by Isabel Wroth
He’d put down his tablet then too and cuddled her to his side until she had fallen asleep. To her surprise, Ilaria had dreams of the repository of knowledge on S7.
The glowing crystals that dripped from the trees, the buzz of the electromagnetic energy that boosted her own and made it so much easier for her to communicate with Cassie.
“Anything,” Satesh answered warmly.
“If I had been Awakened properly, part of my duties would have been to chronicle all I had seen and could remember. Do you have any journals or something I could begin writing down my travels?”
Satesh hummed as he reached out to stroke his knuckles along the slope of her cheek, curling a lock of her hair around and around his finger.
“If you prefer paper, I can have several journals synthesized for you. Or if you would like a tablet, you can write everything down to later be printed into a book.”
Still feeling sluggish from sleep, she followed the gentle tug of his hand in her hair and slid into his lap, turning her cheek to his shoulder, basking in the warmth of the kiss he pressed to her brow, grounded by the strength of his arms around her.
“I think a tablet will be just fine. Thank you.”
“Of course. What will you write about first?”
“My friend, Cassie.”
“The Sarazen’s mate?”
“Mmhm,” Ilaria hadn’t realized she was chilled until the intensity of Satesh’s body heat began to seep through her clothes and into her skin.
His scent was rich and fresh, and after so long without being able to smell such wonderful smells, or feel anything but numbness, all she wanted to do was feel. To touch, taste, smell.
She buried her face in his throat to feel the pounding of Satesh’s pulse against her lips, to taste the saltiness of his skin, breathing in his scent until her head swam.
“Tell me about her. How did you meet?” Satesh twisted his fingers in her hair, kneading at her scalp.
Tingles shot through her as her muscles relaxed, her speech felt slurred at first, but soon the memories overtook her, and she was back there on S7 again.
“I had been drifting for some time before I felt the tug that led me to S7. It’s a strange planet; the continents are all heavily forested, but a fungus is quickly turning the trees to crystal.
“It’s quite beautiful in a rather eerie way, and as a result, the natural energy of the planet is magnified in certain places.
“The crystal becomes a conduit to amplify the electromagnetic energy, which is what attracted me to the area, or so I thought.”
Ilaria paused for a moment, giving thought to the way Satesh and Aley amplified her energy, like those strange crystals. She pictured both males as crystal in her mind, her sexual energy refracting throughout their bodies when they came together, to then be focused with brilliance back to her. Magnified, strengthened, heightened ten-fold.
Curious. Ilaria wished she had another traveler to speak with, or a Steward to advise her on whether Ilaria’s hypothesis was correct. She knew her feelings for both males had nothing to do with how they fed her energetically, but the way her abilities only grew in strength after each coupling was a remarkable occurrence.
Was it because she had love for each of them? Or because their energy, the pitch and rhythm of their life-force was in perfect harmony?
“Ilaria?”
She jolted out of her thoughts at the sound of Satesh’s voice, continuing her story. “I was drawn to a crater where the energy was the strongest. Where an ancient fortress stood abandoned, and all that remained were thousands upon thousands of books.
“I tried communicating with the Sarazen people, but in my etheric form they could neither hear nor sense me.
“I had been there for nearly an entire season before Cassie and a party of warriors came to the fortress to search for some knowledge that had been excluded from their territory-wide database.
“She saw me immediately, and for a time her escorts thought her mad. Talking to thin air, experiencing something they call mate sickness. Which, by the way, do your people call their life-bonded something special?”
Satesh tugged her head back so he could share his smile with her, “Is that what we are? Life-bonded?”
Ilaria could feel his happiness like the beat of gentle wings inside her belly. “I am bound to you by love, and if you and Aley someday leave me or love another, I would never give my heart again.”
Satesh made a deeply satisfied sound, tipping her chin up to lick a hot path across her lower lip before kissing her with an intensity that never failed to make her toes curl.
“Good thing I would never leave you or love another. My people do not have a soul-bond like the Sarazens do, and we don’t call the ones we love mate. We say, Chosen. I choose to be with you for the rest of my life. You and no other.”
Joy felt like the glow of sunshine through her veins, his vow brought tears to her eyes and settled a worry Ilaria hadn’t realized she felt.
“Chosen. I like that.”
“Me too,” Satesh whispered back. “So, did you cure your friend’s sickness?”
Ilaria gave her Chosen another peck of a kiss and settled deeper into his hold, “She wasn’t sick. She was hurting, angry.
“From a young age Cassie had been betrayed by the people who should have loved her most, and because of an unfortunate misunderstanding, she believed her mate had done the same.
“They were at odds for many long months, Cassie believing she was unloved and only being used for pleasure, her mate not understanding how she could see everything he did was for her.
“I remember I was trying to help Cassie do research. She was looking for something specific, and I feel as though I was able to shed light on the situation, but the details that come after are fuzzy. I think if I’m able to write it down, more might come to me.”
“We can contact the Sarazen high council, reach out to Cassie if you wish.”
Ilaria shook her head, snuggling her cheek back down to his chest as her eyes unfocused and she tried to use the gifts that were slowly coming back to her to see past the haziness of her mind for the answers she knew were there, just out of reach.
“I don’t think it’s the right time. I can’t be of help to Cassie until I remember everything of our time together.
“For now, I have to focus on my people. On us. On doing as I should have been this whole time and chronicling all I can remember.
“It may wind up being of no use, but I have hundreds of years’ worth of information rattling around in my head. It should be preserved.”
Satesh continued to knead at her hair, his other hand smoothing up and down her spine, heading down to her thigh to begin gathering the fabric of her skirt.
“You know, there is another way to jot down your thoughts.”
“Oh?” said thoughts began to grow hazy as his lips moved to plant a slow string of kisses down her throat.
“Mmhm. You could tell them to Aley and me over dinner, and we’ll record the entire thing. I hear memories are best stimulated via positive reinforcement and helpful questions from those who love you.”
“Your plan has merit. I see no reason why we shouldn’t ah…um, experiment.”
“Indeed,” Satesh growled salaciously, “and speaking of, what is Aley up to? I haven’t seen him since this morning.”
Satesh’s hand moved boldly between her thighs, locating the maddeningly sensitive nub at the apex of her sex with unerring precision, causing Ilaria to shudder in bliss with the gentle rub he gave it.
“He’s ah…speaking with Zillriane.”
Satesh made a gentle exploration of her, swirling around and around with no apparent destination in mind, until he came across the heart of her.
The sudden thrust of his fingers inside her sent her head flying back in both shock and excitement.
“So, what you’re saying is, I have you all to myself for a while longer?”
“Mmahha,” she slurred, tilting her hips to
help him find that perfect spot that would set stars off behind her eyes. But then, Satesh didn’t exactly need help driving her insane with pleasure.
“Wonderful.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Ilaria~
Matav had once been a planet rich in color. Vibrant yellow forests of towering trees, meadows of lush green carpets, flowers in every color of the rainbows that arched through the pale lavender sky.
Soft showers of rain fell for a few minutes each day, ensuring the flow of little rivers and gushing waterfalls. Ilaria remembered playing by serene pools shaded by the lacy yellow-gold leaves of the trees that grew beside those little rivers as a child.
Now, the entire planet was shrouded in darkness. The sun was little more than a pinprick of light, near the end of its cycle. Soon it would begin collapsing in on itself and would create a vortex of such power, all life in the solar system would be sucked into it and lost forever.
The trees had turned so blue they appeared to be black, as had the meadows. What flowers there were left, were as red as blood. No rainbows decorated the blackened skies, and the rain that fell was made of ice.
Without the protection of the suit of armor she wore, Ilaria knew the razor-sharp projectiles would have shredded her skin in seconds.
She led the way down cracked and crumbling roads through the city of Kaste V’ley, surrounded on three sides by Satesh’s men as they moved through the ruins of a once bustling street.
The warm gray stone the Matavei had used to build their homes was now blackened with soot and lay in heaps of rubble, as though an enormous hand had reached out and knocked them down.
There were sizable craters their ground force had to skirt around, scorch marks indicating weapons fire of some kind. Aerial bombardment, but from who, she did not know, and Ilaria supposed it didn’t matter.
The home she remembered was long gone. All that remained were echoes from the past, and the memories of what had once been a beautiful jewel in the heart of a vast empire.
Tears slid down her cheeks and because of the helmet covering her face, she couldn’t wipe them away.
~We are here with you, Ilaria. Aley whispered in her mind, his compassion wrapping around her like a well-loved blanket, his armored fingers curling through hers as they continued toward the lone building still intact.
Dura Mi’ray, the Hall of Ascension.
The towering edifice had long ago been a hallowed palace of knowledge, the windows that had gleamed so brightly, now looked like a gaping maw of jagged, rotten teeth.
Matav had taken back the land, thick layers of earth and black moss that squelched red liquid when stepped on covered the floor. The small stream that had trickled through the length of the building was now a dark, shadowy chasm filled with stagnant water, and the mercenaries had to use a plasma bridge to span the deep gorge to reach the other side.
“If the underground is anything like this, we will have to set up a relay platform to transport the pods.” The voice in her ear was unfamiliar, but she shared his concern.
“The entrance is this way,” Ilaria answered, following the same path she remembered from childhood, only now she held Aley’s hand instead of her father’s.
“The entire lab was designed with a cataclysm in mind. The power source would continue to run even if the entire planet was on fire. The lift should still be in working order.”
Their party had to cautiously climb down three crumbling flights of stairs, and by the second, Satesh contacted the Mayhem to send mobile platforms that would allow a much easier ascent.
Ilaria approached a solid stone wall, heartbroken to see the enormous hole that had been blasted through to the inner chamber, exposing the lift that would carry them down to the first subterranean level where the travelers slept.
Her pod had been there, but when she exited the lift and stepped into the lab, there was nothing left.
The scavengers who had come to pick the bones of Matav clean had taken everything, leaving only broken glass and scattered pieces of stasis pods behind. Over one thousand travelers had been housed on this level, unaware of the intruders who came to steal them away until it was too late.
How many had died as they had been forcibly awakened? How many enslaved? How many still survived?
“My scans tell me the radiation levels are rising, Exarch.” Another voice announced stoically.
Satesh grunted, “Rising high enough to compromise our armor?”
“No, Exarch. Not currently. I will continue to monitor the sensors.”
“Where now, Ilaria?” Satesh asked, the command in his voice softening markedly when he said her name.
She led the way, trying not to let her emotions leak through their bond as she approached the control panel that would take them down to the next level.
She had to reach out with her mind, manipulating the crystals within the round globe, vibrating them at just such a frequency.
It took no more than a wave of her hand, and the doors hissed open to allow them to enter the lift. Ilaria felt her stomach lurch as they made their descent, churning with concern, worried about what they would find when the doors opened.
As she stepped into the darkened interior, a low sound left her to see the soft glow coming from the stasis pods. Another thousand travelers had been stationed here, but it appeared only half remained.
The Dhjana in charge of monitoring the radiation levels suggested the scavengers hadn’t had adequate equipment to withstand the radiation and grabbed only the pods closest to the lift in order to save themselves.
Ilaria wandered along the rows of stasis tubes, peering inside, searching for familiar faces and soon it became clear, her relief was to be short-lived.
“Ilaria?”
She ignored Aley’s concerned call, rushing from pod to pod until Satesh caught her and demanded to know what was going on.
“These aren’t my people! This is a male from Nerelenet, this one from Karrassec, those three there are from Angenas. All worlds far beyond Matav, and there are others from planets I briefly visited while traveling. Planets in other galaxies.”
“This pod says it has been undisturbed since the occupant was put inside,” Aley told her, and she spun around to see for herself.
The travelers here on the second level had been interred in their stasis pods long before her. She had seen them with her own eyes before she had been put to rest, and there had been no Angenans.
The male suspended before her was half her height, his skin covered in a fine pelt of fur, his coloring a dark, monochromatic rust from head to toe. Protruding from the thick bush of his hair were two gray horns that twisted upward in a gentle spiral.
White dots and lines lay along his arms in repetitive patterns, ending at his white-tipped claws. Coiled in the bottom of the tube was the end of his tail, the length capped by a six-pronged spear that looked to be made of bone.
The other two beastly males looked precisely the same, the only way to distinguish one from the other was the difference in their white markings.
The male from Karrassec was covered in yellow scales, hairless, and so large he was barely able to fit within the tube.
He had only four fingers on each hand, tipped in long black claws, webbing in between would propel him through the water, the webbing between his three clawed toes would also help him to reach swim farther and faster than all the other creatures of his homeworld.
A winged serpent from Oorli lay coiled in another tube, a female from Charinos was on her back, her humanoid upper body giving way to an animalistic, muscular body.
Her four hoofed legs were tucked up over her dappled gray belly in a most uncomfortable looking position, and no matter the form within the stasis pod, they all had one thing in common—
The data log showed none of the pods had been tampered with or breached since their closing. The radiation flooding the chamber hadn’t penetrated the thick glass except in the most minuscule amount, the levels not anywhere close to being
responsible for mutation.
Confusion continuing to claw at her calm, Ilaria found the dark blue skinned Matavei interspersed among the unexplained intruders, perfectly formed, all seemingly unharmed.
“Exarch! You must see this!” The urgent shout made Ilaria flinch, jolting from her open-mouthed gawking, weaving a little as she backed away to follow Satesh as he hurried to the mercenary waving his arm.
Aley steadied her with an arm around her waist, the two of them crowding around the group of armored warriors facing one of the pods.
Behind the glass, a slender-limbed, blue-skinned Matavei female was in the process of some sort of metamorphosis.
Her cap of iridescent white hair darkened to black, growing at an exponential rate until it hung in silky curls around her thighs.
The elongated shape of her skull shifted to a rounded dome, the sharp planes and angles of her face softening as her indigo skin faded to a sun-kissed cream.
A scar-like seam began to form down the center of each arm, and with a few concerning convulsions, two arms split into four.
Her chest bulged outward until two large breasts took shape—which made several of the males watching give appreciative sounds—her waist nipped in, her hips rounded, and when the transformation finally came to a halt, Ilaria noticed the sleeping female’s palms turned a vibrant pink.
The female looked like one of the many queens of a planet called, Lota. Ilaria had spent many days there exploring until feeling the presence of another Matavei, a female, who had expressed the desire to study the matriarchal culture in more detail.
Sensing her passion, Ilaria had left her to it, and the next planet Ilaria had found had been Saraz. Was this the other Matavei she had sensed?
“What’s going on here, bright eyes?” Satesh asked her in dumbfounded confusion, but truthfully Ilaria had no idea. “Is it safe to bring them aboard the Mayhem?”
“I…yes. Ah…so long as they remain…remain in their pods, there is no um, no danger,” she stammered, wondering if what she had thought as her own mutation had been the same kind of transformation they had just witnessed.