The footprints were rather small for an organism twice your size; they were similar to wine coloured horses from your home planet. The tiny footprints led to a cave, its gaping hole littered with luminescent ores.
> Scan the ores.
Hm, it seems like it doesn't recognize it. You take a small chunk that lay on the side in your hands, using it to guide you in the dark.
You grip your machine tightly as you walk in, ready to face what's ahead. If the organism attacks you, you can aim for its huge eyeball. It'll be easy, right?
> Continue walking.
The further down you go, the more you start to doubt your choices. Seriously, what were you thinking? You're on an unknown planet, chasing after the thief that took your last portions of food. That organism could easily pull out some sci-fi movie move and say, telepathically control you.
> Continue walking.
Who knows, these glowing ores aren't even known to humankind so far. For all you know, it could be radioactive, slowly seeping into your bones and destroying your tissues....
> Continue walking.
You hit something. It's kind of scaly, a little soft and a tad bit.... Alive.
> Look up.
A singular, lime green eye stares back at you. It's ginormous, daunting and rather disturbing.
> Poke its eye!
You try to move, but you can't; your entire body is frozen in fear.
The chunk of ore in your hands tumble onto the ground. You curse internally as you watch it roll and hit the organism's skinny legs.
You watch the organism's eyes survey the crystal for a second. Then, it stretches its arm over to you, pointing downwards at the crystal.
> Is it... asking for something?
It tilts its head a little, pointing at the crystal again. It raises its four fingers up before pointing back down at the crystal.
> It wants 4 luminous crystals.
You slowly take a few steps back from the organism, making sure to never give your back to it. The organism's eye follows you as you go, picking up smaller ores that were broken already.
> Place it in front of the organism.
The organism gives you a small thumbs up. The little light bulb on its tail wagged like a dog's, as if it's happy. It takes the four crystal ores and drops your food packet onto the ground.
> It's completely ransacked, but at least it's not broken.
> For an organism with a huge eye, it sure left the freeze dried ice cream alone....
You wonder if it's lactose intolerant. Laughing dryly at your own joke, you notice the organism beckoning you to follow it from afar.
You see light up ahead, as if you're back aboveground.
[proceed to chapter 2]
YOU ARE READING
NOMIA
AdventureWhen you've achieved your dreams of going on a solo mission to Mars, you're met with a wormhole unknown to mankind. What's worse is that you have no clue what planet you landed on is; Mars isn't light gray and pink. As you figure out how to return b...
