The Undying Star

By Pranav RK

A NEW PUBLICATION BY PRANAV RK, Wombedden Best Selling Author, THE UNDYING STAR. "Yet another thrilling read, that tickles my senses!" - Lukemann Andrews, Author of Bhooman. Follow As-Iem Navigator Edward Liason as he struggles to survive in a foreign country, full of light, and mystery. Fighting the loneliness of a sole survivor, Edward starts to unravel the truth of the enigmatic planet he is stranded on. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pranav RK
• Release date: Aug 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393694274

Book preview

Chapter 1

THE MAN’S EYES FLUTTERED open. Bright light flooded his caked eyelids, brilliant purple cascading down his lashes. If he wasn’t so exhausted, he wouldn’t have been able to move; the sight before him was too magical. The man slightly raised his head to regard the world before him.

A dull pain flared quietly in his neck, and he moaned hoarsely. Shocking lilac streaks peaked from thick foliage, filtered from large leaves. Stabbing light drew shapes into the man’s eyes, as he disorientedly gazed around. He was lying on the bank of a small inlay of raisin coloured water, eddies swirling around contentedly. Tall dark trees circled the small pond, casting a shadowy pattern of purple and magenta.

It was all too bright and too dark at the same time. Splintered rocks; prickly edges all over its surface jutted out from the alien water, glistening with pastel pink. Enigmatic blue lined these flavours, a line of sky bordering the purple reflection. It was all too much.

The man tried to sit up. He moved gently, his eyes a burst of brilliance, even with them closed. Agony ripped the right side of his torso. He felt his nylon suit tightening against his legs, pressing against sore flesh.

He looked around again. Where was he? Only the water rippled, throwing more colour into his face. The place seemed frozen at its most energetic, lightning blooming from everywhere. There was no one place where it seemed to emerge from; the concept of a sun seemed amiss here. The air whistled past his ears. His gold visor had broken! How long ago? His white suit bunched up against him, and he finally sat upright. Blood broiled from his exertion, booming in his ear buds.

He was an astronaut. The thought anchored him; he had a purpose here. The radiant blaze of purples threatened to distract him again. He felt the spongy dirt beneath his astronaut suit. His hands were not exposed to the air yet; but his face had been kissing the ground when he was asleep.

A shaded purple, the dirt was the darkest colour yet. He had to struggle to break apart the soil; it clumped just like a sponge. Air bubbles peeked from tiny fractures as his hands pressed down. It gently cupped his body. The man truly began to fear for his life now. Where was he? As tiny ridges and bumps snagged against his gloves, nearly red hills haphazardly rising from the ground, the man’s heart beat faster.

What was he doing, lying unconsciousness in a world with physics he has no explanation for, with trees he has no name for, with colours he has no capacity to comprehend? He didn’t have any recollection of even getting there. With a silent horror, the man couldn’t even remember his name. But he refused to dwell on that.

Behind the clearing he sat on sprung yet more trees; ferns and bushes lithely sprouting from thin trees. Even the colourful trees were foreign; the trunk of each tree split into three or four vertical stems, that ended with pointed tips. Tiny twigs grew like hairs from these stems, various shades of indigo leaves dotting the rays of light like shadows. They burned into the man’s eyes. Where were all the animals? The man couldn’t decide if he even wanted the answers to that question.

His throat buzzed and festered. Chapped lips cracked hurtfully, and the man winced, as it begged him for water. He didn’t trust the water enough to put his face to it. It came to him again that his face was bared to the air in the sky. He was breathing the air!

The-, he coughed, and spasmed. The man wanted to claw his traitorous throat out. Forcing trickles of saliva back onto his tongue, he tried again, There is oxygen in the air. I am alive. There was hope for him. Even though the words came laboriously, mouth reloading like a shotgun between each word.

The man wanted to say more words, but it