb into the trees, using them as a gateway to safety. She lept and swung gracefully as it was second nature to her.

She continued through the trees and to the sacred caves of our tribe. She didn't once falter as she carried me inside, deep into the tunnels until she was sure we were safe. Only then did she collapse, only then did she weep.
~
It was quiet. Too quiet, I sat against the cave wall, huddling up as I shook. I watched as my mother remained in a ball on the ground, letting out quiet sobs. "How did they find us..? we made sure to hide our tracks." she continued to mumble out words before her sobs silenced. She sat up, turning her head slowly to look at me, wide-eyed. "W-what is it, Mom..?" I spoke with a shake, yet she didn't answer, as if stuck in a trance.

I crawled over to her, shaking her gently. "Mom..? Please answer me.." I continued to shake her until I felt her hands grip my small wrists tightly, I winced before meeting her panicked eyes. "Hauri you were down by the lake yesterday, right? Right?!" she shook me, her eyes searching my face in a frenzy of panic.

The truth was that I wasn't, I left the lake to explore further out, even though it was forbidden. Nobody from my tribe was allowed to go past the lake. But none of us children knew why. They kept it a secret from us, but I wanted to know what was on the other side, through the trees.

"I-I went past the lake yesterday. I know I wasn't meant to but I was just so curious..." I watched as her expression changed to one of horror.
"What did you see? Hauri! What did you see?!" She continued to shake me back and forth, her voice taking on one of anger, yet fear as she urged me to continue.
I had never seen my mother acting this way, she was always calm, even when things had gone wrong she would keep her cool. Yet here she was full of anger, full of fear and I was the cause.

Her body began to shake as she listened to my every word. I opened my mouth, my voice shaky as I continued. "Once I made it past the thick bushes and through the trees I felt as if I wasn't on (Planet Name) anymore. It scared me, mom."
"There were so many large moving things made out of metal...and there were sandmen inside. But they wore masks...so i didnt know it was the same people who attacked us."
~
I let out a shaky breath before continuing "I saw their camp. They had killed so many creatures. Hanging them from strings. As if they were trophies." My eyes began to fill with tears, turning glossy as I spoke. "They smelled different from us. There were so many loud noises and lots of fire."

Before I could turn to run one of them spotted me. "I thought he wouldnt follow me but.." I broke down into tears. My mother stared at me, her face aghast, it was as if she was looking straight through me as if I wasnt there.

Her mouth hung open as if trying to scream. I looked at her with big puffy eyes, my body shaking as I realised I was the reason that the sandmen found our home. I was the reason they burnt it down. I was the reason for the slaughter of my tribe.

Hi guys! This is my first ever proper Novel! I hope you guys like the first chapter! I already have the next few chaps ready for when this hopefully gets some attention! Thank you so much for reading this, it means a lot as I want to be a author one day :) - Laurielouu