"How could they?"

Samuel bellowed as he punched a tree trunk. His face was red with anger. Up in the sky, the natives of Sanka were leaving on their garuds. They left them. They backstabbed and abandoned them in the middle of nowhere. He was angry with the betrayal. He was scared for his family.

"Dad. What are we gonna do now? Mom and Ruth…. They….."

Ian asked Samuel worriedly. Their family was in danger. They were too far away from the village. Helplessness and worries spread on the faces of all the men present.

"Bloody backstabbers. Those bastards. They fed us, treat us well and now they kick us out. What is this? Payback?"

Aadil spat out cursing the backstabbers. Without any forewarning, they were betrayed. They were put under this precarious situation. He knew nothing he could do save the women.

Brandon couldn't believe what just happened. 'No this can't happen. My son. What will happen to him? I shouldn't have taken him with me. I'm so irresponsible. Had I given up on his custody? My selfishness has caused harm to my kid. What should I do?'

"We….we should go back. If we hurry, we can stop them…. Let's go".

Brandon lost his mind and he started running towards the direction of the forest.

"Brandon….Stop"

Aadil saw the disturbed state of Brandon as he started running. He sprinted and pulled him back.

"What the hell? Get back to your senses. We'll think about something. We are here to help you. You can't do anything alone"

Brandon burst into tears. He mumbled out some unrecognizable words.

"My son… I shouldn't have brought him. I'm sorry"

"We'll do something. We'll surely do something"

Suho was thinking for a while now. He didn't lose himself in anger. He was calm and poised.

"Okay, Everyone. Calm down. Worrying won't help us. There is half of our group left behind. Even if they are not family to all of us, but we still spend a lot of time together. Some tough time together. We are not going to turn our backs. At least I am not. Let's not give up. Think about something."

After Suho spoke, the remaining eleven men murmured. He was right. Even if they were not related by blood, they were still bound together in tough times. What could a dozen men do? They still had to find a way out.

"We won't be able to go back to the village in time. We won't be able to enter anyway. We need that token to enter. We don't have it", a middle-aged man said with a tired expression.

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"He's right. We won't be reaching in time. Let's go where they are taking our people. There won't be any meaning going back there. Let's go to that planet he was talking about. Yeah, let's go to Yashul Planet", Suho responded.

"How?", Samuel voiced out after calming down.

"We still haven't figure out a way out of this damn place… How are we going to another planet even if it's only a neighbouring one? We can even see it from here. That big bright thing in the sky. That's where my family will be. How are we going there? We haven't heard a word from Aarav. If that Ajil was right, they have died"

"Aarav is a tough guy. I believe he would make it out of here. We should regroup with them. That's our only hope. Asahi is good at studying. He spent most of his time gathering knowledge from the village library. We can get out of here. There are thirteen of us. We can't give up", Suho tried to bring up the morale of his people.

"Twelve. There are twelve of us. I don't see Asahi here", Minyoung interjected.

"Asahi. Where is he? Wasn't he with us? Where did he go?"

….

In a busy street, out of nowhere, a ripple formed in the air just like a ripple in the water surface. People dressed in all types of clothing, smart casuals, formal suits, robes, armours, and whatnot. Like a mix of many different civilizations, coexisting together, old and new. They were moving to and fro, commuting in all types of vehicles, resembling cars and buses with outlandish appearance. They saw the forming ripple but passed through it as they can't be bothered by such usual occurrences.

The ripple grew larger and larger until it was as big as a human adult. A silhouette of a man appeared. His face was contorted as if feeling discomfort and confusion was visible on his face.

It was Asahi. He had a very discomforting journey, much of it he couldn't put into words. For most of it, he remembers seeing nothing but pitch-darkness, and feelings as if put into churning grinder. A deadly roller coaster ride he would never want to try again. And now when he finally had some vision, he was appalled.

"Where the hell am I?"

The place looked like any major city on Earth. But he knew better, it was not Earth. It felt like half the people were going for a cosplay event. And vehicles, he would never want to travel on those. He felt they could fell apart at any moment.

Nearby he saw many shops, and a good thing for him, the signboards were in Japanese. And most people were speaking Japanese as well. He didn't know what to think about his situation. 'Was that kid trying to help me?'

With numerous questions in his head, he tried asking around. Nobody bothered him. After hours of futile trials, he came to know that he was in Shizukanabasho. And nothing more. Even knowing the language wasn't helping, the people around him were not responding to him at all. Their looks were full of disdain.

"What's wrong with them? Is something on my face."

Asahi squatted near a TV repair shop. He sighed.

"One last time"

"Don't bother"

Asahi jumped up to ask around when a voice from inside the repair shop responded to him. The voice belonged to an old age man with a bent back. His had a receding hairline with grey hair. He was focused on repairing a TV. He hardly looked up towards Asahi.

"Oh, you were here. I thought it was empty. Can you help me."

"No. And no one else will. People here don't trust those from other planets. So stop wasting yours and others time. Now get lost."

"Hmmm….. How can you tell I'm from another planet?"

"Your clothes give away…. Big time… And didn't you just teleported here? Now go away. Don't ask me anymore"

"Wait…. Can you at least tell me where I can get help."

"Just stay put. They will come for you"

"They? Who?"

"Enough, now let me focus"

Seeing the old man getting irritated, Asahi stepped back and squatted back at his place.

"Stay put…. Stay put for whom?"

He let out a long sigh. 'I wonder how the rest of the people doing. They must have realized that I'm missing by now. How are Kiara and Aarav doing? They must have found someone to get help'