Word count: 892 words
The incident with his mother and her new boyfriend heckled Caelum's mind. He wanted some peace and quiet, and the hustle and bustle of Destiny City didn't offer that venture. Knowing but one place to soothe his angered thoughts, he powered into Cadmus, and hit the button on his phone to go home—his real home.
He arrived at the base of Cadmeia, but the thought of going within didn't appeal to him today. I should take a look around the actual asteroid a little more, he thought. I don't know as much about it as I do this tower.
Cadmus wandered from the sandy wasteland back to the forested limits of the planet, but soon, a storm began to brew. Rain roared about him, drenching the entirety of the northeastern forests and flooding the land. The teen's feet beat against ankle deep water as he sought out shelter, reaching one of the villages south of Cadmeia. Ducking into the penultimate house before the dirt road, he panted as he looked up to the undulating grey clouds.
"No wonder they build these homes on stilts," Cadmus said, glancing down to the now shin high water. "It floods like crazy. I'm guessing it's the rainy season?"
The ajar door to the home was barely hanging on its hinges, so Cadmus had to finagle it into place to shut out the rainwater splashing against the steps. Shaking some water off himself and then sniffling, he took in the interior of the home as the ricochet of raindrops echoed throughout the silent abode.
It was a spacious, single-floored home, looking fit for a family. Privacy certainly seemed to be problem, however; the bedroom with its unkempt bed and broken, oval-shaped mirror, the living area with its sunken fur and wood chairs, and what looked to be a primitive kitchen with dirtied cooking utensils, a counter island, woven baskets, and a hearth segued into each other freely without separating walls or barriers. Most notable of all to Cadmus was the lack of a bathroom, and he made a face at the observation, but didn't press the issue.
Instead, he wandered over to the bedroom first, and dived right onto the bed. However, Cadmus immediately regretted it, as a big cloud of dust gusted up upon impact. He hacked long and loud enough to bring a pain to his chest, causing the senshi to spring back to his feet and slump against the adjacent wall.
"Okay, that, erhrm, hrm, that was a bad idea."
As the boy tried to brush off the caked on dust from his wet fuku, he glanced at the bed again, and noticed that the blanket upon it, though faded, was decorated with intricate geometric designs. As its center was the symbol of Cadmus, causing the boy to gently twist the brooch on his chest bow.
"The senshi of Cadmus... Laius... He must've been important to his people, huh?"
Parting from the bedroom, Cadmus moved to the kitchen, and slid a hand across the counter before gently resting it on one of the cooking utensils. He turned the ladle about, before putting it down and examining the spoon, and then the dulled knife. The cauldron in the hearth was still full of food, but time had wasted it to dust. Cadmus picked up a handful of the remnants and looked at it, barely picking out unknown spices, leaves, and a bit of bone.
"The Grand Master talked about how Cadmus's technology was "great," but its people still lived a primative life," Cadmus said, dumping the dust back into the cauldron and smearing his hand clean on his fuku. "Or maybe really modestly."
Deciding the living area was the best place to wait out the rain, Cadmus plopped into one of the three chairs, but sank so deep his knees hit his chest. He yelped loudly, and then flailed himself back up.
"What the heck? There's, like, no bottom to these things!" he said, looking beneath the chair. "Well, not this one. That one there has one and... A book?" Cadmus reached for it and moved himself over to the opposing chair. "Let's see what this says..."
The book's contents were entirely illegible; it was written in the same square runes Cadmus had seen long the walls in Cadmeia. He ran fingers over the embossed text, guessing that it was written in some kind of wax or sap.
"Man, this looks like it took forever to make," he said, flipping through the pages carefully. "Wonder what this book is about to have warranted— Gurk!"
Cadmus got his answer after skipping ahead. Drawn in stylized, but also rather detailed, sketches were depictions of nude figures; some in the act of lovemaking. The senshi blushed up to his ears and accidentally dropped the book, decidedly kicking it back under the chair he had found it from and promising himself never to pick it up again.
"W-why would you keep something like that there?!" Cadmus cried. "You've gotta— Oh?"
Cadmus glanced to the window and saw the rain had stopped. He muttered a small, "About damn time," and pulled the door open, only to see the flood waters hadn't receded. Sighing as it seemed his desire to adventure further was stalled, the senshi decided to turn in early and used his phone to zip back to Earth.
