Genesis

Chapter 2: An Unlikely Duo

In the blink of an eye there was an answer to my thought. Where no one had stood before, a figure clad in a tight fitting suit of forest green, diamond shaped scales covering him from head to toe, stepped out of the foliage. The only reason I knew it wasn't his actual skin was because his eyes, and the flesh surrounding them, showed through the suit.

I stood there, holding my thing, with my mouth agape. He was clearly a male; his stature and physique gave him an err' of manliness that could not be denied. He looked me in the eyes the entire time. Not once did they drop.

My right ear twitched to the sound of something slicing through air behind me. I took advantage of this time to let go of my thing, duck and roll out of the way, all the while simultaneously pulling up my pants and buttoning them.

A similar figure clad in the same tight scales, a girl this time, was racing towards me with a sharp blade. I met her head on. As she swung her sword, I dropped low and spun, taking her feet out from under her and sending her crashing into the ground.

She immediately rolled out of the way, as if she expected me to strike down at her head. She pushed off of the ground and leapt to her feet. She bore down on me for a second time.

As her blade was moving in for a strike, the male stepped in with his own sword and deflected the coming blow. Their blades clashed and they stood there staring into each other's eyes.

The girl had a look of ferocity on her face, but settled down at the sound of the male's voice.

"Calm, Aura!" he said softly. "He is not our enemy."

"Dang right I'm not," I agreed with a curt nod, zipping up my pants.

The one named Aura looked past him to me as the mask of her armor folded in on itself. It revealed a new trait to them. Their faces were human-like, with very subtle differences. The girl's eyes appeared as rivulets of water, streams that flowed into the depths of her soul. They were a light blue and appeared far calmer than they were previously.

"Forgive me," she said sincerely, but retaining the ferocity in her voice.

"My sister had assumed that you were hunting us and simply wished to eliminate you before you had a chance to do so to us," the male said.

"Why would I want to hunt you?" I asked confused.

"You are not of here," he stated.

"How could you tell?" I asked sarcastically, with a sudden hint of frustration.

"We watched you plummet from the skies. For a short time you were encased in a flame. It is a wonder that your clothes are still intact. The flame dissipated quickly. Your descent took only a moment."

"How long ago was that?" I asked.

"Three days. Your impact sent tremors through the earth."

Well, at least they gave me a time frame. It didn't particularly make me excited though. "Three days?" I repeated, raising my voice into a question.

The male nodded.

"Why did you come to me?"

"We were curious, as anyone would be."

"Right..." I trailed off.

"From where do you hail?" the male asked, looking into my eyes.

"Are you not even going to tell me your name?" I asked.

"I am Cyren," he said flatly. "From where do you hail?"

"Why do you want to know?" I asked. I didn't want to give more information than was necessary.

Cyren looked to his sister. She didn't respond noticeably, but had apparently conveyed something to her brother. He looked back to me and waited.

"You are not very conversational types, are you?"

"It is not for sake of conversation that we are so guarded," Aura butt in. "We seek assurance that you do not wish to bring harm."

"Believe me," I began, anger beginning to flood into my voice. "If I meant to bring you harm, you would already be harmed. I don't have time for games."

"Time; so a purpose brought you here? You are here with some other intention in mind?" Cyren asked.

"Well...no."

"Then why are you here at all?"

"I-I don't know," I responded, the anger leaving me.

"Curious."

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"Adjutor is not a place one would wish to come without a purpose. It is a dangerous place. Few know of the terrors that lay in wait, even fewer know how to traverse them," Cyren explained with a nod of agreement from Aura.

"Then what brings you here?"

"Circumstances we could not avoid."

"That is very vague," I replied. I took a look behind me as I heard the sound of rustling not too far off. It didn't appear to have a destination, but I kept my thoughts towards it just in case.

"Vague?" Cyren responded thoughtfully. "It may be, but we are unaware of who we can trust now, especially you. What reason would we have to offer you knowledge of our plight?"

"I could say the same to you," I countered.

They continued to watch me carefully.

"So, you are in danger then?" I asked after a few moments of silence.

"Why do you assume that?" Aura asked defensively, taking a step forward.

Her brother reached out an arm to stop her continued motion.

"Because he said plight, as if you were in trouble. Are you?"

Cyren looked to his sister again. "Tell us of you and we shall do our best to enlighten you in return. If we feel you can be trusted."

I sighed. Their circumstances did seem intriguing.

"My name is Korbin. I was born, and am from, a planet called Earth. Before today I had no idea any sort of sentient life existed on other planets," I began.

"There is more life than just here," Cyren cut in.

I raised an eyebrow, but pressed forward. "Honestly, I don't know what brought me here. I don't remember leaving Earth, or what could have caused me to leave. All I have right now is a subtle emotion of fear lingering in my head."

"A fear?" Cyren asked.

I nodded.

"Curious. I too wonder what caused fear in you. May I inquire further?" he asked.

I shrugged.

He took it as an action to go further. "How is it you were able to survive a fall from so drastic a height?"

I looked down at my fist and clenched and unclenched it. I wondered if I should tell them. What harm could it bring?

I slowly willed my body to ascend into the air, pushing off of the ground lightly. I watched their eyes follow me upwards as I rose nearly ten feet above their heads. Aura's mouth opened wide, while Cyren's mask folded in on itself, a look of deep thought plastered on his fair-skinned face.

His short black hair stood like tiny spikes on his head. There were differences between him and Aura. They were clearly siblings. Their eyes were exactly the same, but their ears had differences. Where Aura's were smooth, Cyren's were ridged. The backside of his ear had three separate ridges spiking out at intervals and they moved back towards his head, rather than outwards. I wondered if that difference was the same for their entire race.

"Can all of your kind do what you do now?" Aura asked, finally finding her words.

I laughed. "No, definitely no. As far as I know, I'm the only one," I spoke down to her.

She shared another look with her brother.

They looked into each other's eyes for less than a second.

"Help us," Aura said, turning up to me.