From Alienation to Encounter (Part 2)

The sullen atmosphere rife with silence persisted until they arrived at their destination. Though Proxer had been doubtful of his previous decision, it wouldn't help now to call of the transfer of Jogrin to the neighborhood. There was no doubt in his mind that the king wouldn't accept such a "return gift", he wouldn't even bother making an excuse and would simply push him and Jogrin away.

Jogrin, who was at Proxer's side, continued to perceive his emotions. He yearned to ask Proxer about the shuttle that should've come with him, but he couldn't seem to find the right moment for it, seeing as how pensive and tensed Proxer had been the entire time.

As his benefactor, Proxer was the last person he wished to put even more stress on.

Carefully assisting Jogrin, Proxer descended the vehicle using the same staircase extended from the vehicle that they used to get on. The engine turned off as the noise from it abruptly came to a halt, putting Jogrin mind at ease.

It appeared that the whole journey had been filled with much noise from Jogrin's perspective. Putting that aside, he looked over the land before him.

Green grass covering the ground, with trees standing amidst the land, as if to emphasize the tranquility of the area. A cool breeze caressed whoever visited the grassland, welcoming them openly. Small white furry animals with 3 eyes, long drooping ears and chubby bodies were hopping around the grassland... but they instinctively froze up as soon as they felt a certain someone with a spine-like tail stepping out of the flying vehicle.

Yellowish brown eyes were all over the grassland, staring at Jogrin that invaded the tranquility, emanating an ominous presence. In the next second, the tiny animals all began to hop towards the opposite direction of where Jogrin was standing. The scene looked like portents of an ensuing calamity.

Although they could escape from Jogrin's sight, there was no way to evade his "emotion perception". However, he chose to omit them all. Well, he had bigger worries than not being welcomed by random small animals.

'I used to see something like this every day...'

He gazed at the wide green grassland that seemed to expand to the horizon, and it somehow looked a little... blue.

"Um... We will depart now... So uh..." At a loss for words, Ryov extended his arm to call out to Proxer.

"Yes, by all means." And Proxer gave a short reply while still pondering. It seemed he was too fixated on it that he didn't notice the sullen atmosphere the entire time. It might've sounded like a reply that Kapel would give to shoo away the Knights, but they knew Proxer wasn't like that, especially after listening to his past just now.

The Knights gave Jogrin last glance, and hurriedly scurried back into the vehicle after he did the same to them.

'People or animals. They all just want to get as far away from me as possible... Am I not suppressing it enough?'

Jogrin thought back on the bombardment back at the military hospital, where he knocked out Proxer so that he wouldn't be so repulsed at what he'd feel from Jogrin's powers, that he'd throw up.

The noise of the flying vehicle after lifting off vanished completely into the clouds. What was left behind it, was an empty grassland with none but 2 people - a boy and a man.

After affirming the Knights to be "out of his range", Jogrin lifted his head and turned it towards Proxer who was still contemplating.

"It's only you and me now. It's high time you ask away... Actually, I'll just answer you right now." Jogrin made such a claim which stupefied Proxer greatly.

Jogrin closed his eyes for a second, and reopened them. They were giving a grim and solemn feeling. Proxer gulped inadvertently and his fingers became slightly crooked as he returned his gaze.

"I am a Darkian."

In that moment, all questions about Jogrin's origin that Proxe had in mind were blown away in a split second.

"... Judging from your change in emotion, I'm guessing you know what that means." Jogrin interpreted that Proxer knew about his species and home planet from his reaction.

"I've heard about the Darkians, but only very minimally... No one dares to travel to the planet after your species learnt to manipulate this Dark Matter."

"That was before I was born, and unfortunately, there wasn't a book precisely recording the past events, so I don't know much about how that happened myself. Well, not that it really matters. What happened, in fact, happened. And I'm one of the individuals to possess such power." Jogrin calmly described what he knew, which was pretty much nothing.

"Oh, um... You don't need to force yourself to tell me, whether you actually know or not!"

"May I ask a question? Do you happen to know where the shuttle that supposedly came with me went?"

"Shuttle...?"

Proxer responded essentially in the same way as Kapel did. That meant that even Proxer didn't see the shuttle. Jogrin gazed at him and became pensive.

"I'm telling the truth! Not only I, but also others who were present at the scene would say the same thing!"

Noticing his "fear", Jogrin closed his eyes once again to regain his composure. He sent his gaze at Proxer again.

"It's not that I don't trust you. You've only shown me kindness and even hospitality, sided with me against Kapel and the king, and judging from your emotions, you're not lying... It's just that, this doesn't feel right..." Jogrin scowled.

Proxer was a little taken aback upon seeing Jogrin making a facial expression for the first time. It seemed to be something really important to him.

"Is the shuttle... important to you?"

"Yes, I need it to go back to my home planet."

"But-"

"That said, it most likely got separated from me midway, not that I have any evidence. But in any case, I have no choice but to stay on Zuta for now..."

"Jogrin?"

As he was expressing his opinion on staying on Zuta, Jogrin's expression became stiff, as he looked at the azure sky above.

"I do wish I could leave as soon as possible, not only because I want to look for survivors from my kin, but... I also don't want to burden the people of this planet any longer."

Upon hearing Jogrin's intentions, Proxer's gaze became downcast and filled with guilt.

"I know you're just going to tell me that I'm not a burden, but I have the self-awareness, so don't bother."

Before Proxer could even open his mouth and form words of comfort, Jogrin cut him off and rejected his kindness. Now, at a loss for words, Proxer simply stared blankly at Jogrin.

"About your past, you have my condolences. On both the 'Telestrophe' incident, as well as your real parents."

"I didn't even realize I talked about them back there..."

"You mentioned that they passed away, that's all... But, it seems Kapel's been a good Father."

"Yeah... he took me in after my parents' deaths, even though he was still so young."

Proxer felt sentimental as he gazed at the trees some distance away. How Kapel didn't hesitate to take him in, how he strictly parented him, yet responded to every wants Proxer'd ever had. He even met the love of his life because Kapel adopted him.

Nonetheless, it was a story for another time, since Jogrin seemed to have picked up something with 'emotional perception'.

"I also have one more question that I have to ask before it's too late." Jogrin gave yet another solemn gaze. "What are you going to do about my tail?"

Proxer froze when he heard Jogrin utter such a question at him, and then turned to him with a bewildered scowl.

"Your tail? What do you mean by that..."

"Ah, it's already too late." Jogrin let out a small sigh.