I parted my lips to speak, but the syllables came out all wrong. Eventually, I pointed at the humanoid creature that was looking back at me with his terribly lonely, round eyes. I didn’t know whether he was friendly, nor what he was exactly—however, something about his sharp fangs and claws told me he would either become our biggest worry yet, or our greatest ally.

I had to take this risk.

Nova made a rather disgusted face and cursed under her breath. “Fine,” she rolled her eyes. “Whatever. But if we die, it’s on you, dude.”

She handed me an explosive and ordered me to stick it onto the door. Part of me wanted to ask her where she’d gotten it from, though I settled for assuming it was found; here, in this bizarre place we still didn’t know anything about.

We stood back.

Soon, smoke-filled the air.

The creature’s silhouette was dark amongst grey clouds that swayed with joy, as if they had a life of their own and had just been delivered from some very maleficent things.

He approached us, slowly, without fear.

Behind the door, the creature had seemed much smaller than now. When he towered over me, looked down and squinted like we tended do to so with ants, I wondered if I was going to die. If this had all been for nothing after all.

Nova was silent. I think she was waiting for me to greet him, or at least, for me to do something.

A) I mirrored the creature’s actions. I chose him, after all. He wasn’t going to scare me. Then, I grabbed his palm. It was bigger than my hand, full of scales—reptilian, yet human all the same. As I glanced up, into his eyes, I smiled, and waited.

B) I marched towards the creature. I wanted to tell him everything would be okay, but my voice was gone, and I wasn’t even sure he would understand me. I heard Nova yelling for me to go back as I wrapped my arms around him and embraced everything that he was. Certainly, it wasn’t in my plans to go back. I stayed there, waiting, hoping he would understand. He was home now, and—weirdly enough—it felt like I was, too, as the fleeting thought that dying here wouldn’t matter if it was by his hand crossed my mind.

C) I couldn’t do it. I regretted my choice instantly. In this light, there was nothing friendly about this monster. I grabbed Nova’s wrist. I mouthed the words ‘run’, in hopes that she would understand. And then, I took off.