Azalyn

The next afternoon, Lubic was jogging through the local park, killing time before heading over to Stevens’ for a poker night. He headed through the peaceful back paths for awhile, but eventually found himself on the busier main path. Coming upon a street vendor, he decided to stop and get a drink of water before slowly making his way home.

He sat down on one of the hard wooden benches, observing the comings and goings of everyone else who was out to enjoy the beautiful spring day. He was a bit surprised that there were a lot less people than you’d normally expect to be out on such a fine spring afternoon.

“Greetings Spacelord. I am Azalyn Minara.”

Lubic jumped off of his seat and spun around. Before him stood a beautiful alien woman. Her pale green skin shone in the sunlight, reflecting off of her scales; her gills fluttered at her neck, barely visible beneath her strawberry blonde hair. She was humanoid, standing with her hands on her hips, her long fingers splayed enough to reveal the webbing between them.

“Holy shit! What are you? What are you doing here?”

“Spacelord, I am Azalyn Minara, Starlord of Imezza. I am here to pledge my allegiance to you.”

Lubic stared at her, speechless. “Wha?”

She glared at him with eyes the colour of midnight. “You put the call out, and I have answered. I am here to pledge my allegiance to you, Spacelord.”

“Spacelord?”

It was then that Lubic noticed that they were attracting a fair sized crowd. He turned to face everyone else. “Ummm, nothing to see here folks! She’s just like you guys! Move along!”

He shooed the crowd away, and to his amazement, they all quietly dispersed. He glanced at the alien woman before him, then back to where the crowd had been. “Huh.”

“Thank you Spacelord. Their stares were rather rude.”

“Look, I think you have the wrong person. I’m no Spacelord.” He looked again to where the crowd had been. “Did you think that was kind of weird?”

“What was, Spacelord?”

“Well, usually a crowd like that doesn’t just depart without a word. Kind of creepy.”

“Spacelord, you commanded, and they obeyed.” She stared at him, somewhat incredulously as he gaped. “You really don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?”

“I told you, I’m not a Spacelord.” He studied the alien woman before him. “Okay, I get it. This is a dream. I’m probably asleep on that bench over there.”

She ignored him. “But if you don’t know what I’m talking about, how could you put out the call?”

“Look, lady. I’m not a Spacelord! I don’t know what you are, and I sure as hell didn’t call you here!”

“If you didn’t, then who did? And let me assure you, you are a Spacelord.”

“Stop calling me Spacelord! Look, if you’re going to keep chatting to me, at least call me by my name.”

“You didn’t introduce yourself.”

“Well, I’m Lubic. Lubic Murray.”
She took his hand. Her palm felt smooth, and besides the webbing, her grip was similar to a human’s. “Well met, Lubic Murray.”

“Just call me Lubic.”

A couple of children ran by, laughing as they shrieked about a witch. Azalyn studied the children, then turned to regard Lubic. “Shouldn’t you be looking into that?”