Lucky Encounter

Tony opened his eyes to find himself once again in a world completely new to him. Was this still a dream? It couldn’t be. He had never felt pain in a dream before, and now he could feel it all over his aching body.  He stood up from the grass and branches, looked around, and panic struck him when he realized that he was probably very far from home. The forest that surrounded him was made of weeds, trees and plants that he had never encountered before. The whole forest was occupied by things Tony had never seen. The texture of the earth beneath him was unique, and so was this gasping heat. He figured this must be what it felt like to travel onto another continent.

Tony had no idea which direction he should take in this strange wildlife. Was he looking for the exit, or the entrance? You usually always go out or enter by somewhere, he thought. The problem was that he had no knowledge of either, since he woke up in the middle of the area. What he felt like, at that moment, was like a little kid who didn’t listen to his mother and got lost in the Zeller’s because he stayed in the toy’s section. He really felt like a helpless little boy, so he started crying, knowing that no one was ever going to come and get him.

The tall tree leaves and branches that covered the sky were letting tiny beams of sunlight escape from its few crevices. Tony looked at the beams, and as if it had given him hope, he shook his head told and himself, “Okay, standing here won’t do any good.” He took his first courageous step forward and chose one of the many shallow routes that he could see between the tree trunks. As he passed the first tree, rustling was heard around him, behind the trees and bushes. He had already been taught by his parents that if he ever encountered a large animal, he was to remain silent and not move. He swore to keep it in mind, as it could prove useful for this situation. He kept walking deeper in his aimed direction and the trees became thicker and more numerous, creating a large shade and coolness below. The rustling became less frequent but he could still feel small things moving around him. He thought it could be birds, snakes, bears, or maybe even a lion. Everything is possible to expect on a continent you have no idea about.

 Things were silent and peaceful for a good minute, and Tony calmed down and started to walk at his pace. He looked at a very interesting tree that made him remember one he had climbed in Val-d’Or a while ago, and started depicting scenarios of himself becoming an experienced nomad, living in a hut, taming the wilderness and dominating all the animals, like some sort of Tarzan, but his imagination was cut short when he heard, with full alertness, the loud growl of what sounded to be a ferocious man-eating animal. He involuntarily squealed and at a stunning speed started sprinting like a madman. He breathed hard and his chest was hurting from the fear and anxiety swelling up in him. He accumulated many scratches on his forearms from shoving his way through the leaves and branches that obstructed the view forward, but he didn’t even feel the pain. He also stopped feeling the ground beneath him, and before he could know it, his next step was into emptiness. The weight and momentum of his body drove him down below, making him face-plant down the half-a-meter gap he hadn’t seen. The pain in his face oozed terribly, not to mention his squashed nose which miraculously didn’t seem broken, though he bled from one nostril and from a little gash on his nose bridge. He rolled on his back and held his face, crying.

“I’m lost and I’m hurt and there’s something chasing me. I’m gonna die soon.” He said desperately. No sign of hope drew near. He was just a ten year old boy, lost in a forest with no guidance, no food or any sort of provision.  No big animal seemed to show up, so he slowly, cautiously stood up, assuming something was hiding somewhere. Except for two little birds chirping on a high branch, there was no creature in view, but he still knew they must be hiding. Cracking sounds and rustling leaves were heard around him again and he stayed there paralyzed, fearing that a small movement would reveal how deliciously edible he was. He waited for the sounds to calm down and quivered uncontrollably.

 He thought about how he should have brought that little Swiss knife at school today. He had stolen it from Mr. Bark’s desk, knowing it was there since the teacher had confiscated it from Anthony when he was faking an open arm surgery on his own arm to make the girls shriek. Tony’s parents didn’t know about the Swiss knife, of course. He usually brought it to school every day, but today he had been too much in a hurry for the bus and left it home. It only made sense to forget your pocket knife on the only day you’d ever need it.

The animal sounds had started to quiet down softly after what appeared to be an hour of standing immobile without a sound or twitch, but in fact, just a minute or so passed by. He hesitatingly started walking away and noticed to his left a small boulder that led up to a higher piece of land. Behind the small boulder, trees were almost absent, revealing the striking blue sky. He also thought he could hear the sound of wind pushing water onto a shore of sand. He started by walking at a fast pace, but then got excited when he got closer to the boulder and dashed the rest of the way. His eyes were focused only on the boulder. After this, he would be on open land and have a clear view of the situation. He would have access to water, and he would most probably find a way out of this place. He started preparing his timing to leap on the boulder without slowing down. Two more steps and he would jump. He took the first step, readied himself for the second, and a huge black shadow pounced at him from a nearby bush. Out of pure instinct, he stepped back just in time to avoid the panther’s assault and then fell on his behind. The panther’s front paws and bloodthirsty jowl would have landed right on his shoulders and head respectively if he had continued forward. With the image clearly in his mind, Tony was so scared that he couldn’t even get up. The panther landed a little further ahead, and turned around to look at the prey it had missed by a hair. Tony looked straight in its yellow, merciless eyes, then gasped and let out a scream of terror. The panther advanced slowly towards him like a predator sneaking on its prey. The feline was most likely toying with him. Tony, who was still on his behind, pushed himself back with his feet, and grabbed anything that lay near him such as dirt, rocks or branches. He threw them at the slowly advancing panther, occasionally getting him in the face. For every object that got it in the face, the panther lightly twitched and responded with a growl, a growl that was louder and angrier after every throw. The panther kept the same rhythm, while showing its sharp teeth. Transparent drool formed to the side of its mouth, seeping down its shiny black chin. That’s it, the panther probably told itself, throw one more thing, and I bite your head off.

Tony felt his hand on something big. He picked up the biggest rock he had picked up to now and held it out. “Come closer and I’m throwing this!” Tony said, clearly aware that he wasn’t intimidating the beast at all. The panther let out an angry growl and Tony got so startled that he got off the ground and back on his feet in what seemed to be one swift movement. As if the growl’s murderous intent triggered something in Tony’s mind, a short but blinding green flash occurred, and Tony’s eyes turned to the emerald color. The panther briefly paused in its path, grunted, and started dashing into Tony’s direction. “No you don’t!” Tony screamed, and with all his strength, he threw the rock he had been holding on to. It zoomed through the air like a cannon ball and collapsed on the panther’s forehead. The force of the throw shoved the feline off balance and it fell down on its side. It remained down and stunned from the shot for a good thirty seconds, and Tony’s eyes faded back to its original hazel color.

Tony felt proud of his accomplishment; even though the moment had been so intense that he couldn’t even remember the actual throwing of the rock. It seemed like a dream, but the knocked out panther in front of him was the proof of his action. His pride instantly vanished when he heard the panther let out a voracious roar, louder than any other he had performed earlier. The animal got back up on its four paws and the look in its yellow hunter eyes were filled with fiery rage. There was a small streak of blood that leaked from the panther’s forehead, where Tony had hit him with the rock. Tony cried in terror once again and ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction from the angry predator, where he thought there had to be a lake.

The beast followed and ran after its hard-earned prey, raising the grass behind it as its paws dug into the dirt and sprung forth with considerable strength. In what seemed to be a short second or two, the panther had gained a good 30 yards and was now a foot away from biting Tony’s calves off. The panther was still a little groggy from the boy’s shot. It tried to lock its jaw on Tony’s left calf, but the leg had moved in, and the panther snapped its teeth onto thin air. It then used its paw to slash Tony behind his right thigh, below the buttocks. Tony yelled out in pain and dropped frontwards to the floor. He had almost, almost arrived at the seashore ahead of him, and from what he remembered on television, cats were afraid of water. If only he could have jumped down the river bank in time, he could have saved his life. The three heavy lines across his right-rear thigh were burning badly, but somehow he knew that it was supposed to hurt more than that. The panther probably didn’t have its full reach and thus only the tip of its fangs reached his thigh. He was lucky, but it was now over. No matter how painful it was or could have been, what was going to happen next was going to be far more terrible. It was too late for him to stand up; he could feel the panther’s faint grunt of satisfaction very close to his neck.

The panther lifted itself up on its two back legs and roared fiercely to claim its victory before feasting on what little meat there was on Tony’s legs. An immense burst of flame blew out of a nearby tree and missed the panther by not even an inch before it could land back on its four legs. The panther, startled, scared and defeated, ran away into the bushes with its ears down. Tony was facing the ground when the unexpected flame had nearly scorched off the panther’s muzzle. He had definitely felt the abnormal heat over him though, and heard the panther running away. It was a reason more for him to stay down and play dead. Some unusual action was going on, and it was big enough to scare a panther away. That’s all he needed to know. The scared boy stayed immobile for a good while, and heard nothing out of the ordinary. Leaves rustled in the wind, a bird chirped at an irregular beat, and there was even the humming sound of a bug flying somewhere near him.

 He turned around quickly to shoo the bug away, and noticed multiple tuffs of grass that were on fire. Some plants gave up a little smoke, as if they had just been ignited, while some were already completely burnt. He stood up to take a closer look at a spot of burning grass, and quickly realized that the heat he had felt earlier on was the same as when he played too close to a camping fire. There had been some sort of fire going on while he was playing dead on the ground. There was one tree with some leaves on fire, and the flames were spreading pretty fast. Suddenly, the top of that tree rocked wildly, and from time to time he could see a small blue arm sticking out from the leaves on the tree, shaking the branches and extinguishing burning leaves. After a lot of rustling and shaking, all the fire in the tree was put out, and a small, blue, winged creature dropped out of the tree and landed effortlessly on the ground in front of Tony. The creature stared right into Tony’s eyes for a mere second, then hurried on to a spot of burning grass and stomped on it until the fire was put out. The blue creature did so for every plant and tuff of grass that was on fire, and once every flame was extinguished, it sat down and sighed. The creature looked like a miniature blue dragon that was about as high as Tony’s hips. It had small wings that seemed like they would never support the weight of its bearer. Yellow scales rode up the back of its head, neck, spine, and pointy tail. The form of his head, face and nuzzle looked like that of a medieval-style dragon.

Tony snapped back to survival mode, turned around and started running again. He panted rabidly and his throat burned from exhaustion and dehydration. His whole body was still sore from when he woke up in this jungle, and he tried to ignore the scorching pain on his leg from the panther’s attack. From what he could remember, running has been the only thing he’d done since he arrived in this forest. Water was near, very near. He put the last of his power on his final steps and then jumped off the edge of land and into the water below.

The water splashed all around him as he nailed down to the bottom, and to his surprise, the water was perfect swimming temperature. He was highly comfortable underwater, and had no plans to come back up, in fear that the midget dragon was waiting up there, ready to tear him apart. It would then probably bring all the limbs to its babies on top of a giant bird nest resting at the peak of a mountain. No, it couldn’t be, he thought, dragons don’t have nests! They dwell in caverns and eat every passenger that goes by. Usually, a dragon is large enough to occupy a whole cavern, but if all of them are like this meagre one, there must be at least ten of those dragons per cavern. The lack of oxygen was starting to hurt, and he had no choice but to swim back up and catch some air. As he got back to the surface and gasped for air, he looked around to see that his surroundings were clear. No more dragons, no more animals, and especially no more panthers. It was only he, and a vast river surrounding him. Out in the distance, he could see a high cliff that towered over the whole forest, as if it had been conceived for someone to watch over the whole area.

 He swam up to a nearby sand shore and automatically threw off his soaked shirt on the ground. “I’m tired of all this!” He said, and let himself fall on the sand. He took a deep five-minute pause to get his normal breathing back, because for a while he had thought his heart was going to explode. He calmed down a bit, and then took his filthy blue t-shirt and dipped it in the water that was swishing back and forth on the shore. He scrubbed off all the impurities he could find, and then hung it on a tree branch a little further away so it could dry. He didn’t dare hang up his jeans because you never know when an unpredictable tragedy could happen, and he’d find himself running away in underwear. He also dipped his arms in the water because they had become pretty dirty from all the falls he had taken, and some residue of animal excrement had appeared on his elbow. He also took his sneakers and socks off because he couldn’t tolerate the juicy, squishy feeling of soggy socks anymore. He sat on a fallen tree trunk that was perched over the water, and rested there until he and his clothes were dry.

Life was finally making a little more sense now, and he could use a break. He wondered if school was over by now, and if it was, his mother would be pretty mad to see that he hadn’t come out of the bus. What was she going to think? What are all his friends going to think? He would be so late in school work; how was he ever going to keep up and make the grade? There would be so many explanations to do once he’d get back home. Nobody would ever believe he was lost in a jungle getting chased by panthers and dragons. How would he make up a back-up story to make it more plausible? He couldn’t just say he got kidnapped by an alien lizard either. But then, he thought, am I ever going back home? Chances were he’d cripple here and die. He had no clue where he was, and maybe he was at the other end of the world! He never heard about panthers in Val-d’Or’s woods before. He didn’t even want to think about the dragons. If school was over, then his mom would soon finish working and go take her nap. If that were the case, she wouldn’t wake up until six o’ clock. If he’d arrive before six, he would have a lot less trouble, but he’d still have to justify why he skipped the day at school. But why would it matter? How the hell could he ever get out those woods, and even if he were to get himself back in Val-d’Or, how would he get home? It was a long walk from Val-d’Or to his nearby village called Val-Senneville; about 20 minutes away by car. Val-Senneville was where he lived since he was four years old, and he didn’t really like the place. It was far from all his Golden Valley friends, and there were no kids to play with except for Dan and Gab. There were all those kids spending their time at this abandoned area once used for Western Festivals, as if they owned the place. It was only a street away from his place. They had made bike jumps from the ruins and used the broken sheds as secret bases to eat their stolen candy from the nearby corner store. His older brother hung out with them a lot, but Tony found no interest in those kids. Their main activities were biking all day long and do dangerous jumps, but Tony wasn’t good at biking, and didn’t even enjoy it that much. He wasn’t able to land a single jump without injuring himself. The only thing he really enjoyed in Val-Senneville was playing video games.

His stomach let out a grunt and he sighed. “I really need some food.” He let out.

Like a granted wish, a chunk of brown, unevenly cooked meat hopped out of the woods before him, and landed in the sand. The sand-covered chunk of meat was still steaming some heat, and it did look fresh if it wasn’t that it looked burnt on some place, and still raw on other spots. It was probably a trap, or his imagination.  “I’ll never eat that, it’s gross.”

“You don’t have much of a choice.” He heard from the forest.

The boy nearly fell off the trunk, and then leapt off, immobile but ready to take off at any moment. He looked around in a rush to find whatever could aid him for whatever he’d have to do to save himself. The only thing he could find was a fairly large rotten tree branch, big enough to swing around like a baseball bat. It was under the tree trunk he had been sitting on. He crept to reach the branch, got it, and then got on his knees. He stood up and then felt his back bump on something behind him. In extreme panic he shouted, jumped and spun around, making a backhand swing with his club. The rotten branch smashed across the dragon’s neck, falling apart in pieces with the impact. The blue creature quickly squashed to the floor. It then remained unmoving on the ground, so Tony felt more secure and went to take a closer look at it. He advanced to the dragon, took a thin long branch, and poked at its back to clearly make sure that it was either dead or unconscious.

“I’m alive, you twat.” The tiny dragon said, making Tony jump back a few feet. “Ooow... you really got me good there.” The creature winced in pain. “I’m bleeding, but it’s just a scratch, so don’t worry.” It turned around and lifted its body up, holding its neck with both hands as it sat on the sandy shore.

Tony backed up to a safe distance so that if the dragon would ever start chasing him, he’d already have a good start ahead.

“You think you’re brave and all now do you? Bravo, smart guy.” He barked at Tony while trying to get back up from the blow.

Tony was not going to sympathize for the dragon. It was evil, and it wanted to eat him. “What do you want? Go away!” He screamed at the dragon, with his branch piece held up in the air threateningly.

“You’re twice my size for god’s sake! Stop being a baby. I was only trying to help you back there.”  The dragon responded, getting his senses back.

“Helped me when?” He took a step backward, ready to throw the piece at him. If he was able to knock out a panther, that thing was going to get really hurt.

“Whoa, calm down, boy. You’re stressed out of your shorts.” The dragon raised his hands in front of him as a signal that he meant no harm, and it was also a safe defensive pose if Tony would ever throw the piece at him anyway. He had seen the whole panther incident, and he knew that the boy had a good throw. In fact, this was the reason he had followed him all the way. He took a step closer, and that made Tony let out an emergency shriek as he threw the branch piece at him. The piece wobbled into the air and landed in front of the creature. “Oh wow, I was scared for a moment.” He said, relieved. “Now, would you rather go run in the woods again, without your shoes and shirt, or you’d rather jump in the water and swim your life away?”

The boy didn’t answer, and instead just stayed there paralyzed, while his eyes were scrutinizing the whole area for another weapon of some sort.

“Then there’s no other option for you than facing me. I suggest we talk a little. Come here, let’s sit beside those trees; we’ll have a nice view on the ocean.” The dragon stated nonchalantly, “By the way, my name’s Cloudfire, sole survivor of the spitfire.”

“The spitfire.” Tony answered with a frown. He hesitantly followed him, and sat at least a meter farther away from the dragon, still not comfortable with the idea of speaking to aliens.

“Yes, it’s a species on the planet U-Mos, in the Daï-Taï galaxy. It’s also the galaxy of your native planet, Nemus.”

Tony quickly interrupted him. “Not again! Is this a joke or something? Are you in it with that old man? Talking about planets and powers and all that crazy bullshit! You weirdoes have some sort of problem.”

“I knew you were a nemusian right when you threw the rock at that panther. I’m actually surprised that you know about Birth Powers and all. That old man who talked to you, it was Narcolia, right?”

“Right…” He responded, smelling some sort of conspiracy. “You’re the one who brought me here!” He yelled out, pointing his finger at Cloudfire’s face.

“No, I saved your life. A creature was bringing you somewhere you really wouldn’t want to go, and it happened to fly above this island. From that far, I thought you were this other kid I was looking for and that’s when I spit one heck of a flame at it, and he dropped you. From quite high in fact. You’ve got nothing broken, do you?”

“No, I don’t.”

“That’s a relief. That creature is looking for you. Luckily you were smart enough to run off. With all the odd paths you’ve been taking, he’ll have a hard time tracking you down.”

“You know that Narco dude?”

“Of course, the whole galaxy did! He was always there for planets in distress, he and his people giving a hand to everyone in the galaxy.”

“That creature who brought me here… a lizaard, right?”

“Indeed. Narcolia also told you that? I’m surprised that old chap’s still alive! I knew he was immortal, but he’s one tough man.”

“Well he is kinda dead. He’s a spirit now.” Tony added, feeling stupid for actually believing it and saying it to someone.

“My body shall wither away, but my soul shall roam about in eternity.” Cloudfire chanted.

“What’s that?”

“Oh, some old proverb from an immortal poet on Nemus. Well that eases it up for me; your father probably explained all the basics for you.”

“Yeah but he never explained me about dragons on Earth, he only talked about lizaards.”

“Not dragons, spitfires.” He snapped, “We spit fire,  and most importantly, we actually exist. Dragons breathe fire, and only exist in your head.”

“You shouldn’t say that, I know someone that lives in my head and really does exist.” Tony grinned at his smart-a*s response.

Cloudfire ignored the remark and said, “I was actually looking for this kid when I found you and I mistook you for him. I never imagined there were two of you here on Earth, to be honest, it’s quite a shock.”

“What? There’s another guy like me?”

“Yes, he lives with me on this island… but he’s been missing for two days now. I was searching for him again today when suddenly I see you in the sky, captured by this lizaard flying around with a jetpack. Now this is making me even more worried about what happened to Pascal.”

“So his name is Pascal? How come is he on this planet too? Narco told me I’m the only one left.”

“I don’t know. I always thought that Pascal was Narcolia’s son.”

“Really? Then he would be my brother?”

“No, that shouldn’t be. The King had a lot of children but since he was immortal they would eventually die. During that century, all his later children were already dead and you were the only child he was about to have, but then again… that’s according to the media… maybe he did have a secret child no one knew about…” He was still trying to analyze the situation but then Tony started bombing him with questions.

“Why did Pascal disappear? How did you guys come here? Is this monster still pursuing me at the moment? Are we gonna die? Where can we hide?”

“Calm down there, one question at a time. First of all, we’re safe for a little while because the lizaard searching for you went off to the other end of the island. It takes about half a day to go from one end to the other. You sure are lucky today.”

“Lucky? This is the worst day of my life!”

“Listen to me quietly, I’ll explain.” Cloudfire commenced on his story: “We were once a happy, peaceful planet, like any other in the galaxy, until it was our turn to meet our doom at the hands of Lizaross. You know, that planet kills all the life forms of a planet, and then claims it as its own to expand its territory, getting a step closer to egotistically reigning over the universe. Planets in Daï-Taï never get into the lizaard’s hands thanks, to Nemus’s superior protection. But this day, however, was different. I don’t know how it happened, but on that specific day, looks like Nemus had regrettably overlooked our planet and by pure irony, the lizaards had been planning an invasion on that same day. As we got ambushed, we sent out the distress signal to Nemus, but with the small size of our planet, it didn’t take long for them to squash out the resistance and annihilate the whole inhabitancy of the planet, and so Nemus arrived too late.

“I was still a pretty young spitling, and there I was, the only left standing, in front of the ruler of all lizaards, Rosayan. As they do for many planets they conquer, they leave one inhabitant alive and use them as a slave in one of their many bases scattered throughout the universe. I was the unlucky one who had survived this time. I would have preferred to die than to swear dishonest loyalty to them for the rest of my life, but I wasn’t in a position where I could even choose to die. During many years, I served as a mechanic for broken warships on my planet, which was by then completely controlled by Lizaross. I was barely eating and getting no reward for my painful hard work. I worked on one ship after another; each in worst condition than the latter, until one day we slaves heard about the Galaxy Bomber.”

“The--Galaxy Bomber?” Tony asked in wonder, “That’s the thing about the whole galaxy being destroyed?”

“Yes. When the bomb was installed, the whole population left Lizaross to go prevent Nemus from ever finding the bomb. They left us to die in our cells, waiting for the whole world to explode. Of course, what the fiends didn’t know was that one of our buddies, Drigger, had stolen a key from one of the guards while he was out to repair a damaged kinetic orb cannon on an X-TR ship’s wing. The guard was slashing at Ol’ Choggie with its claws. Poor Choggie…he was 304 years old and exhausted but could never take a break. He wasn’t able anymore and fell to his knees. The lizaards didn’t tolerate any sort of slacking labourer so they punished Ol’ Choggie, leaving heavy scars on his back to make us remember what laziness meant. You know Drigger, he couldn’t stand seeing the horrific sight of his powerless cell buddy getting gashed on the back over and over, and he just suddenly jumped at the lizaard’s back!  Drigger’s attack was obviously unable to stop him, and the lizaard just threw him aside. The rest of the lizaards on watch duty tortured him in front of all of us, to show what disobedience led to. As Drigger, barely alive, crept back to us, I kneeled down to him, ready to hear his last words, and he slipped an identification card in my hand. Drigger didn’t make it that day, he died. Luckily, the lizaards didn’t know enough about the trickster’s home planet, Kleptathyvus, which was known for its inhabitants’ natural pick-pocketing abilities! That sneaky b*****d, always stealing parts from other people’s ships to finish his own faster than everyone and get his meal first. Anyhow, I could have never used the card to escape, because the guards were constantly on duty everywhere, and there was no way of sneaking past them. I couldn’t even slide the card in the door slot that a guard would notice and kill me on the spot.

“When the day finally came that the lizaards left the planet for their Galaxy Bomber plan, we easily got out, but then we still had no way of fleeing the planet. We searched everywhere and there was no ship in sight. The b******s had gone with all the functional ships of the planet. That’s when we realized that all the broken ones were still there. It usually takes a week to repair a whole ship, depending on how badly in shape it is. We searched every broken ship to find intact pieces and fit them on the broken one we were repairing. We usually each worked on a ship individually, but now all sixteen of us worked on the same, some bringing in new pieces while some forged them on, or worked on the electronics, and anyways, everyone had their part. I lead the troop, and instructed them on what to do; I had a higher knowledge since most of the companions were new guys. Lizaards were scared that if slaves were too comfortable with the place, they would rebel and be a useless hassle. I knew I was going to get killed sooner or later like the rest of them, but the Galaxy Bomber was a shining opportunity for me to stay alive longer.

“After hours of hardworking, the ship was almost complete, only missing a few important touch-ups before it would be safe enough to vehiculate. Alas, it was too easy for us to end it that way. While working, we heard an explosion not so far away, and for a deserted planet, it was quite unexpected. We sent Carrie and Lark over to fly up and report what was going on, and Lark came back telling us he had lost track of Carrie and that a nemusian troop was fighting with lizaard warriors on a plain up ahead. The Nemusian Defence had probably come on the planet because they thought that the bomb was planted here. Then I see this soldier from the Nemusian Defence, not so far away, running down from the hill where the explosion had just occurred. He ran towards us, looking desperate, dripping in blood, and carrying some sort of ball of blankets. Every one kept working on the ship when the soldier arrived in front of me. He tried to halt but he fell forward as if he had just fainted. As he did, he dropped his ball of blanket on the floor, and the ball started screaming and crying. I instantly understood that within this bundle of blankets, there was a newborn organism.

“It was a baby? What did you do with it?”

“Yes, it was a nemusian baby. Now that supposedly you are Narcolia’s son, I assume that the soldier was actually Pascal’s father. I picked Pascal up and approached the soldier, and with his last breath he told me, ‘Spitfire, I don’t know why you’re still here and alive, but it’s a great fortune for me. Please take care of Pascal; may he become the only survivor from this galaxy. Promise me that no lizaard shall ever lay a finger on him again.’ I told him that I’d try, then I gave it to Juden and he threw it in the back seat of the ship. Ever since then, I raised this boy, assuming he was the Hero spoken of in nemusian legend.”

“Whoa… so then I’m the hero?”

“Maybe.”

“Am I gonna be, like, the most powerful man in the world?”

“Pascal’s stronger than you, that’s definitive.”

“No he isn’t!”

“Anyways, let’s go on. So like I was saying, the soldier died right there, and so we went back on with repairing the ship. A moment later, we finally see Carrie coming back from the site of the explosion. Carrie rushed back to us with the bad news that she had been spotted, and before we could even hide, a lizaard arrived running and started shooting at us. I was on the hood, nailing some toll to ensure the durability of the roof when the lizaard arrived, and my first reflex was to jump in the ship to hide. My friends tried to do the same, but unfortunately they didn’t make it in time. I was the only one left and the savage knew that I was in there, but the warship was too safeguarded for bullets to damage the ship. Instead, he got out this device and called his friends over. The ship was not completely repaired, but I had no time left. Once the rest of his troop would arrive with heavier artillery, I would have been screwed. I prayed, then I started the machine and just blasted off, fighting off the idea that anytime it could just stop working and pummel down. I was very lucky that the ship actually lasted all the way.

“I guess you made it.” Tony remarked.

“Barely. but that’s how I got here. The closest unharmed planet I could find was Earth; I didn’t have time to go anywhere else because I was running out of gas and one of the reactors I didn’t have time to inspect had stopped working. As soon as I got into the orbit of Earth, the ship slowed down for landing, but the landing system was completely messed up and we didn’t have to repair it. It was clear that the ship would land violently, probably killing me in the process, so I jumped out and flew away as far as I could, with Pascal wrapped in my arms. The ship crash-landed in the forest so badly that part of it ignited. The force of the following explosion propelled me to the ground and even though I could soften the fall by using my wings like a sail against the wind, I still injured a leg trying to land without hurting the baby I was carrying. That’s why most of the time, I fly.

“That was ten years ago. Humans then started wandering around here, most likely because some had seen the ship as I entered Earth’s atmosphere. We hid, of course. Would you imagine the controversy over a flying “dragon”, as you say it, wandering on planet Earth? You guys still think there are no other existing life forms in the universe except your own. These past three years though, there have only been two groups of humans roaming around here. One was there a couple of months ago, and the other one a year and a half ago. The uproar about the ship seems to have calmed down. When I first landed here, there were loads of humans day and night searching the place. Anyhow, they never managed to find me. They only took pieces of my ship with them.

“I’m lost.” Tony affirmed, thinking about too many things at once to be able to concentrate.

“It’s okay; I’ll explain the rest later. Sorry if I get carried away in my story telling. I don’t get to talk with many people, you know.”

 “I still don’t understand why I’m the Hero.”

“They used to say that there would be a hero on Nemus. People had assumed it was your father, the saviour of Nemus, but the Hero was supposed to save the whole universe. Up to now, there’s only you and Pascal who are still standing as nemusians. According to legend, one of you may very well become strong enough to save the universe.”

“The whole universe? Whoa.”

“According to nemusian prophets from a long time ago, that’s how it is. You’ll get along well with Pascal. I’m sure he’ll be happy to have a friend.”

“You said he disappeared.”

“He does that occasionally, without even telling me where he’s going.” The dragon sighed, “But he’ll come back eventually, you’ll see.”

“You’re talking as if I’m gonna be living here for a while…”

 Cloudfire looked around him and seemed to be less comfortable than he was a moment ago. “We shouldn’t stay here too long, you know. That monster is still on the hunt for you.”

“Really, so what do we do, where should I go?”

“I’d say that your best shot would be to hang out with me for a while, don’t you think? You still have much to know, and even more to see.” Cloudfire advised. “Bring that panther meat, it’ll be our dinner. Just rub the sand off before taking a bite, and don’t eat it all.”

Tony didn’t really have much other choice than to follow him. He grabbed the chunk of meat, and tagged along. Even if the dragon were evil and wanted to eat him, he would still die staying alone in these woods. He was a dead man either way. Why not take the chance? Tony felt some small relief in the fact that he maybe had a chance of surviving. He was also reassured because he wasn’t alone, even if the company was a strange blue extraterrestrial dragon. Supposedly there was also this nemusian boy. Was he really a nemusian himself? Had he been lied to all his life? Did anyone else know about this? Is it some kind of trick? Is this all made up so the dragon can eat him? He maybe wasn’t as lost in the jungle anymore, but in his head, there were only questions and no answers.