~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 6
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Jay
It’s dark; darker than I remember. I look around me and see nothing. It’s like my whole consciousness is locked into a dark box. I can’t breathe, can’t see, I can’t even think straight in here.
I try to move forward, but something stops me. I can’t control my body. Or maybe, someone doesn’t want me to go down that way. I search inside me for the other Jasih’s voice, but he’s nowhere to be found.
For some reason, being alone scares me. Now that I’ve found him, I don’t want to be alone again.
A picture of Eladia pops in my mind. It takes me a moment to recognize her; she has her hair down, waving above her shoulders, caressing her back. She’s beautiful, more beautiful than ever. I want to touch her, to feel her smooth skin, her soft breasts.
Her image keeps me company until an explosion of light suddenly blinds me. I close my eyes, but it doesn’t help. Light manages to pierce through my thin eyelids and make the darkness behind my eyes burn. It’s torture, a never-ending punishment that I can’t bare.
Jasih.
A woman’s voice echoes inside my mind. Is that voice hers? She certainly doesn’t sound like her.
Jasih, you’re close. You have to keep moving, she says.
Close? Close to where? To do what? What is she talking about?
Jasih, open your eyes.
I want to decline, but it doesn’t seem I have another choice. I feel like I’m trying to avoid the unavoidable. Maybe opening them will stop the burning after all.
I do it slowly, carefully. At that moment, everything changes. I’m back on that roof, in the forest of the cemented trees, the place where the buildings don’t float like Mosa. I turn my head and see a woman appear behind me.
She nods at me and points at something on the horizon. I follow her finger and see the imprint of a falling object leaving a long, burning tail behind it, getting closer to the ground fast.
“What is this? Where am I?” I yell, but she doesn’t answer.
She just looks at me.
Jasih, you have to keep moving. Your race, the Esuh, needs you. You have to keep moving.
“I don’t understand! Moving where? To do what?”
She disappears before giving me a clear answer to my question. The object in the sky is now closer to the ground. What is this? Why do I see this vision? What does she want to tell me?
A moment passes and a girl runs into the roof. I gawp when looking at her.
“It’s you!” I say out loud.
She looks at me; she’s scared. She’s holding a small, metal thing in her hand. I’m not sure what it is, but it must be important. The young woman is hurt, seriously hurt, but it doesn’t stop her from moving, not even for a second. Most of her face is covered in blood, and her hands shake.
“Help me! You have to help me. I can’t leave this place, and it’s about to get hit by that thing over there. It’s going to destroy the whole planet. You have to do something,” she says without ever taking a breath.
“I’m not sure what you want me to do. I can’t stop a meteorite with my bare hands. Maybe if I had...”
“No, no. It’s not a meteorite. It’s something else, something far more dangerous. You have to help me.”
I’m not sure what she’s talking about, but I’m happy she’s here, even if she’s half crazy already.
“Look, my spaceship is close. I can take you to my friends and--”
“There’s no time! Goddammit, there’s no time!” she yells and falls on her knees.
The blond girl bursts into tears, into heart-breaking sobs. Something bad has happened to her, but I’m not sure I understand. I would help her if I could. I would surely do.
I turn to check the falling object.
“Shit! What the hell?”
The big object has changed its trail, and it’s heading straight for us. I stand still for a moment, trying to find a way out of its course when I hear the sound of feet running towards the end of the roof. I have a bad feeling about this.
Everything happens so fast that I can’t keep up. The object is getting really close to us; I can now clearly see that it’s a giant cube, big enough to destroy the whole city in the imminent impact. The girl is now standing on the edge of the roof, one foot hanging above the empty space. She suddenly seems determined to end her life.
“No! Don’t-” I try screaming, but my voice doesn’t even get out of my mouth.
The girl jumps from the roof, leaving nothing behind but the memory of her presence there. However, the weirdest thing comes right after, when the cube gets really small, small enough to fit in her hand, and follows her down.
A flash appears a moment later; I cover my eyes with my hand, but I can still feel the warmth of the flash for the rest of my body.
When it’s over, I open my eyes. I’m suddenly down to the base of the building, standing next to the dying girl. The cube beside her is still red, five strange signs inscribed around her, beating like a heart.
“Fuck! Are you alright?” I get close to her quickly. But, when I touch her, her body collapses under a dust-filled cloud.
I squeeze my fists hard enough to hurt them, but it’s not enough. She’s the second person I could do nothing to save.
I feel useless. I feel cold. I feel alone.
I start shaking, freezing. Something is wrong with me. I can’t control my limbs. I look down on my body, and I see a black, oozing substance coming off my body and connecting to the cube.
And then, excruciating pain comes. I scream, roar, try to pull my skin off my body, do anything to stop the pain.
“Hey! Hey!!! Wake up! What’s wrong with you?”
I open my eyes. I’m on the ground. I look around me and see gigantic trees and a young lady with a bizarre, brownish complexion looking at me.
“What...what’s wrong? Where are am I?”
“You’re in Zeania, the Phadh planet. What’s wrong? Did you forget?” She stops, waiting for an answer. When she understands that I can’t give her one, she keeps talking. “Five minutes after we got here, a flash came from your pocket, and you passed out. You’ve been out for an hour now, and it’s getting dark. We have to find a shelter.”
It was the cube again, right? The fucking, Nusae Cube. Fuck. I’m on the verge of pulling it off my pocket and tossing it on the ground, but I know it’s futile. It’ll probably fly back to me. But this vision was fucking twisted. The girl dying, me getting covered by that black thing.
And then, somehow, out of nowhere, everything clicks inside me. At that moment, I finally remember who I was, what was my mission back on Primordial Earth, why my people vanished.
“Alyce, we have to go. Now. We have a mission to complete,” I say to her.
She seems surprised for a moment but doesn’t say a thing. We’re both trapped in this hellhole for now, but I’m unreasonably happy. I finally remember who I am.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 7
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eladia
Three days...three days have passed since the brothers with the gray masks suddenly appeared in the training room. For a Class 1 spaceship, four people living in a tight place is fairly comfortable. For me? Well, it’s obnoxious. It was hard enough having to put up with Cross alone, but now that two more people from his organization were added to the crew, the level of discomfort rose significantly.
With Cross spending most of his time plotting something with the siblings, I spend most of my time alone. Not having a sparring partner anymore, I end up training all day, throwing hollow punches on a punching bag, trying to let off some steam.
I can’t keep my mind off him. Jay is in my mind all the time. When I’m sleeping, when I’m eating, when I’m training, I can’t stop thinking about him. What he’ll say about my new haircut or what he will do when we first meet? Will he kiss me? Will he hug me? Will he...?
“You’re doi
ng it wrong.”
I lose my focus in the middle of a high kick and almost sprain my ankle. Luckily, the first thing that Cross taught me was how to fall and not injure myself.
“What the hell? What’s your problem, sneaking out on me like that?”
It’s Alec, the blabbermouth.
“If I were your enemy, you would be dead by now. You have to be ready to do anything, anytime. Hasn’t Swamp taught you that?”
I sense a judgmental tone in his voice. “You think you’re better than me?”
He smiles; I can tell even with his face hiding behind his mask. “It’s not a matter of what I think. I’m sure that I’m better than you. You think that because you had a rough year you’re in better shape than me? You’re greatly mistaken,” he says and takes another step towards me.
Immediately, I feel an ominous aura coming from him; this man isn’t kidding. I lower my head and breath in. I relax my muscles and lower my guard, welcoming him in.
‘First rule of assassination: be always perfectly aware of your surroundings.’ Cross’ first rule clearly echoes in my mind. Back then, I didn’t quite get what he meant. Now, I understand.
The shriek of his shoes alerts me that he launched an attack against me. I avoid it easily, slipping from one stance to the other. Almost instantly, I take a step back with my left foot and dodge his punch. I do it in such a way, though, that my new footing is much more favorable to launch my next attack. So, when I finally open my eyes and punch him right in the face, I’m sure I won’t miss.
Surprised, he isn’t able to completely dodge my hit and thus he uses his hands as a shield. I feel the impact of my fist’s momentum in my whole body, but I know that the fight is not over, not by a long shot.
“Shit, you’re good after all. Swamp really taught you everything he knows, right? But, I now see what’s your greatest weakness. He was right after all.”
What? Cross said that I’m not ready? But...but last time he said the exact opposite thing. He was the one that said that my training was complete.
‘Second rule: don’t assume anything about anyone. Most enemies hide a trick up their sleeves. Find it, analyze it, use it.’
I remember that Alec is the one with the tiny keyboard hiding in his sleeves. I quickly get the feeling that his specialty is electronics, but I’m not sure how that can help him in a fist fight. Or how that can help me beat him. I’m sure he’s just standing there, probably looking at me with a cocky smile, doing something to the system with his keyboard.
Still, there’s nothing I can do other than waiting for him to use his trick and then destroy him.
“Hmm. You’re indeed better than I expected. You’re trying to analyze me, right? To find that trick up my sleeve and all?”
What the? Can he read my mind?
“Don’t flatter yourself. You’re not the only one that has been trained by the Swamp. To become a full-fledged member of the Organization, you have to spend a full year of training with each of the high-ranking members. Ocean covers the first stage of training, the part where you learn what your specialty is,” he says.
While he’s talking, the lights suddenly turn off. I’m blind for a moment, but I have enough time to hide behind one of the room’s many counters.
“Do you think darkness can help you? I’ve lived in the darkness too long to be intimidated by it!” I yell at him.
Slowly, but steadily, I regain my sight enough to be able to detect movements and figures. The moment I decide to pass into the counterattack, the lights turn back on.
“Swamp is the one that teaches you how to survive and kill your victims with deceit and pure skill. He hones your abilities and makes you a true, killing machine.”
I can’t see for a moment; I remain stunned, uncovered, rubbing my eyes while trying to regain my sight. When I’m sure I can handle the pain, the lights turn off again. Once again I’m blind, only, this time, it takes longer for me to regain control of my sight. And just when I’m confident enough that I can counter him, he uses his small keyboard to turn on the lights again.
It’s torture.
I’m thinking of closing my eyes, fighting using my other senses, but then, a piercing shrill coming from the ship’s speakers makes me lose control of my hearing as well. I...I can’t do anything.
“You cheater! You coward! Using dirty tricks to stop me from kicking your butt...is that your way of fighting?”
I sense the dull side of a knife on my neck. He has managed to sneak behind me and trap me. “We’re not soldiers, Chronicler. We’re above that. We’re assassin’s, fighting using the shadows, stopping at nothing to get what we want. Rule number three: there’s no dirty trick as long as it gets the job done.”
Shit. He’s right. Cross used to say that all the time, and we used to fight for it. As long as it gets the job done, there’s nothing that it’s unethical.
I take a deep breath and think. These words come as a revelation to me now, under Mist’s strong grip. Somewhere inside me, I gave up without even trying. So, when I quickly use my hand to stop him from further moving his blade and cutting my neck, he leaves his body uncovered. I kick him in the balls to cause him sudden pain and then throw him down with a complex handle, removing his mask in the process. I see that his cocky smile has been wiped off his face.
“Well, it seems like you’re right. But you’re talking too much for an assassin, do you know that?”
I see him staring at me and then I remember that these brothers always come in a pair. I grab one of the training clubs we were using with Cross during our sparring and stop Nebula’s hand on its way.
“You’re getting predictable,” I say, self-conscious of my great victory.
“You’re talking big for someone who doesn’t know anything about the Mystery you’re investigating all these years.”
What? What does that have to do with our fight?
“What are you talking about? The Nusae were destroyed so that the Phadh could rise to power. Is that what you mean? Isn’t that the end of the Great Mystery?”
A smirk appears on his face. I want to punch him.
“You really don’t have a clue. Weird, Cross is the one that teaches us about the story of the Nusae. In this stage, you should have already learned everything about them and what we’re fighting for.”
I feel lost. Cross hasn’t said anything about the Nusae throughout the last year we’re living together, trying to get away from the black-maskers.
I release him and help him get on his feet. “Tell me. What do you know about the Great Mystery? What do you mean that there’s more to it?”
He seems surprised that I was so quick to control my temper. To be honest, I’m not sure how I did it myself.
“I don’t know if I’m the one that should tell you about something so important. Swamp would have been better, but--”
“Cross,” I interrupt him, “won’t tell me a thing. He wants to be the hero, to become a martyr. If there’s more to the Great Mystery, I have to know. I have to let Jay know about it.”
“Believe me, your friend already knows. Pyro told him the truth many months ago. You’re the only one that has no idea what the Great Mystery is really about.”
Something cracks inside me. I want to kill him on the spot. My mind works in ways that I wouldn’t think possible a year ago, but now his life is just a price to pay to appease my anger. I raise my hand, not able to control my actions anymore when--
“Enough! Alec, Arlen, return to the bridge. You have overstepped your boundaries for the last time.”
Cross is furious. He’s more than furious; his face is a twisted mask of his usually charming demeanor. He’s genuinely angry with them. For a moment, I honestly feel sorry for them. Then, I feel ashamed. I was almost ready to take a man’s life just to satiate my rage.
Still, they don’t seem all that much worried. It seems that Swamp isn’t their superior anymore, and they aren’t afraid of him.
I don’t care, though. Now
that we’re alone in the training room, he has lied to me for the last time.
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Chapter 8
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Jay
It has been four days now, give or take. Walking through this strange forest makes me lose my sense of time. We get only a couple hours of sunlight every day, and that’s an overstatement. Alyce doesn’t seem all that much affected by it, but I...well I don’t want to stay on this fucking planet another minute.
“Eventually, you’ll have to eat you know? Or else you’ll die of starvation,” she says.
Alien Romance Box Set: Alien Cube: The Sci-FI Alien Invasion Romance (Books 1-5) Page 24