Fate of the Alphaverse

6 - Joseph

All three men said to be solid in their emotions proved to be not so solid in their footing, as all three of them toppled upon landing the craft. They had landed atop a hill. The three men gazed out over the new landscape. The could see the palace from their landing site.

"May as well not waste time, eh?" Jacobi was the first to break the ominous silence; the others were still marvelling at the beauty.
Joseph shook his head to tear his eyes away from the beautiful landscape. "Yeah," he murmured vacantly. He shook his head again, more thoroughly this time. "Yes." he said with finality. "Let's go."

He stepped out of the craft..... And fell about four feet. He had forgotten they were atop a hill. Justin and Jacobi at least had his shout of discomfort as a warning. Despite that, they snickered as they leapt lightly from the door of the craft, with it sealing shut behind them. "Did you have a nice trip, Joseph?" Justin tried and failed to disguise the chuckle that gave away his glee.

"That weren't no trip, that was a big-ass fall!" Jacobi laughed, tears pouring relentlessly down his face. He thrush out a gnarled hand towards Joseph. "You right mate?"

Joseph swatted his hand away, pushing himself off the ground. "Nice of SOMEONE to offer!" He scowled disgruntledly. Jacobi and Justin were still laughing. "See you two losers later!" He called over his shoulder, strutting off, and laughing inwardly as they scrambled to catch up with him.

"Oh man!" Justin moaned wiping his face. "Your expression was priceless!" Joseph chose not to react, but merely rolled his eyes.

"Come on you knuckleheads! Chop chop!" Joseph picked up his pace and strolled purposefully down the hill toward the village. As they neared the village, the crowd of people thickened. More people looked at them, stared at them. Seeing them in close quarters made Joseph notice something odd.

"Cobes?" He murmured under his breath.

"Eh?" Jacobi whispered back.

"Do they all have green hair?"

"Nah - the leaves are their hair. Some of em have red or yellow hair in autumn, and brown in winter. Some stay green all year round. Some poor fella's even lose their hair before spring rolls 'round. Why?"

Joseph glanced around him, and was amazed when he noted that Jacobi was correct. Just like all the beings on Jungle's eyes were electric blue, the beings on A all shared the common theme of leaves for hair.

"Just curious." He mumbled under his breath. Now was probably not a great time to admit how little he had paid attention in his Alphaverse classes. If he was being honest with himself, he was surprised that Jacobi had even attended classes, let alone paid attention in them.

Despite his discomfort, he held his chin high as he strode through the villages of A. Many a lamplike eye opened towards their odd looking trio, and honestly, he couldn't blame them. They really did look like aliens amongst all the green.

Their straight trajectory walking had lead them right into the center of the village. Before they had time to marvel at the wondrous sight before, a hulking mass of a guard stepped directly in front of Joseph, blocking his view.

"What are you doing here, foreigners?" He menacingly poked his spear in their direction causing Joseph to unintentionally step back, for fear of being harmed. Surprisingly to Joseph, Jacobi stepped forward defiantly.

"We've come ter speak ta yer monarchs. Could we be finding them through these here gates?" Jacobi spoke loudly and clearly, but not rudely. He held his otherwise hunched over body upright, bony chest thrust forwards. He looked the guard directly in the eye.