New World

Sunlight shone upon the forest clearing where a puddle of shimmering silver mass wiggles unnaturally. The mass seems to be repairing itself as miniscule silver pieces continue to stack atop one another as if building a tower out of themselves. Time passed slowly and a vague humanoid took shape.

"&#$…" An uncanny sound emanated from the humanoid figure and shortly paused.

The figure remained motionless as small spots of silver on the humanoid took on rapid movements and shuffled across its body with lightning speed. Details and features on the humanoid became more and more refined.

And finally, Alphrad took shape once more.

'Oh my god! Did I just die!? There was no pain, but my heart dropped and almost gave out. Also, did I just turn into a puddle and reconstruct myself?'

Alphrad thought as he gasped for air, despite having no need to. The comfort it brought did soothe his mood, however. He laid back onto the soft grassy ground, mulling over what just transpired.

'I should have fallen from the floating island and landed here. That reconstruction process was so weird!!! I felt everything going on and could move my body like that, but it feels so unnatural. What kind of creature am I… Oh well, It doesn't matter much.'

Alphrad look up towards the sky, taking a deep breath of fresh air.

"Ahh~ This is the smell of home that I remembered," He said, as the refreshing scent of grass gently curled around his nostril.

The sky above is pale blue, just like Alphrad remembered, but what he saw above hasn't slipped his mind. There's still the fond, fluffy white clouds drifting high above, amidst an imaginary sea.

'It's strange. Does this world have different layers of sky? From down here, I can't spot any of the storm clouds, debris, and floating islands.'

Alphrad sat up, surveying the surroundings. The trees seem so familiar, yet foreign. The trees he remembered didn't tower into the sky more like a miniature skyscraper. The canopies didn't join together to form a lush biome in it of itself. The barks they wore were less like scales, but more like the wavy lines of one's finger print. Even the grass he sat upon was vibrant and tall like those of marsh weeds and pillowy like soft blankets.

"Man… If the flora are like this, what will the fauna be like?" Alphrad couldn't help but exhale.

'On second thought, is there even any creature out there?'

Alphrad turned nervously towards the bushes as tall as him on the edge of the clearing, but soon relaxed.

'If an unfathomably high fall didn't kill me, no creature could possibly harm me, right… Right? Well, I hope that's the case anyway. I should explore this strange world to see what's out there, but I feel like I'm forgetting something.'

Just as Alphrad was about to step beyond the clearing, he suddenly remembered and looked up.

'Oh NO! That alien container is still up there. I need to retrieve it before anything else gets to it. I don't know what could possibly live up in that barren place, but I should try to find a way up to that layer of the sky again. Maybe I can try to create wings or something.'

Alphrad then tried to move his body just like when was reconstructing himself earlier, but it was to no avail. No matter how he willed it, it didn't have any effect.

'Maybe that process only happens, when I suffer some kind of irreversible damage or heavy trauma. I shouldn't be thinking so suicidal now. It's not certain that this phenomenon will happen again either. For the time being, I should explore around to see if anything can help and keep trying to reconstruct my body just in case something changes.'

With that, Alphrad stepped beyond the clearing into the towering forest.

It was only after a significant amount of trekking through the shrubberies that Alphrad realized his lack of shoes. He didn't mind it as there wasn't any pain, besides the occasionally rough texture of pebbles and dirt. He considered fashioning some shoes out of something, but the lack of experience in shoemaking shelved the idea for later.

Alphrad expected horrible creatures to leap out the bushes at him, but he was greeted with only a select few critters. There were three of note.

The first was discovered by coincidence when Alphrad was attempting to climb a tree to get a better grasp of direction or spot any major landmarks. On a lower branch, he saw what could be described as a pile of twigs with a few bare leaves. A pile of twigs may not be very out of place back in the times he remembers, but he realized that there isn't anyone around to stack tree branches into bundles. There could've been a chance of some creature doing so until he spotted the twig mass wiggling.

Alphrad's skin crawled at the sight and leaped off the tree to get as far away as possible. After calming down a bit, an overwhelming curiosity overtook him as this was the first presumably living creature he had found in this world. He couldn't hold back that itch for research from his heart.

Without hesitation, Alphrad climbed back up the tree back to where that twig mass was along with a thin branch he found on the ground nearby. Upon seeing the creature again, he poked it with the newly acquired stick, causing it to wiggle again. With a few more pokes, a hint of disappointment seeped onto his face as the creature repeated the same reaction.

'It seems this creature isn't very mobile or intelligent.'

By this point, Alphrad was sitting on the thick tree branch beside the twig creature, deep in contemplation.

'It doesn't move much, so it doesn't require much energy to live, but how does it get any energy in the first place? Microorganisms?'

Alphrad shook his head upon this thought.

'No, no, no. Does it even have a mouth? Or maybe it absorbs microorganisms through its wooden body, somehow?'

The word, "absorb" flew back and forth in his mind as he stared at the creature. As his eyes lingered on the few green leaves it possessed, it came to him.

'Ah ha! It must absorb sunlight like trees through photosynthesis. Its body is winding branches adorned with sparse leaves, so it must get energy just like any other flora. I think I'm starting to understand what those biologists back then found so amusing observing creatures and plants all day long.'

Alphrad looked at the meager amount of light passing through the thick canopy that's just enough to illuminate the forest floor and checked off his mental conjecture.

'It doesn't seem to have much wisdom or intelligence, but I don't know much about structure. There weren't any plants like this half animal, half plant creature back then, unless there was some strange botanical project that I wasn't aware of back then. It is quite light though, so I should try flipping it over to see what it looks like underneath.'

Alphrad used the stick to flexibly maneuver and flip the twig mass over without it falling off the tree branch. Although the branch is wide enough for Alphrad to sit on it cross legged, it can only fit two twig creatures side by side.

In all honesty, Alphrad was expecting some crab claws or spider limbs under it, but there was only a shallow dome-like stump. There's no protrusions, no branches, no roots, just a smooth dome. The twig creature's tangled branches started to move more vigorously as if an upside down turtle trying to right itself.

'Huh, it doesn't have any mobility beneath it and it doesn't know it can use its branches to flip back over. Actually… its branches look all tangled and can't move much. I could try untangling all its branches, but I still don't know how dangerous those branches are.'

Alphrad looked down at his silver hands and couldn't help shiver at what could happen.

'Uh… Maybe I could. I can't feel pain anyway, so it should be fine. I suppose I can give it a shot.'

Alphrad then proceeds to touch the creature's branches. To his surprise, the branches were soft to the touch, unlike the rough wooden texture he envisioned. The sparse leaves are hard and sharp upon closer inspection. Similar to the sheet metal he remembered, but with the toughness of tree bark.

"This is interesting. At least it makes my job easier," Alphrad giggled as if finding a new toy to fidget with.

The creature became unnaturally still at this unexpected contact. Alphrad also froze and squinted his eyes, anticipating the creature to lash out, but it never came. Taking it as a sign, he continued with his original untangling plan. It proceeded smoothly as the creature was unmoving the entire as if frozen in time.

"Phew…"

Alphrad heaved a sigh of relief as he gazed upon the masterpiece before him.

The wavy branches fanned to all sides with some cascading off the side of the tree branch due to its length. Atop the shallow dome base was a translucent bulb protrusion, inside of which floated something resembling a yellowish core. Faintly visible veins ran throughout the translucent bulb connecting the yellowish core with the roots of the branches at the base of the bulb protrusion.

As Alphrad was still inspecting this wondrous biological structure, some of the branches in front of him moved and wound around the core, covering its surface like armor.

'Intriguing… It clearly has a brain of sorts that allows it to control those branches as well as a self-protection mechanism. Sadly I don't know how it feels about all its branches untangled, since it can't seem to express itself in any way. I can't tell if it's a small degree of intelligence or natural instinct, but it's most likely the latter.'

Alphrad stayed put for a while longer, waiting for new changes, but it nothing happened.

'I can't just stay here forever to watch it. There's a brand new world out there to see. Is there any way to carry it with me? WAIT! Its shape reminds me of something. Oh, what was it… Ah! That's right, a wig! There was a period of time when they were quite popular.'

Alphrad stroked his chin in reminiscence.

'There was an terrorist organization stationed in the astroid belt that attempted to disguise themselves as aliens to attack our supply ship. Their disguise was terrible except for the wig they wore. But do aliens even have hair in the first place? On second thought, their whole disguise was awful. Perhaps they were just desperate for supplies. Those small companies scrambling for the meager resources of the asteroid belt weren't the most well off.'

Alphrad realized his thoughts had strayed way off track and pondered the main issue at hand.

'Alright! The best way I can think of to carry this is to wear it like a wig, or a hat. It's lightweight, and can act as protection for what might be out there. Although I don't know if it will strangle me, I haven't seen any maliciousness from it. There's just a natural instinct to protect its core. Even if it does something like that, I can't feel pain and probably reconstruct myself anyway, so there's no harm. This plan is foolproof. It's decided then.'

Without hesitation, Alphrad grabbed the creature, spun it around, and placed it atop his head like a hat. It felt just like a hat and the branches hung just past his shoulders. It's almost as if this creature was made to be a hat.

Alphrad played around with it for a bit and thought, 'It seems to not mind, even when I fling its branches about. I suppose this is fate that we've met. That's what those adventure stories often say, right?'

Alphrad hooked a hanging branch with his finger and said, "Since it is fate, I shall name you Leafy! I hope you will grow more vibrant and exuberant just like any other bushes."

Leafy shook a little as if acknowledging the declaration.

"Haha! I'm glad you agree with me."

Alphrad laughed aloud cheerfully, shedding his cloak of desolation. With his new companion, Leafy in tow, they continued on their journey. It wasn't long before they came across the second creature.