Author's Note: Hello dear readers, a quick heads up. If you see weird words and phrases like this: "H§ll# de@r re@d§rs, h#u @r§ y#o?", it's just a way for me to show that the ones, in this case, this question is addressed too, don't understand the language spoken to them, not fully at least. If you can't make heads or tails of the phrase, then don't worry! Go back to the previous -Archive Log- chapter if you haven't read it yet and you will see its true form! That's it from me, enjoy reading!
When two of their temporary teammates rushed towards the stranger, although they tried to warn them to be careful, they didn't actually believe there was any chance for them to lose.
When Son'nir the Hedgehog was devoured by the stranger's conjured black hole in the blink of an eye, they couldn't believe what their eyes were seeing.
When Bob also met the same fate as Son'nir, they feared they had stepped into a hellish nightmare.
Then came the "vanishing act". As if he was a parlor trick magician doing his usual disappearing act, he made the devouring black abyss vanish into thin air with just a simple wave of his hand.
And then, when he looked over and oh so naturally started heading their way, they could have sworn to anybody who might have asked them at the time, that they felt death reaching his hands towards them, wanting to take them.
"BY THE SEVEN ANCESTORS, HE'S COMING THIS WAY!"
"Son'nir and Bob are not even space dust anymore, and now It's going to be our turn! What do we do?!"
Both Claw'Ron and Gas freaked out of their wits and lost it. They kept screaming in horror not knowing what to do, if there was anything they could even do at all...
In hopes of finding a "pillar" to hold on, they turned towards Khar'hon, the strongest of them.
"What do we do Khar'hon?!" they hurriedly asked.
"How the hell should I know?!" was the answer they got.
They couldn't believe it, but he was helpless too.
"That kind of power...not even the top ten seats possess! How am I supposed to content with that?!" he spurted out, frustrated from self-acknowledging that his strength and power was far lacking compared to the stranger's.
After listening to Khar'hon, they dropped to their knees in despair and could only watch as the walking death was approaching them with his every step.
Meanwhile, Khar'hon was racking his brains to find a way out of this predicament and escape with his life.
Finally, the stranger reached them and stopped. Claw'Ron and Gas closed their eyes, helplessly accepting their inevitable fate while Khar'hon lamented inside for being incapable of thinking a plan to live.
Unexpectedly though, even after a couple of moments later, death didn't come to claim them. Claw'Ron and Gas opened their eyes wondering, only to be met by the stranger's silent glare.
Khar'hon was also puzzled when he wasn't killed, but more so was he exhilarated. That was because those extra few seconds were just enough for a feasible survival plan to come into mind.
Throwing caution to the wind, Khar'hon faced the stranger in the eyes to the best of his willpower and then raced his arm towards a direction.
"Esteemed senior, if you spare my life and follow me, I will guide you to a spatial pocket we had recently discovered." said Khar'hon, with no semblance of looking guilty on his countenance.
Claw'Ron and Gas were shocked beyond compare after hearing their teammate giving away a shared secret to save his own skin.
"Why do you have those shocked faces on? The only way we may survive is by giving this senior something in exchange for our lives. Anyway, if we die, that place won't be worth anything to us." Khar'hon emotionally stated.
Although they had just heard him outright trying to save himself and knew better than trust his words about doing it for all of them, they had to admit, his general reasoning around his plan to avoid death sounded feasible enough.
Without any other way out to escape the danger in front of them coming to mind, they could only go along with Khar'hon's alleged altruistic plan.
They slowly picked themselves up and went to stand next to Khar'hon in silence.
Along with them, Khar'hon kept watching the stranger for a moment longer. Receiving no answer from him about his offer, he took it as a silent agreement and began showing him the way.
Even if he was wrong and his silence was not an indication for a silent agreement, Khar'hon believed that the moment the stranger saw the spatial pocket he would agree to let him go.
And he won't let him go by the goodness of his heart or because of some silly thing like honor, but because the moment he sees the spatial pocket he wouldn't care for someone little as him, not even to kill him - that much was the allure of a discovered spatial pocket and its treasures.
Along the way, Claw'Ron and Gas stayed silent and looked straight ahead. They didn't dare look back and inquire about the stranger's displeasure.
On the other hand, Khar'hon mind was turning, brainstorming the different outcomes they may find themselves in after reaching their destination and ways to escape any of them that would prove life-threatening.
Between the constant worry of the two and the contingency plans Khar'hon thought of, they arrive at their destination without even realizing it.
At once, they saw the stranger react upon seeing it. He passed through them and stared at the spatial pocket for a moment.
Khar'hon was grinning inside watching the stranger being in awe.
'So far, so good' he thought.
Meanwhile, Gas and Claw'Ron were still full of worry about their fates.
Then, the stranger turned and spoke for the first time.
"W§r§ y#u th§ on§s wh# op§ned this te@r @nd left it li&e this?"
"Wh# d*n't y#u cl#se it?"
The moment they heard the stranger speak they were shocked speechless. The expected familiar language they learned and knew their whole lives was replaced by a completely unfamiliar one.
They weren't even sure if it was a proper language they had heard. It mostly sounded like some kind of broken recording which had weird noises like frequency parasites in between the letters.
While some others, in between sounds they resembled somewhat their language, they were not enough to help them understand the entirety of the stranger's speech.
It didn't make sense to them at all. There was no reason for someone of their own not to speak their language and instead speak one that was unfamiliar to them.
With no way of answering the dreadful stranger, they could only keep quiet.
After a moment of silence, the stranger went on to ask something and then said something again.
During that small window of time listening again to the unfamiliar language, a sudden theory surfaced in their minds.
Logically, there wouldn't be someone of their race speaking in another language with the exception of course being, if he was someone as old as their current ancestor or even older, who at some point of time, many eons ago, secluded himself for training and only got out recently.
That could explain the vast difference in their language as, in so many years between their respective generations, the original language undergone significant changes in his absence.