Chasing Orion
Chapter 9: Hyperion

My mind processed her words as I thought back to the first time Mara and I met up on the Orionak ship, to the horrors that she witnessed before her life changed. Cambrian was right, however. More so for all of us in that there was no one else like us. All we had was each other, and this way of life was something that I would ultimately have to accept.

I knew the urges and desires associated with the bloodlust that was boiling inside of us. I could not prevent it any more than I can prevent the sun from rising. Whether we liked it or not this is who we are, and this is who we will always be. Nothing can change that now.

Whatever I was to Mara, the one thing that was certain was that nothing in this universe was more important to me than she was. I would sacrifice myself if it meant keeping her safe, and I will never let her be alone again for anything.

As those words passed through my head, I focused on her and picked up her scent trailing up through the trees. I leapt high up into the air through the canopy and closed my eyes trying to zero in on her location.

Her scent continued to travel up and through the clouds as I reached the peak of my jump.

“I keep forgetting she can do that,” I said to myself as I started to fall back down.

I held my hands out to the side slowly turning me in the air. The sun was just beginning to crest the horizon and a gentle breeze was starting to roll in from the coast. The briny smell of the ocean was calming and triggered flashbacks of when Mara and I had our little adventure at sea.

I caught myself smiling taking in the memory and had not noticed that I was no longer falling. I inhaled deeply and my body relaxed as I drew in her scent. She squeezed me tighter pressing herself against me lowering her armor.

Oddly enough, her touch was warm, compared to the temperature of the air at the height we were at, which I also just noticed was increasing. Looking down the island was rapidly becoming smaller and I could see what felt like halfway around the planet. It was amazing.

For the first time since my transformation, I felt excited for what the world could offer. Every direction I looked there was new land I had never seen before. To the north, a massive mountain range sprouting from the ground. To the south, the deserts transitioned into a dark green.

A wall of white flashed in front of us as we passed into the clouds. I could feel every tiny particle of frozen water bouncing off my skin as if sand was pouring over me.

We pierced through the upper cloud layer and she stopped hovering just above it leaving our feet dragging through the slow passing clouds as if it were a river.

“Mara,” I began to say moving my hand up to hers.

“Shhhh. Just watch,” she whispered while kissing my shoulder and playfully biting at it.

I concentrated and stared off into the horizon. A half minute later, far off in the distance a blue orb came streaming up through the clouds leaving a trail of energy in its wake. I followed it upward with my eyes as it left the planet. My body flooded with adrenaline when I noticed its objective.

A dozen glowing lights were in formation high up in the sky. If I had not seen the orb connect with one I would have probably assumed they were stars. I focused on the bright one and my form shifted when I made out the triangular shape of the orbs destination. It was the flagship of Isis.

They had not left after all, and by the looks of it, all the Orionak ships had regathered in orbit. Those ships had hundreds of thousands of Sah, and weapons capable of obliterating this entire planet. Another series or orbs rapidly shot up from surface.

“They really might be leaving,” Mara whispered again resting her chin on my shoulder.

I knew that the chances of them leaving now, after seeing this was almost non-existent, but I did not want her to have to live in fear of them returning.

“I think you’re right,” I confidently said to her resting my hands on her thighs.

She giggled quietly and laid her head down on my back. I did not like having to lie to her, and really, I was not even sure if they were something she had any fear of given the last confrontation between them. She clearly has the upper hand against the gods.

The more I thought about that the more I started to believe that maybe they really were leaving after all. If they had to fight against the Greys, and us then it was safe to assume they knew they were out matched.

We dropped back down under the clouds and drifted slowly toward the mountain. Mara was silent the whole way back down, and I could feel there was still something weighing on her mind. I began to ask her what was bothering her, but before the sound left my mouth, I was falling back down to the ground. I looked up at Mara who was staring intently toward the north end of town.

I heard her click her teeth together followed by a low growl. I shouted her name just as I crashed through the canopy of trees, impacting the ground in an eruption of dirt and leaves. A series of yells from a group of men faintly came across on the wind and the scent of blood hit me like a punch to my face.

The smell was heavy and took all my concentration to push the desire for it out of my mind. I quickly looked back up recognizing what had drawn Mara’s attention, but she was gone. I darted off through the trees toward the scent as fast as I could.

The sound of the men yelling again came past me and I leapt off a rock up through the canopy clearing a large ravine separating us and landed about a hundred feet away from them on the side of a large cluster of boulders.

Quickly I scaled the side of it, and to my surprise, Mara already perched up top, stared down at the men through the trees. Her form had shifted and she crouched ready to strike at them. I slowly crawled up next to her and she growled quietly as I brushed against her.

A man was standing at the stump of a recently cut down tree, with another man lying at his feet bleeding from his leg profusely that appeared broken. I could only assume that he had somehow hurt himself while chopping down the tree. His companion was trying to help him onto his feet, and every time he moved him, he cried out in pain.

Mara flattened herself down against the rock like a predator and crept out further to the edge of the rock. A quiet chittering giggle came from within her sending a wave of chills down my spine being the most inhuman noise I have ever heard from her.

Her skin started to transform into a rough texture like gravel and faded to a dark brown color. She inhaled deeply taking in the smell of blood and looked back to me. Her face had transformed as well to reflect the darkness living inside her.

I allowed my true self to come to the surface and growled through my teeth at her as they extended. I flashed my teeth to her and gave her a simple nod of approval. She snapped her head back toward the men, and I saw her muscles tighten followed by a surge of energy ripple through them.

I blinked and she was gone. My eyes quickly locked on to her darting through the air toward the men faster than anything I had ever seen. She was a blur to me, weaving through the trees. I leapt after her above the canopy, gliding through the air skimming the tops of the trees.

I landed just above the men and looked down expecting to see a blood bath, but Mara was not there. I slowly started to claw my way down the tree toward them expecting at any minute a fury of claws and teeth to come ripping through them.

Her scent had become intoxicating when she was in this form and I knew she was nearby and planning to toy with them. The two men got to their feet finally after struggling to get the injured one mobile. I knew Mara was listening and thought that she was waiting for my signal to engage.

I clicked my teeth together a few times, and as expected, a blur of darkness whipped past the men knocking them down. The men became startled but not scared, as I knew she was wanting them to be. They looked confused more than afraid, but I had a suspicion that was about to change.

A light rain began to fall through the veil of trees as the men staggered to get back onto their feet. But just as quickly, Mara struck them again, this time slashing across the throat of the man with the broken leg. A fountain of blood covered everything within a few feet as the man fell out of the arms of his companion and crumbled to the forest floor.

As the man stood in shock wiping the blood away from his face, the reality of his nightmare came to a sliding stop in front of him. The rain had matted Mara’s hair onto her face chaotically, making her look primitive, and was beading off the clumps of her hair in perfect streams as if directed to do so.

A deep growl emerged from inside her and she snapped her teeth at the man. He stumbled over the body of his friend falling over onto his back. As quickly as he looked up Mara was rapidly crawling over the slain man’s body with an otherworldly movement, stopping a few inches from his face.

He cowered away pushing himself back up against a tree trying to get away from her. Mara sniffed at the man’s neck, slowly moving up to the side of his head. He turned his head away from her and clenched his eyes shut as tight as he could.

She made a series of animalistic noises and clicked her teeth together trying to incite as much fear in him as she could. I slowly crawled down the trunk of the tree toward her, and when I was about ten feet above her, she looked up at me twisting her head around looking up at me upside down. I stopped in place unable to recognize the girl I was looking at.

She rotated back down and put her lips right next to the man’s ear.

“Run,” she whispered in a deep multi-toned voice.

The man pulled his hands up around his head covering his ears trying to block out the terror next to him.

“Run!” she roared flinging him off the ground onto his feet.

He stumbled slightly and took off running into the trees. She scampered over the body of the other man, which I had just noticed was still breathing, and licked at the blood running down his arm. I launched off the tree flipping in the air and landed on the other side of her in a crouch.

She looked up at me from under the drenched tentacles of her hair and smirked at me before digging her teeth into the man’s side. I knew that all of this was wrong on several levels of morality, but the temptation and draw to act this way seemed natural. The notion of being kind and harmless was just an echo in my mind now that faded rapidly. This is what we were and I needed to accept it.

Mara let out a quiet whimper that to me was seductive and enticing. It excited me and I crept closer toward her. Her bite relaxed and she slowly looked up at me, the man’s blood slowly dripping down from her lips. She licked her lips and emitted a strange purring growl then drove her teeth back into him.

I growled back at her and sank my teeth into his neck. The blood rushed into my body and I felt its energy swell inside me. My senses heightened and all the sounds and smells around me amplified. The sound of the man’s heartbeat was deafening as I concentrated on it, and it began to slow as the last few drops of blood drained from him.

A branch snapped off in the distance and we both snapped our attention toward it with teeth clenched. The other man was running as hard and as fast as he could. Mara slowly stood up wiping away the blood from her lips with her hand and slowly licking it clean.

I had my fill of blood and the urge to hunt down the other man just did not seem appealing to me anymore. I retracted my fangs and allowed my body to normalize before standing up. Mara turned back to look at me and I could see the thirst in her eyes.

“Be quick about it,” I said looking down to the corpse at my feet.

Mara flashed a grin and motioned a kiss to me, vanishing in a blur as she bolted off toward him. I picked up the corpse of the man and slung him over my shoulder. I jumped over to the outcrop of boulders and put the man’s body inside one of the crevices. My teeth extended quickly as I punched into the boulder knocking off large shards of it onto the man, so it resembled a rockslide.

I scaled the side of the large rock and perched myself on top looking off toward where I could hear the man running. A few moments later, an incredibly loud roar echoed through the trees and rolled down the valley of rocks. She had him, and just like that, it became silent.

The forest had a dead calm about it now, with only the howl of the wind and heavy scent of blood blowing through the trees. No birds were chirping and there was no whine of insects. The forest knew that a predator was nearby, and everything had taken shelter.

I stared out into the darkness of the forest contemplating where our path was taking us. The shadowed silhouette of Mara’s figure slowly began to emerge from the tree line. I shifted on the rock at the sight of her naked skin completely covered in blood. Her form had changed back to the young girl I knew, except for her eyes that were now glowing a bright blue like that of the Orionak.

She effortlessly levitated off the ground and landed gently on the top of the rock next to me. Holding out her arms, she surveyed the blood covering her skin. As if she walked out of a cloud, she took a step forward and the blood peeled away from her skin dissipating into the air.

At this point it was safe to say that Mara knew more about what she was capable of than I did. Every day she was discovering a new aspect of what she was. Part of me was jealous that she was evolving without any outside influence. The Orionak injected me with the knowledge of their race and the limited guidance of Osiris, yet I was unable to do what she could.

However, it was a nice forewarning as to what Cambrian would be able to do as well, or at least I knew that she can become something more. She had already shown abilities different from both of us, but similar in their utility. Thinking back to what I knew of the Ut’ari, it made sense that they had individuality when possessing the host, each coming with their own special skills and traits.

My inception was slightly different from the girls as a live Ut’ari ripped from its own dimension merged within me and the girls had Ut’ari that came over willingly during my infection of them, or however to describe that event. I assumed that through my bite, the Ut’ari left behind something that allowed the others to possess whomever I bit, like a beacon.

The Orionak did not have much research into the interaction that occurred between the dimensions. Alternatively, how they could come over to our side without the direct summoning that the Orionak had used to create me.

Once on this side, the Ut’ari were never very cooperative, which would explain why they had such a great interest in studying us, but as every other time, we became hostile which was the inherent nature of the Ut’ari.

A loud clap of thunder snapped me out of my thoughts and back to reality. Mara was sitting down in front of me quietly staring intently. I looked around and noticed that the moon was beginning to rise behind us. Before I could even ask the question, I was thinking, Mara interjected.

“A couple of hours,” she said softly looking back over her shoulder to the moon. “You’ve been standing there like a statue for hours.”

I was confused somewhat as to how that much time had gone by, which to me felt only like a few seconds, and it was not the first time it has happened.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled.

She faked a smile and looked down at the rock where she had been carving into the rock with her finger. She quickly stood up and looked toward the cave.

“Cambrian needs me,” she said shyly and leaned in kissing my cheek, before darting off into the night.

I looked down at what she had been writing which said, ‘Save me, I am death,’ in the language of the Ut’ari. I said them aloud, and in that moment, a very cold draft of air moved past me, followed by a high-pitched sound like a strong exhaling. All the hair on my body stood up from a static charge in the air, and my teeth extended in defense as my senses locked on to the source.

“You won’t be able to control them. You know that,” Isis said delicately.

I swallowed hard, nervous knowing who was behind me a few feet. Out of all the Orionak, Isis was the last one of them that I wanted to fight. Chances of me surviving were not great given her abilities. I slowly turned around to face her surveying everything rapidly looking for the others.

“Don’t worry, I’m alone,” she laughed slightly.

“I highly doubt that,” I replied taking a few steps back.

A black undulating mist partially obscured her and contorted around her leaving just the upper half of her body exposed.

“If you’re here in the name of peace, then why the theatrics Isis?”

She smirked turning to look in the direction of our cave. I followed her eyes realizing what she was detecting. A large beam of light shot down from the sky and landed in the trees a few hundred feet from the cave, followed by dozens of smaller ones that turned the sky into a meteor shower. I followed them upward to their origin and noticed the Orionak fleet directly above us.

“You can either come with us, or you all die here. It ends now,” Isis said harshly, almost growling.

A crashing and cracking came from the forest by the cave, as if something large was tearing through the trees.

“Why? What is your obsession with us?” I asked her, turning back to look toward the cave.

“Obsession? You are not an obsession. You are a mistake that we intend to correct. Whether you know it now or not, you will bring this world to an end.” Isis drifted toward me, stopping at my side sharing my gaze into the forest.

“You’re wrong. We are different, and you know it. You just want a living weapon you can control, and we can’t be controlled by you, and now you’re afraid,” I retorted.

“You can be controlled, and you know that. The girls maybe not, but I do not need them. I just need you.” She keyed a button on her wrist, and a few seconds later a roar emerged from the trees.

A pair of lights flashed behind me with the sound of the Orionak personal transporters. My senses picked up whom it was just as one of them faded away. Hathor and Anubis.

“This ends now,” Anubis’s deep distorted voice came from behind me. “Enter Hyperion.”

With the knowledge the Orionak gave me, I knew exactly what Hyperion was. My heart sank with the realization of it. The Orionak encountered an odd species during one of the largest wars of the galaxy. These beings were capable of immense power and nearly caused a quadrant of our galaxy to be void of life.

One of the aggressor factions in the war attacked their world and in defense, they destroyed the aggressors’ entire species along with the stars their worlds surrounded. In the aftermath, the Orionak showed them kindness and helped them to rebuild their world. In return, twelve of these beings joined the sovereignty to fight alongside the Orionak.

After the war ended the Orionak were so far from the beings’ home world that they decided to stay with them. The Orionak use them now as mass destruction weapons. Superior to the Orionak in speed, strength, and aggressiveness they only unleash the twelve when they need fast and swift victories. Hyperion is one of these twelve titans, and his sole purpose is our elimination.

My skin started to turn dark as I slowly started to change form.

“You remember the last time you angered her?” I calmly asked turning to Isis. “She is much stronger now.”

Isis straightened up with confidence and smiling ever so slightly giving in to her pride. I could feel Hathor standing a few inches away from me, no doubt preparing to restrain me should the need arise.

From the direction of the cave, a loud barking howl from Mara came echoing through the trees and off the mountains. I roared back at her in acknowledgement. My muscles tensed up and I leapt off the rock but Hathor caught my arm at the last second pulling me back down on to the rock.

Anubis drew a long sword from his back and started toward me. Another roar came from behind me and the faint sound of Orionak weapons firing. The night sky illuminated from the flashes of their energy weapons, and I quickly spun around kicking Hathor across the face as hard as I could, sending her sliding backwards. Isis wailed and vanished in a black wispy cloud.

I collapsed down into a crouch preparing for Hathor’s retaliation allowing my full appearance to change. I saw hesitation and concern in Hathor’s eyes as she witnessed my transformation. She wiped the blood dripping down her face from my kick and engaged up her armor. She knelt and turned transparent, enabling her cloak.

Anubis charged at me swinging his sword. I leapt up in the air over his swing kicking him in the face and back of the head using his momentum against him to push him backwards as I flipped over him. He caught himself at the edge of the boulder nearly falling off and spun back around growing in anger.

I could smell Hathor’s blood that she carelessly wiped on her glove all but eliminating her stealth. She was slowly circling around the other side of me preparing to flank. Anubis hissed and lunged at me again. I strafed and dodged a flurry of his swings slashing at his side with my claws, but unable to penetrate his armor.

Cambrian’s scream pierced the air and I turned to look toward the cave. Anubis slashed at my leg with his sword in my distraction cleaving open a large wound across my thigh. I roared out in pain and lunged striking him in the arm making him drop his sword which tumbled off the end of the rock.

He swung around hitting me in the chest with his forearm sending me flying backwards off the rock. I caught myself on a tree, and pushed off it, flying back at him. I landed a hard punch to his face, sending a ripple through his armor as it tried to withstand my impact. His mask flickered and collapsed in malfunction.

I slowly stood up in shock of what was underneath his mask. He was like one of the Greys, large almond shaped head, with large black lifeless eyes. His skin was a light purple hue with a rough scaly looking texture that faded back and forth between darker pigments.

He was much taller than the other Greys, and I did not recognize his species from any of the knowledge that I had. He curled his teeth back revealing a pair of fangs and emitted a foreign but familiar growl through his teeth.

Another scream from Cambrian followed by a deeper growl broke me of my shock, and I crouched to leap off the rock toward the cave. Just as I leapt, Hathor darted past me swinging her swords just barely missing me as I soared up into the night sky.

As the treetops whipped past me below, I heard behind me, the Orionak’s transporters of Anubis and Hathor going back up to the ship. I landed in the forest about a hundred feet behind the Sah troops that were now in a search formation trying to locate Mara.

I could see Cambrian up ahead in a clearing exchanging blows back and forth with Hyperion, which to my amazement, she was holding her own. The titan was too large to fight something as fast as she was with any kind of effectiveness, but Hyperion was nearly invulnerable from her slashes. He seemed to possess the ability to regenerate rapidly as we did.

Their strength seemed comparable which put them both at a stalemate. Cambrian, I assumed was giving Mara time to eliminate all the Sah troops until they could team up on Hyperion to defeat him. Mara was now hiding using her skills to stalk the Sah. They were no threat to her, but the last time she went up against their weapons, she died.

I promised her that would never happen again. The thoughts of that started to put me into a rage. I did not hide my approach to the Sah or make any effort to defend myself, I just charged into them slashing and ripping them apart one at a time. Flashes from their weapons lit up the forest as they opened fire in all directions trying to hit me, as I darted around within their ranks.

Time slowed down to a crawl as it had before, and the Sah had little to no chance. My attacks became more brutal and more lethal as each one of them fell, and within a few moments, Mara was at my side joining in the fight. We dodged and avoided their attacks with ease sending body parts and blood spraying in every direction.

A few guards got off a couple lucky shots toward Mara, which I absorbed as I shielded her. This type of fighting seemed to come naturally for us, more so than it was to hunt for food. We both darted toward the last Sah and I slammed into him making him recoil in pain from his bones shattering. Mara climbed over my back onto his shoulders and with a quick jerk removed his head tearing apart his armor.

She held the head above her letting the blood drip into her mouth. I let go of his body sending it crumbling to the ground in a pile. Mara remained hovering in the air savoring the blood pouring over her face. Cambrian growled as she was flying backward in the air from a hit Hyperion landed on her.

We both darted over to her side and helped her up from the tree she slammed against and broke in half.

“I’m going to assume that the Orionak are still angry at us?” Cambrian forced out clutching her ribs that were cracking and healing back into place.

“They want you two dead, and they want me to come back with them.” I replied looking up at the rain that was beginning to fall.

Hyperion straightened his armor and started to lumber towards us.

“So, what are we going to do about this?” Mara asked pulling her hair back from her face.

“What about the weapons all the Sah had?” Cambrian shouted pointing back into the forest.

“No, that things hide is too thick for that, plus it regenerates like we do.” I said shaking my head.

“I know! Follow me!” Mara said frantically before darting off toward the mountain.

Cambrian shrugged at me then took off after her. I looked back at Hyperion that had changed into a sprint and was rapidly coming towards us. I ran off following the girls who were halfway up the side of the mountain heading to a large outcropping. I caught up to them quickly, and we stopped on a moderate sized plateau.

“Here, right here,” Mara yelled running over to a large hole in the back of the rock. “It’s a caldera. I saw it when we were flying earlier. It’s full of magma. Remember how badly it hurt us? I bet it will do the same to him.”

We followed her over and looked off the edge. The caldera was small by normal standards only forty or so feet in diameter, but it was big enough to get him inside it.

“Alright, but how?” Cambrian asked looking back toward the forest.

“We just have to get him in front of it, and knock him in.” Mara replied confidently.

“Right,” Cambrian and I both said simultaneously with hesitance.

With a baying from below, Hyperion shot up from the tree line and landed on the rocks next to us. Cambrian and Mara both darted in and began attacking him, knocking him off balance trying to force him toward the hole. He pulled a large sword from his back and started to spin around violently slashing at the girls.

I darted over blocking one of his swings, catching and holding onto his arm. Cambrian grabbed ahold of his arm from the other side and held it in place. Mara crawled up from behind him jumping onto his wrist and grabbing ahold of the blade of his sword with both hands pulling it backwards with all her strength.

Hyperion grabbed Cambrian with his other hand ripping her away and throwing her against the rock wall. Mara growled with anger pulling back on the sword blade cutting into her own skin. A second later, the blade snapped off and Mara fell off onto the ground. Hyperion raised his arm up making a fist and slammed it down on top of Mara smashing her into the rock.

She cried out in pain, and he raised his fist up again. I let go of his hand and crawled up his body slashing at his face with my claws. It distracted him enough allowing Mara to pick up the broken blade of the sword and putting it in her place as he slammed his fist down again, this time onto his own blade.

The blade pierced through his hand, coming out the top of it, and he reared back with a thunderous howl from the pain. Cambrian had gotten back to her feet and was charging up from behind him. Mara jumped back up onto his hand, and ripped the blade out spraying his blood into the air. She licked at the blood on the blade before launching up into the air.

Hyperion reached up and grabbed me from his face throwing me off the side of the mountain. Cambrian slammed into him from behind with a large log she picked up along the way stabbing it into him, making him stumble forward a few feet toward the hole. He tried to pull the log out of his back but was unable to reach it. Cambrian slammed into him again hitting him in the back of the legs dropping him to his knees.

The last thing I saw before dropping down to the ground below the outcropping was Mara spinning furiously in the air, and then letting go of the sword blade sending it rocketing toward Hyperion. As I crashed into the trees below, I heard him yell out in pain from the blade.

I stumbled to get back onto my feet as the bones in my body were healing back into place from the fall. I could see shockwaves in the air from them exchanging blows and started to run back up the side of the mountain.

“Do it now!” I heard Mara’s voice cry out.

Her voice made me push harder and as I made it back up and crested the ledge, time went into slow motion. Hyperion was standing just in front of the hole. Mara was pulling on the log sticking out of his back. Cambrian was sliding backwards across the rock, recoiling from a hit. As he began to fall backward, he reached back and grabbed ahold of Mara. I started to yell, but no sound came out of my mouth.

Cambrian turned and saw what was about to happen and leapt toward Hyperion holding the blade of the sword. She transformed and sprouted wings making one hard flap accelerating her toward him. A cone of air rippled off her as she broke the sound barrier slamming into him driving the sword through his arm that was holding Mara, nearly severing it.

He let go, tossing Mara off to the side, reaching up with his other hand, grabbing Cambrian as they both fell into the hole. Mara slammed into the rocks and fell to the ground.

“Nooooooooo!” I shouted running as hard as I could toward the caldera.

I stopped just at the edge and looked down in time to see an enormous splash of magma. A wave of emotion took over me and blood started to pour from me eyes.

“Cam!” I yelled repeatedly looking down into the hole.

Mara got back onto her feet and looked around frantically for Cambrian.

“No! No, no, no! Oh, gods no!” she said hysterically.

She dropped down to her knees and broke down crying, slamming her fists into the rock cracking it from her impacts. I staggered backward on my feet defeated looking up into the sky. The stars were so bright and beautiful, that for a moment, everything seemed peaceful.

“Why did she get that close to him? I told her to stay back,” Mara mumbled through her sobbing. “Why did she do it?”

An Orionak dropship blazed through the atmosphere and descended over the island. It passed from the north over the mountains and slowly stopped hovering over us. Mara got to her feet and started to walk around the plateau with her hands raised up to the ship.

“Come on! You want a fight, come down here!” She shouted upward. “You cowards come fight me!”

The ship drifted away slowly over the forest and started to transport up the bodies of the Sah from the forest. Hundreds of small blue orbs flew up to the ship picking up all the pieces we had left in our wake. I turned back to Mara who was still shouting obscenities to the ship.

“Mara stop,” I asked her calmly holding out my hand to her.

My appearance transformed back down to normal and my teeth retracted.

“They won’t be back for a while. Right now, they are trying to figure out what to do knowing that we destroyed their titan,” I said to her walking over and grabbing her hand.

She wiped the tears off her face and pressed herself against me.

“They won’t stop coming for us, will they?” she looked up into my eyes.

I wiped away another tear from her face and adjusted the hair out of her eyes.

“No,” I replied shaking my head.

The dropship pulled up the last of the pieces and began to drift back toward us. It hovered over us for a few moments, before accelerating up over the mountain and toward the fleet in orbit. From our vantage point we could see the nearby town starting to fill with commotion and people heading off into the forest with torches, no doubt to investigate the disturbance.

“We need to go,” I said kissing Mara on the top of the head.

Her skin started to fade to its normal color, and she held on to me like the first time we met. We slowly made our way down the mountain toward the cave in silence. My thoughts were drifting back to when Cambrian and I were kids and we used to play down at the river. One time I slipped and hit my head on a rock and fell in.

She pulled me out of the water and saved me. Even though she was younger than I was, she was always there to save me. When I got into trouble, she was there to take part of the blame. Even recently, when Mara and I needed help down near the magma chamber, she was there to save us. She was always the protector, not me.

We were already at the cave by the time I came back to reality from my thoughts. Mara was standing next to me, holding on as if she was part of me, waiting patiently for me to come out my daydreams. I squeezed her hand and she sniffed her nose before letting go and heading off down the tunnel.

She stopped at the edge of the chasm staring up at the structure they had built together. I walked up behind her and placed my hand on her back in comfort. She wiped away another tear and effortlessly glided over the chasm to the other side and went inside. I leapt over it behind her, and followed her in.

She was already upstairs and huddled up in a corner of Cambrian’s room crying. I sat down on one of the large chairs and just relaxed. It was something I had not really tried to do since I stopped being human. It felt alien to me now, for lack of a better word, but somehow this time it felt possible.

My mind wandered off back to Cambrian and us growing up again. The first time we saw Isis’s flagship land at the pyramids, the revealing of the gods to us, and watching them move among us. Nothing about them that our educators and family told us about them was true. There was so much that our people thought about them, that was all just a lie.

I blinked and Mara was lying against me in my lap. I put my hand on the back of her head, and she looked up at me. I smiled at her and she smiled back.

“Twelve days,” she said before I could ask the question. “I tried too, but I didn’t get lost in my thoughts like you do.”

Her words somewhat disturbed me with how much time had passed by, but I expected as much to happen this time.

“Men came to the cave looking around, but I scared them away,” she said nuzzling her head into my chest.

I sat up quickly, nearly knocking her off me, but she held on tightly.

“It’s ok, they never saw me, and they just think a large animal lives in this cave,” her delicate voice said calmly. “We should go back into town though to pick up the furnishings don’cha think? I’ve been staring at empty walls and blank stone for over a week now.”

I was still a little dumbfounded of just how irrelevant time becomes when it does not control you anymore. I was in my thoughts for twelve days of which mere minutes passed by to me. Now having woken up from it, we did not even care so much about it. It just was not important anymore. When you have an eternity, days become seconds. Even to Mara now, the passage of time had little bearing on how we felt about things.

“Ok,” I said hesitantly.

She flipped off me engaging up her armor, flittering off toward the doorway.

“I need out of this cave, let’s go,” she pleaded.

I got on my feet and followed her out of the castle. It was daylight outside and I paused at the mouth of the lava tube looking out carefully into the sky.

“They left about a week ago,” Mara said pulling on my arm.

I frowned in disbelief but stepped out. We made our way to town making sure to act as human as possible as we got there. When the scent of the humans hit me, my mind instantly flashed to my thirst, which had not been satisfied for almost two weeks now. Mara could feel me tense up and clenched my arm.

“I know, I’m thirsty too,” Mara whispered just loud enough for me to hear her.

We made our way through the streets toward the shop we placed our order. Secarin noticed us as we went past his shop and ran out to greet us.

“Long time my friends,” he shouted running toward us.

“We were away on the other side of the island looking for fruits,” Mara replied greeting him.

“I had almost thought you three had something to do with all those lights we had in the sky last week,” Secarin looked around us. “Where is your other friend, the other woman?”

Mara lowered her head and Secarin saw the sadness move across our faces.

“She left us,” I replied motioning him to come with us. “We were headed to pick up our order. Would you mind assisting us again?”

He raised his hand toward the direction of the shop and smiled bowing slightly.

“Given your order, after you left, I arranged for the purchase of a cart and animals to help deliver your items,” Secarin said as we made our way toward the shop.

“Thank you, I never even thought about that,” I replied grabbing hold of Mara’s hand.

“So out of curiosity what do you think all those lights in the sky were?” He asked hesitantly.

“Stars falling out of the sky, I would imagine. I’m not sure. What do you think?” I asked him in response.

“Oh my, can they do that?” he asked nervously.

I had not really given any thought to what these people knew about astronomy; let alone what a meteor was.

“I’m sure everything is ok,” I assured him.

When we got to the shop, the shopkeeper was surprised to see us, but quickly hid his concern. Secarin began conversing with the shopkeeper, and Mara wandered around looking at all the strange items he had in his shop. After several minutes, Secarin came back over to us.

“He has everything prepared that you ordered. He is going to go and arrange for a cart that you can pick up here around sundown. I somehow didn’t think that traveling at night would be a concern for you,” he said smiling.

“Not all. That will be fine. We will be back in a few hours at sundown,” I patted him on his should, and nodded to the shopkeeper.

Secarin went back over to talk with the shopkeeper, and Mara and I went back out into the street.

“Well, what do you want to do for a few hours?” I asked Mara who was sniffing the air.

“Eat. I want to eat,” she said pulling on my arm.

I humored her and went along with her. She quickly pulled me through winding streets, eventually stopping at a large building that was heavy with the smell of animal blood. It was a slaughterhouse, full of meat under processing for sale. We went around to the front of the shop where a small storefront was set up selling various large cuts of meat.

She pointed to a tray of ox livers that a butcher was just bringing in. She handed the attendant a large emerald and motioned for the livers, which he quickly gave to her in a wooden box. She grinned and ran off toward the alleyway. I smiled to the attendant and followed her around the corner.

Before I could say a word, she was on her knees neck deep with her face inside the box. I could hear the growls and grunts she was making devouring the blood rich livers. I leaned up against the wall and just watched her contently. It was satisfying to watch her feed and gave me the same euphoria as watching her undress.

She grunted louder then reared back dropping the box and baying into the sky. The sunlight hit her face and she started to smoke as her skin burned away. The fresh blood in her system instantly made her regenerate followed by it burning away again just as fast. I frowned watching her deliberately stay in the sunlight.

Repeatedly the rays of light hit her, and she just sat there taking it in. After a few seconds of it, I took all that I could and darted over in front of her blocking the sunlight. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at me, as her skin healed back to perfection.

“I wanted to feel the warmth of the sun again,” she said calmly letting a single tear run down her face.

She engaged up her mask and in the same time it took me to blink, she wrapped herself around me. I squeezed her tightly and looked up to see a large gathering of townsfolk that had responded no doubt to her roaring.

I am not sure how much they had seen, but based on the expressions on their faces, I assumed it was enough to know that something was different about us. I just stared at them holding a small monster in my arms, without any idea what to do. Secarin pushed his way to the front of the crowd, looking around unaware of what happened, but I could see on his face he was concerned.

They all just stared at us like the devils we were, afraid yet curious. I exploited this minor transgression and bolted up onto the rooftop with Mara. The crowd gasped with confusion and awe, as to them we would have disappeared in a blur. I could sense now that Mara was still feeling something about the loss of Cambrian, and given her reckless behavior, I assumed she was blaming herself.

I sat her down against a wall and she did not loosen her grip.

“Mara, what happened to her,” I started to say but she interrupted me.

“No!” She growled through her teeth and squeezed me to the point that it hurt.

“Ok, ok, relax love,” I forced out through the pain, kissing the top of her head and focusing on trying to calm her emotions.

She loosened up her grasp and I felt her body relax. She let go of me and leaned back on her feet, staring at me intensely searching for something. Tears again formed in her eyes and ran down her face, changing to blood after a moment. I had to come to learn that this only occurs with us at times of great sadness and sorrow.

I reached up to her face with my hand, and before I could touch her, she rocketed up into the sky in an explosion of strength that broke the roof she was standing on. I looked up in time to see the swirling trail of the clouds sucked into her wake, and the hole she just punched through them. Two loud booms echoed down from the sky from her speed, and I knew she was gone.

I worked my way slowly across the rooftops and waited patiently on the roof above the shop waiting for sundown. I was not at all worried about Mara this time, because this last skirmish with the Orionak changed something in her. The little girl grew up completely by force in one single moment and her personality evolved.

I feared now for anyone that crossed paths with her. All that rage, and all that anger she was keeping pent up inside of her, was just waiting for the moment to detonate. She was struggling to maintain herself, fighting a war inside between the monster living within, and the blame she has given herself for Cambrian’s death.

The clamoring of a team of horses down below brought me out of my daydream. As promised, there was a large cart filled with a variety of furnishings, several of them adorned with gold. I smirked and dropped down the side of the building. I calmly made my way out front where Secarin and the shopkeeper were waiting.

“Delivered as promised,” Secarin said boastfully.

I looked over the cart briefly and nodded to the shopkeeper. He smiled and headed back inside his shop, rolling down the thick leather flaps to close for the day.

“Thank you again,” I said turning to Secarin.

“As always, it is my pleasure,” he smiled. “I arranged for a driver for you as well. You don’t come off as the type that knows how to drive a team of horses.”

“No, I suppose I don’t,” I said to him in embarrassment.

“Eritha, is one of the best handlers that I know of, and she just happens to speak a little Egyptian,” he said presenting me to the girl driving the cart.

I looked at him with reluctance, and he returned the expression. I looked up to the girl who smiled down at me. As I expected she was quite beautiful, and I could smell her pureness. I looked back to Secarin who was trying to hide a grin.

“You know more than you should, old man,” I said patting him on the shoulder with some force as to cause him minor pain.

“Her mother died giving birth to her, and her father and older brother were found dead in the woods several days ago, from what looked like an animal attack.,” he told me, escorting me to the other side of the cart.

My memories flashed back to the two men that Mara and I encountered in the forest, and I knew they were the same men he was referring to.

“Do not worry my friend. We cannot change the way the word has made us. Everything happens for a reason, and you will do great things with what you are in time,” he said holding out his hand.

I shook his hand and climbed onto the cart.

“Secarin, great deeds done in darkness are just deeds done without recognition, and evil should not be recognized for its great deeds,” I motioned for Eritha to head toward the gates.

Secarin stared at me perplexed as we started to move off. We slowly made our way out of town, down one of the worn roads used for logging leading into the forest. I could hear Eritha’s heartbeat trying to burst its way out of her chest as we went along in silence.

The forest was unusually still for a warm tropical night, with the moon rising in the east. It should be alive with birds and insects of all kinds. It was as if the forest knew that there was a threat traveling through, to which of course there was.

I motioned for Eritha to head off the road toward the direction of the cave, she hesitated but complied, and steered the cart off into the trees. She stopped the cart along the base of the rocks unable to go any further. I climbed off the cart and slowly walked around the back to the other side, where Eritha was getting off.

I leaned against the rock wall watching her as she started to untie the ropes holding the contents in place. She nervously fidgeted at each knot looking over her shoulder to me. I looked up to the moon thinking about Mara, then back down to Eritha.

My fangs slowly extended and the face of the Ut’ari became pronounced under my skin. I took a few steps toward her, and she spun around pushing her back up against the cart in fear. She started to tremble with fear as I put my arms on both sides of her against the cart pinning her in place.

I leaned in sniffing at her neck growling very quietly. I moved up to her face and snapped my teeth in front of her causing her to jump and clench her eyes shut forcing the tears to stream down her face.

“I don’t want to die,” she whispered.

“Shhhh,” I ran my fingers over her lips. “You won’t,” I said in the Ut’ari’s voice.

I moved down and sank my teeth into her neck. She tried to scream but was not able to make any sound. I picked her up pulling her against me and turned around toward the rocks. Once her heartbeat started to slow, I relaxed my bite on her. Her eyelids went into a flutter shortly before she fainted. I licked at the blood on her neck, and gently set her down against the rock wall.

Intoxicated from her blood, I jumped up onto the top of the rocks leading toward the cave and bellowed toward the moon. My roar echoed off the mountains and rolled down the countryside, no doubt heard by everyone on this side of Crete. If the Minoans did not already have curiosity to the paranormal events taking place, no doubt that roar would have caused some.

I unharnessed the horses from the cart that were now heavily agitated and let them loose into the forest. With little effort, I picked up the cart and carried it up the side of the mountain and into the cave, setting it down at the edge of the chasm. Over the next few days I unloaded the cart and methodically placed the tapestries and furnishings in the places I imagined the girls wanted them.

Eritha had turned into one of us and joined me inside the cave. She was a bit more primal in her transformation than the others and kept to herself climbing along the walls and ceiling observing me. I knew that when she was ready she would come down and approach me. Until then, I just left her alone.

Every few days I would go out at night and pick off a boat of fishermen or traders making their way in to port. Eritha would always follow me and keep her distance until I left and would then move in for the scraps. I started to leave one of them wounded and unconscious for her to feed on, which she did so very violently.

In a way, she was a shadow of Mara in her ferocity and grace in killing. At first, she hesitated, but now it was natural to her. After feeding, I would sit up on the side of the mountain where we fought Hyperion until sunrise, thinking about everything. Eritha learned early on to avoid sunlight, and quickly retreated into the shelter of the cave whenever we were near it.

My thoughts always drifted to Mara. Where could she be? What was she doing? I could feel that she was ok and alive, but to where, I could not tell. I just wanted her to come back. After a few more weeks, Eritha started to join me on the side of the mountain, always hiding among the rocks and keeping her distance.

Eventually I decided that enough was enough and started trying to approach her. On a cold night in the winter season, Orion was high in the sky over the volcano; I was working to coax Eritha out toward me. She had finally agreed and crouched a few steps away from me. I was telling her a story about the Pyramids, and where I came from in Egypt. Behind me, I heard a heavy thump on the rocks, and panting.

Eritha’s eyes got big, and her fangs quickly extended in defense. My heart started racing as I picked up Mara’s scent. I spun around quickly to look, and pure happiness engulfed my body. I darted over wrapping my arms around her pulling her against me.

She was freezing to my touch, far colder than normal, and trying to catch her breath. In my excitement, I had ignored her appearance, and now took a moment to look her over. She was holding on to my arms incredibly tight, and I could feel the vibrations of her shaking.

Her eyes were a dark black, indicating she had not fed in quiet some time and her face had several cuts and scrapes that were not healing. Dried blood matted her hair and I took a step back to look over her more thoroughly. Fresh bruises and wounds covered her entire body and her armor was missing, replaced with a tattered bluish colored cloth.

“What happened? What’s going on?” I asked her frantically.

She extended her fangs and tried to steady herself against me. Just as quickly, her teeth retracted back in.

“They’re coming!” she managed to force out.

“Who?” I asked cradling her head in my hands.

A bright beam of white light struck her in the back, forcing her body to tense up and freeze in place. I heard Eritha roar and flicker off, and I took a step back in surprise.

“I love…” she uttered before launching up into the sky with a low rumble and jerk.

I looked up to see the beam of light collapse into the bottom of a black circular spacecraft that I recalled used by the Greys. The ship banked to the north and accelerated incredibly fast off up into the night sky.

I dropped to my knees and my appearance transformed almost instantly to the darkness within me. I yelled Mara’s name as loud as I could, looking down to see the small ivory figurine the fisherman gave her, bouncing and tumbling on the ground where she had been standing...

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