Her eyes hurt. There was a coarse feeling all along her body, and her eyes stung. Orana tried to open them but the pain was too much. Something or someone held her hands, and they were dragging her along. What happened? She remember falling but..Falling! Her pod had crashed on that desert planet. Sand coated her body and her eyelashes, the hot turf was burning her. Fighting against the pain of her stinging skin, she lurched upwards. Orana heard a yell from the person that was taking her. She got to her feet and wiped the sand out of her eyes.
A tall, lanky boy had fallen on the ground, he looked up at her, shocked. He quickly repositioned himself on his knees and bowed his head. Orana was confused, why was he bowing to her? Behind his ears, spikes peaked out. His skin looked like a rock, it was cracked and dark.
"Um," she stuttered. The boy still kept his head down. "You don't have to do that." The words in her mouth were hard to say, her tongue felt clumsy. It was like her body wasn't awake with her.
The alien lifted his head, his dark brown eyes were big. He raised an eyebrow, then got back to his feet. "Are you not a goddess?" He questioned. Goddess? What was he talking about?
"I don't know what you mean." He walked closer to her, then pointed behind her, into the large expanse of the desert.
"Your flying cylinder." He said. Orana's eyes followed to where he was pointing, and she shielded her them. The sun, or should she say suns, bounced off a sheet of metal. A plume of smoke escaped from it.
"Are there others out here? With you?" She wanted to know. "I need some answers."
YOU ARE READING
The Ascendants
Science Fictionas·cend·ant - the point on the ecliptic at which it intersects the eastern horizon at a particular time, typically that of a person's birth. Four people wake up in pods each heading towards different planets, and their own fates. They must find thei...
