Mundas took it upon himself to advocate for the security of the Hiermochts. When the dust that the hoofs of the daemon horsed kicked up, Emma and I got down and went to the settlement along with the rest of the team.

  When we got to the mouth of the hovel, Mundas suddenly turned around and faced us all. There was an eerie silence and his eyes shimmered with so much pain.

  "I'm sorry, to the rest of you. But humans are not allowed into the settlement of the Hiermochts." He glanced at Emma and I.

  "Only Emma and Peter Wargner are allowed."

  "Why?!" Zuri burst out.

  Mundas looked at her calmly. He had a god like restraint I was certainly used to by this time.

  "The rest of the humans aren't allowed because you are a threat to the Hiermocht community."

  Zuri was properly pissed off now. She took a few steps towards Mundas and spiked through her clenched teeth. "Can you please elaborate?"

  Emma went behind her and gingerly tried to lay her hands on her shoulders. Zuri shrugged it off, content to experience the full length of her anger. "Mundas, or whatever you are. I ask again, why are you separating us when there have been clear instructions that we should not do such?"

  "Instructions from who?" Mundas asked.

  "From Major Santorez." Emma replied defiantly, folding her arms across her chest.

  There was a sad smile tugging at the corner of Mundas' lips. "The same Major Santorez who captured, neutralized, and poorly treated the Hiermochts until Peter convinced him to let us be? You think he still has our interest at heart?"

  Zuri was silent. Still, her anger was solid. I had a feeling I would see the heat evaporating from every pore of her body if I looked closely.

  "Major Santorez does not care about the Hiermochts. If you have not noticed, then I suppose I have to spell it out for you. This time around, the attackers did not come after the Hiermochts. They came after you."

  "What?" Emma and Zuri asked simultaneously.

  Mundas glanced at the both of them. "If you study the pattern of the attack, you would observe that truly, they did not intend to have casualties on our end. Majority of the people captured were humans. They must have known you all were here and they came after you."

  Zuri was even more infuriated. "And who told them? Who told them we were here? It must have been you right? You sneaky, lying, two faced animal!"

  She tried to go after Mundas and hit him but Emma held her back as she convulsed at the mouth.

  Mundas let her rant, spit vitriol, bare the fangs of her feelings and her rage. After that, she burst into tears and began to shake. Emma held her tightly. In Zuri's eyes there was fright lurking. Her fear was masked by her anger and now it was giving way to reveal its true self. She was angry because everyone sticking together seemed like a good way to survive, and now, Mundas was saying he was against it when she least expected. So she exploded.

  "Zuri, I understand your rage. No, the Hiermochts had nothing to do with the attackers coming after the humans. Instead, we were preoccupied with trying to stay alive and hoping Major Santorez helped us onto the ship with good intentions. As you witnessed, not all the Hiermochts got on it. In this place, things are hardly kept a secret, especially under the light of the moons. They reveal all things and the air, the water, the trees and the sand all share a communal kinship. They whisper to each other, nourish each other, and pass secrets from one element to another until the most grounded person in a community puts his ears to the floor, detects the small seismic vibrations and interprets the secrets nature has to tell him. The birds fly far and wide and return to their nest, heavily laden with information which they tweet carelessly, loudly and brash enough for a human with evil intentions to pick it up and act on it. So you see, Zuri, it is not at all the fault of the Hiermochts. I don't know how they knew, but here we are. We need to protect ourselves."

  With that, he signaled to Emma and I and we followed him.

  "Why us, Mundas?" Emma asked.

  Mundas took his time before he answered. "For Peter Wargner, he HAS been with us for so long, he is now a part of us. I have taught and watched him grow, I have seen that he is a boy of exemplary courage. For you, Emma, you have demonstrated curiosity and a pure kindness. Your heart does not delight and evil and the I can see and feel that you care for things that do not look like you as well. You are level headed and you would understand whatever tough decisions we might make."

  Emma swallowed. "We?"

  "Yes." Mundas replied. I am taking you to the council of the elders in the deepest ends of the cave. They do not come out often except on very important occasions like the hatching of an egg, the birth of a new generation of Hiermochts. Not even wear is strong enough to bring them out from their caves."

  With that, Mundas led us across a path in the caves they had never taken before. Even I had not known that there existed such an elaborate system in the cave. It seemed that as we passed, new openings were carving themselves out from the wall, giving rise to new labyrinths, new corners. We came to a section that was filled with muddy water. We pulled up our clothes and trudged through it. I tried to memorize the path as we went but I realised that my memory was getting fuzzy and groggy. I found it hard to even remember if we last took a left or a right turn.

  Finally, we came to a section of the cave that ESD opened and bare, just like the garden. Only in this Case, there were no trees or plants. The only things that were there were numerous writings and drawings on the walls that made no sense to me. Emma kept stroking her fingers across them, trying to deduce a meaning but it was more than our collective minds could comprehend.

  There was a fire crackling in the middle of the large expanse. Mundas, as though transfixed, walked towards the fire and stood a few inches away from it. His eyes stared straight ahead, as though he were hypnotized. The heat from the fire seemed not to sting him. Suddenly, he clapped twice and waited.

  Emma and I heard a great mumbling. The elders had been summoned. They came in their numbers from depths of the caves we had not seen. They had skulls around their hands and jars full of rattling bones. There were complex tattoos on their faces, long sharp spears in their hands, leather and leaves draped around their waist. Some had their torsos bare, others hand green colored cobras winding around their necks, covering their bodies in a slippery moving green. Emma was afraid but Mundas told her not to be. They were like Mundas but bigger and more eccentric.

  The elders were still muttering when Mundas clapped twice again. The sounds ceased immediately.

  They sat around the fire with the same distance between them. Their legs were folded under their bodies in the same way, and they all wore similar solemn expressions. They looked like they were not aware that they were being spoken to. I fought the urge to wave my hands across their eyes just to see if they would respond to that external stimuli. In essence, they looked detached. It was like a part of them was not fully grounded to this planet. They were elsewhere, on another plane that was beyond the scope of my eyes, greater than the spectrum my senses could recognize. They were there, commuting with themselves, content and not ready to bring their full selves to exist only on Galsong-7. These were no ordinary Hiermochts.

  Mundas gestured to me. "Peter Wargner.".

  He gestured to Emma. "Emma McKinney."

  It took me a little while to realize that this was an introduction.

  Suddenly, as though they had been jerked awake, the elders turned to look at us. Their eyes were full of life now and they were themselves. It was incredibly odd but Emma and I smiled along.

  One of the elders even got up to give me a friendly pat on my back. I found it hard to imagine that only a few moments ago, these friendly, boisterous Hiermochts were only a pack of people speaking gibberish and staring into space as though their souls had taken flight.

  "What is going on?" Emma whispered to me.

  "I don't know." I replied with a shrug. Mundas heard us.

  "They astral travel while still partly grounded. That is, they are conscious enough to move and carry out some basic functions even though they are not fully here. In a way, they mediate for the rest of us and keep a peace for the settlement. They are always in this cave, day and night, for years on end, but they know whatever happens out there. They see everything."

  "So why don't they prevent the bad?" Emma asked.

  Mundas chucked. "For centuries and ages, humans believed in the existence of a big God in the sky. Why didn't he prevent the thousands of disasters, war, and famine that has wiped out a great deal of the human population?" Mundas shook his head. "That is going to lead us into a spiral, a rabbit hole of never ending discourse about fate and omniscience, which not everyone particularly believes in. So let's get on with the business we are here for."

  "What do you believe in, Mundas?" Emma asked.

  "I believe in the present."

  Emma was going to press on with more questions but Mundas sat down and began speaking with the elders in a very grave voice. We were invited to sit too and we tucked our legs under our bodies just like the elders.

  "I am a forbearer of bad news." Mundas said.

  "We know, we saw." The elders said simultaneously.

  The combination of their voices made a chill run down my spine. It sounded strange, inhuman, in-everything I had ever heard.

  "The humans come with nothing but trouble to our lands. This isn't the first time. For years, they have never let us be. Why then should we care if their bones are ground and fed to the birds? Should we be bothered if they are permanently extinguished and wiped away for all eternity?" One of the elders asked.

  I felt Emma shrink beside me.

  Mundas cleared his throat. "A number of humans have demonstrated kindness, they are not like the rest. Peter Wargner here has lived with us for a long, long time. He is refined in our manners and speaks in the same language as us..."

  "Therefore?" The elder cut in.

  "We should help them, as Peter has helped us. Emma here has shown the young Hiermochts nothing but love and care. The little ones all look up to her and are always excited about her arrival. Letting the friends of Emma die would not leave a good impression of us on their minds."

  The elders were divided. Some saw sense in what Mundas said, others were strongly behind the other elder who was apparently mad at humans.

  Emma cleared her throat loudly and the elders all turned to look at her. This was the first time she was speaking since she came.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  "I have an offer."

  I had no clue what she was about to say. This was one of those times when she liked to be unpredictable. I hoped that whatever she had to propose would be in the interest of everyone. I was torn between the two worlds.

  "Speak, Emma." The elder said.

  "Okay. My offer goes thus. I want your help in rescuing those that were captured. In return, we promise not to bother your planet anymore. Coming here was an accident but the manner in which we made a home for ourselves was not, and you have every right to be dissatisfied with our methods. However, all that is left is for us to leave this place as we have found it, apologize for intruding on your land, and return to our home planet. When we return, we would also put measures in place to ensure humans do not come here to disturb the peace either voluntarily or accidentally. We can make that happen."

  The elders hunched among themselves and spoke in hushed tones, deliberating. I squeezed Emma's hands to reassure her. Mundas nodded at her.

  It was a good idea, but I knew there were grey lines, especially for me. I did not want Emma to leave yet. I had to ask myself, did I want to leave? I tried not to think about it for now. What mattered was the effort and plan we had to put in place to rescue the rest of the team. Emma was distraught at the fact that Austin was gone. I could see it in her eyes. She was not her usual, friendly self. How could I expect her to be that way when half of the crew was gone and we had no idea what was being done to them? It would be crazy of me to expect her to be her normal self in the face of such a calamity.

  "We have come to a Conclusion." Another of the elders said. He was one with the snakes writhing across his body. "Your plan has been deemed..." He paused, playing with suspense in a way that wanted to make me scream. "Your plan has been deemed acceptable."

  "Yes!" Emma shrieked and the elders exchanged looks with themselves. I wondered if they had never seen anyone express joy so blatantly. It must be different when you are in a cave.

  The first elder who was against the humans spoke. "To help you, we can only do so much. In turn, my own offer is this."

  I see that Emma has turned pale.

  "We will draw out the maps for the Hiermocht kingdom, and we will equip you with what you need. However, what we would not be doing is to gather an army of Hiermochts for you. No, we would not be doing that because a lot of Hiermochts have died in the past, risking their lives for humans who did nothing but exploit them and use them for profits and selfish gains. Is that clear?". Emma nodded. It was better than nothing.

  The elder turned to me. "Peter Wargner, as Mundas said, there is no single way to classify where you belong. As Hiermochts, we also value you for being a part of our community. It is a long journey you are embarking on, and we have a gift for you."

  The elder stood up and was gone for a while. He walked towards an opening in the cave and disappeared.

  "Where did he go?" Emma asked.

  "I don't know. We both watched him leave."

  When the elder appeared, he was clutching an animal that glowed azure blue and dripped with water. It had a sleek body and large beady black eyes. It could fit into the palms and it moved very slowly. Its body gleamed and it's skin stretched taut and lost each time it inhaled and exhaled. It was beautiful.

  "This, Peter Wargner, is a rare plant from a still water source. We in this calm love it very much. As a token of appreciation, we are giving it to you, this thing we truly cherish, as a gift. It will guide you, comfort you in times of trouble, and give you peace when all else falls into pieces. Guard it very close to your heart, for that is its home from now onwards. Plus, don't feed it human food."

  I accept it gracefully and thank them profusely. The elders draw out the map on the floors of the cave while Emma brings out a large piece of paper from her backpack and replicates the drawing of the map.

  By the time the meeting is over, it is already dawn. Mundas leads us back the way we came after we bid the elders farewell. It was less odd for us. When we finished, Mundas clapped twice and the elders stood up, looked up and began their mumblings from where they stopped. They descended into the places from which they came earlier and continued to speak in the language only they could understand.

  The cave looked simpler as we left, but I still could not remember the paths.

  "Why can't I seem to memorize the outline of this area of the caves?" I finally asked Mundas, exhausted and sick of trying.

  Mundas smiled. "I was waiting for you to ask me that. I could see you struggling so hard against the currents. You cannot learn or memorize it no matter how hard you try because you are not meant to be there. In other words, it does not exist to you. Only I can walk you through the path."

  I groaned.

  "Well, we came to a good agreement, didn't we?" Mundas asked.

  "Yes," I replied. "All thanks to Emma."

  Mundas looked at the both of us. I could feel that he dearly loved us, he had developed an affection that was rare among Hiermochts and humans. I too, felt very fond of him.

  "Go well, Peter. Go well, Emma. May you be courageous and strong enough to face all the obstacles in your path. Be wise, be vigilant. Those attackers are dangerous. Use all the wits you have."

  With that, he turned into the garden and left us.

  ***

  Emma and I sneak out before the light hits the grounds. We take only an hour's rest before we hurriedly pack what we need and set on our journey.

  I am used to the terrains, the dips and cracks in the ground and I am springy on my feet. Emma isn't, so O go in front of her while she replicates my steps. Anywhere I touch, she touches. Sometimes, when I am too fast for her, she complains.

  We then devise a means to circumvent that problem. It was simple. Emma got the purple plant we had extracted my hair dye from. Then, we extracted it out again and I applied a liberal amount to the soles of my feet. All she had to do was follow the purple foot prints to avoid the numerous, sinister death traps around the terrain. The soil beneath our feet was very volatile. There were often sinking sands in disguise, cracks that bled open unexpectedly, mobile plants that often spring up suddenly and throw one off balance.

  "Zuri had gotten her feet into one of these cracks that suddenly expanded and contracted when we were coming."

  I shook my head, feeling sorry. "That must have hurt."

  "It sure did. She screamed bloody murder. The foot got in and the ground contracted back. Luckily, it was not tight enough to crush her carpal bones or sever a nerve. What we did was to dig around the edges slowly till we made enough space to free the foot."

  "That only happened because the soil wanted to give up the foot too." I say.

  "What does that mean?"

  "You've definitely heard us saying several times that this place has a mind of its own. You could only get the foot out because that ground decided to be kind. Perhaps it saw that she had no evil intentions. I don't know how it works, scientifically. We are yet to understand. But trust me, if it were Major Santorez who got his foot in there, the crack would have contracted and pulverized his foot, or expanded and swallowed him whole."

  Emma laughed. "Major Santorez lives rent free in your heart, doesn't he?"

  I shrug. "I'm definitely evicting him one of these days. Hey, let me teach you how to navigate these parts. You see that crack over there?" I point out one that is close to her left.

  "Yea, what's it?"

  "That's a jagged crack. If you look closely, it is cracked in a certain pattern, like the teeth of a chain saw. Those types are the ones that have the propensity to expand, to the volatile and downright mean. Now, see this?" I show her another that is a few inches in front of me.

  "It has a straight line. It really isn't going to expand. Cracks like these rarely do." For more emphasis, I place my foot over the crack and throw my weight into it. "See?"

  "Peter, isn't that dangerous! " Emma shrieked.

  I chuckled. "I know this place like I know the lines on my palm. Don't worry about me."

  We continued our journey, after a while, the ground began to get steeper. It was as though we were ascending a hill and the air became colder.

  "Is this the right place?" I ask. I had never been to these paths.

  "Yes. Well, according to the map the elders gave us." Emma brought out the paper and ruffled it for the umpteenth time.

  "Have you ever been here? " She suddenly asked.

  I felt a need to defend my expertise like I had been doing since we commenced this journey. But doing that would be at the risk of sounding stupid. Another situation might arise where I would need to flex my knowledge and it would be embarrassing to admit I knew nothing after claiming to.

  "No, I have never been here. It is so cold. I've never needed a jacket since I came to this planet."

  "These particular Hiermochts must be thick skinned then. We continued the upward journey till we came to a stop by midday. The sun was high in the sky yet the air was chilly, almost frost.

  "It is almost winter here."

  As soon as Emma said that, an arrow was shot at her.

  It yored through her dress by the side and projected directly onto a tree behind her. She fell to the ground as I screamed and clutched her.

  "Peter? I'm okay. It just stings a little bit."

  Opening her shirt, she found that it grazed her slightly and there was no severe injury. Yet, we were alert and afraid. I looked at the arrow which was now glowing blue and cackling with electricity across it's piezoelectric material. A recording came from it.

  You are a few kilometers away from the training camp of the Hiermocht-X army. State your purpose now or you stand a risk of being killed at the perimeter of the training camp.

  Emma and I exchange looks. I crawl over to the arrow while Emma whispers my name, telling me to be careful.

  "My name is Peter Wargner. I am a..." I paused, not knowing what to call myself. Human or hiermocht, I was going to be hunted anyway, so I took my chance and said what I thought was the safest possible option.

  Who are you?The speaker asked impatiently. His voice was gruff and deep bellied.

  "I am a hiermocht hybrid."

  I could Hear the sound of laborious breathing emanating from the speaker.

  "What do you want?"

  "To make an offer. For the humans you captured yesterday."

  The person on the other end of the speaker was silent. It seemed he was contemplating with someone else there.

  "Come on then, Peter Wargner. Are you alone? Anybody not accounted for who attempts to cross into the trading ground will be shot on sight."

  He had said my name with a certain bitterness in his mouth. There was no time to think about that anyway.

  "No, no. I am not alone. I am with someone else, Emma McKinny."

  "What is she?"

  Emma and I exchanged looks again. It was a tricky situation.

  "She is...human."

  "Great. Come on then."

  The arrow disintegrated and turned into ash. I could not shake the feeling that the voice had been a little too pleased to realize that Emma was human.

  **

  On the perimeters of the training camp, we were greeted by a great mist. I could make out shooting targets but there were also large, unfathomable devices. I had never encountered the Hiermocht-X species so closely.

  "What is this place?" Emma whispered.

  "No idea."

  The place was silent, almost desolate. Until we heard the sound of hoofs hitting the floor. They were coming from us.

  The beings we saw hid their faces behind a helmet. It was made of thick steel hammered into shape. The place where their mouth was meant to be was carved into sharp vampire shaped teeth. Emma and I felt frightened but we held our grounds.

  The daemon horses circled us, round and round, faster and faster until we could not see them behind the thick cloud of dust.

  "I am the boy who..." I begin shouting but suddenly, a thick net gets thrown over Emma and I. We struggle, inhaling dust, trying to pry the thick ropes of the net away from our faces. It is strong, and I can barely breath. When they are certain that we are snugly secured in the rope, the Hiermocht-x army bundles us onto two individual horses and begin to ride to their main settlement.

  Emma pleaded with them, trying to negotiate her way out of the net but the Hiermochts were deaf to get pleas. For me, I felt an intense rage building in my heart. It was like a hot core whose larva was spilling across its terrain. This rage was spilling from my heart and into my bloodstream like molten lava. I was infuriated, disturbed by the fact that I was stuck here, held down like a wild animal. Also, we had been tricked. The speaker had given the impression that they knew we had come in peace but it was a false one. This was a trap and Emma and I were perfectly ensnared. My mind continued to rewind to that moment when I felt a slight hunch that something was amiss.

  The horse rode to a stop in front of a gigantic stone building. Emma and I were still bundled up in the nets. We were carried like that, across the cobbled pathway, and into the center of the settlement that was a giant mud hovel. Unlike ours, there were no writings on the wall. Not a single thing that could be considered art.

  The air had a slight pungent odour lingering. I wondered where the source was.

  Someone let out a muffled scream. It was Emma, and she had seen Austin and the rest of the team a few meters from where we stood. They were chained to the wall with thick vines. It circled them from their heads, neck, torso, all the way to their feet.

  Emma tried to run towards Austin because by then, they had taken off the nets. She was held back by the Hiermochts who roughly tied her two hands at her back. But she would not stop screaming out for Austin at the risk of getting beaten. It was a horror show. Not only were they tied by the vines, it was a system that reached into their arteries and slowly drained their blood which trickled into a cup by the side. When the cup was full, the elder hiermocht there was given the glass to drink.

  In a desperate bid, I reached into my backpack and brought out the rare plant the elders had given me. Surely, it must have been valuable to all Hiermochts. Perhaps, I thought, they would see this and reconsider.

  I brought out the plant and held it in both hands, going down on one knee. I started off by speaking in the special sign language, then I communicated my offer in English. "I have brought this invaluable piece in exchange for the humans. Please accept this token and we will be on our way, never to disturb again."

  Everywhere went quiet then suddenly, the elder began to laugh. He laughed and laughed, sputtering some of the human blood out. The rest of the Hiermochts joined him, and I did not know whether to feel sad, angry, or humiliated. Perhaps I had to feel them all at once.

  The elder raised his hands and the laughter suddenly stopped.

  "Take them away! More food for us!" He commanded, laughing. "I don't care for your plant, you bloody fool."

  I felt the heat rise to my cheeks. Emma looked at me but I could not read her eyes. I felt that I had let her down, the most important person in this journey. I began to reconsider my actions. Maybe I should have told Mundas that I had to go on the journey alone, so that Emma would not be trapped in this hell hole with me, so that she could remain safe in our settlement and not in this unfamiliar one. Perhaps IF I had offered only myself in this journey, many things could have turned out different.

  Now, there was no time to brood. Emma was being taken away and so was I. The Hiermochts here had bad breath and rough hairy palms that grazed our skin as they took us away. I told myself to keep calm, breathe steadily, and plan. I tried to tell Emma the same but one of the guards hit me across my head when I tried to speak. So we were given into a season of muteness. Before we are taken to be tied at the two opposite ends of the line of humans, my hand grazes Emma's and I take the opportunity to squeeze it, safe out of the stern gaze of the guards.