The Last Saelian

LOST IN TRANSLATION

Kael looked at them with hope.

Finally!

People!

He hurried toward them.

"Va'shen! Saelis! Kae varin! Nyris! Vorek! Talen va?"

He spoke faster and faster, pointing toward himself, then toward the window, then toward the sky.

His hands moved wildly as he tried to explain.

The five students watched him in complete silence.

Xavier slowly leaned toward Harry

"...Do youuuu?"Xavier whispered as Harry immediately understood the question and replied

"Not a single word Xavier, not a single word. I'm as confused as anyone else in this room right now..."

"...Is that English?" Stephanie asked

"I don't think that's any language I've ever heard." Harry replied

Xavier scratched his head.

"...Maybe he's speaking French?"

"That is definitely not French."Harry replied with a sure look on his face

"What about Latin?" Xavier asked again

"Do I look like Google Translate to you?" Harry replied looking quite frustrated 😂

The room burst into awkward laughter.

"The language doesn't resemble English..."

"Or French."

"Or Spanish."

"Or German." Harry said

He frowned.

"It's unlike anything I've ever heard."

Xavier smirked.

"So you're telling me your twelve language-learning apps failed you?"

Harry looked offended.

"I don't have twelve."

"...I have fourteen."

Kaycee burst into laughter.

"I knew it!"

Kael smiled with relief.

"Oh!"

"They understand!"

He nodded enthusiastically and continued speaking even faster.

"Va'kesh! Ritha Saelis! Aerion! Va'shen! Kael sera!"

The students' smiles slowly disappeared.

"...He's still going."

"...He's really serious."Xavier said with a more serious look

"...I think he's trying to tell us something." Stephan said

Stephan cautiously raised both hands.

"Hey..."

He spoke slowly.

"We..."

Pointing to himself.

"...don't..."

Then pointing to Kael.

"...understand."

Kael blinked.

"...Va?"

The boy smiled awkwardly.

Then pointed at his own mouth.

"You."

He gestured for Kael to speak.

Then shrugged dramatically.

"I don't understand."

Everyone copied the gesture.

Kael looked from one face to another.

Each of them smiled apologetically.

Nobody understood him.

He swallowed hard.

His smile faded.

For the first time...

He realized they hadn't been laughing because they understood him.

They were just as confused as he was.

Kael stood frozen.

His eyes moved slowly from one unfamiliar face to another, desperately searching for even the smallest sign that someone understood him.

There was none.

His chest tightened.

He whispered softly in Saelian,

"...I'm alone."

The five students exchanged worried glances.

Stephan, the tallest of the group, took a slow step forward. Unlike the others, he remained calm, his voice steady.

"I think he's scared."

Stephanie immediately stood beside him.

"Slowly," she warned. "Don't crowd him. We don't know how he'll react."

Kael instinctively backed away until he felt the cold wall behind him.

He had nowhere else to go

Stephan slowly raised both hands.

"No one's going to hurt you."

Kael stared blankly.

"..."

Stephan sighed.

"Right."

"He doesn't understand a word."

Xavier suddenly grinned.

"So..."

"We're officially in a foreign movie."

Stephanie shot him a look.

"This isn't funny."

"I'm trying to lighten the mood."Xavier replied

Harry adjusted his glasses, already examining Kael with intense curiosity.

Silence settled over the room.

The five students stood just as awkwardly.

Nobody knew what to do.

"...So," Xavier finally broke the silence, rubbing the back of his neck. "Now what?"

Stephanie folded her arms.

"First, stop staring at him like he's a museum exhibit."

"We're not staring."Harry argued

"You've been staring for two minutes"Stephanie said

"I was observing."Harry replied

"That's called staring."Stephanie stated clearly

Stephan let out a small sigh before stepping between them.

"Enough."

His calm voice instantly quieted the room.

"He's terrified."

"He doesn't know us."

"And judging from the way he's looking around..." Stephan glanced at Kael. "...I'm not even sure he knows where he is."

Kael watched their conversation carefully.

Their voices rose and fell, but to him they sounded like meaningless sounds.

He couldn't understand a single word.

Meanwhile...

Kaycee slowly wandered away from the group.

Stephanie noticed immediately.

"Kaycee..." She whispered

No response.

"Kaycee." Stephanie whispered again

Still nothing.

Kaycee had already crouched down a few steps away from Kael, smiling as though she had discovered a frightened puppy.

"Hi..."

She gave a tiny wave.

Kael blinked.

She pointed at herself.

"Kaycee."

Then she smiled even wider.

"Kayyy-ceee."

Kael frowned slightly.

She pointed at herself again.

"Kaycee."

Then she pointed at him expectantly.

"You?"

The room became silent again.

Kael looked from her finger...

...to her face.

Slowly, he placed a hand against his chest.

"...Kael."he said with a saelis accent, it didn't sound like clear English, it felt like he was speaking saelian but he actually said his name with the saelis accent in English.

Kaycee's eyes grew twice their size.

"He spoke!"

Harry nearly dropped the notebook he had been holding.

"What did he say?"

"I don't know!"

"But he definitely said something!"

Harry hurried over, notebook already open.

"Say it again."

Kael looked confused by their excitement.

"...K-a-e-l."he slowly spoke as his hand was placed on his chest

Harry quickly wrote it down.

Kael.

"Okay," he muttered thoughtfully. "Either that's his name..."

"...or he just insulted us."

Xavier grinned.

"Let's just hope it's the first one."

Kaycee clapped happily.

"Hi, Kael!"

She pointed at herself again.

"Kaycee."

Then at Harry.

"Harry."

Harry awkwardly waved.

Stephanie sighed but played along.

"Stephanie."

Stephan nodded once.

"Stephan."

Finally...

Xavier dramatically placed a hand on his chest.

"Xavier."

He gave an exaggerated bow.

Kael stared.

Why were they introducing themselves?

Was this some sort of ceremony?

He hesitated before quietly repeating,

"...Kay...cee."

Kaycee gasped dramatically.

"He said my name!"

Xavier groaned.

"Congratulations."

"You're famous."

She beamed.

"I think he likes me."

Stephanie rolled her eyes.

"Or you're the easiest name to pronounce."

The room erupted into laughter.

Even Stephan smiled.

Kael looked around in complete confusion.

They were laughing...

But not in a cruel way.

It reminded him, just a little, of evenings back in Aerion with Nyris and Vorek.

But his memory was a bit unclear, he couldn't remember most things due to the impact of the fall.

The thought made his smile disappear.

Harry cleared his throat.

"He's probably hungry."

"Oh!"

Kaycee immediately grabbed a tray from the bedside table.

"We made soup!"

Stephanie corrected her.

"I made soup."

"You watched."

"I supervised."kaycee replied

"You tasted it six times."Stephanie argued

"I was making sure it wasn't poisoned."Kaycee said while smiling mischievously

Xavier raised an eyebrow.

"By vegetables?"

Ignoring them, Kaycee carefully carried the bowl toward Kael.

She smiled warmly.

"Food."

Kael tilted his head.

"...Food?"

She nodded enthusiastically.

Then mimed eating with a spoon.

"Oh!"

Recognition flashed across Kael's face.

He accepted the bowl with both hands and bowed politely in the traditional Saelian way.

"Va'shen."

The five exchanged glances.

"I think..." Harry whispered, "...that means thank you."

"You figured that out already?" Xavier asked.

"No."

"I'm guessing."

"Very scientific."

Kael examined the spoon.

He turned it over.

Looked underneath it.

Tapped it gently against the bowl.

Kaycee bit her lip to stop herself laughing.

"...Does he know how to use a spoon?"

"He'll figure it out," Stephanie whispered.

Kael cautiously scooped some soup.

The spoon flipped.

Soup splashed onto his lap.

"..."

The room fell silent.

Xavier looked away.

His shoulders began shaking.

Stephan pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Don't."

"I..."

Xavier inhaled sharply.

"I can't..."

A snort escaped.

Then another.

Within seconds he was laughing so hard he nearly slid off his chair.

Kaycee burst into laughter too.

Even Harry couldn't hide a smile.

Stephanie sighed.

"You're all terrible."

Kael looked down at the spoon.

Then back at the laughing strangers.

Had he... done something wrong?

Kaycee quickly shook her head.

"No, no!"

She smiled and gently demonstrated how to hold the spoon.

"Like this."

She scooped some soup and pretended to eat.

Kael watched carefully.

He copied her movements.

This time...

Success.

Kaycee clapped proudly.

"There you go!"

Kael looked at her, then at the spoon, then gave the smallest, almost invisible smile.

Harry noticed it first.

"I think he's starting to trust us."

Stephan nodded quietly.

"Good."

"It's a start."

Kael rushed the bowl of soup in seconds immediately he got a hang of the spoon.

Then he started pointing at the empty plate, a gesture indicating he wanted more.

"I think he wants more" Kaycee said as she took the plate and refilled it

Kael collected it and bowed, as he rushed the second bowl in seconds.

The whole group watched as he ate like someone who hasn't seen food in years.

Kael kept eating until he emptied every thing that resembled food in the guest house.

"The hell...👀" Xavier said as his eyes widened

"We're done for" Xavier added

"Don't be dramatic now" Harry said

"I knew he was going to be a threat one way or another"Xavier said

XAVIER!!

The whole group called out

"What?" Xavier looked unbothered

"He eats like his stomach is a bottomless pit" Stephan said as he frowned because he also loves food and he just watched someone inhale the whole food they had to sustain them for an entire month.

"Well at least now we know he can eat"Harry said with his hand in the air.

"You call this eating, and why is he starring at us like that I hope he's not asking for more"Xavier said

Kael had never tasted food like this before, back at home he never ate in his supernatural form, so his human form on earth had never tasted food, he didn't feel full no matter how much he ate, his hidden powers that he was never truly aware of or mastered had been breaking down the food faster than any human body within; he couldn't be satisfied, but he had to learn.

"Clearly he has a lottttttttt of things to learn" Stephan said in shock

"Who eats like this, why is he sweating so much like someone poured water on him. The food isn't hot neither is the roof leaking" Xavier said

"Something is weird about this guy and I'm going to find out what it is" Xavier said as he stared at kael with a very serious look.

"Just calm down everyone it's late I think we should all go to bed, we head back for the city tomorrow, we can't stay here anymore"Stephanie said.

"But why" Kaycee said looking sad

"Apparently, we just ran out of a month worth of supplies in minutes, what do you expect Kaycee, that we stay here and starve to death"Xavier said sarcastically

"Kael is coming along, that's just what she wants to hear" Stephanie said

"Alright we leave tomorrow then" Kaycee said happily

"You hear that, we are leaving tomorrow"Kaycee said to kael.

Kael starred at her

"Oh right..you don't understand me"

"V'ashen"kael said

"He said thank you,right Harry?"Kaycee asked happily

"Yh I guess"Harry said

"OMG he's responding to me"Kaycee giggles

"Alright everybody let's go to bed, it's getting late"Stephan said as he ordered everyone.

"Common kael, it's time for bed"Kaycee said as she helps him up and takes him to the room.

And just like that Harry followed, then Xavier then Stephanie.

Stephan stayed back to close the windows and the door before finally going inside with the rest.

Outside, evening settled over the mountains.

Inside the guest house, six strangers together in a room.

Five spoke a language one could not understand.

One spoke a language no one else had ever heard.

Yet somehow...

They had already begun to communicate.

the evening wind gently rustled the trees.

Far away...

Hidden beneath the skin on the back of Kael's right hand...

The Nexus sigil remained dark.

Waiting.

For the day it would shine once more.