The Arrival by

Melayna Tidwell

The sand was in his lungs, choking, suffocating. Writhing in pain, he forced himself up, coughing and hacking until wet clumps of sand fell from his mouth and piled up in front of him. Staggering, he rose to his paws, crouching as the last bit of sand exited his mouth. Looking around, the sensor in his eye whirred and clicked, his vision shifting from dark and blurry to dim yet sharp.

The raft he had come here in was in shambles. Bits of it were strewn around the beach, dark shapes that broke up the otherwise peaceful landscape. The beach seemed to sprawl endlessly in both directions. The ocean stretched to the horizon ahead of him, while the desert met the one behind him.

Sighing, Krypter trudged to the corpse of his raft. It was now the only familiar thing left in his life, the last remnant of the world he had left behind. He would lay among its wreckage for one last night.

“Do you think he’s dead?”

Krypter blinked a couple times, his eyes whirring as they adjusted to the new light. Grunting, he stretched his sore limbs, then stood, shaking sand from his pelt. He flicked his ears, realizing what had woken him up in the first place.

A small crunch of the sand behind him, as if someone was shifting their weight. A quivering exhale, the bunching of muscles about to make a move.

Spinning on his hind legs, Krypter whirled around, whisking his tail and spraying sand on the intruders.

“Ack!” One of them stretched a wing and blocked the sand from hitting her squarely in the face. Another stood beside her, smaller, unmoving, regarding Krypter with pupilless, purple eyes, her face devoid of emotion, and it seemed, a mouth.

He froze, narrowing his eyes. How had he not detected her? She stood on the sand, same as the other, yet wasn’t moving at all. For what he understood, that should be impossible. Nothing can be completely still. Yet here she was, a living exception to that principle.

“Seriously!?” the other exclaimed. Krypter shifted his gaze to her. He had never seen a creature like her before; she had large dragon like wings that were splayed on either side of her, small, triangular horns on her head, a short tail with a stinger or barb protruding from it, and a scar running over her right eye. To add to all those oddities, her fur also was changing color spontaneously, going from brown to blue to red. She turned to the smaller one, hissing, “Vortex, d’you think you can portal this guy out of here?”

She looked at Krypter a moment longer with those eerie purple eyes, finally turning to her companion and somehow speaking despite her lack of a mouth, “Not yet, Athyren. I, for one, am rather interested in his story. I mean, have you ever seen anyone like him before?” She tipped her head, gesturing to Krypter’ s eyes, which were pure black save for the glowing blue sensors which had been implanted within them.

The one called Athyren flicked an ear, then tucked her wings back to her sides. “Yeah, you’re right. It wouldn’t be right to kick him out before we’ve even heard him out." She offered him a smile. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

The only response Krypter offered back was a twitch of his tail. If there was one thing he had learned, it was that unsolicited trust only led to suffering and misery. And these creatures were nothing if not unpredictable. Athyren was still changing colors and who knew what kind of poison lurked in that stinger. And Vortex, well, Krypter didn’t know about her, but the fact that he couldn’t sense her at all didn’t sit well with him.

Athyren’ s smile faltered for only a brief moment, then it returned bigger than ever. “I think it’s time proper introductionswere made! I’m Athyren,” she said, lifting a paw to her chest, “and this is Vortex.” She gestured to the small, gray creature with an orange wing. “Welcome to Xannia!”

Xannia? All Krypter knew about Xannia was that it was on the other side of the ocean, and that the inhabitants there were primitive and uneducated. While Empyra was covered in cities and buildings, most of Xannia was uncivilized; those that lived there were vastly outnumbered by the dense rainforests, golden sand deserts, and snow-capped mountains. If he had really managed to travel all the way to Xannia . . . maybe, he could finally leave everything behind him. Maybe he could start over, become a hermit in the woods or something, someplace where no one would have known, or have heard of him.

Except that these two already did. They looked at him expectantly, as if they wanted him to divulge his whole life story to them. A laughable thought, not that he would ever explain to them why. “Listen,” Krypter snapped, causing Athyren’ s eyes to widen. “I just need some alone time, okay? So can you point me to the nearest secluded woods or isolated peak or something?”

To his utter annoyance, Athyren laughed at him, her wings bobbing up and down. "There’s nothing but desert over here!”

“Well, then how did you get here?” Krypter hissed.

“Oh, um . . .” She cast a furtive glance at Vortex, then quickly snapped her eyes back to him. “We just like traveling. We’ve been all over Xannia; we can definitely find you the right place!”

Sighing, he lashed his tail against the sand. The last thing he wanted was to go on a group trip. Especially with this color-changing oddity and her mouthless sidekick. But he was the stranger here, and as much as he hated it, they held more power than he in this circumstance. “Fine,” he relented. “Take me wherever you want me to go.”

Athyren smiled and leapt to her paws, absent-mindedly shaking out sand from her fur as she hopped around like an over-energized grasshopper. Vortex, on the other paw, looked indifferent; she stayed sitting and merely looked at Krypter with undiscernible eyes. “Do you really think this is a good idea?” she asked Athyren.

The multi-colored jumping bean stopped bouncing for a moment to consider the question. “Yeah. Well, we can’t just leave him here, can we? He’d probably die.”

Vortex looked him in the eyes again. Krypter had never seen anything like them. They were like his – unnatural, that is. Foreign. Strange. Liable to cause sudden panic attacks. He felt as if she was staring right through him, past the machinery and the wiring that was holding what was left of him together, to the soul he often forgot was still there. “I suppose you’re right. It would seem that he’s seen enough that this shouldn’t kill him.”

Krypter took a step back, suddenly feeling icy claws trace his spine. He’d had enough of experiments to last him a lifetime, thank you very much. He wasn’t about to enter another one after barely managing to leave the last.

“Don’t worry!” Athyren exclaimed, hopping next to him, and draping a red wing over his back, which he promptly shoved off. “It won’t hurt! It’s not even dangerous!”

“And what exactly is ‘it?’” Krypter hissed. She leaned in close to his snout, yellow eyes sparkling. Hewrinkled his nose and shuffled away from her, hating the feeling of the sand as it wedged itself between his paws. “You’ll see!” she whispered excitedly.

“You might want to stand closer to us,” Vortex suggested. Grudgingly, Krypter trudged over to the small creature.

“Should he close his eyes?” Athyren asked.

Vortex glanced at him, catching his soul in her gaze for that brief moment. “That’s up to him.”

Krypter already knew he would keep his eyes open. He saw everything that went on around him, whether to his own benefit or not. There was no he was going to be in the dark on whatever secret teleportation device these Xannians were hiding.

Vortex bowed her head, her eyes closed, seemingly in concentration, but her eyes weren’t scrunched like he’d expect one’s to be. Narrowing his eyes, he tried to focus his sensors on her. They were completely silent; she wasn’t doing anything, although his instincts told him otherwise.

So suddenlythat it madeKrypter flinch, Vortex’s eyes opened,and along with that action came what felt like a tear in the universe. The ground was no longer there, just a fathomless purple void that left Krypter without any perception of depth or time. How long had he been in this state, unable to move, without anything to fill his vision but this purple wall that reminded him uncannily of Vortex’s eyes?

The journey vanished as suddenlyas it had come. Krypter found his paws touching a cool metal floor, while he stared down at a lush, thick rainforest on the other side of a glass window. His eyes caught on his reflection – dark, dismal, the only color emanating from the unnatural blue sensors in his eyes. A familiar cold anger bubbled up in his chest, but, once again, he forced it down with a lash of his tail.

“Are you okay?” Vortex asked from behind him.

“Yeah.” Krypter turned to face her, re-evaluating her small body and unnerving eyes. The power she possessed – the teleportation she was capable of – was purely organic. No technology he knew of was capable of such a feat. But for now . . . there were more pressing matters, although he certainly would revisit that topic with her later. “What is this place? Because it most certainly isn’t the secluded mountainside I asked for.”

“Yeah, about that . . .” Athyren started, walking up from behind a previously unnoticed corner, “I thought we were just gonna dump him in the woods or something? I dunno, I’m all for making new friendsand everything, but . . .” She stopped,the edges of her wings turning a bright purple.

Krypter fought the urge to roll his eyes. Few creatures managed to get on his electrical nerves, but she was one of the lucky few that managed to be one of them, even to the point that he had honestly hoped the freak furball had gotten left behind on the beach somehow.

“I thought Cyber would be able to tell us exactly who we’re dealing with,” Vortex said.

“Ohhh!” Athyren ducked her head, the fur on her face turning a bright reddish pink. “Yeah, Cyber would be great with that!”

“Did someone say my name?”

Krypter jumped, whirling around. A new creature had come out of nowhere, seemingly materializing from thin air. To his surprise, Krypter’ s sensors picked up all kinds of mechanical devices the guy was outfitted with, although his insides – from the bottom of his paws to the tip of his tail – were purely organic

“Who’s this?” the newcomer asked. A silver visor covered his eyes, and he was armored with a silver vest, as well. Both pieces of equipment had a strange glowing purple material inserted into them; two were over his eyes, and one was on top of his heart. From what Krypter knew about Xannia, this kind of tech wasn’t supposed to exist here. It wasn’t nearly the same caliber as his, of course, but still . . . impressive.

“This is . . .” Athyren began, but trailed off as she crinkled her snout in confusion. “Oh, I guess we don’t know your name!” They all looked at him expectantly.

Swallowing a hiss of annoyance, he replied, “Krypter.” He hated this, hated being a specimen in someone else’s home, like a strange bug that peaks one’s curiosities because of how absurd it is. “Listen,” he told the newcomer, Cyber, or whatever his name was. “I don’t want to cause any trouble. Just leave me be and there won’t be any problems.”

“As that may be, I still want to examine you.” His expression was unreadable. Any form of malice or contempt could be hidden under that visor. And that word, examine. Krypter had heard it too many times to be comfortable with it. Who knew what these freaks were planning? It was now or never.

Krypter spun around and whipped his tail into Cyber’s chest with enough force to send him flying across the room. He crouched, ready to spring at Athyren, but she was already running away from him, rushing to Cyber’s side, her fur turning a sickly purple. “No, no! Not again. Cyber . . .” She nuzzled his neck, and, with a start, Krypter realized they were mates.

It seems as if nothing has changed, he thought ruefully. All that effort to get away from Empyra, to escape the monster he had turned into . . . It was all for nothing . . . But there was no turning back now. He had gone too far, once again. He turned, looking for Vortex, tensing in preparation for her inevitable attack, but she was just standing there, looking him straight in the eyes. For the first time, his sensors picked up a reading from her. Sadness. But it wasn’t directed at Athyren and Cyber; it was aimed towards him.

It was so unexpected, so out of the norm. Sympathy, kindness . . . those were both things that were never associated with him. For a moment, a different reality flashed before his eyes, one different from Empyra, with those who cared about him and those whom he cared about. Like it was before the accident.

Vortex took a step forward, and that moment was gone. That fragile feeling – hope – was quickly replaced by those reoccurring memories and everything that came with them. All his pistons were firing, telling him to run, to escape, to get out of this strange building that shouldn’t exist by any means possible.

Leaving the Xannians in their dismay, Krypter bounded into the nearest hallway, finding himself in a labyrinth of metal corridors, each one lined with large glass windows looking out at the surrounding jungle. Countless rooms jutted off from each hallway, most of them without doors. Franticly, he ran through, up to each of them, most of which were filled with incomprehensible tech. There was armor and contraptions of all kinds, but most alarmingly, weapons, even ones that looked more advanced than those used in Empyra. At a moment’s glance he noticed lasers, evil-looking spikes one could fashion to their tail, and mechanical claws laced with electricity – a popular torture tool back in Empyra – but most was tech he didn’t even recognize.

Finally, he found a staircase, spiraling, down, down, down, infinitely, it seemed, until his paws touched the moist soil of the rainforest. Without stopping to catch his breath, Krypter took off, diving into the dense foliage and greenery. Only once did he stop to look back, but he wished he hadn’t.

Rising out of the jungle was a tower skinned in glass panes, reflecting the sun as it hung high in the sky. How such a structure hadn’t burned the surrounding trees and vines to a crisp, Krypter had no idea. But one thing was abundantly clear: this place was a lab. And not just any lab, by the looks of it. A top-secret one, filled with all sorts of experiments and weapons that any nation would cower at the sight of. The stories he had been told about Xannia were wrong; this place was powerful enough to make even Empyra falter. If there were places like this throughout the continent . . . Krypter shuddered and turned away from the massive building. He had spent enough time in labs to last him more than a lifetime. He never wanted to look at another one again.

He slipped into the undergrowth, trying to leave all thoughts of labs and experiments and death behind him.

Cyber coughed, staggering to his paws. “Ow, he moaned,” his wince visible even under his visor. “Why does this keep happening to me?”

“Are you okay?” Athyren asked, her fur turning a worrying yellow and her eyes full of concern.

“Yeah,” Cyber grunted. “I’ve been worse. But who was that guy?” he asked, meeting Vortex’s eyes.

“That’s why we brought him here,” she replied. “He is unlike anyone I’ve ever encountered.”

“Is he . . . like you?” Cyber’s voice was barely above a whisper.

“No,” she answered, shaking her head. “He’s from this world; that much is certain. But he’s not Xannian.”

Cyber frowned.“I know there’s other continents on this planet, but I don’t know anything about them.” Sighing, he continued, “I really wish I was able to ask him some questions.”

“Hmph!” Athyren huffed, shaking her wings irritably. “I doubt he would’ve told you anything even if you didn’t scare him away! He’s not very friendly in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“Wait, what you mean, ‘I scared him away?’ Me, scary?” Cyber snorted in disbelief.

“You said you wanted to ‘examine’ him,” Athyren reminded her mate. “I don’t think anyone would want to hear that after they’ve washed up in a strange land and got portaled to a strange building with two strange creatures.”

“I guess you’re right,” Cyber agreed. “I hadn’t even considered that.” He sighed again, wincing a little as he drew in a deep breath. “Do you think that we’ll see him again?” he asked Vortex.

“Without a doubt.”

What if I go

, Brookelyn Priebe

I saw her on the side of the road, and she looked like she traveled. Like she designated her life to exploring every inch of this planet that she possibly could. She was beautiful. Not just beautiful. But the kind that you can’t describe. Her natural long thick hair that had a few braids in it scattered throughout it. It looks like it hasn’t been brushed in a few days but it’s still beautiful. She looks like the kind of girl who is grounded. Who doesn’t wear shoes just so she can be more connected to earth. Dancing in the rain. Surfing morning to night. Working at a snowball stand. Living in a bathing suit with a long skirt or overalls. She is so beautiful, so I picked her up. I was on my way to my work, which is surf lessons for younger kids. I was going to be a little late because of her, but I didn’t mind at all. She was worth being yelled at by my boss. She got in my car and told me about herself and how she does travel, (so I was right about that), and I could have never imagined this, but she asked if I could go with her. If I would leave everything to explore this world with her. Of course, I said no because I couldn’t just leave the kids at my work. They would be devastated. But with the way she was freely sitting in my passenger seat like she had no worry in the world. She was slouched into the seat with her feet up on the dash and her hand out the window. Her hair was blowing and I’m not sure how, but it wasn’t going crazy like how normal girls’ hair does, hers was like a peaceful breeze. Her fingers danced in the air like a little man running across the wires but jumping over the parts where the wire met the pole. I don’t even know her but it’s so obvious that this girl has such a free spirit. She was definitely a wild child growing up who probably loved to play with worms and put frogs in the front pocket, square and center, in her overalls.

“I’m tired of this town, please, let’s just run away,”

I don’t know why she expects me to just drop everything and go but wow did it make me happy that she’s bringing it up still.

“I don’t even know your first name and you expect me to just go away with you. I’m not as free as you, I need money and I need to take care of the kids at my work.”

She glared at me like I just popped all her little dream bubbles. Which I did kind of sort of do that, but I don’t care because I probably won’t see her again.

“My name is Kouv I have enough money for the both of us. I have been doing this on my own for 2 years and I’m about tired of seeing this beautiful world without anyone beside me to experience all of this craziness with me. You can make your mind up now whether you want to just disappear for a while with me or not. I’ll give until you’re out of work. You know… it doesn’t hurt to live a little, these kids will still be here when you get back, and this town will never change.”

What a beautiful name. I’ve never heard it before. Kouv. Kouv. Kouv. I could get used to saying that. I took her words into consideration, and it takes everything in me to choose between going or not. She’s right, this town won’t change, it never does and never has. And the kids, they still be here. I do need to have some change in my life, but I’m terrified of change. What if this girl is horrible. Oh shit, I still haven’t told her my name, I got completely distracted, I haven’t answered her yet. How does she have all the money she says she does? I want to ask but is that being rude, I don’t want her to think that I think poor of her. I hope she isn’t a prostitute, or even a drug dealer. There’s no way she could be on drugs, she has so much color in her. Her cheeks bright red with freckles that look like a thousand stars in the night sky and her skin is radiant. She kind of looks like a strawberry.

Kouvs

I don’t even know this man’s name, but wow am I already ready to just run away with this man like I have known him my whole life. I think it’s kind of a beautiful thing, running away with a complete stranger. Yeah, it sounds bad, but not everyone is a bad person and I guess I just have to hope that this man is a good one. He does kind of look at me a lot though, but I’m not complaining. He’s rough but clean looking. He has himself put together, but I would definitely say this man sort of looks like a tree hugger in the best way possible. Old baggy jeans that have holes in them that I am assuming are from falling a lot and then an oversized but short shirt that has yellow and blue stripes. And his hair. Oh my gosh his hair. I love it. Such a deep brown and it just lays so perfectly. There’s no part in it and it seems like there’s no way of actually styling. I bet he doesn’t even brush it, but it looks good that way, so I don’t think he should brush it.

“My names Wesley by the way. I haven’t told you that and I’m not going to run away with you if you don’t even know my name”

Oh, wow so he is actually thinking about running away with me. He’s going to do it. Wesley, his name fits him so well, it rolls of my tongue like I was meant to be saying it at this very moment and for the rest of my time running away.

Stop it Kouv you can’t be thinking like this. You don’t know this man, you just told him about you and all this man did was offer up his name, he didn’t event tell you about him. For all you know, he could be some psycho killer who is on the run from the authority but stays on the DL for a few weeks, settles, then picks up and leaves. He could also be the most amazing man you have ever met, who is purely written by a woman. I wonder what kind of music he likes.

“Wesley” oh shit, I didn’t mean to say it out loud

“Yeah?”

“Nothing, I just wanted to say your name, I wanted to know what it felt like to say. But I want to know about you, mystery man.”

“Okay like what”

“Let’s start at music, what do you listen to?”

“Oh Kouv, I listen to absolutely everything. I don’t even know where to begin. I would say I listen to more like yoke lore, Zach Bryan, flatland cavalry, or the Lumineers. I can’t choose a favorite type of music because I also listen to Metallica and the cure, salt n pepa, and everything in between.”

He’s the love of my life. I am making that decision right now. This man is the love of my life. This has got to be a very dangerous decision, but I don’t care, if he hurts my heart, then so be it, I’m still young and I’m still learning from my mistakes. I want to go on long road trips with him and I want to feel this free all the time. I hope he’s in on this plan and really considers it. I think I’m about to say something very bold. I just need to work up the courage to, I need to convince him.

God this girl, she is so beautiful, I want to know her music taste, but I think it’s so cliché to ask the same question when getting to know someone, she didn’t say anything to me after I told her my few favorite artists, so I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing, I’m just spiraling into overthinking right now. I need her to say something to me.

“I want you to come with me, I don’t care what you want, I need you to come with me Wesley, I want to know you, and everything you do, I want to know your little ways of doing little things that mean absolutely nothing. I want to hear you sing, I want to watch you butter your toast, I want to watch you live so freely for as long as you want.”

Yeah, I’m doing this. I’m running away with a random girl. Am I dumb? Maybe. But I don’t care. Sort of. I do care, but I don’t. how could a girl I have just met make me feel this way? If she brings this much joy into my life just in these few minutes we’ve spent together, then I want to be around her for as long as I can, I want to feel this way for a long while.

“Okay.” That’s all I can think of to say. God dammit why am I like this. I didn’t even sound happy but i am so overwhelmed with happiness right now.

“What does that mean? Just ‘okay’? are you going to come with me or what?”

“Kou vim doing it, I want to run away with you. I’ll do it, just promise not to kill me okay?” Of course, I had to say something stupid like that, who says that I don’t need her to think I don’t trust er although she has given me no reason to. But she also hasn’t given me a reason not to. So, I guess what I said was okay