The sun was coming up as he entered the village and made his way toward the meeting hall. He needed to find Creia and Rey and ensure that the preparations were moving along quickly enough. Despite the early hour, the village was already beginning to show signs of life. The people he saw coming out of the homes and going about the first tasks of the day all carried a sense of purpose and determination. Even those who still looked as though part of their minds and bodies were sleeping seemed driven.
Mhavrych thought about the motivation that pushed them and how different it was from what drove him. He hadn’t always known about the Order. When he was a child, he traveled through the portals, visiting the different streams of reality with his parents without any concept that that was not the way that others lived. As he got older he learned of the true purpose of his kind and the destiny that he had. He still struggled with that responsibility. It wasn’t something that he chose. It was given to him, put on him by his father after he learned of the tremendous danger that hung over the Universe, a danger that few knew about and even fewer understood. What he was protecting, what he had taken from the tunnels when he rescued Ellora and Athan had an importance that was immeasurable, and while he was proud that his father had entrusted him with it, there were moments when he questioned whether it was something that he would have chosen for himself. If he had been given the choice, presented with the opportunity to take on the job of being the Protector, would he have taken it?
He could still remember the day that he met Aegeus. He was very young, barely aware of what was happening around him, and his father brought him into the strategy room of the palace. There he met Aegeus, a man from a planet that Mhavrych had never visited, of a species that he didn’t know. Even then he could tell that this man was impressive, something important and powerful. Several more years would pass before Mhavrych would learn the truth behind why Aegeus was so important. That is when he began to learn about the origins of the Universe and the critical role that his family played in it. The next time that Mhavrych saw Aegeus, the Mikana man had barely changed, but he had. Now nearly an adult, Mhavrych was ready to know all the secrets that his family held. It wouldn’t be long before the chaos began and the role of Protector was bestowed upon him. That was the first time that he traveled to Uoria on his own and encountered the Order.
Mhavrych thought of the bag tucked away in the distant hiding place he had chosen. It was the most secure place that he could think of, and he could only hope that it was protected well enough until he was able to get to it again and bring it back to his father. There was still more to do, but when the time came, he would be able to return home and live out the life that he still had ahead of him, and yet had already lived. The distinction was something that no one around him could understand. He was completely alone, the only of his kind, and there were times when the pressure and isolation were overwhelming.
A strange sound caused Mhavrych to pause in the middle of the path that meandered through the village toward the meeting hall. He turned toward it and saw dark forms filling the sky in the distance. They blotted out the horizon, dimming the morning’s new sunlight. They were growing larger, getting closer as the sound became louder. Mhavrych took a step toward them, intrigued by the foreign sight. Within seconds he realized that the forms were individual creatures, the strange sound that of their massive wings pressing through the air around them as they flew toward the kingdom. He noticed that one of them seemed to be carrying something and in an instant Mhavrych’s hand was searching for his weapon as he ran toward the figure.
Mhavrych lifted his blade above his head as he approached the creatures and he wished that he had a sword or bow with him. The flying beings were within a few yards now and he saw Creia’s head lift so that the Denynso king looked directly into Mhavrych’s face from where he hung clutched in the strong arms of two of the flying creatures. Mhavrych let out a scream and ran toward the swarm, prepared to fight in whatever way he could. As he approached, though, he saw Creia hold up a hand. The beings that held him started their descent and soon lowered the king to his feet. Mhavrych slowed and came to a stop, confused by what he was seeing. His hand still held up as if to keep Mhavrych at bay, Creia walked toward him.
“It’s alright, Mhavrych,” he said. “This is the Eteri, they have agreed to help us.”
Mhavrych’s arm lowered as he looked out over the group of winged men and women who were landing lightly on the ground ahead of him. He had heard of the Eteri, often known as the winged warriors, but he had never personally encountered them. They were an imposing species, not as large as the Denynso, but powerful. The tremendous wings that stretched out from their backs created a fearsome impression. Their faces remained stern, emotionless as their wings lowered and then folded into place behind them. Mhavrych started toward Creia, but before he could get to him, he saw Theia rush past him to her mate.
“Creia,” she gasped. “They’re missing!”
Creia’s face fell and he reached out to take his mate’s hands.
“Who?” he asked. “Who’s missing, Theia?”
“Athan, Malcolm, and Icelyn,” Theia told him desperately. “We can’t find them. No one has seen them since yesterday.”
Mhavrych stepped up to Creia, getting in his way so that he didn’t start toward the village.
“They aren’t missing,” he said.
Theia looked at him incredulously.
“What do you mean they aren’t missing?” she asked.
“I’ve removed them from the village,” Mhavrych said, still looking at Creia. “Malcolm was captured by the Order and his life was in danger. I’ve brought them somewhere out of reach so that they will be safe until we are prepared to leave for Penthos.”
“The Order captured him?” Creia asked.
“Yes,” Mhavrych said. “We found him in the lair dungeons. He had been tortured and was close to death. If we hadn’t found him, I don’t believe that he would have survived much longer.”
“But he’s safe now?”
“For now, he’s safe. He is inaccessible. As long as he’s there, he should be secure. But he can’t stay there endlessly.”
“No,” Creia agreed. “We can’t stay in the kingdom any longer than absolutely necessary. We need to gather with the others to discuss this situation and decide what to do next.”
Any levity that the king had had when he landed back on the ground with the help of the Eteri behind him was now gone. The show of aggression from the Order had changed things, further illustrating the severity of the situation and their need to take immediate action. The Eteri falling into step behind them, they started back across the field and toward the meeting hall.
Chapter Two
Ilya looked around the grounds of the factory, feeling a chill roll down her spine as she thought of the last time that she had been here. That was one of the worst decisions of her life. It hadn’t been something that she thought extensively about. Rather than planning it and considering what she was going to do when she arrived there, she had been controlled completely by the harsh, raw emotions that she was feeling at the time and let them push her to coming here alone and without anyone knowing where she was going. Not that she really had anyone to tell anyway. As Aubrey had pointed out, she was fairly isolated even when she was at work surrounded by the others in the lab. Even if it had occurred to her to tell one of the women who worked in such close proximity to her, or even to approach one of the men who wouldn’t have even given her the time of day at any point in their months of working together, none of them would have cared that she was planning to go to the factory. They would have thought that it was completely out of place and ridiculous that she had told them, almost as though she were right back in the tortuous halls of middle school being taunted by the girls who had been blessed with the willowy bodies and pretty faces that somehow made them more valuable than her.
But it hadn’t occurred to her. She had no need to tell anyone that she was going or what she
was planning on doing because it wasn’t like the other people who ventured out to the abandoned property in a juvenile attempt to prove themselves. Ilya had never really understood the purpose of those trips. It was like a step in a fraternity rush week, a meaningless stunt that somehow proved something about the person who was willing to do it. The fact that the factory had created some of the most mysterious materials that existed, materials that had been developed right on the campus of the University, linked it to the lab and made it so that those who worked there wanted to see it. Each of them thought that they would be the ones to find out what Izalux really was and what it was used for, but none of them ever had. Instead, they had all come back from their missions with stories of the strange and inexplicable things that they had seen and experienced when they were there. The stories seemed to get more elaborate and complex with each visit, and though Ilya had never been privy to the full stories, the conversations that they had when they were away from the lab or the small tables of the break room, she had always wondered if the stories had grown because the people who were telling them were trying to impress the people around them more than the ones before, or because what was happening at the factory was changing and increasing with each unwanted visit.
Her visit to the factory hadn’t been to prove anything. She didn’t want to explore the mysteries of the old building or try to figure out what was happening there. She didn’t even care about the Izalux or why it had been created. All that she cared about was finding Ryan and confronting him. He had entangled himself in her life and in her very sense of being so much that in those first days when she realized that she wasn’t to him what he was to her, it was like she no longer even knew how to function. It was like somehow, he had taken over her ability to do the most basic of life tasks, that him being gone stopped her from being able to breathe or think. Coming to the factory was a desperate attempt to reclaim the life that she thought that he provided for her, the life that she had created within her own mind to compensate for everything that she had never really had. The only thoughts that were going through her mind where the words that she needed to say to him. She knew that they were going to change his mind. He was going to hear them, and everything was going to go back to the way that it should have been.
That didn’t happen.
In the days and weeks following her arrival at the factory, when she realized that that one decision had given up her existence to him and that she might not survive the time that she spent there, Ilya had often tried to imagine what it would have been like to get out. She would close her eyes and pretend that she could simply walk out of the doors and through the gate that held her in. Sometimes it was almost as though she had achieved it, as though her mind was leaving her body in those moments and allowing her to feel that she wasn’t imprisoned by the man she once believed she loved. If she had been told during those times that the day would come when she was not only taken out of the factory, but then released from the horrible laboratory facility where Ryan and his Valdician minions kept her and the other women, she would have sworn to herself that she would never see either building again, that she would remove herself from them as fast and as far as she could and try to pretend that they had never even existed.
Now, though, she was standing on the grounds again, staring up at the factory the way that she had that fateful, regretful day. Beside her she could feel Mordecai standing close to her, his presence seeming to protect her even though he wasn’t touching her. She felt the same flicker in her heart that she had been experiencing for the last several weeks every time that she looked at the man. The feeling was making her incredibly conflicted. It wasn’t just that Mordecai was intensely attractive, the combination of features from the different species that crafted him giving him a face that was strong and handsome, eyes so beautiful Ilya felt that she could completely lose herself in them, and a body that looked chiseled and powerful even beneath his clothes. He was unquestionably gorgeous, but he was also tender and calm. He spoke with intelligence and introspection that was compelling and influential and seemed to move through every step of his day guided by emotion and perspective that wasn’t shared by the others around him, but that was purely and unapologetically his. He was kind and gentle without losing the obvious power and courage that made him a formidable force.
Ilya always felt safe around him, even when he was not interacting directly with her. It was as if just his presence was enough to take away the uncertainty and fear that had defined her since soon after she arrived at the factory. This drew her to him, making her want to be near him. The attraction was undeniable, stronger and clearer than any she remembered feeling, even to Ryan in the earliest days that she had known him. Despite the strength of her attraction, though, Ilya struggled to overcome knowing that this man was created by Ryan. He appeared a few years older than her, which was a startling and uncomfortable thought. He was already in captivity, already being put through the brutal training and torture that had been his entire life by the time that she was born. This had forced her into further unpleasant thoughts about Ryan. She had known from the time that she started dating him that he was older than her, even though she didn’t know the exact age difference. Realizing that he was responsible for the creation of this man, this strong, fully grown, beautiful man in front of her, only underscored the age difference and made her realize the extent of the terrible life that Ryan had already lived well before she had even taken her first breath.
She despised that she had allowed herself to be manipulated and misled so severely. It was obvious that she had been so desperate that she could readily be taken in by someone so much older, but also so vicious, cruel, and controlling. She would never have imagined that she would have aligned herself with someone who was capable of doing the types of things that Ryan did, much less have an extended and intimate relationship with him. Now she had irrefutable proof that the horrific experiments and gruesome activities had been going on the entire time that she had known him, that every time that he had brought her on a date, every time that he had kissed her, every time that they had laid in bed together, these people, including Mordecai, were living a life of pure hell at his hands. The thought made Ilya shudder and she felt her stomach turn. She pressed her hand to the side of her belly and felt the baby move within her.
Like it always did, the movement made her heart squeeze painfully and she felt tears burning the backs of her eyes. She had learned to control the emotion that she felt any time that she thought about the baby growing within her. She hated that reaction. She wished that there was another way that she could think of this new life, but it was only painful, a reminder of more than just her time in the facility.
Ilya felt Mordecai’s shoulder brush against her and realized that the group was starting to walk forward further into the grounds of the factory. She knew that she had to pull herself out of the downward spiral of her thoughts and focus on what was ahead of her. She had been the one to agree to come with them to the factory. In fact, she had insisted on it, demanding that they allow her to accompany them because she was the one of them who had been to the factory. It was her decision to come and she had made that choice so that she could help them to navigate it as safely as possible even though she knew that every step was treacherous. She needed to concentrate on that now, thinking not about herself and what she had gone through, but how she could help to keep the group safer so that they could find whatever it was that they thought they would find and get back to Nana’s house as soon as possible.
They were crossing the overgrown remnants of an old parking lot when a memory from the time that she had spent in the factory flashed through her mind and she reached out to grab Mordecai’s arm.
“Wait,” she said in a hushed whisper. “Not that way.”
“What’s wrong?” Gannon asked.
The rest of the group had paused and turned around to look at her. She gestured toward the cracked pavement ahead of them.
“We can’t wa
lk across that,” she said.
“What do you mean we can’t walk across it?” Aubrey asked.
Ilya looked around and saw a piece of wood a few feet away. She picked it up, noticing the rusted nail through one end that made it seem that this was once a part of some sort of structure and carried it a few steps further into the parking lot. Swinging it in both hands, she tossed the wood ahead of them, then stepped back, tugging Mordecai’s arm again so that he would come with her. It was an instinctive movement and she was immediately glad that she did it. Just as she remembered, a blinding spotlight burst on from somewhere toward the roof of the factory, illuminating the entirety of the parking lot. The group scurried away from it, seeking the protection of the shadows closer to the fence. They crouched behind a pile of discarded wooden pallets and Jonah looked at Ilya with widened eyes.
“What is that?” he hissed.
“A security light,” she said. “I remember it turning on when Ryan was bringing us out of the factory. As soon as we stepped onto that section of the parking lot, it turned on.”
“How long does it stay on?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve only heard a few of the people who have snuck in here talk about it. Most of them ran as soon as they saw it turn on. The other people went back to the fence and moved around the edge until they got around the lot.”
It was another strange feature of the factory. The structure itself looked weathered and dilapidated as if it could fall at any second, but the light was still in place and just as bright and blistering as it had been months before when she was there. This was only further confirmation that there was still something happening in there. Ryan transferring her out wasn’t a sign of the end of the factory. Instead, it was only a continuation. Removing her created more space for whatever function was usually fulfilled within its walls.
“What do we do now?” Willow asked, glancing over the pallets briefly.
The Alien's Tensions Page 2
