[326 hours, 57 minutes]

[Blake]

I turned the key in the ignition, and the rumbling engine went silent. Sticking the key in my pocket, I stepped out of the old Jeep I drove and onto the manmade dirt path that we called a small parking lot. Some gravel would probably do it some good, considering it was a sloppy mess when it rained, but we did with what we had.

I heard another door shut on the other side of the vehicle. A voice sighed contently, footsteps against the dirt ground alerted me of him moving towards the front of the car. I turned around to face him, finding bright, green eyes meeting my gaze from across the hood of the Jeep.

"Good to be back home, huh?" He said, hand resting on the black metal for a split second before jolting, nearly jumping back with a hiss through gritted teeth. It wasn't too hot outside, but it was enough that the sun caused the black vehicle to be... not too cool.

I laughed at the sudden, almost cartoonish reaction. "What, are you a cat today, Tyson?"

Tyson shook his hand a little, trying to shake away the burning sensation that had caused such a reaction.

"Shut up, man," he teased, though he was smiling and laughing through his annoyance.

I started heading down the path, letting Tyson catch up behind me as I made my way towards a tiny cluster of houses.

We weren't very deep into the forest, and the forest wasn't too dense, either. Birds darted through the trees over my head, communication through their songs and melodies that drifted through the air. The sun shone brightly, barely a cloud in the perfect blue sky. A light breeze drafted through the air, bringing a cool sensation as it brushed past me. Overall, it was just a beautiful day, and I was glad we were making the most of it.

"I'll bet you twenty bucks Malachi's sleeping over some homework or something on the picnic bench," Tyson said with a laugh, adjusting his baseball cap-style hat on his head. It had a logo of a wrench on it, and his black hair stuck out of the bottom like it was trying to escape its cloth made prison.

"I won't take you up on that one, because I know you're probably right," I rolled my eyes. I stuck my hands into my hoodie pocket, keeping them there as we walked down the trail.

"I kinda feel bad for the guy, y'know?" Tyson remarked. "He's got college to deal with, and his nephew's over for spring break for the next, what, two weeks because of the eclipse? He must be exhausted."

"Hey, if he didn't want the responsibility, he'd tell Noah's parents not to bring him," I replied. "They know he's trying to get into med school, I'm sure. He probably just wants to spend time with him, that's all."

"I guess you're right."

Something in my brain seemed to snap for a moment, a sort of watching sensation creeping into my head. I froze, suddenly looking around in confusion. My eyes scanned the forest on the left side of me, then the right, searching for anything that could possibly be there.

Tyson paused, turning to look at me with an eyebrow raised. "Blake? You good?"

I remained silent for a moment or two before slowly nodding in response, walking to catch up to him. "Yeah. Sorry, I thought I saw something."

"Good, thought a ghost or something had possessed ya or something," Tyson laughed, reaching up to ruffle the blonde hair on my head. He was a good foot shorter than me, but that never stopped him.

"Oh, shut up, you know I don't believe in that crap," I said, shoving his arm away from me. "Those are just kids' stories and stuff."

"Aw, come on, ghosts are cool!" Tyson argued with a grin.

"Maybe they are. That doesn't make them real."

"Stop being so literal, man," Tyson elbowed me playfully. "I was just joking."

After a short amount of walking, we made it to the small clearing of houses that we'd been trying to reach. It was a small cluster of simple buildings, like small cabins. In the middle was a large patch of dirt, where a few old picnic tables stood.

On one of the picnic tables was a dark blue, slumped figure, jet black hair sticking out from arms that covered a hooded head. There were some papers below him, and a pencil. One of the papers had blown off the table, and sat in the grass a few feet in front of me.

Tyson grinned at me. "Called it."

I rolled my eyes, giving him a side eyed grin as I walked forwards and picked up the paper on the ground. There was a bunch of text on it, as well as what seemed to be a diagram of the human skeleton. Anatomy, I guess.

I proceeded to the picnic table, setting the paper down on the table while the wind was down and putting my hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, Malachi, wake up, man," I said, slightly shaking him by the shoulder.

I heard a groan from within the mass of jacket and hair, and he lifted his head to look at me. His dark blue eyes were a bit groggy and disoriented, and the bags under them proved he hadn't done much sleeping for a bit. But that was generally a normal look for Malachi - even when he got a full night's sleep, he always looked deprived of it. Maybe it's just a school thing, I felt the same way in high school.

"Morning," I said, even though technically it was past noon. Not long past, but technically afternoon.

Malachi blinked, processing my words. "...is it morning?"

I laughed. "No. No, it's not. When do you think you fell asleep?"

Malachi sat up from his slumped sleeping position (I'm genuinely shocked he hasn't suffered scoliosis from the constant bad posture) and glazed at the watch on his wrist. "Uhh... nnnine...?"

"Well, good, you got three hours, at least," I said, giving him a pat on the shoulder. "Come on, I'll help you clean up your homework."

Malachi took a minute to wake up, and I started getting his papers in order. However, as soon as he seemed conscious enough to process what was in front of him, he stopped me.

"No, just- no. Let me do it."

He took the papers from me, put them back down, and started to reorganize them.

"So, is Noah around, or is he not here yet?" I asked Malachi as he organized his homework.

"He's around here somewhere," Malachi responded, not looking up at me. "I told him to wake me up if he saw me asleep, and he didn't, so I assume he's off with Milo or something."

I had a feeling Noah probably did try to wake him up, but had failed. He's a fairly responsible kid... most of the time. "Alright. You need any help with anything?"

"Nope." Malachi made sure all the edges of the papers were aligned by lightly tapping the stack on the wooden table, picked up the papers, and stood up to put them away somewhere. "If you see Noah anywhere, ask him if he's had any lunch. Specify a fulfilling lunch, because knowing him, his consideration of "lunch" is a bag of potato chips. And if he hasn't, send him to me, I'll make him something."

"No problem," I nodded. He walked off without another word. Usually he was actually quite friendly, but he was a bit grumpy after waking up.

That feeling began to creep across my brain again. I looked around once again, trying to find the source of that odd, unnerving paranoia that I've been feeling. I still couldn't see anything in the denser woods beyond the clearing. Just a... flicker of light, like a reflection turning away.

What is that...?

"Blake?"

I jumped a little, suddenly finding Tyson by my side. He must've walked up to me while I was distracted.

"Yeah?" I asked, deciding to push off the odd feeling.

Tyson frowned. "Seriously, you've been acting weird since we got here. It's not funny. Is something wrong?"

"No, no, nothing's wrong," I assured him. "I'm just a little on edge, I guess. Don't know why, really."

"What, nervous because we haven't seen everyone in so long?" Tyson teased, his mischievous grin back in his face.

"...I guess, yeah."

"Come on, you know them!" Tyson gave my shoulder a reassuring pat. "They're not gonna kill you or anything, alright? Unless you catch Malachi sleeping again, that is."

We both laughed at that.

With that odd feeling gone, I decided to look around for Noah. Tyson headed towards his own house, and I walked off in another direction. First I circled the large clearing, seeing if maybe the younger teen was running around by or in the woods. When I found that he wasn't, I took down a smaller, lesser made path that branched out of the clearing.

A short trip through the woods later, and I arrived at the destination I was hoping for. In front of me stood a small church, old and beaten from weather and wear. It was made from brick and stone, which were washed colors of very pale, dirty red and mossy grey. Nature crept up all around it, claiming the almost ancient structure as land of the forest like arms reaching from the ground and pulling it into the earth. The stained glass windows looked like they'd been somewhat cleaned, but many bore cracks and dirt from its years in the elements. I couldn't really tell what the glass was shaped for most of them, though in the few that were cleaned I could see animals like doves and sheep.

We'd found the old church when we'd first unofficially moved down here. Lionel, who was the inspiration behind this whole idea of moving up north, had decided to clean it up a bit and maybe take care of it. He was a somewhat religious guy, unlike me, so I think that might be why he did it. I never really understood any of that Christian stuff, so if that's really the reason, I have no clue.

I opened the door and peeked inside. The sanctuary was empty, aside from a few birds that flew out the broken or shattered windows and played in the trusses overhead. There were about thirteen rows of pews on either side of the aisle, steps leading up to an altar at the front of the room. The old green cloth over the altar table was torn and dirty, one of the things Lionel had yet to fix or replace. Sunbeams lit the room with warm colors, a rainbow display of light in soft beams that danced on the floor.

After a few minutes of looking around the sanctuary and not finding anything or anyone, I left and found my way back outside. I figured that Noah was with Lionel and Milo, who, if they weren't here, were probably in Lionel's workshop back by the houses.

I was heading back towards the path when that feeling came back once again. I stopped again, very quickly looking around again to catch whatever the hell was watching me.

This time I didn't fail. My eyes found two small, glowing figures, tiny spots in the shadows of the woods. One was yellow, pale yellow, the other smaller and bright red. Almost like... eyes.

I locked my eyes with the ones in the forest. My heartbeat spiked, my brain trying to process what the shadow I saw was, what those abnormal glowing eyes could possibly belong to. The eyes stared back, staring through my soul and inside of me.

Then they disappeared.

My curiosity got the best of me, and I found myself pushing through the undergrowth, chasing whatever that thing was. I heard sticks snap as it and I raced under the trees, leaves rustling as they were disturbed from their place. Even as I ran full sprint after the thing, it seemed incredibly quick as well, darting around trees and over large objects like tree trunks hidden by bushes and leaves.

I was about to think I'd lost it when it let out a cry of pain, and I heard a thud as it fell to the ground. Immediately I sped up ahead, making it to where I estimated the thing must've fallen. It wasn't where I originally thought it must be, but after a moment of looking...

My limbs froze, my gaze suddenly locking with that of a creature that I could scarcely believe I was seeing. What was it? I hadn't a clue. Sitting on the ground was a large, humanoid figure that couldn't possibly be human. Its skin was two different shades of blue, one half a pale, lighter blue and the other a dark navy. Two dark red horns curved out from a wreck of fluffy hair that bore slightly paler versions of its skin. It had two very large wings as well - one was white, feathered, and birdlike, while the other was a slightly darker shade than its horns, and resembled that of a dragon. It had its clawed hands around its ankle, and it seemed to be in discomfort. It mumbled something under its breath.

"Come on, come on, heal, please-"

It froze as it seemed to realize I was staring at it. It looked up at me with those wide, glowing eyes, which, while earlier were quite menacing, seemed almost panicked, like a deer in headlights. I exhaled as our eyes met, still trying to process what I was seeing.

This can't be real- what is that thing?

The thing seemed to force a pained smile, revealing very sharp white teeth that made me consider running away. When it seemed to notice that it was scaring me, it closed its mouth, clearing its throat and speaking in a mid-deep, smooth voice that stuttered with speech.

"Uh- h-hi there."

For some reason I was semi-surprised it could speak. Which is entirely fair on my part, considering I'd never met any nonhuman creature that could speak. It took me a moment to find the words to reply.

"...h-hi-?"

We both sort of awkwardly stared at each other, more confused and, frankly, quite fearful than anything. I managed to get the guts to speak up.

"...a-are you alright?"

It sort of stared at me for a moment, confusion flickering in its supernatural gaze before slowly nodding. "Um... yeah, I guess. My ankle is sprained, I think, but I've felt worse."

"Do you need any help...?" For some reason I felt compelled to ask, despite this thing being A, not human, and B, quite possibly dangerous. Dammit, Blake, where's your sense of survival today?!

"Nope, I'm fine," He responded rather quickly. "I, uh... I can fix it pretty quickly."

I didn't quite know what he meant until he put his pale blue hand on his ankle, and, suddenly, his palm gave off a pale yellow glow. I stared in confusion as he kept it there for a moment before taking it off, the glow fading. Almost immediately he got to his feet.

...holy mother of all things living, he's freaking tall.

He must've stood at least seven feet tall, many inches taller than even me, a six foot five individual. Out of sheer terror and shock I took a few steps back, inhaling sharply in a gasp as he looked down at me - something not many people I know can do without the aid of a step stool.

"What?" He said, nonchalant about the whole thing.

I stammered for words. "I- uh- n-nothing, you're just... a hell of a lot taller than I thought you were."

He laughed a little, brushing dirt off of the open grey zip-up jacket that he wore. Beneath it was a muted orange t-shirt with a logo slightly obscured by the jacket on the right of the chest. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

"How did you... do that?" I asked.

"Do what?"

"Like... fix your ankle in, like, three seconds?" It was astonishing to me that he was so calm about the fact that he could do it.

He blinked. "It's a power I have. Do you guys not have stuff like that?"

"...no??"

"Huh," He said, flicking his navy and cyan spaded tail. "The more you know, I guess."

"So... who are you, exactly?" I asked, my curiosity coming back through the initial shock of whatever this thing was. "And... also what?"

He seemed to hesitate for a moment before eventually seeming to decide to greet me and reaching out his hand for a shake. He smiled again, though now I was prepared for the shark teeth lining his mouth and didn't almost drop dead from a heart attack. "Akik. I'm a nephalem. And you are?"

"Blake," I introduced, hesitantly shaking his hand. "A... human. Sorry, you're a what?"

"Nephalem," Akik repeated himself. "Part demon and part angel."

The first response that came to mind was along the lines of "Holy crap you exist," but instead I went for,

"...oh. Okay."

I tried to play it cool, but I was even more confused now, considering one of the things I strictly did not believe in was standing mere feet in front of me.

"I haven't seen you around here before," Akik started. "Of course, I haven't been here too long, but there haven't been many... humans around here until maybe a few weeks ago."

He paused. "Or, I assume it was... weeks. Not too adjusted to the time here, your days are a lot longer than they are back home."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, I thought it'd be obvious by now, but..." Akik hesitated again. "Well, I'm not really... from... this planet. Or any of the planets around here."

"...You're from another goddamn planet?!"

"Uh- yeah," Akik chuckled a bit nervously. "Xero. Chronic system. My ship crashed a while back, and I've just kind of been... stranded. A bit."

He sort of stared off into space for a few moments, exhaling sadly.

"Well, uh..." My brain was struggling to wrap around everything the nephalem was saying. "Welcome to Earth, I guess, but... you've just been alone here?"

Akik paused before slowly nodding. "I had a crew with me on the ship. But they... died in the crash."

He cleared his throat, shaking his emotions away. "But no worries, I'm sure I can get the thing working again and get back there eventually. Eventually..."

"You know what?" I said. "I'm an engineer, I know my way around mechanics. I'm sure I could help you somehow."

Akik shook his head. "No, no, it's... it's fine. I can handle it. You don't worry about me, go back to your other human friends or whatever and forget you saw me."

"Forget?"

"Yes. Forget." He stared me dead in the eyes. That glow they emitted was almost chilling now. "And if you can't do that, just... don't tell anyone you saw me today. And don't come back for me."

"But- why?"

"I can't have people knowing where I am. I already might be risking things by talking to you, and if more people came, I..." Akik sighed. "I just don't want anything to happen. Okay?"

He didn't even wait for my response. "Cool. Bye!"

Quickly Akik darted back into the woods.

"Hey! Wait!" I stepped forwards, trying to stop him, but he was deep in the woods now and I couldn't see him anymore. There was nothing but the trees and foliage.

-

3293 words

Akik why are you sus

Anyway here's a reference of who's who for all you returning readers from the og:

Blake - Blaza

Tyson -Tbh

Malachi - Meme

Noah - Nadwe

Milo - Muffin

Lionel - Laff

Dilla (not yet mentioned) - Dino

Alexis (not yet mentioned) - Ally

Also yes Blake's atheist fight me he gave me that vibe

byeee <3