The dripping wet stranger stood near the pool and had a neutral expression on their face. Despite the mysterious and wet appearance, the man was oddly handsome. The man was dressed in a tight one piece black uniform which ended halfway up his upper and lower extremities but stretched halfway up his neck like a turtleneck. On the left side of the turtleneck area, three small slits appeared to be expanding and collapsing every few seconds.
His face seemed extremely similar to a human's except with moss light green dreads flowing down to his shoulders. Oddly enough, his hair was completely dry and no moisture stuck to his hair unlike the rest of his body. The tight suit revealed the defined muscle beneath and showed the extreme difference in sizes between him and the cowering Mr. Gangster on the floor. The skin which wasn't covered by the suit revealed a pale blue pigment of skin which also slightly shined despite being in the dark area of the cave.
Ignoring the terrified man on the ground, the blue man casually observed the state of the area and the different people scattered throughout it. His gaze seemed to stop for a few seconds longer on each of the individuals below the age of 18 before moving onto the next person. But when his gaze met mine, his gaze did not linger and kept moving throughout the crowd.
I'm only 14, why aren't you taking any interest in me?
The atmosphere seemed tense as the blue man kept moving his eyes and would be probably dead quiet if I could actually hear. When his gaze reached the pulsing green light, his neutral facial expression slightly twitched and his eyes grew more intense before moving his eyes away. Eventually the man made his gaze reach back to the man cowering on the ground and his head shook side to side in distaste. He reached out with his pale blue hand while keeping the same neutral facial expression.
Mr. Gangster hesitated for a second until he decided to grasp the blue hand and was pulled to his feet. Mr. Gangster spoke a few words out of his mouth but the pale blue man only continued to stare at him with a neutral expression. Is there a communication barrier?
The pale blue man then unzipped a portion of his suit from his neck and reached into a hidden compartment and produced a silver diamond shaped item. The item seemed to be silver from top to bottom with intricate symbols etched in the different sides and in the middle portion of the diamond shape there was a small gap. In the small gap, blue light emanated from a round surface of the interior.
Pressing his fingers against the faint blue light coming from the item, the blue light suddenly began to radiate brighter. The visitor then tossed the silver diamond in an open space and the silver diamond travelled for a few feet until slowing to a complete stop and floating in the air vertically.
The group of people gasped at the sight of the floating object. The pale blue man tapped the center of his neck twice before opening his mouth to begin speaking.
A strong pressure hit my eardrums as the man continued to speak. Curiously, the pressure came from the floating object rather than from the pale blue man.
Shocked expressions filled the audience as their eyes rapidly moved between the object and the speaking man. When the man paused and stopped speaking, the audience soon displayed sad emotions as they turned to look at the children and teenagers in the cave.
The man soon clapped his hands after the eyes soon returned back to the figure and he resumed speaking while pointing at the pulsing green light at the end of the cave. Again, the man stopped moving his lips and allowed the scattered audience to ponder whatever he said.
Can they understand what he's saying? Does this mysterious man speak our language? What does he want? What is he?
The scattered audience began approaching one another until eventually they all formed a group and began opening their mouths to speak to one another. A few glances fell my way due to me being the only one incapable of moving and joining them in the discussion. Pain still ribboned throughout my different extremities putting me out of commission. I don't even want to be in proximity of that psychopath of a gangster, plus I bet he doesn't even smell too good after his experience with the pale blue man. So I continued to suffer in silence as gazes of the group slowly stopped making their way toward me.
A few head nods from the adults. Excited expressions among the adults. Fearful and nervous glances from the children and teenagers. Wary glances from all towards the blue man near the pond.
Mr Gangster seemed to overcome his fearful state and a happy and giddy atmosphere surrounded him. His lips moved rapidly as he took charge of the conversation until he left the group and approached the floating object. Coughing a few times, Mr. Gangster spoke to both the object and the blue man as if unsure of which one to speak to. The blue man nodded to the other's words as if understanding.
After Mr Gangster was finished speaking, the pale blue man casually walked past him and through the gathered crowd. The blue man's stride was both elegant and determined as he reached the opposite side of the cave with the mysterious green light. The man disappeared behind the narrow gap and the crowd watched him.
My view from my position did not grant me visibility of the actions taken my the man once he went past the gaps. Soon, a powerful and oppressive aura filled the cave and seemed to take grip of my body. The crowd around me were also similarly affected as they began to stumble and trip over their own feet as the aura continued to grow more oppressive. Vibrations ran through my back as the debris started to vibrate and shake. The rock, wood, and metal in the wall also visibly shook as dust fell across the entire cave.
Fear entered the crowds' eyes as thoughts about the collapse of the potential makeshift cave began to form. Dust continued to fall until the oppressive aura quickly dispersed just as quickly as it had formed. The vibrations stopped and the dust started to settle.
I soon realized the pulsing green had completely disappeared and in its place a very faint blue light had appeared. The blue man appeared back between the narrow space with a jagged green crystal the size of his head in his palm. The crystal pulsed and radiated a bright light which hurt the eyes when staring at it completely.
As the man walked back towards the dark end of the cave, people dispersed from the group and jogged towards the perimeter of the cave attempting to keep distance from the crystal. As the man passed by me, a sudden intense wave of nausea flooded my senses and I almost vomited on the spot. Once a few feet away from me, my body restored itself and quickly shook off the wave of sickness.
After my mind cleared, I looked back to the figure moving away and realized something I had missed before. Two short pure black daggers with yellow cloth hilts were strapped on both of his hips over the suit he wore. My fear of the individual before me only continued to skyrocket as I continued to spectate this individual. He was no doubt the reason behind that oppressive aura and most definitely has combat experience based on his muscle tone and the weapons on his person. What else is he hiding?
The individual made his way back to the black pond and once he reached it turned back and gave Mr. Gangster a nod and plunged into the water with a large splash.
The various people within the cave immediately loosened up once the powerful presence left and the adults started speaking fervently to the younger population in the cave. The children and teenagers had seemed to resign themselves without further fuss to whatever the adults were speaking about as their fearful complexion was replaced with anxious and nervous expressions. Mr. Gangster spoke with his two underlings a bit before resting against a wall close to the black pond.
The children and teenagers began walking towards the pond and lining themselves up based on oldest to youngest. Time dragged by as the young people began to fidget and cry a bit as they stared at the pond and the various gazes on them. Each and every pair of eyes in the cave were centered towards the dark end of the cave as if the powerful presence would once again appear.
And that it did.
In an explosive manner, the pale blue man appeared again but without the crystal. Instead, in his grasp looked to be small glowing orange circle and in his other hand a few pure blue boxes. Both the orange circle and blue boxes were lined with different inscriptions and runes.
The pale blue man looked pleased to see the waiting young population in front of him despite his continued neutral expression. The man walked past each individual and placed a blue box at the base of each of their shoulders. After placing a blue box, the man would fidget with the orange circle in the other hand until it produced a transparent orange sphere larger than the size of any one person's head. With one hand, the man would center each bubble above each of their heads and drop the orange bubble so it completely encompassed their entire head. Each child wore scared expressions once the bubble cut off the connection between their head and the air around them, but they soon began to breath normally until their faces relaxed.
After each person had an orange bubble covering their heads and a blue box stuck to the base of their shoulders, the man tapped the base of his forearm twice where a long black rope appeared out of thin air. The crowd had already been shocked by the various strange items being used by the man, but when the black rope came out of pure nothingness like a magic trick, each person could only shake their head in disbelief.
The pale blue man began tying the rope to each person so that each person was attached to one another in a line while leaving a long section of rope at the front of the group facing the pond. The man then tapped his forearm twice once again and brought out three compact squares of dark grimy green seaweed like objects. Each of the squares of material were tightly wrapped with what looked like a black rope similar to the rope being used to tie up the younger people.
After setting each bundle of materials on the ground, the man tapped the center of his neck and began moving his lips. The people glanced at both the material on the ground and the silver diamond shaped object floating in the room as pressure once again hit my eardrums from the object.
After a few minutes of mouth movement from the individual, he stopped and clapped his hands once and the blue boxes on the younger peoples' backs began to glow. Each individual began to hover slightly above the ground as each of them started to look fearful once again. The pale blue man nodded once at the rest of the people in the cave, grabbed the front of the black rope, and jumped in the black pond.
Each child and teenager were dragged with him.