Chapter 36
Kevin’s point of view
I awoke into a dreary world. Yet, the
gloomy atmosphere was the last thing on my mind. I grimaced at first, as my
joints ached in the effort to sit up. After that, though, the pain subsided and
I felt revived. I shook my head to clear it of stray thoughts, and opened my
eyes instinctively.
I gasped.
Below a crimson-red sky, blackened
trees were dotted along the edge of a deserted beach, and in the background
were the silhouettes of charred ruins that were once buildings. I ignored the
destruction – I could see!!
I became aware of a rushing sound in
my ears, and watery crashes behind me. I could hear the wind and waves.
I laughed out loud, and turned my head
back towards the water. Light-heartedly, I realised that the water must have
rejuvenated me. I had no clue why, but it didn’t matter why. All I needed to
know was that it gave me energy.
I looked back down, and was in for
another surprise. My hands were not human: they were….. Small Gecko paws?
They may have been larger than normal
Gecko paws, but there was no doubt about it. I rolled up my sleeves, and it
became apparent that the whole of my lower arms and hands were typical
scaly-green Gecko style.
Half-worried and half-confused, I
glanced at my feet. They too were changed – they were Giant Gecko feet, green,
scaly and stubby.
Shaking my head in amazement, I
dragged myself upright and stretched. My arms and legs relaxed from this, but I
drew up sharply. There was one more thing left to freak me out. I could feel
the cold air and breeze beyond my back! I couldn’t glance around my back far
enough to see what was there. Frantically, I ran to the water’s edge. I crashed
to my knees and stared down into the rippling surface. I noted with relief that
my facial features and hair hadn’t changed at all, but behind the reflection of
my face was my biggest surprise yet.
Upon my back, green and compact, were
the tips of folded wings!!
Screaming in shock, I reeled
backwards, only to stumble face first onto the sand. Coughing in surprise, I
winced as my ankle twisted awkwardly.
My panic subsided, and my breathing
slowed. Picking myself up, I cautiously waded further into the water, and then
looked down. I stared with wide eyes. Wings? Gecko paws and feet were one
thing, but wings?
I trembled with nervousness. How did
they get there? Testingly, and twitching with fear as I did so, I carefully
unfolded them and stretched them out. I recognised them instantly – dragon
wings, just like Fotuf had. I tried to control them using the feeling in the
extra limbs alone, but being so unused to wing limbs meant they just flopped
about uselessly.
I sighed sadly, and my new wings
dropped even further. They were, or so it seemed, mirroring my mood and sharing
my disappointment.
I folded them back again with help
from my hands, and slowly waded back to dry land.
After I had discovered the changes in
me, I had set off travelling inland, with no maps, guides or any clue where I
was going.
Strangely, the sky remained a crimson
red colour, only changing at night (to midnight blue). I passed more charred
remains of houses, plants and even some kind of creatures at one point. I had
tentatively picked up one of the weather-blasted bones to examine it. I was no
biologist so couldn’t tell what species it was from. It didn’t help that the
skeleton I found wasn’t complete either. The looming mood of death that
surrounded me never disappeared. No building, it seemed, had escaped whatever
onslaught had ravaged the planet. After several days of tirelessly walking
inland, I came across a near complete skeleton. Kneeling down, I saw it was the
remains of a Valedron. I sighed, looking closer. It was a soldier of some sort,
having died and decomposed still in its uniform. Curiously, I brushed at the
tattered rags, wiping away what seemed like years of dirt. Soon, a red, spiky
insignia was just visible, having mostly faded long ago. The Valedron Empire….
I glanced around me. Was this the Old
Nosteran I had heard so much about? The original homeworld of the three races,
decimated by the Valedron’s bombardment decades ago? A lump caught in my throat
when I considered the possibility of this being New Nosteran. I had no idea how
long I had been trapped in Oblivion, and perhaps the Dragon Empire had been
destroyed in some war I had missed. This soldier may have been one of the
unlucky invaders, never finishing their mission to return home, but dying among
these God-forsaken ruins.
Shaken, I carried on, only stopping to
sleep, drink and flex my wings to get used to them.
The following day brought the crushing
truth upon me cruelly and without pity.
I walked on as usual, before the sight
of a cemetery confronted me. I frowned with confusion. All the death and
destruction I had seen before seemed so scattered and disorganised, while this
place was the complete contrast: it had a creepy sense of organisation about it
compared to the rest of this planet so far.
Still hungry for answers, I inched
towards it. Many of the headstones were cracked or completely demolished, but a
few remained fairly intact. I went to each of them, clawing away the most and
dirt to find the names. The intact ones I had found had all been weathered
away, and were unreadable. I was about to give up when I noticed two graves
sheltered from the elements further back. My curiosity arose again, and I
wandered without haste to them.
Dirt clogged these headstones as well,
but it was easily cleared away. I squinted at the names on them, and when my
mind processed them, all strength drained from me, and I fell to my knees. Suddenly everything fitted with cruel
precision.
Unable to accept the truth staring
back at me, I buried my face in my dirt-covered paws, and choked on my sobs of
anguish.
“No…..” I wept in despair. “Oh God,
no!”
I could have dealt with the first
headstone more easily. I barely believed my eyes at first as I found myself
staring blankly at my own name:
Kevin Scott Richardson
I had accepted my death long ago, but
nothing could have prepared me for this.
The second grave was the final,
crushing blow to me. The minute I saw the name, it confirmed what my grave had
told me anyway: this corpse of a planet was Earth, and I was centuries too
late.
All of my hope faded to nothing as my
unbelieving eyes read the name…..
Kristin Richardson….
***