Chương 60: Maya’s Planet

Again, the familiar purple portal mana engulfed us whole when we stepped in. We were leaving Planet 502, the planet that Theo had claimed and spent numerous hours shedding blood, sweat and tears on whilst fighting countless swarms of mana beasts. And we were soon going to arrive on Planet 504, the planet that Maya had claimed, the planet where Maya had earned her lavish crown. As the portal mana dispersed and we stepped out of the portal, my friends burst into conversation.

"Did you enjoy being on my planet?" Theo asked.

"Of course," Ben replied.

"I didn't expect the planet to have trees, grass and bushes, let alone a large, monstrous cave. That bear you defeated in that throne room seemed threatening. I can't believe you defeated it."

"Well, defeating that thing was a challenge. It was able to launch me into the door. I thought that was the end of me, but my healing skill miraculously fully healed the wounds before I returned home."

"You defeated that thing all by yourself," Maya said dreamily.

"You're so strong. Now that your strength skill has levelled up, I can't wait to see you in action again." Theo gave Maya a smirk devoid of any indignation.

"Well, we're on your planet now, Maya, so you're the expert. Tell us what's going on."

"Well firstly, I didn't build that ladder," Maya explained, pointing to the ladder leading up to the surface. It didn't have the same shine as the one Theo had built; that was probably because the ladder we were looking at was significantly older, built by other Hoppers who had explored the planet previously.

"Someone else built it. I don't know who, but it can still be used. Follow me guys, since I'll be your tour guide for the day." Once Maya finished adjusting the crown on her head, she began climbing up the ladder, followed by Theo, Ben, Daniel, and then me. Clack, clack, clack. Clack, clack, clack.

"Does anybody know how deep down these portal rooms are?" Ben inquired, asking the question to nobody in particular.

"It's a question that's been bugging me for ages, and I feel like I need to know the answer soon otherwise I might explode."

"It's like a hundred feet," Theo replied.

"I think I remember Cayman saying it once. I don't remember when, but I remember him saying it."

"A hundred feet?" Maya chimed in.

"I feel like if I don't upgrade my stamina soon, I might soon fall behind and lose all of my strength before I even reach the surface."

"True," was Daniel's blunt, emotionless reply.

"Oh, Daniel, how can you be saying that? You're one of the strongest kids in our year group! How can this be a challenge for you?" I wanted to laugh at Maya chastising her brother, but I couldn't muster the courage to let out any noise from my mouth. Just listening to my friends arguing was enough to elicit laughter inside my body.

"If it's a challenge for everyone else, then how the hell is it not a challenge for me? How am I different?"

"Look at your muscles," Maya muttered.

"With those things stuck to your body, you can literally beat Ben to a pulp if you want to."

"Hey, don't include me in this!" Ben pleaded, looking down at the top of Daniel's head.

"I'm not Theo Parker," Daniel said, his voice devoid of any emotion.

"I'm not a jock like him. I just happen to be good at everything. I'm not like Theo, someone who can build a hundred-foot long ladder up to the surface. I can't withstand manual labour for that long. It'll kill me."

"Don't belittle yourself!" Silence ensued. It was evident that Maya couldn't bear to hear his brother's self-deprecating remarks for any longer, since she zipped her mouth shut soon after saying those words. And soon, after a tumultuous climb, we reached the surface of the planet. What hit me first wasn't what the planet had to offer, however. It was the stifling heat on the surface which significantly juxtaposed the temperature on Theo's planet.

"Holy crap!" Ben shouted.

"Why is it so hot up here?" I could feel perspiration trickling down my back already. To think that Maya had to endure the heat on a planet like this one filled my brain with insanity. And yet the only person who didn't feel the effects of this scorching heat was Maya. Her forehead showed no signs of shedding sweat, nor did sweat trickle down her back. Instantly, I knew why. With that opulent crown safely nestled on her head, she was living life as if she was still on Theo's planet.

"I want to take my shirt off," Ben said desperately.

"This heat is too much for me to handle."

"I implore you not to. I don't want to see any of you boys shirtless." Maya wasn't scolding just Ben; that was a clear message delivered to all of us boys. Ben nodded gloomily, keeping his shirt on. The white t-shirt he had been wearing already showed signs of his extreme perspiration; in just a few minutes, it would be sticking to his back like strong glue. Once Maya finished reprimanding us, we could finally gaze at our surroundings whilst suffering from the equatorial heat inside this colossal sauna.

The similarities were indeed uncanny: the trees, bushes and grass were all a similar shade of green, and there was a layer of leaves shielding us from the sun's radiation. However, this forest seemed more like a rainforest, whilst the one on Theo's planet was more like a regular forest. I could deduce this from the heat and humidity that greeted us when we reached the surface.

"So, shall we start moving then?" Theo asked, wiping the sweat on the back of his neck with his hand.

"Maya, I can see why you needed to take a shower in that stream."

"Can we go to that stream?" Ben asked desperately; his face was literally a magnet which attracted sweat.

"I think I need a shower." Maya nodded, then turned around and started walking. We followed suit, lumbering towards the source of relief for our overly sweaty bodies. Clack, clack, clack. The grass on this planet wasn't as soft as the grass back on Theo's planet, but it still felt like walking on a mattress. I couldn't fully embody maximum comfort, however, since the heat and humidity made walking around feel like traversing a mountain. Soon, however, a surge of relief filled our bodies.

For we had just arrived at a source of water. The source of water, which was akin to a stream or a small river, carried crystal-clear water and small currents pushed the water along the stream, all the way to its mouth. In the absence of dirt and other rubbish, this stream looked perfect for bathing and drinking. There weren't even any signs of Maya taking a shower in this stream during her solo mission.

"Enjoy," Maya said heartily, standing by the side of the stream.

"You guys can take a shower here. You can even take off those sweaty clothes. I won't look. I'll try and find the items that I left here during my solo mission."

"Sure. See you soon." And with that, Maya disappeared into the thick wilderness.

Having left the boys to take a shower in the stream, Maya walked in the direction where she left her stuff. During her solo mission, she had set up camp near the stream, where she put down the bag filled with all her essentials. And because of the overwhelming fatigue that attacked her after the mission, she had forgotten to take them home with her when she left.

"They have to be here somewhere." She was positive that she had taken the boys to the same stream she had drank water from and took a shower in during her solo mission. So where were her things? A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"I hope the other Hoppers haven't taken it." After what felt like hours of rummaging through the bushes and checking gaps between trees, she found it. The tent that she had set up during her solo mission. The heap of sticks that she was going to use to make a fire. The bush she had hid behind to avoid being caught. All of it. She had found all of it. A wave of nostalgia entered Maya's brain; she felt like shedding a tear.

Everything that she had left behind to go and chase those two Hoppers was still here, waiting for its rightful owner to claim them back. Since the crown was doing its job of preventing Maya from sweating to perfection, Maya knelt down and opened the door to the tent, revealing a large camping bag, a sleeping bag and an inflatable pillow. The inside of the tent was laden with insufferable heat, but with the crown nestled on her head, heat wasn't going to be an issue.

"Good. Despite me claiming the planet, nobody's claimed my stuff." Hastily, Maya rolled up her sleeping bag and deflated her pillow, then stuffed them both into her camping bag. Then she placed the camping bag into her inventory and exited the tent. Using almost all her raw strength, Maya then took out all the pegs holding the tent firmly on the ground, then rolled up her tent and placed it in her inventory. Finally, she thought. I have all my stuff back now.

Once everything was tucked away nicely in her inventory, Maya stood up, brushed the dirt away from her clothes and walked back towards the stream where the boys were busy basking in the glory of cold water.

"Are you guys done yet?" she called out.

"We don't have all day."

"Yeah, we're done." That was all she needed; she didn't really care who gave the response. If all the boys had finished doing their thing, the group could carry on and delve deeper into this enigmatic planet.

Sadly, our time in the stream was not infinite. It is similar to the feeling you get on the beach on a hot summer's day where you just don't want to leave because there's mild sea water on offer and there's a place where you can bask in the sunlight and just stay motionless for hours on end. Our short holiday on the stream has finally come to an end.

"Are you guys done yet?" We heard Maya's voice in the distance.

"Yeah, we're done," Ben replied, not knowing whether Maya could hear his voice. Splash! Splash! Being in the stream significantly cooled our bodies down, ensuring that our body temperatures didn't spike abruptly. But finally, it was time to explore what this planet had to offer. Splash! Splash!

"Ugh! Don't get me wet!"

"Sorry, Maya." Unsurprisingly, it was Ben who was the culprit behind all the splashing. When Maya reappeared, she signalled for us to leave the stream and follow her. And after a while, it was back to admiring the allure of this untouched, vast rainforest in all its glory. Clack, clack, clack.

"This is roughly the path I took whilst following those two Hoppers," Maya explained with unwavering confidence.

"I had to be as discreet as possible so that they wouldn't notice me. I had set my home base near that stream, and when I saw the Hoppers walking near my home base, I had to hide behind a bush to avoid running into them."

"And they didn't find you," Theo added.

"They didn't find me."

"That's crazy," Maya's brother mused.

"You hid behind a bush to evade several Hoppers. Did they not see you from behind the bush?" Maya proudly shook her head, fixing her crown afterwards.

"Sometimes, you just have to rely on a stroke of luck," she said gleefully. Clack, clack, clack.

"Why did you follow the Hoppers?" Daniel asked his sister after a period of eerie silence.

"I thought they knew the place where the mana beasts lurked. Using my skill, I managed to discern the truth, and they indirectly led me to where all the missions were."

"Crazy," Daniel said unconsciously. Then he suddenly turned around and asked Maya, "Wait, what is your main skill?" Maya sighed and let her head fall into her hands. She was about to become a volcano of anger, erupting all of her fury and snapping at us.

"I thought I told you this already. How bad can your memory get?" Daniel shrugged his shoulders. In response, with her head still in her hands, Maya shook her head wildly. When she looked up and tossed back a few cascading strands of hair, she said, "I can read minds. I basically read their minds and deduced the truth. Remember this, brother, because I might actually beat you up if you don't." Daniel's face contorted and he averted his gaze from his infuriated sister.

These were the conversations I was accustomed to as a member of this bizarre friend group consisting of two former bullies, someone who always took a neutral stance, three people born on a completely different planet, one boisterous, zealous queen and me, a kid with serious social ineptitude who just wanted to read novels in solitude all day. I was laughing on the inside, but I wasn't letting it show. Eventually, after more bickering, we reached the focal point of this planet. And unsurprisingly, it was a cave.

"Go in," Maya said simply.

"Go in and explore." And so we did. The presence of the cave reinforced the idea that Maya's planet showed the semblance of Theo's planet, and I experienced a subtle sense of déjà vu just by standing outside the cave. The entrances to the caves were basically identical. I had seen many caves in my lifetime, but these two were the only two that resembled each other so closely that it was easy for me to mix them up. Clop, clop, clop.

As soon as we entered the cave, my vision was shrouded in a layer of black that could literally redefine the word 'darkness'. The absence of light was enough for me to not know where my pockets were as I struggled to reach for a mana crystal. Eventually, though, I found a mana crystal inside my pocket, and finally, there was some sort of brightness inside the cave.

"Holy crap." Daniel, his left hand holding a mana crystal, stared at something on the floor.

"I just kicked this. What the hell is this?"

"It's a corpse," Ben replied briefly.

"What does it look like to you?"

"Oh," Maya gasped, thoroughly studying the corpse that Daniel had just walked into.

"That's the beast that I defeated reflexively because it was charging at me. I was watching the other Hoppers defeat beasts when this one charged at me at full speed, and I reacted by killing it."

"Right…" Daniel's words trailed off.

"Anyways," Maya continued.

"Let's keep on walking. There will be a fork in the road, where I'll let you split into two groups. Think about which path you want to take, and just stand in front of the cave you want to enter."

"Got it." Soon, despite darkness still being the dominant force of the cave, I could make out the large cave splitting into two small ones. It reminded me of Devon, who would split himself into clones whenever he was in training. It was like Devon creating a clone and splitting himself into two. I stood in front of the cave to the left, which was the one that Maya and Daniel had chosen. Theo and Ben had chosen the cave to the right.

"Alright, let's go," Maya declared, and we entered our respective caves. As I traversed this obstacle alongside Daniel and Maya, Maya kept talking, describing her mission in great detail for her brother to hear. Whenever we encountered a corpse, we would stop to study it meticulously.

"I defeated that," Maya said boldly, her voice unwavering.

"When I was here during my solo mission, I chose the left path. So all of the dead beasts here were defeated by me." As we delved deeper into this monotonous cave, we could see isolated specks of light. Maya, who saw the light first, began running towards the source without even considering the possibility of falling over and injuring herself. After all, for her, those were just secondary thoughts. The primary thoughts inside her brain, such as her brimming curiosity, were the most prominent.

"It's mana crystals!" She had picked up all the loose mana crystals from the beasts that were reduced to nothing but bones. Some were blue, but some were ominous, representing danger, warning us of the peril that lies ahead. In summary, they were red. Nobody said anything until a speck of yellow light appeared in our field of vision for the first time, prompting Daniel to open his mouth and break the seemingly unending silence.

"What is that?"

"You'll see," Maya replied with a giant smile on her face, although that was barely visible due to this cave being devoid of any light. Although Maya didn't say anything else, Daniel continued to pester his sister with questions.

"Is that the exit? Is this cave actually a tunnel? What will we find beyond this cave?"

"It's a surprise. After all, if I tell you what's beyond, will it really be a surprise? It'll just be spoilers." My curiosity was about to take over, trying to force me to start sprinting towards the source of the light. And from all the pestering Daniel had been doing, I could tell that we had similar feelings. However, due to safety reasons, we had to walk all the way to where the light was, which made my heart pound like a drum in an orchestra; it was poised to jump out and escape from my body.

When we arrived, I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought the throne room on Theo's planet emitted an aura of grandeur, and seeing this room in the flesh made me think I never left Theo's planet in the first place. There were a myriad of close affinities between the two planets, but this one takes the cake; the two throne rooms were practically identical. Only what was inside the room was different, for example, there were no mana crystals surrounding the room, and there was no lavish golden throne, just a podium.

Apart from that, again, the similarities were uncanny.

"That was where I found the crown," Maya said dreamily, pointing to the podium in the middle of the room, seemingly emitting its own source of light.

"It was so glorious. I knew I had to take it." However, I didn't care about Maya's sentiments. What captivated me was the sheer beauty of this room; seeing this room in the flesh was bonkers. There were two tunnels leading into this magnificent room, which could only mean that the other way in was through the other path. And sure enough, I was right. Soon, Theo and Ben appeared from the overwhelming black cloud, and instantly, their mouths dropped at the sight of such a room.

"No way…" Theo's words trailed off. Ben was speechless; no words could leave his mouth.

"Welcome to my crown room," Maya said with a tinge of sass.

"Do you like it?"

"Like it?" Theo repeated Maya's phrase.

"I would honestly rather be here than be in my throne room. Let's just move the throne here and call it a day. I can't be asked to remove that bear carcass, so I believe the throne should belong here." Maya grinned and struck a pose. Nobody could deny that she looked extremely stylish with the crown on her head. She really was a true queen.

"Anyways, this concludes the tour around my planet. You can still marvel at the wonders of this room and the cave, and once you're ready to head back, tell me." I didn't want to leave. Those words were like a dagger piercing deep into my chest. Despite the intolerable heat, I wanted to revel in the allure of this planet, and I wanted to stay here forever. That was the moment I truly didn't want this trip to end.

However, my planet was up next, and there would be a whole host of things to say, which was going to clog my already bursting brain.