Azer sat on the medical bed. He was no longer screaming, no longer laughing, and no longer trying to explain what happened in a sarcastic way. He slowly raised his gaze towards the transparent glass stretching in front of him. The ship was cutting through space at a steady speed, distant objects pulling away behind it.
'So this means I wasn't abducted… I died, and I was placed into someone else's body.'
He fell silent for a moment, then added:
'How strange.'
Azer looked at the silver-skinned woman. She was standing before him, her body is stiff, and her are eyes watching him with caution she didn't hide. At that moment he
realised something.
'I scared her.'
He exhaled slowly, then took a single step closer and said calmly:
"Sorry. I think I acted strangely."
He looked at her for a second, then asked:
"What's your name?"
She froze for a moment.
"My name…?"
She stared at him, trying to find any sign of recognition in his face, but didn't found anything.
"You really… don't remember."
He nodded lightly:
"No."
A short silence passed. Then she said:
"My name is Lasilva."
Azer replied calmly:
"Nice to meet you."
The ship moved forward, and a massive planet slowly filled the view beyond the glass. Its color was sandy yellow, with wide landmasses, scattered dark patches, and very few, distant seas. It wasn't beautiful at all.
Lasilva said quietly:
"We've arrived. This is Raxel planet."
Azer studied the planet as he stepped closer to the glass.
'Raxel… so this is my new home. I wonder… is it like Earth?'
He had never seen Earth from the outside before. He didn't even know its true shape. All he had ever known was soil beneath his feet and sky above him.
Lasilva said:
"The ship will land in a few minutes."
The ship began entering the planet's orbit, and the sense of gravity weakened. Azer felt something strange. His feet no longer pressed against the surface like before. He moved slightly, and his body lifted from the bed without meaning to. Only a few centimeters, but it was enough.
He froze. He stared at his feet floating in the air and said in shock:
"What?!"
He moved his arm, and his body slowly drifted backward, his shoulder is hitting the wall lightly. His eyes widened.
"I'm… flying?"
He turned in confusion, trying to steady himself, but every movement pushed him in another direction.
"Are aliens so advanced that flying is normal now?!"
Lasilva sighed sharply:
"Idiot."
She pushed herself lightly toward him and grabbed his arm before he drifted further.
"This isn't flying. The ship entered the orbit. Gravity here isn't stable. What you're feeling is the result of motion and speed. Orbital transition, centrifugal force, mass balance, stabilization systems—"
Azer stared at her with a blank face.
"H–huh?!"
He didn't understood anything from what she said. He caught a few words, but couldn't connect them to anything he knew.
She narrowed her eyes, then said:
"However… don't move too much."
The wall trembled slightly, then the sensation suddenly changed. Weight returned to the body, but unevenly.
Lasilva said quickly:
"Landing has begun. Fasten your seatbelt immediately—"
Azer was suddenly pulled forward as gravity returned. At the same moment, Lasilva moved toward her seat, but he collided with her. His forehead hit her shoulder, their limbs tangled for a brief, awkward moment, then they both lost balance in a ridiculous way.
Lasilva shouted as she tried to push him away:
"Ah! Get off!"
Azer stumbled half a step, then fell sitting on the floor, stunned.
She shouted, pointing nervously at the seats:
"Sit there and buckle up! Now!"
The seats began emitting an intermittent warning sound, and the ship tilted slightly. Azer stared at her for a second, then finally moved, crawling toward the nearest seat while muttering in a tone closer to laughter than fear:
"Okay… okay… I got it."
He finally reached the seat and sat down awkwardly. He grabbed the belt, pulled it the wrong way, then another.
"This… doesn't make any sense."
Lasilva sighed hard, then lightly pushed herself toward him and moved his hands aside.
"Stop."
She grabbed the belt, pulled it in one quick motion, secured it across his chest, and locked it. The ship suddenly shook and accelerated. Azer felt his body dragged backward with force.
The belt pressed into his chest, his breath rushed out all at once, and he screamed:
"Aaah!"
It was a scream of someone who realized the world had suddenly decided to move faster than his thoughts.
"Why! Why didn't anyone tell me entering a planet is done like this?!"
The speed increased. Indicators on the walls lit up, and the ship tilted slightly.
He laughed between screams:
"This is insane! Who approved this design?!"
Lasilva looked at him from her seat, perfectly steady.
"Shut up."
But Azer didn't hear her.
"If I survive this—"
He stopped to catch his breath.
"I'll need a minute to decide whether I like this planet or not!"
The ship shook one last time, harsher than before. A short, sharp laugh escaped him against his will. The pressure suddenly intensified. Azer's chest tightened, the air vanished for a long second, his vision narrowed. The sounds cut out, the shaking stopped, and his head fell to the side.
Several minutes later… consciousness slowly returned. He opened his eyes with difficulty and tried to move his head. The world spun slightly.
"Ah… my head… did we reach the ground?"
Lasilva stood in front of him and leaned down slightly to meet his gaze.
"Don't move too fast. The pressure during landing knocked you out."
He looked at her with unfocused eyes and said hoarsely:
"Is… the show over?"
She replied with a small smile:
"It's over. We've arrived at Raxel."
Azer slowly lifted his gaze. Beyond the glass, the horizon stretched endlessly. Pale yellow land, cracked and dry, with no trace of blue. No oceans, no forests, only vast barren plains broken by uneven rocky formations.
Lasilva moved behind him, stepped closer, then leaned down and released the belt lock in one motion.
She said calmly:
"Come."
He turned slowly, stood up, and followed her toward the exit. The outer door opened slowly. A wave of dry, dust-filled air rushed in and hit Azer's face. The light was harsher than inside the ship.
He stepped outside. Below him stood a neat line of people. Men and women in dark formal clothing, metal emblems on their chests, guards standing on both sides with polished weapons. There were smiles, light bows, clear looks of welcome. Azer stopped suddenly, staring at the crowd in awe.
'All of this… is for me?'
The line parted down the middle, and one man stepped forward. He was in his forties. He've got a dark brown hair, red eyes like Azer's, and a neatly kept beard. Wrinkles under his eyes.
He stopped in front of Azer and looked at him for a long moment. Azer felt something tighten in his chest. Not fear, but recognition.
'The king.'
He looked around again. The guards. The crew. The ship behind him.
'So this is real.'
He returned his gaze to the man before him.
'I'm the Crown Prince now… my previous life is over.'
The man stepped closer and bowed slightly. Before Azer could understand what was happening, the man moved forward again and hugged him. His strong arms wrapped around him suddenly. The embrace was heavy and warm. Azer's eyes widened.
'W–what?'
He froze, his body unsure how to respond. He didn't raise his hands. He didn't pull away. Then he heard the king's voice close to his ear, low and broken:
"Azer. I thought… I had lost you. They said you wouldn't return. I was ready to live the rest of my life without seeing you again."
The embrace tightened briefly, then loosened. Only then… Azer understood.
'This man… he is… he's my father!'
The king stepped back but kept his hands on Azer's shoulders, staring at his face as if he's making sure he was real.
"I missed you."
Azer stayed silent. He looked at his father, at his red eyes, the wrinkles, the exhaustion that was clear in his features. Azer froze for a second.
'What am I supposed to say now?'
He didn't know what the king was talking about. He didn't know what had been lost, how long he had been gone, or which version of "Azer" this man was used to.
Pretending? A bad idea. He wasn't good at it at all. He opened his mouth, closed it, then exhaled lightly. He lifted his shoulders in an instinctive gesture, and an awkward honest smile appeared on his face.
He said hesitantly:
"Well… if that was a hug from someone who missed me that much, then I guess I'm alive enough to reassure you."
He paused, noticed his father's shocked expression, then quickly added:
"I'm fine. Really. Nothing's broken… I think."
A short laugh escaped him unintentionally.
"I went through some strange things, but…"
He waved his hand carelessly.
"Looks like I made it in the end."
The king stared at him in disbelief, then said slowly and quietly:
"You've… changed a lot."
Azer blinked and didn't answer. The king kept his hands on his shoulders, but his grip loosened slightly. His red eyes never left Azer's face, as if he's searching for something lost within the same features.
'This isn't his voice, and not his manner. He was quieter… and more sensitive.'
His jaw tightened slightly.
'What did they do to him? Was he tortured? Was something inside him broken?'
He studied the awkward smile, the casual manner, the words spoken without political weight or royal caution.
'Or was it me… who never truly knew him?'
The king took a deep breath, then finally lowered his hands and straightened his posture.
"What matters… is that you're back."
They stood facing each other… a father afraid of what he missed, and a son who didn't know what he was supposed to remember, under a yellow sky…
At this moment, a story began that no one of them was fully ready for.