In Your Arms

Isen's World

Farrah dug her toes into the mossy ground, smiling to herself as she practically pranced around the forest. Isen merely watched her as he lay on a rock, stretching out his wings from the somewhat long journey he had taken them on.

Unknown to Farrah, the mysterious creature had intentionally flown as far away from Windsburg as he could- just in case the girl changed her mind and wanted to go back home. 

"There is a lake down the path. You should see it." Isen broke the silence, causing Farrah to freeze in her tracks due to his booming voice. He crawled off the boulder and stood upright, striding towards his companion as she glanced high up at him.

"A lake?" She asked, her eyes filled with wonder, "It's been so long since I've been to one. My parents and I went camping once in a place just like this."

"Do you miss your parents?" Isen asked, curiously examining the human. He watched with little emotion as her smile faltered, and her gaze fell to the ground.

Farrah's mind flooded with memories of the ones who raised her, but she had no more tears to shed.

"I do miss them. By the way, you said I could ask you a question a day."

"I did." Isen had noticed the conversation had changed, but he didn't feel the need to press Farrah into speaking about her parents more.

"Well, I have to ask something now," Farrah nodded to herself, glancing around her surroundings as if trying to think of something to say. "So, what are you exactly?"

Isen wasn't prepared to reveal the answer just yet, but he had promised the woman he would answer her questions. With a deep sigh, the monster dropped on all fours until he was face to face with a rather startled Farrah. She brought her hands up slightly to defend herself, but Isen would not hurt her. Instead, he rested the palm of her hand on his surprisingly smooth forehead. 

Farrah didn't know how to respond at first, for she was too preoccupied feeling the creature's skin. Isen's face was unusually cold and hard, and Farrah wondered if she was touching bone instead of skin. Before she could ask, the world around the two suddenly went dark.

A billion bright lights started to illuminate around them like fireflies, causing Farrah to cling on to Isen unintentionally. He laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder as he turned her around and stood back up on his two feet.

"Where are we?"

"Do not be afraid. This is merely a vision of the heavens, and my home."

Farrah's jaw dropped wide open as she noticed different planets hovering around them, and a variety of shooting stars whizzing past the two. With a slight timidness in her voice, she asked, "So, you are an alien."

"If that is the way you want to view me, so be it."

"So you just floated around space? Why and when did you come here?"

Isen didn't respond, and instead pointed a thin, sharp finger at a surprisingly dark part of the solar system. No stars surrounded the area. It was almost as if they were avoiding making contact with the eerie place.

Farrah squinted, taking a step closer towards the dark mass of what almost looked like clouds.  She reached out to touch it, but her fingers only went through the material.

"That is my home. It has never been seen by mankind before, until now, that is."

Watching the lonely mass of darkness made chills run down Farrah's spine. She didn't feel comfortable watching it, but she couldn't tear her gaze away either.

"How many of you are there?"

"I am the only one of my kind," Isen didn't seem to like saying that, but he leaned down and affectionally tapped the tip of Farrah's nose like a parent would with their child. "And you are the only one of your kind."

"You don't know that yet," Farrah protested, wanting nothing else than to be left alone at that moment. "You said yourself that you met some. There's a chance they're still alive."

Isen waved his hand, and the world around them began to drift away like wisps of smoke. Farrah realized that they were back in the forest, much to her relief.

"They are no longer living."

"How do you know that?"

"I have watched them all die, one after the other." Isen didn't seem at all fazed with what he had just said, but he could tell by Farrah's sudden facial expression that it had affected her greatly.

The young woman stared at Isen straight in the face, her nostrils flaring slightly as she tightened her jaw. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that they are all dead, " Isen stated bluntly without any thought for the girl's feelings. "I have made contact with four humans since the cleansing began. The last human I knew decided he had enough." Isen's voice trailed away as he thought about the man he had spent a short while with. The two were inseparable for a few weeks, until Isen noticed him missing one night. He later saw him hanging from his neck on a nearby tree. The creature never really understood why he had chosen to kill himself.

"Death is inevitable. I have come to this planet to observe, and I have learned to appreciate the beauty of your world, as well as the pain its bears on its children." 

Farrah felt a knot growing in her throat as she could only listen to what she was being told.

"What do you mean by 'cleansing'?"

Isen clamped his mouth shut, and for the first time Farrah noticed a hint of what the creature was feeling at that moment. A frown was clearly evident on his face, but it vanished in the blink of an eye.

"This Purification has happened because the world was in complete chaos. The universe was right in ending..." Isen couldn't finish what he was saying, especially when he realized his companion's eyes were beginning to redden.

"I am sorry," He added in a low voice, "I have forgotten that you have lost loved ones."

"You know what?" Farrah stood up tall, wiping away a single tear sliding down her cheek. "It's fine. Thanks for everything, but I'm going now."

Isen perked up as he watched her turn around and start to stride away, her shoeless feet barely making any sound.

"Where will you go?" The creature rose his voice, a hint of franticness audible in his voice. "The sun is setting. It is getting dark. You will be alone again."

"I think I can manage."

Isen snorted loudly, watching helplessly as Farrah began to fade away from him. Before he knew it, she was just a moving speck in the distance, vanishing amidst the trees.