by Jai Yadav
Outworldly
Jai Yadav
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2021 by Jai Yadav
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
First Ebook edition May 2021
Book design by Salma Mehwish
https://jaiyadav2520.wixsite.com/jaiyadav
[email protected]
PROLOGUE
This apartment wasn’t that great, but all he needed right now was a place to survive on this planet. His roommates were nice enough, even though he had not been living here even a day.
Hans wasn’t from around this planet. He looked as if someone had elected to put human eyes on a mound of mud. He had no clue where he was from, but was determined to find out. All he knew was that he had crashed onto this godforsaken planet years ago and that was it.
Pushing these thoughts out of his mind, he slept for the very first time in his new home.
A Series of Strange Events
Hans slept like a rock that day, which was surprising as it had been only a day living here. He woke up wrapped in his blanket. He put on his human suit— so uncomfortable — and unlocked his door. He saw the clock on his desk, it was almost afternoon. One thing that was good about being an alien was that he didn’t have to go to the restroom, his body cleansed itself, and the wastes were removed by a diffusion-like process. Too much information? I’m sorry, I hope you weren’t eating.
He walked to the kitchen, hoping to find some cereal. He went inside, only to be disappointed, finding the empty cereal boxes crushing all his hopes. He poured some milk in a glass tumbler and walked out to the living room still half-asleep. As he sat down on the couch and took a sip, his eyes darted towards the couch in front of him and he spewed out his milk.
A huge brown wing was lying on it, as if a human-sized cockroach had shed its wing. He dropped his milk and rushed back to call someone, anyone. His heart threatened to burst out of his chest as he ran towards the hall.
Breathless, h e rushed to Emmanuel’s room and knocked, attaining no answers. The same thing occurred with Vinny and Niko. He was standing by Niko’s room when the door creaked behind him and someone entered, blood rushed to his head as he almost collapsed.
He turned to only hear Niko groan, “Why is there milk spilt all over the couch?”
“Look on the other one, the other couch—” Hans pointed at it.
“Are you ok? There’s nothing here man.” Niko patted down the couch Hans was pointing at.
“T— there was something here. Like a moth’s wing-”
“You got scared of a moth’s wing?” Niko set down the groceries he got.
“It was huge, brown and see-through kinda.” His hands couldn’t stay still, “I freaked out and dropped the milk. I’m telling you it was a bug wing,”
“We need to get you to a doctor,” Niko muttered.
He went into the kitchen and started placing the groceries, Hans followed Niko, still trying to convince him of what he saw. Niko waved it off, saying Hans was seeing stuff. Soon enough, Hans let the topic go and ate the cereal Niko got after he cleaned up the couch.
“Where are Vinny and Emmanuel?” He asked Niko.
“Em is probably sleeping, even an earthquake couldn’t wake that man. Vinny had to go, get some books or something.”
“What do you guys do on Sundays?”
“Eh, depends. I sometimes go on dates, Vinny parties, the big man roams around doing whatnot. Mostly we just study, college stress, y’know?” Niko shrugged and continued, “On some rare occasions, we go out together when there’s time.”
Hans realized he was running out of small talk, and he hadn't yet accomplished anything. If he wanted to keep his identity safe, he needed to know who these people were. Later , he thought. I shouldn’t press to avoid suspicion .
He finished his cereal and went into his room again.
His day went by playing games until lunchtime. He got out to ask Niko if he wanted some Italian takeout, but instead saw Emmanuel walking out.
“Had a good sleep?” Hans said.
“Eh, would’ve preferred more. Only got like fourteen hours.” Emmanuel yawned.
Hans blinked. “Wow. Ok.”
“Come on, Let’s grab something for your lunch and my breakfast.” He waved his hand onward… Except there wasn’t a hand . Instead of a hand, a clean stump was present, as if someone had chopped his hand off.
Hans gasped as he tripped back and fell, goosebumps colonized his skin. Emmanuel rushed back towards him.
“What happened?”
“Your hand!” Hans shouted loud enough that everyone came out of their rooms.
“What about it?” He held both his hands up, now completely normal.
“I-nevermind, I think I’m just seeing things,” Hans said,even though he was sure he wasn’t. He was not hallucinating, he knew he wasn’t...
The Secret of the Gravian
Hans knew something fishy was going around in this house. He found weird things everywhere, seeing things. He was sure that nothing was wrong with him. This only started when he moved in here. The house was either haunted, which was unlikely, or its inhabitants were hiding something from him. In the past few days, he came across two more wings, few neon screws- those which he had never seen before, and once, he once even saw a headless Emmanuel. But as soon as he blinked, these things would disappear in thin air. He was getting paranoid day by day, nights went sleepless. He needed to know the truth else he would go crazy.
Today, he decided to snoop around.
He woke up around sunrise, ditched his disguise and flattened himself. He went under the door, which was one of the few feats he could do, his camouflage ability kicking in. He decided to check Emmanuel’s room first.
Unethical? Yes. Did he care? No . His head would explode if he didn’t get answers soon.
He slid under Emmanuel’s door and stuck himself onto the wall. One of the abilities of his camouflage behaviour was that it was like he was invisible. Not the kind of invisible you see in movies, where you can still make out a silhouette and light bends around you. He wasn’t there at all.
Emmanuel was covered with a blanket, sleeping. Hans waited around and realized it could be an eternity as the man slept for a long time. It was a Thursday so Hans hoped he would wake a bit early.
Two hours passed by and Hans flopped around the room and bounced himself on the walls to kill the time. Finally, Em got up. It was too dark with the curtains and lights off. He seemed more huge than he normally did, his head almost touched the ceiling… How the hell did this dude even get out of the room?
He bent and went inside the bathroom while Hans waited around. Just a few moments more and everything would be clear. Minutes passed and the man got out, his head had something pointy stuck to it. Was that already there or did something happen in the bathroom? As Emmanuel walked towards the switchboard, dread flowed in Hans.
The lights switched on. Hans yelped out loud, losing his grip on the wall, and fell down, visible now. He got up to see Emmanuel, their expressions reflecting.
In front of him stood a tall grey humanoid, with a horn sprouting between his eyes, his head almost touching the ceiling. It looked as if someone had taken a human and cut up its torso to replace it
with a rhino’s body. His expression looked like someone had smacked him with a rock.
Hans bubbled up, his breathing incoherent, blood circulating in him rapidly, trying to keep him stable. This monster would kill him now, today was his last day.
It looked at him, its eyes boring into Hans’s flesh. This is how I die, Hans thought, killed by a rhino monster in hot pink pants and a mustard shirt.
Nothing happened for some time, it looked as if the monster was scared too. Both of them backed away from each other.
The beast whispered, “Who are you?”
Hans stared at the beast, silent.
“Who are you?” The beast asked again, louder.
Hans let out a gasp.
“Hans?” The beast said, his voice uncannily familiar.
“I- Emmanuel?!” Hans almost yelled out loud.
“Keep your voice down,” He stood in front of the door, blocking the exit, “Who-What are you?”
“I asked you first,” Hans said, the adrenaline still not leaving him.
“You didn’t but fine- sit down… Or lie down, or whatever you do.”
Hans went on the bed, bobbing up and down with anticipation, and the monster sat beside him. He took his time, rubbing his grey, meaty hands.
“I assume you already know now, why bother asking?” Emmanuel muttered.
“I still don’t believe it. How?”
“I’m not from here Hans, neither are you, I assume. I’m a simple tourist, been here for a few years.” He kept talking, “I will probably be here for a few more years, it’s a nice place. I’m from Gravia, but I assume you already know that, right?”
“How in the world am I supposed to know that? Why— how?” Hans spluttered.
“Gravia is like the Paris of the Universe, everybody knows it, man. ”
“I’m- I don’t know anything, I’ve been here my whole life. I have no memories of any other place.”
“How do you turn into a human?”
“UH- found a body at a cemetery,” Hans giggled like a child.
“What the hell?!” Emmanuel’s face contorted, “Why?”
“Well- people aren’t usually fine with seeing a blob roam around here, ya know?”
“Why a cemetery?”
“Wasn’t like I had much of a choice... What about you, anyways? How do you fool the humans?”
Emmanuel got up, closed his eyes. Before Hans’s very eyes, the beast morphed into the person who greeted Hans earlier in the apartment.
“Awesome, I know. I can look like almost anything now,” Emmanuel told a bewildered Hans. “Can you do anything?”
“Camouflage, and flatten myself… Disgusting, I know.”
“Not really. It's cool , blobby boy.”
“Blobby boy? Great .”
Emmanuel got up and started pacing across the room, “I assume we both won’t be telling this to anyone, right? Does anyone else know about this?”
“Yeah,” Hans said, “But- tell me more about yourself”
Emmanuel was a Gravian, from the planet Gravia. He could shapeshift easily, and this form where he looked like half a Rhino was called the Feria. Gravians naturally looked like that. Apparently, they had an exceptionally long life as Emmanuel was 50 years old but looked like he was in his late teens. He had been roaming from planet to planet touring these past few years.
“I think you should go now. It’s time, everyone is gonna wonder why we’re not up yet,” Emmanuel said, “Stay safe, Mold Man,”
“Yeah, I will,” Hans sighed and went away back to his room. Half of his mysteries still weren’t solved, but he decided to call it a day. He sighed and slid on his disguise, getting ready for another day.
Wings of Nails
Hans was roaming outside, thinking about colleges to apply to and if he should shift someplace else. It would be certainly weird living with Emmanuel around now, knowing they both could never belong here. Emmanuel didn’t have those kinds of problems, he was just a ‘tourist’.
Would he ever find stability? Was he just supposed to roam around here until he was discovered, or death discovered him? Did he even have a proper future? So many questions, so few answers. Amazing.
He purchased some bacon sandwich from the cafe by their house, roamed without aim, chomping mercilessly. He didn't know how far he had walked until realizing he had to go back home. He sighed and walked back, no answers with him. He had never been so uncertain of anything in his life. He was going to die here, that was the only thing he was sure of.
Walking back, kicking pebbles around, something large on the street caught his attention. No one was around in the street, he was almost home. He walked ahead towards the thing- fear, and curiosity fighting each other in his heart.
It was as he feared. The brown wing-sickly translucent, lay there, in the middle of an empty street. Bile crept up his throat as he bent down, his hand creeping towards the wing. It looked as if it was dipped in blood, due to the setting sun. His hand hung in the air, shuddering. Finally, he forced himself to touch the wing. Disgustingly smooth.
His eyes lowered and forced himself to look at what he was sensing. He jolted as he realized what he was touching. It seemed as if a thousand brown fingernails had merged to form it. A shudder passed along his spine along with comprehension, and he recoiled. The wing was smooth yet grainy at the same time, having a marble texture. The more Hans thought about it, the more his stomach churned. He gulped, trying to keep himself composed, but the next thing he knew, he was throwing up on the sidewalk and running away. His heart racing with his feet, he gulped again and ran home, the brown wing etched on his mind now.
***
Gasping for breath, he knocked on the door until someone opened it. He rushed into the kitchen. Grasping for the jug, he started chugging water directly until it was empty. A thousand bugs were crawling on his skin. He couldn’t take this madness anymore. The world was swirling… Why was everything yellow? He struggled to reach his door. Once inside, he hastily locked it and slid out of his skin.
The bugs wouldn’t stop crawling his skin. His brain slowly lost all feeling. His senses deadened, his body shivering. He crawled up to his bed and laid on it, still shivering like it was snowing and he was naked. His head was pounding now, it kept getting louder until he couldn't take it anymore.
“OPEN UP!” Emmanuel pounded on the door, how long had he been calling him? “NOW!”
He crawled towards the door. Hans’s sound was barely more than a whisper when he asked, “Is anyone out there?”
“No one in the hall,” His voice trembled. “Open up. Please.”
Hans did as he said. Emmanuel was standing in his human form. Sweat covered his body, his brow scrunched up, eyes wandering around wildly. His hands wouldn’t stop shaking. He got inside, closed the door, and sat on Hans's bed immediately. He closed his eyes and stayed like that until a count of 5, slowly composing himself.
He said a few words which solved everything for Hans, “I’m pretty sure Niko is one of us.” Emmanuel muttered.
***
“Out of here, you mean?” Hans muttered.
“Yeah, I know the species… but I’ve never seen them. Only heard fables, they look…” He paused, finding a word. “Monstrous.”
Silence ensued. Hans could only wonder what could scare this Hulk of a man.
“How did you get to know?” Hans broke the silence.
“I keep seeing wing-like things everywhere. I saw one come off him when he was walking down the street today. Then I went into his room as a rat… and I saw him, like what he really looks like. I can’t describe it… You’d have to see for yourself.”
“He’s in his room right now?”
Emmanuel nodded.
“Stay here, I’m gonna check it out,” Hans said.
Without waiting for an answer, Hans slid down the door. He calmed himself, being prepared. He would not lose his cool, not again. Slithering in the hallway, his camouflage kicked in.
He slid
inside Niko’s room. He was wrong, he wasn’t prepared, not even a bit.
Niko’s back faced him, that was enough to terrify him.
Hundreds of brown wings sprouted from the short Niko, his foot-long oily black demonic hair standing up. His arms reached down to the floor, white as snow. He turned around as he cracked his neck. His huge brown head almost looked funny if not for the rest of his body, his torso as red as blood. His small legs were muscular like the rest of his body. Huge nails that resembled claws sprouted from his feet.
Demon.
Should I confront him now by myself or talk to him with Emmanuel? This person looked scary enough to kill him in a second, At least with Emmanuel, he could have a meagre chance to protect himself. Silently he slithered out, feeling like Niko could see everything.
Entering his room he sat next to Emmanuel again. He shivered like a mobile phone set on vibrate. He could barely speak anything.
“Breathe, it's fine. I know.” Emmanuel said.
After composing himself, Hans got up, “Come on, let’s go.”
“Go where?”
Hans looked him in the eye, “Isn’t it obvious? We catch Niko red-handed, and talk to him.”
The Embassy
They both stood at Niko’s door, hearts hammering. Hans had donned his human suit and Em was in human form too. Hans raised his hand, knowing Emmanuel would not knock. As soon as he knocked he heard a grunt. Niko opened the door, brown disheveled hair covered his head instead of the sleek spiky black hair Hans saw earlier.
“Hey guys, everything ok ?” Niko said a bit too cheerfully.
“Can we come in?”
“Sure- I guess. What happened?”
They both walked in and Niko closed the door behind them. Hans’s heart was thumping outside his chest, Niko seemed harmless right now, but who knew what this… creature could do.
