Chapter 7 : Ruins

Jack led the way as the group climbed the hill. New scents they had never experienced before invaded their nostrils, new types of trees, flowers, grass and the pink clouds up ahead gave them all something to marvel at. The sunrise behind them shined on the dew coated grass, making it sparkle in golden a light.

The serenity of their surroundings put the Paladins at ease, they felt like they could gladly spend their entire lives in that paradise.

Hugo watched a yellow flower slowly bloom right in front of his eyes, turning into a pink rose, which was then cut in half by Jacks passing tail. The tail was so sharp that it cut simply by moving.

"Okay i have to ask bro, what's with the tail?" Hugo asked after picking up the rose from the ground, he was tempted to gift it to Pei, but changed his mind after seeing her pluck one of her own.

"Cheetahs have long tails to help them make quick turns when running", Jack said. "Scorpions use their tails as their ultimate weapon, Kangaroos......"

"Okay please don't tell us about every creature with a tail". Sara interrupted.

"Anyway, i use my tail as a whip". Jack held his tail and detached it from his lower back. He then flicked his wrist and the sharp end of the tail/whip wrapped around a flower and cut it, then quickly pulling on the handle, the flower flew into his hand. "This thing can cut through diamond", he said while nonchalantly handing Misty the flower and popping his tail back into place.

"Smooth", Tahir whispered to Jack with a low-key fist bump while the paladins continued climbing the hill.

"But then why don't you just carry it like a normal weapon, the few seconds you use trying to whip it out like that may be the difference between life and death", Pei commented and the boys released muffled chuckles as their imaginations ran wild.

"Perverts", the girls said in unison.

"I wear it like this because i think it looks cool. Back in the outback when i was...." Jack suddenly stopped his speech and pulled out his plasma pistols pointing them at a random spot in the trees. It took merely 1.5 seconds for the rest of the team to follow his example, forming a circular formation to cover each other's backs.

Sara switched her snipers's scope to infrared and so did Pei, Misty and Hugo with their assault rifles. "Jack what did you see?" Tahir whispered. The Paladins were born for this, however no training in the universe could prepare one to fight an enemy the know nothing about.

The Paladin's anxiety came from the fact that anything could come out from those trees, they were not on earth anymore, so absolutely anything was possible.

"Nothing, but mu instincts tell me that something is watching us", Jack answered while sniffing the air. "Maintain formation, lets move to the top of the hill, quietly" he said and the group followed his lead. One of the things they had been taught was never to question the judgement of a fellow Paladin when they are dealing with said Paladin's speciality. 

It was only then that they noticed that something was off with the forest. Ever since they touched down, the Paladins had not seen or heard any creature in the forest. It was silent.. too silent, with not even a bug to be seen crawling across the ground or a single mosquito buzzing across the sky.

"Leviathan?" Misty whispered into the radio.

"Yes Misty i am in your suits", Leviathan said.

"Can you please scan the planet for any sign of living beings?", Misty requested.

"Unfortunately i am too far, my scanners can't cover this much distance. Should i move closer?" Leviathan reported before asking.

"No it's too risky Levie, stay there. We cant risk losing you in case things go south". Hugo said and the team agreed with him. If intelligent life really did exist on planet X4442, then bringing the Leviathan into range was a recipe for disaster.

The Paladins quickly got to the top of the hill and as they predicted, there was forest all around them. Some trees were so large that even from their new high vantage point, the Paladin's vision was still somewhat hindered. Even though nothing had attacked them until now, their guards were still up, especially Jack who still couldn't shake the feeling of being watched.

As they looked around for any clue of anything other than grass and trees, Sara caught something from the corner of her eye. "Hey guys over there bearing 040", she said and everyone except for Jack and Tahir looked at the direction she told. The boys did not look because they still had to watch the backs of the team and they did not have any long range sight weapons.

"What is it?" Tahir asked.

"It looks like a building", Sara's words sent a chill down everyone's spines. A building meant intelligent life, and intelligent life would not have left a team of aliens land on their planet without doing anything. If that was earth, the Paladins would either be dead or detained by then.

"Scratch that, more like a ruin", Sara said after zooming in her scope. The Paladins breathed a sigh of relief, only for a few seconds before more questions popped up. Questions like...

"What happened to it?" asked Hugo, receiving no answer from his fellow Paladins.

"How far away it it?" Jack asked.

"About 50 kilometers give or take", Sara answered.

Tahir nodded. "Let's get to the vultures and head to those ruins", he ordered and the group proceeded down the hill. The Paladins arranged themselves in a diamond formation and moved quickly.

When they had been climbing the hill, the silence was soothing to their senses, however, that very silence was now having the opposite effect. Only the sounds of their footsteps were heard as they upgraded from walking to a slight jog. The feeling of being watched was now felt by the whole group, perhaps it was due to the fact that the pair of eyes that was still watching them had called in for reinforcements.

The Paladins got to their vultures and climbed in, Misty failed to notice the claw mark on the side of her vulture. The vultures powered up and the paladins drove towards the hill in an attempt to use it as a ramp to save the energy needed if they had opted to use vertical thrust.

After successfully taking off, the group flew towards the ruins, this time also looking carefully at the forest beneath them. They flew low enough to notice any movement but high enough to give them a sense of safety. "What was that!?" Hugo yelped, his fingers a millimeter away from firing his vulture's guns.

Unsurprisingly, Hugo's solitary and sheltered upbringing made him the most anxious about their situation. That was actually the first time he had been far away from Leviathan and everything was new to him. The others knew this, so they ignored his statement, and kept their eyes on the vulture's radars.

Soon enough they got to the ruins and were shocked by what they saw. The ruins looked like a castle with grass coming out of the windows and trees growing through it. The walls were old but somehow still retained their blue color and the white roof was missing only a few tiles.

The Paladins landed on a clearing about a hundred meters away, completely unaware of the danger that awaited them.