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By Ee Lynn Gan
Posted on February 1, 2025
Cover Image Title: A Serenade of Colours
Cover Image by: Ee Lynn Gan
Classification: Traditional media, Acrylic paint
Size: 38 cm X 30 cm
Year: 2025
I scampered through the mud-flecked tents: racing towards the vessel. Towards home.
The forest was beautiful. It stole the breath right out of your lungs: it was so marvelous, it almost hurt. It gleamed with life, with flora and fauna not of our world — the ferns were cobalt; the leaves were mauve. The sky was the shade of a constant sunset, and the Moon was the fixation of everyone’s gaze. It shone bright and round, shrouding the mountains and ranges in warm, welcoming light.
It was everyone’s first. It was humanity’s first — this landing. Anticipation and jitters haunted and clawed at us on the seemingly endless journey here. The journey did end, though, and so did our adventure — it left us feeling the regret of indulging in humanity’s never-ending greed for knowledge.
As our vessel hovered and planted its grips into the black soil, the five of us braced ourselves for what we would soon discover — potential life. A potential home: Earth had long given up on us, and no one can blame Her.
Awestruck by the peculiar nature — the lurid reds and deep blues, the odd shades of orange and pale yellows — ignorance rooted, blinding us from our senses and clouding our vision with the beauty of this mystery planet.
Following protocol, we established a camp nearby, close to our resources and supplies, close to the safety of our vessel — the only source of communication and way back home. The following hours elapsed in a daze. We unpacked, we settled down, we unpacked some more… All according to the initial plan. As the night of this new world fell — the sky ever illuminated by the plump Moon that orbits this planet — everyone retreated to their tents and rolled up snuggly in their sleeping pods.
The moment we all found slumber was when another mystery came knocking at our door.
A girl came to us. A girl. Human. She prodded at the opening of our tents with her scrawny little hands. Then the whimpering started: soft mewls pleading for attention. We had no choice. Sympathy is one of mankind’s most useful and useless traits.
We offered food and shelter…, and tried to coerce some much-needed answers from her: why was she here? There shouldn’t have been any other living organisms here (besides the flora and fauna) — most definitely, no human should have been here. This expedition was mankind’s first. The first risky gamble we took on this complete mystery — a shot-in-the-dark.
Yet, there we were. Meeting a human — of all things — on this tragically beautiful planet. She was young, likely no older than ten, with silky blonde hair as thick as a horse’s mane. With eyes the colour of amber, she was striking. Her small frame was coated in smooth skin with not a single blemish: she looked like a well-groomed heiress to some large fortune no one had.
She amused us with stories, masterfully intertwining slivers of hope and fear and resolve. Her words were backboned by perfect story arcs — the flawless buildups, the choking suspense, and the shocking revelations. Very eloquent, she was. A natural. She told us of her adventures living on this jewel of a planet. Every branch and flower you lay eyes on was striking — unnaturally alluring. As she was, too.
As the Moon once again cascaded its light amongst the darkening lands, humanity’s greed was answered.
“Run,” she said. “Don’t venture here.”
Confusion struck us in the head. Run? Why? When we’ve come this far? None of us could suppress the foreboding feeling that now blossomed in our hearts. Trepidation ridiculed our once clear minds. Or maybe all this while, they were never clear — our minds. This place… It had an effect on people. It's hard to put into words. It… Distracts you.
Why were we even here?
Stages of doubt came in soon after, its voice rang as loud as church bells in our ears, in our heads. We should go. We have to go.
Abandoning camp, we rushed through the now darkened lands, the Moon staring down at us: returning the sympathy we had bestowed upon the mystery girl as it emanated its dim — but guiding — light over the terrain. Our vessel was not stationed far away.
With the girl’s quiet warning persisting in our minds, we boarded in urgency and fled. No one ever pieced together the true meaning behind her dark words. But what’s more concerning is…
Humanity still hasn’t found a new home. But we will continue to search — the fate of mankind rests on our shoulders. We cannot afford to falter. We have already failed once — failed our home, our Mother Earth — we don’t intend to repeat our foolish mistakes. Ever.
Maybe she had a point — the girl. That planet… It is far too magnificent to be tainted by our flaws. But perhaps one day we’ll come back: pay a visit to this spectacle of a planet, and show them just how much humanity has improved and has evolved. How there is still hope within the likes of mankind.
The Girl
As I watched them scurry off towards their… thing, relief washed over me. Our ancestors, all the adults back home… They’ve warned us about the likes of these creatures.
They take and never give back. It is most embarrassing to admit that we are… of the same kind. We are humans. The worse Earth had to offer. Driven by ambition and hope, our ancestors, long ago, were sent here. To discover. To explore. Our ancestors never went back home. They stayed… And here we are.
This place… It must never go to the hands of them. They’d drained it of its beauty, as they have done countless times before. We may be ‘humans’, but — even at the cost of our lives — we will never surrender this planet: our home, to the creatures we once were. Never.
[ Writing Editor: Anonymous. ]