Paradise Among Metal

Chapter 19

The trio had just reached the edge of the orchards when a voice shouted from behind them.

"Hey! Wait up!"

They turned around to see a woman running towards them. As she got closer, Cora noticed that the woman wasn't quite human. Her light skin shone in the sunlight as if made of ivory. Tangerine lines framed certain parts of her face and body, seeming like tattoos at first, but then Cora realized they were carved into the woman's skin in little tubes. She had eyes the same shade of color, but her eyes were too large to be human. Streaks of orange also ran through her brown hair, held back in a ponytail. She wore a futuristic military uniform of some sort that framed her petite figure.

"Do I know you?" Cora blurted out, realizing how rude she sounded. The woman shook her head.

"No, probably not. But I overheard your conversation with the Persephonite a while ago about going to the Perimeter and Metal, and I wish to join you. My husband and daughter are in the Perimeter and Metal, and it's been maybe five years since they were taken."

The woman may have been from Paradise, but the hungry hope in her eyes suggested that she had been living in a Metal of her own in Paradise.

Emerson nodded. "The more, the merrier."

The woman gave a small bow. "Thank you."

"No problem. What's your name?"

"Leela will do."

"Nice to meet you, Leela," Jacob said, extending his hand. Emerson gave him a look.

"My, someone's a gentleman today."

Leela shook his hand, seeming uncomfortable. "This is a horrible greeting custom you humans have. Never really got used to shaking hands."

Emerson shrugged. "It's fine. You don't know where his hands have been, and he doesn't know where your hands have been. It's a symbol of human trust, I guess."

They reached the edge of the orchards, where Cora had first popped out. In the distance, the mountains between Metal and the Perimeter loomed. Nothing but grass stretched between them and the quartet.

"Where's the yellow brick road?" Jacob asked, looking around. As if on cue, the road appeared in front of them. It seemed more duller than usual, probably because of the color surrounding it.

The four stepped onto it and walked on into the lands between Paradise and the Perimeter. The lands where Cora, Jacob, and Emerson had to face their mortal fears only a few hours before.

As they walked, they talked. Cora learned all sorts of things about her companions, like the fact that Jacob had to face his childhood friend Dominic as his fear, who kept pressuring him to do stupid stuff. She also learned that Leela was an alien, originally from the Andromeda Galaxy, which intrigued Cora, since she used to be into astronomy before she died.

About fifteen minutes down the road, the woman from earlier who screamed about volcanoes appeared. She no longer cowered, instead, she just looked confused.

"The-the volcanoes," she breathed, stumbling towards the group. "They're-they're gone."

Cora never noticed before how sickly the woman looked. Her cheeks were gaunt, she had little body fat, and her dress hung in tatters around her.

"The volcanoes are gone," Cora said, stepping off the road towards the woman. "You're safe. You never have to deal with them again."

The woman's eyes widened, and she stretched her arms out towards Cora.

"You have...color."

Her hands made contact with Cora's skin, and as they did, colors infused within the woman, as if they were fading in reverse. The woman gasped and looked down at her now pink dress.