Chapter 2: Domiotania

Akira and Adik ventured deeper into the forest to find an exit from the insect-infested forests, only to find more insects that roaming around and attack them both on their sight, but all of them are slaughtered by the two officers effortlessly as they traveled deeper into the forest.

As the two officers ventured deeper and deeper in the forest, they found the remnants of the camp, which it should not be here, in the dangerous forest.

"Huh? This is..." said Akira as she noticed the remnants of tents and campfires scattered around.

"Yeah, this must be a place that the hunters rest here." replied Adik. "But why is it here? Is there people around here?"

"Allow me." Akira tells Adik before she will investigates the camp remnants. After a short while, she came back to him.

"Judging from the structure, the camp must be here for long." said Akira.

"How long?" asked Adik.

"Estimately for a few months." answered Akira.

"Tch. I doubt the hunters must be killed by the insects here, one way or another." commented Adik. "They sure don't know how to deal with those damn bastards, did they?"

"..." Akira can only kept in silence after hearing their tragic end.

"Of course. We can't use these ruins as our resting place, let's look for the exit of this forest before those bugs attack us again." Adik tells Akira before advancing.

"Alright." Akira replied before following Adik from behind.

The both traverses deeper into the forest that seems to be endless as they keeping walk down through the woods trails. The countless predictions came in their minds as they keep traveling, until they see the light at the end of the road.

"Look, light!" said Akira as she noticed the light. "That must be an exit, I can sense it."

"Let's head there before the insects attack us again!"

After Adik said, the both then rush towards the light at the forest's end with superhuman speed, with the insects that detected them came flying and chase them down. Eventually, they went out from the forest at the last second, at the same moment the insects stop chasing them and return to their territory.

When the two officers came out from the forest, they witness the beautiful sight of the planet beyond their homeworld. The lands with lush green-colored abundance, giant waterfalls can be seen from their standing point. The sight reminds them of the view of the certain place on planet Earth.

"Beautiful, those waterfalls and greenery. The fresh air of this planet made my head felt clearer." Akira said as she inhales the air of the planet full into her lungs.

"You're right. But my guess is: there is no other lifeforms than the insects in the forest behind us. Did you think are there any other lifeforms around?" asked Adik.

"We might come across them once we explore around enough." replied Akira.

"I won't believe such a prediction until I know that fact of yours by myself." commented Adik.

"Well, how about we go down from the mountains through the cliffs over there?" Akira said as she points at the slopes near their point. "We can continue to explore the planet by following that path."

"If you say so, then I've got no objections. Let's go, be careful of getting slipped while walking on the cliff slopes." said Adik.

"Yes, I understand. Let's move on." Akira answers before the both went down on the slopes nearby the mountains they standing on. They firmly believe that there must be any other lifeforms than the insects they encountered back in the deep forest existed on the planet.

True to their prediction, they found the village after trekking down from several slopes of the mountain for some time. Their efforts and thoughts came to fruition.

"Thank goodness my hunch was true." Akira said with relief.

"A village below down the mountains, and near the waterfall too? Strange." surprised Adik.

"Yes, strange indeed." Akira agrees with him.

The villagers lived here noticed the both, very surprised of the fact that they came down from the high cliffs out from the deep great forest above their village which is very dangerous for them.

"Oh, the visitors! Welcome! How rare for the visitors to come visit our village." said one of the villagers who noticed them.

Akira and Adik suspected of what the villager said, especially of the word 'rare.'

"What do you mean by 'rare'?" asked Akira.

"Well, you see. The forest on the high cliffs up above our village are infested with giant insects, and then they came swarming over when that time comes." explained the villager. "And yes, we have to hide ourselves, close the windows and everything to make sure they won't see us and keep ourselves safe."

"Wow, that's... really dangerous." said Akira.

"Hm, that's really one of a harsh way of life." commented Adik.

"It's harsh, we know. But we already get used to it." replied the male villager.

Akira shocked in what the villager replied to her, while Adik still remain silent as if he does not budge with this kind of 'get used to' thing the villager said at all.

"Wha... How?" Akira started to suspect.

"How can we know? We're just typical villagers, we're only doing what we do for our own survival." said the same villager.

"What you said do make some sense." replied Adik. "So, let's get to the point. Did those insects attacked your village frequently?"

"A lot, can't count with my fingers to be honest." said the villager.

"I see... I can conclude that it's a miracle the village can still being alive." said Adik.

"Yeah, o'course it was. Should they see us, this village would likely has no traces of its remains left, if y'catch my drift." The villager agrees with him. "So, if you two came down from the forest up there, that means you kill them all out, right?"

"Uh... yes, we exterminated countless insects back in that forest." Akira answered with a smile.

"Thank goodness, we don't know when they're going onto their swarming phase again. But at least we can felt relieved from that for now." said the villager. "Where're you guys from, anyway?"

"We're from beyond..." before Akira finishes speaking, Adik came in and takes her place.

"We're from the other side of the forest you mentioned, we stay at there." said Adik.

"Oh, I see. Quite harsh to keep yourselves alive by beating up those insects, isn't it?" replied the same villager.

"Yes, it is." answered Akira.

"Well, it's good to see people who can give'em some serious beating, and make yourselves at home here. We always welcome visitors from anywhere." The villager said before walking back into the village near the waterfall.

The villagers' attitudes cause the perplexion to Akira and Adik, more or less. As if they have been faced such a crisis for several times.

"They acted like as if the insect swarm attacks are just a part of their daily lives." commented Akira.

"You've got to know that this planet consists of the giant insects we encountered before. We don't know how they could shaped their minds are in." said Adik. "You shouldn't let slip of what you mustn't say in the first place, either."

"Yes, I'm sorry." apologized Akira. "I do remember that but..." She stops speaking, pondering of something.

"But what?" asked Adik.

"Do you not think that it is strange to have a village built near the insects' lair like this?" Akira suspected.

Adik silents and thinks for a bit.

"You got a point right there." agreed Adik. "There must be some reason behind for the people to make their settlements here, despite of how the death can come from above anytime."

"Correct. For the water resources, they are mainly from the waterfall since the flowing water is generally safe to consume on this planet in my opinion." replied Akira.

"But what about their food? Do you have any idea? I literally mean it." asked Adik.

"...I don't know if they eat things similar to what us eat. Let's investigate around the village, maybe we could find some clues."

Akira said before she went into the village as her friend follows her. As they went along the village, they heard the voices of the people around, talking about their daily lives as if the swarm invasions from the past are just nothing but a part of their lives.

"They seem don't to be concern about the insects' invasions at all." commented Akira.

"Are these people don't even have an idea about that? How bothersome." Adik said in annoyance.

"You can said that, sure. But I think there's no way the villagers would migrate to somewhere else from here." said Akira. "Not even when we told them to leave from here, and using force isn't the style for a beautiful girl like me either."

"What makes you say that?" Adik suspected.

"Have you look around the village's stalls and places of interest yet, Mr. Adik?" said Akira. "If you already seen them, you wouldn't ask that to me."

Adik reminisces of what he saw during the stroll around the village. Fresh bug meat sold by the merchants at the food stalls, the hunters went off from the village in the same way they came in, villagers collecting water from the waterfall. These facts made Adik acknowledged the lifestyles of this village almost in an instant.

"Hm, I think I got some right guesses in mind." Adik said as he thought of the villagers' lifestyles.

"So you did get it, after all." Akira tells Adik before explaining what she thought. "The lifestyle of the villagers here is quite being 'primitive', or as I thought. Hunting bugs, trading things and such..."

"Well, the word 'primitive' quite not suit for Domiotania. Let's say that it is an underdeveloped planet that have civilization level at Earth's early centuries." said Adik.

"I won't disagree with that, since the planet was went in that way. Sometimes developing something too much can cause a destruction, like our home planet Earth... I still remember of how our planet in the past was look like in the books long before the Space Era came." said Akira.

"You're right. But those who can't adapt with the incoming changes are unable to keep living on the world for long. People need to adapt themselves as the era changes when the time passes." said Adik.

"Still, we can't force the people to adapt themselves to it. There are some people who aren't ready to face the reality of change, you know. But when it comes, we've to face the change whether we're ready or not."

Akira said before she took out a compact laptop that can use to communicate between planets, sending the report directly to Intergalactic Federation HQ.

"What're you doing, Akira?" asked Adik.

"I'm sending the report to the HQ. This is Akira Mimori, I'm here to report that the planet cannot be inhabited by us humans since the giant insects lived here have been posed the threat level too high, and they are too dangerous for normal humans to adapt and fight against them. There is no sign of Asterism of Laharos currently, we're looking for it. We'll report to the HQ later." Akira spoke up the report before sending it.

"All done." said Akira as she kept her laptop into her skirt pocket. "Speaking of which, we didn't find the clues about that weapon yet after we arrived here."

"...You're right. Tch, what a pain. I'm sure that the people around here won't even know what the hell that weapon is either." Adik said with anger.

"It's not like we can go explore freely to find the clues about the weapon too. If we go out, we'll only put ourselves into an unknown greater danger." said Akira.

As the both were discussing the whereabouts of Asterism of Laharos, suddenly the red-haired woman walks toward them as if having something to tell the both.

"Uh, excuse me. Did you say Asterism of Laharos just now?" asked the woman.

"Yeah. Who're you?" Adik asks the woman.

"I'm Hectia, Hectia G. Adlyne, to be precise." The woman introduces herself. "I am the researcher of this village."

"The researcher in the village like this? I don't think I could bring myself to believe that." said Akira.

"Yeah, you're more like a librarian that read books for so long and didn't take the sleep for a week straight." Adik speak with sense of insult.

"Excuse me?! I AM the real researcher! I did a lot of researches and known to be the smartest person in the village!" said Hectia.

"Smartest person, huh? Yeah yeah, whatever. Cut that stuff out and tell us something more useful." said Adik.

"Let's get to the chase, how did you know about Asterism of Laharos?" Akira asked Hectia.

"About that... um, I heard a very faint sound of explosion from somewhere very, very, very faraway place. But I don't know where it came from. I looked here and there, but no signs of the sound's origin at all." explained Hectia.

"Heh. That seems plausible in some degree." said Adik.

"So, do you got any idea what that weapon is?" Hectia asks the both.

Akira and Adik then explains about the Asterism of Laharos, as well as its mysterious disappearance that even themselves and the Federation do not know, and how it was used to cause a mass destruction onto the planets by shooting the energy beam to the asteroids to cause its debris to fall onto the planets in the Universe War I back when 6 years ago.

"I-I can't believe this..." Hectia said in shock and horror.

"I know you won't believe that kind of story, but it did really used in the war before. We're currently finding the whereabouts of that weapon, and it suddenly goes POOF! It's gone without a trace when its destruction commence came up." said Akira.

"That's the reason why we come to Domiotania to search for its clues, and to find who's the culprit of taking it away." replied Adik.

"What's Domiotania?" asked Hectia.

"It's the name we given to your planet." answered Akira.

"Oh, I see! So that's the name of our world you two given to." said Hectia. "I forgot something!"

"What's up?" Adik asked.

"What's your name?" asked Hectia.

"Well, I'm Akira, and this is Adik." replied Akira.

"Nice to meet you two! Quite a long journey to get to our village, isn't it?" Hectia asked joyfully.

"Well, yeah. We've taken down lots of giant bugs in the forest above there, but I'll admit that your world is better than ours." answered Adik.

"Our home better than yours? In that way?" suspected Hectia.

"Hmm, let me think... The environment and the atmosphere, to be honest." replied Akira.

"Oh, right! Of course it is!" Hectia agreed. "So, how about having a taste of roasted bug steak? It's tasty!"

Hectia tells before handing the roasted bug steak to the both.

"No, thank you." Akira rejects politely.

"I'm not hungry, I'll pass." rejected Adik.

"Aww, such a tasty food gets wasted... *munch*" said Hectia as she taken a bite on the bug steak.

"Lemme ask one thing, you and the villagers here eat bugs, right?" asked Adik.

"Yes, why asking that all of the sudden?" Hectia replied with a question.

"I guess that makes some more sense now, just by looking at what you eat." Adik said as he thought about this village.

"I can say here that the insects on that forest are edible." said Hectia. "Say, I've got a request for you two to help, want to hear it out if you don't mind?"

"Spill it out." answered Adik.

"I want you to help me with a little task." said Hectia.

"What kind of task?" asked Akira.

"I want you two to help me explore the caves behind the village's waterfall over there!" Hectia tells the both before pointing as the grand waterfall near the village. The narrow trails can be seen nearby the cliffs.

"What purpose do you have with that place?" Akira asked up.

"Why, you say? Recently I was searching for an ore that is VERY rare to find, but I search all over the places around where I lived and all of my efforts are in vain." explained Hectia. "And the last place around I can thought right now is the caves behind Nudor Waterfall."

"Sadly it's oo dangerous in there so I can't go by myself alone..." said Hectia.

"So you're saying that you want us to help you search for that ore in that caverns?" asked Adik.

"Exactly! You got my point fast, I appreciate that. That ore was known only in books and stuff, so I wish I'm going to be the first person who discover and research it!" Hectia said excitedly.

"Oh, yes, okay. I get your point now." said Akira.

"What'd you say? Are you two gonna help me?" Hectia asked the both.

"I don't think we could have much choice in this situation. We'll help you out then, is that okay, Adik?" Akira replies before asking Adik.

"Tch. Fine, I'll join in. But in return, you're going to tell us everything you know about Asterism of Laharos, got it?" Adik tells Hectia.

"Alright, that's the promise then, thanks for the help guys!" Hectia happily thanks Akira and Adik.

"Let me ask in advance, do you have anything to defend yourself?" Adik asks Hectia.

Upon hearing that question, Hectia takes her sword out from the bag she carried, seemingly sturdy enough to use in battle.

"I have this, so I can defend myself. Just swinging it around and that's it!" said Hectia.

"What're you, an adventurer? You got lots of stuff to travel to faraway places." commented Adik as he saw Hectia's bag.

"You're going to hurt yourself if you do that." Akira warns Hectia.

"Well I'm not going to hurt myself, if you two're ready then let's go!" Hectia seems to not listen to her warning before went to the cliff trails near the waterfall.

"Goodness, what a stubborn researcher... or an adventurer to be more accurate?" said Akira.

"I'd give her some beating after that if I were you." commented Adik.

"I bet you won't do that." replied Akira.

"Tch. Let's get going, be careful of slipping down from the cliffs. The trails are wet from the water." Adik tells Akira before he follows Hectia through the cliff trails.

Akira then follows him through the same way, but during at the moment of one step...

"Woah!"

Akira acccidentally slipped down from the cliff trails, but Adik caught her in the moment she going to slip off from the cliff.

"I told you to be careful." Adik said before pulling Akira up to the trails.

"Thank you." Akira thanks her friend.

The both slowly proceeds through the cliff trails until they reached at the caverns behind the waterfall.

"Here's our destination! You guys ready?" Hectia asks the both.

"We're more than ready now, please." replied Akira.

"Yeah, you just guide us, we'll protect you, that's all." said Adik.

"Alright then, let the exploration begin!"

Hectia said as her voice echoes around the cave entrance before walking inside first. Akira and Adik turned to look at each other before they will follow the researcher from behind to proceed into the caverns behind Nudor Waterfall near the village, to be an assistance of in search for the ore she was looking for her research project.