Zern

by Stella Sky

  I ran and ran and then I felt the swish of air on top of me. I looked up, hoping to see a helicopter from the Earth army. The trees were so tall and dense that I could not see, but I kept running in the direction. Then I tripped.

  "Where do you think you're going?” I heard a familiar voice growl at me.

  I looked down to see Cultan on the ground. He had his arm wrapped around my ankle. There was blood on his face down the side of his temple. There was a bloody rock nearby. Someone had hit him. He had fought with someone and had lost, and it was obvious that he was angry and he was going to take that anger out on me.

  "Let me go!” I said trying to yank my leg from his hands and kicking him with the other.

  "Here! Over here! One of them is trying to get away!” Cultan shouted over his shoulders. My eyes grew wide with panic. He was calling his warriors.

  "No! No, I will not go!” I shouted feeling extremely helpless that they would catch me when I was so close to the Earth soldiers that I could hear them shouting orders to each other.

  I turned away from him onto my stomach and clawed at the forest ground, trying to crawl away from him. It was then that I saw a blaster underneath a limb. I reached for it. I turned and shot.

  Bam! Bam! The gun went off in my hands, and it startled me. I had never shot a blaster gun before. I hit Cultan twice, once in the shoulder that barely penetrated through his blue scales and the other in his neck. Blood poured out of his neck, and he fell back. I was in complete shock. I had just killed a Corillion.

  "There! That is the new one!” I heard a voice shout. I looked through the trees to see two Corillion warriors running in my direction. I yanked my leg out of his dead hand and ran in the other direction.

  "It is Cultan! The new woman! You killed Cultan!” I heard them shout behind me as I ran as fast as I could with tears pouring down my face. I ran straight into a tree.

  "It is all right! We got you now!” the voice said.

  I looked up to see that it was not a tree that I ran into. It was the bullet proof vest of a soldier.

  "There! They are coming for me!” I pointed in the direction that the Corillion warriors were chasing me. The soldier grabbed my arm and led me off in the opposite direction as he shouted orders at the group of soldiers he was with. “There! Beyond the trees! Go! Go!”

  "Climb in! You are safe now!” the soldier shouted at me as he led me to a helicopter. I climbed in as fast as I could, and the soldier turned and ran back towards the battle. The helicopter lifted off into the air and flew away from the battle site. I relaxed and laid back into my seat and looked at the other ten human females that I recognized from the cave. They were all shaken and frightened. I did not see Jennifer among them, and I hoped that she had made it to another helicopter. I was handed a bottle of water. I drank greedily and relaxed.

  I had made it. My ordeal was over. That was the end of it. That was the end of my time with the Corillion warriors. Or so I thought. Little did I know that my actions in the forest that day would come back to haunt me, and my life would never ever be the same

  Chapter 2

  VIQER KRILLIS

  "Is that all you got?” I smiled as I twirled my large dagger in my hands.

  "Perhaps you can take me. But you are not a match for both of us,” the warrior said as another warrior joined him in the practice arena. This was where I spent most of my time. I was a damn good warrior. And I had proven it over and over. I had beaten this warrior to a bloody pulp. Now another warrior joined him, but it did not scare me. I was excited about the challenge.

  "No, it is you two that are no match for me,” I said as I put my arms out and waved my hands for them to come at me.

  They both charged at me at the same time, screaming at the top of their lungs. Boom. I pushed the first aside with my forearm, and he fell on the ground while I engaged dagger to dagger with the other. Clash. Clink. We fought. The crowd of warriors around us was cheering and shouting. By this time the other warrior was back on his feet. I took them both on at the same time. Punching one and then tripping the other. We went on and on like this until I was standing over both of their defeated bodies as they lay on the ground groaning.

  I raised my arms above my head in victory. All the warriors chanted my name “Viqer! Viqer! Viqer!” I grinned. I was a badass and everyone knew it. It felt good for them to shout it above the green plains of the planet Krillis. But then suddenly everyone grew quiet.

  "Corillion warriors!” Everyone turned to the platform above the practice arena. Titeq Krillis stood there with one hand up, asking for our attention. He was the second in command on the planet Krillis. But since our leader was away on Earth gathering human females as mates for us, Titeq was currently in charge. We all grew silent and gave our full attention to him.

  "I have news. I have news from the planet Earth. It is shocking news of sorrow. It has been reported to me that our leader, Cultan Krillis, has been murdered!"

  There was an uproar of anger from the crowd of warriors. Everyone was in complete disarray and sadness. I was filled with rage. Cultan was like a brother to me. He made me into the excellent warrior that I was today. It was because of him that I was a high-ranking hunter and warrior. He had trusted me, and the only reason that I was not with him on Earth was because he had personally asked me to guard Titeq and our home planet of Krillis. Now I was angry that I had not been there by his side. I could have protected him. I had failed him by not insisting on going with him to Earth when we all knew how dangerous it was in this battle between Earth and the Corillion galaxy.

  "Yes! Be angry, my Krillis warriors! This is war. I am the most hurt and angry over the loss of Cultan! We were close! We had spawned within minutes of each other. Now that he is gone I am to rule this planet. I take his place as the leader. That is the Corillion way. My first order as your new leader is revenge for the death of Cultan!”

  Everyone cheered. I was glad to hear these words from Titeq. I was glad that his death was not going to be unavenged. But I would want to take part in this. We knew this meant that there would be a fleet leaving to Earth to destroy those that destroyed Cultan. I wanted to be among those warriors. I wanted to be the one to get revenge on the killer that killed my leader. I would be a match for any Earth soldier.

  "We shall have our revenge! Cultan Krillis!” Titeq shouted.

  "Cultan Krillis!” the crowd shouted.

  "Tonight we celebrate in his honor! Tonight we celebrate the life and mourn the death of our leader!” Titeq shouted as drums begun to beat and drink began to be passed around. But I was not interested in the festivities. I looked at Titeq. He singled me out as I stood in the middle of the practice arena. He moved his head, gesturing me to follow him. I nodded in return.

  Minutes later, I was in Cultan's office, which now belonged to our new leader, Titeq.

  "Tell me what happened. Tell me who the killer is and I will kill them,” I growled the words. I could not contain my anger as I breathed in and out heavily.

  "Viqer Krillis. You are my best warrior. You have the strength of 10 warriors. You have the fighting skills of an Earth soldier and a Corillion warrior together; there is no other like you in the Corillion galaxy. Your knowledge of Earth is plenty; you can fly a Corillion ship and an Earthship. You are our most valuable warrior. I would not want to lose you to any mission when you are needed here. Cultan asked you to remain here to protect your home planet and to stay at my side,” he said to me.

  "And look where that got him. I must do this. I must be the one that is sent to get revenge for him. He made me what I am. I owe him this much,” I said in anger. I was starting to feel very pissed off that he was not going to allow me to go get revenge. I had to do it.

  "I thought you might say something like that. Are you sure you want this mission? You are very valuable here.”

  "Yes. Grant me this mission. I will get it over with and return,” I said to him.

  "No...” Titeq began to say.

  "Yes!
This revenge is mine!” I shouted at him.

  "You did not let me finish. Yes, you will have your revenge. But you will not get it over with and return as you said. I want to see this killer. I want to look the killer in the eyes, the eyes that took our leader from us. You, Viqer, will find this killer. You will bring the killer to me, and only after I have looked the killer in the eyes and learned how and why they took our leader will you be able to then kill them. Then you will take the body back to Earth and make a display of it. Everyone on Earth will know that this killer took our leader and we got our vengeance. That is the mission. Do you accept, Viqer?”

  I grinned. I would have my revenge. I would take this killer’s life, and I would take my sweet time. I would torture the killer. I would make sure that they knew that they made a big mistake by taking the life of our leader. I was looking forward to it.

  "When do I leave? When do I hunt?"

  "I thought you might like that. You leave as soon as you are ready. But you must do this mission alone. Only you can do it, and it must be stealthy. You must sneak into Earth, catch this killer, abduct her, and bring her back to me. You must do it quietly and with no help except for one single warrior that you may take with you,” Titeq said.

  "Her? Did you say her?” I asked confused.

  "Yes. It is a human female. She is the one that took the life of our leader. There were many witnesses. It was one of the human females that had been held captive by Cultan. She was to come to one of us.”

  "A human female; are you sure?” I asked, not believing him.

  "Yes. I received the report. Five warriors watched from a distance as she shot him twice. She ran away and was saved by an Earth soldier. The secret base on Earth was in the process of being raided by the soldiers. It was a battle. This human female got lucky is all. But now her luck will turn. She will pay for what she has done.”

  "I understand. Tell me where to find her,” I said.

  "The human female goes by the name Saramina Jedsin. She lives on Earth in an area of New York that the humans call Brooklyn. I will give you the exact coordinates to her home. But Viqer, it is very important that you do this quietly. You must steal her away in the middle of the night. You must not be seen and you must not be chased by the Earth army or tracked back to our planet. You must be very careful,” he said to me.

  I saluted him. I felt great honor to be chosen for the mission. “I will not disappoint. I will bring this human female assassin to you and then I will kill her and take her body back to Earth. All of Earth will know not to mess with the Corillion army.”

  "Ready your ship. I will get you the coordinates to where you will find her.”

  I saluted him and left.

  A week later, I found myself standing outside the window of the killer of our leader. The city was quiet. The tall building was dark. I slowly opened the window and crawled inside. I was expecting to find the home of a fierce warrior woman. I expected to see weapons of every kind on the wall. I expected to see top secret documents that she worked for the Earth army.

  But I saw none of that. Instead, I saw purple curtains. I saw soft gray chairs and colorful paintings on the walls. It was not what I expected at all. I quietly walked from room to room, looking for the killer with my dagger drawn. I promised Titeq that I would do it quietly. So I could not use my blaster gun. I pushed open a door. The bed was covered in white silk with a figure lying underneath the sheet. I stopped at the foot of the bed.

  I was shocked by what I saw; a curvy and delicious figure was outlined by the sheet wrapped snugly around her. One long leg was exposed from high up on her thigh down to her feet. Long brown hair was on her pillow. In the dim light, I could see her soft face with light freckles as she slept. She did not look like a murderer to me. She looked very soft and delicate. I thought I must have the wrong home. But she matched the description, and I had the coordinates right.

  I found myself drawn to her. Her long leg looked silky and begged for me to touch it. I placed my hand on her ankle and ran it slowly up her leg, over her knee, onto her thigh. She let out a soft moan that made my entire body respond to her. Her breathing grew heavy, and she rolled onto her back. The sheet dropped down to her waist. It exposed a sheer white nightgown covering her breasts with two hard nipples protruding from the fabric. I ached to touch them. She wiggled in her bed as though she was expecting me to take her; she was being sensual.

  It was very distracting. I had almost forgotten about my mission. I could not let her distract me. Then I remembered she was the very reason that Cultan was no longer alive. She had taken his life. As I thought about these thoughts, the rage came back to me. I felt extreme hatred toward this human. She would not be allowed to live. It came to me that I would have to take her back to the Corillion galaxy and not finish her right here. I pressed my dagger against her ankle.

  "Wake up. Wake up, human female," I growled.

  Chapter 3

  SARAMINA JEDSIN

  I had been having very erotic dreams about the Corillion ever since my abduction. I was very lucky to get away. I was grateful that I was back home in Brooklyn back to my life. My friends had looked at me like I was some sort of heroine after my dramatic ordeal. I wanted to forget all about it and just get on with my life.

  I did a good job of it during the day. But when I lay down to sleep, my subconscious took over. I dreamt about the Corillion. I dreamt about what it would have been like if I had not been rescued. One more day in that prison and I would have been taken to the Corillion galaxy where a strong warrior would have taken me for a wife.

  These were the dreams I was having, but it went deeper than marriage. I found myself being taken by a Corillion warrior and enjoying it. In my dreams, I was tied up, and the warrior would have his way with me while I moaned and wiggled underneath him. It was always a dream that left me feeling guilty in the morning. Yet that did not stop my mind from sending me right back to that dream, night after night.

  I would find myself waking up wet between my thighs from an orgasm I’d had in my sleep. What was wrong with me? I should be glad that it wasn't my fate to be the mate of a Corillion warrior. But it didn't help that my friends always wanted to hear about it as though I had been taken by some sexy pirates or something. They fed into my fantasy and kept the nightly erotic dreams going. So when I heard the deep growling voice in my sleep saying, “Wake up. Wake up, human female,” I thought it was nothing more than a dream.

  I felt a strong hand moving up my leg. It was just my imagination. Then I felt cold steel press into the flesh of my leg. And I heard the voice again, “I said wake up, human female. Wake up, or I will kill you right now.”

  I slowly stirred awake, trying to force myself to leave the dream. It was becoming too real of a dream, and I wanted to wake up, wash my face, have a glass of wine, and go back to sleep. I opened my eyes and realized that I was still dreaming, I had to be. It was the only reason why I saw a massive figure standing at the foot of my bed. I was still dreaming.

  "Good. Sit up," the angry voice demanded. It felt so real. The dream felt so real. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I looked over at my clock it read three in the morning. I reached out for the lamp to turn it on. “Do not move!" the voice growled.

  I screamed. This was real. This was freaking real.

  "Stop screaming, or I will cut your leg right off!” he said calmly.

  I stopped screaming and looked at the Corillion warrior that was standing at the foot of my bed. He had long black hair that was shaggy with tendrils falling down to his shoulders. It was all that I could see of him in the dim light. His monstrous figure was looming high over me. He was robust, with broad shoulders. The blue scales glinted in the dim light. The voice had a distinct baritone sound to it. The massive physique on him was that of a Corillion. There was no mistaking that there was one in my room, and he was angry.

  "What are you doing here? Get out,” I said with my voice quivering in fear.

  He laughed. “I am here for r
evenge. You are Saramina Jedsin, a human female assassin. You have taken the life of my leader, Cultan Krillis, and now you must pay for it,” he growled.

  "You have come to kill me?” I whispered.

  "Yes. I am going to kill you. But I am not going to do it yet. Your presence is requested in front of the new leader, the leader that took the place of Cultan. I will take you to Titeq as he wishes to look into the eyes of the killer of Cultan. Then I will kill you,” he said.

  I was trembling with fear. How could this be happening again? It was so unfair and so dumb that a Corillion warrior was accusing me of this.

  "Your leader Cultan stole me; he abducted me. I am no assassin! He took me from my life and was going to force me to marry a Corillion. He grabbed my leg when I was running away during the raid by the Earth army. I tripped and fell, and he was pulling on my leg. There was a blaster gun near me, so I grabbed it and shot him. He is the one at fault for his own death. If he would not have stolen me in the first place, maybe he would still be alive, if the Earth army would not have gotten to him anyway. He is the one that is at fault for his own death, not I. I was only acting in self-defense. Now get out before I kill you too,” I said with as much confidence as I could muster. I knew that I could not kill this Corillion warrior as I did not have a gun or any sort of weapon. I was in bed and practically naked, but I had to use my intelligence in hopes that I could outwit him.