Page 10 of Orange Lake
“There, that should do it,” the man said in a cheery tone. I looked up and saw a more striking male of their species. This one has dark purple eyes. Still, his iris is still elongated, more like slitted right now. Maybe because it was too bright in this room.
I inhaled and smelled different kinds of chemicals. Okay, whatever happened seemed to have made them decide I need to be in a hospital. Or clinic. Or whatever this place is. Though it doesn’t look like a hospital because of the tall windows to our right. I can see beyond an autumn colored landscape.
My intuition said that Zirc is beside me. I do not need to turn to know that it was him. I can smell him and see his body’s outline. I refused to look at him though. I do not know whether I’m angry or embarrassed.
He is still tense behind me. The bed is large though he occupied most of it, I still have ample room in my side of the bed. To appease him because I knew he saved my life, I relaxed my back against him.
That seemed to work. He relaxed a bit but he did not let go of the arm in front of me. Belatedly, I saw his tail encircled in my right thigh. His left side is glued to my right side. So the cute and fluffy thing was his tail. Though his is not so cute nor fluffy. Just a tail with his metallic silver stripes.Definitely not dreaming.
“Hello Brynn,” the man said as he bent forward so he is in my line of vision.
At least he got my name right.
“Hello,” I tentatively said. My insides still felt a bit raw but whatever he did helped.
He smiled. Then I heard a small growl at my back.
“How do you feel right now?” he asked. He was not beautiful like Nialla. He is manly handsome but not pretty. His slight bulk gives a certain masculinity in his features. Though he is of the same race as Zirc, this one has purple stripes. Almost like indigo. He has a welcoming and proper demeanor unlike the growly bunch I’ve met so far. His hands are behind his back.
“I’m sorry, you had me at a disadvantage. What’s your name?”
“Ah,” his lips curved. “You caught a live one Zirc. Esteemed female, my name is Crix. Welcome to my humble abode, Onyx.”
Onyx, is that a direct translation to Earth’s onyx? Or just a coincidence.
“Hello Crix,” I said. Then shifted my eyes to my surroundings. Though the room is spacious, and there are actually two massive beds. It has an open layout to reveal the other bed and farther, another tall set of glass windows with lots of what could only be trees. Massive trees with some weird looking fruits. The only thing I know I am not from Earth is that the trees are yellow in color. The trunk are orange. It’s like someone took a paintbrush and painted Earth’s trees with autumn colors. It was striking but after some time, it looked eerie.
“Yes, you can look around the area as soon as we know you’re fit,” Crix announced noticing my interest to the outside world. But what he said bothered me.
“I am sick?” I asked worriedly. It was probably due to that meat they made me eat.
Zirc growled. “Crix.”
Crix laughed. “Sorry, I’m sorry Brynn. I do not want to worry you. You are not sick. Though, this is the first time since you woke up.”
I remembered it was daytime when that disaster struck. And still it’s daytime. So I thought only a few hours had gone by. And I don't even know if we have the same day and night time schedule that I know of. For all I know, these guys could be more than one hundred years old even though they looked like they are in their early thirties. But no need to panic. First, I need to know what happened.
“Where am I? And how did I get here?”
Crix looked up behind my back. Zirc probably signaled something affirmative because Crix started to talk. “You were brought here by Zirc and Roqs unconscious. I do not know what is the effect of the sals in your system so we want to check you.”
“Sals?”
“Sals. Similar to this,” he put his hand inside his voluminous robes and put out a set of crystals. Though the colors are different, they are similar in size and shape.
“What does it do?”
“Sals rule our world. I do not know what kind of energy or power you use in your home world but sals are important to us. This one,” he held a mint green crystal. “This one can power up this entire house. This orange sals, not my favorite one, is essential if I want to power up my any communication device. And this blue sal is worth every money.” He seemed to be a proud owner of a blue crystal.
“This can restore your health.”
What? I looked at the harmless looking crystal. It did not shine like diamonds, it just looked blue. The kind that you can probably buy on Amazon or eBay. Did I somehow landed on an alternate universe or an RPG game?
“I see. You doubt its usefulness. Let me demonstrate.”
From out of his robes, he took a small knife. All crystals gone. Maybe he is a magician on this planet. He has very quick hands. The small knife looked like a dagger, and then he cut himself on his left arm. I gasped. Thick brown blood oozed from his skin. Then he took the blue crystal or sals and placed it on his wound. The wound not only closed up, but his blood crystallized and turned into a fine brown powder that fell on the floor.
“It only works on blood?” I do not know if it was petty of me, but I felt less panicked when I saw they have brown blood and not black. Yesterday was chaotic and I saw more of the gore than the color of their blood. What I saw, everything looked black.
