Eyad kept watching the road, the houses, and everything with immense amazement. But he was surprised by something else he had been anxiously anticipating since they arrived here. He saw more of the creatures peeking their heads out of the windows, staring at him with looks of gloom, anger, and fear. But they didn't resemble the creature he was riding with; their shapes were completely different. He was sure of this when he saw one of them riding a Kalyarus, passing by him, and looking at him with sparks almost flying from its eyes.
Their faces were completely unfamiliar to him; faces with features completely different from what he had seen before. Their faces were a light blue, and they had human-like hair that varied in color from person to person, a delicate, non-prominent nose, a pointed ear, and facial features that suggested they were beings from another planet. But their features resembled humans somewhat, and each of them wore a necklace ending in a strange jewel that shone with a breathtaking and joyful light.
Eyad retreated until he almost fell into the water. Jarin caught him. Understanding what was going through Eyad's mind, Eyad looked at him to find that the wood covering his body had gradually faded away until he resembled all the other creatures around him. Eyad's jaw dropped, and he felt a great terror wash over him, but he didn't know where he should run. He was in the middle of the river now. He realized that this was their true form and that the strange wooden appearance was a unique ability they had for self-defense. Suddenly, the creatures began to speak to Jarin, and anger and indignation were evident on their faces. Jarin kept signaling to them with his hand to calm down and tried to ease their pace, but his efforts were in vain. There was a strong hostility toward Eyad that he did not understand the reason for, but they must have been afraid of him, just as he was afraid of them. After the creatures had been screaming at Jarin, threatening him, and throwing many things at Eyad and Jarin, they finally reached a large square. There were many creatures gathered there, watching something. Jarin dismounted from the Kalyarus, and Eyad followed him. They walked toward the crowd. Eyad felt that things would get worse when they saw him now, and that they might attack him. He took a cautious stance and approached slowly, trying to hide himself behind Jarin. Jarin stood and called out loudly to the crowd to get their attention. Everyone turned to him, their facial features changing and contorting in terror and indignation. They quickly began to speak and scream at Jarin and did not seem happy to see Eyad. Eyad began to retreat slowly, checking the area for a refuge to shelter him from the coming storm, but he did not find a familiar place to hide behind. He heard a familiar voice speaking to him through the suit's encrypted channel:
"Eyad, is that you?"
"Who... who is speaking?"
"It's me, Omar!"
"Omar, we were about to rescue you from the clutches of these things, but the robots ambushed us and killed many of our comrades, and I don't know if they are alive or if they have passed away. I set out to find you, hoping to find help. But where are you?! I don't see you. And these creatures are very angry, and it seems they are going to kill me."
"What! Did the machines kill our comrades? Damn it! Damn them! What in God's name is happening on our planet?"
"I don't know, maybe they managed to escape somehow, but I really don't know. And as I told you, where are you? I don't see you!"
"I'm behind this crowd. It seems they are holding some kind of trial, maybe because I killed one of them. I really don't know. But their shapes look different from what we saw above when we first fought them."
Their call was cut off by the anger of the creatures heading toward Eyad to get him. Eyad felt a shiver run through him. He looked around and found that he was surrounded. He remembered the saying, "The enemy is in front of you and the sea is behind you," as he was now applying it to the letter. The creatures grabbed him and pulled him into their midst as he resisted with his hand and pushed them, but the majority always wins. They succeeded in pulling him to the front, and roots came out of the ground to bind his feet and hands and lift him high into the air, as if he were on a cross, but of a different kind.
"Damn you!" he shouted grimly. "Let me down, you bastards! I'll finish you if I get out of here!"
He found a familiar voice on his right speaking to him sarcastically, "Do you know that they don't understand a word of what you're saying, you idiot?"
Eyad looked to his right and saw Omar hanging like him. Eyad said, as if he did not want to dwell on trivial nonsense and empty platitudes, "Do you think this is the right time for joking? Captain Keno has disappeared, and I don't know what happened to our squad! But the last thing I saw was that they were being soundly defeated by the damned robots. And now we are in the grip of these hideous creatures, and we don't know what they will do to us. Maybe they'll put us in a big pot and eat us. Isn't that funny?"
"Calm down a little. We're in a predicament, there's no doubt about that. But calm down so we can think of a plan to escape from it."
And amidst the angry crowd that was chanting at them with strange words and a strange language, which were clearly cries of anger, perhaps demanding that they be killed or cut into pieces, or whatever hideous method they would use on them. Suddenly, a creature from among them stood on the platform behind Eyad and Omar. Age had overcome him, and wrinkles filled his strange face, and whiteness covered his silver hair. He roared—in a moderate voice that had the effect of age, greatness, and wisdom—in his unknown language, "All of you, be silent!"
All the creatures fell silent; no one uttered a word. It seemed that his word had a great impact on these creatures. He continued in the same tone, "Jarin, come before me and tell me why you brought one of Gaia's robots here with you!"
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