Finally alive (Book 1)

IV

With every passing minute, I was becoming more and more uncomfortable. Being stuck in a hostile environment was not a thing on my bucket list.

Jake was currently making a some sort of torch, as I stood a few steps away from him. 'Let's hope something burns here.' he said, with more and more sounds starting around us.

'Do you think Grace will come for us?'

'I don't know. We need to focus on not dying right now.' Jake grumbles ripping his shirt and tying it on the stick. I heard a snarl, followed by growling. I whip around my heel, trying to see something in the dark. I squint when a sudden source of light comes from my left.

'Sena, come here!' Jake commands whipping the torch thing left and right. With the help of the light, I manage to see several bodies of nimble creatures moving just outside the light's shadow. I gulp, my mouth dry as I gape at the darkness.

Jake moved forward, yelling to the night that he won't wait all night for them to attack. When he makes a move to hit one of the small creatures, he hits me with his body, making me tumble down to the ground. Growls were all around me, and I felt someone nibbling my shoe. I kick and try to get to my feet, but I'm tackled by one of the six-legged things. I elbow it, but another one takes it's spot, snarling at me more fiercely.

Thinking it's the end, I hear a cry and a whimper and the animal is gone. By the time I get to my feet, I see another figure moving swiftly and with ease, scaring the creatures away.

I observe the figure, clearly a native, mumbling something in Na'vi as she dumped Jake's makeshift torch to a small puddle nearby. I feel uncomfortable as the darkness surrounds me again, but when my eyes accustom to it, my jaw drops slightly.

Everything was glowing a soft blue or violet color. There big leaves that reminded me of a tiny palm tree or that blue glowing succulent plant. Even the moss covering the tree barks was glowing light blue with some purple hues. My eyes find Jake, as he was just now getting out of the pool. I run to him.

'Jake, are you okay?' I demand looking up to him, his face looking different now. Was it because it was night? He had tiny freckles on his cheeks and nose that had a soft glow.

'Yeah.' I follow his gaze to the native, that was kneeling near one of the creatures, chanting something quietly, as her hands landed on the creature. Jake crouched, as I stood beside him.

'You probably won't understand what I say but..' he then shuts up and looks up to me. 'You can speak to her.'

'What? Jake, I don't know..'

'C'mon. I heard you talking to Grace. You need to try.' he urges looking back to the native. 'Tell her we thank her for killing the creatures.' my breath hitches.

'Why would I thank her for killing an animal?' I growl as the native stood up swiftly, sending a glare our way. She takes off and Jake goes after her, with me on his heels. I sure as hell am not staying behind in the dark.

'Hey, wait. We just wanted to thank..' he doesn't finish his sentence, as the woman turned back and whipped her bow, making Jake fall down with a grunt.

Shit.

'You don't thank for this.' she snares her hand in front of her, indicating where we just were. I stare at her wide-eyed. 'This is sad. Very sad only.' her ears were down, showing her distress.

'Ngaytxoa.' [Apologies] I jump in, trying to stay calm. She looks at me, her eyes brimming with sadness and annoyance.

'This is your fault. They did not need to die.'

'How is t...' I slap Jake at the back of his head to shut him up.

'We need help. We have no place to go, our people are too far away and you seemed to know..' I stop mid-sentence because she just turns around and takes off again. Bewildered I stare after her for a second. 'Please!' I run after her, this time Jake on our heels. I dodge a weird plant, almost running into her. I stagger back, looking at her wide green eyes looking at me with anger.

'You two are like babies. Making so much noise, don't know what to do.' she piles, her tail twitching.

'If so, why don't you teach us?' Jake steps in a grin on his face. I fight the urge to punch him.

'Sky people cannot learn to see.' she states almost proudly taking off again, pissing me off. Can't we have a normal conversation without running around? My cardio isn't the best.

'Well then, teach us to see.' Jake jumps over a root, and my eyes grow large as I see where we are. She was nearly halfway through a fallen tree. And below was quite a drop; I hate heights.

'No one can teach you to see.' she counters. See what? That I am about to fall to my death?

'Can't we like talk?' he demands as I slowly trek along the tree. By the time I step beside Jake and the native were staring at each other intently.

'You should go back.' she raises her hand, making a curious gesture.

'We can't. Rutxe.' I say hoping that their language would please her somehow. Yet she still held that stern look. I turned to the side slightly, rubbing my forehead. If the natives won't help, we are screwed.

I feel something on top of my head, and I instinctively jerk away. Looking around I see dandelions, descending from the sky. There were a lot, seemingly appeared from nowhere. Majority of them descended onto Jake, with a few of the little things hovering above me. He tried swatting them away but the woman stopped him, something urgent in her voice.

As soon as they appeared, they lifted up and floated off into the night. I gaped at them, the question spilled off my lips without thinking. 'What were those?'

'Seeds of the sacred tree.' she gazed up at the last ones disappearing. 'Very pure souls.' she looks down at us with her eyebrows slightly puckered. 'Come.' she grabs Jake's hand and drags him down the path. I quickly regain my composure and follow her.

She again was walking quite fast, stopping every now and then, allowing us to catch up. All the way I couldn't help but to wonder what happened that she changed her mind so quickly? I mean those floaty seeds may have impacted her decision, but still. What is going on?

I heard a thump and a curse. I look up only to I see Jake tumbling down the tree, making me lose my own footing. I tumble down too, groaning at my clumsiness. I quickly stand up only to come face to face with natives on horses, pointing bows at us.

Both Jake and I raise our hands in surrender, as the woman jumps in front of us and demands the natives to settle down. She also said something about a sign and it being important.

They usher as forward, one of the natives holding a knife at my braid.

Isn't that amazing?

A quick heads up - chapters will be uploaded every Monday. 😉

Have a good day!
~B.