The White Paladin

~Chapter Twenty-Eight~

     I began to wake up and my head throbbed nonstop as I did. I sat up in my seat and looked out of the front of Ghost's window and saw nothing but orange sand for miles. I put my hand on Ghost's console and she wasn't responding. I stood up, with some struggle, and made my way outside. As I exited I was met with a sweltering heat and I had to raise my hand up to block the sun's rays out of my eyes.

     "Of course I had to crashland on the hottest planet in the solar system, huh. Ghost, at least you're lucky enough to be all white...and of course our armor is made out of layers...this is going to be fun. Stay here ghost...well it's not like you can hear me...but there's a little...town...over there...I'm going to check it out." I say to her, pat her paw, and begin the trek to the small town built mostly out of sand.

     As I drew closer I noticed a small child playing with a ball outside. There was no one else around at all, which I thought was really strange.

     "Um...excuse me? Little child?" I called out to them and clutched my side as a pain rushed through me.

     The little kid looked up to me in surprise and dropped their ball. They ran indoors to one of the sand huts and I sat, alone, in the center of the town.

     "I um....I'm sorry for intruding? I kind of just crash landed..." I began to cough and fell to the ground.

     The sun's heat as well as the wounds from the previous battle and the crash were making me feel really sick. I then heard a door open and the little kid was there. Him as well as a few other kids and a woman about my age was there as well.

     "Hurry, come inside." She says and I limply get up and hobble into the small house.

     Upon entering, a sudden relief hit me from the coolness of the indoors and shade that the house gave. There were four children and they all lead me to a small stool where they sat me down. The older girl gave me a cup of water and I gladly took it from her and gulped it down.

     "How did you get here?" The girl questions me after taking the cup back and handing it to one of the kids to put away.

     "I'm part of Voltron. Our ship was going through a wormhole when we experienced some technical difficulties and we all got separated. My lion is over in the desert and she won't respond to me. I'm sorry for such an inconvenience." I say while hanging my head down and she places a hand on my shoulder.

     "No it's absolutely fine, but you chose the worst time to crash land on our planet." She says and some of the kids run off then come back with a makeshift first aid kit.

     They hand it to her and she opens it and begins to tend to the wounds on my body.

     "Thank you, and what do you mean by that?" I ask her and the kids go sit down in the corner and talk quietly to each other.

     I took this moment to look at who they were. These aliens looked like they were made of clay. Like little sculptures made of browns, oranges, and grey. They were all so beautiful as well, yet they lived in little hovels and had tattered clothes stained by the orange sand. She then looked up to me after applying a bandage to a cut on my arm.

     "It's time for the choosing." She answers and I tilt my head in confusion.

     "The choosing?" I ask and she sets the kit aside, since she was done patching me up.

     "We Axcorians are a peaceful species that have lived on this planet for years along with the Venturians. The ventura are a stone species that have lived underneath the planet for years. We've lived in coexistence for as long as anyone can remember, but then their king died and was replaced by his brother. He is a bad man that comes once every month to take one of our women...and..." She begins to cry and I pull her into a hug to comfort her.