Luna Maarkus vs. the Phantom League

1.

I picked the most interesting looking one; it was shaped like an egg and it shimmered golden under the soft lights. I picked up the object and brought it over to the edge of the pool. I set it down and reached over to test the warmth of the water. My Beeper told me it was 101.3, so I took off my pack and boots and climbed in. I sighed contentedly as I turned the waterproof setting higher on my Beeper and dropped the golden egg in. Glimmering tendrils of sunlight snaked through the water as the egg began to dissolve. I dragged a hand through the currents, watching the gold ripple. It felt as if nothing else mattered in that moment, it was just me letting myself go. I could practically see the weight being shoved off my mottled shoulders. I sunk deeper into the water and submerged myself for a moment. Resurfacing, I brought my hands up to wipe my eyes and removed them to see golden residue coating them. I supposed I would have glitter on my face for the rest of the week. It wasn't the worst thing to happen to me. I had come to these pools for recreation instead of my job, like I usually would. I only got to do something like this when I knew I could get away without being caught, and that definitely wasn't often. I supposed I'd have to take something to try to prove to Gedd that I hadn't been slacking off.

***

I kicked my hoverbike once more, hoping that it would start, and cursing like a Saltoorian when it didn't. I squatted next to it and sighed heavily as I rummaged around in my pack for a few spare parts. One good thing about being a scavenger was that you almost always had just what you needed when things broke down, and things broke down a lot. I had placed the rest of the emblems in my pack, and they didn't make a sound as they were nestled in between various odds and ends from my other trips into lightstone caverns like this one. I looked back at the stone pedestal forlornly. I hated taking things from places like this; it didn't seem right. At one point, this was a place of worship; a place where ancient Niridians found peace. I knew that the Niridians had been extinct for thousands of years, but it still felt wrong to be taking things that had belonged to them. My Beeper spluttered on my forearm, and I switched my focus to trying to fix it. As a scavenger, and even more so as a Dannecian, I had become very skilled at prodding and poking at things until they worked. Luckily, I was green with brown splotches, not a Blue. I had a few more privileges than they. My Beeper emitted a screech fit to wake the galaxy, and I flinched back, almost knocking over my bike. I grabbed wildly for it, steadying it just before it could topple into the ravine below. I rubbed my eyes with the palms of my hands, and took a moment to compose myself before I stood up and swung myself up onto my hoverbike. I lowered my goggles onto my eyes and revved the engines. I looked behind me one last time, but as soon as I did, I cursed myself for taking so long to fix everything up. The water had turned a dark, murky brown, and it was rising up over the confines of the pools, looking quite a bit more sentient than it had when I arrived. I sped off without a second thought, weaving through the twists and turns of the cavern.

***

I could see the light of day inching closer, and I pressed my foot down as far as I could on the gas, but the pool water was faster than my old hoverbike. I didn't even have time to scream before it enveloped me and my bike in what had become a gelatinous goop. I held what little breath I had gathered as I groped for my Beeper, and with some difficulty, pressed the button that triggered the oxygen chamber in my pack. A tube shot out of the bottom of it, and I pulled it up to my mouth. Now able to breathe, I looked around to find my way out. The gloop was much too opaque, but I did notice that there was glitter from the dissolving emblem I used floating around me. I used the webbed fingers evolution had gifted me with to swim to what I assumed was the ceiling of the cavern; It was hard to tell what direction I was going in. The texture of what I had put my hand to matched that of the actual ceiling, so I brought my head up as far as I could to find that the gloop had not reached that far. I spat out the tube but kept it firmly grasped in my hand as I swam towards the exit.



***

Now out of the cavern, I realized that I had not recovered my hoverbike. Oh well, it was a piece of junk anyway. I would have to continue on foot. Since I didn't technically have to report back to Gedd for two days, I decided to go into the closest city, Qora, and find something to eat. Fighting for your life inside of a mass of gloop was exhausting.

***

The bright lights of Qora were always so fascinating to me. Where I grew up, everything was dark because Dannecians don't need light to see. The light never bothered me, however, so as I waited in line to order some food, I turned my face towards the strings of lanterns above me. Qora meant "City of Light" in Pikkit, the language of the dominant species there, the Pikilla. Qora was so well lit because the Pikilla thrived off of light, and this world was covered in forest, also a favorite of the little-winged people.

Pictured above: drawings of Pikilla

This world was called Niruna, and it was one of the twelve asteroids stuck between two suns. The Huara asteroid belt was immobile. We had no seasons or night because the two gravity fields canceled each other out. I was from Kilveraan, which was a swampy place inhabited mostly by Dannecians like myself. Each asteroid was dominated by a species, but there was a lot of intermingling nonetheless. It was taught in every school that each of the planets just outside the belt had become desolate, so each sent a team of people to find a new home. The teams got stuck in the Huara Belt at different times and on different asteroids, so that was why they all had a dominant species. The teams were also of separate species, which explained the diversity of the belt. We all worked together to trade resources, catch criminals, et cetera, so there had only been one war since the start, and it didn't seem like there would be another one anytime soon. The war was also learned of in school, and it was a horrible one. It was the reason that three of the asteroids were uninhabited and, some would say, that the Niridians had gone extinct. 

***

I stepped up to the food stall and asked the Pikilla in front of me for the cheapest thing they had. The Pikilla looked like any other one: brightly colored hair and skin, and a crooked grin that showed off needle-like teeth. Knowing full well that I shouldn't haggle with her, I took the sandwich, paid, and left before anyone could pickpocket me. I walked as I ate, and stopped only to take off my soggy boots. Carrying them in my right hand, my sandwich in my left, I stumbled across a tavern that I hoped had room to spare. After speaking to an employee, it was clear that not only was there not a free room, there was also a no-shoes-no-service policy. More than a little disgruntled, I set off again, wondering if my old friend still lived nearby. 

Pictured above: boot typical of common Dannecians

*the pictures I use are not mine, and I do not take credit for any of them