The Invisible Planet

Part 17: Wasteful

"What about this one?" Angeline grabbed another object from the basket. It was oblong and heavy, almost too large to hold with one hand, with a blotchy light brown hard exterior.

"That's a SkyTail egg," Shay answered. "You can eat it raw, or cook it in its shell. It doesn't fry well."

"How am I supposed to cook it with no power and no kitchen?" she asked.

"With this." He pulled a flat black stone with raised edges and gray cracks along the surface from the bottom of the basket. "You can add water for a proper boil, or you can just rest the egg on it. Rotate it until the shell turns green. It's also good for frying vegetables or cooking meat."

"A rock?" she asked in disbelief.

"It's called a Sunstone. Set it in the sun, and it'll heat up on its own. You'll know it's hot when the cracks turn yellow."

"And I was supposed to just magically figure all this out on my own?"

He smiled and looked down at the stone in his lap. "Well, you're not entirely stupid. And there's nothing in there that could poison you."

She took a bite of a purple mushroom that was nearly the size of her head and tasted like a glazed doughnut. "I definitely would've tried to eat the Sunstone."

He laughed slightly as he tucked a loose bit of his crimson hair behind his ear.

She couldn't help staring at his face again, admiring the shape of his jaw and the way his nose almost pointed at the end. His red shirt shimmered in the light. "You know, the way you disappeared on me last night, I didn't think I'd see you again so soon."

He chuckled nervously. "Well, I— in all fairness, I did ask Mira if she would bring this to you. She refused. And so did Kita. And Thalia."

"Oh, is that all?" she retorted. "You didn't ask the other three?"

He shot her a sideways glance. "There is another reason I came back, though."

"Yeah?" She felt a slight flutter in her chest as she wondered if the reason was to see her.

"The other survivors," he said. "They're in danger."

Her heart sank a bit. "What happened?"

"Marius. He hates humans. There were people here before you, a long time ago. They made a mess of everything. Cut down the forests, hunted the Goliaths nearly to extinction, and tried to mine Serenia's heart."

"The heart?" she asked. "Isn't that what gives you your power?"

He nodded. "They damaged it. And what was worse, Marius and Krin had a son, and he was killed trying to stop them."

"He wasn't immortal, like you?"

"He was. But when they damaged the heart, they also damaged the piece he was tied to. He lost his immortality and his abilities, and then they killed him."

"That's awful."

"Marius went ballistic. He killed all of them, and then he made Thalia build a device that uses Serenia's energy to make the planet invisible. That was... oh, around eight hundred years ago? Around the time the first settlers were coming to Azuri. But he never forgave humanity. It was a wonder Dekita ever talked him into saving more of us. Even though the planet was invisible, eventually someone else found it. They landed safely, a century ago, and were immediately making plans to profit off everything Serenia has. Marius saw the future, saw that they would destroy the planet, and he killed them before they could report what they'd found. That's when the barrier went up, to prevent any more ships from landing or sending signals."

"You think he's going to kill us?"

"Not yet. He said we have a year to prove to him that you lot won't be wasteful or cruel, and that you can learn to live in harmony with Serenia. If he's not satisfied, then he'll kill you. All of you."

"So, we have a year to teach a group of Azurians not to be wasteful?"

"Yes."

She stood up. "Well, we'd better get started. It's a good thing you can stop time, because it's going to take them at least a few generations."

He laughed. "It doesn't really work like that. I can only hold the suspension for so long. The bigger it is, the more living things are inside it, the less I can hold it."

"Even more reason to get going."

"You're suddenly in a hurry to get back to them. I thought they tried to kill you."

"Look, call me a coward, but I don't want to die. I'm terrified of death. No killer has escaped Midelian since the ComWatch was invented. Most just kill themselves to save everyone the trouble, but I couldn't — I was too scared. If teaching that group of assholes how to live off the land is what I have to do to survive, then I'm gonna help. I think I have a much better chance against one pissed off human than against a half-planet demigod. Don't you?"

"Fair enough, but what happens if the rest of them find out it was you who stranded them?"

"We'll burn that bridge when we get there. Come on."