I woke up early in the morning, I drank my coffee and ate my breakfast. I wanted to leave the city with the very first train, so in a bit of a rush, I walked down to the station. On the way, I went into a minimarket to purchase some food and drink and because of it, my plans nearly crumbled due to that small deture. In the end, I reached my train in time.

My destination was a small village, quite far from the city and many praised its landscape’s beauty. The route was long and boring, but as soon as we left the city’s agglomeration and the scenery started to change, I figured it was worth it to plan this. I can’t even remember the last time I left that jungle of concrete behind. As nature got closer and closer to me, a good feeling filled me.

It was a good three hour ride before the train reached its destination. I stepped down and started my way towards the mountains. I walked through the village, being part of the weekend life a little. People gathered around the pub, you hardly seen anyone going elsewhere. The cheerfullness of the villagers drinking their beers got stuck on me fast, I got into the mood to drink myself a little as well.

Although I dropped the idea fast, since it’s not good for someone who goes hiking. Maybe at night, it would feel good to drink a few. I went into the closest shop to purchase a few can. As I waited before the cash register, an interesting conversation reached my ears. Two men mentioned that there is a ghost on the mountain.

“Excuse me. I didn’t wanted to eavesdrop on your conversation.” I stepped closer to them before I continued “What do you mean a ghost is on the mountain?”

“Many said they saw a grey shadow slipping through between the woods into the night.” Said one of them after a short break. “But you don’t have to believe these. People come up with all kinds of things, as soon as something seems interesting, everyone sees everything.”

“Ah, I understand.” I felt relieved hearing that. “I just asked, because I’m going hiking today.”

“Don’t worry, young man.” Calmed me down the other. “These are just rumors going around. Some might take it seriously and don’t go there, but I don’t believe in such tales.”

“I see. Thank you and sorry for disturbing you. Have a good day.”

“God bless you!” They said nearly in sync.

I continued my travel. I reached the edge of town fast and the road started going upward. On the two sides of the road were agricultural areas that slowly changed into pastures as I got closer to the hills. The road slowly started to get thinner and the solid asphalt changed into dirt roads.

The view was breathtaking. The air up here could make you drunk. Due to the agricultural acitivities, there wasn’t any tree beside the road, but thanks to the somewhat colder weather, it wasn’t that bad without them. As I continued, the road turned into a well walked out path which was a lot steeper as I stepped into the territory of the mountain area.

I traveled in a nice tempo, but even then it was past noon when I reached the trees on the mountain. I taken a break in the shades as I looked back to the village. It was quite far away, it looked like a dot already from the high hills and mountain here. The road that I walked on started from the village, then twisted and turned until it reached the mountain. In the distance, the neighbouring hills gave a good feeling to the view. On some, fruits and grapes were visible, while most others had fields on them. The fall made them even prettier when between the green fields, you could see the orange yellow fruits and trees.

After a short break, I continued my little journey. Although I planned for the peak of the mountain, by now I seen that I wouldn’t be able to reach it. Close to the peak, it was too steep and there were only rocks up that high. Happily the trees took off most of the Sun’s warmth to reach me, so I had a cool mountain weather.

Time passed. I started to get tired a bit and the Sun reached the top of the hills as well. There were a few hours left until sunset, but due to the valley of trees, it felt different. Slowly I had to look for a place to camp down at and I had to prioritize that.

Not long after I found a spot that looked perfect. Opposite to the mountain’s steep surface, this was a relatively flat spot that I found. The tree’s roots didn’t make the ground bumpy and there was a thick layer of leaves. Perfect spot for a tent. I put down my stuff and searched for some stones and firewood so I can make a moody campfire.

The Sun was already behind the hills when I finished my little camp’s construction. The tent was up, the small campfire already made cracking sounds before it. I opened one from the nicely packed beer cans. I was happy that even after the day’s travel, it wasn’t luke warm. It felt good for my throat. I started to think about what to have for dinner. I planned for spit roast. It made me remember my childhood, the last time I did things like this was then.

While I was eating, it become dark. My beer’s disappeared, so I laid down to the ground in good mood. The trees didn’t completely shade here, so you could see the sky, so I could look at the stars. I didn’t see them in a long time thanks to the city’s lights. My mind become empty and for the first time in forever, I felt calm. My eyes started to close, but then I heard a crack from the woods.

My heart started thumping. I got scared. But this didn’t last long. I was in a forest area, so obviously animals live here. And I was silent for a while now, so it isn’t a surprise if they got closer to me. I got up and walked up to the tent for today. The campfire was hardly burning now, it was smoldering at best so I didn’t put it out. I got on my knees in front of the tent and zipped it open. I climbed in, then turned around to close it up. I looked out once more to make sure everything’s okay, but that was a mistake.

In front of the tent I noticed some shadow running past two trees. I found that weird as it didn’t seem like the movements of an animal, but didn’t put much thought into it either. I remembered the conversation in the village and noted to myself that one less beer would have been better, before putting myself to rest.

The sunshine that got through between the trees warmed up the inside of the tent, so I woke up pretty early. I was surprised to see that the zip of the tent wasn’t fully closed, as I remembered closing it fully. The forest was silent, you could only hear the swishing of the wind. The campsite was the same as I left it as. But on the ground I seen that something was here last night. The leaf blanket was patchy here and there, most likely something slipped as it hurried away.

After breakfast, I disassembled my tent, then made my way to the top of the mountain. The weather was nice again, maybe a bit warmer than yesterday. Still, the things from the night and this morning didn’t leave my mind. It wasn’t a trait to forest animals to do things like this. But since I didn’t find any idea what it might have been, I tried not to think about it and concentrated on relaxing instead.

The day went by fast. Before I noticed, it already started to get dark. The road was calm and peaceful. The scenery was still breathtaking. The path started to get harder to walk on and had become steeper. Slowly, but surely I am getting closer to the end of the road. I thought it was enough walking for today.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

I started to look for a campsite, but wasn’t as lucky as yesterday. I didn’t found flat surface anywhere. The sun was going down fast and the weather started to turn to cold as well. The road was crossed by another most likely walked by wild animals and by some random though, I decided to turn right, maybe I find a place for tonight. The animal path was wider than the walking path. At some points, it looked as if human hands made it. After some time, I seen a cave on the side of the mountain.

The animal path taken a turn and made its way to the cave. As I got closer, it was visible that the cave was actually just a little carve into the rock, it wasn’t deeper than two meters. Might be good for the night, I though. As I got close to the cave, I noticed it was used not long ago. On the floor, the greenery there was was laid out and beside it was a fireplace prepared. In the campfire, there wasn’t any ember and it was chilled out already.

I thought maybe the local people use it, so I packed down and prepared for dinner. I cooked tonight as well. After dinner, beside the calming cracking of the fireplace, my mind was thinking about today. But I still didn’t find any sensible answer.

I made my sleeping place for the night. I didn’t assemble the tent, just laid down my sleeping back. The night was pleasant. I turned to my side and as I watched the stars, it didn’t take long to go to dreamland.

I woke up in the middle of the night. It was cold, so am I. Tapping around in the dark, I noticed that something slimey was on my sleeping bag and on my right hand. I reached for my lamp and seen beside the light that it was blood. On my right wrist was a small cut. I didn’t see much blood, but still felt weak. I looked around what might have caused this as I slept, but saw nothing that could have cut it, instead I saw something else I wouldn’t thought about.

On my other side there was a woman. The corner of her lips were bloody. Her skin was ashgrey, her hair silvery. She might have been in deep slumber, since she didn’t woke up to me moving around. My head was dizzy, from just waking up and from the loss of blood. I tried to put together what happened, but after a while I just looked in front of me. I slowly regained myself after the initial shock. I taken a better look at my predicament. The woman was on her side, turned to me, her back to the rock. A tight, overall-like cloth was on her, with some writing and some symbol that reminded me of a signal of majesty. I couldn’t read the writings, but the symbol was familiar.

I got up, cleaned the cut, then bandaged it. The fire was still cracking, I didn’t sleep much. I gave new life to the fire and sat beside it. For minutes, I just sit there as thought swirled around in my head. My situation was quite strange. It reminded me of some books and series, where different kind of beings sipped away the blood of humans, but most likely this isn’t as simple as that. All together, this was a quite interesting predicament. Although, in the last few years, many things happened that no one though could.

I picked myself together a bit. I took out my breakfast from my bag and taken a few bites beside some water. Then, beside the light of the fire, I looked at her again. Although it was hard to determine like this, she might be shorter than me. I noticed quite early that there is a big positive to that tight overall. Her figure was as if drawn with outlines, if you look the other way and not notice the blood on her lips, she looked cute and pure. As if someone who went to take a nap after eating.

The cracking of the fire made me sleepy, but I know it wasn’t the right time. In the vibrating crimson light of the fire, I continued looking at her, while my mind was thinking about that symbol on her left chest. My memory light of like lightning as I remembered. It was in the background on the video call with the aliens. Their signal of majesty, or the sign of the ship. At least I doubt it’s some crazy cosplayer, so she might be from that spaceship.

I got up to wake her up and ask her why is she here and what is this situation. But that was a mistake. From standing up so fast, I got dizzy and lost my balance. I could save the situation with not falling into the fire but instead to the floor. I slowly looked up. The woman who before was calmy sleeping now looked at me with a horrified expression.

I slowly picked myself up, sit up and looked back at her. The scared expression disappeared from her face and made a confused face that was most likely on mine as well. The difference was that her eyes were darting around, as if searching for something, but then fixated on me in the end. I don’t know how much time passed as we looked at each other. She smiled and started walking towards me. Stopped beside me, sit down and hold my hand.

It was a weird feeling. Tingly, like when you put your ice cold hand in hot water. Beside the light of the fire, I could take another look at her front. Her eyes were entrancing to me, while her whole body was as if she just stepped out of some salon. In the end, it was her who broke the silence.

“Thank you, that was life saving, but still sorry for what I did,” she said with difficulty, with an interesting accent.

“No problem,” I answered. Surely there is a problem, but what did she do?” - I thought, but me myself didn’t know why I said what I did.

“I’m Avry,” she said. “And you?”

“I am...” I was stuck a little, I couldn’t put myself over the bizarreness of the situation. “I am Brandon. Nice to meet you!” - I said with a strained smile on my face.

My calmness was unjustified, but I didn’t feel myself nervous. Maybe her cute, pure face had a calming effect on me and might have been the reason why I was so kind with her. The tight overall still showcased all of her form and I couldn’t have any objection about that. I just stole a peek here and there. Most likely she could feel my anxiety, so she continued.

“I think you already know where I am from?”

“Y... Yes.” I answered uncertainly, althought only with this statement was I totally sure of it.

“I assume you are interested how and why am I here,” she said with a bit of mysteriousness in her voice.

“Of course,” I answered, then turned away.

“I landed 9 days ago on the surface of the planet with a stealth spaceglider. Here, not far inside the woods,” she took a second to pause, then continued. “I was a navigation officer. Because of that, I didn’t know much about you, just what I heard on the bridge. But I knew that the tension inside grew due to the possibility that we have to give away our technology. They started shooting and wanted to kill everyone. I was lucky that I could sneak out and steal a glider.” Here she remained silent, then closed her eyes, most likely remembering about all who was killed there.

“I’m sorry. I’m sure they were close to you.” I said, then tried to change the topic a bit. “But I have to ask, what happened while I was sleeping?”

“Ah, that. I apologized because I had to drink from your blood.” Had to? The question popped into my head. “The two-person spacegliders were just for evacuations. There is only a week worth of food in them. I eat first now in the last two days, so I didn’t even think about it. I’m sorry.” A smile appeared on her face, for some reason I couldn’t be angry at her for it.

“You don’t even eat normal food?” - I asked, then pointed at the remains of my breakfast. She looked at it and raised her eyebrows.

“I didn’t see such a thing before. Is it tasty?”

“I like it, although it’s already two days old, I made it at home. Want to try it?”

“Yes,” she replied. I picked it up and handed it to her, my bun filled with salad and sousage. First she just sniffed it, then bit into it. For a few seconds not much could be seen on her face, then a smile appeared there.

“It’s tasty, but I don’t know this taste.” She said, then continued nibbling on the bun. That she found it tasty is good.

“How do you talk in our language?” I asked a bit later.

“The officer required to speak it on the ship, I learned it due to interest, but sadly I’m not that good at it,” Avry said, then continued eating.

Putting everything together, this turned into a pretty comfortable atmosphere. We talked for a bit more. But due to my mountaineering and blood loss, I got sleepy quite fast. Avry could see it on me and recommended to lay down. We shared my sleeping bag and went to sleep.

I woke up to pounding headache, as if I was hangover after a big night long party. The dizzyness disappeared. When I turned around and noticed Avry, I remembered what happened. Looking back, it was like an interesting dream. But now it’s sure this is real. I woke up Avry and after packing away everything, I asked her to guide me to her spaceglider.