by A.L. Svartz
It seemed as though hours passed by since Kaj left the wreckage scene. Every so often he'd look back to check to see if anyone from the scene was alive and following him. But to his disappointment, there wasn't. He was all alone.
In the distance, Kaj could hear a faint buzzing sound that began to grow louder. He looked around to only see the sand flying around. "What is that?" Kaj whispered to himself. A distant triangular-shaped object was approaching him. "Wait, I know what that is!" The object was getting closer. Kaj backed out of the way a little. He started waving his arms around as if he were trying to flag the object down. "It is! It's a shuttle! Hey, hey!"
The shuttle flew right by Kaj - the speed it was going knocked him down, covering his body in sand. He spit out sand that found its way into his mouth. Getting up, he again waved his arms around as he yelled, hoping they'd turn around and pick him up. "Hey, hey! Come back!" It was no use. The shuttle was long gone.
As he wandered through the wasteland, Kaj's thoughts were soon getting to him. He kept thinking about how he would never get out of the desert, and just keep circling around it. He'd end up like every other Daj that would try to be free but fail in the end.
The idea of suicide came to his head a few times. It'd be quick, a voice in his head echoed every time he thought of the subject. Even though it sounded like an easy way out, he knew he had to fulfill his duty and continue the legacy of his people. He knew that his uncle would be disappointed in him if he just gave up halfway through, though the thought of seeing his parents again made him second guess every time.
An hour or so had passed by. Kaj's stomach growled. He grabbed his stomach and felt it grumble, trying to remember the last time he ate. Kaj slid off his backpack and unzipped it. He pulled out a few pieces of squished bread wrapped in brown paper. Forcefully, he devoured both pieces in seconds.
"Ah," Kaj sighed. He dropped onto the sandy floor, lying on his side. The rest that Kaj needed for his journey slipped off his schedule. As his eyelids grew closer together, Kaj spotted something.
"What the ..." Kaj said as he sat up. He slipped back on his backpack as he noticed that whatever was out there was heading towards him. As the creature headed towards Kaj, he made a dash in the other direction. He raced across the terrain, faster than he ever thought he could run. One bad step he took sent everything from his unzipped backpack flying out. He took a look back, but still kept running, ignoring what had just happened.
Up ahead Kaj could see a new biome. Tall, lively trees stood out in the distance. A large smile grew on Kaj's face. He knew he must be close. Kaj glanced back again to see the creature still chasing him.
The creature then let out a roar. Kaj jumped a little by the sound of the hungry beast, but continued until he reached the biome.
Kaj was stunned by the sudden forest that stood before him. He ran into the forest, crushing leaves and darting by trees. Glancing over the area, Kaj was in awe as he had never seen anything like it before.
He could hear behind him the creature rushing across the forest floor.
As Kaj was running, he had one idea pop into his head. Up ahead he could see a tall, thick tree. When he made it up to the tree, he sharply turned behind and started to climb. His long fingers helped him grab on around the trunk. Looking down as he climbed up, Kaj saw the creature race past his hiding spot. He climbed up to a long branch on the tree.
"Thank goodness," Kaj said, panting heavily. He sat on the branch, his feet dangling down. As he took a few minutes to rest, he looked around at the beautiful scenery. Large glowing ovals attached themselves all around the bottom of the trees. Tall trees filled the forest with green vines hanging down. As he looked up into the sky, the top of the forest was covered in a net of leaves.
Kaj sat up in the tree for a couple of minutes, gathering his thoughts. Taking in what had just happened. The sudden withdrawal of his home, his uncle, and the travelers was really getting to him. He sat forward with his hands cupped in front of him. Kaj felt the need to cry but held it back, knowing that he must stay positive if he wanted to get off this planet.
"Ok, I must be getting close." Kaj stood up on the branch. As he got up, his foot slipped and he was sent down into a bush. He fumbled around until he could pop his head out. When he did, another face was staring directly at him. The very creature that was chasing him before was inches away.
The creature's wide eyes were locked with Kaj's. They both sat there, motionless. The creature’s short ears kept shifting directions, catching all the sounds that were in the forest. He noticed the bushy black hairs that were at the tips of its ears, with the same type of fur going from the back of its head and up to its tail. The fur was a beige color, almost the same color as Kaj's skin.
They both continued to stare each other down, until Kaj made the daring decision to flee. He dashed into the deep forest again with the creature quickly following after. Kaj glanced behind him to check to see how close the creature was. When he did, his foot caught underneath a root, sending him rolling out onto a flat, grassy terrain. He laid there on his stomach as he watched the creature leap over him and then face him down when it landed. Kaj knew that he was caught … closing his eyes … knowing that he couldn't do more. As he waited for the creature to attack him, something stopped it.
"Stop there," a voice whispered out. The voice was soothing to Kaj. He gently opened his eyes to see another Daj standing next to the creature. The Daj was wearing a long, white robe and holding a long stick in his hand. A long white beard covered his face. He gently patted the creature on the head and it sat down near his feet. "Are you ok young one?" He extended out his hand to Kaj.
"Yeah, I think I'm alright," Kaj said as he grabbed the Daj's hand, pulling him back up to his feet. The pain that Kaj was feeling suddenly vanished once he made contact with the Daj. Kaj wiped the dirt off his knees. "Who are you anyway?"
"I am known as the Guardian of Trees," he said as he turned to face a giant lake that was behind him. "I am nothing but a legend to the people on this planet, and to most, I don't even exist. But I hear of troubles for this planet, am I right?"
"Yeah there are," Kaj said, taking a step forward. The creature then lifted its head and snarled at Kaj, making him take back the step.
"Hush," the Guardian snapped. "Go on."
"Uh ... well, you see, these creatures known as the ..."
"Oce," the Guardian burst out. "Yes, I know." He turned back around to face Kaj. "The Oce … a vicious and violent species. For hundreds of years these vile creatures have traveled the universe, undoing what they have created. You see Kaj, the Oce weren't always what they seem to be, they were once known as the Creators or Crafters as they are responsible for the creation of everything. Coming from another realm, they decided to create a new realm, one of which they would craft on their own. The energy required to create these immense worlds was beyond the amount we have today. As they began to expand beyond their own control, they soon became addicted to the energy. It started to rot inside of them, before eventually becoming so consumed in it, transforming them into the disgusting creatures today. Now, they plan on undoing their own worlds before returning back to their realm."
The Guardian walked past Kaj and over to a tree branch that was hanging down. Kaj turned around and watched as he picked three leaves off of the branch. He turned and handed them over to Kaj.
"Here," the Guardian said. He gently slid the leaves from his palm to Kaj's. "The reason why the Oce haven't attacked this forest is because of the pure energy that lives in the plant life. This is why all wildlife in the forest is still here, including me. I know that you are heading to United City to get off this planet. If you could somehow find someone to extract the energy from the leaves, the littlest bit could purify the Oce."
Kaj had never been so excited before. He could turn this war against the Oce around. The leaves he held in his hand could make him become a hero. The life that he had always wanted could finally become a reality.
"You don't have much time," the Guardian blurted out, snapping Kaj out of a daydream. "You only have a few more hours until the ship leaves." He walked over to the lake and looked in. "The way the water ripples tells me how close are moon gets. The more powerful the ripples, the closer to dusk we get." The Guardian examined the water, trying hard to find the ripples.
Kaj dropped his backpack on the floor and reached into his still unzipped backpack. He pulled out a small purple clamshell container that seemed to have survived in his backpack after everything was dumped out. Flipping it open, he gently placed the leaves in before sealing it tightly. He placed it back in his backpack and zipped it up firmly.
As he stood up, he looked around, watching the strange creatures fly around. He saw what appeared to be insects, but instead of them being their almost microscopic size, they were about the same size as Kaj was.
Kaj went over to the Guardian as he was concentrating on the ripples in the water. He was very thirsty. "Do you mind if I have some ..."
"Shhh. I suggest you go now," the Guardian said. "You can take my pet here. He will bring you to the other side of the forest but will go no further."
Kaj walked over to the cat-like creature, who was still lying down. The Guardian snapped his fingers and the creature instantly rose. Kaj climbed around on it, holding on to the back of the creature's neck. As soon as he was secured on, the creature ran off towards the other end of the forest. It took a matter of minutes for the creature to get Kaj across the forest. The creature jumped through a bush and landed back on the familiar sandy terrain. He laid down to signal that he would take him no further. Kaj hopped off the creature, burying his feet in the sand when he got off.
"Thank you," Kaj said. The creature rose and Kaj gave it a gentle pat on the head. It let out a roar like it did before then traveled back into the forest.
Kaj turned to face the desert wasteland again. He had nowhere to go but forward.
An hour or so passed and Kaj was getting dehydrated. He started slumping around in the sand. A few times he went to check his backpack, only to realize that all his stuff was dumped before.
In the distance, Kaj could see what appeared to be a lake. The glistening water from the lake made Kaj lick his lips. Finally, some water to drink, he thought. He sluggishly made his way over to the supposed lake that he saw. Kaj took a swipe at the water. His hand remained dry.
"Huh," Kaj said. He tried it again. Still, the water hadn't attached itself to Kaj's hand. He was baffled as to why this outcome kept occurring. The water moved when his hand was in the lake, but somehow, no water appeared on his hand.
Kaj slipped off both of his clunky sandals before lying down on the sand. He slowly moved forward until both his feet were in the water. As weird as it was, Kaj didn't feel the water hit his feet. No cool sensation. Even when he moved his feet around in the water, it felt as though he was just kicking his legs around in the air.
As Kaj started sliding back, pulling his feet out of the water, he felt something wrap around his right foot. Kaj halted for a second before tugging his right leg to move up. It wouldn't budge. He grabbed his right leg with both hands before giving it another forceful tug. Nothing.
Whatever was wrapped around Kaj's foot decided to return a forceful tug, pulling Kaj slowly back towards the lake.
Kaj flipped around on his stomach as he was being pulled, trying to find something to grab on to. He looked back, and to his amazement and shock, the lake was gone and a long grey tentacle was wrapped around his foot, pulling him.
Out from the sand, seven more tentacles sprouted out in a large circular formation. Kaj knew he was in trouble now.
"Ahh!" Kaj yelled as he was being pulled towards his doom. Inside the ring of tentacles was a large oval that was the same color as the tentacles. The oval opened up in three separate parts, revealing a sea of jagged teeth.
Kaj looked forward, scratching at the sand. The oval mouth of the mysterious creature leaned up towards the tentacle that held its grip on Kaj. Looking down at the spinning teeth, Kaj felt his heart drop. He was mere feet away before the tentacle would twirl him around and into the creature's mouth.
An idea suddenly popped into Kaj's head. He had to make it quick. He knew that he didn't have much time left. Kaj reached for his blade, pulling off the cover, launching it far from where he was. He twirled around, and with one swift motion, sliced the tentacle off his foot. The tentacle spurted out weird colored liquids before it retracted back towards the creature's mouth as it let out a whine.
Kaj tripped as he got up, but managed to escape. He went over to where he had tossed the cover for his blade and slipped it back on before putting it back in the case on his back. Kaj looked back to see the mysterious creature dig back down into the sand. He stood there for another few seconds, taking in what had just happened to him.
Kaj then continued his journey forward.
A loud crackling sound from above got Kaj's attention. He noticed the moon was out. Kaj squinted as he thought he saw cracks appearing on the surface. His eyes widened when he saw about three weird creatures hopping around on the moon. Kaj heard a few more loud crackling sounds. Before he knew it, the moon split apart. The creatures hopped off of the surface and landed back down somewhere on the planet.
"The moon has fallen," Kaj whispered to himself. "Ahh." He dropped face first in the sand. "The Oce have taken the moon." Kaj rolled over on to his back, facing the dusty sky. "I was so close." He licked his dry lips. As hard as he tried to keep his eyes open, Kaj suddenly blanked out.