The phone emitted a blinding flash of light. As a prismatic vortex materialized before me, I exclaimed and dropped the device to the floor. As the electricity in the air thickened, the hairs on my skin stood up, as if I were about to be struck by lightning in a severe thunderstorm.
Panic struck me. This wasn’t right.
My heart rate increased with the realization that something wasn’t right, but my body refused to react—to take a step back—to get out of here.
I opened my mouth to scream for help, but nothing came out.
The bright vortex exploded, deafening me as it covered my skin with light and blinding me as it sucked me into its center.
The last thing I remembered was darkness swallowing me and numbing both my mind and body as I closed my eyes and fell into nothingness.
CHAPTERTWO
ZYRE
“An intruder?”
Rushing to my feet, I strode to my hometree’s core and studied the wall’s bioluminescence. Its heartwood pulsed a warning, its life force buzzing in anticipation, confirming there was an unknown threat within our territory.
The local plants continued to whisper tales of a traveler nearby. All of them repeated the same thing—that it was something they had never encountered before.
From their description, the bipedal creature had suddenly appeared, as if it had been dropped off from a spacecraft and was cautiously traversing through the thick jungle towards the waterfall along the border. Its movements were unpredictable as it scrambled to find a pathway, avoiding touching any of the plants along the way.
Who would want to visit X’thyrl? What reason did they have here?
My people were peaceful folk and often stayed out of galactic politics, keeping to ourselves. Since we depended on our connection with nature and space travel wasn’t something we, as a collective, were interested in anymore. While we had vessels equipped with terrarium domes for long journeys, many preferred staying within our sol system and only venturing short distances between the planets we’d settled on rather than visiting space stations and other territories.
Instead, we focused on keeping the planets within our sol station healthy, repairing any damages we may have caused while excelling in biotech.
Closing my eyes, I pressed my hand against my hometree’s heartwood wall, needing to know what I was about to go up against. The smooth surface felt warm under my touch, welcoming my presence as I connected to it, combining our life forces together.
“Hometree, what do you sense?”
Something attached to my conscience, and the sudden feeling of falling backward washed over me.
My awareness expanded as I merged with my core, feeling every being’s lifeforce amongst my territory. Its root system acted like a living radar, constantly updating in real time to give me accurate information of what was happening within my land.
Other Calyzis knew that it was respectful to reach out to another’s hometree, even if they were just passing by, to let the land’s caretaker know they meant no ill.
Off-planet visitors from another species tended to stick to the coastal terra-cities, where they were welcomed to trade or vacation. This prevented them from trespassing private land and accidentally damaging the local flora or being attacked by our native creatures. There were many dangers amongst our land that could be deadly for the ill prepared.
A red flash pulsed along the edge of my hometree’s root system, flickering every time the bipedal creature took a step. Whoever it was, they were following the river, traversing deeper within my territory and toward the waterfall.
I sucked in a deep breath as another creature entered my territory from the opposite side of my land. My local plants whispered a warning, knowing this one was well-known and feared amongst my kind.
The bipedal creature must’ve caught its attention, as thepafeldaestalked in its direction. The speed of its movement meant that the unknown creature was already labeled as easy prey, especially since thepafeldaewasn’t waiting to strike, by studying for its weakness by taking its time to loosely circle it.
This wasn’t good.
The bipedal creature needed to be warned, or else it would becomepafeldae’s next meal.
Even though it was trespassing on my land, it didn’t deserve to be killed for not knowing what dangers lurked nearby. It wasn’t their fault that they lacked the knowledge needed to survive in the wild, untamed land, especially if they were dropped off here against their will or not.
My hometree’s core reported no traces of a space vessel in the sky or landing nearby. Using our combined consciousness, I expanded my awareness beyond our borders, reaching to my neighbors’ hometrees.
All of my neighbors’ hometrees welcomed my presence, willingly answering my unspoken question. Each reported the lack of unannounced guests and that no vessels had landed within their territories. Everyone collectively agreed that they would be on high alert and they would reach out if anything happened—and for me to update them on my unknown bipedal visitor.
After sending them a gracious thanks for their cooperation, I collected myself and disconnected my consciousness from my hometree.
