The wind played with Sol's long hair—black and white—as he stared at the two blue men prostrating before him in a strange scene.
[Do you know them?] The system's voice asked without surprise.
Sol replied in his gloomy tone: "No."
[Then why are they prostrating to you?]
Before Sol could answer, the blue man on the left raised his head toward Azure, who stood beside Sol. Her face held a mix of surprise and fear as she watched two of her family members prostrating before Sol.
The blue man shouted at Azure in a sharp, harsh tone, his hand moving roughly, ordering her to do as they did.
[He wanna make do the same.]
Sol didn't speak. He remained silent, watching the shouting man without moving, while Azure stood there, tears nearly falling from her eyes at the intensity of the yelling.
Azure moved slowly toward the blue man, who grabbed her injured arm harshly and yanked her down. Azure let out a muffled whimper before falling hard onto the black soil.
The blue man tried to press down on Azure's head to force it lower as she prostrated before Sol, but the injured girl couldn't support her own weight alone—now she had the weight of a grown man pressing on her head.
Azure struggled desperately under the man's hand to keep her face from hitting the damp, cold, black soil—which was certainly foul and disgusting—but her desperate attempt was useless. Her face pressed into the dirt anyway, as she supported herself with only one arm while the other was already injured.
[Why is this idiot pressing her so hard... she's suffering.]
While the girl whimpered and moaned quietly, Sol watched in silence her failed struggle, her attempt to avoid burying her face in the filthy soil.
Seconds passed before Sol leaned down toward the exhausted Azure and slapped the blue man's hand. The man quickly pulled his hand away without raising his head.
Sol supported her, made her sit on her knees, then wiped the damp, foul dirt and tears from her face without saying a word.
[That idiot—how dare he ruin this cute face..] The system's voice said in a silly tone before shifting to something harsher: [He deserves to die. finish him!.]
"Shut up."
[Fine.]
The girl stared at Sol's gloomy, tired face as he wiped the dirt from her, a faint glimmer of happiness in her eyes. Her lips trembled slightly before she clutched Sol's clothes tightly.
The other blue man—who had been silent from the start—watched what Sol was doing with a gleam of fascination in his eyes before he tried to speak. Sol ignored him completely, focusing more on carefully cleaning Azure's face.
The silent blue man slowly stood without raising his gaze toward Sol and Azure, took a few steps back, then turned and ran away.
[He ran. Are you going to let him?]
" i don't care. I don't want to do anything to them."
[So be it, then.]
After Sol finished wiping Azure's face, the two stood, looking at the blue man who remained kneeling on the ground.
[what you gonna do with this one?]
Sol didn't reply for a few seconds before remembering something. He said:
"You have translation ability, right?"
[Translation? No, I don't have that. Or rather, you don't have it.]
"Me?..why me?."
The system's voice sighed, then said: [You're the one carrying the system. I'm your guide.]
"A guide who needs guidance herself," Sol said sarcastically.
[Fine, fine. Mock all you want. But you'll know my true worth.]
"Wait—how come I don't have it? The conversation between those entities in space was translated."
[You mean Archeth and Apheth?]
"You know them?"
The system's voice paused a little before answering: [No. I don't.]
"Then how do you know their names?"
The system's voice paused again, then replied: [I don't know. The names just appeared in the database.]
This answer didn't convince Sol at all—in fact, it made him slightly suspicious of the system's voice. He wanted to say something but was interrupted by other blue people approaching from the same direction the earlier man had run.
Men and women. Only the men carried weapons: spears, hatchets, bows and arrows, axes—all made of the same black obsidian with azure veins.
[He returned with his tribe. What will you do now, philosopher?] The system's voice said sarcastically
Sol didn't reply to the system's voice. He just watched the blue people approaching quickly.
"It won't be hard to defeat them without weapons—I have the body's strength..." He paused, remembering his fight with the scale-beast earlier. How his tremendous strength on Earth hadn't even shaken the beast's scales. What would happen with these blue people? Would it happen again?
"Maybe it'll be hard without the body's strength, but I still have regeneration. All I need is to snatch one of their weapons."
[Weapons. If you want a weapon, use the Arche.]
Sol wanted to ask what the Arche was, but as the armed blue people arrived, he took a fighting stance.
All the blue people gathered around him—men and women. Seconds passed before a blue man he wasn't very old, maybe in the forties,he stepped forward from the crowd. His clothes were different—more dignified, majestic. He approached Sol with slow steps.
[Looks like he is the chief.]
The system's voice said, but Sol didn't reply. His gaze was fixed on the leader of the blue people. Beside him stood the blue girl, frozen, a worried look on her face.
The chief stopped before Sol, studying him with intense scrutiny. He examined Sol carefully before his blue features shifted to surprise and wonder. Then he lowered himself to the ground and prostrated before Sol. The rest of the blue people followed, prostrated as well.
[ you sure you don't know them?]
Sol's face showed confusion. He was sure he didn't know them—he'd come from space, from another planet that had already been destroyed. How could anyone know him?
Finding nothing to say or do, Sol remained silent, examining the kneeling crowd around him.
The blue girl grabbed Sol's hand. Her hand trembled slightly, and her face held a sad look.
After a few seconds of this, the leader stood, followed by the rest. Then the leader bowed halfway and directed his hands toward the center of the village. The crowd parted, making a path.
[He's inviting you. will you go?]
Sol paused for a few seconds, looking around, watching the blue people. Sol never trusted anyone—he always assumed whoever was in front of him wanted to cut him into a thousand pieces. That was one of the downsides of always thinking about the negatives.
"I don't have another option. There are too many—it wouldn't be easy to take them all on alone. So I have to comply."
Sol spoke normally, without whispering—sure that the blue people in front of him wouldn't understand him anyway.
[Hey, you're suspicious of them? They knelt to you seconds ago. Isn't that a good enough sign of good intentions?]
"Actions like that—good deeds—aren't proof of pure intentions. Some are born from hidden motives."
[here comes the philosopher again.]
The system's voice said sarcastically, having nothing to counter with, so it stayed silent and didn't continue—knowing Sol's point couldn't be argued: good deeds weren't always proof of good intentions. Some had selfish motives and hidden agendas.
Sol followed, with Azure beside him clinging to his hand. The two followed the chief of the blue people, with the entire crowd behind them, sporting big smiles, loud laughter, and low whispers that Sol couldn't understand.
After walking through tents, huts, stakes, and other things, Sol arrived at a large tent at the center, surrounded by all the others in a circular arrangement.
When the chief tried to open the lid, the two guards standing in front of the entrance spoke up, but the leader shouted at them so loudly that they fell silent and stepped back.
The cheerful chief opened the tent's entrance cover and gestured for Sol to enter, a big smile on his face.
Sol looked at the entrance leading inside, then at the smiling chief, before stepping inside. The interior matched the exterior—an appearance of majesty, dignity, cleanliness, and order. A feeling of warmth penetrated Sol, along with a pleasant, beautiful fragrance.
Seats of greyish-green fur, perfectly placed cushions, blankets stacked in one corner, wooden boxes arranged neatly, incense burning in corners of the tent, spreading that warm, fragrant scent.
The fur seats were distributed throughout the tent along with those finely crafted cushions.
When Sol looked deeply around the tent, something caught his attention—something he never expected to find.
There was a large,leather panel hanging behind the seat, bearing an intricate drawing of a figure. It was a drawing of someone who looked like Sol.
[You still don't know them?]