Aeonria

"An undying war started in our hearts, being overpowered by our brains."

-Haji Rigel Schiller

*

*

*

"To be born in Aeonria is to die first on Earth"

Haji could see the image of his mother.

"Eos, this ship was created by Rania. I made a duplicate for you."

Haji saw the image of his father.

"You can travel to space at a speed of light using this thing."

Haji was desperately calling for his father who was drifting away and beyond his reach.

"Krebab di bur?" (What is this thing?) Haji could hear noises and weird sounds. His head hurt so bad that he couldn't open his eyes. He stretched out his hands and felt the cold ground.

"Duk parh! Duk parh!" (It moved! It moved!) the noises became louder and the weird sounds stopped. Haji opened his eyes and later on he wished he didn't opened them. He thought he must be dreaming. Haji shut his eyes closed, praying to God to wake him up sooner. Haji felt a sharp object poking his...his region.

"Hey! what the hell?!" Haji shouted in his mind.

"Woah! Woah! Woah!" Haji exclaimed and decided to open his eyes. He gulped as his cold sweat traveled down his neck.

"Woah! Woah! Woah!" the little creatures said in unison as they all looked at Haji.

Haji asked himself, "What are these ugly little things? Why am I inside a cage? Where is this place?!"

He looked around and saw a plain dusty land meeting the horizon. These creatures never failed to stare at him with wondering eyes. Haji thought maybe they were cannibals. Haji feared that maybe they would eat him raw or cooked. These little creatures looked weird. They have pointed ears, big oblong heads and pointed chins. Their eyes were big like that of a fly and their mouths were small. Their teeth were differently sharp while their noses were quite smaller and flat. Their bodies were the same as the humans' but their hands were too long. Their hands were as long as their bodies that it touched the ground every now and then.

Aliens.

They looked like the aliens in the movies, but their arms were long. Haji thought he must be daydreaming. He needed to get out of there. He started grabbing the cage and forcefully shaking it to open but to no avail he failed. He needed to go home. He needed to go back to Jhay.

"Krupa! Krupa!" (Father! Father!) one of the little creatures shouted and ran away. Haji thought maybe it will go to call for help? Haji really needed to get out of there as soon as possible. He could hear the loud stomping of feet on the ground. He could feel their shadows towering over him as he hid his face and nailed both his knees and palms on the ground.

"Tre Janix!" (an alien!) a cracked voice spoke and Haji raised his head to see its face. They looked like the little creatures but the bigger versions of them.

The parents.

The tallest one who looked like their leader stared down at Haji with an unreadable expression. Haji could tell that they were all males. The leader turned his back on Haji and seemed to be having a discussion with the others. Haji couldn't understand every word they say.

He thought, "How am I supposed to understand such thing as 'Tsupaktukaliptap?!' Huh? I looked like a fool in front of them. I gave up."

Haji could already sense the presence of danger.

"Janix, Tra Janix?" (Alien, is this yours?) the leader said and the rest of his group carried his poor little junked traveling spaceship. Haji struggled as he tried to draw out his hands from the cage just to touch his spaceship, but it was too far. Haji felt like crying.

"Janix burja wu Zabar" (Alien badly wants home) the leader said.

"Dude! I don't understand you! I wanna go home, please!" Haji said, he tried not to sound dangerous for his own safety.

"Kora!" (yes!) the leader said with his poker face. Haji thought, "Was that a yes?"

They dismantled Haji's cage and he slowly walked towards his spaceship. Haji thought that maybe they were trying to tame him. The ship was clearly broken. Haji started thinking about how long would it take to fix that thing? Haji entered the spaceship and looked around. No food nor drinks. He could feel their eyes from the distance watching him. Examining every move he was about to make and started whispering towards each other.

*

*

*

THREE days later...

The little ones brought something for Haji, food maybe? They looked like fruits and water or something. Haji didn't touched it but his stomach growled.

He thought, "Come on! I'm hungry but who would eat a thing you can't even recognize?"

Two hours later...

Growl!

Haji has been trying to fix the engines but his body was slowly breaking out of hunger and thirst. He stared at the newly replaced food and carefully poked it with his index finger. It was slimy but Haji managed to taste it.

"Not bad." he thought.

After a few minutes, Haji already finished his food and went back to work. He could be the most risky person ever but he didn't have a choice. He'll eat or he'll die. He wasn't poisoned nor something. His energy returned and his tired brain started functioning again.

Weeks passed and Haji still couldn't find any progress with his spaceship. He was losing hope and motivation. Good thing these friendly creatures only watched him from afar. Haji was busy tightening the screw as his sweat traveled through his nose.

"Do you need help?" someone from behind asked him.

"I really do and- wait what?! I can understand you?!" Haji asked. He thought, "How is that possible?"

"It's because you ate our food" the leader answered. Haji wasn't convince. His body adopting to their food was considered acceptable but understanding their language without studying was beyond crazy. Haji didn't have time to argue and find explanations. He preferred to repair his spaceship sooner. Two weeks have passed and they kept helping Haji repair his spaceship. That planet was absolutely normal and plane. Haji wondered where they sleep since they would just disappear on the land randomly. Haji was too busy fixing his ship than to investigate their planet.

"Umbra hunters! Umbra hunters! Quickly! hide the kids!" the leader shouted and a loud sound from a bone horn echoed the whole place, an alarm. Everyone started disappearing from nowhere and Haji started to panic.

"Hey! Hey! What about me?!" Haji shouted sarcastically as he watched them saving their own precious lives.

"Hey! Am I nothing to you?! Huh?!" Haji shouted in disbelief. Haji could feel a huge energy approaching towards him and his knees trembled out of a sudden. A pair of long arms came out from the ground and held both Haji's feet.

"AHHHH!!" Haji screamed as he tried to escape but the ground suddenly cracked open and he fell underground.

Haji thought, "Why do I keep falling on underground places?!"

Haji was about to scream again when he recognized the face of the one who grabbed his feet.

"Leader!" Haji shouted, it was the leader.

"Let's hide now, Janix! Hurry!" the leader said, Haji could see his eyes filled with fear and worries. Haji followed him as they ran through the tunnels and chambers underground.

"So this is where you live?" Haji asked while running.

"No, this is just our passage" the leader answered.

"What's your name by the way?" Haji asked while panting.

"Save your questions for later, Janix. But my name is Jhavu" the leader replied.

"Okay~ Hi Jhavu! But my name is not Janix, it's Haji" Haji said. Jhavu suddenly stopped and Haji thought that hearing his name made Jhavu stopped.

"This, is where we live" Jhavu said and a large city appeared before them. There were a lot of them. The structures and the buildings were designed creatively.

"Cool!" Haji exclaimed. He just saw a city under the ground!

"What do you call yourselves on your planet, Janix?" Jhavu asked.

"Humans" Haji answered honestly.

"We call ourselves Aeoni" Jhavu said as he started walking towards the others. All their eyes were focused on Haji as he followed behind the leader.

"A Janix" the female Aeoni said as she looked at Haji. The female Aeoni touched Haji's normal arms as if she wasn't convince that Haji was real.

"The Janix needs to rest! He doesn't bring bad luck! I will take full responsibility and will answer your questions later!" Jhavu announced and the Aeonis obeyed. Jhavu went to a chamber and ahead of it was a regular cabin.

"You can stay here, Janix" Jhavu said as he opened the door upward.

"What was that before? Why were the Aeonis looked so scared to death?" Haji asked.

"Umbra hunters. They came from Umbra." Jhavu said as he sat on a rock and bowed his head on the ground.

"What do they hunt?" Haji asked. Haji felt that the atmosphere seemed to be lonely and dying.

"Aeonis. Umbra hunters hunt for Aeonis and make them slaves. We Aeonis want peace and don't want to fight back. But Umbra kept hunting us. They make our females their slaves for the guards and the males for the warriors." Jhavu said in grief.

"And the children?" Haji asked as that little creature's face flashed through his mind. The first Aeoni he saw when he woke up on their planet.

"They make our children as toys for the Royal Families' children" Jhavu said.

Slavery.

A single word that has a lot of meaning and memories. Being a slave means submitting unwillingly.

"Where am I exactly?" Haji asked himself as he stared at the ground blankly.

"This is Aeonria, the slave city of Umbra."

*

*

*

JHAY could still remember...

"Hey Jhay! Do you love the moon or the stars?" Haji asked Jhay.

"The stars" Jhay answered. Haji cocked his brows as if he was asking Jhay why the stars instead of the moon.

"What if the moon will disappear one day? That would make me stop looking at the sky, you know." Jhay answered. Haji shrugged his shoulders and never dared to argue with her again.

"If I happened to live on a planet with more than one moon, I might change my mind. I know a planet that has five moons. If only I could go there." Jhay said as Haji smiled at her.

"Don't worry, I will bring you there soon" Haji said confidently. He continued talking and telling Jhay tales and stories like Pherein do.

On that planet, Jhay could definitely understand how it felt.

The coldness and the feeling of being forgotten. That planet reminded Jhay of herself. The former planet, Pluto.

"Where are you Haji?" Jhay whispered.

*

*

*

"Slave city?" Haji asked with a confused face.

Aeonria.

Haji thought he heard that word before. He remembered clearly, it was the place his father has been telling him before.

Haji thought, "So this place really do exist?"

"We've been hiding here for a long time since the previous king of Umbra died. The new king was cruel and merciless. Aeonis for his majesty are nothing but slaves and toys for their children." Jhavu said. Haji's chest hurt as he heard their story. But what could he do? He couldn't even fix his own spaceship. Speaking of Haji's spaceship, he suddenly remembered.

"About my spaceship, will it be fine?" Haji asked. Jhavu didn't answer his question.

"You should take a rest, Janix. Tomorrow you'll find out yourself if it's still fine." Jhavu said as he was about to walk outside the cabin.

"Aeonis love each other, we always lose because we fight with our scared hearts" Jhavu said and shut the door. Haji stretched out his arms and occupied the rough bed.

"Hey Jhay, Aeonria has five moons. But it's so cold in here I could die" Haji whispered in the wind.

He thought, "When will I be able to go back home?"

He couldn't sleep. He could imagine Jhay having a sweet talk with Pherein right at the moment. Playing video games with Damian. Or chitchatting with her block mates. Or maybe she was drawing his face. The more Haji thought about Jhay, it only reminded him of something.

He missed her.

Haji thought he was too careless and thoughtless. He never knew it would turn out that way. What would happen tomorrow? Would he be able to get his spaceship back? Could he live longer with their food? Would he meet the king of Umbra? -which Haji never wished to happen.

Or...

"Will I die in this cold planet?" Haji asked himself.

Haji thought he had been longing for his family for a long time. But right at that moment, he really wanted to go back home. Where Damian, his mother, his father, Pherein and Jhay stayed.

"Starry, starry night

Flaming flowers that brightly blaze

Swirling clouds in violet haze

Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue

Colors changing hue

Morning fields of amber grain

Weathered faces lined in pain

Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand

Now I understand what you tried to say to me

And how you suffered for your sanity

And how you tried to set them free

They would not listen, they did not know how

Perhaps they'll listen now"

Perhaps, the song reminded Haji of his father or himself. He continued singing as he felt the darkness swallowed him.

"For they could not love you

But still your love was true

And when no hope was left inside

On that starry, starry night

You took your life as lovers often do

But I could have told you, Vincent

This world was never meant

For one as beautiful as you

Starry, starry night

Portraits hung in empty halls

Frameless heads on nameless walls

With eyes that watch the world and can't forget

Like the strangers that you've met

The ragged men in ragged clothes

A silver thorn, a bloody rose

Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow"

"Goodnight, Jhay" Haji whispered to himself.

"I'll be home later. Wait for me." Haji promised to himself.

Would there be a Jhay waiting for him?