The boy from the stars

Quiet, dead quiet. Illuminated by the roaring flames of the stars. Accompanied by the rocky shells known as planets. Each one different. Some big, some small; some were made of rock while others of gas, held together by the core making astonishing and wondrous patterns. There were also those that were covered in liquid, hiding that Rocky surface under bottomless seas. Many of these floating rocks provided nothing apart from empty wastelands to traverse. Standing out from those were those that were rich with resources, and even more so those that flourished with life, no matter how simple it was.

So much exists, so many possibilities, yet the vacuum of space still lies silent and empty. Looking further out: nebula, galaxies, black holes, civilisations everything is out there. But it is still silent. A deafening silence only occasionally broken up by a colossal structure.

This silence however, was one day broken. What was thought to be a nebula collapsed on itself and vanished, or more like it got pulled into a single point. All that remained was a singular, small mass of light, space dust and energy. It shone so bright it was visible from all corners of the universe. Then there was a bang. One that rumbled and echoed through the fabric of space. And soon after, the light faded away, leaving no trace of its existence or happening.

Mura-k4, an ancient mega-planet dating back near to the beginning of the universe. It was known as the ancient garden, possessing one of the oldest and most lush ecosystems throughout the universe. Its most impressive garden, the Murania forest. Every tree towering over 100 metres with trunks ranging from thirty to forty-five metres in diameter, covering the sky with a thick canopy like a blanket, blocking out the majority of, if not all of the light. Despite that, the floor of the forest was lush and practically all of it was covered by either vegetation or tree roots. Areas where light hit were clearly more dense, with plant life reaching up towards the sun as if they were trying to catch it, though right now it was night time, so the plants would be reaching for the moon instead. When it came to wildlife, it seemed scarce but it was definitely there.

Among this garden, there was a man, hiking through the forest at a slow pace. He wore an old and fatigued cape with a hood that covered his whole body. He had a large build with wide shoulders, and apart from that not much else could be deduced on his appearance. As he encroached on a clearing a bright light shone in the sky, catching the man's attention. It soon, however, disappeared. The man kept on looking up to the sky for a couple more seconds before lowering his head and moving on. Before he could make it five metres a meteor came hurtling over his head, leaving a trail of what seemed to be cosmic dust, lingering for a few minutes before disappearing.

Before the meteor landed the man set off in its direction. A bit later, the sound of an explosion echoed through the forest, followed shortly by a strong gust of wind. Strong enough to sway the colossal trees in the garden. The bark of all the tree trunks began echoing cracking sounds amongst themselves. Throughout all of this the man, miraculously, stood standing. He did seem startled though as he increased his pace from a stroll to a jog.

The crash site was in a small clearing, well, it made its own clearing by tearing through and knocking down a tree as it fell. The crater it left was only around seven metres in diameter. Despite the shockwave it created. Once the man arrived at the crash site he became very cautious, investigating the area carefully. He spotted that the trees along the meteors path were not very lucky, with the least damage done being a huge hole in the trunks of the trees. The area surrounding the crater was practically burned to ash. The crater was burning hot, the ground glowing red with some areas on fire. The man completed his observation of the area and decided to peak into the crater. What he lay his eyes upon was the most unexpected. A boy no older than 10. The boy lay there completely nude, sleeping comfortably despite laying in a crater dozens of degrees hot.

The man slid down to the boy, picking him up and taking him out of the crater. After standing around with him for a few minutes, he decided to take the boy back to the clearing he encountered earlier.

Once he arrived at the clearing he placed the boy on the grass before covering him with his cloak. The man's features were now all visible. He had a tall, large, well built physique with wide shoulders. He wore a plain beige shirt and brown trousers, those that you would see on a mediaeval peasant. Both of which were in a tattered state. His face had sharp features, especially so with his chin, brows and nose. His ears were proportional in size to the rest of his face. The colour of his hair was a dark brown and was kept surprisingly short, despite the appearance of his clothes, only reaching to his brow from his forehead, and the sides were shaven very short. His eyes were the most unique feature on him as the iris was a deep crimson red, constantly swirling round with some strands of black fading in and out of existence.

The man sat down on a slightly exposed root next to where he placed the boy. Now he just waited, waited, and waited until the boy awoke. All the while staying in the same position, occasionally looking up at the night sky. This lasted for thirteen days, until the boy finally awoke on the fourteenth night.

The boy looked around, taking in the environment that he saw for the first time. When the boy looked over to the man's direction, he stared at him with unnatural eyes. The man's face widened with surprise. What he witnessed were eyes that looked like cosmic pearls; nebulas, stars, cosmic dust and other cosmic lights glistening within the boy's dark eyes. The boy ignored the man and continued to look around. He finally looked upon himself, observing his small and frail body. Throughout all of this, not a word was spoken. The boy himself did not look surprised, he only observed what he saw without prejudice.

"Hey kid," the man spoke with a gruff and tired voice. The boy responded by looking towards the man. "You got a name?" still no response from the boy. "Do you understand what I am even saying?" there was yet again, no response.

-- Does the boy not understand me? He seems to be about 10 years old, but he's acting nothing like his age. He is behaving too mature, or is it that the kid is too shocked to react? I need to try and get a response from him to know what language he is speaking. --

"Kid, do you know what this is?" he pointed to his hand waiting for an answer, but the boy just looked down at his own hand.

-- Does the boy really not understand anything? He acts like a new-born wait, maybe he is --

The man pointed to his hand and called out its name to the boy, in hope of the boy learning the word and the relevant object. "Ha- hanNndd," the boy said. His voice was a high pitch, as you would see in other boys his age, the only difference was that his voice sounded very broken, his pitch varying and his tone jumping. "Yes... hand," the man pronounced 'hand' as clearly as he could.

"H- Hand" the boy spoke emotionlessly.

"Yes, yes that's it" the man pointed at himself and said, "Eli". This time, the boy himself pointed at the man and spoke his name.

-- Did he point knowingly, or did he point because I pointed? But in that case he would have pointed at himself as I did. Does he possibly have some sort of super intelligence? Well, I will probably find out later on. I'll have to take care of him in that case; but first of all, he needs a name. --

"Aaron" he spoke, pointing to the boy after a short while of thinking. the boy repeated after the man pointing to himself.

The two of them continued this up until Aaron fell asleep. Eli attempted to teach Aaron as many words as he could, and just as they were taught Aaron picked them up as if he was a native speaker. With each word Aaron began to learn faster and his pronunciation became more and more fluid. The night passed quickly with the sun rising between the tree trunks, illuminating the clearing that Eli and Aaron were sleeping in with a hazy, orange light. Eli woke up first. His face was seemingly tired and moody as he moved himself toward the river within the clearing. Before he entered the water, he undressed to the nude and began to wash his body.

His body was big and well built; muscular and toned, but no Mr. Olympia physique. The more prominent features were his scars, all unevenly spread out, with a large majority of them on his abdomen's right side and no visible scars on his left arm. The thing that stood out the most was the tattoo that covered his left pectoral, shoulder and bicep; it seemed to begin just over his heart with a heart covered in flames. All these flames spread through the aforementioned areas with some additional images of hands and claws, either reaching out for his heart, pictured by the origin of the tattoo; or clawing onto other hearts and skulls around the flames.

As he was washing up, Aaron woke up. The boy faced towards the sun; his eyes shone and glittered like stars in a clear star; like fairy dust under a spotlight. For the boy, this was his first time seeing the sun, but he did not seem to show awe, or any sort of interest in general. Once he was finished gazing at the sun he looked towards where Eli was sleeping, but could not find him. As he could not find him he searched the area again and spotted Eli in the river in the centre of the clearing.

Eli did not have anything like soap or shampoo, so he only used the water from the river to rinse himself of any grime, dirt and dust. "Eli" he was surprised to have heard the boy speak from behind him. As he looked over he saw the boy struggling to stand, let alone walk towards him. Eli's face was painted with surprise as he ran over to the boy to help him stay standing.

-- He already learnt how to walk? What exactly is this boy? --

As Eli began his thought process, he decided to wash the boy too to clear his head. "Eli? what is happening?" the boy questioned with an emotionless tone.

"I am washing you to get rid of any dirt that might be on you." Eli's voice was rough and coarse, presumably because it was morning.

"Washing? But what do you mean by getting rid of any dirt? I thought that dirt was what the grass grows on, and I cannot see it on me."

"My boy, dirt can also be used to call someone 'dirty', which means that they are not clean."

"But what does 'clean' mean?" the boy asked yet again.

"It means to have no imperfections, just like you will after I wash you," after this the boy stayed silent, most likely waiting to be washed so he could get his answer. Once cleaned, Aaron looked upon himself, discerning the difference of his appearance before being washed, and after being washed. "This is 'clean'?" it seemed as though Aaron did not fully understand the concept of cleanliness yet.

"Yes, you are now clean" Eli responded as he was drying himself. Eli then got dressed, not realising that Aaron had nothing to wear until he was fully dressed. He searched for something in a slight panic as Aaron watched him. "What are you doing? " Aaron asked.

"Trying to find you some clothes for you to wear" he replied. He finally thought of giving him his robe for the time being, "wear this for now and we will find some clothes for you later".

"Ok".

Eli guided Aaron forward as they left for their next destination, which was across the planet. This being Eli's ship. This journey took 2 years to complete despite the planet being a supergiant terrestrial. Across the span of this journey Aaron was taught many things, from hunting to something like wood work, as Eli did it mostly during rest periods. Along with that Aaron's knowledge and linguistic skills improved drastically, with him now being able to understand and use all of the words usually spoken by Eli.

The relationship that these two used to hold was now much more intimate as well, like that of a parent and child. Even so, Aaron showed no change in emotion regardless of the situation. While on the other hand, Eli began to show occasional, small and melancholy smiles when interacting with Aaron. The wall of unfamiliarity between the two could be perceived as non-existent, despite Aaron's unchanging emotions.

To Aaron, Eli acted like a father figure, though he was very awkward while fulfilling this role. He made physical contact with Aaron on limited occasions, and interrupted his own actions often as if he was questioning himself. His eyes throughout these two years began to show more and more negative emotions, ranging from fear to melancholy. All the while keeping his harsh and aggressive demeanour. Negative emotions were not the only to make way during these two years as Eli showed happiness on occasions, slightly breaking that demeanour of his with a small smile.

On the other hand, Aaron did not show much change, except for the rise in his knowledge and intellect, where he slowly began to ask less and less questions during the journey, while making the ones that he did ask more meaningful and complicated. At the end of this journey, his intellect and knowledge could be considered that of an educated sixteen year old human. A frightening growth within two years; a child with an infant's brain to an educated teenage human. Though he was still lacking in many things that he could learn.

The two exited the forest entirely and were greeted with a small, rusty ship that could fit at most three people. Its condition was far beyond that of safe, barely standing on the ground let alone holding up in the sky. In addition to that, it also looked as if it were made from scrap metal that was found lying around. (It most surely was not safe to operate).

"Is that the spaceship that you told me about?" Aaron asked.

"yes. yes it is." Eli heads up to the ship, Opening the cockpit and lifting Aaron into the front seat. He himself jumps into the seat behind Aaron. "What do all of these buttons do?"

"For now, do not touch anything. I will tell you later."

Aaron complied and sat still, keeping his hands to himself.

Eli grabbed the control stick on the right side of the chair and pulled the engine's ignition power lever on his left, before grabbing the second control stick which also lay on his chair's left side. He manoeuvred the 'ship' into space.

This was Aaron's first time experiencing outer space. Unfortunately, there was no real reaction apart from him asking if those are stars that he sees, and if that was the planet that they were just on. Apart from that, he sat quietly in his chair.