Everything’s a mess. Running amidst that forest must be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. One part exhaustion and one part running behind a strange alien I’ve met over six months ago makes me feel bad about myself. Oh, who am I kidding? I would have chased him even if he didn’t ask me to.

Zan is running in front of me, barely visible while standing on all his fours, using his hands as legs. My mind drifts back to the moment Jay ran away.

I was having a conversation with Silver about the electromagnetic events of this planet, and she tried helping me understand the principles behind these events as best as she could while disconnected from the Grid. The intergalactic network called the Grid was used by androids and every species everywhere in the galaxy to collect info about targets and possible locations of Nusae Artifacts and every kind of information.

Well, some only use it for online dating, but that’s another story.

On this planet, the Grid is off limits and Silver was malfunctioning, unable to use her scanning services to help us with our mission. No matter how we try to see it, we’re trapped on an empty planet. But, nothing could have prepared me for what happened.

Jay walked in behind me and leaned next to my ear. In that short moment, his breath was caressing the back of my ear making me a bit ticklish. I turned and smiled at him and he smiled back. He’s close now, closer than before, and I was ready to lean towards him and kiss him. Only that he stopped and headed straight for my ear.

Right then he whispered to me: Follow me.

Before being able to realize what’s going on, he’s gone. In agony, I called for him to stop, only that he didn’t.

Those first crucial minutes I started chasing him with Silver, Zan and Doctor Dale behind me I wasn’t sure where I was supposed to go since this forest is full of tall bushes and thick branches with wide leaves. Five minutes later, though, I stopped out of breath.

“It’s impossible. I don’t know where he’s gone. Silver, can you do something?” I asked her, desperate for a solution.

“No. I can’t track him or the Nusae energy signal. But…”

“But?” I quickly got my hopes up. Silver had an idea.

“Zan might be able to follow him. These two seem to have a special connection of some sort. Zan was the one who led me to you two back on Primordial Earth, and Zan will do the same here as well.”

I hadn’t thought about that before. Zan had to adapt to a really harsh environment, very familiar with the environment of this planet. He might be able to track his movements as long as we’re not too late.

“Zan?”

I’m sure he’s able to notice the agony in my voice because the boy moved towards me and stretched his hand to touch my chest.

“I will follow Jasih, Eladia. But don’t let him break your heart again,” he said with the look of an old, wise man.

I nodded; the boy left me speechless once again. I’m not sure there was anything else I can do either way. Silver and Zan immediately started in front of me, and I followed them close behind.

To this moment, almost nothing changed to our formation. Not before Dale runs to my side and adjusts his pace to keep up with me, not wanting to leave me behind. It seems like there is something he wants to ask me.

“So, that was Jay’s other form, the one you call Dark Jay?”

I almost fall from the surprise.

“How do you know about Dark Jay? I’ve never talked to you about him,” I complain while never slowing down.

It’s difficult keeping up with the elusive Zan and the robotic Silver, but I have to if I want to find out more about what Jay meant when he asked me to follow him. However, now there is something else bugging me; how does Dale know about Jay?

“You told me before, Eladia, that night we carried him to his room. We talked for over an hour in there. You told me everything about your adventures up until now. Don’t you remember?”

Suddenly, he’s right. I remember talking about Jay changing his form, about Jay being impossible to live together at the same place for over a month and about Dark Jay being the bad counterpart of this symbiotic relationship.

I remember everything like it happened a moment ago, but that doesn’t make it easier to shed any feeling of suspicion over the strange doctor. Thus, I decide to play along.

“Yes, of course, I remember. We talked about everything, but I must have been tired. I drowned off.”

“He doesn’t seem as intimidating as you described him,” he quickly continues.

We’re now crossing a small bridge of unearthed roots passing over a black, viscid liquid that reeks of sugar. Zan warns us not to fall inside, although I’m not sure why he says that. After arriving at the other bank of the river, I resume my talk with the doctor.

“He usually is. The Jay you met at the hospital, the one that wouldn’t stop beating the mechanical corpses, is usually calmer and more collected and this one, the Dark Jay, is the uncontrolled monster that kills everything in its way.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I immediately regretted what I said. Dark Jay has just offered me the most romantic moment in my whole life, and I still call him a monster. Yeah, that’s how good I am.

“It seems that their roles inverted for some reason. Has this happened before?”

We’re climbing up a small hill full of swinging plants that thrive in high places. However, some of them are blue and other pink; those that are pink are poisonous and snap easily, while the blue ones are sturdy and safe. Did I mention that the pink ones are always over the blue ones, making it really difficult to climb?

When we’re at the top of the hill, I stop and call for Silver and Zan to wait. I have to take a breath before moving on. Silver comes back to brief me up, while what Dale said before still troubles me.

“We’re almost there. Zan says that Jasih finally stopped moving.” She stops talking. She looks around, seemingly searching for something, and then turns to face me again. “Wasn’t doctor Dale with you?”

To be honest, the last time I remember talking to him is before we started climbing this hill. After that, I was too involved not to plunge to my death that I lost him.

“Yes. Yes, he was. But I don’t know where he is now. Oh no.”

Zan immediately approaches us, ready to protect us from every enemy with his pointy staff. “What? What happened?”

“The doctor. The doctor’s gone,” I say with a concerned tone.

Zan sweeps the area with his pointy stick and tries to find any sign of the doctor, but he returns empty-handed. He’s nowhere to be found. Still, though, it looks like the answer is right in front of us, and we can’t see it.

For a moment, Zan doesn’t say a thing. He’s looking towards where Jay is supposed to be and seems like he’s waiting for something to happen. So, when a pillar of light tears the dark sky apart, he’s the only one not fretted over what happened. I, on the other hand, get on my feet and run towards the light. I’m certain that Jay is standing on the base of that thing, waiting for me.

Behind me, Zan and Silver try to keep up with me, which is something of a feat itself. Usually, I’m the one trying to keep up with them. This time, though, I have a reason to want to hurry, and that reason is keeping Jay safe.

After two minutes of continuous sprinting towards the location of the beam of light, we finally arrive at an open glade. In the middle of it, a golden pyramid-shaped construct is erected in the middle, radiating of strong light and a deafening sound.

I cover my ears so that I don’t pass out from the loud noise, trying to find Jay in this mess. Only after the beam of light vanishes as suddenly as it appeared I realize that he has been standing before the pyramid all this time. A dark figure, stoic and powerful, he’s standing tall before this new ordeal.

I get closer to him only to see that he’s back to his platinum-skinned self. Frankly, I don’t know if I’m excited or disappointed. At least he’s safe. Yes, at least he isn’t hurt.

When I rush to his side, he finally notices me. He seems changed.

Jay is smiling at me like he’s really glad I’m standing on his side.