My head span and I was really close to throwing up my breakfast, which I now remembered it was the only thing I had eaten all day. I tried to focus on the small lights flying above me. For a moment, I took a wild guess. Are those stars?

I heard the splashing of water next to me, and random things started to come up. The endless waves of insectoids, the sudden sting in my neck…my hand rushed to the part which now felt sore and smooth. There was no evidence that it had ever happened, except the fact that a small patch of skin around that part of my neck, still had a cold feeling around it.

I’m sure I was dead, but someone must have saved me. But who? Who was the one that carried me away and protected me? Zan was too feeble to be able to do that, and Silver lacked the initiative.

That left only one person.

“You’re awake,” Jay uttered in a matter-of-fact tone.

It was like he had fought the venom with his own two hands and made sure to win, that was his at that moment. But there was also something else there. Maybe it was relief?

Nah, I’m just fooling myself.

His clothes were torn apart. The fabric on the front part of his black shirt, was full of holes and through it, I could see open wounds with dried blood. He was seriously hurt, more than he would ever dare to admit. Even so, here he was, looking at me with the same cold glare. His eyes showed nothing.

“Yes, it seems I am. Did you...did you save me?” My voice still shattered. Seriously, what is wrong with me?

“Yes.” The word left his mouth easily, with a tint of plain arrogance. He seemed to imply that there was no one else who would be able to do it.

“Thank you. I owe you my life.”

“Yes,” he replied instantly. My brows shot up in surprise.

Is he gonna ask me to serve him for the rest of my life to pay up the debt? Typical man’s attitude. Even among generations and generations of different species throughout space, that part remains the same. They’re all pigs.

I tried to push my body up, to lie against the weak trunk of a cut tree. I started to discern the beautiful, fire-birds. Yes, that word suited them well. A reference from an old book came to my mind. It was a short abstract one about a type of insect, fireflies. It could perfectly explain those creatures as well.

As my eyes swiped the glade, they finally caught Jay moving towards the water in the middle. The greenish pond gave off an intoxicating aroma, something of roses and squashed berries. I wanted to get a sip. But I was not the only one who seemed to have the same idea.

Jay’s long and brawny hands stretched upwards, pulling his shirt on their way up. Suddenly, below the destroyed fabric and under the quizzical demeanor, another part of Jay appeared, that of his physical perfectness.

“Oh, my…” I said through my teeth. Every muscle of his chest, his bulging pectorals, his throbbing abs, anything that I could only imagine how they looked up until now, were far better in reality.

He turned and looked at me.

Shit, he must have heard me.

I felt my ears twitch and flush, and I was trying to hide my face behind a curtain of hair. Only just now did I notice that my hair was loose.

“What’s wrong human? Are you not feeling well?” If his voice was a little colder, then I was sure I would have frozen to death.

How can a man this hot be so senseless?

“I’m fine. Just a bit tired. That’s all.” All the sentences came out as one, and I wanted to apologize, but I was too embarrassed already. His black hair was messily cute, and the rest of his body was chiseled to greatness. Yes, Jay was the picture every man should strive to become.

And then, he bent down and removed his pants as well.

I was not a prude person, no, please. I was the exact opposite of that. I had lied topless inside the observatory of Sol, and I was usually in my underwear while in my apartment. Yes, you could call me bold. But, even though my experiences with men could be counted using both hands, or maybe one and a couple fingers from the other one to be exact, I had never seen a man like him almost naked in front of me.

His underwear, a tight boxer, only managed to hide the very essential parts. Sure, what else could have been hidden behind that thin layer of fabric? Well, I was not sure. I was struggling to keep my eyes away, but I ended up gawping at him without even a pebble of disdain. I had never felt like that before, certainly not for a man. But, from the first time I saw him, I couldn’t stop thinking what this man could have been in his past.

A Prime Officer, and of course an Originator, but his body was the body of a fighter. Nowadays, generals and admirals never even participated in real battles. They gave their orders from their space stations, far away from danger and the intergalactic battlegrounds. This man...this man was the battle personified.

When he dived into the water, I kinda wished I could follow him. My mind was running through his body like drops of the sweet nectar he was swimming in, which now ran down his body. I was thinking about his hot body, his muscular biceps, and the swelling inside his underwear.

Shit. Fuck. What are you thinking Eladia? You must be exhausted, girl.

Before I was even aware of my actions, I was looking around the glade. It was darker than before and undoubtedly quieter. I didn’t know what was going on, but I had a bad feeling about it.

“Jay?” I whispered, but the man was nowhere to be found.

I was searching around the glade, but it was already too late when I found the reason the whole area suddenly turned silent. A feline-like creature with dark mane and strikingly white eyes had appeared out of nowhere. I was looking at it, but I was not yet sure if it had noticed me.

I froze. I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, and certainly, couldn’t shout. My mind was blank, as blank as a mind could be, when real danger appeared. This day got longer and longer, and I was finally thinking that being a Chronicler was actually a dangerous job.

The feline creature walked with the grace of a fallen king, now devoid of his glory.

Why am I the only one that gets in so much trouble all the time?

“Human, you’ll get us both killed,” Jay whispered in my ear as he tossed me up onto his arms with ease. This man could snap me like a twig if he wished to.

He was sneaking behind the dangerous beast, tiptoeing his way with me on his hands. Jay carried me behind a fallen wall on the other side of the glade, entering inside a small area that could be described as a cavern. This area was full of water and those firebirds from before. Some of them flashed like broken light bulbs, and others just chirped now and then. It was crowded already, not counting us, touching each other.

Jay stretched his hands around me from the moment we got in, using his body to cover mine. However, him being almost naked, and me, utterly turned on by his appearance, didn’t help all that much. I thought he hugged me to protect me, but then again, I wasn’t sure if that could count as a hug.

He was not touching me, but my body. He didn’t care for me, but for the human that could help him. After all, why should he care for anyone, especially someone as insignificant as me? It wasn’t like he could fall for me as I did now. That wasn’t possible.

“I think it has gone. Let me check.”

He left me alone in the cavern, and I felt naked without his embrace. I shook my head, trying to shake away the feeling of loneliness that suddenly filled my heart.

Eladia, you’re an independent woman, a Chronicler for God’s sake. You can’t act like an infatuated young girl, certainly not with a troubled man like Jay.

I tried telling that to my mind again and again, but the moment he arrived to inform me about the situation, my heart skirted. It actually, honest-to-life, skirted.

“It’s gone. It seems it was just thirsty.”

His voice had the same depth of a soldier reporting to his officer, and I kinda wanted to relieve him of his duties. So I just nodded in agreement. When he left without saying anything more, I stayed behind only for a moment, looking at nothingness.

I looked at that little firebird that chirped again, and I thought that we were kind of the same. Only that I couldn’t fly away from Jay and my thoughts, and I was not flashing beautifully in the dark. I was just a Chronicler, and finding the Nusae relic was my priority.