Roman froze, his back straightening as he stared at me with his wide, brown eyes.
'Only one person knocks like that on my door,' he muttered, a deep scowl set on his face as he pivoted and raced downstairs with echoing steps.
I followed along behind him hesitantly, reaching the bottom of the stairs with a restless Zima in my arms just in time to see Roman thrust open the double doors.
There was a man and a woman standing outside. They were tall, silhouetted by the porch light. Roman let them in wordlessly, face emotionless.
As the door closed, refraining the ice cold air from drifting inside, their attention turned to my figure at the back of the room. Their eyebrows were raised.
'Interesting,' the man mutered.
Roman distracted their odd evaluation of me by stepping in front of them, arms crossed across his chest.
'What are you doing here?' he questioned with a hard voice.
They looked down at him sceptically. 'Investigating,' the woman said vaguely, waving a hand in dismissal as she walked around Roman, towards me.
'You, my dear, are one strange looking girl,' the lady mused.
My mouth dropped open in shock. 'Excuse me?' I bristled.
She felt a lock of my braided hair in between her fingers, staring into my eyes.
'You're not human,' she muttered, firm and resolute.
I stuttered, shocked. 'Wh... what? What else would I be?'
She dropped my hair. 'I'm going to take a wild guess and say you were that asteroid that landed not 5 miles away from this location. Tell me that I'm wrong.'
My breathing was shallow. This was not meant to happen. I was not supposed to be discovered like this, not this early.
I shook my head. 'No. You're wrong. I'm a traveler and I got lost. Roman helped me.'
She turned to face a stock still, awfully confused looking Roman. 'When did she arrive here?'
He hesitated. The man rested a firm hand on his shoulder. Roman glanced sideways at him, fleeetingly. 'Yesterday,' he relented. 'Around 6.'
The woman's eyes lit up. 'Perfect timing. Well, I think it's time for some formal introductions, then. I'm Jo. Jo Daniels. Roman's mother.'
《¤》
Joe and Richard faced me across the dining table as we sat and drank tea and coffee.
They stared at me periodically throughout the pleasantries they exchanged with their son, though every word that came out of Roman's mouth was tense and minorly unwelcoming.
They had a waving relationship, I could see.
As I expected, the drinks soon began to disappear and the conversation was turned to me. Dread filled my stomach.
Richard leaned forward, arms crossed and face emotionless. 'So, what are you?'
'Dad!' Roman hissed. A glare from his father quieted him. All attention was again directed back to my figeting form.
'I, uh...' Was human? They wouldn't believe me. A Zionite from far off outer space? That would certainly destroy my mission.
'You're not human. Don't try and convince us otherwise.'
I ducked my head, staring up at them with bright eyes. I sighed, my body shuddering involuntarily. 'I won't,' I mumbled as I rested my face in my hands, tugging on my hair stressfully. I was ashamed of how briefly I had lasted undiscovered on this earth. 'How did you know?'
Roman was frozen beside me, I could feel. I regretted not telling him earlier now; he hardly deserved to find out this way
I could practically hear the smugness in Richard's voice. 'Yesterday, our satellite scanners picked up on an anomaly in the atmosphere, drifting right towards Canada. It acted like no asteroid we'd ever seen before, so we assigned ourselves to investigate its landing. As an organisation that's based in the north of the United States, it didn't take us long to travel up and track it down.
'Our only problem was that there was no crater to be seen. No evidence but a few scars in the trees outer layers. When we realised our son was no more than a drive away from the barely disturbed site, we decided to take a break and visit him.' He paused. 'You... are exactly what we've been looking for.'
I shook my head. 'Nobody will ever believe you. Capturing me will be futile.'
Jo chuckled humourlessly. 'Oh, I beg to differ. We will discover what you are, one way or another. We will show them the truth about you, and when we do, whatever sick, twisted plan you have up your sleeves will be left futile. Just you wait and see.'
My eyebrows furrowed in outrage. 'I'm not here to hurt anyone! I'm here to save an entire species!'
'Oh, here we go. This is where you say 'my planet's dying, we need to utilise your planet in order to survive'. Well, I can tell you right now that we will offer no help. We have our own race to protect!'
I kept my mouth shut, wisely. Reasoning with them was seemingly useless.
I turned to Roman, fed up with his parents. 'I'm sorry I didn't tell you about all this sooner. You deserved to know. I trust you. Thank you for how kind you've been to me.'
He stared at me sadly. 'Why does it sound like you're saying goodbye?'
I glanced at his watching parents. 'Because I have to. I can't stay here now.'
'I don't understand, though. What are you? How are you so different from us? You're perfectly normal!'
I cracked a lopsided grin, sensing a terrible irony in his sentence. 'I'm really not.'
He stilled. 'Where were you born?'
'I can't answer that.'
'Yes, you can! I'm not going to hurt you!'
I stared at him. 'It's not about that. I know you wouldn't.'
He huffed, closing his eyes angrily. 'What are you?' he questioned lowly.
I breathed deeply. 'I am...'
I paused. I needed to do this. I didn't know why; I just needed him to know what looked like. 'I am Alaselah.'
He opened his eyes, startled by the light suddenly emanating in front of him. His jaw dropped.
I myself was shaking from nerves; I had done it. Two days in, and I had revealed myself to a human.
Not just any human. Roman Daniels.
I sat before him, staring at him with the silver eyes I had received from my mother. They breathed light, surrounded by the same light my hair abundantly gave off. It, in turn, drifted around me, as if it were under the influence of zero gravity, instead of the heavy gravity of this world. My dress I had arrived in was back once more, Roman's clothes no longer shrouding my shoulders. My skin was impossibly pale, blending together with my trailing dress, which stopped a few inches beneath my feet. I was radiant.
I may have been blinding Roman.
He was almost squinting, leaning back in order to take in my full appearance. White, I would describe it as. Or silver. Either worked, neither denying the fact that I was simply made of bright light.
He made a small sound in the back of his throat. 'You're...radiant. Quite literally.'
I chuckled at that, surprising myself. I took his hand in my own hesitantly, attempting to reassure him. 'I'm still me.'
He nodded slowly. 'I know.'
'I'm sorry. I should have told you sooner.'
He sent me a crooked smile, shrugging as he squeezed my hand right back. 'Well, we did only meet yesterday.'
Someone cleared their throat. Shocked, my head whipped towards the source of the sound.
Damn it.
I had momentarily forgotten we were not alone. Scowling at the couple in front of me, I rose to my feet. 'You can leave now.'
Richard rolled his eyes. 'We're not leaving unless it's with you in the back of our truck.'
'Not going to happen,' I stated quietly. My eyes flared white with outrage.
Jo's eyes widened marginally, sensing my incredible agitation. 'Fine then!' She hastily interrupted, a calming hand on her husband's shoulder. 'We'll just ask a few questions of you. Nice and easy.'
I raised an eyebrow sceptically. This could go very badly. 'Go on.'
At least this erased the possibility of them attempting to kidnap me.
Jo got comfortable, crossing her legs and staring up at me comfortably.
'First of all, how are you able to radiate light like you do? Dress and all?'
I pushed some of my hair out of my face. 'It's a trait of my people, having to do with a sign of our status. The brighter you are, the greater level of importance you hold in society. Also, it's a sign of how much power you have within you. The strongest are the brightest. It is, in short, a representation of your heart and mind.'
Jo leaned forward, intrigued. 'And just how bright in comparison are you to the rest of your people?'
A slow smile crept upon my face. 'I can't tell you that.'
She stared at me warily, leaning back into her plush, upholstered chair. 'Alright then. Tell us what you're doing here, on earth. This is our planet, our home. We deserve to know.'
My smile dropped. I sat down hastily, my mind flashing back to my first day of training.
'The entire species will die if you don't complete this mission successfully, Alaselah. You are trained and ready for this; you are their only existing hope. I'm so sorry.'
Eyes downcast, I crossed my legs in an effort to stop the shaking. 'I am here to save an entire species.'
'Right. Your planet is dying, yes? Wanting to relocate? Well, I truly am sorry for your loss, but this planet is only capable of producing so many resources for-'
'No,' I interrupted quietly. I stared into all three sets of eyes in turn. 'I am not here to save my own species. We are Cerecshela, Saviour of Worlds. I am not here to find a home; I am here to tell you yours will soon be no longer.'
《¤》
Cerecshela, pronounced: Care-es-shi-lah