Eve of Terra

Part 15 'Shrouded'

Gazes sparred between Kael and the twins. When his eyes attained mine, I sent him a questioning blow. The peeved on his expression vacated and replaced by blank. I waited for someone to break the silence, but after seconds -- or probably minutes, still none.

"Well?" I began.

The twins locked eyes before replying in resonant. "What?" The fret in their face concealed as they turned around to face the cockpit view.

"You said about—"

Like a shot, Twamo interrupted. "We're about to reach coordinate 35.515569°S 148.921632°E. This is the closest we could go to the capital."

Inscrutable latched onto Kael's face as he walked to the monitor, instantly running his fingers over the floating 3D screen. Twamo, smaller in comparison hunched and stepped to the side.

"We're stopping here. Get ready," Kael announced. He picked something from his jacket and brought it to his face. It was a goggle, a very sleek design that shaped up instantly to match his face.

In truth, I wanted an answer to what the twins had mentioned about Kael. But all of them were on each other toes for the issue not to rise. Tware was silent at the corner, giving me a look I couldn't conclude whether it was pity or apprehension.

Deciding to wait for better timing, I let the puzzle slide. "Are we landing then?"

"We can't land. This plane has no authority for it because it's—"

I lifted an eyebrow to Twamo, ceasing his words. "Stolen?"

"Yeah... Tware did it."

Tware's eyes bulged. "Me?" He spat after his mouth hung at the accusation.

"Yes, you did say it's your plane, didn't you?"

Gasping, Tware got to where his twin stood. In just seconds, they started slapping each other by the hands, looking ridiculous at it. In my peripheral view, Kael sighed. He resumed skimming through the monitor and closed in on me.

Pushing back my hair, he put the same device as his over my eyes. "To keep your dazzle shining" --He tapped over the goggle-- "We're diving."

Confusion hit me. "What do you mean?" As the last word took fleet, a passage unlatched a few feet from us. Kael threw my pouch where the Olielle was bobbing from the top of it, which I caught by reflex. And before I got to register the situation, Kael picked me up.

"Wait! Wait! You're not serious!"

A smirk strung on Kael's face the exact moment he started jogging towards the gaping. The floor rumbled under each of his footings, and when I heard no more of it, the sound of wind slammed in. A scream was all that was left of me where it collided with the twins' parting word, "Cheerio!" My chances of answer deserted along with losing sight of them.

Below was a height I had never done without proper briefing, and Kael was holding me with a face wearing amusement.

"You said you don't intend to jump!" I gushed.

"You see me naked?"

Circumstances resolved my question, yet the reason stayed. We were plummeting in a significance of bare, pulled by gravity and less drag due to weight without any mechanism for a safe landing. I reached Kael's back, searching for a parachute, but felt nothing other than his flat jacket.

"Tell me you have wings!"

"I don't," he uttered, tone declaring his calm.

Lost for words, I glanced slightly down where land began to take shape. We were nearing an area that looked somewhat like a forest. As altitude lessened, I clamped more to Kael. Due to what I wanted no acquaintance in my life -- the likes of what fear felt like, I shut my eyes. Kael put his palm on the back of my head, bringing me close to his chest. My body was engulfed firmly by him, putting his accelerating heartbeat close to my ear. Suddenly I felt the wind discontinued; following it was a jolting feeling. I managed to open my eyes and discern a translucent ball like barrier around us. It would bounce on each surface we hit until the force of friction put us into still.

Strain was noticeable on the chuckle coming from Kael before he began, "That one is the highest I did." His fingers brushed my messy hair, where some even strayed in my mouth due to my frantic yelling during our jump.

I ignored him and contemplated how I should react. I chose to be furious.

"Did you eat some clouds on the way?" He pulled us up, putting me into a straddle position and clicked on something on his metal hand. The transparent bubble around us depleted and rewound into his hand.

"I ate more than clouds!" I snapped and wobbled slightly to my feet. Dizziness pulled me back down to his waiting arms.

He settled me into his lap, refusing to let me stand after the fall. "I thought you'd done skydiving before?"

"I did. But I was ready on each of em. You did me without notice!" I spite.

Cold cupped one side of my face while the other was warm. I was brought to his pair of beautiful emerald in one swift pull. The concern hosting his gaze sent my anger away. "I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?" He asked with a voice rasp yet soft as it landed on my ear.

I nodded, then again, I felt his regard weighing. He checked my body, looking for the injury. What he didn't know was the hurt resided in my heart -- I preferred his usual wit than the kindness he held in his eyes. Tenderness had cut me deeper than anything. I feared love more than death, as leaving everything behind was better than being alive to carry the love someone had left.

"The suit is still working, is it?" His worry voice broke my trance. I spun when a tear rolled down from my eyes. A hum was my only reply.

Pushing him slightly, I got back to my feet and busied myself looking at the perimeter. We were indeed inside a forest. My eardrums were still blocked, so I couldn't determine the elevation yet. The trees seemed strange. Their structure was likely pine, but they were bluish from the tip, turning brown lower to their bark. Lack of knowledge about botany would have contributed to the matter, but I contemplated if pine ever existed with the type of shade. They looked dead, but when I pricked one of the needles, it was moist. I crouched and inspected the soil where the roots crawled. Contrary to the tree's condition, the ground was all dust and dry.

"That's odd," I mumbled, still inspecting the needle on my hand. The sap from its cut end was supple when I rubbed it between my fingers.

"Is this pine trees?" I swivelled to Kael who was still sitting on the dirt.

"What else would they be that blue and pointy," he deadpanned.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, in the past, they're not this blue. The colour was only bluish-green."

He shrugged. As he got up, a hushed groan fled his lips. He limped and held on to one of the trees as support. I dared myself to ignore him, thinking if I feigned not to care, he would get over me. But instead, I spun and closed in on him.

"Are you okay?" My mouth also decided to betray.

He smiled and peered down to his legs. "It'll heal. Give it a minute. Don't make too much noise. We don't want any tag along."

After a moment, he insisted we started moving before nightfall. I followed him close in silence. He was staggering on some of his steps, but his pace didn't waver. Minutes turned to hours, and the sky began to grey.

"Kael, we should stop. Let's give your leg a rest. I don't--"

Index finger over his lips, he spun to me. His eyebrows narrowed while scanning around like something was happening. "No," he emitted.

Suddenly I felt the ground vibrate, no bushes rustling, no wind whistling; it was only the thumping on the surface of the earth. Kael snapped me out of my momentary daze and started pulling me to run. He grasped his gun, one hand loosening his belt as it came to live. The belt morphed into a boomerang. It flew in a direction opposite to us while setting off a sound mimicking voices.

"We have to hurry and reach the lower ground. They're blind, but they could hear even the sound of our breath. We'll lose them in the pack level below," he urged. The pain was evident in his face as he hasted.

Parch ground rumbled more from behind us, calling for me to look back. Trees were pushed to the side by nothing my eyes could perceive. But then I saw it; the sparse light from sunset gave away their shadows on the earth floor—a significant size compared to mine.

They were shrouded, invisible. Whatever they were.