by Corin Cain
As I sit there with my empty mind reeling, I can’t help but think of Markus – who told me how his bonded triad died, and how their absence left him feeling empty and alone. Before the Aurelians who’d kidnapped me had slaughtered him, Markus had told me about searching for meaning again; and finding it in the Louvre museum.
I know, deep down in my heart, that I could never find such meaning again. If I lose my three Aurelian mates for good, there’ll be nothing left of me – nothing except an empty abyss as endless as space itself.
If I ever found myself in that situation? I’d take a ship and simply pilot myself out into nothingness; to die in the same emptiness as their absence would plunge me into.
Yet, I’m not there. Not yet.
While despair grips me, at least I know that it’s the helmet that’s blocking my connection with my bonded mates; not anything that has happened to them.
I curse myself. Why did I ever leave them? I love each of them more than life itself. I don’t want to be free if it means being free of them – and neither do they. For we are all slaves. Slaves to each other, and it is not the bond that causes it – it’s love.
The ship that kidnapped me lands. We’re back on Colossus, and my Aurelian captors yank me from the Reaver and out onto the landing pad of a vast estate. I’m dragged inside, and thrown into a small, dark jail cell. There’s nothing but pure blackness around me – like I’m in a cave that hasn’t seen the sun for millennia.
I have no idea how long I wait there. I grow thirsty and hungry, my heart pounding.
Then, eventually – after what could have been hours, but seemed like days – the door finally opens again.
Light blinds me, and I stare up at the massive figure of General Asmod as he stands framed in the doorway.
He holds a bottle of water in his hand. I ache for it, but stop myself from asking for it.
“The first step is to isolate the human. It may take days, or months, or years – but what are those to me?” General puts out his palm and drips water onto it. “Now, drink.”
“You expect me to drink from your hand?” The words leave my mouth with pure venom. I stare up at General Asmod with pure anger. I’ve never hated anyone as much as I hate him right now.
General Asmod looks at me without a smile. His face shows nothing. I could be as insignificant as an ant to him.
“Yes, I do. I will leave you here for a day, and when I come back, you’ll be so parched you’d slurp water from my cock. Humans are weak.”
He closes the door, leaving me once again in the pure darkness. I cry, trying to pull the helmet from my head, but unable to do anything to escape.
30
Raegan
I land us at our estates. Baldur and Karan stare at me like I’ve gone mad.
“What are you doing? Take us to General Asmod’s palace!”
Karan’s rage is a ball of fire in the back of my mind. Baldur’s matches his.
Mine is a ball of ice, though – as cold as a long dead planet that revolved around a sun many millions of years ago. I clench my fist, barely able to control my rage and pain, but chilling it with fury, rather than letting it boil and burn like my blood-brothers do.
“He didn’t kill her,” I remind them. “General Asmod would not waste a bonded female. He wants us to come to his estate to try to kill him – to fight our way through his guards so he can accuse us of committing murder. Then he can have us clapped in irons, and that will give him the excuse to enslave us for the ‘good of the empire’. Forcing us to mate with Jasmine, again and again, for generations. Each of our sons will be taken away from us. We’ll be nothing but breeding cattle.” I shudder. “We cannot give him what he wants.”
Karan punches a hole through the wall of the Reaver, and electrical cords spark at the impact. He’s barely holding on to sanity, but a glimmer of hope pulses in his mind.
“She lives?”
I nod. “Yes. She lives. Asmod has found some way to hide the bond. He wants us to commit treason – to fight our way to free her. But we can’t give him that satisfaction. There is only one way for us to kill him legally. I will challenge him to a duel, instead.”
Baldur shakes his head. “He can refuse a duel. Aurelian law no longer allows mandatory challenges. That was a tenant of the first Empire – that, and slavery.” Then he scoffs. “Why would he risk fighting you, anyway? He has what he wants.”
Karan paces near the Reaver, dust kicked up by his feet.
“No. No, it’s a good plan. Remember, General Asmod hasn’t dueled in a thousand years – but when he was in his prime, he killed twelve men in the arena. The lust for victory never subsides, once you have a taste of it. And, remember too, that was before he became blooded by the Scorp venom. He’s now more powerful than ever, and I know he’d accept Raegan’s challenge in a heartbeat.”
Karan pauses.
“…and kill him.”
I stare into Karan’s eyes.
“You’re right on the first counts. Asmod is arrogant. He believes the Scorp venom running through his blood means he can kill even a bonded Aurelian. Secondly, the election will be held in two days, and Asmod needs to rile up the populace. Holding my severed head up in front of a crowd would gain him countless votes from the more violent segment of our population.”
Fear fills the hearts of Baldur and Karan, but I stay resolute. Karan shakes his head slowly.
“You can’t do it, Raegan. I’ve seen General Asmod fight. The Scorp blood that runs through his veins has made him a monster. He may be older than you, but he can move faster and he’s twice as strong. You will die.”
I nod. “Yes, I will. But I may kill him first. And if I do, it will be up to you two to find Jasmine and break her free. You must be sure to not let my death be in vain.”
A horn sounds out from the palace.
The Elites are being called.
We are still in our battle armor, which has been tested now in our invasion of Bugra. Together, we make our way through the throng of Aurelians to the palace of the Emperor.
In the throne room, General Asmod stands in front of the crowd. The Emperor stands behind him.
“I have called you here to hear me speak!”
He’s addressing the audience of Elites – unaware that we are among them.
But he’s not unaware for long.
I walk up the aisle and stand before him, fearless and straight-spined.
“General Asmod! You have gone too far!”
Surprise is in his eyes. I can tell he expected us to storm his compound and be taken prisoner in the attempt, not to confront him in the civility of the royal court.
But the surprise lasts only a second. His inscrutable nature quickly returns, and Asmod smiles down cruelly at me.
“Raegan! You forget yourself. Sit, warrior! I am addressing the Elites, not your kind! Unless you are a candidate for Emperor, you will sit!”
The crowd roars their approval, jeering – telling me to take my spot obediently and listen to Asmod’s speech.
But instead, I begin to pound my chest – beating it in a slow drum beat. Karan and Baldur step up behind me, beating their own chests in unison, creating a thunderous booming sound that quiets the crowd.
“I have returned from Bugra, where I have conquered the first new planet for the glory of the Aurelian Empire in three-thousand-years! I am Raegan the Protector – and you have my woman!”
The crowd roars.
General Asmod holds his hands up, quieting the raging crowd.
“Raegan? The Protector? You couldn’t even protect your whore! I’ve been killing Scorps since before you were born, welp. I will be the new Emperor, and when I am, I shall plunge the universe into war for the glory of our race!”
Screams fill the room as Aurelians stand to their feet, eager for the violence. We are a violent species, and the long peace has filled us with uneasiness. Killing Scorps is nothing compared to the thrill of conquering a planet, and bringing it into the fold
of the Empire.
I stand straight.
“I will not plunge this universe into war,” my voice echoes across the throne room. “I will not let home worlds be razed by planet killers. I am the first bonded Aurelian in a millennium. My Triad and I are the only hope we have to strengthen our bloodline, and continue the Aurelian species!”
I step within ten feet of General Asmod. His bodyguards surround him.
“Our only hope?” He scoffs. “I will bring back slavery, and then every Aurelian will have a thousand human whores to breed with! I will find the bonds between human and Aurelian! I will bring a new era. Soon, many of us will feel the bond! Until then, when I am Emperor, I will put this treasonous triad into chains and breed them with the captive human female!”
I reach for my Orb-blade, and General Asmod grabs at his massive mace.
“So,” I growl, “you admit you have her. I challenge you, General Asmod – to duel to the death, in the arena of the Gods.”
Asmod smiles then, with a sincerity I’ve never seen from him before. It turns his stony face into a malevolent, twisted mask.
“I accept,” he growled, “and tomorrow you die. A duel to the death it shall be – Orb-weapons permitted, and nothing else. You came into the world naked, and tomorrow you will die the same way; without that Elite Armor that you’re unfit to wear.”
The crowd bays in thunderous applause, and it appears our audience is at an end.
Subdued, Baldur and Karan follow me from the throne room, back towards our estates.
It causes me great pain to know that Jasmine is captured, and that she’s tucked away somewhere we wouldn’t be able to rescue her from; not without dying, or being turned into a captive.
But at least we have a plan, and as we return to our estates, Baldur and Karan look at me with deep sadness, but stoic determination.
“It’s time for a new plan, Reagan,” Baldur warns. “The three of us together could not kill that man. You are a brave man, Raegan, but our only hope is to try to ambush his compound and save Jasmine. At least now we know that Asmod has her.”
I shake my head. “We don’t even know she’s at his estate - not for certain. He could have her somewhere else, or even off-world. The duel will be our only chance.”
They seem doubtful, so I reassure them:
“Trust me, my blood-brothers. With the power of the bond giving me strength, I will end him. I will spurt Asmod’s blood across the sand, and he will fall at my feet.”
Certainty pulses in their minds. They look at me with wonder. “You truly believe it, Raegan. You truly believe you can kill that monster.”
I nod. I’ve never believed anything so strongly in all my life.
31
Jasmine
My throat is so dry that it aches in constant pain. I’ve never been so thirsty in my life. I have no way of keeping time in the pure darkness, but it feels like days that I’ve been without water, holed up in this dark cell.
The door suddenly opens, and the light blinds me. I put up my hands to cover my eyes as the huge shadow of General Asmod blocks the doorway.
He has a bottle of water in his hand. It looks so pure. He drips some in his huge palm and reaches it out to me.
His big palm is filled to the brim with the water, but he stops even a single drip from falling to the ground. If I want it, I’ll have to drink it from his palm.
I shake my head weakly. “No,” I say, coughing painfully. “I won’t!”
He laughs then, low and slow. “You’d do well do drink, child, and preserve your strength. Tomorrow, you’ll watch your bonded mate, Raegan, die by my hand. He challenged me to a duel.” Asmod snorts. “A waste, to be sure – but the other two will be plenty to keep you full of child for the next thousand years.”
I shake my head, hope filling me. “Raegan is to duel you? He’ll kill you, then.”
Suddenly, General Asmod isn’t there.
He moves so fast I barely comprehend it. In less than the blink of an eye he’s behind me, lifting me up, his mouth hot against my ear.
“I am lightning death, whore. I will rip his stomach out with my bare hands and make you watch as he vomits his last breath across the sand of that arena.”
Horror fills me as Asmod drops me. He moves back in front of me before I can even blink. The massive man moves like a wraith, his muscles bulging with untold strength.
Asmod is truly a beast. His veins pop green as he summons the power of the Scorp venom coursing through his blood. His face twists into violence, losing all semblance of humanity. His teeth extend, like an animal.
I avert my eyes towards the ground, fear filling me. I’ve never been so terrified in my life.
“When I’ve killed him,” Asmod growls, his voice barely Aurelian any more, “I’m going to become Emperor. You will be my first slave. And then you will drink from my hand.” He pauses, before snarling: “LOOK AT ME!”
His voice fills the room, and my eyes instinctively shoot upward. Asmod towers before me, his veins bulging a sickly, glowing green. I can even see his heart pumping beneath the pale skin of his broad chest. Every muscle in his body twitches, and I sense he’s on the verge of ripping my head off.
“When I am Emperor,” Asmod warns, “you will bend your knee to me. Or, I’ll take your legs and arms. You’ll not need them to bear the children of my Empire. Your sons will lead our way across the universe – to the Toad home worlds first, conquering and killing, plunging this universe back into the beautiful violence our Empire thrives upon.”
He turns and leaves, slamming the door and plunging my cell back into darkness.
I’m left shaking, feeling the full horror of the man. He’s no Aurelian any more. He’s a monster, twisted by the Scorp blood broiling inside of him.
32
Raegan
I stand in front of the portcullis gates to the Arena of the Gods.
In the First Empire of the Aurelians, many heroes have won and lost their lives beneath the gaze of the Gods. Trials were once routinely settled by violence, and any man could call upon another to settle their matters of honor through combat, and to kill or die in the sands of this arena.
I stare through the iron gates, knowing that the enemy that I will face will be stronger than any Scorp – more formidable, even, than a Scorp Queen. I’ve heard tales of General Asmod’s battle prowess, and heard that the only thing more powerful than his strategic mind is the swing of his Orb-mace.
I look at Baldur and Karan, who stand nervously behind me.
“I know General Asmod,” I warn them. “If he kills me, he’ll win the vote of the Aurelian people. He’ll become the Emperor.”
Baldur shakes his head. “We can’t go through with this. We can’t let the universe be plunged into war – not again This was a mistake, Raegan!”
I put my hand on his shoulder, steadying him. “Baldur, be of sound mind. Asmod views Jasmine as nothing but a trophy – a symbol of his rule over humanity, and the Aurelians. If he is to meet me here, on the field of honor, she is sure to be nearby as well. I know this because he will want to parade her in front of his constituents. Asmod is a prideful being. He would risk us freeing her just to secure political points. You two have one job. You will find her, and rescue her. Leave Asmod to me. His weakness is his arrogance.”
Karan looks at me with deep sadness. “That’s not much of a weakness – but rest assured. We’ll get our bonded mate to safety.”
I nod. “I am going to die today. I understand that, my brothers – but you will live on. You will save her, and you will escape.”
Tears come to Baldur’s eyes. I’ve never seen the big man so emotional. “Dammit, Raegan, we’ll get her out of his clutches – for you”
The two of them clap me on the shoulders, nodding solemnly, and we say our last goodbye.
Then they leave, and I watch them walk away for the last time.
33
Jasmine
I’m weak with thirst when the door fina
lly opens again.
General Asmod looms in the doorway, flanked by two Aurelians that I recognize as part of the team that kidnapped me.
“Get up,” orders the General. I stand slowly, weakly. Asmod looms above me, bearing a bottle of water, and he pours the cold liquid into his hand once again.
It takes every ounce of my willpower to stop myself from drinking from his hateful palm. I try to gather moisture to spit at him, but my mouth is too dry.
Asmod laughs and lets the water slop to the sandy floor, where I watch it be soaked up by the arid.
In the general’s other hand is an Orb-collar, and I shiver in revulsion – remembering the pain that the Toad caused me when I wore a similar device back on Bugra.
“I prefer to train my humans without pain. I isolate them, make them crave my touch. In time, you will learn to be fully dependant on me. But for now, I’ll use you to help me kill your mate. I know that the bond makes him stronger. You will be the reason he dies, human. I’ll make sure you’ll always feel that guilt.”
“No…” I say, trying to back away from him, but he moves with lightning speed. In less than the blink of an eye, the collar is clicking shut around my neck.
I brace for the inevitable agony, but it doesn’t touch me.
Asmod is beyond such petty demonstrations. He knows I’m aware of the power of the collar.
“Come, child,” he growls. “The sand of the arena is thirsty for the blood of your mate. How does it feel, to know you’ll never feel him in your mind again? What’s that like, human? What’s it like to have such a weakness?”
General Asmod turns to his henchmen.
“Bring her to the viewing station. When I give the signal, take her helmet off and inflict pain upon her.”
The realization hits me. When the helmet is taken off my head, Raegan will be able to feel my bond with him once again. Then they’ll inflict pain on me – torturing me to distract him. I truly will be the reason that Raegan is unable to focus on killing General Asmod. I’ll be the reason Raegan’s light is extinguished from the universe.