Omens

*(Kael’s point of view)*

The wind cut across our faces as we ran through the rubble. The air was thick with dust and death, and the unsettling feeling that someone was following us kept me on high alert. Lena and Mia ran ahead, with Lily holding tightly to Lena’s hand. The girl was stronger than she looked, but her small body had limits, and we were all nearing ours.

As we moved through the deserted streets, a heavy feeling settled inside me. **I was an intruder here — an alien being among the ruins of a world that wasn’t mine.** Everything I saw — the destroyed houses, the broken people — served as a constant reminder that my species had played a part in Earth’s downfall. The interplanetary war had left a trail of suffering, and now I was walking over those ashes as a stranger, trying to survive alongside the few who remained.

I kept asking myself: **Do they know?** Do they know that my people contributed to all of this? Does Lena think about it, even if she never says anything? No matter how much I wanted to help, I carried the weight of guilt within me — guilt that grew with every step I took beside her.

“This way!” Mia called, her voice a low, urgent whisper, pulling me out of my thoughts.

We rounded a narrow corner between the crumbling buildings. The walls seemed on the verge of collapsing on us, as fragile as the lives left on this planet. There was something brutally human about this broken world. **They were destroying each other just to survive.** Hunters — humans who had abandoned all morality — had become the greatest threat. The destruction that began in space had spread like poison, tainting everything in its path.

I wondered if I had any right to be there. **If my very presence on this world was an insult to the memory of those who had been killed.**

“This is it,” Mia said, pointing to an abandoned warehouse and pushing the rusted door open.

We slipped inside, closing the door behind us with a dry clank. Silence enveloped us again, but the weight in my chest didn’t ease. I didn’t belong here.This planet didn’t want me, yet I stayed — for Lena, for Lily. It was all I could do. The feeling of being out of place was constant, like a persistent echo that wouldn’t leave, no matter how hard I tried to silence it.

Mia and Lena crouched on the floor, catching their breath. Lily, exhausted, clung to Lena’s hand with the same determination she clung to life. There she was, a child who had lost everything, still moving forward, small and fragile. And there I was, an alien burdened with guilt and empty promises, trying to find a way to belong in this world.

“Do you think they lost us?” Mia whispered.

“No,” I answered without hesitation. “They’re still out there. Hunters never give up.”

They were human. I wasn’t.And yet, ironically, it was the humans who had become the monsters. Earth had turned into a jungle, and I felt more at home among these broken people than I ever had among my own kind. That was the bitter irony I carried with me: Even as a stranger, my soul seemed more connected to the suffering of this place than to the stars I came from.

“How many do you think there are?” Lena asked, her voice low but steady.

“It’s hard to say, but they usually travel in groups.” I paused, listening. “We don’t have much time.”

Mia took a deep breath, as if summoning the courage to continue. “I know a hideout. If we can get there, we might stand a chance.”

“Then let’s go,” Lena said without hesitation.

As we left the warehouse and ran through the streets, a part of me knew I would never belong to this world. But I couldn’t leave them behind. There was an invisible thread connecting us — something I didn’t fully understand but couldn’t let go of. Lena was that thread. Maybe I’d never have a true home, but with her, it was the closest I’d ever get to one.

At last, we spotted the entrance to the hideout: a manhole cover, partially hidden by overgrown plants and debris. Mia rushed ahead, yanking the cover open with a metallic groan.

“Go down,” I ordered, and Lena helped Lily climb down first. Mia followed, disappearing into the darkness below.

Once they were safe, I was the last to descend, closing the cover behind me. The metallic clang echoed through the narrow tunnel, and for a moment, we were swallowed by the dark. **It was a familiar feeling.** Being in the dark, lost and out of place — just as I always had been.

“There’s a flashlight in the backpack,” Lena whispered beside me.

I switched it on, and the dim light revealed a narrow, damp tunnel stretching out before us. The walls dripped with water, and the air was heavy, but it was a relief to know we were far from the surface — far from the hunters, at least for now.

“This way,” Mia said, leading us through the shadows.

As we walked through the tunnel, the silence felt heavier than before. **The weight of a war that wasn’t mine, yet had become a part of me.**

We reached a small underground chamber. There were supplies inside — water bottles, some canned food, and candles. Lena exhaled, exhausted. “This should keep us going for a while.”

We sat on the cold ground, drained. Lily fell asleep in Lena’s arms, her face soft and peaceful in sleep. Mia, though visibly relieved, still held a wary expression. I understood.

**I was a creature from another world, trying to fit into a place that wasn’t mine.** Maybe I never would. Maybe I never should. But that didn’t matter. As long as Lena was by my side, as long as Lily had a chance to survive, I would do everything I could.