We’re taking a break from a long morning of hiking. Alyce was pretty clear when she said that she wouldn’t allow me to start a fire to cook these raw things she calls food. They look like meat; undercooked, tasteless meat. But hell, they don’t taste like it.
“I’m an Esuh of the Two Faces, a Prime Officer and a--”
“Yeah, yeah. I know. You’re someone important. But you’re unlucky you’re not a vegetarian. In my planet, fire is forbidden, and the animals live happily because the Phadh don’t need primitive food sources like meat to survive. It’s one of the last natural paradises in the Known Galaxy and the reason we don’t allow anyone other than ourselves inside.”
Please! Let me shut her up. Then we can cook her carcass and eat it. She surely seems delicious, Dark Jay comments in my head.
Frankly, I find it difficult to disagree with him now. This young girl, which I learned isn’t so young after all, seems to never stop talking. Especially after the night of the vision. Well, maybe that was my mistake. I shouldn’t have told her everything about Eladia and the other Esuh.
But, being way too excited that I finally discovered the fate of my people, I couldn’t hold back from sharing the news with someone...anyone. It still feels like there’s something important missing, though.
I take one last glance at the “uncooked meat” and after I hold back a strong feeling of vile climbing up my esophagus, I toss it on the ground. “We’ll be leaving in five minutes. I want to make sure we’ll arrive at that temple you talked about by tomorrow. We have wasted way too much time already.”
Eladia is waiting for me somewhere in this galaxy, and I don’t want to keep her waiting anymore. I have so many things I want to share with her about the Esuh medicine, the culture of my people, and love. I’m so excited I’d be laughing if I wasn’t trapped in an overgrown forest with semi-sentient trees.
“Well, no matter how much we hurry, it’ll get us another two days before we get there. So it would be nice if you slowed down a bit and started relaxing maybe? I don’t know. I’ll just lie here and wait for you to calm down or whatever,” she says and winks at me.
Honestly, her arrogance knows no bounds. She’s so full of herself that if I closed her nose, she would explode. Still, she’s my guide, and I’m her kidnapper. I must admit that it’s not an ideal setting, but it’s the only one I have. If it wasn’t for that asshole Pyro, I would have found another way to infiltrate this planet that it wouldn’t include babysitting a 300-years old teenager.
I walk away from the camp and decide to scout the path ahead. You can never be too cautious, even in a forest world like Zeania. There are animals back on my planet that can kill you in mere seconds without ever realizing what’s going on.
You mean were; Sciri doesn’t exist anymore. We made sure to destroy it after we fled.
Hearing his voice deep into my head makes the pain of my mistake all the more real.
“Shut up. I know. It was...a mistake. Just leave it at that.”
A mistake would be to eat that thing she gave you. What we did was nonsense. Instead of standing up against the Nusae, we fled like hunted Tidrey.
I stop and once again try to hold back from punching the trunk of a tree. It would only hurt me, not him.
Even so, I have to say something to hurt him the way he hurts me every time he talks. “You don’t have a saying on this, Jay. You weren’t alive back then. You were just a symbiotic parasite made to follow my orders. If it wasn’t for the Nusae Cube, you would still be just that. A parasite.”
I sense his anger, but there’s nothing he can do. This is the truth, and he just has to swallow it.
The Esuh used the dark matter, the think covering their skins turning it ash gray, to enhance their inner abilities. That’s why they were called Esuh of the Two Faces and not of the Two Minds in the first place.
We are, dumbass. Not they. They were your people, and you refer to them in the third person? And then I’m the one that doesn’t get a saying on this.
Shit, he’s right. He’s always so fucking right. It’s just that after my memories came back, everything is so jumbled up in my head.
There’s a moment of silence before I sense something hot piercing my foot. The pain comes a moment later, making me roar in agony before falling on my knees. Someone shoot me with a laser gun.
“Who did this? Where are you? Come out and face me,” I bellow.
When a woman appears out of nowhere, wearing full armor, even covering her face, I know something is wrong. She has the same tattoo as I, the mark of the First Kinds.
“Who send you?” I say, but she doesn’t even flinch. “It doesn’t matter. Finding your dead body will be more than enough for them to stop chasing me!” I say confidently, although I don’t feel so sure inside.
My skills without the help of the other Jasih are not enough to kill her. But, something tells me that if I give in to him now and let him take full control, I won’t be able to take back my body from him anytime soon.
“You know too much for your own good, alien. You should have died back in the hospital when you could. It would have been easier for you,” she says.
I try to measure her strength, but then I spot Alyce climbing up the trunk of a tree, slowly getting close to the First Kind woman from above. Somehow, she managed to climb onto one of the gigantic trees and get in position for an attack from above, without the female First Kind realizing. So much for a First Kind, right? Things have changed so much since I was a First Kind.
Still, I have to give Alyce the perfect opening if I want this to end quickly. Maybe, if I just coat my limbs with the dark matter? I think I’ll be able to still control him like that, and it’ll make me strong enough to keep her occupied until Alyce gets in place.
I don’t have time to think it over; I have to act now. The First Kind is starting to catch up to the events of the battlefield, and I have to keep her from doing so. Thus, without holding back anymore, I charge against her, both my hands and feet changed into their ash-gray form.
She tries to keep me in distance with her laser guns, but Dark Jay’s skin is as good a shield as I remember. I use my hands to deflect the laser beams and move closer to her. Now, if she wielded an Esuh spear, I would have a problem. But if it’s only those laser guns, then I can manage.
However, for a First Kind, she manages to stay true to her title. I can’t take a step forward for some time with her aiming at every vital point she can, showing the marksmanship of a professional. If I wasn’t a professional myself, I would be dead hours ago. I keep up with her shots for some time, until Alyce is in place.
Then, she releases her grip and falls straight on the female First Kind. By the time she realizes we have her cornered on the wall, I’ve charged towards her. With one last, combined effort, we manage to stop her. She’s quite surprised that someone could have avoided her attention for so long, but it seems that the Phadh are naturally strong in a forest.
I’m ready to take her out when Alyce stops me.
“What are you doing? She was going to kill us. She would have done the same thing if we were in her position,” I say.
“So? Is that a good enough excuse for you to kill her? Are you a killing machine Jasih, or a warrior? Would a warrior go on with an unneeded murder if they could avoid it?”
We stand there, looking at each other for some time. Honestly, I can’t believe what I’m saying, but she’s right. Letting her live is dangerous, but killing her is just a cruel act of animosity.
For some reason, Eladia’s image pops in my mind. Alyce reminds me of her so painfully much.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 9
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eladia
This can’t be true; it’s impossible. It’s like I’ve spend all my life looking behind me while the truth was standing right there, in front of me. I mean, if the Organization is right, then the Nusae are only the latest link in a long chain of Great Mysteries, with the biggest one b
eing: who the hell created these cubes?
I’m lying on my bed, thinking. My mind flies to the moment Cross kicked the siblings out of the training room. I still remember his face having that distant sense of pride. He was really pleased that I was able to kick their butts even though my training is obviously incomplete.
Still, that flash of satisfaction left his face as soon as we were alone. Back then, I felt like I was the one in trouble. It’s not like I was the one sneaking around, though. I wasn’t searching for the truth myself; I didn’t know that there was a Greater Mystery behind all those Nusae relics. Alec spilled the beans to me all by himself. I wanted to clarify that to Cross, but seriously, he wasn’t in the mood for a civilized conversation. He looked like if I said the wrong thing to him, he would take my head off.
“Well, they are still very young and inexperienced, no matter what they say. They weren’t supposed to tell you anything about the Great Mystery. Honestly, I don’t know why they did it.”
Back then, he turned and tried to walk away from me before telling me anything. Well, I wasn’t going to let him go just like that. At that time, I didn’t know that pushing him would actually make me feel even worse than I was already feeling, but as a Chronicler, I owed it to myself to learn the truth. It was my dream we were talking about, a dream I was trying to achieve since I was a young child on Yaerus.
“Wait! Dale...don’t go. I know they weren’t supposed to tell me anything about the Nusae, but there’s clearly something to be told here. Please...I beg you...tell me. I’m not made to be an assassin, you know that. It was just a way to keep me safe while we were running away from the black-maskers, but now we’re meeting your friends, and Jay, and my friends, and...and...”
In retrospective, I feel really bad that I begged him to tell me. I didn’t expect that he’ll shatter my hopes of solving the Great Mystery in one lifetime, but I had to know.
“Look, Eladia, I know you’re a Chronicler, and I’m sure you’ll do good by your people and all, but it’s not in my place to tell you. Jasih is the one that must share this knowledge with you, not me. If it was in my hands, I would have told you long ago, trust me.”
“But why Jay? What does it matter if you or Jay tell it to me? Will that cancel your prophecy and end the universe or something? Is that why you can’t tell me anything?”
I was provoking him. Hell, I would have said worse things if he didn’t snap so easily. Or maybe he didn’t snap. I don’t know. Everything is so fucked up in my mind now.
I remember seeing him sigh and spend five whole minutes looking at me and the floor, one after the other, probably thinking what he has to do. In the end, it seems that telling me was the right path to follow, a path that ultimately deviated from the Organization’s rules.
“There’s a tale in an ancient language that only the people of the Organization can recite. The Organization was created to protect the knowledge the Nusae had acquired about the Lost Civilization. The Lost Civilization is the name that the Nusae gave to who they thought created the Cubes.
“The tale starts with the story of a species more ancient than Nusae themselves. They were called the Two Faced, or the Esuh, and reigned over the galaxy with the strength of a thousand civilizations. Human civilization hadn’t started back then, at the prime of the Esuh reign over the Galaxy, but there are reports that indicate that they tried to communicate with us in the past. When they saw we weren’t sentient, they left Primordial Earth alone. They wouldn’t fight what they perceived as animals.
“The tales goes on to say that the Esuh were evil and killed just for the fun of it. But that was to be expected since their ancestors used the forbidden power of an all-mighty cube to drive another species to extinction. The Nusae, afraid that the Esuh would also drive them to extinction, made the same choice, the choice to use the Cube to destroy the Esuh in an instant and bring peace in the Known Galaxy. But, everything went wrong after that.
“The Nusae remained dominant for many years, well, until the Phadh appeared out of nowhere and started antagonizing them. The Phadh started a war, taking many of the Nusae colonies with them. The Nusae, unable to keep up with the Phadh cunning war tactics and advanced technology, started losing ground fast. It was a complete and utter disaster, the likes that the galaxy hasn’t seen to these days. But, the Nusae never expected that the Phadh would discover the mysteries of another artifact of similar technology to the cube, one that in the end drove them to extinction.”
There were many things I didn’t know. I was so focused on listening to him that I had forgotten how to breathe.
“That means...”
“That means that the Nusae Relic you found isn’t actually of Nusae origins. And, the cube your friend so carelessly flashes here, and there is a weapon of mass-extinction. And the worst part is that it’s controlled by his emotions, and since you have now taken over a big part of them, it means that you’re as important to this mission as he is. Every time you too met in bed or emotionally, the cube was starting to unlock. Your love has put in danger the whole galaxy!”
After that, Cross left the training room without saying anything else, and I was left alone with my thoughts. Since that time, I’m trying to focus and find a ray of hope amidst the chaos. All my work, all my theories, were for naught. The Nusae were driven to extinction by our very own Phadh, but the Esuh and everyone else before them used that tiny cube to destroy their enemies.
And now, we, the human race, is caught up in the middle of this.
I would have sulked all day in the bed if I didn’t want to know more about that theory. But, as soon as I get on my feet, something suddenly starts to attack our spaceship. I almost fall to the floor from the sudden tremors of laser cannons barraging us from the outside.
“What the...?” I mutter, but there’s nothing I can do.
“Eladia, come to the bridge. Now!”
It’s Alec on the intercom. He must have fucked up in some way, I’m sure.
Still, running to the bridge is a feat itself, even in the middle of the space. The hits are now faster and more damaging. I’m able to get through the danger zone quickly, but after I arrive at the bridge, I realize that the whole ship is in danger now.
“What’s going on? Who’s attacking us?” I ask, but I see all their faces frozen, shocked. They seem to know the answer, but they don’t want to admit it. “Hey! Guys! What’s wrong? We’re going to die in here if you don’t do something! Do you hear me?”
But no matter how much I yell at them, they don’t say a thing. I run to the pilot’s seat, but Alec is frozen still, his hands squeezing the helm. He does nothing but stares out of the main window, trying to find a way out of this. But there’s not. The ship is in critical condition, and the hull won’t withstand another barrage like the previous. We have to evacuate, and fast.
I look around me but I see that the entrance to the room is on fire. In fact, the whole room is on fire now. The flames move towards us fast, relentlessly. It’s too late to back down now. There’s only one thing to do now, but Alec doesn’t seem fit to do it.
I get over him and tilt the steering gear down, towards the planet. We quickly set course to Zeania. We’re lucky that we’re in orbit around this particular planet, to begin with. The machines rev a bit and the ship trembles uncontrollably.
“What are you doing? You’re going to kill us all!” Alec screams, but then he understands. “Shit, you’re a genius.”
He leaves the pilot seat and gets behind me. He starts pushing many buttons from both his hidden keyboards. In the spur of the moment, I remember something that the teachers taught us back in the college. Phadh has build machines that don't allow to enemy ships to infiltrate into their planet, rendering every spaceship useless the minute they enter Zeania’s atmosphere.
Their planet has a naturally weak gravitational field that allows to them to cast an electromagnetic net around the whole planet, capturing enemy spaceships and holding them in place until the foot soldiers
arrive. So, with some hacking magic from the Mist of the Organization, the net will help us dull the impact on the planet’s surface just enough to probably save our lives.
Even so, there’s only one thing I haven’t quite figured out yet: what if Alec doesn’t make it in time?
I tremble in fear even amidst the hot interior of the bridge. This is the first time I face death with my own eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jay
“We must be getting close. We’ve been walking all day already, and I don’t see the end of this fucking forest. Where is that temple?”
I’m lost, tired, angry, and hungry. I want to to get off this green planet as soon as possible. I can’t even begin to describe the irritation I feel inside me, a feeling that’s getting stronger every time I see her, the plant girl, walk casually like this is a stroll in the woods. I mean, what the hell? We were supposed to be there two days ago, and two days ago before that.
Alien Romance Box Set: Alien Cube: The Sci-FI Alien Invasion Romance (Books 1-5) Page 25
