Landing on the field-filled planet, greenery stretched out for miles as trees and bushes lined up a make-shift path for the group. Flowers sprinkled across the grounds, colouring in between the green flakes of grass-like plants. Animals ventured across the land, creatures similar to the ones on Earth and some very different to them.
As the group wandered around, their eyes entranced by the scenery around them, Adrian carefully focused on the main task at hand, finding the specific crystal to power the wormhole device on the ship. He led the group further and further away from the ship, entrusting Ren to keep a digital note of their path and the location of the ship on his silver-back tablet.
Their voices echoed heavily along the cool breeze that washed through the group, spiralling around with leaves in his wind-path. Enchanted by the natural and unique beauty that this new world held, the group slowly began to dive into curiosity as they gradually split off into separate groups to investigate the unusual creatures that treaded through the tall emerald flakes.
Despite his hazelnut eyes wandering freely across the land, Marcus maintained his focus on the crystals. Watching his friends venture off separately, some in small groups as they closed in on alien creatures that either hid or ran away instantly.
"You wanna go see one?" The sudden voice belonging to Chronos appeared from behind Marcus as he sprung out from the tall grass-like plants with a small smile on his face as he indicated towards the nearest creature.
"No thanks." He sternly replied with his eyes facing forwards as he scanned for crystals, "we're here to find crystals and that's it."
Swiftly, Chronos' smile faded as he began walking side by side with Marcus, his hands clasped behind his back as he studied the taller man's face. His features prominent against the natural lighting from the multiple suns in the sky, and without the spacesuit's helmet on, he could clearly tell that Marcus was not joking around, he was dead serious on only focusing on the task at hand.
"You're so serious," Chronos grumbled, as a pout replaced his once smiley face, "it's not good to always be serious, you know."
"What would you know?" Marcus replied, not even sparing a glance at Chronos, "you're always breaking rules and creating your own; you've probably never been serious your whole life."
Chronos stopped. His head held low as he shifted his hands to fold over his chest, quietly mumbling, "you don't know that."
Realising that Chronos had stopped moving, Marcus halted and turned back to face him, "what?"
The two stared at each other as silence filtered through the air. Neither spoke for a couple of minutes as their eyes held all the emotion both expressed. Marcus studied Chronos' face for a couple of seconds, trying to work out whether he was about to explode into another lame joke or actually be honest with the older man for once. It didn't take a second longer before Chronos began, startling Marcus.
"One day soon," Chronos said, with each step forwards, he spoke a word, "you'll realise something," a simple singular word to match his footsteps as he approached Marcus, "a moment when," he stopped, lifted his head and stared up at him, seriousness flooding his face, an expression Marcus had never seen Chronos project before, "breaking rules is the last option."
As the last words left his mouth, his stern tone lifted through the wind and reached Marcus' ears. His brain was unable to comprehend exactly what and why Chronos just said that; almost as if he was foretelling the future that he knew as far back as before he joined their crew.
Before Marcus could question Chronos' words, Luciel quickly called out his name and ushered him to where he was. Within the split second, Chronos instantly switched his atmosphere and projected his usual appearance before rushing over to Luciel. His curly blonde hair bounced along the wind as he reached Luciel's position and crouched down to see something.
"Is something wrong?" Abruptly jumping at the sudden voice, Marcus turned around to see Ren with a puzzled look on his face, "you rarely space out."
Hastily shaking his head, Marcus simply replied with, "no it's... It's nothing."
After a few hours of the group wandering around, their fascination of the planet swiftly dulling down the longer they trek over the same green flakes as before. The group were quickly losing hope at the crystals as they wandered further and further through the forest. With Adrian leading the way between the large sky-limit trees which held massive leaves that dangled down towards the ground, they soon found themselves at a stopping point. Most of the group was extremely exhausted and sat on some large boulders as Adrian and Marcus tried to see whether they could spot any of the crystals.
"Are we sure they grow above ground?" Adrian asked.
"Yeah, that's what the trader said," Aria replied, leaning back as he held herself up with her hands, "unless he was lying, they would be above ground."
"It's always possible this planet doesn't actually grow any." Marcus said, "we've been walking around for miles and not found a single one yet."
"Unless it was already stripped of its crystal resources," Darius added, "it's probably not a planet that grows them."
Hopping down from the boulder, Adrian sat beside Ren as he said, "alright, so this planet doesn't hold any crystals, shall we head back now?"
"Not just yet," Darius stated, hauling out his equipment as he presented a couple of tubes of samples he seemed to have collected along the way, "I can't be a hundred per cent sure over this, but aside from the crystal task, I've been checking the planet's environmental and living conditions. It seems pretty similar to Earth."
"You mean like an Earth-like planet?" Skylar asked, "this planet?"
He nodded, "seeing as we've been wandering around with helmets on and are fairly okay, I'd say the oxygen levels are similar to Earth, probably a bit higher due to the number of plants with greenery that's grown."
"And the environmental state seems pretty much like Earth," Marcus added, "right?"
Once again nodding, Darius said, "through the plants and atmospheric levels, I'd say this planet is a hundred per cent habitable, the only issue would be whether there are any dangerous creatures that we haven't encountered yet."
"But aside from that, we're clear to colonize this planet?" Adrian asked a simple nod was received from Darius, "when we get back to the ship, we'll try contacting the people on Earth to let them know about the completion of the initial mission."
With all of them in agreement, the group began their long trek back to the ship with Ren and Adrian leading. Ren had his silver back tablet out as he followed the map the best he could towards the direction of the ship. Towards the back of the group, Luciel was walking beside Chronos, his eyes wandering aimlessly as he scanned across the unfamiliar land.
"Did you see something interesting?" Luciel asked, glancing in the same direction as Chronos.
Chronos swiftly turn back around and simply smiled at Luciel, shaking his head as he said, "I'm just thinking about how this planet could become our new home."
"Crazy right?" Luciel replied, his voice laced with excitement, "I can't wait for the people back on Earth to see this place. They'd be so amazed!"
Chuckling lightly, Chronos nodded as he quietly replied, "I'm sure they would've been."
"Did you see something interesting?" Luciel asked, glancing in the same direction as Chronos.
Chronos swiftly turn back around and simply smiled at Luciel, shaking his head as he said, "I'm just thinking about how this planet could become our new home."
"Crazy right?" Luciel replied, his voice laced with excitement, "I can't wait for the people back on Earth to see this place. They'd be so amazed!"
Chuckling lightly, Chronos nodded as he quietly replied, "I'm sure they would've been."