by Luna Hunter
“About what? Do you think the Federation or the Zorans will care about some animals being mistreated? It’s up to us to save the Ypes. No one else will.”
Vukan shakes his head. “It’s not just that. It’s bigger. Much bigger. I… I saw things. Ships. Destruction. War. I can’t make sense of it all, but I know it’s bad.”
“War?”
My Zoran mate nods. “I think they’re plotting to overthrow the Alliance. It’s clear that they are not who they pretend to be. We need to warn the Zorans, the humans — everyone.”
“Okay,” I stammer. “Let’s go.”
I can’t stomach the thought of those poor monkeys being sacrificed by these alien creeps, but if what Vukan says is true, and I believe him with all my heart, then we have no other choice.
Which doesn’t mean that it sits right with me.
We move through the streets as quickly as we can, which is to say, not very quickly at all. Vukan can barely move, his muscles all cramped up, and I’m supporting half his weight on my shoulders. I’m biting down on my bottom lip and soldiering on.
I can’t let him know how tired I am or how much my lower back hurts. It’s my turn to be the tough one.
A gong strikes three times in the city center, and a cheer of alien voices reaches us, sending shivers right down my spine. I don’t know what they’re celebrating, and I don’t even want to know.
Through a combination of luck and determination, we manage to reach the raft without being spotted. Just as I’m about to help Vukan climb on board, I hear an alien voice behind me. My hair on the back of my neck stands up, and we both dive down, lying flat on our stomach on the pebbled beach.
I glance up to see a dark-purple Tyk’ix arguing with his chained Ype. They must be late to the ‘ceremony’. This Ype is not as docile, as muted as the others. It claws at its collar and tried to run away, but the Tyk’ix yanks it back, shouting at the creature in its strange, guttural language.
When it doesn’t listen, he strikes the poor creature. It spits back at him, and in a flurry of anger he wraps his tendrils around the green creature’s neck and chokes it.
My heart is gripped by ice as I watch the abuse take place. The Ype turns to me and I can see the life draining from its big, yellow eyes. I can’t sit by and watch this. I simply can’t.
Before Vukan can stop me I rise to my feet, quickly grabbing a loose stone from the floor.
“Hey!”
The Tyk’ix glances directly at me, his tentacles squirming with surprise.
“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?!”
The stone whirs through the air and hits its target — the alien’s oversized, eggplant shaped head — perfectly. Bullseye. A dull thud is followed by the metal chains hitting the floor. The Ype scampers right towards me and jumps up into my arms.
The Tyk’ix turns to me. Its eyes, as dark as the night, stare right at me. Right into my soul. Everything at the edges of my vision becomes blurry. I feel like I’m being drawn into a vortex, like I’m circling a drain, being pulled closer and closer into oblivion.
My skin prickles and time seems to slow down to a crawl.
“You.”
I hear his voice in my head… but it’s not just his voice. It’s thousands of voices all laid on top of each other, the whole wrath of this city staring right at me.
“Human.”
They say the word with lust and desire, with pure hunger, as if the sight of me whets their appetite.
“Food.”
I try and resist, but my body is frozen. I can no longer feel the ground, or the Ype in my arms, or the chilliness of the air. I don’t feel a single thing. My consciousness seems to be slipping.
“You made it past our sentry,” the voices say. “Resourceful. You will make a fine meal.”
I can’t let this happen. On the very edge of my vision I see a blue blur. Vukan.
I have to fight this. If not for me, then for him. My blue warrior. My mate. My lover. Oh, how I hated him when we first met. It’s funny how those things go, for an hour later he had me bent over at the waist. Now I’d gladly sacrifice my life if it means that he’s safe…
“No,” I say to the alien voices.
I focus all of my energy on those memories. The thought of Vukan brings me back to reality. I remember the warmth of his breath, the heat that radiated off his gorgeous blue skin, the way his kisses made my body burn with desire. I remember how his hands slid across my naked body, my clothes strewn across the floor as he made me his in a flurry of passion.
I remember how he looked into my eyes and told me that I was his, and how my stomach fluttered and chest seemed to swell until it almost burst with joy.
“Resistance?” the alien voices laugh. “Futile.”
“No,” I say again, with all the conviction I can muster. “You will lose.”
“We will prosper!” the voices whisper angrily at the back of my skull.
They don’t like being challenged.
“Never!” I answer. “You can’t beat love.”
“There’s no love, only death. We will give you a glimpse of what’s to come,” the voices say with an evil laugh. “Bask in your kind’s destruction.”
A series of images flash in front of me, overloading all of my senses. My brain feels like it’s about to explode, my temples throbbing in pure agony. I drop down to my knees, screaming in pain. I shut my eyes to block the visions, but it’s useless — I see them with my mind.
Ships. Flames. Explosions. Blood. Death. War.
It ends suddenly with a burst of white light, as if the connection has been severed. I realize I’m kneeling on the pebbled beach, my knees and hands scraped when I fell to the ground. I glance up to see Vukan with his trident piercing the Tyk’ix chest.
My savior.
26
Vukan
“Die!” I growl as I run Inis through the monster’s chest. Thick, dark blood seeps out of his ribcage, staining his yellow robe. He turns to me, the spell broken, a surprised look in his dark eyes. They are like two wet stones, without a hint of emotion or compassion.
I place my feet on his stomach and push him off my three-pronged spear. He falls onto the floor, the life leaving him, leaving a trail of blood on my trident.
Within three steps I’m back at Olivia’s side.
“Are you okay?” I ask. “Did he hurt you?
She looks up at me, a faint smile on her lips. “I’m fine,” she answers.
I run my hand through her blonde hair. Seeing her freeze up like that, the Tyk’ix staring right into her soul, was a horrible sight. Luckily, it means that he forgot all about me.
Every part of my body aches, but the painful cries of my human mate has allowed me tap into my last reserves. I managed to ready my trident and kill the beast that was hurting her.
In the distance I hear the gong strike again — frantically, this time. Hurried cries echo in the distance.
“Now we really have to go,” I say as I lift Olivia to her feet.
The Ype she saved is sitting at her feet, looking up at her with those big, glistening eyes of him, like two bright suns. I hold out my hand to him and he jumps up and climbs right onto my shoulders.
I carry Olivia towards the raft.
“They’re coming,” she says, pointing behind me.
“I know.”
I climb onto the raft, grab the paddles, and move like hell. A whole throng of Tyk’ix charge towards the stony beach, leering at me, cursing, screaming. I just focus on paddling as fast as I damn can.
The water, previously so still and undisturbed, begins to move, shift, and shake. Waves appear, rocking our raft. When my paddle strikes the surface I feel a resistance, as if the water itself is pushing back.
A whole group of Tyk’ix is focusing their attention on the water, chanting ominously. They must be trying to overturn our raft. I know that if we enter this water, there’s no way we are ever getting out alive.
“Look!” Olivia
cries.
As if it couldn’t get any worse, one Tyk’ix with a flowing, pastel-colored robe floats across the water. This one is bigger than the others, his oversized head shaped like an egg, his beady, hate-filled eyes looking right at us.
“Grab my blaster,” I growl as I paddle as hard as I can.
Olivia is already one step ahead of me. She pulls the blaster from its holster and fires a shot. The laser-blast lights up the entire massive cavern, casting everything in a red light.
It even illuminates the dark, black water, and what I see down below makes my stomach drop. Tentacles reach out from the dark depths, moving like seaweeds. Below that I can see countless skulls. They must have been feeding off the Ypes for centuries, if not more.
The blast doesn’t kill the Tyk’ix leader, but it does break his concentration, causing him to fall into the murky lake. Fortunately, we reach the shore on the other side before he rises out of the water.
The Ypes are waiting for us, a whole pack of them, shrieking and pointing at the wave of Tyk’ix now crossing the water. The ones resting on my shoulder jumps down and hugs his kin.
“Take us out of here,” Olivia asks. “Please.”
Their leader points behind us, a questioning look in his yellow eyes.
“We know!” Olivia says. “We understand! But we can’t defeat them on our own — we need to get help! Please, take us to the surface!”
After a moment’s deliberation, the Ype seems to understand our desperate plea. None too soon, because I can already hear the Tyk’ix whispering at the back of my skull, trying to poison my mind. My energy is at an all-time low, the crystal ball having taken a large chunk out of me.
I’ve never felt this tired, this exhausted, yet I know I have to persevere. Now more than ever.
Luckily, the Ypes can sense our weakness. Their many hands grab and carry us. I surrender myself to them, letting their tiny paws do the heavy lifting. We move through the narrow tunnels at a dazzling speed, their tiny feet moving at breakneck speed. The entire time I can hear the gong sound in the distance, the alien tongue of the Tyk’ix constantly at the edge of my hearing.
Either the Ypes know a shortcut or they’re just devilishly fast, because we seem to climb much faster than we descended. Once we get closer to the surface my com crackles with static. In the bowels of the earth I didn’t have any reception, but now I’m back in contact with my crew.
“Teodor! Rufus! Anyone, come in!”
“Teodor here,” I hear to my relief. “Is that you, general? We’ve been looking for you.”
“Red alert,” I say. “I repeat: Red alert! Enemy incoming!”
“Understood,” Teodor says calmly. “How many, sir?”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “Hundreds of Tyk’ix.”
There’s a moment of silence on the other end of the line.
“Understood, sir.”
27
Olivia
In front of us I see the welcoming glare of daylight. It’s so bright I have to shield my eyes, the light temporarily blinding me.
I hadn’t realized we spent an entire night down below. It’s hard to tell the track of time when you’re surrounded by only pitch black darkness.
With horrible cyborgs and mind-eating monsters lurking in them.
I feel a warm breeze on my skin, and for a brief second I bask in the light. I feel safe, yet I know that’s only an illusion.
Those monsters won’t stop hunting us simply because we reached the surface. In fact, I don’t think they’ll stop hunting us ever.
I caught a glimpse of their visions, their projections, and it fills me with dread, right down to my core. They consider all biological life simply food. They have plans to enslave the galaxy, to make everyone bend to their will.
I don’t know how much of their visions are delusions of grandeur and how much is grounded in reality, but I know I won’t rest easy until they have been wiped from the face of the galaxy.
The Ypes lower us down. I reach out and touch a blade of grass. It’s a simple thing, but it makes me down. In the caves, nothing grows. It was all earth and stone. This lives.
The animals scatter before I even have a chance to thank them. The still air is rudely interrupted by the sound of roaring engines. The high grass parts to reveal two vehicles, manned by Zoran and human soldiers alike. They remind me of open jeeps, except they have massive guns mounted on their backs.
A bright red Zoran hops out and hugs his general. “Good to see you, sir!”
Vukan is standing on his last legs, grabbing the Zoran’s shoulders for support. “They’re coming, Teodor,” he growls. “Get ready.”
When Teodor sees the state we’re both in, he snaps to attention. Instantly soldiers appear at our sides and help us both into the seats of one of the vehicles.
And only just in time.
Tyk’ix come pouring forth from the cave entrance by the dozens. They seem to be floating, their flowing robes gliding across the floor. Their tentacles are spread wide, squirming and writhing, while they emit high-pitched screams that makes everyone cover their eardrums. Their purple, bony hands glow with mystical energy, and all of their black, beady eyes seem to be focused on me.
“Fire at will!”
The machine gun mounted on the back of the vehicle rattles, firing its high-powered, explosive shells at the army of purple monsters. The sound is deafening. Dirt kicks up from the ground and reduces sight to a minimum.
Teodor hops into the front and floors it, the jeep speeding off, the tail breaking out as it struggles to find its grip.
I glance over my shoulder, and once again a primal fear grips my insides. The dust settles and to my horror not a single Tyk’ix seems to be injured. An invisible forcefield prevents them from harm, the bullets simply bouncing off it.
Vukan pulls me close, turning me around, pressing my head down against his broad chest. I wrap my arms around him, hugging him tightly, as we bounce up and down in the backseat of this armored vehicle.
“How’s the ship?” Vukan growls.
“Good!” Teodor yells from the front. “She’s fully operational! I’d like to say I fixed her, but I didn’t. An hour ago everything just popped back online. Whatever you two did down there must have worked!”
My Zoran mate nods. “So we have a chance,” he says softly.
I squeeze his waist. We’re getting out of here. We have to.
“We need to leave instantly,” he tells his second-in-command. “We can’t win this fight.”
“Aren’t they just Tyk’ix?” Teodor asks.
“No,” Vukan answers. “These aren’t regular aliens. These are ancient, incredibly powerful beings. They’ll destroy us all if we let them.”
“By the King,” Teodor says. “What the hell happened down there? Who are these guys?”
“The true face of the Tyk’ix,” Vukan answers. “It seems they’ve deceived us for decades. Centuries. And I’ve seen too much.”
He rests his against the seat and closes his eyes, a frown appearing on his chiseled face.
“An armada,” he continues. “They have an unstoppable armada. We have to warn the universe before it’s too late… if it’s not already too late.”
“We’ll stop them,” I say, trying to talk some sense into my mate. “I know we will.”
His eyes open and his gaze lands on me.
“Did you see it as well?”
I nod.
I want to forget all the horrible things I’ve seen, but I can’t. I shouldn’t. They showed me part of their plans in order to torture me. They wanted to drive me insane, to watch me go mad — but now we’ve escaped their lair. Soon, we will escape their planet.
Their hubris will be their downfall.
“What did you two see?” Teodor asks.
“The future,” Vukan groans.
“A possible future,” I correct. “One we will prevent.”
“Sure sounds like an eventful night,” Teodor says.
&n
bsp; “You have no idea.”
We pull at the ZMC Bran. Hundreds of soldiers stand at the ready, Zorans and humans alike, everyone with their guns drawn. Captain Price runs towards me and helps me out of the jeep.
“What the hell happened out there?” he asks. “Where have you been? I heard gunfire!”
I give him the briefest of explanations. I don’t even know where to begin. My words are a jumbled mess, all of my thoughts criss-crossing one another. Somehow I make a lick of sense, because Price takes one look into my eyes and then nods.
“We’ll stop the bastards. You have my word.”
I hear screams behind me.
They’re here…
28
Vukan
The machine guns start rattling and the laser-blasters start firing. In an instant the marshland is turned into a war zone. I wrap my shoulder around Olivia, shielding her body with my own as we head towards the walkway. Shells explode behind us, covering us in dirt, as the now-familiar screeching of the Tyk’ix reaches my ears.
When we reach the ramp I take one look behind us. The ancient Tyk’ix are flinging balls of pure energy at my men — and when they connect, they cut right through them. No armor can stand up to a weapon like that.
“Fall back!” I command. “Fall back!”
I hand Olivia to Teodor and tell them to rush toward the command center and get the engines going while I lay down cover fire with my blaster.
Zoran and human soldiers rush past me as they search for safety on the ship, while more and more of the alien monsters appear from the high grass.
I’m the last man on the battlefield when the ramp finally closes. I run towards the command center as fast as my tired legs can take me.
“What’s wrong?” I yell. “Why aren’t we moving?”
“We’re stuck!” Teodor answers. “She won’t budge!”
I look out the window to see that the Tyk’ix have encircled the ship, their tentacles all intertwined with their neighbors as they rhythmically chant in their alien tongue.