Saturday - October 27th, 2121:

I sat alone for several minutes before Sapphire came to me and pulled me by the arm. 'Come, Skyfall. Let me introduce you to everyone now that you're not screaming at them.'

In my daze, I was like a rock sat in place, but the boy nudged and nudged and got me to rise and follow him. He took me to the group that played behind the tents and introduced everyone to me.

'You know me already, Skyfall. I'm Sapphire because my eyes are sapphires.' He then pointed to the girl that I had seen with him earlier. 'That's Flora because of the flora that grows across her body.'

Flora smiled shyly, hiding behind a larger boy who looked quite bulky for his young age. 'That one's Geode, he's a blockhead!'

"You're the blockhead, Sapphire!" Geode snapped back with his graveled voice, eliciting laughs from Flora and the other children.

Sapphire then pointed to several other children, calling their names as he went along. 'Fauna, Bull, Vine, Quartz, Lily, Venus, Thorn...' The list stretched on, and I could see the simple reasoning behind each name. These mutations laced their human bodies, giving them a subtle, unearthly tinge compared to the monsters I had seen before, and it also gave them a new life to go alongside the changes.

One girl came up to Sapphire and me with an excited step. She looked about four with curved burgundy leaves retracted to the sides of her face with small hair-like extensions caressing her cheeks. Her name came from Venus Flytraps, which one could see spread across the old Earth. "Mister Skyfall." She spoke playfully with her hands behind her back. "Are you not going to eat us?"

Again, they brought up eating them, to my confusion. "No, why do you people keep mentioning eating you?"

'It's what the Buried and their Colossi do.' Sapphire said.

"Sapphire! If you can't speak, then stop butting in!" Venus stomped her little feet.

'Sorry, sorry.' Sapphire's pointy ears arched downward sulkingly.

Venus huffed and turned toward me again, "When the Colossi eat, they evolve and grow, enhancing the Buried's control and compatibility with this planet. It's why whenever someone new comes, we get curious— but also scared that they want to consume us to evolve."

"Humans don't eat other humans," I said without thinking. I understood their fears and concerns with the colossal abominations out there. "You said Colossi and Buried separately. Are the Colossi the immensely large human-hybrids?"

'They—'

"Shut up, Sapphire!" Venus snapped, her leaves extended and shut like a hungering maw facing Sapphire. Then she smiled sweetly and turned back to me, causing sweat to roll down my back.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Colossi are called that because they're colossal. And Buried because they were beneath the surface for ages. It's simple, Skyfall."

"Help!" Someone's voice broke through our conversation as I turned toward one of the tents where a boy was flailing, the thorns on his back stuck into the thick leaves.

"Thorn, why are you such a klutz!" Venus huffed and skipped off to help him.

I turned to Sapphire, who looked somewhat dejected still and asked him. "How old are you kids anyways? You all seem quite mature."

Sapphire beamed with a smile, hearing my words. 'Caretaker has been teaching us! We're good, aren't we? We don't know how old we were, but the Caretaker said I'm the oldest at six. Geode, Quartz, and Bull are all about five. Flora, Venus, and the rest are four.'

"How does he teach you?"

'Oh, uhm—'

"Sapphire, come here and help!" Venus yelled out while tugging on Thorn's arms.

Sapphire ran off in silence.

Flora came to me Shyly when Sapphire left and grabbed me by the fingers. I looked at her, and she looked at me without speaking.

"Hello, Flora," I said, "You're not helping the others with Thorn?"

Flora shook her head, her hand still clasped around my fingers.

What an annoying rat. Doesn't the vermin have anything better to do?

"Do you need help with anything?" I asked, curious as to why the shy girl was suddenly latching onto me.

Again, nothing but a quick shake of her head to say no.

She's so clingy, so annoying. You're not here to babysit but to find a way to survive.

"CARETAKER! COLOSSI!" Geode's graveled voice screamed out as he jumped into a sprint. "The Colossi are coming, everyone."

"Children, get ready for a fight." The Caretaker's gruff voice sounded out from the middle of the camp. I could see the practiced confidence on the children's faces as they moved in an organized manner, heading toward the Caretaker.

'Come, Skyfall. You'll be safer in the center with the rest.' Sapphire ran up to me and tugged on my hand.

"Does this happen often?" I questioned, seeing their unworried faces.

'Sometimes.' Sapphire hesitated a moment before continuing, 'Usually, they have no reason to come to this side due to the Caretaker's powers keeping them away.'

"Powers?"

'You'll see soon enough.'

As we returned to the center of the camp, I could feel the ground quaking violently beneath my feet. Large footsteps thudded dully against the overgrown jungle outstretched beyond the camp toward the fence I had come from. After several minutes, the Colossi's form appeared above the trees, its flat, furry face grimacing with bloodied eyes and saliva dribbling down its protruding stone teeth.

The Caretaker stepped forward, placing himself between us and the beast, his bark-like flesh revitalizing as it began to smooth over and enlarge.

"What the hell?" I muttered in disbelief.

"Get ready, children." The Caretaker said as the beast broke through the protective canopy of trees and lunged toward him.