A dark place, no lights penetrating within, no sounds reverberating. When he thought he'd be stuck in such a place for eternity, he noticed a gentle glow, closing in. It was... "worried"...
"Jo...n!... I'm s...ry to lea... you, but... ant you to sur...ve... So pl..."
Those stuttering words which sounded like a broken record, were the last words he heard before he entered into a deep slumber. Those words that came from the one he was the closest to. While his mind and body were completely frozen, he had no choice but to witness the tragedy before his very eyes.
Destruction was the reason why he was sent away. Endless, countless screams were all that he could remember, along with those words. He yearned to reach out to the owner of the mild voice with his stick-like, skinny arms, but to no avail...
'What happened to the planet? What happened to the Darkians... my people?'
...
A white ceiling that was well-lit. The next thing Jogrin knew, was that he was in a room, surrounded by purple curtains, and he was somehow wearing a purple robe.
'Where am I?'
He asked himself, unable to comprehend what had befallen him.
'Why are there so many... Emotions around me?'
He could feel mostly "anxiety" all around him, a few steps behind the curtains.
There was one specific "emotion" that was close to him. It was illuminating, and was "worried". It had the same kind of "gentleness" attached to it, and a sense of familiarity.
Could it be? The one he was closest with was with him all along, while he was enclosed in the darkness? Having such an anticipating thought, Jogrin grabbed onto the curtain that was within arm's reach, with the very same arms that tried to hold the man...
"Oh? Are you awake, boy?"
To Jogrin's disappointment, it was a different voice, one that he'd never heard before. He released the grip he had on the purple curtain. Following that, a man with blonde hair slid open the curtain and showed himself.
He was somewhat surprised by Jogrin's silvery-gray eyes, but managed to maintain his composure.
"Are you the one who was 'worried'?"
"Pardon?" Unable to process what Jogrin implied by his sentence, the man couldn't help but inclined his head and asked with a tone of bewilderment.
"You are that "worried" that came to me when I passed out... It is you," Jogrin somehow identified the man as the illuminating presence that reached out to him.
"Hmm... You sure are an interesting fellow, with all those specs told by the doctors as well... And yes, you're right about that I came to you... By the way, I'm Proxer Maladin. I'm the commander of Zuta's emergency deployment force. We found you crashing into our training ground and some personnel from the military hospital carried you here, and..." Proxer kept on explaining as if there was no tomorrow.
"Am I... on another planet?" queried Jogrin as he urged Proxer to give him an answer.
"Planet?" Proxer gazed at Jogrin's spine-like tail, and immediately understood the situation. "So you really came from outer space...?"
Proxer, who was calm a moment ago, became poised. He was reminded of the first time when he saw this boy, how that tail of his left him with complete shock. With Jogrin's question, he was to confirm that he indeed was an alien. Jogrin could tell that he'd become "tense", with a hint of "fright".
'Why do I keep perceiving emotions? Not just this guy, but those who're behind him.'
The soldiers, who stood behind Proxer and faced Jogrin with their backs, occasionally stole glances at him.
"Mister?"
"Sorry for scaring you, but do you know what happened to my home planet?"
"Well.. even if you ask me about it... I'm sorry, I have no idea, but to answer your previous question, I suppose this is 'another planet' for you." Scratching his head, Proxer replied to Jogrin with a somewhat concerned look on his face. "Um, so... are you alright? Are you hurting anywhere? Especially around your chest..."
Jogrin's apology seemed to have put Proxer at ease, as he became more "relieved".
"My chest? Why?"
"You don't remember...?"
"...No, not really." Jogrin palpated around his chest to check for any abnormalities, but nothing of note was found. "Did I crash land and something stabbed through my chest?"
"Well, that was pretty much the picture... Though I'm surprised you got it, considering you blacked out and couldn't recall. Anyway..."
According to Proxer, Jogrin crash landed on a plot of empty land with no cities nearby, so no one saw his arrival except for some soldiers. When Proxer came by Jogrin while he was unconscious, Proxer's mind became bemused, that was because of something peculiar about that wound - no a single drop of blood was oozing out at all. Still, it was necessary to send Jogrin to hospital as he could kick the bucket at any moment.
At first, the rescue team attempted to carry Jogrin through a portal which was created by a specialized device to an emergency treatment room in the military hospital. But to their dismay, it was futile since only Jogrin couldn't go through the portal.
As soon as Jogrin came into contact with the portal, his body repelled the portal as if they were magnets of the same pole, which caused Jogrin to slip off of the board that was made as a contingency stretcher, which ended up in him dropping head-first on the ground.
All witnesses' eyes almost popped out in unison from that spectacle. The rescue team had no choice but to use a carriage drone to transfer the heavily wounded Jogrin.
After arriving at the hospital, Jogrin was surrounded by a few doctors who were somewhat clueless as nothing was known about the Darkian anatomy, due to the fact that this species had never been encountered before, let alone the fact that there wasn't any blood despite the huge wound. However, they couldn't just leave Jogrin to die just because of some uncertainty.
The doctors first checked Jogrin's vitality, only to become exasperated when they found out his heart beat and breathing had ceased, and there was no blood flow, but there was one anomaly: his brain activity showed no deterioration. 'Is he still alive?' The doctors were nothing but dubious, overlooking something that even Proxer forgot to mention: their patient had a long, spine-shaped tail with a cone-shaped tip that resembled a stinger.
Though on the edge of their seats, the doctors had to extract the log, which was about 8 cm in diameter, that pierced through Jogrin's left chest. One of them reduced the log's toughness by utilizing a machine with a shape similar to a game controller. Controlling another device with four thin spider-like legs, it grabbed onto one end of the log and steadily tenderized it in less than four minutes.
During the tenderizing, translucent gel-like liquid was spread around the almost perfectly circular wound on both sides. Soon after the tenderized log was removed, the gel immediately enclosed the exposed wound. If not for the advanced medical equipment, things could've gotten arduous.
The operation was a success... that was if Jogrin wasn't deceased to begin with. Luckily, at least the brain waves could still be detected. The doctors couldn't help but be worrisome, as expressed on their faces.
... But soon after, dumbfounded expressions could only be seen from them. The reason being the tip of Jogrin's tail's abrupt black glow. However, the doctors' jaws even dropped en masse after witnessing the glow travelling from the tip of the tail, through the tail, spine, and eventually broken rib bones as if a black snake was slithering around Jogrin's body while engulfing the bones.
The shape of the slowly healing rib bones could be seen through the skin due to the faint black glow. Afterwards, the massive wound covered in the solidified gel was cloaked in black, a clear crack was heard and the solid gel was pushed out from both sides.
Then, the glow slithered back to the tip of Jogrin's tail, and not a single trace of injury could be found. If one were told that the young boy had just had a huge log removed from his chest, they would only laugh that off as a joke.
Soon after, Jogrin was sent to the cubicle he was currently in.
The doctors involved in the operation were required to sign a contract. They were obligated to keep quiet about everything that's occurred within the operation room.
Awkward silence pervaded the room as Jogrin stared blandly at Proxer who was showing an exhilarated smile brimmed with curiosity. One may wonder why Proxer didn't become a scientist or researcher with his level of curiosity. Then he promptly realized that he wasn't acting as he should as a commander.
"Ahem," by clearing his throat, Proxer shattered the awkwardness while trying to put out his flame of excitement and composed himself, "so that's what happened... um... ah, I still haven't asked for your name..."
"Jogrin," answered Jogrin as he peeked through the gap between the curtains behind Proxer.
"I see, Jogrin... no last name?" Inquired Proxer.
Jogrin's gaze shifted back to Proxer and scowled with bewilderment. "Last... name?"
It seemed that Jogrin didn't have a last name and only a first name. Understanding that, Proxer nodded lightly.
It would be ideal if details of Jogrin's origins were to be disclosed directly, as if writing comprehensively in a piece of blank paper without leaving out the smallest of information, but Proxer had to proceed cautiously.
An alien with unknown origins and powers, who knows what'd happen if Proxer got on his nerves.
However, little did know, what he was afraid of the most... was bound to take place...