Spirited Away: an Alien Erotic Romance

Waylaid: Chapter Three -Waylaid

WAYLAID

Chen glided across the waters towards the prone figuring laying beneath the foliage of an arbor. He’d heard the woman’s cry of distress, but before that he heard her heartfelt plea. He didn’t understand her words. The language was not his mother’s tongue, but Chen read emotions clearly. Before something caused her distress, she was calling out to the Heavens for enlightenment.

As Chen made his way over to her, he looked down into the murky depths. A wave of disappointment crashed over him. Though the only light was from the moon’s glow, Chen could see clearly that the water didn’t match any of the blue from his mother’s memories. There would be no diving into its murky stillness.

When he’d landed awhile ago, he’d seen the water clearly, though the liquid wasn’t clear. Both the light from the planet’s star and the lights from the ship’s transport illuminated the waters. Refuse bobbed to the surface along with the carcasses of dead and decaying marine life. Chen’s plans of sailing on a clear blue wave crashed, when he saw the metallic scrapings he’d meet if he dared to wade in.

Careful of the vegetation underfoot, Chen glided away from the transport and wandered around perplexed. The bottom of his long robes trailed over the plant that had closed off its petals in the absence of the light. Chen could feel them sparking to life and reaching up to the sole’s of his feet as he drifted above them.

This was his mother’s village. He would never doubt Hsing’s navigation. His brother was meticulous and precise in all things. Chen stepped out of the clearing, and came face to face with human life -not exactly face to face as he was covered with in dark robes and a hooded cloak. His kind genetically and physically favored their fathers and not their mothers’ species. Though Chen had many traits from his human mother, there were some noticeable physical differences. Chen didn’t wish to alarm the humans. Access to this planet was restricted, abduction illegal.

Chen was not typically a rule breaker. But the times called for drastic measures. But it wasn’t in Chen’s nature to go to extremes. He could bend, not break. Chen had decided he wouldn’t abduct a woman. He would take one that was willing. But not just any one. One who called to  his soul.

Moving into the mix of humans, Chen felt his soul weighing down with each step. The amount of people out overwhelmed Chen. His kind were a small society, even before the war. The amount of humans out in the streets were more than the entire crew on his ship.

There hadn’t been this many people in his mother’s memories. There also hadn’t been so many structures cluttered together. The dwellings were tall and spaced close together. Smoke rose in the air coloring the night’s sky gray. The lights posted on the faces of some of the structures were of a spectrum on the light scale that hurt Chen’s eyes.

As Chen made his way deeper into the village, his nose was assaulted with the smell of various foods. But when he inhaled, his throat seized. He spluttered, coughing loudly. His hood nearly slipped from his head to reveal his face. A few humans looked his way.

Chen took smaller breaths, breathing through his mouth. Like humans, oxygen was necessary for his life’s blood. Oxygen was a naturally occurring chemical. The human food was laced with a number of chemical compounds, most toxic, others he simply couldn’t fathom why they’d allow them near their food supply. Not only were the chemicals unappetizing, the look of the food also turned his stomach. It appeared as though they’d purposely mixed the chemicals into the brown, orange and yellow mush on purpose.

Chen also noticed a lack of wildlife in the area. What animals he did see were caged or on leashes. Chen closed his eyes and reached out into the surrounding mountains. He sensed a conscious effort of animals in the wild keeping their distance out of fear and loathing for humankind. He sensed no tigers nearby.