Drifting to an Alien Planet for a Slow Life After a Mutual Kill with the Enemy - Chapter 6

The night was pitch black.
In the moonless dark, the forest was hushed to the point of feeling sacred, with only the distant, breath-like sound of the wind rustling the treetops. Dampness gathered on the leaves, and the faint reflections of light created moist pinpricks, as if countless tiny eyes were watching for something momentous to arrive.
Then, the sky tore open.
A blazing trail of light dropped from above the clouds, dragging a long, fiery plume. The inferno sliced through the high atmosphere, lighting up the entire wooded area. This wasn’t the fleeting sparkle of a shooting star; it was a sustained, rolling fire, like a miniature sun falling to Earth, leaving an intertwined path of orange, red, and silver. The air instantly tightened into a searing line, pushing the mist away as it fell. All the creatures of the night dropped to the ground, fear silencing even the insects’ song.
“…What in the world is that?” The yellow-haired girl, Reina, lifted her head, her voice shaking slightly. Her tail stood straight up, and her ears twitched, tracking the light’s direction.
Yuna, the white-haired girl beside her, didn’t reply straight away. The fire glowed brightly in her eyes. Her gaze pierced the darkness, steadily watching the burning arc sweep across the horizon until it finally slammed into the forest’s deepest core.
In that instant, the whole sky was consumed by light. Fire clouds churned, and the trees’ crowns shone with red and gold ripples. Night was burned into day, only to revert to darkness moments later. What followed was a deep rumble, vibrating up from the ground, causing tree roots to tremble and leaves to fall like rain.
Kira, the red-haired girl, gripped the long blade at her waist, her eyes razor-sharp. “That’s not a meteor,” she stated, her voice low and firm, betraying a sense of high alert. “That light had propulsion… Look, it’s actually pushing away the smoke above the canopy. Meteors don’t fall like that.”
Yuna exhaled slowly, still gazing at the stretch of sky that had been briefly illuminated.
“I read about it in the ancient scrolls of the tribe,” she said, her voice gentle yet clear, carrying a devotional rhythm. “A long time ago, before the world was covered by this forest, visitors descended from the sky. They arrived on fire and light, crashing into the earth, and bringing metal, noise, and disaster.”
Reina’s eyes were wide, her curiosity getting the better of her. “…You mean, aliens?”
Yuna gave a small nod. Her white hair fluttered gently in the night breeze, reflecting the dim light. “It’s one of the tales passed down from our great-great-grandmother. She said the travelers from the sky would sleep in the deepest part of the forest. If they were to awaken again, it would bring about a great change to the world.”
Kira frowned. “You think that thing is going to change the world? It sounds more like a calamity to me.”
“Or perhaps a sign,” Yuna replied, her tone unwavering.
In the distance, dust and smoke continued to linger in the night. After a considerable wait, a burnt, acrid smell drifted towards them. It was unfamiliar, mixed with a bitter metallic tang and the faint whine of static electricity. The forest’s wildlife remained silent; the entire expanse of trees seemed to be holding its breath.
Reina couldn’t resist taking a few steps forward, her eyes sparkling. “If that really is something from the sky, maybe… there are treasures they left behind.”
Kira quickly reached out to block her path, her tail lashing out behind her.
“Don’t be daft. That spot is hundreds of miles from here, minimum. We’ll be walking until dawn. We don’t even know if the thing is going to blow up, leak poison, or steal people’s souls. Do you fancy being the next casualty in a campfire story?”
Reina pulled a face, but didn’t argue, only looking up at the sky again. The light had vanished into the most inaccessible part of the forest.
Yuna knelt softly, her fingertips touching the ashes on the ground. The ash was powder-fine, but unlike volcanic dust, she could feel a weak static charge.
She murmured, “This isn’t natural.”
Kira’s face hardened, and she instantly gave an order: “We’re heading back. We need to tell the Clan Mother. The hunting parties are absolutely not to go near that area.”
“But the Clan Mother won’t necessarily believe us,” Reina whispered.
“She’ll believe me,” Kira turned, her amber eyes reflecting a cold gleam in the dark, “because I feel dread.”
Yuna looked up at her. “You fear the falling light?”
“I fear it’s not a deity, but a curse.”
After a short silence, Yuna offered a slight smile—not one of ease, but like an ancient, quiet understanding.
“The off-world visitors in the legends were also called the ‘Light of Disaster’. But our ancestors taught us that disaster and blessing are two sides of the same coin. It can destroy, but it can also bring forth new life.”
The wind rushed through the treetops again, carrying the remnants of heat from afar. The forest’s usual sounds returned, but the rhythm was off. The insects’ calls were jumbled, as if responding to something random and chaotic.
Reina hugged her arms and looked up, sounding tentative. “If it truly is something alien, will it damage the forest?”
Yuna shook her head. “I don’t know. But I can feel it—the forest is listening.”
Her tail swayed slightly, and she turned her ear toward the wind. The sound she perceived, unnoticed by the others, was a deep, low-frequency vibration coming from the earth’s core, as if the ground itself was slowly adjusting its breathing.
Kira couldn’t hear the noise, but she observed Yuna’s distant expression and a spike of anxiety hit her. “Are you sensing those things again?”
“…Yes,” Yuna said calmly.
“Don’t get too involved with them,” Kira’s voice was low. “That’s a power beyond our comprehension.”
Yuna didn’t reply, simply rising gently, her gaze still fixed on the darkness in the distance.
That was the spot where the light from the heavens had crashed.
“It’s still there,” she murmured. “It’s alive.”
Reina drew a sharp breath, her ears alert. “Are you saying the thing that fell… is a living being?”
“I’m not certain. But I hear a heartbeat,” Yuna placed her hand lightly on her chest. “It’s not like a beast, not like a person, and certainly not like us.”
Kira knitted her brows. “Whatever it is, if it’s alive, we need to steer clear. Staying alive is far more important than exploring.”
She paused, her voice dropping even further. “Remember this: the forest isn’t our home. It never welcomes outsiders.”
The warning hung heavy in the night air.
The three girls walked back to the camp in silence. The moon finally emerged halfway from behind the clouds, its weak silver light catching their hair—white, red, and the mixed hues of their fur all shimmering with the same pale color.
Reina turned for one last look at the distance; the sky above the crash site still held a faint red tinge. She muttered to herself, “If that really was the fall of a god… what will It bring?”
Yuna took up the rear. She didn’t answer, simply repeating the ancestral phrase in her mind—
“When the fire from the heavens plunges into the sea of trees, the old gods will fall asleep, and a new spirit shall be born.”
The forest settled back into silence.
But it was a silence that no longer belonged purely to the night.
Setting Notes
Here are a few setting points:
Akatians (阿卡提亞人): The original humans who fled from Earth into space. They possess pure genes but find it hard to adapt to the universe, suffering from physical or mental health issues, and their birth rate is incredibly low—comparable to a certain island nation in the Far East.
Nemossians (涅摩斯人): These are genetically enhanced humans, created out of the fear that humanity might go extinct. They are strictly designated as soldiers, put under military rule from birth, and brainwashed to fight for all of humanity. They all dream of earning military distinction to become noble Akatians, but this is a false promise. Since over ninety per cent of Nemossians die in combat, they haven’t had the chance to develop a self-aware national identity, but in my view, it’s only a matter of time before they replace the poorly adapted Akatians.