A Call For Help (Part One)

Akin saw nothing, everything around him was covered in an extremely dark black color. He felt a certain warmth in his toes, his hands covered with something. He also felt like something was touching him, something rough and damp. He started to open his eyes, blinking at the still blurred vision. On top of his face, an animal licked him continuously, in a pattern. The boy let out a cry, sitting up quickly as the animal walked away in fear of that scream.

"Thank goodness, you woke up." Galeg said as he kept the fire going, smoke covering the cloudy sky. "Since when do you believe in God?" Akin asked as he looked around, surrounded by countless secular trees and moss.

"What the hell happened?" The boy asked, his fingers pressing into his eyes as if he were trying to remember. "Do you really not remember?" Galeg asked.

He started to remember. After the fall, the three destroyed their armor completely. Akin and Galeg were slightly injured, Blavius ​​on the other hand ended up breaking his left leg. The place where he fell was made of an extremely hard type of rock. The creature did not follow them through the swamp, it could be that it was waiting for the three to be careless again. Or the creature was afraid of what might be down there. Not long after, they were attacked by a small five-eyed creature, while the two carried Blavius ​​in their arms. Akin had received an injection of some kind of poison while fighting the little monster, passing out not long afterwards. That was all he could remember.

"Where's Blavius?" He asked with a concerned look, rising slowly. He looked in every possible direction, with no sign of the reddish boy. "Relax," Galeg replied. "He's with the girls, they went looking for something to eat. Avey made a crutch for him with some kind of strange wood." Akin froze. He thought Vantner, Avey and Palmia were dead. "When did they show up?" He asked, his eyes wide, a small smile forming.

"About two hours ago," He said as he stirred the fire again, increasing its size. "Vantner and Avey were covered with moss, their armor was stuck like glue, I haven't been able to get them out of it yet." Akin looked at his own body, with no sign of his armor. Looking further to the left, he found it leaning against a wet tree. Galeg had probably removed it.

"And Pamil?" He asked seriously. "No sign of her." Galeg replied, looking at Akin. "So she's dead." Akin said coldly. He never spoke to the girl directly, just knowing her name. He didn't even know what class she was from. "We don't know what happened to her." Galeg said this time standing, looking directly at Akin. "She is dead." He said, this time looking Galeg in the eye.

They remained silent the rest of the time, surrounding the fire, basking in the freezing cold. The only sound that rang in their ears was the hum of small creatures that looked like mosquitoes. The dark-skinned boy looked at Galeg, staring at the light pink Athorian. Most Athorians had this skin tone, some were green or blue. He had a pointed ear, like that of an elf. Small mosquito-like creatures surrounded him all the time and he received them with a slap. Akin wondered how they managed to become friends. How they managed to leave the past war between their races behind in the last few years they lived together. Even if the boy still hated Athor's actions, why would he hate all existing Athorians? He felt hatred once again taking over, slowly calming down.

A small crack alerted them to someone's presence. Galeg pulled out his energy knife, while Akin took the nearest thing, a stone. From inside the moss and bushes, Avey, Vantner and Blavius came out holding some fruit in their own hands. Akin noticed the looks of the three newcomers to the small camp. They were staring at him.

Vantner cried, thinking that her best friend would not recover. Blavius ​​smiled from ear to ear, laughing a little. Avey was without her metallic mask, indicating that this planet was not composed of oxygen gas, which didn't explain how Akin and the others managed to breathe. Avey ran to the boy, letting the fruits fall into the dirt, hugging him with all her strength, looking him in the eye for a while and blushing a little. Akin received her with a big smile and, for a moment, even thought about kissing her right there. His thoughts vanished with the arrival of his other two friends, who also embraced him.

Avey recovered the fruits from the mud, joining the others around the fire. The fruits were blue and yellow, called Gamao. It was generally found in systems colonized by the Foundation, but how it ended up on this isolated planet they didn't know. They had already discussed the possibility of being abducted, in a trap, to some other planet, but they were too tired to continue the conversation.

Everyone had already laid down on the floor, except Akin and Galeg. "You can go to sleep, I'll be watching." The Athorian said without taking his eyes off the fire. "Are you sure?" Akin asked. Galeg nodded, shaking his head. Akin went to the muddy floor, lying down next to Vantner, who was already asleep. He looked up at the smoke-streaked gray sky, trying to see the stars.

While thinking about the stars, the boy finally fell asleep.