Kiara was a somnophiliac. She had no trouble sleeping for longer hours but forty hours were too much even for her. As she tossed and turned in her bed, she looked around the place. It was a magical scene. The whole place was glowing blue, some plants were glowing red and yellow. It was like a disco except they were living things and not just lights. If creaking and chirping could be considered music then that island was the most beautiful disco.
There was so much light that they can actually walk around the jungle. Safe, they couldn't guarantee that. That ferocious beast had attacked them during the night. Recalling that night sent her shiver down her spine.
It was the turn for Asahi and Ian to stand guard. Kiara got up and decided to join them. These people hadn't assigned her a shift. Even Fiona got around, now she too can kick asses. She felt wronged being forgotten like that.
"Hey, Asahi did you forget to give me a shift?"
"Give you a shift. Go back to sleep. Let these older bros do the job"
"Older bro? Who? You. I'm older than you"
"Nice joke"
"…..", Kiara rolled her eyes.
"Sure you can keep us company for a while but don't play around too much. We have a longer distance to cover", Asahi added while behaving like an old uncle to her.
Kiara flicked Asahi's forehead.
"I'm 25 years old. Call me Onichan"
"What? You are joking, right?"
"Right Oneesan", Asahi spoke while defending himself from another forehead flick.
" Unbelievable", Aarav, who was sleeping not too far away, was woken up by the trio's noise.
Kiara nowhere looked like a 25-year-old lady. He thought Kiara was oddly mature for her age. But no, she was a full-fledged adult. He recalled his behaviour towards her. She was calm when he accidentally slept while hugging her. Any teenager would have been flushed then. She…It was hard to understand her reaction. She neither flushed nor frowned, more like disappointed. Like she wasn't expecting him to be there.
Days passed by. The group of survivors would leave early in the morning, walk all day and rest for the night. The whole journey was mostly uneventful. At night, they only heard some rustling sounds. Few animals came near but didn't attack. One animal looked like a boar, with two huge tusks, his size was exaggerated but he acted like an apostle of peace from the N. He looked around them and left them. There were other huge animals but none approached them.
Forty hours of the day, and forty hours of the night. It was hard to adjust in this kind of routine but humans learn to adapt themselves.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
First, one to adapt was Kiara. She can sleep for 40 hours straight.
After 7days of walking, that is 280 hours of journey, they finally reached the mountain valley where Sanka village was supposed to be. They could see a signboard, which read 'The Healing Tribe of Sanka village' in Santhali. But there was no village there or ahead or as far as they could see in the valley.
"Are you sure its written Sanka village here", Brandon enquired
"Is it supposed to be here or farther ahead. You didn't mishear them when they were giving directions", Aadil added.
"They said it was here", Kiara felt annoyed by their incessant questioning. She too didn't get where they went wrong. The signboard indicated that the village should be here. Irritated, she took out the token the leader of natives gave her. She was about to smash the token, but then it started emitting light. She was caught by surprise, she raised the token. It started to move towards the signboard. She took it near the signboard. As she approached the signboard, waves appeared in the air. Ripple formed in the thin air just like ripples on water. Slowly this ripple spread and revealed a flourishing village at the side of the board.
" Here it is, let's go", Kiara said. What more she could except, after instant healing of her legs, a magical village.
They went inside or cross what seemed like a barrier. There were houses made of bricks, a pucca road paved their way. Natives in strange attire were walking around. Men were clad in white robe-like cloth, which covered them from head to knee. Their legs were clad in white pants. Women, on the other hand, wore vibrant colours in similar outfits. There were few animals around too in varying sizes. Their species one can hardly tell.
They were getting strange looks from the natives.
"About time, you finally reached", Ajil Horo came forward and said in Santhali.
"Thank you for helping us and also for healing my leg", Kiara responded.
"Don't mention it, Come. Let me take you guys to my mother. I have told her about you", Ajil said with a friendly smile. He wasn't hostile like he was when they first met.
Ajil Horo leads them to the village centre. There was a huge tree resembling Banyan tree. Below, a few elderly men and women were sitting.
A kind-looking lady in her late 70s stood up and greeted them.
"Johar Welcome to Sanka village. My name is Ajili Horo. I am the chief of this healer village. I heard about your plane crash from my son. We would try to help you. You can stay here for the time being"
"Thank you very much. We won't be troubling you much as long as we get a place to spend the night for the time being. Also, can we make a phone call", Kiara replied humbly and inquired if they can make a contact with their govt. " one kall", the old chief replied with a puzzled expression, as if she never heard this term.
"Yes, a phone call. We would like to call our people to take us back"
"Call them how?"
The old chief was puzzled. Kiara looked around there were no telephone lines nor an electric poles around. It was likely this place was cut-off from the rest of the world. She looked towards Aarav and translated their conversation.
Aarav was already assuming it. This place looked like one in the medieval era.
"Ask her about our current location, we might get help if we know where we are"
Kiara asked the same and answer made all her fears come true.
They were in Sanka village which is in some Jesta continent. The nearby major city is Caito. The old chief further said some terms which confused her more. From what she understood, they were on a planet called Taiba under "An" solar system.
Ajili Horo said that it was weird for people to still travel in such medieval era plane. No doubt they crashed there. Ajili Horo understood that they wanted to contact back to their planet. But they were too poor to afford interplanetary communication. The only place they could make a call is from Caito city.
Kiara grabbed her head. The information she got was too much for her. So, it's official now. They were not on Earth.