The Way Home (DISCONTINUED)

Summer

On any other night, everyone would be asleep by now. But tonight was special. Once a year, the stars that humans saw on Earth would be visible from the planet Mythtas, as well as their bright moon. On this night, everyone, even small children, were able to stay up past the beginning of their sleeping hours to see the twinkling lights, far away in the sky. It was Luka's favorite day of the year, it always had been since she was a child. She would stand on the roof of her residential building with her family, holding her stuffed tightly. Her stuffed was her most prized possession, it had been ever since she was a child. She was lucky to have taken such good care of it- most Mythtite children tore apart or ripped their stuffeds by the time they were eleven. Hers was in the shape of an Earth animal called a koala, and it had a soft gray body with a lighter gray chest, round gray ears with light gray middles, black coal eyes, a black nose, and four legs with paws on the end.

As she climbed the steps to the roof, she heard running footsteps of guards in the square. On the brightest night, all magic would become stronger, and humans might be able to access their planet. They weren't absolutely terrified of humans, but they were aware of the dangers of them. Humans had guns and missiles and other war technology, and they could wipe out the entire Mythtite species. The entrance had to be well-guarded.

A star shot across the sky, sending a brighter light out before disappearing into the dark sky. Luka gasped, squeezing her stuffed tighter. She was wearing her nightgown, made of soft white fabric and little bits of lace at the collar, skirt hem, and sleeve cuffs. A light blue ribbon was weaved through the collar lace and tied in a flat knot, leaving two short strings hanging down. Her cotton-candy-pink hair was combed and brushed, with her antlers and the two tulip-like puffs of hair sticking out the sides. Her feet were bare like everyone else's on Mythtas, as shoes were not a necessity there. Nobody ever made them.

She raised her head up to the sky, watching the stars get brighter and brighter, and then suddenly a loud noise crashed through the pretty night. She turned to the other side of the roof, where the noise had come from, to see the guards running away from the barrier.

"Everyone inside!" they shouted, running through the streets. "Get inside!! Human invasion, get inside! There's a human coming! Get inside for shelter!!"

Luka was frozen as the rest of her building's residents went down the stairs and back to their rooms. In only a few moments, the streets were empty, and she could see something else running through town.

A human.

She was wearing a helmet and an odd-looking piece of clothing, but Luka could see her face. She had leaf-green hair and sparkling, sharp black eyes. Almost the same eyes as the pinkette's koala. Her face looked determined, focused on her goal, as she ran around the town and then turned back towards the portal. Curious, Luka began to follow her, keeping her bare feet quiet on the walkways. She had never seen the barrier before, not on the brightest night. It looked as if it were bursting with magic. She could see into the tunnel, and there were small stars inside, and it felt like they were calling her name.

Luka took a step forward, and it echoed into the tunnel. The human in the weird suit stopped and turned around, a strange voice echoing back to her. "Are you coming?" the voice asked. "Be careful, you never know what you'll find." The human reached an arm out and grabbed onto Luka's arm, pulling her forward so fast that she tripped and fell through the floor of the tunnel. The next thing she felt was something wet splashing around her and covering her body, pulling her under...and then everything went black.

In another part of the human world, not too far from where Luka was, a small but cozy house sat on a hill just half a mile away from the lake. Inside the house, a young girl of about sixteen was furiously brushing her short brown hair. Although her expression was fiercely determined, her soft eyes gave away her gentle nature. She was dressed in a white Coca-Cola T-shirt that had red sleeves, as well as blue cutoff shorts that ended a few inches before her knee. She pulled her bangs up into a ponytail and tied them to a piece of her back hair, then laughed and pulled the hairband out. "Jeez, I look ridiculous," she said as she stuffed the band in her pocket. Her bare footsteps creaked slowly on the stairs as she went down to the main floor, slipping on her flip-flops and grabbing her phone. "Mom?" she called. "I'm going to the beach! I'll be back later, text me if you need anything!" She slipped out the door and let it slam in the wind, then hopped on her bike and started on the path down to the beach. Before she got there, she felt her phone buzz in her pocket and stopped by the side of the road.