A Past with an Alien

CHAPTER 32

IRIS

A scent of root grass awoke my senses, and I jolted up, sitting from where I lay on a plain white couch.

I turned my gaze everywhere and tapped my forehead. "Keep calm, Iris," I murmured, remembering what happened a while ago. I inhaled deeply, exhaled, and put my feet back on the floor.

"Thank goodness! You're awake," a voice said out of nowhere. I searched for it, and Chamie and Marinagua came out from behind the white partition and approached me.

"Sir Ezeros wanted to apologize to you, girl." Marinagua was referring to the man with the head of a lion. I had never been so horrified when I first saw him. But why did he feel so sorry for me? "We should have shown you a picture of him before introducing him to you." Her voice sounded regretful.

"I'm okay; don't worry," I told her, even though I trembled inside. I raised my two palms. "This was my first time, you know. As a human, I'm not used to seeing these kinds of scenes."

"Human instinct, Madame Gaeia had told us," Chamie said.

I stood up from the couch. "I'm feeling much better now, I promise," I said, taking a deep breath.

The two girls anchored their arms on both sides of mine as if we were the three Marias. Marinagua was odd because she still rode in a robot that tended to be ahead of us.

We arrived at the other side of the room, and I realized it was in the shape of a donut. The center wall was a floor-to-ceiling aquarium that was the main attraction.

The three leaders were waiting for us, and each of them was sitting on a single sofa. The elegant white sofa first caught my attention. It was white leather adorned with gold linings and looked very expensive. I wanted to look closer and bite the gold to see if it was authentic. The throw pillows were in pastel colors, and I could not believe these aliens had good taste in interior design. The room was austere and clean because white-dominated everywhere. The water from the aquarium was illuminated. Hence, the blue and white colors shifted from time to time.

I saw Hector chuckle at me when we made eye contact. What's so funny? Then, I shifted my gaze to the three leaders sitting on the sofa, but I could only see their backs. I swallowed a lump in my throat and tried to remain strong. The lion-man was the first to stand up, and I halted my pace. He was almost like a giant. A thousand drums strummed inside my chest once more.

He turned his face toward me. "I apologized for frightening you," Ezeros said. I felt like I was the one who had gotten embarrassed by his words. He didn't need to apologize.

"No, sir, it's okay." I beamed at him, trying to cast away my fears. "I think I'm the one who should say sorry for overreacting.'"

Hector laughed at me for no reason and covered his mouth. What was his problem?

"Sit down, hija." I stopped talking as someone spoke inside my head.

I turned my head in every direction until a towering alien lady stood up from her seat. I dropped my jaw when she faced me. She was bald, and her eyes glimmered like diamonds. It freaked me out at first, but she was enigmatic. Tall and slender, her whole body radiated a white aura. She was immaculate in a bizarre way.

"Uh, are you the..."

"Yes," she said. I felt mesmerized. The alien lady's mouth didn't even open or move. "I'm glad to have you here."

"She's Gaeia. She's an Andromedan," Marinagua whispered. 

The third leader stood up, which bewildered me the most. He was shorter than Gaeia, yet much taller than I was. His skin was blue and bald. His large, round, pitch-black eyes made me squirm because they reminded me of an insect. His nose and mouth were tiny, making his face asymmetrical. The lower part of his face pointed downward, almost like a triangular shape. His white robe, which wrapped around his entire body and half his head, caught my attention. His hands and face were the only parts exposed, making him look like a futuristic version of a wizard.