Massimo Longo E Maria Grazia Gullo - Seven Planets

"Hurry up. We have little time to find a shelter before twilight. Mastigo will not leave us with a lot of time to find the monastery" ordered Xam from the Sixth Planet, who was the fourth member of the group.

"Let's venture along the river." suggested Zàira." The forest that surrounds it will cover us while we pick the most convenient route."

They ventured into the forest. Xam and Zàira were leading the way whilst Ulica was finding the right route in order to reach a Bonobian village. There they were planning to rest and find more information on the Nativ monastery, their main target.

Xam, the warrior from the Sixth Planet, was a human who had stood out during the war for his bravery and humanity.

He was a tall, chiselled young man. He had fair skin and short, curly, black hair. His full lips were hidden by a thick, curly beard. On top of his skinny trousers, he was wearing a highly technological multifunction belt that was designed by his people in order to get the best in life or death situations. The rest of his body was covered in a gel used by Sixthians to maintain a stable body temperature in any weather condition.

Zàira, who was his peer, came from Oria, the planet with the minimised atmosphere. A dark, natural armour covered her body, starting from the top of her forehead and stretching out along her back up to her tail: it was the trait of the ethnicity. A short and thick fuzz covered the rest of her body, except her human-like face in which two wonderful grey-green eyes stood out. On her forehead, to the sides of the armour she had two long locks of white hair that she would usually tie up in a braid up to the shoulders.

Ulica, the youngest among the four, was a high-level science and a mathematician from Eumenide. She was as classy and elegant like a butterfly. Her body was covered in a transparent aquamarine natural veil that looked like wings of a butterfly.

By opening up her arms, her wings would spread wide open and let her glide. They were curled up and eased down on the back of her hands. They almost looked like a henna tattoo: fine, silky strips that would stretch out and be used either as a lasso or a whip.

The quest lasted longer than usual because of the malfunction of the tracking device caused by some odd effects that were happening in the instrumentation in the Sea of Silence. That unexpected event made them get away from the right route along the lake and caused a few days delay in their plan.

After they had realised the problem, they found themselves retracing their steps and ran along the stream until they saw a clearing. Their eyes perceived a series of small huts arranged in circles. At the centre there was a perch used to cook wild game. The walls were built out of giant, bamboo trunks that had been tied together and sealed with mud and shredded grass. The roofs were made out of palm leaves weaved together. At the tip there was a hole that was used like a fireplace, which was covered by a further cone-shaped structure.

With their great surprise they realised that the village was closer to the landing spot than expected.

Upon seeing the strangers, all the inhabitants fled, hiding themselves in their huts. They almost looked like pool balls being hit by a cue ball at the beginning of the game.

They found themselves in front of one of the last Bonobian tribes that had not given into the Anics by finding shelter in such a hostile place.

The four did not manage, however, to go unnoticed. After a few seconds warriors armed with spears showed up in front of them.

"We come in peace." Xam said quickly.

"We also want peace." stated the most pot-bellied warrior, who looked like the boss.

"For this reason, we want you to leave!"

"We're not looking for trouble. But we need your help. Oalif talked about your courage."

"Oalif left us many years ago. Why have you come here?"

"We 're looking for the Nativ monastery."

"Why?"

"We're on a peace mission that involves all people."

"Many have come here with the pretext of peace, but then they only ended up causing wars."

"But as you can see, we are not Anics. I am Xam of Tetramir. You must have heard of us...

"Xam from the Sixth Planet?"

Xam nodded.

"Go and call the wiseman." ordered the pot-bellied warrior.

Xam did not expect to see an old companion of his come out of the hut. He called him by his name:

"Xeri! There you are! I thought they had eliminated you."

"Xam? What are you doing here, my friend? The fighter inside me has died: I have seen too many friends die.

"I am happy to see you." exclaimed Xam, hugging his old friend.

"Me too. What brought you here? Where is Oalif?"

"If he had known that you were here we wouldn't have been able to keep him inside the ship. We're looking for the Nativ Monastery."

"Then you won't have to go too far. Just look up. It's on the floating island."

The Tetramirs looked up and noticed that right above their heads a gigantic rock sword was hanging over them. The tip of the sword was covered in trees that would dissimulate the interior of the island.

"How do we get there?"

"It's not as close as it seems. Do not be misled. No one has ever reached it. Many have tried." Xeri kept on talking. "The distance between you and the island won't change despite all the miles you're going to walk. It's as if it were located in another dimension. Look around. It does not project any shadows to the ground.

They did not even have the time to look back down: that hiss caught their attention. They saw Xeri fall to the ground. Xam ran towards him to help him out but understood that it was too late.

"Everybody take cover." he yelled.

"To the weapons." yelled the commander warrior.

The people were again scattered all around like pool balls, but this time they were seeking shelter in holes they had dug in the jungle undergrowth.

The battle was raging. Mastigo soldiers had reached them sooner than expected. Some kids stayed in the middle of the village, frozen by the fear.

"We gotta do something." said Xam but did not even have the time to finish his sentence that Oria warrior had already plummeted to protect them with her shield.

Xam covered her by setting the surroundings on fire, whilst Ulica, who had quickly climbed on a tree thanks to her silky wings, plummeted silently on Mastigo's soldiers, who had been hiding in the bushes. And she hit them to death, like a falcon hits its prey.

Soon after that, the women ran to catch their children that had been sheltered by Zàira's hug, who was lying on the ground wounded. Xam and Ulica rushed towards her.

The square was empty, and a strong wind began blowing like a whirl proceeding to the centre of the village, yet without destroying its path. Zàira, Xam and Ulica felt their bodies become stiff. As per magic, something was holding them back preventing them to run away. They spun around for several seconds before being dropped off on the edge of the floating island.

For a second Ulica felt as if she was floating in the air. Her head was still spinning like when she was a kid and she would play ring around the rosie with her friends. She quickly came to her senses and went looking for her companions.

Xam had already found Zàira, who had fainted and was kneeled down next to her: his dark eyes were full of sadness and were showing his weakness for that Orian girl that had always accompanied him in his adventures.

Ulica walked toward them and being rational as always, she began checking on Zàira. She checked her pulse and said:

"Her pulse is low, but nothing too serious. Her body is trying to reduce the effort, so that she can recover.

She carefully turned over to identify where she had been wounded. She gently took off the backless dress down to her waist that she had tied behind her neck and allowed her to move freely.