Drones (Part 1)

DRONES

I

Purpose

Aster lies down on the earth. Not dead, but he’s lying still enough as if he were. Above him, there towers a huge tree. It looks like it must’ve been quite a crash for him. It must’ve been quite a fall for him, too. But, if you knew one or a few things about Aster, you’d consider this scenario quite strange, in a way. Here we have a young, winged man in armour and yet he’s made himself out to be lower than dirt. We can only assume something rather bad must’ve happened to him just then, aside from him crashing and falling from that tree, and whatever it was, it’s got him waiting for nature to just eat him up already. Swallow him whole like an earthworm does to the dirt. 

In complete juxtaposition to whatever it was he was feeling, though, the sky was as blue as it could get and the sun was just as bright. Not a single cloud in the sky. Bliss! It was all that and nothing else, except for the occasional zooming of other winged figures in armour – alates – that flew right over him, likely chasing after their supposed “loved ones”. That was the exact thing that Aster was doing just then and in a way, it kind of hurt him to see that all again. Not only because of envy, but also pity, knowing that a good fraction of those alates will have to undergo the same, sorry situation as him – lying totally purposeless on the earth.

It was only a matter of time before Aster decided he was bored of staring at the sky. He no longer enjoyed his game of trying to calculate the intervals between each time a fallen leaf would pass by above him - as if he ever did - which was near impossible due to how mockingly pleasant the weather conditions were. After some moments, Aster finally set off on his walk to a place only God knows where. He’s got no home to return back to. At least, not anymore. It’s not like he was invited back to the one place he spent his life; you fail at your one and only job, you get a free pass for eternal banishment. To make matters worse for Aster, finding a new community to join is practically impossible. His former colony didn’t have the best of reputations, especially due to its history of invading countless other colonies which always ended in a vicious, bloody resolution. Aster was never part of that action, however he still held his old clan’s scent.

Aster was told once, “The world outside is vast. It’s practically an adventurer’s playground,” which was true indeed. Unfortunately, Aster learned today that he was not one for travelling and adventuring the unknown. But even so, he continued his journey, optimistic that he’ll eventually stumble upon something or, perhaps even, someone familiar. 

To be contiued...