The Chronicles of Chromotonia

                                                                      (Another half-begun story)

The black sky engulfed the world like a blanket. A fluorescent blue sunrise traced the horizon and infinity golden stars sparkled above. Lara glanced into the dense entanglement of branches, curved around each other like fingers. Sahara was there, almost camouflaged as she was nestled amongst the bright crimson foliage. Her feathered chest puffed in and out as she breathed. Lara smiled as bright headlights illuminated the driveway. She stood, wrapped her arms around herself and went to meet her uncle as he pulled up. “Lara!” he said, hugging her tightly. “Oh, uncle! What’s it been? Three, four years?” She stared up at his eyes which were now sad and depressed-looking.

“W-what’s wrong?” Lara’s smile turned to a frown and she said, “Is it aunt Calaya? Don’t tell me something happened to Xuro!”

“No, it’s not them. Calaya’s fine and Xuro is… well… Xuro’s a pain in the butt, as usual. It’s about Chromotonia…” said Lara’s uncle, Farahn.

“What about it?” Lara said. Sahara flew down and perched upon Lara’s shoulder. Lara scratched her soft chest.  “It’s dying. Fast. The guys at the research centre think it’ll be dead by November…” he replied.

“What? But that’s only two months away!” she exclaimed.

“We know. We all know. We’ve got the government working on it. They’re building some new super-village or something down south.”

“Super-village?”

“Yeah, like a big dome with oxygen in it. It’ll never work though,” he said.

“We can’t live there,” said Lara’s Dad, Zuron as he strolled out onto the veranda, arms folded.

“There’s not really much of a choice. It’s either the super-village or no air,” said Farahn. There was a long menacing pause.

“What if we could go back?” Lara said. “What if we could go back to Nadiria?”

“We can’t, Lara, the Narahs own Nadiria now.”

“What if the Narahs gave up? What if they found something better?”

“Something better than Nadiria? Good luck with that…” mumbled Farahn.

“No, uncle, we could tell them that Chromotonia is better. Make them jealous.”

“They’d never believe it, Lara. They’re extra-terrestrial geniuses, not stupid squishy green things.”

Lara Daisy Halari lived on Chromotonia, the second planet in which the human race inhabited since Earth was destroyed some ten years ago. She lived with her father, Zuron and her older brother, Jamari. Lara’s uncle lived on the other side of Chromotonia, near Wadern, with his wife, Calaya, and obnoxious son, Xuro, Lara's cousin. He worked as a scientist examining the fascinating planet of Chromotonia.

Earth had been destroyed some ten years ago, and Nadiria, the other life-sustaining planet, had been taken over by the Narahs, the original extra-terrestrial inhabitants of Nadiria.

A cool, crisp breeze whispered over the salmon-pink grass and suddenly they were hit with the realisation of urgency. Lara bit her lip timidly, her cobalt-blue eyes staring up into the jet black unknown.

“Can’t you find another planet or something? There’s got to be way!”

Farahn shrugged deplorably. “There are ways, time is the biggest issue.”

“I better start making tea,” Zuron said after a while. “Care to join us, Farahn?”

Farahn nodded slowly, his mind still pondered on their previous discussion topic. “I’ll go pick up Xuro and Cally. I’ll be back in a bit,” he said, twirling his car keys in his hand.

Farahn walked to his old, sienna-brown Ford Mustang, the gravel on the driveway crunching under his boots. Sahara tweeted and perched back on her tree. Lara sat back on the veranda and thought.