There were quite a few stealth options to choose from on the rental’s main board. “Just wanna blend in” and “Reading the room” were two of the many options. But Arutulf and Arev decided on their own to select “Visiting planet Earth.”

Arutulf said nothing; she wanted to focus on finding a good hiding spot for their craft.

Arev also said nothing; the proposal she had in mind was still on her tongue, and there was no chuffing way she’d let that slip now.

After a few moments of silence, Arev located a deep and dark pit that, should a human fall into it, they would not come back up; a perfect parking space for the Nilbanaans. When the top opened, Arutulf had already taken the specs from Arev’s lap before the latter leapt up and out.

With their tails, talons, and tenacity, they slowly but surely scaled the abyss.

When Arutulf first packed for this trip, Arev dumped all her progress onto the floor.

“No coats,” she declared. “It’s so hot with the humans that it’s literally killing them.”

Arutulf was skeptical, so they came to an agreement; they didn’t pack any coats.

But being on Earrthuh, and sweating (Actually sweating before she’s even twenty-seven), has shown Arutulf how right her girlfriend was to only bring lining clothes. Not that she’d say that right now. Or for a while.

Arev got to the top first and used the last of her strength to pull Arutulf up. Arev gazed at Arutulf’s face. Arutulf smiled as she pushed Arev’s face away. After they caught their breaths, the two slowly approached a rock some odd feet from the group of wild humans and crouched behind it.

So, this was the species Arev has heard so much speculation about.

…They weren’t as ugly as the stories let on. If you cut one from its head to its crotch, the halves would be symmetrical; Arev gave them that. You’d have to be some kind of sick chuf to do that in the first place, but still.

The humans were really loud though. Really loud. As in, there was practically a star-sized fire in the middle of the group, hissing a burning language, and the humans’ chants were louder.

Upon closer inspection, thanks to the specs, Arev could see that most of the humans were dancing around and around and around the fire in white garbs turned red by the sand. Actually, many of the humans themselves were red in the face like the deesert. With skin flaking off!

When she informed Arutulf what she saw, the taller Nilbanaan gagged. “Ewwwww. Why though? Is it an allergic reaction-do they shed? Is that what’s going on, shedding?”

The humans suddenly fell silent, bringing the Nilbanaans’ attention back to them. A pink-faced human stood right behind the fire. Their robes were yellow, but the sand caked the cloth, as if it were dyed by flames.

What this individual was saying, who knows? The other humans apparently, for they remained silent as the speaker’s low boom of a voice floored them.

“What do you think they’re doing?”

Arutulf turned to Arev. “You’ve got a better view than me.”

“First of all, I’m the best thing to look at on this rock-” Arev dodged her girlfriend’s jab without even looking- “And secondly, you’re the one holding the pamphlet.”

There was a pause between that exchange and Arutulf typing “Desert” and “Celebration” into the search engine of the informative tablet.

“Anything pop up yet?”

“’Concert’ is the leading title, but there’s too little tech here to count as that.”

“Hmmmm oh! The leader’s brought two people up! They’re both dressed differently and seem a little put off.”

“Really?” Arutulf looked up and squinted at two blobs, one pink and the other teal, that weren’t in front of the fire earlier. She turned back to the tablet and added “unwilling participants” to the search and skimmed the first new article. “Okay, so sometimes there are these groups called cults that are like religious groups, except violent and for profit.”

Arev squinted. “Aren’t…all, religious groups like that?”

“Some were in the past. Apparently, cults are small and do weird rituals with sacrifices or some tish.”

Arev said nothing as the chanting started again.

“…Arev, what’s wrong?”

“…Yeah, I think we stumbled upon a cult.”

Uncertain, Arutulf looked up, took the specs offered to her, and zoomed in on the pink and teal blobs.

They appeared to be females (According to the pamphlet’s images) who dressed in casual if not distressed clothes (Again, according to the pamphlet). Arutulf couldn’t see the face of the one wearing teal due to her long and wild hair, but she watched the human struggle to hold onto the pink wearing female.

Arev and Arutulf watched in confusion as some of the humans pulled the pink girl off the teal girl. Confusion that turned into horror when the pink one was swallowed whole by the flames.

“Sweet chuffing TISH!”

Any phrase can be a summoning spell if said loud enough. The Nilbanaans realized this the moment all eyes turned to them. The eyes that belonged to the teal wearing girl met Arutulf’s through the lens. She used her eyes to scream the words held back by a gag.

Arev didn’t meet any eyes but saw how many of the humans started to approach their rock at a fast rate. Particularly, the ones running on all four limbs. They were coming toward them. For them.

“Hey we should probably run.”

The moment that phrase left both of their mouths they bolted.

Even with a head start, one of those creepy cultist chuf’s used their four furry legs to catch up to Arutulf, and they snapped at her with their elongated mouth.

Their tag jingled, Arutulf screamed nonsense, but Arev screamed, “Throw the specs! Throw the specs!”

“But your mom gave them to you!”

Again, the creature snapped and again Arutulf screamed.

“You don’t even like my mom! I don’t even like my mom! Just do it!”

Throwing the spec threw the creature for a loop as it stopped to sniff and then assault the device. This gave Arev and Arutulf ample time to climb back into their hole.

Being halfway down the pit without any sign of that slobbering thing put Arutulf at ease. She reached the bottom after Arev and held her hand while their breaths caught up. She looked at Arev, looked at the relief in her bright eyes, heard it leave her pale lips.

“Will you marry me?” Arutulf forced between her pants.

Those bright eyes of Arev’s got wider before looking down. “…Are you serious right now?”

Arutulf huffed, “Dead serious. About as dead as I thought I was gonna be if it meant you escaped.”

Arev said nothing as she kneeled. “This year has been one of the best in my life. All the excitement and the traveling and the adventure. But I’m tired of that now. I wanna settle down; figuratively and literally. We did a lot of running just now.”

Tears formed in Arutulf’s eyes as her voice broke. “I’ve given you a year of my life, and I wanna give you at least a hundred more.”

Arev locked eyes and bit the inside of her cheek. “…You totally stole that from one of my trashed drafts.”

“Huh?”

Arev replied by pulling the little box from her back pocket. When she opened it up and blinded Arutulf with a big blue glow, she looked back at Arev and her joy tumbled out her mouth.

They held each other, stood in the beautiful blue light within the darkness, leaned closer into each other-

And paused when a scrunch echoed in the pit.

And then they turned to find what was once teal was splattered into red.