"Ah! My head hurts…." Leo groaned feeling the thump in his head.
A beep continuously rang and a red light flashed in front of his slightly squinted eyes.
"Where am I?" He muttered in confusion.
"You are finally up?" A blurry face appeared in front of him and it slowly cleared up to reveal a fair face which was half covered in blood.
It was the alien guy who was with him in the shuttle.
Leo began to remember what had happened. They had been drifting in space when the evacuation shuttle suddenly began to sound alerts. They had apparently entered the gravitational field of a celestial body. What happened next was devastating.
Leo had warned the pilot not to use force to break the door and yet he tried to. This resulted in the landing gears failing and they ended up crashing.
"Where is that Pilot?" Leo asked a bit nervous. That guy was dangerous.
The Alien guy's face turned a bit crooked as he pointed towards the evacuee seats. Leo turned his head and saw a giant splinter of wood piercing through the back of the shuttle and if he wasn't wrong, he was seeing blood and intestines around.
"Oohhh!!"
Leo threw up right around the corner. It was his first time seeing something gruesome like that.
"Are you fine?" The alien guy patted Leo's back. "Don't worry, that guy deserved it.."
"I know…thanks.." Leo nodded and wiped his face. Still, his heart felt heavy. It was something he couldn't help himself with.
"Let's get out of here…" The Alien guy spoke and Leo was very happy to do so. The sight and the smell in the shuttle was nauseating.
As the two got out, a vast wilderness appeared in front of them and there weren't any signs of any people.
There was long trail of their Space shuttle sliding through the forest and the snapped trees answered where the huge wood splinter came from.
"A space shuttle crashes and no one has arrived to inspect. Don't tell me this planet is uninhabited." Leo frowned and then fell flat on the ground, thinking about how he would be spending the rest of his life here if no one ever managed to find them.
The Alien guy sat on the ground as well, "I am sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?" Leo asked as he looked at him.
"Well, if I hadn't been with you th-"
"That was the last shuttle, beside you have the freedom to board any ship you want and go anywhere you want. Its jerks like that dead guy who are the main problem here…" Leo interrupted him and retorted with a infuriated look on his face before calming down and letting it go. The guy was dead and paid for his evil deeds.
There was no use in brooding over it now.
"I am Leo Allison, a human by the way…."
"What's with the sudden intro? I wasn't expecting that." The Alien guy smiled at him
"Yeah and I was here totally expecting to crash on a planet and get stranded…" Leo replied sarcastically making the the guy laugh.
"You were all depressed and afraid earlier…but now look at you laughing like that." Leo shook his head as he further spoke, " We are still not safe, bro.."
"Well, I don't mind dying like this…" The Alien guy said as he looked at the dark sky filled with stars.
"I guess you are a guy with a story?" Leo muttered as he laid down as well. If someone was trying to kill you like that then he refused to believe there wasn't a story behind this guy. "Well, lying like this indeed is peaceful but dying is still a no for me.."
"You aren't going to ask me anything about it?" The Alien guy asked curiously.
"Don't raise flags with me…I feel I will get dragged in some serious thing if listen to your story. And even though I am a nice guy and won't blame you for what happened earlier, I don't want to have any connection with a person who has killers after him," Leo refused his offer kindly.
"Well, that's not true actually. But anyway, let me introduce myself at least. I am Aiden Silver, a Glorian as you can see.." Aiden said with a smile.
"Are you related to Edgar Silver?" Leo couldn't help but ask upon hearing his name.
"I thought you didn't want to hear my story." Aiden said with a smile a making Leo speechless. He indeed had said it after all.
"Don't make that face. How can I have anything to do with that man? He is one of the Heroes who saved the Universe 30 years ago while I am just a nobody with a Yellow Rank skill. I am nothing in front of him, don't build random things in your head.." Aiden replied with a smile.
"Be happy with what you have. I don't even have that Yellow Rank skill. I am already jealous of you…" Leo said as he looked at him in envy.
"Pfft!" Aiden suddenly busted out in a laughter.
"You making fun of me now?" Leo asked with an ugly face.
"Did someone ever told you that you are hilarious?'' Aiden asked while holding his stomach. "Anyway, that's the most refreshing thing I have heard in a while."
He never would have heard such a thing back on Gloria for sure.
Leo shook his head not knowing what was so funny here.
"I guess we will have to survive here until someone finds us." He said while getting up.
But the next instant, his face turned grim. It was only now that he realized that the air was thin and he found it a bit difficult to breathe than he normally did.
"What's wrong?" Aiden seemed to have noticed something was wrong as well.
"I am not an Awaken like you. I have to depend of Breathing and gravity devices to adjust according to the planet's needs. The gravitational force here is fine but the air is thinner than Earth.." Leo explained as he walked back towards the shuttle to find a breathing device.
But his luck sucked, the storage unit was trapped under the wood splinter and that things was stronger than steel and too heavy to move.
"Am I going to die?" Leo asked as he looked at Aiden.
"I can give you air mouth to mouth, if push comes to shove.."
"Hell no! Isn't that worse than death?" Leo out rightly refused.
"Where is your spirit to live now?" Aiden asked giving him a wry look.
"Its not that bad actually, air isn't thin as much as I thought it to be.." Leo said as he walked ahead and jumped around a bit throwing a few jabs and hooks.
"Well, try to not tire yourself out…" Aiden said as he looked at Leo's flushed face.
Leo quietly walked out of the shuttle and sighed.
He was losing hope of his survival. They had traveled far away from their initial location and he hadn't even seen any other spaceships on the way, which meant no one had sighted them.
Leo wasn't a VIP. There was no way that the federation would deploy its entire force to find him. And even if they took a pity on him and send a few people, the fastest response from them would take at least a month.
A month at least….he didn't even knew how many days he could survive in this situation…
He wondered how his father would react to the news of his disappearance. And if he died, could he even sustain himself.
"Let's explore the planet…" Aiden said with a smile.
"Do you think we are here on a picnic?"
"Come on! Its too boring to spend the last few days of our life just sitting around waiting for death…" Aiden persuaded.
Well, that made sense. Anyway, he might as well look around and see if he could identify the planet based on its flora or fauna.
But before that, Leo picked up a stick and with Aiden's help carved out a few huge letters on the ground.
WE ARE ALIVE!! HELP!!!
After that was done, the two ventured into the forest.
"What place is this? I have never heard of plant life which have such characteristics? Do you have any idea?" Leo's eye appeared to be in confusion as he looked at the plants which had strange glowing veins in them.
"No! I haven't been out of my planet much and studies were not my forte…my biology is very weak.." Aiden said apologetically.
"Then what are you good at?" Leo asked.
"I am good with a spear…" Aiden replied confidently.
"It's useless in front of higher levels…not to mention your Awakening skill has nothing do with spear…" Leo replied and Aiden's smile ceased as he seemed to have remember something.
"Don't go into flashbacks….we don't know if there are any dangers here or not…'' Leo said after observing Aiden's expression and then handed him a wooden spear which he had just made using the dagger he had found on the shuttle. It most likely belonged to the pilot.
"Are you an Esper?" Aiden asked in disbelief.
"You are just too easy to read?" Leo shook his head.
Aiden once again laughed, "Well, I have been used to making fake faces for too long. With death approaching, I seem to be finally returning to my origin…"
"You really are eager to die…." Leo asked curiously.
"Tsk….still refusing to ask even though I keep dropping hints that I want to tell my story…"
"Just how desperate are you? Why not write a book on it?" Leo rolled his eyes at him.
"Fine, I won't tell you even if we will be bored to death…"
"Do your every other words has to be death? I wonder why didn't you committed suicide until now…" Leo wondered what kind of life this guy have leaved up until now to become like this.
"Isn't that a cowardly way to die….I have been a disappointment my entire life and I don't want it to be the same in death." Aiden said with a smile.
"You seemed to have mental issues I see." Leo said with a laugh. "If you have been a disappointment your entire life, then you will be a disappointment in death as well no matter how you die. The only way to get out of this is to struggle and fight back. And the most important thing, the only one who has the right to be disappointed in you is yourself….because you are the one living your life and putting all the efforts. So, don't take people's words to heart…"
"And yeah, I have been disappointed in myself as well because I failed something which could have changed my life for better recently. Only if I had that Yellow grade skill of yours I wouldn't be stranded here and would have been walking towards a new better life…but am I craving for death because of it? Hell no! Its all over once you die…life is not simple, even though we all wish for something great. In the end, small things are what make people happy….so even if you fail, there is no need to give up…follow the path of happiness…"
"Are you from the Temple of Light? Why do you sound like the pope?" Aiden asked but his mood seemed to have clearly gotten better. Those smiles tired of life finally seemed a bit lively to Leo.
"Those guys are in Gloria as well?" Leo asked in surprise.
"Well, they are all over the universe and people believe in them…..after all, they are the one who assembled and helped all the Heroes 30 years ago with the help of the Alliance…" Aiden replied as he swept in with his spear clearing the vines in front.
"That looks like some kind of fruit do you think its edible?'' Aiden suddenly pointed at the weird plant which had blood red fruits hanging on it.
"It looks like tomatoes.."
"What is a tomato?" Aiden asked curiously.
"Its a fruit on earth.." Leo really wanted to give him a look but then realized that he was not a human. He plucked the fruit planning to do some tests to find out if it was poisonous or not. Now all he needed was a creature that could be his test subject.
The two continued to explore and where surprised to see long deep trenches on ground at several locations and remains of several animals at different places.
"Look another skeleton of some kind of animal…" Leo said looking at Aiden as he held his nose.
"This one looks a bit fresh, it hasn't been long since it has rotten." Aiden observed. "Don't you find it odd? It looks as if the flesh wasn't even eaten properly…I wonder if someone just killed it for fun…"
"Bro, you are scaring me. It feels dangerous to roam around like this. We should head back to the shuttle.."
"Its even more dangerous to go back. The pilot's blood is still fresh, it might attract something unwanted…we shall find a different place to hide.." Aiden said while shaking his head.
"I know, but at least the shuttle is sturdy. If we can lock the doors we might be able to stay safe.."
"Hmmn?" Leo suddenly raised his head and looked around, "What is this noise?"
"Earthquake?" Aiden muttered with a frown.
"Grr!!"
Yet, the noise suddenly got stronger and the land began to rumble even stronger as if something was approaching.
The two suddenly turned their heads and gulped inwardly and prayed that the dead remains of the beast, didn't have anything to do with this…