Diversion To Urasha

The forest was so dense, with the plants and the nettles too closely compacted together. James was fighting his way through the foliage, ignoring the sears and the scratches from the wild plants. James had no room, no room to just scratch that wretched little itch on his arm. Recognising the paralysing immobility in his body, and the numb feeling in his head, James forced his eyes awake.

James awoke, sitting himself upright on his leaf. He was amazed he’d even managed to get any sleep. The furleaves were itchy and unstable.

As James studied the brighter looking forest, and the dimmer (still glowing) plants, he concluded that the morning had finally arrived. He looked up through the gap in the trees at the silver furnace of the sun. Its silver rays of light were dancing across the forest. Today, the sun had broken free from the thick, heavy shroud of clouds. The forest looked a lot lighter this morning.

James got off his furleave, noticing a wet haired Crystaline crouched alone by the flickering purple flame. Tentatively, he wandered over to Crystaline, noticing her holding what looked like a comb, hand carved by herself. As he knelt beside Crystaline he smiled shyly. “Your own handiwork?” He inclined his head towards the makeshift comb.

Crystaline’s face was impassive, her lips pouted firmly together as she studied James. Slowly, she nodded, parting her rouge lips. “I got bored waiting for you all to wake up.”

James grinned, admiring the view of this stunning princess sat opposite him. She’d obviously just washed in the river. Her skin looked white, pure, fresh. Her hair was wet, neatly combed back into shape as it draped past her shoulders. “It’s pretty impressive,” he praised her. “Though I bet you’d still manage to look sublime no matter how messy your hair got.”

Crystaline’s eyebrows crinkled, and James realised that cheesy little compliments were going to get him absolutely nowhere with Crystaline. Embarrassed, he changed the subject. “So er, did you manage to get much sleep last night? You’re up pretty early.”

Crystaline just shook her head.

“I didn’t get much sleep either,” James nervously continued. He winced as he suddenly remembered his nightmares. “Though, I’m not sure if that’s such a bad thing. I haven’t been dreaming too well lately.”

“Well I envy those who can sleep,” Crystaline whispered.

“Even those who have nightmares?”

As James studied the face of Crystaline, he noticed that look again. He watched as her lips parted, and her eyes grew stormy, as if desperately trying to contain such a hurricane of turbulent emotions within her. Then she rose onto her feet, speaking with that same bitterly cold aloofness.

“Dream nightmares are nothing when life is the real nightmare.”

As James’ mouth gaped open, he watched as Crystaline walked away from him, forcing the conversation to meet its abrupt end.

Wanting to escape from the awkward atmosphere, and the rest of his teammates, James had decided to take a leaf out of Crystaline’s book, straying slightly from the camp to wash in the nearby river.

As he knelt over the stream, James just could not get Crystaline out of his head. Life being the actual nightmare, that was such a morbid thing to say, but not something which James could not relate to. James knew all too well how painful life could be. As thoughts of his father bombarded his mind, James dunked his head into the fresh river water, feeling the waves of purification cleansing both his mind and his face. That was good, he needed more.

Hoping that there were no harmful creatures in the stream, and that no one else would walk in on him, James stripped off his clothes until he was stood, completely naked before the scintillating river in front of him. Without hesitation, he dived into the river, the water reaching his shoulders. The liquid was cold, refreshingly cold, cleansing his entire body as he submerged himself in and out of the pool. This was the best wash he’d had in days.

As he popped his head out of the water, James gave his hair a little flick, eyeing the forest all around him, grinning at the surreal beauty of the place. He was lucky really, to be here, exploring the Universe. Very few people got the chance.

Gently, James cupped his mouth around the skin of the water, sucking up its valuable nutrients. This drink would go down well with some of that fruit. Feeling suddenly hungry, James scanned the trees and the dimly glowing plants all around him, searching for any sign of the fruity good stuff. As his eyes wondered over to the two luminous, green star-shaped plants, James noticed a fruit bearing tree next to the rightmost plant. He grinned, swiping his arms through the water until he reached the shore. Dripping wet, James pulled his body out of the river, wondering how he would dry himself. He studied his pile of clothes on the ground and concluded that his black trousers would make the best towel. James picked the trousers up, and gently began to dab his makeshift towel all over his body

Once dry, James reclothed himself, running his fingers through his wet hair to neaten it. He eyed the fruit, and felt his tongue caressing his lips. The fruit was a climb away, and he fancied the challenge. With a sudden rush of energy, James ran at the tree, gripping onto its lowermost branch.

With a few more swipes of his arm, James had already climbed several feet. As he made one daring reach for the next branch, James felt his hands clasping around the rubbery stick, and then all too suddenly, he heard the thing snap as it disintegrated away in his hand. On his tumbling journey towards the forest floor, James felt the sudden searing laceration in his left arm.

In a momentary daze, James rolled himself into a sitting up position, clutching onto his left arm. His arm felt warm, wet, dripping. Horrified, he looked down at his arm, immediately seeing the bright red blood spreading all over his inner forearm.

“Arrggghhh,” he groaned, feeling the excruciating agony of his wound. His arm felt hot, burning hot, as if someone had slathered acid all over it. James’ eyes began to water. He scanned his surroundings in search of the culprit. His eyes paused on the star-shaped plant, noticing now how sharp those points were. The stunning pulsating plant was the perp all right.

James felt his heart muscles constricting. What if this plant was poisonous? The pain was too much, like nothing he had ever felt before. A scratch wouldn’t do that, surely? There had to be some kind of venom, some kind of potent poison involved?

Feeling suddenly panicky, James got back up onto his feet, trying to squeeze the blood back into his arm as he made his way back to camp.

As soon as he rejoined the others, James was mortified to see that everyone was awake, and to make matters even worse, Phil had spotted him. James watched as his captain’s face paled, turning completely white, as he ran towards him.

“James!” he yelled, alerting the attentions of everyone. “James, what happened? You’re bleeding!” Instinctively, Phil went to grab James’ injured arm.

“Let go of me!” James shouted, his voice hoarse from his restrained tears.

“James, I need to see. What have you done?”

“No! You don’t need to see anything!” James swiped his arm free from his captain’s grasp. “Just get away from me.”

Zach gripped onto Phil, trying to pull his captain away from James.

Crystaline was stood in front of James with a reduction of colour in even her own pale cheeks. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“That’s what we’re trying to find out!” Phil barked.

Ignoring Phil, Crystaline turned to James, her gaze was soft, tender, inviting. It calmed James a little, enabling his trembling lips to weakly explain how he got his injury.

“I cut myself on a plant.”

More colour in Phil’s face drained. “A plant? What plant? James? Have you any idea? A plant? It could be poisonous!”

“You think I don’t know that?” James yelled back at him, fighting with all his might to keep those tears in, and to not crumble under this agonising pain.

Crystaline made a swift run for both supply bags, instructing Zach and her brother to take Phil away as she returned to James. Phil wasn’t having any of it.

“You can’t send me away! I’m his captain!”

“He doesn’t want you anywhere near him. Look at him! The last thing he needs is you hovering over him. Trust me, I’ll sort this! Crystos, I won’t ask you twice!”

With no hesitation at all, Crystos dragged Phil away from James, with Zach clutching onto Phil’s other arm.

Crystaline turned to James, her breaths shallow and quick as her eyes comforted his. She appeared unsure, uncomfortable, like a teacher in the care of an injured child. Eventually, her lips parted, easing out her soft silky voice. “Sit,” she instructed, kneeling opposite James so that her knees were touching his.

James watched as Crystaline removed a water container, pouring some of its contents onto a clean white cloth. Ever so gently, she took his wrist, and began to softly caress his wound. James groaned, the pain was too much.

Crystaline appeared not to notice James’ discomfort, her attentions intently focusing on his wound. “What did the plant look like?” she mumbled.

“I dunno,” James panted, disorientated by his pain. “It was green, really big, really bright.”

“Were there two of them? By the river?”

“Yeah!” James gasped. “Those were the ones. Am I in danger?”

Crystaline’s lips curled into a smile. “No, you’ll be fine. Skripta plants do secrete a poison, but it’s not a life-threatening poison.” Crystaline showed James the soiled cleaning cloth. It had a load of florescent green substance mixed in with his very own blood.

“What is that?” James winced, still feeling the torture in his arm.

“The poison. The poison which has gained such a terrible reputation among my people. Skripta plant poison has made some of the toughest, strongest grown men crumple up in an agonising heap of tears. You’re doing well, Joyce, very well.”

James gulped. So, it was okay to cry? He wouldn’t look like such a tit if he cried right now? James still didn’t fancy his chances, not when Crystaline was the one tending to his wounds, and Phil was stood only a short distance away, watching his every move like a hawk.

“I mean, there’s no point in crying now,” Crystaline continued, appearing to have read James’ thoughts. “The pain will be over very shortly.” Crystaline removed a familiar florescent blue bottle, emptying some of its bright blue liquid onto her forefinger. “No more pain,” she whispered, staring intently into James’ eyes. Crystaline began to work the healing fluid into James’ injured forearm, gently trailing her finger over the wound.

Immediately, James’ body was met with relief, relief and something else? As he continued to watch Crystaline literally working her magic, James felt the little prickles of electricity after each and every one of her soft healing touches. Were these little impulses just in his arm? Or did they travel deeper, further into his body?

“There, all done,” Crystaline stated, admiring her own handiwork as she returned the blue bottle of healing fluid to its appropriate bag. “Out of interest, how did you come into contact with the skripta plant? Obtaining a gash like that must have taken quite some force?”

James rolled his eyes in self mockery. “I was er... I was trying to get us some fruit, and my tree climb didn’t quite go according to plan.”

Crystaline grinned, her eyes meeting her smile. A rare sight. “You should leave that kind of stuff to my brother and I. Crystos and I are skilled climbers, great at collecting all the food we need.”

James grinned shyly back at Crystaline, his body still tingling after its contact with the healing fluid. Or was it Crystaline’s touch? “Believe me, I won’t be climbing any trees around any skripta plants for a long time, hopefully ever.”

Crystaline grinned once again, captivating James this time. He felt a lump forming in his throat, strangling him, weakening his gentle voice. “I er, thank you.” James blushed, shaking his head disbelievingly at his fully healed arm.

Crystaline’s eyes widened, bemused. “Thank you? What for?”

“What for?” James chuckled. “For healing me...again! You didn’t have to.”

“I didn’t have to?” Crystaline’s tone was cynical this time. “Tell me, Joyce, what use would you be to me if you could barely move? Completely immobilised by your own physical agony?”

James shook his head, gazing into Crystaline’s stunning eyes. “You know, something tells me that you don’t really need my help anyway. I bet you could retrieve this stone single handedly if you really wanted to.”

Crystaline was unable to mask her smile. “You’re not wrong,” she responded, raising to her feet. “But I don’t like to see any grown man look how you looked back then.”

“How do you mean?”

“In pain, in agony, completely and utterly lost in a never-ending darkness.”

James’ lips parted, wanting to say something in response to Crystaline’s desolate words. Crystaline walked away before he even had the chance.

James had little time to stew over Crystaline’s depressing words and his mortifying injury. He’d eaten one more piece of fruit for breakfast, whilst having to endure Phil’s smothering relief. The man was overbearing, too much. James was relieved when travel had finally resumed. At least he could distance himself from Phil.

Like yesterday, the travel was running surprisingly smoothly. Crystaline and her brother had once again managed to locate food, bruc this time, as well as the usual fruit. Crystaline had never strayed too far from the river’s path, following it faithfully, believing that it would eventually lead the group out of the forest and on their way to the healing stone.

Similarly, to yesterday, James had encountered more awe-inspiring creatures, most of them, Urashan insects which glimmered against the dark forest. Only the moonkas had been different, resembling white, fluffy round mammals. The moonkas roamed the trees, reminding James of a monkey. Only their eyes were big, bulgy, and red, resting on top of their fuzzy white bodies. Their limbs were pink, thin and bony. Crystaline had explained that the moonkas were well known amongst the people of Urasha, occasionally causing mischief to those who dared to travel underneath their trees. As the day soon turned to night, James felt lucky to have avoided such an onslaught from the moonkas. Though seeing fruit being hurtled Phil’s way was not such an undesirable thought. If anything, it was quite the opposite!

As James worked his way through the Urashan forest, he took note of the plants in particular, watching as they appeared to glow brighter and brighter against their darkening surroundings. The Urashan sun had turned in for the night, giving way for its brothers and its sisters. Sadly, James still could not see the stars very clearly, for the tall, looming trees still obstructed his vision of the skies up above him.

As he stared longingly upwards, James felt his body crashing into Phil’s. The man was stood, paralysed on the spot, watching Crystaline with caution. She had spotted something, and this time, it was definitely not just a bunch of furleaves. She had spotted something a lot more sinister.

“What is it, Sister?” Crystos’ voice sounded.

Crystaline’s face was ashen. “Can’t you see it?” she whispered, pointing to a spot beyond two trees. “That baby chugga there, it’s injured.”

“Baby chugga?” James whispered, his curiosity piqued. Slowly, he joined Crystaline, immediately spotting the chugga that she was referring to.

Sat on the forest floor was a creature, the biggest Urashan creature that James had seen so far. The toddler sized animal was baby blue in colour, mixed in with a series of red wounds scattered all over its rubbery body. James felt his heart scrunching up into a tiny little ball when he stared into the chugga’s black bulging eyes. The poor thing was trembling, and James could even hear its rapid breathing from this safe distance. What had inflicted such terrible injuries? James’ heart plummeted at the very thought. “Can we do anything to help it?” he whispered, noting the creature’s four limbs. It reminded him of a wingless baby dragon.

Crystaline’s mouth slowly opened, her eyes never leaving the chugga as she prepared her response. Her mouth slammed shut before she even had the chance to speak, hearing the deathly howls ripping their way through the forest.

“What was that?” Zach panted, nervously shuffling on the spot as he scanned the trees all around him.

HAAOOUUUL!

There it was again. Closer this time.

James turned to Crystaline, watching as her ominous eyes nervously searched the forest for the source of the howling. Her eyes eventually paused, widening in terror as she spotted something several trees away.

“Oh no!” Crystaline whispered, shaking her head as her breathing increased. “Feroshie!”

“Feroshie?” Phil repeated, the concern etched all over his voice.

As James followed Crystaline’s gaze, he spotted several luminous streaks of red in amongst the forest foliage. His heartbeat spiked, emphasising each and every rapid thud in his chest. James’ breathing hitched, feeling the uncomfortable vibrating sensation reverberating its way through his heart. Was this it? Was he having a heart attack? James’ ears told him otherwise, reluctantly soaking up the deep growls around him. The animals, the feroshie, they were the cause of the vibrations.

James felt his eyes zooming in on one of the creatures, watching as it crawled closer into view. The thing looked vicious, dog-like, with the red streaks embellishing its evil black body. As he noticed the glowing green horns on top of the feroshie’s head, and the long wiry tail with a spade shaped tip, James couldn’t help but liken this creature to a devil. Maybe they were the devil’s dogs, camouflaging themselves in amongst the trees, ready and waiting for their perfect moment to strike. Their target: the poor quivering chugga.

James felt a hand on his shoulder. He immediately shuddered when he heard Phil’s grating voice sounding out directly behind him.

“We need to get out of here,” the man whispered.

Morcees agreed, his eyes silver and laced with fear, as he began to drag Borcees away from the scene.

“No,” Crystaline whispered, deeply encased within her own little bubble of torture as she watched the trembling, and now squealing chugga.

“Crystaline!” Crystos’ voice was sudden, broken. “They’re right, we need to leave, now!”

Crystaline shook her head, her eyes completely stormy as she watched the injured chugga. The feroshie had it surrounded now. Slowly, Crystaline turned to her brother, her eyes locking into his, shaking her head apologetically. “I’m sorry, Brother,” she whispered, skilfully avoiding his reflexive grasp as she ran straight to the chugga’s aid.