Gift from the Heavens

Prologue-Part 3

Xephos mumbled and groaned as he shifted the weight of something large and metallic off of himself. Red lights that made his brain hurt flickered all around him, and he felt a sinking feeling in the bottom of his stomach. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind he registered that this meant danger, but judging from the aching from fractured ribs when he breathed and dark blood from wounds all over his body, the danger had already passed.

There was so much ringing in his ears, but he had the vague sense that there was a siren going off that was trying to warn him, like the lights, of some long gone peril. He coughed and crimson liquid sprayed out of his mouth. He was running on pure adrenaline as he army crawled out of the twisted metal that had fallen onto him. His legs were too sore to pick him up, so he remained laying on the floor.

He heaved himself farther into the ruined metal death trap, intending to find a way out. There was smoke that suffocated him as he continued his journey. Xephos passed a body and as he glanced at it, he suddenly wasn’t in the smoky metal room anymore. He was in a crashing space ship, and this woman was giving them all orders to brace for impact. Her severe attitude had kept them from all panicking. Then he was back to seeing her dead body on the floor of the ship.

Xephos remembered exactly where the exit was now, and he heaved himself to the door. He coughed as dark, harshly smelling gas filled his lungs instead of air. When he reached the tall metal door he attempted pushing it open, but it didn’t budge. He sighed in frustration and before banging on door. He tried yelling for help, but his throat was too sore to make much noise. He banged and banged, his head getting slowly fuzzier as he did this.

Eventually he heard the shouting of two people in some foreign language and he banged harder. There was banging from the other side and the door creaked, causing the whole ship to shudder. The door was pulled from the outside and bent in half, allowing sunlight so fill Xephos’s eyes. He shielded his face. This light was much brighter than what he was used to. He couldn’t quite remember what he was used to, but he knew that it wasn’t this brightness and heat. This yellow light and blaring warmth just wasn’t right. In a corner of his brain he felt like there should be cool silver glowing light streaming on his face.

The door was pulled off fully and a short looking man with ginger hair was standing there with a crowbar in his hand, which he had just used to pry off the door. The man called over his shoulder, saying something in an oddly clipped dialect. The words were harsh sounding and strange, nothing like the smooth flowing words of his language. He put one of his hands to the metal band on his wrist to make sure it was still there.

The communicator all the staff were given was cool and smooth to the touch. He pressed a small dark button on the side and the screen lit up and words flashed in every language in the known universe, ‘Please state your language name.’ If only he knew what they were speaking then it would translate both of their languages.

The ginger man seemed to beckon another over. This one was slightly taller and his hair was a light shade of yellow. This one looked very surprised to see that there was someone inside. Xephos felt the corners of his mind started to fade to black and he could not see. He had the vague sense that he was being lifted up. The pain in his head and legs and ribs and well… everything else, intensified as he was put down on some sort of hard surface and then a woman’s voice began, her voice harsh and clinical. He felt a slight jab on his arm and even the little sense of hearing and feeling faded.

When he finally awoke, Xephos saw that he was in a small room. The only other person he could see was a blond woman. When her face turned to him he could feel his beat extra fast and his eyes glowed brighter than normal. Her face was familiar somehow, and so was the feeling in his chest. The woman’s golden hair, her small upturned nose, her cupids bow lips, the oval face, it was all so familiar, and it set off an explosion like a firework in his heart. A word popped in his head, ‘ellemnce’, but that was impossible… for some reason he couldn’t quite remember.

The woman smiled and said something he didn’t understand, and he looked down at his wrist. It still flashed every known language, asking for a language name to be spoken. Her odd disjointed words called the two men from before into the room. The ginger and the two blonds spoke curious words in their odd dialect. Some to him and others to each other.

Xephos sighed and rolled his eyes. He spoke in his own, much more fluid language, “I don’t know what you’re saying.”

The three stopped and stared at him, before whispering to each other again. Someone asked him a question in their strange words. When Xephos didn’t react, they said it in a louder, slower tone. Xephos glared at them. His head hurt and the pain in his ribs was coming back, he didn’t have time for this. He pulled the communicator off of his wrist  and showed the screen to them. “Just say the name of your language and this will translate for both of us.”

The people looked at him curiously and one of them, the ginger one, pulled the communicator out of his hand. He just stared at it, speaking to the people on either side of him until it seemed his language must have turned up because he squealed excitedly and pointed it out to the others, then he said in his strange language, “English.”

“Did it work?” Xephos asked in a pained voice.

“Oh my Notch! I can understand you!” The short ginger man gaped.

“Yes, it’s a translation device,” Xephos told him. “So, where am I?

“Hold on.” The blond man held up a hand as he spoke. “Who are you?”

“My name is Xephos, I am Captain of the third Callarusian Aerospace program fleet,” he told them, blanking his face and speaking in a dull tone, signature of the nobles of his planet.

“But, why are you here?” The woman asked. Her voice was soft and sweet and the familiar feeling filled his chest again. The impossible feeling he had felt when she looked at him before.

“I-I don’t know…” Xephos muttered. His complete lack of memory about why he was here surprised him. He usually knew everything.

“You’ve got quite the head injury there, I wouldn’t be surprised if you had amnesia,” the woman told him, placing a hand on where the pain in his head was most concentrated.

“Ok, well, I’m Lalna, this is Honeydew and she’s Lomadia,” The blond man called Lalna introduced them all, pointing to each one in turn, “It seemed as though you’ve crashed on Minecraftia and… you’re probably stuck with us for a while. Is there anyone back on your planet that’s going to miss you while you’re stuck here? Is anyone coming back for you?”

“Not that I can remember…” Xephos mumbled, but he was sure somebody would come back for him. He was the captain of the third fleet, somebody was bound to come back and find him. But no one ever did come, so Xephos stayed on Minecraftia.

He became friends with Lalna and Honeydew and even helped them in their dreams of building a Jaffa factory. Xephos and Lomadia grew very close when he was there, and eventually he even forgot about his desire to get back home. He had built a new home here and he couldn’t remember any reason to go back.

He couldn’t remember ever having a daughter. He couldn’t remember the days they had spent, gazing at the stars and wondering if anyone was out there. He couldn’t remember how she had felt like a gift from the heavens. He couldn’t remember the tears she had shed when he left.

He couldn’t even remember his promise to her, that he would always be there if she needed him.

Hope you enjoy the chapter.

-6littlepizzas