Karlol

by Phoebe Nix

  The other two exchanged perplexed glances.

  “This human speaks gibberish,” Lore complained.

  Karlol ignored his guard. “Joce,” he paused, “Joce-lyn. If we wanted you dead, we would have left you at the courtyard.”

  He was right.

  But she had seen them effortlessly chop off human limbs without flinching once at the bloody sight. These creatures could have been as brutal as the humans who wanted them dead. She kept her distance, but sat back down and crossed her legs, glancing at the chip in her ankle. Despite the warmth of the cave, vibrating chills ran up her spine. As she regarded Karlol, furtive thoughts crawled through her mind, and the feeling was so tangible, she felt her scalp tingling.

  “I don’t want to die. Not like this,” she mumbled.

  “No one here is going to kill you, okay? Calm down. Take a breath, because it’s a long way until we get home,” Karlol said, his tone softer.

  The blonde woman shot Karlol a contemptuous look, as though she was disgusted by the way he was speaking to Jocelyn. The woman’s gaze shifted to her, and Jocelyn gulped.

  Karlol exchanged a glance with the woman, and she scoffed and looked the other way.

  “Does she still have the chip in her ankle?” Darneel asked. “Can they track her?”

  “No,” Karlol said. “Not this far.”

  “Are you sure?” Lore asked.

  Karlol ignored her inquiry. “Are you hurt?” he asked, addressing Jocelyn.

  “Everything hurts, but I don’t see any bruises,” she answered, looking down upon her body as she patted it. “My lower back is killing me.”

  Karlol smiled. “You’ve been unconscious for a while. This rough ground is not very comfortable to rest on.”

  “It’s like summer camp in sophomore year all over again,” she moaned.

  “Pardon?”

  Jocelyn shook her head. “Never mind. Where are we?”

  A ball of guano dropped right in front of her. Her face fell in disgust.

  Great. Just when I thought this couldn’t get any worse.

  “Don’t be alarmed,” the Darneel said. “They’re harmless.” He gestured to the ceiling.

  In the light of the cave fire, Karlol looked less of an alien. He had longish brown hair that fell across his forehead, and his sea green eyes seemed to change hue with the different lighting. Right now, it looked more of a hazel green, and she could see floating specks in his eyes that made them all the more mesmerizing to look at. His presence made her feel a flow of conflicting feelings. She felt protected with him around, but she also feared that he would lash out at her and swing one of those swords, or talons, at her nape. Whatever his species was, they were unpredictable, and she needed to be on her toes until she learned whether or not to trust them.

  For now, it was best to stay on their good side.

  Her stomach rumbled, and she pressed her belly in embarrassment.

  Karlol gestured to Darneel, who took out what looked like a dried plum and tossed it to Jocelyn. She caught it before it landed on the bat excrement in front of her.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  The twins exchanged a quick glance, and she saw a small smile play on the edges of Darneel’s lips. Jocelyn was less intimidated by the man, but his sister gave her the chills. She could feel Lore’s glower penetrate through her. Jocelyn understood that she was likely a nuisance to them, but the hate in the woman’s eyes was inexplicable, as though she knew who Jocelyn was and had been holding a grudge for years.

  Jocelyn was tempted to ask her what her problem was, but decided it was best to avoid conflict for now.

  “We need to get moving,” Lore said.

  “Not now,” Karlol answered. “The woman needs to rest.”

  “How long will she keep stalling our mission? We’re already behind, your highness,” she said through her teeth.

  Karlol turned away to face Jocelyn. “That attire,” he said. “Is that how your people dress on Earth?”

  Jocelyn dug her teeth through the fruit and puckered her face when she bit the pulp. “No,” she replied. “It’s just what I’ve been wearing on vacation.”

  “Vacation?” he queried.

  “You know.” She waved her hand as she tried to think of the right words to explain. “Like, when you go someplace away from home for a change of scenery.”

  “Were you on a mission?” Darneel asked. “Is that why you’re here? The prophecy...”

  Karlol turned to his guard and glared. It seemed like Darneel had said something that he wasn’t supposed to.

  “What is all that talk about oracles and prophecies? I thought that was a myth,” Jocelyn commented, ripping the skin of the fruit off the pulp before wiping her hands clean on her shorts. “Do you have another one?”

  Darneel tossed her another fruit.

  Jocelyn caught it, and her eyes wandered around her surroundings. “And if you don’t mind my asking, where exactly are we?”

  “You seem to be fascinated by our planet,” Karlol noted.

  Of course, I am. I’m a damn historian and it looks like I’ve been transported to the Stone Age.

  “It’s different,” she replied.

  “We’re in the Catacombs. Nothing other than the Wings dwell within these deep caves,” Karlol explained.

  “Wings?”

  Karlol pointed to the ceiling.

  “Oh, the bats.”

  He laughed. “They are definitely not bats. But they keep most other animals out.”

  “I can see why,” Jocelyn said, her eyes fixed on the upside-down Wings, which looked thrice the size of the bats she’d seen on earth.

  Jocelyn’s heart hammered in her chest as she endeavored to fathom the alternate reality she had been transported to. Had she known the way back home, she would have taken the time to collect samples and memorize the mannerisms and cultures of these fascinating creatures – perhaps even ask for a feather for the museum. But looking back on the day she found herself here, there was no spaceship in sight. It seemed that whatever Cameron had pressed had activated a wormhole.

  “Do you have spaceships here?” Jocelyn asked.

  “Vogels do not travel through space,” Lore answered, sucking on her front teeth. “We don’t need vehicles to commute.”

  “Right, the wings and all. I noticed,” Jocelyn said coldly.

  “You don’t have to worry about finding your way back home now. We’ll take you to safety first where you can recuperate, then see what we can do,” Karlol said.

  “Have you,” Jocelyn stammered, “seen any other women that were dressed like me?” she asked, her eyes on Darneel.

  He shrugged. “I don’t believe I have.”

  “Oh, her friends,” Karlol explained. “I’m sure we’ll keep an eye out for them. When was the last time you saw them?”

  “On the ship,” she muttered.

  Lore scoffed. “They could be anywhere.”

  Jocelyn’s face had flared crimson from the warmth of the campfire. The couple of fruits she had consumed seemed to reinvigorate her. She was curious to see the rest of the so-called Catacombs, but the idea of delving deep within the depths of the tunnels ahead with complete strangers was disconcerting.

  So far, Karlol had saved her life when he didn’t have to, but something about the way his gaze studied her made her anxious. She couldn’t tell if it were attraction or if he were interested in her as a foreign species.

  “You said it’s a long way until we get to safety, so I guess we better get going. I don’t want to stall you any more than I already have,” Jocelyn said as she sprung to her feet. “But I want to learn more.” Her eyes travelled across the ribbed ceiling overhead.

  Karlol beamed, glancing at Darneel. His wings flapped as they gracefully pushed him to his feet. “Follow me.”

  Chapter 8

  Karlol looked over his shoulder to see Jocelyn scrambling behind as she tried to regain her strength and quicken her stride to catch up. He slowed down, gestu
ring for his guards to do the same.

  All three Vogels held torches tightly in their clenched fists, swaying them every now and again whenever a Wing flew too close past them. Their shadows loomed large on the cave walls as their talons thrummed on the granite ground beneath them.

  Jocelyn kept her distance, her eyes fluttering as the Wings flew above her head, but she had already realized they were harmless and had stopped flinching.

  In the distance, the mouth of the tunnel was thousands of feet high, the ground sloping to a deep depression. Jocelyn’s quickened steps padded on the ground as she jogged to catch up with them, marveled by the sights she was seeing for the first time.

  “I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said, as she stepped onto the moss-coated earth.

  Karlol let out a jubilant laugh, intrigued by how fascinated this human was.

  She walked ahead of them, then sprinted to the wall, about to caress a glowing mushroom that jutted out of a crevice.

  “Don’t do that!” Karlol’s joyous chuckles distorted into a booming warning, making Jocelyn suddenly freeze in place. “Those are poisonous to your kind.”

  Jocelyn nodded, walking back to Karlol’s side, her attention still riveted by her surroundings.

  The human’s eyes widened in enchantment, and a thrill tingled in Karlol’s blood as he watched this half-naked woman harvesting grass from the earth and stuffing it into the pockets of her shorts. To his guards, her demeanor was frantic and worrying, but Karlol was only comforted seeing how drawn Jocelyn was to unadulterated nature. He could clearly see she was nothing like the humans that had settled on his planet generations ago.

  Once they reached the foot of the cliff, they proceeded to walk a few minutes more, the echoed sound of dripping water growing louder. They reached a subterranean river, which looked green from the reflection of the overgrown moss on the banks. Before Jocelyn sprinted at breakneck speed to the water, Lore tightly grasped her shoulder and pulled her back.

  “You don’t want to upset the Azure Swimmers,” she warned.

  A great shadow hurtled under the water, making Jocelyn back away, her jaw dropping in surprise.

  They finally approached a shaft in the earth that intermittently glowed in a hue of colors. Jocelyn stopped upon seeing it before Karlol gave her a reassuring nod to proceed.

  They all lay on their stomachs, their heads tilted down to peek through the shaft. Karlol heard Jocelyn gasp, and he smiled to himself. It was always amusing to see someone’s first reaction to the city below.

  It looked like it was entirely made of stone, dwellings carved into the earth. Not even so much as a quiet humming could be heard, and Jocelyn later realized that these buildings were uninhabited. The city was devoid of any wildlife, and it was veiled in a layer of billowing mist and a musty, burnt scent that wafted toward them.

  The shaft was akin to a portal to the future – but a grim one at that.

  There was scarcely any green landscape, which was eradicated in favor of urban life. One could imagine seeing humans rushing by the potholed roads beneath them.

  “What,” Jocelyn stammered. “What is this?”

  She no longer looked fascinated. Her face had fallen in repugnance.

  Bridges were interlaced atop the buildings, where one would assume trains and aircrafts would be seen flying, but there were none. A faint smell of smoke wafted from the shaft. The abandoned, whitewashed buildings reflected in Jocelyn’s widened eyes as she looked around, studying the curious sight beneath her, her chin resting on her folded arms. Despite the impressive architecture, the city looked like nothing but a ruin.

  “When the humans first landed on Lookar,” Karlol began, “we had thought they were only curious beings. They seemed harmless at first, but the way they roamed our mountains was eerie, like they planned to alter our planet in ways that would be more convenient for them.”

  Jocelyn glanced at Karlol, then looked back beneath her. Her smile had faded as she slowly realized where this was going.

  “We never fought them. They didn’t seem to be a threat at first. And Vogels by nature respect life in all shapes and forms. We didn’t exactly throw them a welcome party, either, as your people would say.”

  “You sound like Lia,” Lore grunted.

  Darneel hushed her with a glare.

  “But we never asked them to leave, either. They were merely another species whom we thought had planned to coexist with us. We watched them from afar, from atop the tree branches, and we weren’t happy to see how they hammered their way into the ground with their destructive tools, reshaping our planet as if it were flawed.”

  There was a brief silence, filled by the hypnotic sound of dripping water.

  “They first landed here in their ships centuries ago, and their technologies became more and more advanced as they encroached on our land. We were curious to communicate with them, but they never gave us a chance to speak. They shot us down and hung our bodies up in their dwellings as some sort of prize. That’s when we were forced to live in the shadows, hiding our existence, but also learning about them from a safe distance.”

  “These cities are huge,” Jocelyn said. “Did they actually build them down here?”

  “No,” Karlol said, shaking his head. “The Great Quake. Our Elders called it the Day of Reckoning. As if the Gods were punishing the humans. The earth opened up and swallowed the cities. Tens of them. Few survived.”

  “Were these cities the only ones?” Jocelyn intoned. “Didn’t the humans spread across the entire planet?”

  “You’re from Earth, where the planet has scattered land. Or continents, as you call them. Lookar comprises of a single continent surrounded by one ocean. We have no choice but to coexist with this species, but they refuse to. They want the planet for themselves, and they won’t rest until we’re extinct,” Karlol explained. “They’ve called us pests and deem us primitive, but they’re oblivious to the damage they’re doing to the planet. If no one stops them, we’ll be threatened by extinction.”

  Jocelyn groaned, rolling her eyes. “That sounds like home. Say, how do you know so much about my planet?

  Karlol grinned. “That’s a story for another day. Come.” He rose, offering his hand to help her to her feet. “There’s still more for you to see.”

  His sight was stained in the bright flames of his guards’ torches. He led his new acquaintance around the moss surrounding the still river, Jocelyn’s eyes scanning it as though trying to spot the Azure Swimmers that looked like darting shadows in the water. Upon reaching a dead-end with a crevice that ran along the wall, they fit their bodies through the tight passage that led to a darker part of the cavern with a lower ceiling.

  Their shadows danced on the walls and made Jocelyn fearful. Karlol found her edginess endearing, but kept his face straight as they strode to another fissure in the ground. This one was narrower, bright red hues glowing from below.

  They all kneeled around it and peeked through the crack, which was wide enough to witness another city. It looked similar to the previous one, but had a hellish red tint which made it look all the more ominous. Some of the buildings had become nothing than demolished piles of stones, the city looking nothing more than a post-apocalyptic site.

  “But it’s not merely a clash of civilizations that we’re worried about,” Karlol continued. “Humans and Vogels are like flint and iron; we’re constantly sparking one another and no one seems to be winning. We’ve endured wars and famine because of how much destruction they’re managed to cause in such little time.”

  “Yup, definitely sounds like home,” Jocelyn mumbled.

  “I wouldn’t say that. Earth still has potential, I would think,” he swiftly replied. “At least, compared to how quickly Lookar is deteriorating. Our species here doesn’t have the ability to adapt. If circumstances are less than favorable, we start getting sick and we perish. That is already happening, which is why we keep our distance. It’s impossible to reason with these greedy creatu
res, who think they’re entitled to land because they have found it. They have stolen it from us and now forbid us from going near what they established as their territory.”

  “It sounds like you need war,” Jocelyn said.

  Karlol averted his gaze from the crevice. “You’re not wrong. We can’t escape each other, and their cities are spreading as far as the eye can see. We have already had our fair share of wars. These humans used to have ships and flying vehicles of all sorts, bright lighting systems that blinded our wild life. The poison that had emitted from their machines wilted our vast meadows and slowly suffocated our trees. But after the conflicts, all that was left were these ruins you see. And the survivors formed the last remaining kingdom. Where you and I met,” he paused. “The King fails to even feed his own people, and thinks he’s worthy of forming an empire on this planet.”

  “Doesn’t that mean you have the same enemy?” Jocelyn queried.

  “Humans have already adopted their hate for Vogels,” Karlol answered.

  He rose and turned around, his guards following him. Jocelyn remained on her knees, her hands pressed against the ground as she continued to watch the fallen cities that spread across the entire cavern. It was nothing but a wasteland.

  Karlol assumed that Jocelyn would soon follow, but she appeared to be obsessed with the history of Lookar. Her curious eyes looked up at him, as though pleading with him to tell her more. There was something different about this human that made her stand out from the rest of her species. He couldn’t quite put a talon on it, but he could see in her eyes that she had already sided with the Vogels.

  Karlol’s broad hands twitched as he continued to watch Jocelyn, the woman who was destined to be the planet’s savior. Surely it couldn’t be her that the prophecy spoke of – a skin-bare woman who skipped around the catacombs like a Vogel child being taught to harvest fruit for the first time.

  He could feel Lore’s eyes on him, watching him as he studied the human. His cheeks reddened as he thought of his fate in the hands of this human, whose head was half-way through the crevice. His pulse surged in his ear as he drew closer to Jocelyn, placing a hand on her shoulder from behind.