You inspected the area, but couldn’t find any trace of the creature. Defeated, you went back to the ruins. There were still some areas of the marketplace you hadn’t explored. You found a couple more murals and a foundation for a fountain. Inside one storehouse, you found large bags of salt inside molded and dry-rotted crates.

As you knelt to inspect it, the brush behind you shifted and you grabbed your radio. You tried to calm yourself as you turned around. The same face you had seen last night was coming out of the brush. That face was attached to a human torso and long, thin arms that crawled toward you. Its hips ended in a huge serpentine body. The half-man creature stared at you with those wide, piercing sky-blue eyes.

you: “Uh… Hi?”

You waved your hand. You weren’t exactly sure why you did this. You weren’t even sure if this creature could understand you. A broad smile crept across his face and his hips wiggled a little like a cat preparing to pounce. He lunged forward, grabbed you under the arms, and lifted you high into the air.

Sun: “Hello~!”

He exclaimed with the joy of a child opening gifts on their birthday.

Sun: “A new friend, thank the stars! It’s been so long since we’ve befriended a human! W-well I hope you want to be friends. Do you want to be friends? What’s your name?”

You opened your mouth to speak, but were quickly cut off.

Sun: ”I’m Ravi, but you can call me Sun!”

you: "Y-you are… s-startlingly intelligent." You stuttered. "Y-you can talk!”

Sun: "Well of course I can talk!" He beamed. He smiled ear to ear, almost literally, and you could see over his shoulder that the tip of his tail was wagging happily like a dog’s. He paused and his cheeks flushed a deep red.

Sun:"Oh, sorry. I may have gotten a little excited."