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….

 

***

 

 

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