Ender Eyes Chapter 1

       Xephos look out over the cold ocean, the sharp wind of Craggy Island whipping at his face. White seabirds wheeled in the pale blue sky as thin grey clouds skimmed high above them. His crystal blue eyes faintly glowed, barely visible in the bright winter sun. He shivered and pulled his silk and leather coat up around his shoulders, before turning around to his shirtless dwarven friend, wondering how he could even bare the crisp winter chill while being dressed so briefly. He jumped down from his perch on the rocks and trudged towards the half finished building, strong gusts of wind buffeting him, almost knocking him off balance. Walking in between the two towering bronze pillars, he made his way over to an abandoned project, the remains of a forgotten dream. Xephos sighed, the glint in his eyes dimming slightly, as he saw his reflection on a curved piece of metal that would have formed part of the body of a rocket. He swallowed his emotions as he remembered the main reason why he hadn't been able to finish it was because Lalna wasn't around anymore, presumably dead. A pang of guilt struck him as he realised that wasn't even a large problem compared to what had happened to Nanosounds. Lalna's castle had been consumed by his Flux Node after he wasn't there to tame it, and poor Nano had been caught in a Flux explosion, mutating her into a monster.

       Xephos pushed the uncomfortable thoughts out of his mind, it was too late to fix this, and was not worth worrying about. He stumbled towards the small beach, covered in knee deep quicksand, and proceded to push out the small wooden boat which was gently rocking in the low tide.

       "Honeydew!" He yelled, turning around to see if the short man's attention had been alerted. Seeing the dwarf's face turned towards him from atop a tall hill, he continued "I'm going out sailing for a bit, I don't know when I'll be back, so please don't break anything when I'm gone!" The dwarf nodded and turned back to what he was doing. Xephos sighed, he knew for sure while Honeydew was left to his own devices that something was bound to go wrong, but nevertheless he continued pushing the boat into deeper water. He just needed to be somewhere quiet where the air was clear and he was alone. Xephos clambered up into the boat and unfurled the sail. A strong gust of wind caught in it and the boat began to skim across the crests of the rocky waves.

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       Honeydew scratched his bushy, ginger beard thoughtfully as he watched his spaceman friend sail on towards the horizon and out of sight. Turning back to the hole he was digging. Xephos had been a lot more reserved since Lalna had gone, he thought to himself, and a lot more irritable too. Sure they used to have arguments frequently, but they had always been good friends, and they had a common desire, to travel to space and explore the universe. For Lalna, being a scientist, he wanted to research the galaxies, find new life, conduct experiments, and whatever other strange things he wanted to do. But for Xephos- Honeydew lowered his pickaxe and sighed. All Xephos really ever wanted was to find his home, wherever that was, and whoever was there. Now that Lalna was gone it was presumably never going to happen, because although the spaceman was talented in the field of science, his determination - and knowledge of rockets and missiles - never matched the scientist's.



       The dwarf threw down his pick and strode outside the small cave he had been carving out of the hill. Sitting down on a muddy rock, he stared out over the glassy flat ocean, which was reflecting the purple-grey hue of the sunset. Ominous clouds glowered under the belly of the sky, threatening an imminent winter storm that was soon to come.