The Light in Aquala

Three hours had passed and they seemed to be no closer to the building than they had when they started. It was the strangest thing, and they all agreed it wasn’t their imagination.

Lena suggested they take a break and eat something, drink some water and figure out how to proceed from here. They all agreed and Mara and Lean loosened their backpacks, lowering them to the ground and started to unpack them. Canisters of water, dried fruits, nuts and some stale bread were found and divided up into equal portions, including a portion for Jaxx.

Jaxx, in the meantime, had found a huge glowing cricket that was the size of a large pineapple. It was watching Jaxx, as interested in him as he was to it. Jaxx cautiously lowered his head and slowly moved closer to it, his nose sniffing loudly as his brain was trying to place this strange scent.

The cricket had glowing gold wings and the richest jeweled tones on its body: turquoise, greens, yellow, and a few other continuously changing Neon colors. Every time it moved its wings, gold glitter flew up into the air and was slowly carried away in the gentle breeze.

Rivia noticed them as she turned to call him and gave a gasp.

Lena and Mara turned their heads around quickly and instantly, Mara was fascinated. She immediately got out her sketchbook and was lost in her own world, drawing away and writing as many notes as she could about this new insect.

Lena glanced at them and kept on unpacking her backpack, finding a few more canteens of water and the extra food rations she had brought along. She grinned as she remembered Mara complaining about her bringing way too much stuff, and she just couldn’t resist teasing her now.

“It sure is a good thing that someone was so clever and practical when she thought ahead and brought all of this extra water and food.” she innocently commented in a sing-song voice, glancing over at Mara who was busy ignoring her.

“Yes, it is. I’m so glad you noticed how valuable my packing has been for us so far.” replied Mara with an air of importance.

“Oh yes, all of those pieces of scientific equipment are just too delicious. I don’t know what we would do if you hadn’t brought them.” Lena shot back, laughing. Mara chuckled good-naturedly, too busy sketching to give the bantering her full attention.

Rivia laughed too, enjoying hearing the sisters bantering as they continued mercilessly.

Mara finally finished her sketch, replaced her notebook and happily accepted the canteen of water Lena was holding out to her. “It really is amazing how good water can taste when you haven’t had any for a while” she mused.

Rivia made a gurgling sound of agreement as she was busy drinking from a canteen, while Jaxx had already lapped up the water they had given him in a small bowl and was eagerly waiting for some morsels of food now.

Lena gave him a generous portion of fruits and the last of the bread that was now hard but still edible. He sniffed it, looked up at her and then seemed to shrug as he gobbled up his meal. Yes, it was amazing how pretty much anything is tasty when you are hungry, and Jaxx didn’t mind it at all.

The women all sat around and ate slowly, relishing their food and their rest while sitting in the tall silver grasses that were gently swaying in the breeze. The sky was still a glorious purple color, but now a deeper shade with a dark blue was mixed in. Puffy, silver clouds were forming in the far distance and there was a wind that had started blowing from that direction. It seemed like the weather would be changing soon but into what, they weren't sure.

A sound between a chirp and a bleep sounded from the direction of Jaxx.

They all looked over to see the huge cricket sidling up to Jaxx and partaking of a juicy piece of fruit that hadn’t been eaten yet. It rubbed its wings in delight and a beautiful, almost melodious song began and continued until it had finished eating.

Jaxx, in the meantime, was watching it with a curious expression on its face and finally couldn’t resist moving closer and taking a big sniff.

The insect looked at Jaxx as the ungraceful sound of sniffing began, but it didn’t move away. Instead, it turned to face him directly and when their eyes met, an understanding seemed to be reached.

After a minute, Jaxx stood up, walked over to Rivia and started nudging her repeatedly until she got up. Rivia looked questioningly at Jaxx, slightly irritated by his insistence.

As soon as she was standing, Jazz went to the cricket-creature and stood by it, his tail wagging and a look of excitement on his face.

“I think Jaxx wants us to follow that insect.” Rivia announced with a touch of thoughtfulness in her voice. “He has the same expression right now as he does when he knows we are going on a walk. How very curious.”

Lena and Mara looked at Jaxx who was obviously very happy about something, and then at the cricket who was rubbing its wings together, its melodious song beginning again and gold flecks filling the air around it.

Then they looked at each other, shrugged and quickly repacked their backpacks, securing them once again before starting towards Rivia, who had by this time joined Jaxx and his new friend.

As soon as the cricket saw them approaching, it looked once again at Jaxx and flew up about ten feet above their heads, showering them with gold flecks. It started heading towards the building and they all immediately followed it, jogging to keep up.

Lena watched the silver grass turn gold in front of them, and when she glanced behind them, the gold grass had faded back into its original silver color.

She looked up towards the building and was shocked to see that they were almost there!

“Mara, look at the building!” she shouted, while still taking deep breaths to fill her tired lungs. “We are almost there!”

Both Mara and Rivia stopped concentrating on the trail ahead of them and looked up to see the building was so close that they could make out all the details on it.

Jaxx barked once and they looked up to see the cricket-creature flying off towards the back of the building, the gold flecks having stopped now. It was like they had been on a raft in a fast-flowing river and they had come to a crashing halt.

They were jolted by the realization that only a few minutes had passed. “What on earth happened, it’s like we time traveled or something?” Lena exclaimed.

“I think we did.” answered Rivia, confusion in her voice along with excitement. “This has never happened before! Quickly, let’s keep following it.” she shouted as she took off running, Jaxx outpacing her quickly, taking the lead. His sleek black coat was shining and silver glows seemed to be coming off of him as he ran.

Mara and Lena immediately started running and as they all turned around the corner of a very high wall, there it was.

The cricket, and it wasn’t alone.