Chapter 49
Solin’s point of view
My head in my paws, I sat shaking my head in
despair. All that travelling and pain to suffer a fate as horrible as Oblivion.
The mere thought was unbearable.
“So that’s it?” Flyer quizzed sullenly. “He’s
gone?”
I nodded silently.
“But… what do we do now?”
I sighed, thinking of possibilities, options,
reasons, and guilt. Why had I let him convince me to turn back so soon? I knew
Anubis had a strong grudge against him. I left him to be imprisoned.
“Solin?” Flyer asked again. “What now?”
“Tell Monsoon and Dommur – get them ready to
leave,” I stated flatly.
“So soon?”
“There is nothing for us here.”
He agreed, heavy with sadness, swiftly darting
out of the window. I chanced a glance at one of the humans. Kevin had described
his cousin to me before – it was definitely him: the “Rok of Ages”. Strange
that his tattoo was bandaged over. Assuming that Flyer had found the Rok of
Ages, but no trace of Kevin, I slunk out wordlessly, leaving the small group of
humans speechless.
“Don’t worry,” I told them. “I might come back
to explain things before we leave.”
Back at the ship, the two other reptiles gaped
at Flyer after hearing the news.
“No, not Zakkar… not Kev…” Dommur wailed,
covering his head in despair.
“How did it happen?” Monsoon pleaded, his
voice shaky.
“Not exactly sure, Solin said that Anubis……”
I turned away, not wanting to hear it said
once more. Darting out of the ship into open space, I swam around listlessly,
weighted by guilt and regret. Kevin had been like no other creature I had
known; perhaps it was his human heritage that marked him out from the three
reptilian and ascended races. Despite it all, he was gone now, my chance to
tell him with it. Maybe if he had only been human it would have been easier to
let him go: mortal and ascended races didn’t mix well. However, he was a Soul
Creature – the same race as I was. We therefore shared a mutual understanding
of our existence.
Shaking my head of thoughts, I made to head
back into the orbiting ship. I stopped, stunned. Behind me, I could feel an
Aversion. I turned. Just the earth, looming. But no human could give out an
Aversion strong enough to feel from in orbit. I tried clearing my thoughts
again, but the faint traces of that Aversion were still there. Either I was
going mad with grief, or…
There’s something else down there!
AJ’s point of view
“So, you’re saying there’s some other alien
dude out there as well as you guys?”
“Yes,” Solin replied simply to my question.
“What do ya think it could be?” Dommur
quizzed. (Solin claimed she had given the knowledge of English to all three of
them now).
Solin shook her head: “I can’t say for sure,
but it’s either another Soul Creature, or… an Ancient.”
“An Ancient!!” Flyer exclaimed, flapping his
wings in agitation.
The humans of our group all looked at one
another in wonder and surprise.
“Is that bad?” Brian asked, speaking for the
first time since the aliens had returned.
“Yes,” Solin answered, as if the answer were
obvious. “And I want to go and see who or what it is – it could be a threat.”
“If there’s a 50-50 chance it’s an Ancient, be
very careful!,” Monsoon warned. “An Ancient managed to single-handedly ice
Zakkar and send him to Oblivion!”
“I will,” Solin nodded briefly. “But I’m
hoping, whoever it turns out to be, it may hold some clue to Zakkar. If he ever
got close enough to Earth for this stranger to sense him, they may be able to
tell us what really happened to him. Anubis is hardly a reliable source.”
Flyer followed her out after our farewells, to
send her off. I sat down and rested my head on one hand.
“OK, before it was just weird, but now we’re
veering dangerously towards plain crazy!”
Flyer’s point of view
“And whatever happened to calling him Kevin?”
Solin probed.
I shrugged: “Habit and tradition, I suppose.
I’m too used to Zakkar now.”
She looked up at the sky, probably wondering
about the others of her race. It was then a very important question struck me:
“Solin, if Fotuf was your leader, who is in charge now?”
“I am,” she sighed, looking back down again.
“You’re in charge?”
“Well, it was more to do with circumstance than
the will of the majority,” she explained sadly. “After Fotuf’s death, most of
the Soul Creatures elected Zakkar to take his place, but then Anubis claimed he
had trapped him in Oblivion, so I was next in line.”
“Reason-not-to-get-killed number 3!” I commented.
“Come again?” Solin frowned.
“Well, the Soul Creatures don’t want to lose
another leader…”
“And the first two reasons?”
“Well,” I began, landing on her shoulder, “if
you get killed by whatever’s out there, one: we lose a friend, and two: we
can’t get home. You got us here by enhancing our engines.”
“OK, my Valedron friend, I’ll watch my back.”
Solin declared. “Expect me in a few suns.”
Leon’s point of view
After parking my military truck by the
apartment, I stepped out into the night air, eager to be inside. It was snowy
and bitingly cold. Deep into winter, snow had blanketed every path, road, roof…
a pure white sheet. I headed to the door of the apartment block, drawn by the
warm glow of the corridor lights. My mind was drawn to Zakkar, wondering if he
was feeling better since he phoned his cousin. He still rarely talked…
As I reached for the door handle, keys in
hand, a blue glint flashed from the side. I dismissed it as light reflected
from the glittering snow. However it distracted my eyes from opening the door
once more. It looked across sideways curious. I frowned – it was an icy blue
haze, shimmering. I’d seen it before. Zakkar often retreated to such a ghostly
silhouette when he didn’t want me to talk to him. Yet, I knew Zakkar would
never move out of doors for fear of being seen.
“Hey, what are-?”
Upon realising it had been spotted, it
materialised with a brief flash – it was totally black, with piercing yellow
eyes… not Zakkar.
It had pinned me against the wall before I
could do anything else.
“Oh God, there’s more than one of you!” I
cried out.
It looked vaguely surprised for a moment, as
if the words I had blurted out in mad panic held some significant meaning.
However, the moment passed and it narrowed its eyes at me threateningly.
“You know of another like me?”
Its voice was powerful, slightly distorted,
yet feminine. Terrified, I gave no reply, only breathed rapidly in fright.
“Answer!” She barked.
“Y…yes… but only one other…”
“What have you done with it?”
“N…nothing!”
“You lie!”
“No… he… he was alone… he just needed
someplace to hide… so I … I let him take shelter… please, don’t kill me!”
She eyed me suspiciously, then glanced around
carefully.
“We need to get out of sight. Where is he
hiding?”
“In my apartment. I have a spare room so I-”
“Show me!”
She shoved me indoors, letting me lead.
Trembling, I signalled for her to follow into the elevator.
“This way, but I can’t tell you how he’ll
react… I don’t know much about who or what he is.”
“Just lead the way. I’m going to follow in spirit
form – you seem to know what that is already: the blue shimmer.”
“OK, but just tell me: why are you looking for
him?”
A flicker of sadness crossed her expression,
but it was quickly banished.
“This creature may hold a lost clue to my
search.” She suddenly cocked her head sharply. “Yet, that is none of your
concern! Just head to your home and I will follow – no sneaky tricks, or I’ll
get angry!”
She dissolved into a blue light that faded to
a fine haze, and the elevator doors opened on my floor. Gulping, I stepped out
and fumbled with my keys. Would Zakkar welcome another of his race? Or would he
be angry with me for betraying his presence to a stranger?
I dearly hoped the first possibility was true
as I reached my door and opened it clumsily.
***
