In the middle of the year, my Language Art class read The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera. After finishing the book artist, Peg Gignoux helped to create our beautiful Ideal World Books, each crafted to perfection with glue, paint and plant imprints. We then inserted our writing into our premade books. Here is my story:
Lush
As my shuttle prepares for landing, I glance out the window, I’m amazed to see a beautiful round planet unlike I’ve ever seen. The sky looks as if a sunrise has set up upon it, but that can’t be; my clock reads 3:45. As I gaze upon the new planet, I recognize different landscapes from ocean blue to pale desert. But the most striking feature of this new planet is the forest; from end to end, there is green. I can even hear chirping birds from inside the shuttle. The trees are green and full of life, unlike the ones in my home, covered with brown and yellow. Then it comes to me. Lush is a perfect name for this exciting planet filled with new adventures and wonders. I see the planet, getting closer and closer slowly until I’m almost half the ground. The shuttle jostles me around, but I’m too stunned by the planet’s beauty to stabilize myself.
The shuttle’s doors creak open, and they sound as if they have closed for an eternity. I’ve been waiting to arrive here for many moons, and the excitement takes over. I forget that this new planet might not have sustainable oxygen, but I realize before it’s too late, I have already stepped foot onto the moist, mossy ground WITHOUT my suit or helmet. As I take a shaky breath, clean, fresh air fills my lungs. “The air is safe to breathe,” I say into the speaker pinned onto my shirt. I look around; the scene is even more beautiful in person. The shuttle landed next to the forest I had seen coming in. I look more closely into the forest and see obscure fruit hanging on the trees. A pack of animals with coats of blue and bright yellow skitter past me. I trip backward, trying to avoid stepping on the unique creatures and falling onto a sand patch. I get up, looking in the direction of the sand, and see more sand in larger patches, eventually forming a beach. The water shimmers in the sunlight as I walk towards it. I look closer and see waves with rainbow reflections. I am so amazed by the sight that I don’t notice the sound of footsteps coming up behind me.
There is a tap on my shoulder, I quickly turn around and see one of your fellow space cadets that was on the ship in front of mine. The first ship was supposed to create the start of a civilization and get a lay of the land. The space cadet who I remember as Linh, shows me to the new village. I ask her what the odd blue and yellow creatures are, and she responds, “We call them Bellowings for their blue and yellow coats.” As Linh and I walk alongside the glistening waves of the beach, Linh informs me that, much to my surprise, when the first wave of cadets arrived at the new planet, they were greeted by an enormous surprise; people were already inhabiting Raymos347 or what I refer to as Lush. Linh tells me about the marvelous things the new species have done for the cadets, taking light and braiding it in their hair to match their own, teaching them how to prepare new foods, and informing them of new animals. But I stop listening to Linh when I see the village swarming with light and colors. I stare in shock. I imagined small tents facing each other and cadets carefully entering the forest looking for food to scrounge up, but this was quite the opposite.
Linh leads me through the forest, and an oddly shaped fruit brushes my face. The fruit feels cool to the touch; it’s smooth but weirdly rhombus-shaped. The purple skin of the fruit is glistening. I look closer and realize that every time the purple fruit gleams in the sunlight, the bugs inching closer to the fruit are repelled. Linh notices me staring and tells me, “The Dragegeas are a commonly used fruit here, as well as Washmelons, Withers, and Colopis,” she points to three other oddly shaped fruits. “They make medicine, jams, and even Dragegmeal, Wasimeal, Withermeal, and Colomeal or oatmeal if I must.” As I approach the village, I am in awe. There are houses in the trees as well as in the sky. The sky houses look like clouds, and as I look a little closer, I realize they are clouds! A world where people live in clouds and treehouses was a world I dreamed of as a kid.
Linh leads me to a treehouse bigger than the rest with a dome-shaped roof. As I walk inside I realize it is an astronomy building. The ceiling shows a pink, orange, yellow, and blue solar system. There seem to be four planets in the ombré sky. One that looks to be purely made up of water with only a few sandy islands floating in the vast blue ocean. The second looks to be covered in gems as far as the eye can see, shining brightly in the galaxy. The third looks like a line was drawn in the planet’s middle, separating one half from the other. The right side is a deep, blood-red color, and its surface is filled with pools of lava and dead trees. From what I can see, the builds look like mounds of dirt stacked up with a door carved out in the middle. Who would want to live there, I ask myself. I then realize that whoever does live there may not have a choice. Thinking of this, I realize how lucky I am to have found a planet with clean water and good food, as well as welcoming inhabitants to greet my people. On the other side of the planet, I see luscious green meadows with sheep roaming and gleaming buildings that stretch for miles without ending.
Then, the final planet, the one I gazed at from the shuttle window, Lush. Filled with forests and oceans, this planet looked to be the best out of all four. Linh informs me that the planet filled with vast oceans is called Varuna and is home to merpeople. The planet with glittering gems is called Sereta, and the half-in-half planet is called Goodil. These planets orbit around a blueish-gray moon. Surrounding the moon are five bright yellow stars. The stars are Ausie, Veilopia, Nogostol, Jesat, and Loreon. My brain is trying to wrap around the fact my old galaxy is gone and this galaxy, Alexandrea, is my new home when someone else enters the room.
I walk through the forest with a member of the new species who informs me that the species is called Arians. She tells me her name is Ylena. She has vibrant purple hair and bright green lips. Her skin is a light shade of pink, and her clothing shimmers when she walks. Ylena leads me through the forest until I reach a clearing in the trees. I start to ask what I am doing in this particular spot in the forest, but before I can get the words out, Yleana shushes me. Without words, she points to a rock no bigger than a tea kettle. Again, I try to speak, but this time I stop myself. A shiny green bug, what I later learn to be a jackolonian intreader, skitters past the rock Ylena pointed out, and suddenly the bug is gone. It looks as if it had just disappeared but then I see an eye slowly opening on the rock. At first, I think that the rock is alive, but then I look closer at a creature slowly changing its color from the dark gray of the rock to a bright orange and white coat of its own. The creature stands on its two hind legs and sniffs the air. I then realize the animal is not standing on its two back legs but standing on its only legs. The animal that stands before me has two legs and arms hanging to its side in almost a human stance. It has a long snout and big pointy ears. The creature’s eyes seem to be wide and alert to check for more prey or maybe check for predators. As Ylena and I continue walking she tells me what I just witnessed. “Gregors have inhabited this planet long before the Arians,” Ylena says. “They are recognized by their striking coats, but once seen will disappear into what seems to be thin air.” She continues, “They can attract surrounding colors to their bright fur to become almost invisible. This helps to catch prey and hide from predators.” I finally reach a large tree with bright green leaves and see dark blue objects hanging from the branches. At first, I think they are more fruits, but Ylena tells me they are another species on Planet Raymos347.
I walk out of the forest with Ylena and think about the new foreign animals I just learned about. The Bungies with dark blue coats are the species I saw dangling from the trees. They can deceive predators by staying extremely still and wrapped tightly in a ball. The predators assume they are just fruit and keep moving along in search of food. Unlike Gregors, they eat the fruit hanging from the trees they live in. It’s a good source of food without having to move very far. The Bungies remind me of sloths back on my old home Earth, lazy and living in trees. The Emacias have a banana yellow coat and red spots but are deadly if evoked. The Emacias’s cousins are the Spotted Clovfers, green with brown dots but can shed into pale blue and white. With their ability to jump high, run fast, and camouflage, no predator can catch them, but this makes them perfect for catching their favorite food, Nebula Lizaros. Nebula Lizaros resemble iguanas back on Earth but are three times their size. Their large feet leave big footprints, making them easy prey for anyone willing to catch them.
While trekking back to the village, I see something out of the corner of my eye. Big blood red and dark orange scales catch my eye, but the most striking feature, besides its 50-foot-long body, is its deep red eyes, or should I say eye. The other looks as if to be poked out by a spear. I turn to ask Ylena what it is, but she looks like a deer in headlights staring right at the creature. Then she whispers one word, “Run!” I do as she says, following right behind her on a path leading to the village. I look back and see the creature gaining on me. I go into a sprint. “We just need to make it back to the village; we will be safe there,” Ylena says. I doubt going to the village will improve the situation, but I do as she says. I see the village getting closer until I’m at the border where the buildings meet the trees. I reach the village, panting, and look back to make sure the creature is not still behind, but the creature seems to have retreated as if scared of something. Again, I turn to ask Ylena what the creature is, but she speaks before I have a chance. “Come with me,” she says, and I obey.
Ylena leads me to a big building, and I walk inside. The walls look to be closing from a big room with soft white carpet and a circular desk on the right wall to a long hallway that looks to be stretching forever. Ylena leads me past what she calls “the welcome room” into the long hallway. I find that the hallway is filled with murals from top to bottom. “This place is what your kind would call a history museum,” Ylena tells me. Ylena walks me through the long, stretched hallway and talks me through detailed pictures. “At the start of humanity, dark collided with light, creating what we now know as this beautiful planet,” she begins. “The animal you just witnessed used to be only one in its kind, but now only he remains,” she says. “Long ago, many of the Serpentelies used to come to our village and leave with nothing left.” Ylena says, “Until we got the upper hand, we could wipe out the species except for one, Enadra.” Her voice goes down an octave as she says Enadra’s name. “We were able to poke out one of Enadra’s eyes, but the other remains planted in his head,” she says with sorrow as if she was the one who failed to stab the other. “As far as we know, Serpentalies live forever until slain. “After years of being tortured, we found a way to keep Enadra out…”
“Force fields,” you finish.
“Yes, exactly,” Ylena replies, and with that, she leads me out the back door back to the edge of the village, where Enadra chased us.
As you approach the edge of the village, I notice a static encasing the village. Ylena tells me it keeps sunlight, water, and wind in but Enadra out. The Arians had found a way to collect static electricity and form it into a wall; of course, pure static electricity kept everything out, and everyone and everyone in, and that was their mistake. For three years, nothing went in or out of the village. Hunters who had gone out the morning of The Forming could not come back in, and any of the villagers in the village could not leave. Finally, one scientist created a serum that one could sprinkle on the wall to let villagers go out and hunters come in. This serum is applied to the wall every morning when the sky turns a color that only comes at daybreak. An eruption of pink, yellow, and orange shines down from the sky, showering the ground with iridescent reflections. I jump back in surprise but trip on the root of a tree adjacent to the barrier. As Ylena helps me up and addresses my confusion, “The first wave of humans had the same reaction, curious,” she starts, “Did you not have sunbursts on your planet?” she questions.
Sunburst?” I answer. I explain to her that the same colors reveal themselves on our old planet but only when the sun rises.
“Ah, then think of it as a sunrise, but the sun stays in its proper place all five times it sunbursts.” I take a moment to process the thought of bursting colors five times daily. Ylena must have seen the look on my face because she says, “Extraordinary, isn’t it?” And I agree. I pick a nearby Dragegas, take a big bite, and come up smiling with purple in my teeth, accepting this new world.
