ENCOUNTER - COVER + PART 1

man this cover took a while.. but hopefully it's worth it :'00
this is part one of the short story im working on!! i don't have a schedule for this but ill try and upload parts on a weekly basis!! each one will have a drawing accompanying it >:3c

 --

NEXT: ENCOUNTER - PART 2 

--

The sun had just risen over the canopies of the Galapagos islands. The cool zephyr of the night was fading and gradually turning into burning waves of heat. Life seemed to come to a standstill as the day was starting to progress.

 Auribus, a creature very unique to the islands, and quite possibly the world, had been lying lethargically in the bush for days. Her dark, gray-blue color only helped to attract the sunlight to her already overheating body. Her smooth, thick wrinkly skin that once protected her from harsh blizzards now barely served any use in the scorching tropical heat. She might not have had the thick, wire-like fur her ancestors did but she certainly had not evolved to survive in this weather. And still, somehow, she managed for thousands of years to evade death, unlike the rest of her species.
 As she carefully and strenuously made an attempt to stand up, she could feel her skin crack and stretch. She shrieked in pain and collapsed back on the ground, sand filling her open wounds.  After one last attempt to pick her head up, something appeared to emerge from the water not far ahead. She squinted her large narrow eyes and tried to figure out if this was a hallucination caused by her dehydration. She had not had any interaction with a creature similar to her ever since the Extinction. Any interaction would have lifted her spirits, as her species had been very social and tightly knit.

 In her desperation for contact, she lifted her shaky, frail body up and limped toward the figure.

As it came into focus, she could make out a long, smooth and graceful body, belonging to a creature with an appearance that seemed oddly familiar and welcoming somehow. Somehow, her deep black eyes looked like home.  As they drew closer to one another, Auribus felt weak once more and fell, burying her long, sensitive snout into the shallow waters before the creature in front of her. Auribus suddenly felt a cool, smooth surface beneath her and before long she was laid to rest on a rock protruding from the clear shallows and given fresh water in a cup-like sea shell as well as freshly caught fish. She could feel the energy rushing back into her body as she found the strength to lift her head up and perk up her ears.
 “A-are you alright?” The aquatic being asked, in a very soft, worried voice. “You looked like you were about to perish right in front of me a little while ago. My name is Marina and I’m the guardian of these coasts. And you are..?”

“I’m Aur..i...bus,” she said, still recovering from her dehydration. “My kind was killed off thousands of years ago…” She paused and sighed softly.  “I am the only one who survived because I was born hairless and survived the Melting. I have been lost ever since.” With those words Auribus’ voice cracked as she tried to refrain from crying.

“Auribus, huh? I’ll call you Auri for short. If you’ll excuse me, I have to go now!” With that, Marina twisted her body and plunged back into the water, splashing her tail as if to say goodbye. Auri felt a heave in her chest. As quickly as she had met her new friend she had  lost her. Her ears drooped on the sides of her face and her bony tail dragged on the ground.

  Before disappearing into the depths of the Pacific, Marina turned back to get one last look at her new friend. Auri’s slumped, disheartened figure slowly heading towards the jungle made her hesitate.
“I could, perhaps, watch over her…” Marina tried to justify her actions to herself. Slowly but steadily she made her way out of the water. Despite having an orca-like appearance, she also had legs, allowing her to climb rocks and prance over coral reefs effortlessly. However, she’d never been entirely on land before. As her sensitive toes felt the hot sand, she flinched, but remained determined. She caught up with her friend and loomed over her, water dripping off her rounded snout.  
“Marina! I didn’t know you could walk on land!” Auribus exclaimed, to which Marina simply gave a shy, nervous smile. “Let’s go,” she said. “I can stay with you for now. You look like you need it.”