Razing Pel

by A. L. Svartz

  "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.

  CHAPTER SIX

  THE SECOND HELP

  Kaj awoke in a strange cave on a bed. He was in a poorly lit room with just a candle burning on the small stand next to the bed. Kaj leaned forward and noticed that his empty backpack and his sac, which contained his dagger, were on the floor near his feet. He reached down and put both of them on before heading out the same doorway to another room.

  "Where am I?" Kaj questioned as he walked into a larger cave room. There was a long desk with a mess of papers over by the corner of the room. Another bed was opposite of that. The room was brighter than the room he was just in. Kaj looked to the right of him to see a cloth covering another doorway. He walked over to the desk of papers and started looking around. He picked up one of the papers. "Nosidda?"

  "Hey!" A voice yelled out. Kaj jumped, dropping the paper, and looked over to see an older human enter from the doorway that was covered, which led to outside. The man had a long gray beard and was absent from hair on top of his head. He wore a dirty white t-shirt with a gray vest over it. The man was also extremely skinny. His hands and face had dirt on them. What really shocked Kaj was that his legs were not organic but mechanical. His legs were rusted and squeaked when he made his way over to Kaj. The knees bent backwards with big circular platforms instead of feet. "These are my private research papers."

  "Sorry," Kaj said, backing away from the man as he shuffled around the papers. "Uh, not to be rude but, where exactly am I and who are you?"

  The man turned and saluted to Kaj. "My name is Phos," the man said. "Former Captain of the Galactic Soldiers." He brought his arm down. "I found you out in the desert, collapsed. When I brought you here I thought you wouldn't make it."

  "Uh, thanks," Kaj said.

  "No thanks needed," Phos said as he went back to shuffling around the papers. "Ah, here it is!" He turned and faced Kaj again. "Come with me. I want to ask you a few questions." The man led Kaj back into the room he just came from. "Take a seat on the bed." Kaj sat back down on the bed as Phos pulled over a chair. "So, you know my name. What's yours?"

  "My name is Kaj, sir," Kaj said. Phos placed the piece of paper on a wooden board and started to write down what Kaj said.

  "Ok, where did you come from?"

  "I came from a small village that was located underground. You know, to hide from the Oce." Again Phos frantically wrote that down.

  "And you are a Daj, right?"

  "Yeah."

  "Fascinating! You see, with the studies I have made while being out here, I can conclude that your species is a sub-species of human. While being out here, I have found several dead Daj out in the wasteland. I took in their bodies and began to study them. Everything about them is similar to that of a human. I'm not going to lie, I have dissected a few. And from learning about the human body when I was in school, they are very similar in the way their bodies operate to that of a human. Of course, there are some differences. The height of your species, not to mention the bigger hands and longer fingers. But other than that, I can say that our two species are somewhat related."

  Kaj was somewhat intrigued about what Phos was saying. He was also fascinated to see what an actual human looked like as the Galactic Soldiers were covered in armor from head to toe.

  "Just one more question," Phos said. "Where are you headed?"

  Kaj hesitated for a second, but then thought that the human might actual help him reach United City. "Well, a few hours ago my uncle and I were listening to the radio. One similar to that one over there. We heard the Galactic President announce the withdrawal of all Galactic Soldiers from this planet. And every time he makes a decision like that, the very same planet is eventually destroyed by the Oce."

  "The Galactic President said this!" Phos said, now in a serious tone. "My radio has been broken for some time now. Ever since then, I was cut from the outside world. I'm sorry little one, go on."

  "The announcer on the radio said that all Galactic Soldiers need to head to United City. I was shocked by the news. My uncle told me to go pack my things and head down to the Galactic Soldiers' base in my village and beg them to take me … which they did. They chose a small group of us to take with them so that my species wouldn't be wiped out. On our way there, my shuttle was attacked by the Oce. Everyone on board was killed, except for me of course. After leaving the crash site, I was chased by some wild animal into a forest."

  "The Ancient Forest," Phos whispered under his breath. Kaj heard him but didn't bother to ask how he was aware of the location.

  "After that I met ... uhh." Kaj decided not to tell the human who he met and what was given to him in the forest. He decided it was best to keep it a secret.

  "Who'd you meet?" Phos asked. He sat there, pen in hand, ready to write down the next few words that would escape Kaj's mouth. His hand trembled.

  "Uhh ... it was nothing," Kaj said, scratching the top of his head.

  "What was it!" Phos said, his voice beginning to get annoyed and furious.

  "It was nothing. Just a hallucination. I was dehydrated. It was nothing," Kaj struggled to say.

  "And then that's where I found you," Phos said, writing down something on the piece of paper again. "Well, that seems to wrap up your story." Phos got up and stretched his arms. "We should be heading out soon."

  "You mean," Kaj said as he hopped off the bed.

  "Yes, I'll be joining you on your trip to United City. Together, we can both escape this planet. Come, we should get going."

  Kaj followed Phos back out to the main cave room. Phos pulled open a drawer from the desk and pulled out a piece of bread, handing it over to Kaj.

  "Thanks," Kaj said, taking the bread from him. He quickly devoured the piece of bread.

  "You just eat as I get packing," Phos said, pulling out a small sac from underneath the desk. He unzipped it and put the remaining bread in there, followed by a few shirts and an assault rifle.

  "Um, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I just wanted to ask you," Kaj said. "What happened to your ..."

  "My legs," Phos whispered. "I knew you'd be curious to know what happened." He continued to pack stuff away as he told Kaj his story. "It was a few years ago. My squad and I were stationed at a small village, not far from where we are now. We've managed to stay out of the way from the Oce for a while. Then, out of the blue one day, they attacked. My squad and I tried everything to stop them and to make sure the Daj would escape, but they didn't. They took out everyone there, including my squad. One of them took a swipe at my legs, slicing them off. I laid there thinking that only time would soon take me. I decided to crawl away from the attack site, hopefully trying to find another squad that could help me, but I didn't. I found this cave here. It seemed to have been abandoned. All around the cave were loose pieces of metal, which I used to construct my legs. Every since then, I've been here." As he finished up the story, he tightly secured his sac closed. He turned and faced Kaj. Phos held something in his hand. "The reason I declare myself former Captain is because I don't deserve it, not after what had happened."

  Kaj looked at his hand and saw that it was a badge. Phos turned around again, placing the badge in a pocket that was on his vest.

  Phos slipped on his sac. He placed a worn fedora on his head. "Well, shall we get going? We don't have much time left."

  They both headed out to the desert that surrounded them.

  CHAPTER SEVEN