The creature led him to the path and they began walking. He glanced over at the handsome form.
“Do you feed on our nightmares?” he asked, and the creature looked at him in surprise, then shrugged.
“It’s possible. Sometimes that’s all you offer us when you’re drawn to us.”
“Not those nightmares. The ones we have every night. Our usual sleep. Do you feed on that? Is that why you always give us nightmares?”
“The nightmares are your mind’s attempt to make sense of the song of our planet,” the creature said sadly. “She can’t stop singing, but you can’t seem to tolerate it. It’s not meant to hurt you.”
“A song?” he asked in surprise, thinking of the melody that was the only thing he remembered from his dreams. Had he heard the planet’s song? That would explain why he didn’t have nightmares, he supposed. If the nightmares were a result of his inability to process the song, then maybe he had just processed it correctly last night. He wondered if other people sometimes heard a song. He knew sometimes people claimed to have no memory of their nightmares, so maybe the same thing that had happened to him last night happened to them.
“I would sing it to you, but I think you’d go insane,” the creature said with a grin. “I don’t want to risk that.”
“Thanks,” Jarl muttered, though he wondered. If he had heard the song last night, would it drive him insane? Probably, he admitted. It had been a fluke that he heard it and it would never happen again. He supposed he would find out tonight. If he heard the song again, then something had changed, but if he had nightmares again, then it was just a one-time occurrence.
The horizon was getting lighter and he glanced at the creature.
“Don’t you have to leave?”
“Ready for me to go?” the creature teased. “I thought you appreciated the help.”
“I do,” he assured him. “But you can’t be in the sun, can you?”
“I prefer not to be, but there’s nothing stopping me,” he said. “I’m just weaker than usual. It’s the only time you humans are able to kill us.”
“I’m not going to kill you.”
“If you killed me, you wouldn’t be drawn back here once the moon returns her power. I’m the only one drawing you.”
Jarl stumbled to a halt and stared at him. Was that true? The creature looked at him expressionlessly as his hand went to the gun at his side. If he killed this creature, he might live. There was still a chance another creature would entrap him, but he might survive this. But could he kill this creature? He had never killed like this before. He had killed animals, but never people. And even though this was a creature, it was also a person. He couldn’t kill someone who had been helping him the past two days. His hand lowered. Killing him might save his life, but he couldn’t do it.
The creature had come to a stop when he did, and set the bags down.
“Thank you, Jarl,” the creature said seriously. “I’ll be back when it’s dark.”
“I’ll see you then,” Jarl said, and the creature smiled at him.
“Call me Arlen.”
Jarl stared into those enticing ebony eyes. It was hard to read emotions in those eyes and he supposed that was why the creature smiled so often. There were few other ways to indicate that he didn’t mean any harm or that he was amused. The fangs weren’t reassuring, but there weren’t any other good ways to express emotions when it was so difficult to read his eyes. He smiled hesitantly.
“All right, Arlen,” he said, and the creature grinned before heading off into the woods.
He picked up the bags that the creature – Arlen – had been carrying and readjusted them, then set off. He needed to make good time and if there was ever a time to push himself, it was today. He couldn’t go too hard, but he needed to be mostly home by the time the sun went down. As he walked, he wondered about the song in his dreams and the lack of nightmares, and about Arlen. He seemed sincere enough. Had Jarl made a mistake in leaving him alive? He wasn’t sure. Arlen didn’t want to kill him, after all. He wanted him to survive. Maybe he would survive. No one ever had, but that didn’t mean it was impossible. It would depend on what he offered when Arlen drew him in.
He wondered how it would happen. Would Arlen ask him what he wanted to give? Somehow he didn’t think that was how it worked. Surely if the creatures operated like that, other people would have survived. It was probably instinctive, or unconscious, or something he had no control over. He knew that once people heard the lure, they lost all rational thought. If the guards could keep them from going into the woods then they recovered in the daylight. Most didn’t try to go back the next night but some did. If a creature had seen a person’s face, then they were drawn every night until they finally escaped. He suspected that would happen to him. Arlen had seen his face after all, and heard his voice, and knew his name. Would he be aware of it when he lost control and was driven to go into the woods at night? Or would everything go blank? Maybe it just felt like falling asleep except you never woke up.
The day passed in a blur of exhaustion. His lunch break was short and he hated eating the rations when he was carrying such delicious pollen, but the pollen was for the future. He was allowed to taste it to make sure it was ripe, but other than that, it had to arrive in perfect condition. The rest of the colony relied on him, so he choked down the dry rations with a swig of water and rested for a little bit before starting again. By the time the sun was sinking into the horizon, his legs were aching. He and the others trained for these expeditions all year, since it was five days of nonstop walking, but no amount of training fully prepared him. There were only so many places to go in the colony and no real opportunities to train in real world conditions. Every year he was amazed at how underprepared he was, but he always made it back with time to spare. He had made good time today, he thought as the sun sank lower. Even if he went to sleep now he would be on track, and he could easily keep walking another hour or two.
The wind picked up but for once, it didn’t terrify him. All it could do was bring him to Arlen and he was already looking for him to show up. He heard the familiar clopping and paused, looking around. He didn’t see anything. He kept going, wondering if there was a reason he hadn’t shown up. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as the clopping stopped abruptly. This didn’t feel right. He heard another noise at his side and whirled. He gasped.
There was a creature partially hidden in the trees to his right. It wasn’t Arlen. His hand went to his gun automatically as he let the bags drop, crouching and aiming at her even though he knew it wouldn’t help. She stared at him, then bared her fangs. It wasn’t a smile.
He shivered. She was as beautiful as Arlen but she was cold and her ebony eyes had no humor in them. He realized with a start that he had been able to read emotion in Arlen, because he could clearly read this woman’s hostility. She was tall, like Arlen, and had the same eyes and long fingers. Her skin was equally bronzed and her features were equally striking. She wore the same type of draping cloth outfit but hers exposed a luscious female figure and he clenched his gun tighter as terror swept through him. His mask was on, he thought desperately. She couldn’t see him. Couldn’t draw him in. And the planet was still safe for another night and day.
He backed up nervously and ran into something. His heart skipped a beat and he whirled, bringing the gun up- and stopped. It was Arlen. He had never felt so relieved to see someone. Arlen was looking at the woman, not at him, and there was ice in his eyes equal to hers. Jarl shivered, but it wasn’t directed at him.
“Leave,” Arlen said to the woman. “You have no business with him. He’s intended for me.”
She hissed and Jarl backed into Arlen further, seeking protection from him. Arlen wrapped an arm around his waist, his eyes still fixed on the woman.
“Leave,” he repeated.
She eyed him and bared her fangs again, then turned and vanished into the woods. Arlen waited for a long moment as Jarl remained in his embrace, terrified. T
hen Arlen released him and picked up his bags, handing him two and keeping the rest for himself. Jarl took them with trembling hands.
“Thank you, Arlen,” he whispered.
The creature studied him, then his lips curled into a smile.
“You called me Arlen.”
“You said I should.”
“I didn’t expect you to, even if I asked.”
“Who was that? Why was she here?”
Arlen was silent for a moment, then gestured for them to start walking. He obeyed, grateful that Arlen was at his side.
“Many of us are curious about you,” he explained. “You’re the first human who’s talked to us.”
“I thought you hadn’t tried before.”
“We’ve tried a couple of times, but not the way I did,” Arlen said. “We usually just threaten. No one else has bothered with a friendly approach.”
“Thank you for not threatening me,” he said with a shiver. He had been so terrified the first time he saw Arlen, even though he knew the creature couldn’t hurt him right now. Seeing the woman had brought back the terror. “So you do hate humans and want to eat us.”
“I don’t,” he said firmly.
“But she does,” he pointed out, because there was no denying the hostility in her gaze. “When you summon me back out here, after this safety is over, will she be there?”
“She may be,” he admitted. Jarl shivered. “But you will be drawn to me and only me. You are intended for me.”
“So I’ll be safe?”
Arlen looked at him in surprise. “Safe?”
Of course he wouldn’t be safe, Jarl realized with a blush. He would be walking into his death. It was easy to forget because Arlen was protecting him right now, and he felt close to him thanks to their conversation, but Arlen was going to devour him. He would either feast on his flesh or his mind and Jarl would be dead. Still…
“You said I might survive,” he said cautiously. “And everyone is drawn to the woods eventually. I’d rather have it be you than anyone else.”
Jarl lips curled again. Maybe he had realized that smiling the way he normally did exposed his fangs and frightened Jarl, he realized. Maybe that was why he wasn’t fully smiling. But while the sight of those fangs was off-putting, he found he missed Arlen’s constant good humor. It was irritating at time, but made him feel safer. Arlen wasn’t a threat when he was smiling, fangs or no.
“I hope this experiment works,” Arlen said. “You humans are fascinating. I would like to keep talking to you beyond tomorrow.”
“Couldn’t you just not kill me?”
“It’s not my choice,” Arlen said. “You’ll be drawn to the woods and you’ll offer something to me, and I’ll be compelled to take it. Neither of us have any choice in the matter.”
“So I won’t be able to choose what to offer?” he asked, thinking of his questions earlier.
“No,” Arlen said. “I don’t know how humans determine what to offer, but it isn’t their choice. It just happens.”
“And you can’t choose to refuse? Even if you don’t want to kill me?”
“If you offer me something that doesn’t kill you, I won’t,” Arlen said. “Do you know something you could offer?”
“Not really,” Jarl admitted. The bags banged into his legs and he adjusted them. It was much easier with only two bags but still clumsy. Arlen was carrying far more bags than he had before and they were making good time now. He would try to walk as long as possible, he decided. He wouldn’t need much rest tonight because tomorrow, he would be home. This would be his last night, he realized. Tomorrow night he would be drawn back out here into the unknown. The guards might stop him for a night or two but he would come back here and see Arlen again. He found he wasn’t nearly as frightened of that thought as he had been. Even if he died, at least he would see a friendly face first. That was far better than his other options.
They walked in silence for a time, then heard clopping behind them. Jarl tensed and dropped into a crouch, reaching for his gun. Arlen turned and stared into the woods, and the sound stopped.
“They won’t come near when I’m with you,” Arlen said. He was glaring into the darkness. Arlen wondered if he could see the other creature. He hadn’t put his night goggles on yet because the moon was so bright he could still see fairly well and he knew they wouldn’t work on creatures. It ought to be darker, he realized. Why wasn’t it? It was almost as if the moonlight was being magnified around him so he could see the surrounding area, but the woods were nearly pitch black. That was how everything should be. He glanced at Arlen. Was it because of him? Did his presence make the moonlight stronger? The creatures were closely associated with the moon, after all. He had even said they drew power from the moon. Maybe it made sense that things were easier to see around him.
He straightened and they kept walking. Soon he was looking for a place to sleep and fear was creeping up on him. Arlen was looking around, too, and then pointed to a clearing at the side of the path with a hollow that would be perfect for sleeping. Jarl nodded and they both set the bags down beside the spot. Jarl eyed the woods around him, then Arlen.
“Will you stay with me, Arlen?” he asked, and the creature looked surprised.
“You want me to stay?”
“You said no one would come near if you’re here,” he explained. “I won’t feel safe if you leave.”
“I’ve been fairly close to you every night,” Arlen said. “Surely you realize that. Even during the day I trail you.”
“I want you here, within sight,” Jarl said.
Arlen grinned, his usual grin that exposed his fangs, and the sight reassured rather than terrified him. He smiled cautiously in return.
“Of course,” he said.
Jarl went to his personal bag and got ready to sleep quickly, then headed a short distance away to relieve himself and paused. He didn’t like going so far and gestured for Arlen to join him. The creature obeyed, and looked at him curiously as he exposed himself and went.
“I had wondered what that was for,” he said, and Jarl looked at him in surprise as he zipped his pants again. He slept in his clothes these five days since no one wanted to risk changing in the dangerous woods. This was the only time he exposed his body and he realized Arlen had never seen him.
“Don’t you use the bathroom?”
“No,” Arlen said. “Our waste is exuded into the air.”
“What?” Jarl said, drawing back slightly. Was he breathing in human waste? Creature waste, he corrected. Still undesirable.
Arlen laughed. “Not around others,” he said. “And not with the frequency you humans seem to have.”
Jarl’s brow creased. “If you don’t use it for that, what do you use it for? Sex?”
“We don’t have sex,” the creature said, and Jarl puzzled.
“Then how do you create more of yourselves?”
“We spawn from human dreams,” he explained. “I spawned from your dreams. That’s why you’re intended for me.”
Jarl blinked and drew back, his fear of the creature suddenly returning. This creature was drawn from his nightmares? But he looked nothing like any of the nightmares he had ever had. He was far too handsome.
“You don’t look like anything I fear,” he said cautiously.
“All of your dreams, not just your nightmares,” Arlen said with that smile. Despite the fangs, it was hard to stay terrified when the creature looked so friendly. All of his dreams? That implied his desires as well as his fears and he examined Arlen again. He had to admit that Arlen was exactly his type. He had always been drawn to men, and Arlen was perfect. If it weren’t for those few alien traits that marked him as a creature, he would be Jarl’s ideal. He blushed and wondered what the others would think, seeing exactly what Jarl dreamed about. It was almost a violation of his privacy to have his desires brought to life like this.
“Do you not like this body?” Arlen asked, as if picking up on his hesitance. “I can probably chan
ge it, but the only way I know how to do that is to draw on your nightmares and I doubt you want that.”
“I don’t want you to change,” Jarl admitted. “You’re perfect the way you are. I just don’t want anyone else to see you. Dreams are meant to be private.”
“Yet you impose them on the world around you constantly,” Arlen said. “You’re a poison, and we’re just trying to adapt.”
“Did you exist before we came here?” he asked curiously. If Arlen were drawn from his dreams and was an attempt by the planet to deal with human dreams, then that implied the species hadn’t been around long. The plants apparently also hadn’t been there before humans, he remembered. “How do things evolve so quickly here?”
“Our planet produces what it needs,” Arlen said with a shrug.
“But you’re an individual, right? Not some sort of collective consciousness?”
“I am me,” Arlen said with another laugh. “It’s true that before my type of people, we were a collective consciousness. But we’re unique, because your dreams are unique. We’re still connected to the world, but we’re independent. I like it,” he added. “I like being myself.”
“I’m glad,” Jarl said, wondering what it would be like not to have freedom of thought, to belong to some greater mind. Did it feel like a singular mind? Did each creature perceive itself to be in control? Or did they each have a mind that was controlled by the collective mind? He shivered. He hoped he never found out.
Then he went to the hollow and lay down. He looked for the moon but didn’t see it. It was hidden behind the trees and he was sad. He would have liked to spend more time looking at it, because it was likely the last chance he would get. Arlen sat down next to him and reached out to caress his head. It felt good and Jarl didn’t resist.
“I’ll watch over you, Jarl,” he said softly. “I won’t leave your side.”
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