by Corin Cain
We file onto the ship. The pilot, an Aurelian who’d simply been waiting there to see if my parents needed to go anywhere else, gives us a concerned glance – then starts speaking into the com-unit. He explains that he’s been ordered to take us back to Terra.
“Understood,” comes the reply over the com-link, and the pilot engages the thrusters. We lift off, heading straight towards the upper atmosphere.
Colossus grows smaller beneath us, and I feel a surge of freedom welling up inside of me.
When I’m away from the three Aurelians, I can think again. I shudder, remembering how desperate I’d been for their seed. There’s still part of me that aches to be in the grasp of Karan, Raegan and Baldur – but I tell myself that it’s just the bond, trying to pull me back.
25
Jasmine
We land on Terra and my father gives a glowering look at the honor guard.
“We need money,” he says flatly.
The two, huge Aurelians nod without any hesitation.
“We will provide you with whatever you need. The comfort and safety of the bonded female is our top priority.”
“I have a name,” I snarl. “I’m Jasmine.” the two Aurelians bow their heads to me with reverential respect. That’s when it hits me. Most Aurelians look down upon humans, thinking them as less than they are. These two guards view me as the future of their empire. They’d do anything to keep me safe.
“Good,” my father tells them. “Firstly, we’re going to stay at the… Hmm, The Crystal until we find a place to purchase.”
The Crystal is the finest hotel on Terra. It’s the tallest building in our main city. In fact, we can even see it from here, at the Terran landing pads. Even as we wait for transportation from the space-hub where we landed, the spire of the Crystal looms tall above us.
We make an odd group – three humans, and two Aurelians. People look and stare at us as we board a private transport ship and are taken to The Crystal.
When we arrive, my father leads the way to the front desk. Security is about to stop him, noticing his commoner clothes, until the Aurelian honor guard stand tall and strong behind him.
Aurelians are the most powerful race on the planet, and they have infamously deep pockets. They demand respect on Terra with both their physical presence and their abundant pocket books.
“We’ll take the penthouse.”
“Sir, the penthouse is full.”
My father looks at me expectantly. “We require it,” I say, and one of the Aurelian guards steps forward. He pulls a credit card out, handing it to the front desk.
“We will pay whatever costs are needed to secure it.”
The front desk woman smiles eagerly. “Very well. We’ll see what we can do.”
I feel sick to my stomach as the elevator doors open up. It’s become abundantly clear to me that my father wanted to bring me back to Terra not to keep me safe, but because he wanted to abuse my position in the Aurelian hierarchy. He just wants to get what he’s always wanted.
He didn’t pay his taxes to bet on a horse race? My mom said it was for my education! I’ve hated Aurelians my whole life think he’d been imprisoned unjustly, and for what?
“Dad, Mom – you two can take the penthouse. I’ll have a smaller room. It’ll feel safer to me, anyway. I’m just coming out of that huge palace and… I just want something that feels more like home.”
My mom looks back at me, and I see with sadness just how weak she is. She’s been chronically ill for so long, and it’s broken her spirit as much as her body. Aurelian medicine could do nothing to heal that.
But what really makes me sad is when my father looks at her. I understand now what’s happened: Mom painted him as a hero to me for all these years, when all along he was just a degenerate who only cared for himself. I feel so stupid to have believed that he came to Colossus for my benefit. He did nothing unless it profited himself.
“Fine, fine,” says my dad, the doors closing behind him. I’m left with the two Aurelian guards.
He didn’t even care about leaving me with his hated enemies – he was more eager to see the luxurious suite paid for with their money.
I want to cry – to beat my hands against the wall. I go to the front desk and arrange a small room for myself. With the Aurelians at my side, I take the elevator up to it.
Even a ‘small’ room in The Crystal is luxurious, and as I sit down in a huge chair in the main suite, I try to gather my thoughts. Ironically, the auras of my three Aurelian bonded-mates are actually stronger in my mind here on Terra. They’re actually only one planet over, on Bugra, and that means we’re physically closer than we had been on Colossus.
We’re still separated by millions of miles of empty space – but I can feel the battle blood as they fight.
What if they don’t survive? What if… what if they hate me for leaving?
26
Baldur
“She’s on Terra.”
Our ship is badly damaged, our phase-shift destroyed. We’ll make it to Terra, but not much farther.
“Did someone take her?”
I slam my fist against the controls. “There’s no fear in her aura. She left on her own accord.”
Karan growls. “I’ll drag her back kicking and screaming if I have to.”
I stand at the controls, turning the auto-pilot on so I can give Karan a shove.
“No! That’s the bond talking, not you. We are not like General Asmod. We’re not slavers!”
He clenches his fists, but then nods. I feel his shame.
“You’re right,” Karan nods. “We need to… Talk to her. Understand why she left.”
Baldur shakes his head slowly. “You know we’ll lose control when we see her. No matter how badly we want to be rational, I know I can’t resist her. I fear I’ll… I’ll do something that drives her away from us forever.”
I nod.
“I’ve proven I can control myself. I should be the one to speak with her. Whatever it is we did, we’ll make it right. She was running wild and free before the Toads captured her. Perhaps she longs for that freedom once again. Jasmine wasn’t meant to be pent up in our estates like some kind of slave, merely to be bred. When we return, we must show her that her life will continue to be an adventure.”
Karan gets a faraway look in his eyes. “We could show her Earth, where her race began. Or fly deep into space and explore the majesty of the universe.” He laughs bitterly. “My God, I sound like a romantic.”
Baldur laughs. There’s an edge of pain to his chuckle. A Toad blaster shot managed to penetrate his Orb-armor, and his wound is sharp and aching, though not life-threatening. It’s a chilling reminder of the danger we faced, however. While the armor of the Elites is among the strongest available, one unlucky shot at the wrong angle can still have deep effects.
And perhaps, sometimes, it’s as if the Orb doesn’t wish to block the shots. Sometimes, I wonder if the Orbs have a mind of their own. Occasionally a ship will phase-shift and never return. Where does the Orb take them?
I shake the thoughts out of my head, returning to the controls.
27
Jasmine
“I want to go back.”
I say the words flatly, and the two Aurelian guards watch me, waiting for me to say more. They’ve been standing by the door this whole time, silent and imposing, simply waiting.
I’m finally free of the intoxicating influence of the bond. I can still feel Raegan, Karan and Baldur in my mind, but I no longer have the obsessive need to submit to them.
Now my mind is finally free of their influence, I finally understand that the bond is simply amplifying my feelings – it isn’t changing who I am. It’s bringing out parts of me that I didn’t want to accept, but it’s not making me feel things that aren’t real.
It isn’t that the bond makes me into a slave. The bond just lets me experience what I never knew I wanted… And now that the bond is weakened – now that I’m away from Raegan, Baldur, and Karan – I want to f
eel it fully. I want to feel myself melt into their hands and arms. I want to explore the universe with them. I want to experience everything there is to experience with my three bonded mates.
The realization washes over me. I feel a sense of deep relief, but at the same time anxiety at the situation I’ve found myself in.
The Aurelian honor guard don’t question my motives, though. They simply listen to my commands.
“Very well. We will return to Colossus.”
I nod. “I… I think I made a huge mistake coming here. I’ve spent my whole life hating your species… But now I’m realizing it was my father poisoning my thoughts all along. My mother is under his thrall. They’d told me he was jailed by your species because he withheld his taxes to pay for my education. Now I’ve learned it was a gambling addiction all along…”
The two Aurelians look at me silently, then drop their gaze as if unsure how to respond. Only the custom of Aurelians to mask emotions is preventing them from staring awkwardly.
I laugh bitterly.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m telling you all this…”
The eyes of the taller Aurelian soften. He nods, listening intently, then speaks:
“My name is Markus. I spent my life thinking humanity was weak and foolish, unfit to survive if they couldn’t defend themselves against powerful races. The violence of the Scorps. The deviousness of the Toads. I felt humanity needed to survive, or deserved to be extinguished. But then, two-hundred-years-ago, the other two members of my war triad died in a battle against a Scorp queen. I was lost and alone. When their minds left mine, I felt utterly empty. I took a trip to Earth. I sold everything I owned. My estate, my ship, my armor – even my Orb-blade. I sold it all just to pay for the privilege of entering the Louvre – your famous human museum.”
Markus pauses, his eyes searching mine, and I’m shocked by the emotion in his voice.
“I walked in a daze around the museum,” he continues. “I’d never seen anything like it. We Aurelians – we seek to bring order and safety to the galaxy. But when I stare into your human art, I understood that there is value of your brief lives that I’d never appreciated before. You flicker so bright, burning like embers in the darkness of oblivion. I rejoined the Aurelian army, and I’ve spent the last thousand years fighting Scorps and killing slavers. I finally understand: We Aurelians need humanity, perhaps more than humanity needs us. In fact, I have ancestors who were born from a union between a human woman and Aurelian male, and I know now that my blood is all the stronger for it.”
The second Aurelian guards nods in agreement.
“I am Kendrick,” he announces. “I’ve killed and bled to keep this universe safe. I have no dislike of humans, but I do not see them in the same reverential light as Markus. Yet I know that the bond is the only way forward for our species. For that, I would die a thousand times over to keep you safe. Your word is my command, Jasmine.”
Their strong eyes stare at me. Instead of feeling small, I suddenly feel… powerful.
I raise my head. “Aurelians have done so much for humans, and yet I hated your species despite it. Never again will I judge before I know the truth. And, as for you both? I’m honored by your service.”
The stony faces of the two Aurelians break into smiles, and they look down at me adoringly. I cherish their smiles even more knowing how much they value stoicism and stony, blank faces. I can’t believe how much hatred I once felt for this proud race. I never before saw this side of Aurelians. I always thought they were arrogance personified – viewing humanity as nothing more than unruly children.
The two Aurelian honor guards kneel.
“We pledge our service to you – above all others, even the Emperor. You are more vital to the survival of our species than anyone else.” Markus’ words are a solemn vow.
“Let us be your guardians, until the day we day,” adds Kendrick, kneeling by his side.
“I accept your service. I will always…”
Before I can finish my sentence, glass suddenly shatters behind me. I try to turn and understand what’s happening, but nothing but violence and fury greets me.
Four Aurelians with short swords have suddenly crashed through the window, shattering it beneath the boots of their armor. A Reaver hovers outside our hotel room, guns trained through the shattered window.
I scream, and Kendrick and Markus rise, their eyes wide with shock as they reach for their swords.
The four Aurelian soldiers cut them down, right in front of me. My honor guard fall to the floor, sputtering blood, their eyes confused at the betrayal of their own comrades.
I stand before the four warriors, their swords dripping blood.
Somehow, I can feel the presence of Baldur, Raegan and Karan closing in out of nowhere – as if they were able to sense my terror, and are coming to try and save me. I feel them – closer than I ever did when my parents and I first arrived on Terra.
I don’t know how the triad got so near, so quickly, but I look around wildly for them – hoping beyond hope that my rescuers will arrive in time.
I wish badly that I still had the Orb-blade I once used to keep at my side on the deserts of Bugra – the one that saved my life countless times over. Instead, I reach for the table and grab a bottle from it – smashing it to glass splinters and diving forward at the Aurelian looming closest to me. I stab at his leg, drawing blood, but I’m powerless as he grabs me by the throat and lifts me up into the air.
My feet kick uselessly beneath me as I stare into the Aurelian’s colorless eyes. They’re two blank, unfeeling slates that look at me without any discernible emotion. The Aurelian chokes the air from my lungs, and panic overwhelms me as I struggle to breath. Yet there’s nothing I can do to escape - kicking this brute is like kicking a stone wall.
“Let her go,” it’s one of the other Aurelians. “He wants her unharmed.”
The Aurelian hoisting me aloft curls his lips, showing his white teeth. He’s enjoying my pain – but obediently, he drops me to the floor, and I slump to the ground.
The four Aurelians grab me, carrying me to the window and leaping through the shattered glass. I see thousands of feet looming beneath me – the bustling capital city of Terra laid out like a map – before the Aurelians span the space between the hotel and the waiting Reaver and land safely through the gaping door of its cargo hatch.
The hatch slams shut, and I’m thrown into the cargo hold. I feel the engines thrum, as the pilot of this Reaver punches us out of the atmosphere and deep into space; where the ship phase-shifts almost instantly into nothingness; taking me who-knows-where.
28
Baldur
“She’s there. I know it. You go first, Raegan. Explain to her that we don’t wish to keep her as a captive – that we simply want her to be safe, and to live in the paradise that she deserves as our bonded mate.”
Raegan listens to my words as we plunge through the atmosphere of Terra. My blood-brother is piloting us expertly over the capital city, guiding us towards the beautiful tower of The Crystal hotel – where I somehow, instinctively, know that Jasmine must be staying.
They have such incredible architecture, humans. Our cities look like worthless blobs, all towering curves and white marble. But these human structures? So eclectic. By God, it’s incredible to see the majesty that they can create.
“Wait. What’s that?”
Terror flashes in our minds through the bond. We’re closing on The Crystal, and we suddenly see an Aurelian Reaver hovering near the glass spire. We close in on it, and I watch as four Aurelians leap through a shattered window near the top floor, one of them clutching a ragdoll-limp figure in his arms.
It’s Jasmine. I know it. Someone is taking her!
The ship shudders as Raegan loses control for a split second, nearly ramming us into a nearby building. I look forward at the Reaver ahead of us, and a guttural roar builds up inside me.
“They’re taking her!”
We roar out toge
ther, our own Reaver screaming forward. Whoever it was who’d stolen Jasmine from us fired the thrusters of their own ship, and it screams upwards. Raegan rams down the throttle as we try to catch up.
The Reaver darts away from us, and we follow the craft up into orbit, unable to shoot them for fear that Jasmine will be wounded, or killed, and yet unable to catch up with a craft as fast as our own.
Once we break orbit, the Reaver phase-shifts away – and for a brief moment, our bond with Jasmine is gone from our minds, as she’s stolen from reality and into the mysterious dimension of the void.
Then, just as suddenly, she flashes back into our consciousness.
“She’s on Colossus!”
We all feel it instantly, and Raegan growls, low and angry – punching in the coordinates for our jump.
“It was General Asmod. He knows how important Jasmine is to the future of our race. If he has his way, then she’d be locked up like cattle – used for breeding purposes, and nothing else.”
My stomach drops as we phase-shift. In the blink of an eye, we’re looking out over our home world of Colossus.
Then Jasmine disappears from our minds altogether.
I scream out in horror, feeling the call of the void.
“He killed her! He killed her!”
It’s the only explanation. I scream, my muscles tensing as I imagine ripping Asmod’s throat apart, pulling his heart out and eating it while it still beats. He’s taken the only thing that matters to the three of us – and now he must pay for it.
29
Jasmine
I kick and fight, but my Aurelian kidnappers force a helmet over my head. It locks onto my temples, and suddenly the light in my mind disappears.
Raegan, Karan and Baldur are gone. I ache to feel the bond again – I’ve never felt so empty.