Julius
Bruthenim was pretty much like his previous world except that at night it had two moons. One was huge and round and the other was shaped like a bean pod. A bean pod that shone blue and tonight looked liked it contained three beans inside at different sizes. The round one was presently a bright gold half moon. Or perhaps it had always been half. Julius had no way of knowing. He had just been here for eight hours.
His blue bird - which he now calls Anya in the memory of his mother - had told him he would love it here first. But so far, he was nowhere near to liking it. If at all, he was beginning to despise it.
I'm starving, he thought in self-pity.
Anya cawed, pointing at the dead pile of alien rodents and tiny birds lying at his feet.
Julius's ears steamed. "These are not what I eat. And for all I know, they're poisonous."
Anya shook her head. No, let me.
Then she picked one little bird with her beak, decapitated it with a single quick snap and swallowed it.
Ugghh! "Do you know any fruits?"
Anya stared at him blankly, her copper blue feathers glinting palely in the light.
"Okay, I'll look for it then."
No. It's dark.
"You want me to die in starvation?" If Julius could, he would have climbed down by himself. But Anya's lair happened to be at the top of a precipice that looked down sharply at the foot of the mountain. If he would stand at the edge, the wind blew strong enough to tip him over and send him pirouetting to his absolute death. Anya's back and her wings were the only safe way down. And now Anya was stubbornly denying him a descent dinner.
"You're afraid of the dark?" Julius laughed. For such a humungous creature, turned out it was a scaredy cat.
You should be too. And then Anya lay down, her feathers looking like a heap of leaves. She tucked her head behind her wings and never stirred, leaving Julius to contemplate whether to risk eating raw meat or starve until morning.
He fumbled in the pile and meticulously chose a clean enough rat-like creature. It had pink skin and little hair and it seemed harmless to eat.
He took a bite, a long bite because the flesh did not come off easy. He tried chewing.
Phew! He spat it out. It tasted bland and the blood metallic. It was like chewing on a gum made of hairs. It was almost poorly cooked chicken but a little more oily and peculiar - with a hint of flavor about it he had not tasted before.
Unminding his rebeling stomach, he closed his tired eyes and dreamt.
He awoke to the voice of Anastasia. 'Julius, you're actually pretty good at sketching.'
He opened his eyes, expecting to lay eyes upon his room and its pastel blue paint. What greeted him was the sky and the sun just past above his horizon.
He was near hyperventilating, struck at the complete unfamiliarity of the landscape until he remembered how he got here in the first place.
Anya descended upon him in strong gusts of wind.
"Where you've been to?"
Scouting, she answered, grooming her feathers.
"For what?"
Danger. It is safe. I guess you want to be with some people. I'll fly you there. Then she offered her back to him, bending her legs a little for Julius to easily mount.
"Thank god."
When they took off up to the air, Julius gained a bird's eye view of the mountain. It was a nest of blue birds. They were flying off one by one. Early morning. It was a time to feed. Julius wondered which one would bring home a whole person. He wondered if there were persons in this world just like Anya said.
Below him, hordes of creatures grazed. Black, orange, brown, white. It seemed like to be endless grass fields scattered with life until the dark red shade of a forest came into view. Red-feathered birds shot out through the canopy. They were bigger, Julius could tell even from a distance.
It was a red bird who snatched Anastasia. He could not forget that.
They gained height and Julius had to hold on tighter.
"Why are weeee ascendiiiing?" He cried in panic, voice pitchy. He could still not get used to flying higher. A sudden feeling of vertigo attacked him, numbing his hands and feet and making it harder to cling on.
Watch, human.
Julius turned his head and spotted a red bird chasing a blue one with the intent of killing it. The reds were at the higher ladder of the food chain.
Farther up in the sky, he had a view of a city with smokes forming clouds above it, a glistening lake which they passed by and a small village at the edge of it. In his horizon, the outline of another village loomed.
Julius was scared as hell. And he was silently praying that he would not faint.
He glimpsed the beginning of a darker forest. After that he looked no further. He buried his head in her feathers that smelled strangely nice. She smelled like sweet morning air over a damp foggy meadow.
When he opened his eyes, they were spiraling down. She stretched his wings open as she landed on a glade. He dismounted, panting. He had never felt so dizzy, his knees almost giving away.
He looked around. He was still surrounded by trees but beyond the treeline, a plume of smoke slithered up for the clouds.
Keep the feather with you at all times; so I will know where you are.
"Can't you just come with me?" To wander into an alien village by himself was beyond scary.
It is dangerous for both you and me. I must go. Then she lifted her burly figure up in one beat of her wings, disappearing from his view.
The first building he saw was a watermill. Someone was fishing by the planks, smoking.
It was peculiar that his skin was greenish, his hair even more so. He looked like a tree trunk dressed in a whool jacket. But he had the right number of limbs as that of a human being, the right shape of the head, the right proportions as well. All that differed really were the jade green eyes and the odd-looking ears. For a man, he had one too many ear piercings.
"Hello!" Julius called. He did not know if the stranger understood him. He crossed the shallow stream, drenching his clothes. He suddenly had the urge to soak and bathe but food was first on his list.
"O, es fulji pelo meil" the stranger said standing up. "Mujishin jo?"
The hell did Julius know what mujishin meant. When he made it to the other side and came face to face with him, he explained, "I'm hungry. I haven't eaten food for a day now." He gestured at his stomach, rubbing it.
"Mala jih ay me ratu jijo," he replied. He then beckoned him to follow. Unable to understand Julius, he also made gestures with his hand. He let Julius in into his house, welcoming him warmly. If all the people on this planet were like this man, Julius thought, then this might be the best planet in the universe. But he had only been to two; and in this one he was still yet to discover more. So maybe he was not in the position to say.
"Bukim mik o laren," he uttered, pointing around. He made other sounds. But it appearead that he called for his wife and told her that a stranger needed food because she immediately prepared it. "Lof ay me rati jijo," he told Julius, offering him a seat.
The house looked nothing like what Julius had back on earth. Here, pillars were not incorporated in the walls. They stood by themselves, desolate. In fact it looked like the family was boasting their columns, isolating it for guests to gawk upon. When Julius looked closely, he saw intricate patterns of symbols etched on them.
The chair was made of wood and he wondered if they ever invented soft mattresses or pillows in this parallel world.
But the columns were not the most awe-inspiring part of the house. It was the walls. They were made of shells - not powdered shells but whole shells that must have been picked raw from beaches. And they were painted so that they looked like they lay beneath a shallow stretch of water. They formed a reef that surrounded Julius wherever he turned. He thought he heard rustling of water. He realized with amusement that water was indeed falling down the walls in thin streams. It was a waterfall or should he say waterwall.
It was magical.
He never imagined that a couple who only lived at the fringe of a poor-looking village - at least from above - could afford such a home. Perhaps, riches and glamor were not a thing in this part of the universe. He remembered seeing an urbanized city just miles off and refuted the idea instantly. Riches and glamour and division - they were inevitable. Then with that, it only meant the couple had their ways.
"Jawi jawi," the wife who also had a green tint on the skin called for him. He took a break from appreciating the peculiar house and turned to the food on the table. It was a marble table, he did not fail to take note. The pitcher of water, the glass, the plate - they looked like they were made of pearl.
A child was in the dining area too, drinking a bottle of water from a white cup. He glared at Julius. Unlike his parents, the child seemed hostile. Not a surprise for a kid at such age. Julius did not even know how age worked in this planet.
"Tar jawi me hul," she said eagerly pointing at the food she prepared, telling him to eat.
"Thanks," he said to them even though they could not understand the word. He just gestured with both palms steepled in front of him, bowing at the husband and his wife.
He could not believe how hospitable they were, letting a complete stranger in. The child on the other hand simply looked at him, curious but with a sheen of scorn. Julius ignored him.
The food that the wife had served looked like bread and the liquid in the pitcher was blue. The bread was bitter but he could stomach it. The liquid in the pitcher was bitter as well. But he did not mind. At least they were not from a bird who only knew bird food.
He smiled after taking his first bite, showing the family his grattitude. It was how he showed Anastasia that he liked the food she cooked. Even though he was tired of doing it, he still did even in the long run as a form of courtesy. Even when he did not like it.
The couple were talking, discussing something. He did not pay them much attention because he focused on filling his stomach. It was not that bad - this alien food. After a few bites, he got used to it and found it actually satisfying.
He was not even half-finished when he felt dizzy. Could it be the vertigo?
The wife was saying something. "Lojmajil po jagolu, Dodari." He could not comprehend her but he knew what that gesture was - fist over the heart, chin up, eyes closed but heavenward. Thanking the god they worshipped.
The husband followed suit, now grinning. "Lojmajil, Dodari."
The child just looked at him, scornful.
Julius felt sleep creeping in. But he felt so weak to fight it.