I watched in awkwardness as the three individuals who were left alive were watching me back with their eyes almost dropping from their sockets.
I have seen that expression on their faces many times before to know that they were clearly in shock. But since their companions' unfortunate demise preceded this expression of theirs, I leaned towards the belief that their expression was a mix of shock and grief instead of just plain shock.
Grief was a peculiar state of mind sentient beings instinctively adopt when someone close to them had died, by natural causes or otherwise. It both shows how strong the relationship between someone still living and another who passed away was, and how much the living one was missing the presence of the dead ones.
I didn't feel sad about their demise, nor have I thought that it was entirely my fault, but it had clearly upset those three.
Just for that, I didn't know if I was supposed to apologize first for their companions' unfortunate demise or just feel utter disappointment for having set the bar too high for their capacity of control and limits over the space element.
Either way, what happened couldn't be reversed, so the most logical thing to do next was try and salvage their already crumbling first impression of me and remedy the situation, since I still wanted to observe them a little longer.
With a wave of my hand, my expected, but not so harmless after all black hole, ceased to exist.
I moved slowly towards them to try and show some kind of sympathy at least for their companions' untimely demise and remedy the situation, but at once, after taking just two steps forward, I saw them moving erratically while speaking in a rush manner with each other, prompting me to stop on my tracks.
At that moment, I felt just like a predator stalking and nearing silently at its prey while also trying his best not to alarm it.
The situation was more fragile than I had anticipated; for my slightest movement to frighten them so. I needed to be extra careful in my approach.
The next dozens of steps until I reached them were a constant stop, wait and then continue circle which I repeated many times over.
By the time I finally approached them, they stopped speaking, and two of the three had fallen to their knees; I reckon because of their grief. It was indescribable.
The one left standing kept silent for a moment, and from his facial expressions I could tell he was struggling with something.
Understanding that he may be experiencing grief differently from the other two, I gave him time to calm himself or vent his sadness however he wanted.
His following action puzzled me; I couldn't tell how it was related to his grief or how it could help him lessen his sadness.
By raising one of his upper limps, he was pointing somewhere in the distance all the while making small movements with his head as if he wanted to show me something.
The two kneeling looked at him in pure surprise, the earlier grief etched upon their faces was now gone. The one standing seemed to tell them something and I could see them relax a bit after they heard him. Then, they stood up and went next to him.
The change in their demeanor was quick and strange. By what I knew of the sentient beings' "grief", it was stronger than this; it shouldn't dissipate so fast.
The one leading began drifting through space in the direction he pointed earlier and the other two followed suit. Curious to see what he wanted to show me, even after the demise of his two companions, I followed behind them.
After drifting in the desolate sector for a while they finally stopped, apparently reaching our destination.
In front, a space tear was open, its opening large enough for ten of these beings to pass side by side. That was a serious and dangerous find; I needed to inquire them about this.
With whatever I heard so far from their dialogues, I tried to simulate their language as successfully as I could. I spoke and hoped for the best.
"Were you the ones who opened this tear and left it like this?"
"Why don't you close it?"
After asking, I waited for their answer... and I waited. No one answered me... and I assumed the worst.
"Damn, did no one teach you how to close it?"
"What irresponsible seniors you have. Fine. I will teach you in their place. Watch and learn, in the future you need to close the ones you open yourselves."
Making very slow movements so they could watch me closely and learn, I raised my arm and used two clawed fingers to point at the tear. I pinched them against each other and the tear closed in an instant. Simple enough.
"Did you see? As easy as that."
Turning to see if they understood the lesson, I saw the two having their mouths wide open, while the smokie one had his smoke frozen in motion.
They obviously didn't understand...
Magnanimous as I am, I was about to open a new tear and close it right after to demonstrate the method again, when they reacted strongly. They all kneeled in the empty vacuum with a thud and then began crawling to me.
Before I could make sense of the situation, the leading one had already reached me and hugged my leg in a vice.
He spoke very fast, and, even if I didn't fully grasp their spoken language, I could discern he kept stuttering and was making mistakes. For even losing his ability to make coherent phrases he must have been beyond agitated; crazed even.
"W-what are you doing?!" I immediately freaked out because I wasn't expecting such combination of actions.
As he alone wasn't enough, the other two were close to reaching me! I needed to do something before they hugged me too!
Any notion I had about educating them; I tossed away on the spot.
In that moment the only thought I had was getting away as quickly as possible.
Unwilling to annihilate the one hugging me - he wasn't offending me or anything - I slightly shook my leg in an attempt to shake him off.
In my bewilderment, he held on; not what I was expecting from a mortal of this cosmos. I upped the strength I was putting on my leg by a minuscule amount and fortunately I was freed from his hugging vice.
Before he could find his footing and stand up again, and just before the other two reached me, I opened my fastest space rift bridge yet in my infinite existence and jumped inside it in a hurry.
I didn't let myself relax, not until I closed its entrance behind me and I was sure I wasn't followed.
'Phew, that was one hell of a predicament! They didn't seem to be such weirdos from the beginning of our interaction. Thankfully, they shed their camouflage and showed their true colors for me to witness, giving me the chance to dodge their weirdness early."