Raising his eyes once again to his enemies, Aarik was surprised to find Th’ael lifting Diego over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Th’ael studied Aarik before he said, “I have a feeling this will not be the last time we face each other. I have a lot to learn about this age but one thing I know already is that you are one of us. Hopefully next time you will be ready to join me.”
“Never. You speak as if I will let you just walk out of here. The moment you step foot towards the exit I will blow your brains out and sleep like a baby knowing I saved the world from your evil,” warned Aarik.
“You have much to learn. Don’t take too long deciding, it would be a shame to lose your talents in the upcoming war,” Th’ael said matter-of-factly, before he turned toward the auditorium and strolled toward the exit, carrying a passed out Diego like he weighed nothing.
“I warned you,” Aarik said, and fired at Th’ael’s knees, trying to immobilize him.
Th’ael, murmuring under his breath, seemed to be moving in slow motion to Aarik as he turned around and raised his hand toward the bullet that appeared to be crawling through water like mud before it stopped in midair in front of him. Th’ael lowered his arm and the bullet defied gravity like magic as it dropped to the ground mimicking the speed of his hand. Th’ael smirked, wheeled around and marched away. Aarik felt his body struggle to comply with his brain's command to move as he watched Th’ael escape out of sight but even the demand for his lungs to bring in much needed air was impossible. Seconds passed before the air returned to normal and Aarik sucked in a much needed breath.
Aarik gasped for breath and looked down at Kiya to make sure she was okay. Luke was pale, with a trickle of blood running down the side of his mouth. His glassy eyes stared up into her face before he sputtered quietly, “Guess I earned the title of hero after all, huh?”
Kiya bit her lower lip as tears pooled in her eyes before she nodded and whispered in a cracked voice, “You are my hero.” Luke smiled and closed his eyes as his dying breath expelled on a sigh. Aarik expected Kiya to lose it after she witnessed Luke’s death but instead she looked up at the ceiling and said in a deadly tone, “I swear on my life, Luke. I will make them pay.” She moved him to the side carefully and stood tall in only her blood stained bra and jeans from which she pulled a gun, flipped the safety off and palmed it, like she knew how to handle it, before she said in a calm tone, “What are you waiting for? Are you going to make me go first? That’s not very gentlemanly.”
Shaking his head to try and make sense of the last five minutes, Aarik stalked forward and grabbed Kiya in a tight hold. He took a deep breath in her hair before he pulled back and said, “I’ll always go first, never doubt me. I’d chase you down if I had to.”
“Why the hug? Not like I want to sound like I’m complaining but they are getting away,” she questioned in a rush.
“I have no idea what the future holds, but I couldn’t go into that hallway without experiencing you in my arms one more time. Call me crazy, but it’s the truth,” Aarik said with a smile. He stepped back before she had a chance to smack him and said, “Follow me and stay behind me. For some reason he doesn’t want to kill me and I’m not taking any chances with your life.”
“I can’t shoot from behind you, Aarik,” Kiya puffed out in frustration, as she followed behind him at a half run.
“Peek out from the side if you have to, but in all actuality, with his force field thing, I don’t believe we will be shooting anyone. I think our best bet would be to follow them and then contact the authorities for more fire power,” Aarik huffed out, increasing his strides into a full out run. He hoped that Kiya would be able to keep up, but a part of him prayed she'd fall behind so that he could ensure her safety. He was torn between wanting to keep her close or locked away far from the danger.
As he raced down the middle aisle of the large auditorium and crossed the stage, he entered the secret entrance and could see Th’ael at the end of the tunnel pulling the vines to the side as he exited into the night and headed west instead of into the forest where Diego and his men had come from. Much to Aarik’s surprise, Kiya must have been an Olympic runner in her past, because when he crossed into the night and raced towards the main entrance she appeared next to him on the trail like a cheetah playing with her prey.
Th’ael, instead of turning to do his magic trick again to slow their progress, sped up when he spotted Kiya and Aarik on his trail as he broke into a run. Aarik made a mental note to dissect his decision later as he increased his pace to shorten the distance. He was confused as to why they were going back inside until he remembered the craft room and panicked. “Hurry Kiya, they’ll get away,” he rushed out on a shallow breath.
“How? They’ll be trapped. We should call for backup,” Kiya said out of breath as she slowed down.
“No, you don’t understand. Did you see that medallion hanging from his neck?” Aarik said grabbing her arm and pulling her with him.
“Yes, why?” Kiya said, tugging on her arm and slowing them down a bit.
“It’s the key to the spacecraft or whatever that thing is. We have to stop him, before he gets away!” Aarik shouted, and when she pulled her arm free, he implored her with his eyes to believe him. “Please trust me, we don’t have much time,” he finished on a plea.
Kiya shook her head before she nodded it and let out a sigh. “I trust you, but we should at least call someone. I have my phone,” she said, pulling out her phone and handing it to him.
“I’ll call Taylor,” he said dialing the number as he ran. “Yo Tay,” he said in a winded voice. “Need your assistance in the craft room. No time to explain but if you don’t get your ass over there A.S.A.P you might never see me alive again,” Aarik rushed out before he hit end and handed the phone back to Kiya like a baton pass in a relay race.
“Shouldn’t you have told him to call someone?” Kiya said in a perplexed voice.
“I’m sure he’ll think of it on the way. He’s smart like that; and if he doesn’t, we’ll handle that bump when we cross it. Firm believer that everything happens for a reason and life hasn’t proven me wrong yet. Sometimes it’s a life lesson, or maybe a better option never would have happened if you didn’t open the door to find out, others we may never know, because we are too narrow-minded to see the multiple avenues our lives can and will take from the choices we make. Right now, I choose to follow that madman into the unknown because I know the other option would lead to disaster,” Aarik said in short bursts, as his stamina began to wane from exertion as they entered Vos’rok.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Kiya said breathlessly from behind, as the grueling pace caught up with her.
Aarik was amazed when they approached the hallway to find the sconces along the wall glowing a mellow gold color as they illuminated the way to the craft room where their power source appeared to end, and the eerily dark continued on until the cave in. Wasting no time Aarik raced down the incline into the Terra Lock and marveled at the way the room was lit it as it would have been in the ancient past. The haunting feel of the stalactites made Aarik cringe as he imagined them crashing down around them from Th’ael’s might as he made his escape.
Aarik could see Diego slumped in the seat of the closest craft as it hummed to life from the entrance. He sailed toward Th’ael with renewed energy, hurrying to squeeze past the fallen rock that blocked his view of what the evil man was up to as he realized he might lose the knowledge of how his medallion worked.
“Stop where you are!” Aarik yelled in anger as he rushed Th’ael from behind.
“I’m afraid you’re too late,” Th’ael purred, as he lifted his hand from the now powered podium and walked towards the craft before he paused and looked over his shoulder at Kiya with intensity staring at her chest with desire as she approached Aarik’s side noisily, unfazed by his creepy stare. Th’ael jumped into the craft and pulled the medallion from his neck. “You have something that belongs to me, Thrall. Bring it over, we have room for one
more,” Th’ael boomed in his multi-layered voice with authority as he patted the seat next to him.
Aarik watched as Kiya stepped forward in a daze as if she intended to obey his orders. Surprised by the take-over, Aarik shoved his gun into the back of his jeans before he grabbed Kiya from behind and caged her advance with his arms. She struggled and pushed from within and, moments before she escaped, he grabbed her shoulders, flipped her around to face him and shook her with enough force to knock some sense into her. “Snap out of it, Kiya. Come back to me,” Aarik moaned out in desperation.
When she shook her head and looked up at him in confusion he didn’t wait for a response and crushed her to his chest. Taylor picked the opportune time to show up, as he raced into the room with the rest of the camp behind him. They were all armed with something in their hands that ranged from sticks, bats, a flare gun and a taser.
“She’s mine and one way or another I will have her,” Th’ael growled. Realizing his time was up, he glared at Aarik as he twisted the medallion into the port on the dashboard.
Before his eyes the craft was enveloped in a bubble of shimmering air infused with multiple colors. It was as if a field of water encased them and as the lights from around the room reflected off of the surface, rainbows were generated over the water in all directions. The holding clamps released with a loud pop and in the blink of an eye it disappeared from sight.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kiya
Scrambling around the big boulder after Aarik, Kiya looked down at herself and gasped in horror at her appearance. Still covered in Luke’s blood, she scrunched her hands together and stomped up to Aarik to give Th’ael what he had coming to him. She noticed his reaction to her crystal pendant and instead of drawing attention to it by covering it with her hand, Kiya stood next to Aarik, proudly daring Th’ael to make a move.
He leaped into the craft with ease and grabbed the metal disk from his neck before he opened his mouth and spoke in that multi-layered voice, “You have something that belongs to me, Thrall. Bring it over, we have room for one more.”
Kiya stepped forward involuntarily and screamed internally when she realized that, with a single command, her body was under his control and just as he promised earlier, she had the will to defy him but not the physical means. Frustrated, as her eyes continued to focus on Th’ael, she wished she could close her eyes to break the connection, or at the very least pretend like it wasn’t happening.
As her foot lifted again to take another step she rejoiced as she felt Aarik’s arms surround her in a gentle embrace. As her body persisted to fight the hold, she wriggled and shoved at his arms with a force she wasn’t aware was in her.
Aarik forced her to face him and gripping her arms he shook her like a rag doll as he deplored with her in a desperate voice, “Snap out of it, Kiya. Come back to me.” The urgency of his tone broke the connection Th’ael had created, and as her eyes focused on his handsome face, he pulled her into his trembling arms and cradled her gently against his chest. Kiya soaked up his strength and sliding her arms around him for support she peaked out at Th’ael from the safety of his embrace as Th’ael sneered out, “She’s mine and one way or another I will have her.”
Trembling in fear from his threat, she flipped around to confront him and noticed they were not alone as the team streamed through the door. Kiya snapped her attention back to Th’ael when the air around changed pressures and she witnessed a miracle as the craft carrying Th’ael and Diego was engulfed in a morphing force field sprinkled with sparkling colors, vanished in front of her eyes. Taylor, followed closely by Cooper, slid to a stop behind them with their mouths dropped open in astonishment as the craft vanished from sight.
“What, in the name of all that is holy, is going on in here,” Cooper uttered when he finally reclaimed his wits. “I had a few sips of bourbon this evening, but I am far from drunk, and even if I was, I’ve never hallucinated from alcohol before, even when I drank Mezcal Tequila, worm and all,” rambled Cooper in excitement.
As the adrenaline rush fled Kiya’s system, the shock of Luke’s death hit her and she lashed out at Cooper in anger, “A powerful being uncovered from the hallway beyond the cave-in escaped in that craft after Diego shot and killed Luke.” The strength in her legs gave out and as she started to crumple to the ground, Aarik tightened his hold around her arms and quickly enfolded her nakedness away from prying eyes. Balancing her with one arm he removed his flannel and wrapped it around her upper body before he swooped her up into his arms and fixed his eyes on Taylor and Cooper. “Let me get her cleaned up before we show you what Diego has been hiding. I’m assuming Jones has been notified,” Aarik said, focusing on Mark with his last sentence, he acknowledged the nod with one of his own before he stalked out of the room with Kiya in his arms.
Staring up into his face broke the barrier Kiya had placed to hold her fear and loss at bay broke. She cried silently for the loss of Luke, at such a young age, and for the loss of her own innocence. From here on out, the life she was used to would never be the same as she fought to defeat a powerful alien from destroying the world, and her in the process. Tears streamed down her face while she let herself grieve and just as quickly as the flow started, it stopped when she realized she wouldn’t have to face it alone.
She swallowed past the lump in her throat and mentally erected the shield over her emotions once again in an effort to stay sane. “You can put me down now, I can walk on my own,” she choked out still trying to rein in her erratic thoughts.
“Not yet. I believe you when you say you can walk but for my benefit let me hold you just a little longer. I’ve never been so scared in my life, when you stepped forward and obeyed his ridiculous command, it was like he had placed you under a spell and you were powerless against it. I imagined my world without you in it and I lost it. I need to hold you just a bit longer to settle my nerves,” Aarik admitted, while he used his fingers to caress her jaw in a loving gesture.
“It WAS just like a spell. I had no control over my body, but I knew what I was doing and could only watch like a bystander as my body disobeyed my internal shouts and commands. He warned me earlier that he would break me that way. He said that he would give me just enough will to know what was happening to me while he made me beg for him,” Kiya admitted in revulsion.
“A statement like that only increases the chances that I never put you down,” Aarik said with conviction. He pulled her closer to his chest and said with a sigh, “I promise, as long as I’m alive, he will never touch you.”
“While I appreciate the sentiment, I don’t want to hear another word about your death. I know we have a long road ahead of us, but let’s remember to stay focused and upbeat. We need to send out to the universe our end goal and, no matter what, never let our positive energy wain. If Th’ael or Diego win some of the battles to come, the end score is all that matters, no matter how we get there,” Kiya said adamantly into his chest, as she savored his unique masculine scent and reveled in the way his presence calmed her frayed nerves.
“I feel terrible springing more shit on you, but I need to speak with you,” she confessed, pushing back she brought her eyes back to his. “Privately,” she added, when she noticed his quizzical expression.
“I need to speak to you too. The authorities could arrive at any moment and will want to question us, so we’ll need to be quick about it. Plus, we don’t won’t everyone to think we are collaborating our stories,” Aarik replied in a hushed tone.
“Trust me, I won’t beat around the bush,” Kiya answered nervously.
Aarik gave a short nod while he searched her eyes, as if he was silently seeking answers to her nervousness. “Alright. We can use my tent. I did tell them I was going to get you cleaned up,” Aarik said quietly.
Kiya fell into step beside Aarik as they headed to his tent in silence. The moment the flap closed she spilled her secret before she could second guess her decision to trust him, “I’m just going to spit it out before I
lose my nerve.” She grabbed the crystal in her palm and pulled it over her head. Holding her hand out, she waited for him to do the same, she dropped the crystal into his open palm and blew out a breath. “Look I know this is going to sound crazy, but the other day when I went home to see my grandma, it was because I was freaked out over what we found in there.” Aarik tried to interrupt her, but when he opened his mouth to protest, she held up her hand.
“Please let me finish first and then you can ask questions. The night before I got the job offer, I had this dream...vision, or something, where I envisioned the sleeping quarters, we recently discovered, in ancient times. I was floating over this woman who was talking in a different language over a fire pit in a stone home and she was upset. The only thing in the room was the pillow and her. At the end of the dream thingy, she said to me in plain English as if she could see me “Origin Passage, child. Find it. Stop him.” She looked just like my grandmother, but I blew it off upon waking and didn’t talk to her about it. When we walked into that last room together, my heart stopped. It looked exactly the same, except she was gone and the red color of the pillow was faded from time and dust. It was like deja vu, but it was more than just a feeling like you get sometimes that you’ve seen or done that thing before. It was like I was walking into a movie production set of something that I had just watched the week before, and I was reliving it,” Kiya took a deep breath before she continued.
“When I told my grandmother of what I had seen she brought me this crystal with a warning, or for all intents and purposes, a prophecy that has been passed down to the women in my family for thousands of years. She gave us a cryptic warning and said that with the help of a royal descendant we would be able to stop him,” she finished, and looked up at him with imploring eyes begging him to believe her.
Sounds of the Forgotten Page 16
