The Traveler 1/5 (GYWO Yahtzee 2025)

[reneescarted]

Title: The Traveler - Part 1
Fandom or Original Universe: original
Rating: General
Word count: 823
Summary: A traveling alien lifeform lands on a curious, water-filled planet. Here he meets a woman with dreams who, for the first time, will make him want to stay.
Warnings/triggers: -
Writing Prompt: pp052

He was blazing through the sky, carried by starlight, as he surveyed and tasted all the different planets and worlds. His body was changed to be one with the light, the speed, and the endless emptiness of space, allowing him to wrap himself around meteors and moons, shine down with the light of suns and stars, and go anywhere, everywhere, finding his next destination.

There was a planet. It was blue all over, with barely any green, and as he got closer he could see that it was a planet of seas, spotted with islands that were lush with forests, dry with heat, frozen with ice, and many other variations. The planet intrigued him, so he went, falling towards it like a shooting star, his body only painting the slightest of lines on the sky to signal his arrival. The closer he got into the atmosphere, the lighter the blue of the world became, and then he plunged, into the deep, the light fading away and the world turning into the vastness of space again.

At least, knowing seas and oceans of other worlds, that's what he expected. The water to give way, the darkness to descend anew, wrapping him into its familiar melodies. But what he saw under the surface was not the endless, vast darkness, but millions of tiny lights, protected by bubbles. He felt his body change and take shape, into that of a human, an inhabitant of this planet, but also that of a fish, with the features that would aid him under the sea: gills and fins, with a deep blue tail lightly flecked with the memory of starlight. He noted this like he noted everything else, with curiousity and approval, and then he swam.

Creatures of the worlds always found a way to grow, to adapt, to inhabit even the most uninhabitable of spaces. Among them all, humans were possibly one of the best at this game, right after his own kind, for where his nature was to adapt and change, humans were to be constant, and so their feat all the greater. He swam among the domes, protecting dazzling, shining cities underneath. With the eternal darkness of the depths, he knew and felt that these lights would have to be everlasting, the citizens below used to these gems and unable to muster the awe and wonder that he felt upon seeing them.

He swam yet closer, sliding along the barrier, feeling the energy, the height of this world's human technology, withstanding the pressure of the deep. It was more force field than glass, using the water as a means to transport oxygen from the surface, and everything else to power it. So long there was water, the barrier would stand.

He felt his body change again, slip through the barrier, and then he descended, landing in a patch of green, looking up at the dome ceiling with its brilliance, not seeing the dark depths, but a mirror image of the city, upside down and dazzling the same way as its twin. He stayed with that image, letting it seep into his soul, the lights into his eyes, and in turn he released the memory of a sunrise on a dead planet, deep purple and carmine at its birth, blazing with colors of red and pink and even soft rose at the peak. He didn't know who would find this memory, only that someone would. An artist, painting the scene, using the most expensive colors to capture their intensity? A scientist, in the form of inspiration, launching a rocket into space, finding the planet and bringing back the minerals that could not support life there, but bring a new age of technology here? The possibilities were endless.

When he took his eyes off the mirror images of shining lights, he noticed that he was watched. The woman wore simple clothes of shirt and skirt, their soft colors complimenting her dark hair and eyes, and her moderately tanned skin. Without sunlight, real sunlight, he wondered how humans thrived, and he found that he wanted to know. She was staring at him with a look of shock and awe, and her impressions beat against his skin, but he felt no fear from her. He stood up, for now he had legs, covered in fabrics that were the style and fashion of this planet. On his upper body was a white shirt with a light denim jacket, and he felt his human features solidify based on the impressions through the atmosphere. Just moments ago, he was one with space, the sea, then the barrier - now, he was one with humankind.

"Who are you?" the woman asked, stepping tentatively closer. Looking from him to where he fell from, then back at him, she thought better of the question. "What are you?"

"My name is Arios," he said, finding a constellation of sounds that corresponded with his being. "I'm a traveler."