I am... | SKZ [ Book 2 ]

WHO? 1

"They were here..."

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They gapped in awe at the sight in front of them.

The desert-like plain outstretched all round them, seeming never ending. The sands were warm and golden, as well as many dark green and red, small plants around them, along with a few bodies of water, all which they had never seen before. But the most breathtaking sight of all was not the ground in which they stepped on, but rather, what was truly never ending and unreachable to them at the time.

In the system, daytime and nighttime were artificially manipulated, as was weather. There were fake clouds, sure, but the sight was not as beautiful as the real thing. The morning sky was light blue, and would just turn darker as the day was ending.

None of them would have ever imagined that a real sunset looked like this. Not just a darkening blue, but rather a mix of oranges, pinks, yellows, blues, and lilacs. They didn't know the sky could hold such colours. Changing swiftly, the sky went from a cool lilac with pink clouds to a much warmer orange as the sun kept setting.

What the system did was truly a despicable thing, robbing people of such beautiful skies, colours, and foliage.

The sight left them speechless. They had no words to say as they walked through the desert-like plain.

Soon, they were walking on barren land, nothing but pure, golden soil, the only different sight being the shinny, yet brownish in front of them. The system taught swimming and had pools, but nothing like that would ever compare to a real, natural body of water. They stared at the top, glass-like surface and looked at their reflections, laughing when light bushes of wind rippled the still waters' surface and deforming their faces in the reflection.

Seeing how it was getting darker, they kept walking until they were under a large bridge and decided to set in there for the night.

The cool, windy night, was calm, and the boys had made a bonfire to give them light and warmth as they used their last scraps of supplies as food. Before they knew it, they had all collapsed in deep sleep, being exhausted from another adventurous day.

All but one soul were asleep.

Staring at the sky above him, he removed one of his hands from under his head and reached upwards as if he were reaching for them. He closed his hand and brought it in front of his face, smiling softly, yet fondly. "I will never forget this sight." He said to himself, voice barely audible in order to not wake up the other eight who were soundly sleeping.

He turned to his side and closed his eyes, hoping to be able to sleep, but his eyes just kept being drawn to the sight above him.

The night sky was not pitch black like in the system, but rather a deep, dark blue, littered with tiny, mostly white bright specs scattered around, either individually, or in clusters. It looked like glitter, but far prettier. Some places just looked like shiny, silver clouds from how many of them were clustered together. A few ones could be seen that were different colours, mainly red and blue, but most were singular so they did not make different coloured shiny clouds.

He remembered learning some about it in the system. They were like the sun, yet far, far smaller, and not hot enough to provide life. They were invisible during the day, due to the bright sunlight, yet supposedly visible during the night. The system said that due to the "necessary" night lights, these shiny spots were not visible. But here? In a land where there are no artificial bright, night lights? They were shinning as bright as ever and as astonishing as one could have imagined. They were beautiful. They were... indescribable. They were... They were... stars.