After only a further few minutes, Phil roused from his sleep, along with the Urashan prince. Only moments later, Crystaline, Morcees and Zach eventually awakened, too. That was it, James’ moment with the Urashan princess was gone - only for now.
The morning’s atmosphere was still pretty palpable. Every bit of strain and pain could be physically felt. Morcees was understandably the most sullen of everyone. The Urashan had just lost his best friend after all, and today was probably the first day he had ever woken up without him.
Crystaline wasn’t exactly brimming with joy either. Then again, when had the Urashan princess ever looked truly happy? Under the influence of the gold fruit? That was one of the only times when James had ever seen Crystaline look truly happy. That had been a moment shared not just between himself and the Urashan princess, but with Chugga-chugga, too. James was really missing the little guy.
Much to James’ annoyance, Phil had already become a bit of a pest this morning. The human captain had washed with James, eaten with him, as well as hounded the young space warrior on his feelings. James wasn’t alright, not really. He wouldn’t tell Phil that though. As far as Phil was aware, he was fine.
It was quite a relief to James when travel eventually resumed. At least then, the young space warrior could put his energy into something. At least then, Phil wouldn’t be able to pester him anymore.
James had decided to walk on at the front by Crystaline, and luckily, the Urashan princess seemed content with this, as if she wouldn’t have it any other way. The young space warrior had been right with his morning assumptions. Crystaline had definitely softened to him, big time!
As the scene began to transform all around him, James looked over to Phil and Zach, wondering if he should ask the two of them for the water supply bag. James was thirsty and he had no idea which bag the water was in. Deciding to focus on his surroundings instead, James decided that he would have some water later, not wishing to disturb either Phil or Zach.
The scenery was definitely changing once again. For a start, everything looked purpler. Probably because of the light little smattering of purple grass all over the many cliffs. Then there were the trees. There was quite a lot of them, yet the trees were nowhere near dense enough to form a forest. They just decorated the rocky landscape instead, embellishing it, making it less mediocre and dull.
As James felt the muscles in his legs tiring, he could have sworn that he were walking up some hill or slope of some sort. Yet the truth was, by this stage of travel, James could see very little around him, for the foliage appeared to be growing thicker and thicker. Purple bushes covered both sides of the rocky pathway. Therefore, the young space warrior could not tell if he was or wasn’t walking uphill. It sure felt like it though.
Although the Urashan sun was out, shining as brightly as ever, the air felt damp, moist. As James focused on his surroundings even more, he realised that he and the others had slowly entered some kind of purple fog cloud. The air was filled with the tiniest, most minuscule little droplets of water. Or, foggy steam to be more precise.
“What is this stuff?” James asked, collecting some of the condensation on the palm of his hand.
Crystaline looked at James’ hand, her expression surprisingly grim.
“It’s fog.”
“I know that,” James grinned, realising that Crystaline was trying to brush off his question. “But what’s it made from?”
Crystaline sighed,
“You’ll soon see.” she whispered.
As the mysterious cloud of fog thickened, James began to fear that the little purple droplets of moisture might just start to turn his t-shirt pink. Judging by Crystaline’s diversional tactics to answer his earlier question, the young space warrior realised that his t-shirt turning pink was soon probably going to be the least of his worries.
As the air grew even thicker, thick enough to even taste the sweet little vapour in his mouth, James was stunned into immobilisation. His companions came to a standstill just behind him. Whatever he and the others were walking on top of, was soon to be no more. It just ended, as if shrouded away into another dimension by the purple fog.
“Great!” Phil rather dryly exclaimed. “Now what? I thought you knew what you were doing?”
The princess swivelled around rapidly, her eyes blazing into Phil’s.
“I do know what I’m doing, thanks! This path is necessary.”
“Necessary?” Phil scoffed. “So tell me, Crystaline, how do we walk on thin air? Or does the fog make us fly?”
Crystaline shook her head, exasperated by Phil’s mocking behaviour.
“Go on!” She hissed.
“Go on what?”
“Walk to the edge, you’ll see.”
The human captain pushed his way to the front of the group, walking alongside a rather curious James to see what lay beyond the path’s edge. Simultaneously together, both Phil’s and James’ mouths gaped open, shocked by what was in front of them.
There were rocks, lots of them. Long, tall structures scattered like pillars. Their peaks were level with the cliff at which James and Phil both stood. Then there was the substance at which the rocks were scattered over. James now knew where this purple fog cloud had risen from. It was this pool. This pool of violet...violet what? Water? No. The substance was way too thick to be water. It wasn’t even translucent. Goo? Was goo the better term to use? Whatever it was looked grim, mucky, completely undesirable to swim through.
“What is that stuff?” James whispered.
As she walked up behind him, Crystaline ignored James’ question, endeavouring to make her plans of travel known to Phil instead.
“You see that next thicker rock? We each need to jump onto there first. Then we will handle the thinner pillar rocks.”
“But what? Why? I don’t like this. It looks too dangerous.”
“We don’t have a choice.” Crystaline said, pointing to something in the distance a lot further away. “We need to get to that cliff on the other side of the pool. It’s the only route I know to the stone.”
Phil shook his head, scanning the pool, the pillar rocks, and then the much more sizeable cliffs which appeared to surround the place.
“I don’t get it...why can’t we just use those side cliffs over there?”
“We can use them for about half the journey. But then look, those surrounding cliffs end way before we reach our destination. Plus we will need to get onto this larger rock first. Whether you like it or not, Phil, we are all going to need to do some jumping.”
“And if we fall in?”
“None of us are going to fall in. That’s all you need to know.”
Phil shook his head,
“I still don’t like this.” he moaned.
“We don’t have a choice!” Crystaline proclaimed. “Now who’s first?”
Zach gulped.
“First?”
“To jump. To that next rock over...”
With a flash, Morcees’ dark blur of a figure rushed past Crystaline, stopping her mid-sentence. The lonely Urashan jumped, landing on the target rock with precision.
“Oh-kay,” Crystaline continued, “who is next?”
Crystos stepped forwards, nodding at his sister. The princess returned his nod, allowing a slight grin to break out across her lips.
Without wasting a single further second, Crystos took an impressive run and jump, landing on Morcees’ rock with powerful agility. Crystaline’s smile quirked up a notch, impressed with her brother’s jump.
“So, out of you three, who wants to go next?”
James eyed his destination, and then the gap which separated his cliff from that rock.
“That’s a big jump.”
“Yes,” Crystaline agreed. “Big, but doable.”
“I don’t know,” Zach disagreed. “You three ain’t human. You jump better.”
“Zach!” Phil appeared a little exasperated, annoyed by Zach’s lack of faith in his own species. “If they can make that
jump, then so can we. If I thought it were that dangerous, we would not be making the jump - trust me. To be honest, Zach, it looks easy. Why I bet I could even make that jump with my eyes closed.”
Crystaline raised an incredulous eyebrow at Phil.
“Really?” She asked, completely and utterly unconvinced.
“Really,” Phil assured her, “but I think it’s best that I go last. To make sure that James and Zach make it over alright.”
James used this as his cue to jump.
“I’ll go next,” the young space warrior bravely proclaimed, looking into the eyes of the princess. Her eyes smiled back at him, filled with respect for the courageous space warrior. Just as James was about to prepare himself for his jump, he felt Phil’s overprotective hands gripping onto his shoulders.
“You know what you’re doing, James?”
“Of course. I’ve got this.”
“Good. Remember to get as much power into your run as possible.”
James rolled his eyes, shaking his head at the same time as he took several steps back to prepare his run. The gap between the two rocks was jumpable, James could see that, he could tell. The young space warrior also knew that the jump was not without its risks, and he knew that those Urashans were a little more skilled than your average Joe. C’mon James! The young space warrior willed himself, you can do this! With one last gulp of air, James sprang his body forwards, leaping free from the cliff, with his arms and his legs swimming through the air. With a thud, James landed on the the other rock, with both of his two feet still standing. The young space warrior turned back to Crystaline and the other two, proud of his jump.
With a sudden bolt of nervous energy, Zach made the next leap, landing into a roll on the big bulk of rock. James and Crystos helped the brave young man back up onto his feet, clapping and cheering at his achievement.
Noting that her and Phil were the last ones remaining on the cliff, Crystaline’s eyes shifted to the human captain.
“You next.”
Phil shook his head, determined to put that smug conceited princess back in her place. He would make that jump, and he would make it look darn easy!
With a ginormous run and leap, Phil freed his body from the cliff’s edge, flying through the air as his target rock drew nearer and nearer. But hang on a minute? Phil realised it, he was sinking, his feet not yet landed on the rock. In a moment of desperation, the human captain flailed his arms around, trying desperately to grab hold of something, anything which would stop him from falling. Phil was lucky, James and Zach had managed to catch him, pulling their captain onto their rock. Phil tried to brush off the imaginary pieces of dirt from his shirt, understandably shaken.
As Phil got back up onto his feet, he watched Crystaline breeze past him, making the jump look as easy as a single step would be to a long jumper.
The princess looked amused, completely smug.
“I thought you said that you could make that jump with your eyes closed?”
Phil shook his head, too ashamed and too embarrassed to make his verbal comeback.
James caught Crystaline’s smiling eyes with his. Both of their smiles grew, each of them mocking Phil. The young space warrior was enjoying this; this connection with the Urashan princess. It was clear: Phil annoyed Crystaline as much as he annoyed James. Nevertheless, the young space warrior was quick to turn on his serious face, asking Phil politely if he were okay. The human captain tried to shrug off the whole incident, his facade obliterated by his shaky uneasiness.
Ironically, as Phil had suggested, the group found themselves hopping over to the towering leftmost cliff. The tall structure was no easy beast to walk on. For the rocks were so brittle, crumbling away into the purple pool of goo. Then there was the floor space, or the lack of it. James and the others had only inches to work with. It would be easy to fall off, too easy.
As James looked down at the purple pool of goo underneath him, he noticed bubbles, lots of them popping up to the surface.
“Hey er...should that be happening?”
“Should what be happening?” Crystaline answered him.
“Those bubbles...the pool’s teeming with them.”
Crystaline stopped moving, her whole body was frozen in alarm. Bubbles...no...this could not be!
“Okay, change of plan. We need to stop sliding across this cliff. We need to climb, now, literally, we have no time to lose.”
James looked gobsmacked, dumbfounded.
“We need to climb? But why?”
“Just do it!” Crystaline yelled back at him, beginning her ascent up the cliff, just as the bubbles grew louder and louder. “Don’t look back!” She added, “Just climb for your life!”
James grabbed onto the nearest rock he could find, using it to pull his body up the cliff’s face. His hands searched for the next rock, and as he placed his palm over it, the rock began to shake, crumbling away from him before he could even hold it. The cliff! It was...it was vibrating...or something...something was vibrating, reverberating its way through the whole entire cliff. James dug his fingers into a gouge, slowly turning his head around to face whatever was creeping up behind him.
As the young space warrior’s eyes reached their target, the young man froze, frightened by the tower of goo which was rising up above him. Inside the purple undulating mass was specks of green, lots of them, like sparks, charging their way through the creature’s body. What was that thing? Was it even a creature? James feared that it was.
Crystaline had frozen right beside James, eyeing the dangerous giant glob for herself as it continued to grow. The thing was massive, like a giant, rising at least thirty feet into the air.
A brief flicker of logic made James realise that this thing resembled the purple pool beneath it. The young space warrior wondered if there would be any pool left once this creature reached its full size. James’ eyes lowered to the purple pool, noting that it was still there, bubbling away, barely shallower.
James’ eyes gazed back up towards the humungous creature. He noticed three holes, resembling the shape of two eyes and a mouth forming near to the top of the creature. The thing reminded James of a ghost, a purple ghost, made up of purple gunk instead of a white veil. The animal appeared to be growing limbs, two thick, gooey arms. Then there were those green things, crusts this time, changing their positions and sizes constantly. Just what was this?
“Crystaline,” James panted, “what...what is that thing?”
Crystaline’s eyes squinted, watching in horror as the creature’s mouth widened into an impossibly huge abyss of darkness.
“That,” she breathily responded, “that is a ganzar.”
Just as James began to comprehend the very word, the ginormous beast roared such a loud, deafening, reverberating roar! The cliff began to fall to pieces, suffering its first attack from the deadly ganzar. The purple gunky creature darted with such speed straight towards the cliff, plunging its entire body into the rocky structure. James fought with all his might just to hang on. It was a difficult task. The cliff would not stop shaking, crumbling to pieces, as it suffered thrash after thrash from the ginormous ganzar.
Just as James’ ears managed to fathom his captain’s yells, the young space warrior tilted his head in Crystaline’s direction. The Urashan princess was hanging on, just like he was. Only the ganzar, it crashed into the cliff once again, breaking away the bit of rock which held Crystaline above the pool. The Urashan princess fell, landing straight into the purple goo. James cried after her, just as the ganzar’s arms thrashed straight above his head. The young space warrior screamed in time with the monster’s deafening roar, getting out all that pain, all that shock, all that heartbreak of losing the Urashan princess.
James felt Phil’s strong arm grabbing onto his shoulders, endeavouring to pull him up the cliff. His captain was speaking, shouting, yet to James, his words only came out as muffled garbles.
Just above him, James heard a loud, almost deafening whoosh! Then at the corner of his
eye, he saw the colour red, bright luminous red. Morcees’ sworsha was alight, set onto its highest voltage! James managed to look up into the silver eyes of the Urashan. The man was not all there, his mind completely overtaken by rage, by madness! Morcees growled, then his growl turned into a full on scream. Zach’s and Crystos’ arms flailed desperately around the enraged Urashan, trying to keep him from his risky intentions. Their attempts of restraint were futile, for the silver eyed Urashan dived free from the cliff, leaping straight into the ganzar.
The next few seconds seemed like minutes to James as he watched Morcees slowly sinking into the gargantuan creature. Upon impact, the creature flashed green, appearing stunned for a very brief moment. Then the creature began to wail, writhing in agony as the purple returned to it. With its body still chaotically flailing around, the creature hurtled straight towards the cliff, slamming into the rocky structure with such a deadly force. James felt the rock crumbling away from him, feeling his body being released into the thin air all around him.
As James noticed the others all falling, the young space warrior felt his arms moving through the air, waving about with no real purpose. This was it his mind whispered to him.
His death had reached him.
Chapter 21
James felt his body sinking into the cool, gel-like substance. Both his eyes and his mouth remained closed, instinctively protecting the young space warrior from whatever he had just landed in.
Diversion To Urasha (Space Era Book 1) Page 24