“ROCKSLIDE!” The young space warrior yelled, seeing Crystaline jump to the floor five or so metres to his side. James had no idea what he should be doing next, so he just sprinted, following Crystaline as she dodged the falling boulders.
“James!”
Phil had yelled, running towards his comrade as if his very life depended on it.
Seeing the others all bounding towards him, James outstretched his hand, ready to leap towards his friends. He felt his first step, then his second, then...then he saw it. James saw the massive gersher flying directly for the disbanding group.
“Look out!” He yelled, only James, he was too late. The ginormous creature crunched its talons into Phil’s shoulders, lifting the human captain several feet into the air.
As James ran for his captain, he could see the man struggling and writhing in midair, endeavouring to free himself from the wicked grasp of the gersher.
Zach had doubled back for his captain ,too, throwing rocks at the screeching beast, and James, he was almost there now.
CRUNCH!
Something had slammed into James, sending him slicing through the air, until he landed back down on the ground. It wasn’t a boulder, it was one of them, one of those gershers.
Unbeknownst to Crystaline, her brother was already gaining on her, avoiding boulder after boulder to catch up with his sister. As he saw his sister getting closer to his reach, Crystos felt the sudden rush of air sweeping up behind him. The prince dived onto the ground, just about avoiding the swooping attack of the gersher. When the prince looked up, spitting the dust from his mouth, he was horrified to see the creature latching onto Crystaline, carrying her no less than ten feet from the ground.
Crystaline slammed her fists into the gersher’s feet, twisting and pulling on the creature to try and free herself from its menacing clutches. With one last heavy slam, the creature let out a blood curdling screech, dropping Crystaline from its lethal talons. The princess landed on the ground with a moan and a thud. When she looked up to gather her bearings, Crystaline was nauseated to see a gersher diving right into her brother’s ribs. Avoiding the path of another falling boulder, Crystaline clawed at the ground to fight her way back up onto her feet so that she could go and help her brother.
As Crystaline ran with all her might to reach her brother, Morcees and Borcees were yet to feel the grip of the gershers. That didn’t stop Morcees’ rage and his bloodlust from flaring, however. Now at boiling point, Morcees removed his sworsha, lighting it blue, as he stopped running, and turned around to seize a flying beast to attack. One was already in his path, shooting towards him in midair. With the loudest scream his lungs could possibly manage, Morcees ran at the aggressive animal, preparing to kill the thing with his weapon.
Hearing the screams of his best friend, Borcees stopped and turned back. Morcees and that thing, they were interlocked, interlocked in some battle to the death. The beast would tear Morcees apart! With a yell of his own, Borcees activated his weapon, running to the aid of his best friend.
James dived straight into the cliff base, just about succeeding to dodge another relentless attack from the gersher. He had no idea where Phil was, where Zach was, or where anyone was for that matter. As James freed his body from the cliff, craning his head around in search for anyone, James was sickened to see that very same gersher he’d just dodged slamming right into Crystaline.
Instinctively, James ran towards the attacking gersher and the Urashan princess. The young space warrior knew, he knew how merciless that creature was. He’d been dodging an uncountable number of attacks from the winged beast.
Disorientated by the creature’s attack, Crystaline raised back up onto her feet, clutching her jabbed ribs as she searched the skies for her attacker.
CRACK!
Another hit, and Crystaline was once again thrust towards the ground.
Sensing that her death was soon upon her, Crystaline fought her way back up onto her feet, mentally preparing herself for the creature’s next strike. She could feel it, whooshing through the air behind her. As the princess felt this rush of air, her eyes widened, something else, something baby blue had caught her eye. Before Crystaline could even register what was happening, Chugga-chugga intercepted the gersher’s attack, sending both himself and the flying beast into a chaotic clump of fighting on the ground. Crystaline’s mouth gaped open, completely and utterly horrified.
James used the strength in his arms to battle his way back up onto his feet. That boulder, that darn heavy boulder had nearly flattened him. There was another one, this time a huge one, plummeting its way through the air, right towards...no! Right towards Crystaline!
“CRYSTALINE!”
James yelled, springing towards the Urashan princess, as if his very life depended on it. What was she doing? Why was she just stood there, not moving?
“CRYSTALINE!”
James screamed again, this time successfully alerting the princess’ attention to the boulder which would splatter her. Instead of moving, Crystaline just froze, gaping up in horror at the boulder which would flatten her.
C’mon! James willed his legs, he had to get there, to push Crystaline out of the way. The boulder was close, but so was he, just one more push! James enveloped his arms around the Urashan princess, feeling the bottom of the boulder just missing his hair by millimetres, as he and Crystaline fell uncontrollably into the hole on the side of the cliff. Still wrapped around Crystaline, James felt his and her’s bodies rolling away into the darkness. Then, with one final thud, the pair landed, both of their mind’s knocked out into complete darkness, as the boulders sealed the cave shut.
Chapter 18
James awoke to darkness. In fact, it was so dark that the young space warrior thought, momentarily, that he may still be sleeping. If it wasn’t for his head feeling like it had just been pummelled to death, then James might have been able to believe that he were in some deep dark slumber.
The reality of the situation was a far cry from this ideal tranquil scenario. The reality was, James had fallen, in what? This cave of some sort? With Crystaline? Shit! Crystaline!
James dug his fingers into the muddy ground, forcing his body back up onto his knees. Frantically, his eyes scanned through the darkness in search for the Urashan princess. Ironic this.
Slowly, but surely, James’ tired blue eyes began to adjust to the darkness. There was light coming from somewhere above, natural daylight. There wasn’t very much of it, but there was enough, enough light to enable James to make out his surroundings.
The young space warrior’s eyes paused on something large, something even darker than this cave. It was Crystaline, laid lifeless on the ground only a few feet away from him.
As James crawled over to the Urashan princess, he noticed her pale hands splayed out in front of her unconscious body. Feeling suddenly panicky, James rested his warm hands over the princess’. Phew! They were still warm. Crystaline was alive; knocked out, but alive.
“Crystaline!” James called to her, trying to nudge her body awake. “Crystaline, are you okay? Can you hear me?”
The Urashan princess groaned, rolling onto her back, as her eyes flickered themselves awake. It took Crystaline a few moments to properly register both what had just happened and where she was. Once the princess did fathom what was going on, however, her breathing sped right up, as she rolled onto her knees.
“What’s going on?” She whispered, rhetorically. Crystaline’s eyes followed the weak little source of light from above, realising that it came from the little cracks between the cave’s entranceway, and the boulder which had sealed it.
With a sudden burst of movement, the Urashan princess sprang her body towards the source of light, scrambling her hands and her legs through the muddy slope which stood in her way. After a further few moments of struggle, Crystaline mediocrely slid straight back down the slope - the thing was too slippery to climb.
With a flash, the princess’ sworsha illuminated purple, its handle being
slammed into the ground, as Crystaline sat down beside it.
James removed his bag, leaning his back on the cold wall opposite the Urashan princess. Through the soft, purple sworsha light, the young space warrior could see that the woman was breathing faster than usual, far faster in fact, as she came to terms with being stuck down here in this tiny cramped cave.
As James’ eyes adjusted even further to the darkness all around him, he noticed a little rivulet of blood, seeping from the princess’ temple.
James felt his own head, it felt warm, wet and sticky - he had suffered a very similar injury.
“You want some water?” James asked tentatively, empathetically feeling Crystaline’s panic.
Crystaline slowly shifted her head, gazing searchingly into James’ soft blue eyes. Eventually, her lips parted with a breathy whisper.
“Water? Why would I want that?”
“For your cut. I know that the others have the healing fluid, but cleaning the wound would soothe it for now.”
Crystaline leant her head back on the wall behind her, wincing at James’ very mentioning of the others.
“The others…” she ominously whispered, “they’re gone, and we, you and I, we’re not going anywhere either. We’re stuck down here until we die. So what difference does cleaning a wound make?”
James shook his head, not believing in Crystaline’s hopeless words for one second.
“No, you see, that’s where you’re wrong. Phil and Crystos, the others, they are out there. They will come back for us.”
Crystaline scoffed, grinning a viciously sickening smile.
“You’re so deluded, James. Really, I admire your hope, but the fact is, the others have either moved on, or...” Crystaline’s expression saddened, “Or they’re dead.”
“No,” James said, shaking his head again, refusing to believe in Crystaline’s words. “Crystos would never give up on you. And Phil, although I dislike that man…I know he’d never give up on me either.”
Crystaline merely stared back at James, still doubtful of his words.
As the young space warrior leaned his head back on the cave’s wall, he wondered if his hopeful words had somehow gotten through to the Urashan princess. He wondered if just a tiny small part of her would believe that she was going to get out of this cave; alive and well.
As he looked up to the little cracks of light up above him, James realised, for the first time, how silent it was. He could not hear the gershers screeching, or the boulders crashing. The worst, was not hearing the sounds of his companions. Where were they? Were they really out there? Looking for him and Crystaline? James felt his entire body quivering suddenly. He’d read somewhere that this feeling was meant to signify someone walking over his grave. James thought of the irony, of how this little cave reminded him of a tomb, and perhaps, some day, someone might literally walk over this tomb, his and Crystaline’s graves.
James winced at the memory of Phil being carried off by that gersher. The young space warrior had wanted to help his captain, only he was prevented from doing so by another gersher. Had Zach managed to free his captain? Was Zach even alive? Crystos? Morcees? Borcees? Chugga-chugga? Had anyone actually made it?
James clenched his fists, realising that he was letting these negative thoughts overcome him. Life wasn’t about this; you couldn’t handle life in this way. James had realised that life was all about positive thinking, about willpower, refusal to give up. The others were out there. They had to be. If for what ever reason Phil and that lot could not find him and Crystaline, James knew that he and the Urashan princess would figure their own way out of this mess, somehow.
James’ gaze shifted back over to the Urashan princess. Her expression was desolate as usual, though her breathing had calmed. Crystaline was a damaged soul, and James, he was lucky, for he knew that the same may have happened to him if it wasn’t for Lottie entering his life. The girl had saved him. From what? Years of misery, of self destruction? Of depression? James could remember how that felt. True - he had only been a kid at the time, but when he lost his father, the pain, it was unbearable, and at the time, the frightened little boy had seen no way out of the pain. It was easy to become trapped in the darkness, too easy. The hard part - that was finding your way out of the mess. James could not have found his way out without Lottie, and maybe Crystaline needed a guiding light too?
James closed his eyes, smiling fondly at those memories of his father, of the time he did share with his hero. Before the young space warrior even realised it himself, his lips began to move, sharing his memories with the Urashan princess.
“You’d have liked it, you know. My home I mean, where I used to live as a child.”
Crystaline lifted her head, her eyes sad, yet curious as she watched the young space warrior.
James continued,
“Earth got kind of taken over once the changes happened. Most of the rural areas were turned into shipyards. Either that, or they were turned into training facilities, ones which trained people like me and Lottie - all of us here in fact.” James shuffled into a more comfortable position, his eyes alight with nostalgia. “Where I grew up was different. My mum, her family, they owned a beautiful little cottage, set in one of the last remaining rural areas of England. When my mum met my dad, my grandparents left them the cottage, so that they could raise me in that precious environment.” James shook his head, eyes glazed with excitement, “I loved it there. It was the awesomeist place to grow up in. We had wildlife everywhere. I remember when...I remember when my dad and me would stay up late to watch out for the nocturnal wildlife. Sometimes, we would even sneak off into the nearby woodlands without my mum’s permission. We’d see loads of rare and beautiful creatures. We’d see badgers, foxes, hedgehogs, all sorts. I saw it as my own little adventure, like me and my dad were on our own space mission, exploring a forest not so unlike the one here, on this planet.” James took a deep breath of air, just as his expression saddened. “I was gutted when I found out. More than that, I was devastated, my entire world fell to pieces, and I watched as my mum’s world fell apart too.
When something massive like that happens, they say that you always remember the day so vividly. I was only a boy at the time, but I can still remember being taken out of school early. I can still remember that car journey home, wondering why a neighbour was picking me up instead of my mum.
As soon as I walked through the door - I knew. Even though I should have been too young to understand, I understood, I think I understood because it was something I had always feared would happen. Maybe my mum’s apprehension had rubbed off on me?
I can still remember that look in her eyes. I can still remember how red her eyes were, how sore they were, battered by their own tears. Seeing my own mother like this made me do one thing: I just ran, straight into her arms, sobbing into her shoulders, trying to hold on to her for dear life as my whole entire world shattered to tiny little pieces.” James paused, feeling his voice beginning to croak, just as his eyes glazed with their very own tears. “I was just a boy back then, so my mum...she er...she tried to explain my dad’s death in a nice way. She told me that ‘daddy wasn’t coming home from his holiday.’ She told me that he won’t ever be back, and that she was so so sorry. I mean, what did she have to be sorry for? This wasn’t her fault. My dad, he had died. People died, people die. I was no longer a naive, innocent kid. I woke up, I saw the real world, or so I thought anyway.
As the days continued on, I can remember how my body felt. It felt like a robot, like a machine, programmed to feel only pain and despair. Those happy memories turned into sad ones. And everything was just dark, so dark. Literally, I could see nothing else, nothing but my heart, split open, gushing out blood. Was it gushing out the happiness, removing it from my body? Or was it infected, seeping out endless amounts of torturous pain? You see the happiness, it couldn’t have been that bleeding out from my heart, because at the time, it had all gone. Not even a tiny little remnant of happiness existed within
me.
I went on for months like this, too afraid to talk to my mother. I saw her suffering, and I didn’t want to make her worse. I went off the rails. I misbehaved, I skipped school, I started trouble. Nothing seemed important anymore. I mean, what was the point? What was the point in living by the rules, in trying to have some kind of life, when all I could see was darkness? Was that all that life had to offer? Could we only be happy for a tiny short time? Until something unfortunate like my father dying would happen?” James shook his head, gazing intently into the watering eyes of the Urashan princess. “The answer’s no. Because as hard as it might seem, you can choose to be happy. I mean, when you’re in a state like that, the choice is practically invisible, but it is there, waiting to be chosen.
Lottie was my beacon, she shone a light down on me, guiding me to that choice, that little passageway which would lead me to happiness.” James clicked his middle finger with his thumb, “I mean, don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t just happen, in the single click of a finger. You can’t just summon feelings of happiness, but instead, you can work towards getting better. You can look for happiness, and work out what you need to do to reach it. Me? I opened up; I spoke to Lottie, I shared my feelings with her, and took comfort from the fact that I no longer felt so alone. I spoke to my mum, realising that me talking to her helped her, too.
In gradual time, my wounded heart felt as if it were slowly being stitched back together again. It was bleeding less and less, and I could go through days, days where I would feel moments of happiness, moments without pain. Sometimes, I would have bad days, I would think of my father more, and those stitches in my heart would become unstitched, gushing out all that blood. But those stitches, they would soon refasten themselves again. Things were getting better, I was becoming happier. I no longer felt like a robot. I found myself again, and I was ready, ready to be happy.
You see, Crystaline, the pain never quite goes away. There are even days now where my heart will still bleed over my father. But I know that I’m not the only person who still feels this way. I know that there are people I love who feel the exact same emotions that I feel. We’ve all suffered, and we still do suffer, but we don’t let that stop us from living happy lives.
Diversion To Urasha (Space Era Book 1) Page 21