'Huh? What's that?'
The shadows Glenn was struggling to see through his half-closed eyes moved slowly, accompanied by small, whisper-like noises.
In his stupor, Glenn remained motionless, watching the moving shadows.
'Are they alive? Yes, surely, they're making noise and moving. Besides, I didn't see anything like that when I fell earlier, so they probably arrived after I fell.'
Her deduction reassured him a little, allowing him to understand a little of the situation, even though he was still stuck there because he assumed they were living beings.
But, at any moment, they could be hostile, or not even intelligent beings, but rather beasts preparing to eat prey. In short, Glenn was always in a potentially dangerous situation.
So Glenn just lay there, enjoying sensations he hadn't felt in ages. Just the feel of the wind caused a tumult in his mind. The very sensation of touching something had become strange, and he himself didn't know when the last time he'd touched something was.
Thanks to his current body, which enables him to adapt very quickly to any type of climate or other, recovering his sensations was not a slow, painful process but rather a quick, quiet, painless, and even pleasant one.
By the time his body had acclimatized, a thud had reached his ears, and Glenn also felt a sudden change in his field of vision: one of the shadows had jumped into the crater Glenn had created and was slowly approaching it.
Time seemed to be passing extremely slowly, and every movement of the shadow was perceived by Glenn, who could only apprehend what was to come.
After a few seconds, the shadow was less than a meter from Glenn, who reflexively stopped breathing, but an enormous shock penetrated his mind.
For billions of years, Glenn hadn't breathed, so he'd gotten used to it. But the mere thought of it awakened the reflex to breathe.
But he'd long since forgotten how. Who'd have thought he'd ever lose the habit of breathing, other than an immortal lost in space for a period impossible to estimate.
So he tried to inhale but to no avail. The one less than a meter from Glenn gasped and jumped back in one fluid movement, pulling something out from behind his back.
As for Glenn, who was struggling to breathe in and out, unable to think straight, even though he knew he was immortal, the urgency, stress, and anguish of the situation made him jump too, and in an instant he found himself standing, eyes wide open and burning, one hand on his chest, the other on his throat.
After two or three minutes of shock, Glenn slowly managed to regain his senses and breathe properly, though he had to think every step of the way, turning the simple, common act of breathing into a terrible ordeal.
While he struggled to breathe, his eyes, which were still sore, had fully opened and more or less become accustomed to the overwhelming light of the sky.
Looking for the first time really around him, Glenn was surprised by what he saw. All around him was a crater ten meters in diameter, and around even this crater were what he had previously called shadows.
'Human beings?'
The shadows in question had the appearance of human beings, with faces, hands, legs, eyes, and hair.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
They had all stepped back since Glenn had stood up, though he was surprised by their seemingly archaic, dirty gray worker's uniforms, most of which had removed the top, so they were only in pants and a tank top.
On top of their uniforms was a worn leather apron, stained black. They all wore gloves and belts filled with tools and items unknown to Glenn.
What was truly astonishing, however, was that their bodies and clothing were dotted with bioluminescent stripes—bright lines running through their beings, giving them a peculiar appearance.
Glenn quickly turned his gaze and found himself face to face with the shadow that had approached him before, in view of their proximity and also because of the strange, asymmetrical-looking, but sharp, spear pointed at Glenn.
The spear was made of silver and black and somehow gave off a suffocating, heavy energy.
'What the hell is that thing?'
The man holding the spear pointed even more ferociously at Glenn.
"XXXXX XXX XXX XXXXXX XXXX!"
all the while spouting words incomprehensible to him. In a rather swift and stiff movement, Glenn raised both his arms in the air and smiled weakly.
'Um... I don't mean you any harm, either, do I? Can you, of course, put down that terrifying weapon? Can we talk?'
Glenn saw no reaction from the beings in front of him; the fact that he had spoken a language normally unknown to them would undoubtedly have elicited a reaction, however minimal. But then reality hit him—he'd actually been talking in his head!
'Ho shit, do I have to learn to talk now? What am I? A baby?'
Concentrating on his senses as much as possible, Glenn sincerely tried to say the sentence he'd just thought of without any mistakes. Instead, the billions of years without uttering a sound spoke for themselves, and what should have been a meaningful sentence was transformed.
"HEOO...géo-gé...vroks orun maol, Gé-go gou...ga. Ouaah vroks...ipupeh, bi enhendou, HEhé ket AAA errfi... Han we spuuke?"
The reaction Glenn was expecting... Didn't happen; instead, the man pointed his spear even more menacingly and shouted words that were as incomprehensible as ever. The people around the crater approached and began to look menacing too.
'Hey shit! I'm in trouble!'
"HO!"
Glenn turned towards the source of the voice and saw a muscular young man with short blond hair and luminous features all over his body.
He was frowning but still wore a pure, innocent look that contrasted sharply with his behemoth physique.
Everyone in the vicinity, even the one carrying the terrifying spear, gave the young man a quizzical look and then began to speak.
In all honesty, Glenn couldn't understand a word, intonation, or gesture; all he could make out was that they were probably arguing. Raising her voice quickly after a long argument, a woman with half-length black hair shouted confidently and brought her hand up to her head.
Then she touched the ring on her finger.
Suddenly, a spear-black, blue robotic monster emerged from the ring; the monster had four irregular, terrifying wings, and its eyes were full of bluish ghostly light.
'Wow, what's that thing?'
The woman raised her voice once more and pointed at Glenn.
Suddenly, the robot with terrifying wings turned its gaze on Glenn and charged towards him at a speed just as terrifying as he was. Glenn barely had time to react and narrowly dodged the beast.
Glenn wanted to swear aloud to show his indignation to the other beings present, but the only sound he was able to make was... strange.
"Shtpo, OHk!"
Crying out at his lack of reflexes, Glenn almost fell backwards; the blow wasn't very powerful but nevertheless left a mark on his back, which quickly disappeared.
The monster, thanks to its large wings and small size, was not only very fast but, above all, very agile.
So much so that even before Glenn could regain his balance, the beast attacked again, hitting him head-on.
Glenn flew five meters from the impact site.
'Aargh! Shit!'
Blood began to rise in Glenn's throat, then recede; he'd healed in a second.
But feeling his blood dance through his body like that was anything but a pleasant sensation.
Quickly rising to his feet, he spotted the terrifying beast charging at him at high speed. In a sudden surge of adrenaline, he quickly dodged the monster before turning and delivering a swift right hook.
"Oh, for fuck's sake!"
In the first words he managed to pronounce properly, he noticed that he'd undoubtedly underestimated the beast, or rather, acted in haste.
In short, he'd just punched a killer block of metal—not the best decision of his life, truth be told.
Without even hesitating for a second, the moving metal block sent Glenn tumbling once more, over five meters away.
'Haaaa... What is this thing? There's nothing I can do...'
As Glenn lay motionless on the ground, having given up the idea of fighting, a loud, determined voice rang out.
At the same moment, the monster stopped, then moved towards the woman, or rather, her ring, to enter.
The attack was over.