Chasing Orion
Chapter 3: Nineteen

As I came into view of the people, everyone looked at me with a newfound fear and curiosity. I could hear the mumbles, and even the Sah guards showed an interest in the newcomer. To them I was just another god, but knowing my appearance was not like the others, void of decorations in gold and bright gems.

My armor was as black as space and layered like a harsh volcanic carapace more than flowing plates of gold, and my mask was nothing short of the definition of the underworld.

Anubis and Osiris, they knew already, but now I was a mystery to them if related to the underworld. I felt a great arrogance of power knowing how they felt and what they were saying about me, and I carried myself in reflection of that.

Khafre was making his way up toward our platform and met Ra at its precipice. He began giving Ra a series of reports on the state of the city. I ignored Khafre completely and walked past them to the edge of the platform and stood statuesque overlooking the Pyramids almost menacingly with my hand firmly rested on the hilt of my sword.

The bright sun was beaming down onto my armor making it look almost fluidic, and I adapted its texture to do just that slowly flowing and churning like magma. I was beginning to understand the theatrics behind their armor, in addition to why it worked so well. In a sense, it was kind of fun.

I turned slowly and began my way back to where Khafre and Ra were meeting, leaving a thick but quickly dissipating trail of black smoke in my wake adding to the ambience of my guise. I could feel the fear and distress in the people below and in most of the guards for that matter, and it only added to the catalyst of my performance.

I wanted them to fear me. In fact, I wanted them to loathe and hate me to a point where none of them would want to worship me or have anything to do with me. For their own benefit, they should avoid me. I knew that the few that did not would pay for it with their lives and like before that thought was desirable.

I circled around behind Khafre brushing against him slowly trying to make him as uncomfortable as possible and trying to intimidate the great king. I knew he could feel the ice-cold temperature of my armor and sheer physical interaction made him uneasy. I could sense that Ra found no amusement at all in what I was doing, but he did not interfere.

I walked over to the other end of the platform overlooking the necropolis side of the city toward the Sphinx. More people had started to gather now and most of the whole pathway leading into the commons area was standing and staring in my direction.

I went into a crouch with my hand grasping the corner of the platform and leaned out over the edge like one of the great cats searching for prey looking down the hundred-foot wall. Then in a blur of black smoke, I leapt from the platform into the crowd in the pathway down below.

The leap forward was a good three hundred feet out from the platform taking me to the center of the square surrounded by people. I landed with a thunderous noise kicking up a huge plume of sand that swirled and mixed with my cyclone of black smoke. The people scattered backwards taking what little refuge they could around the buildings nearby encircling me.

Even some of the Sah felt the need to take shelter not knowing who or what I was, which only made the people more nervous.

I could hear Ra’s jaw clenching down tightly. Two of the elite guards began to charge down the ramp into the square but Ra stopped them and commanded them leave me be. The guards complied and returned to Ra’s position.

As the sand and smoke settled, the people became nervous and concerned as they now had a much closer image of me. They had never seen anyone like me before. They knew I was with the gods, but to what I really was or even who they had no idea.

I was something new to them, and that frightened them tremendously. Khafre for once showed mild concern and asked Ra if I was going to hurt his people, for which Ra replied to him even less composed than usual a simple;

“I don’t know.”

He was not lying either, his heart rate was almost double, and I could sense his concern. I altered my mask with two small holes allowing me to smell and began to walk slowly around the rim of the people.

I knew some of them, and it pained me to see them so afraid of me now, but it also gave me a perverse pleasure in knowing I could kill them so fast they would not even see me move to attack. I studied each of them carefully secretly searching for the scent I picked up before. It was not here. At least not like it was before.

They all smelled appealing to me now and blended together making it difficult to single out any one person. It was here, but I do not know where.

My brain as I went along was cataloging everyone and sorting them into specific demographics by ones that I had interest in devouring their blood, and those not so appetizing. It was a strange sensation at first but I adapted quickly to it and then it felt normal.

Then the scent hit me like an explosion and I snapped my head around looking to the other side of the square. I felt my blood thrash around inside me like a waterfall and my heart was beating like a thousand drums. It felt like one deep breath and my chest would explode. Inside my armor and mask, the sound of my own body trying to escape its small prison was deafening.

I could feel the darkness that was inside me scurrying around underneath my skin trying to get out. My senses processed the scent and I locked onto her. I expected something to happen at that moment, but nothing did. From my limited experience, I would attack blindly, but I remained motionless. Maybe I could control this I thought to myself.

I stared at her memorizing every single inch of her body. To me she was perfect. I had never seen anyone with such beauty and I wanted her in ways I had never thought before.

She was of average size for a girl of about nineteen years old. Her hair was as black as my armor hanging off her shoulders moving gently in the breeze. An icy blue color blazed in her eyes, a rarity among my people. Her heart began to flutter under suspicion that I was staring in her direction.

Ra took notice and yelled something at me in Orion that echoed off the pyramids and buildings. It startled everyone from its ferocity, but it was just a mumble to me, I was too fixated on her to give any attention to anything else.

In a blur, I dashed at her at a speed that made me practically invisible to everyone, stopping a few arm lengths in front of her simultaneously terrifying and confirming her suspicion.

Other people around her moved away cautiously, leaving her in the open with just me. She trembled and quickly diverted her eyes to the ground while dropping to her knees.

She bowed in ritual to the presence of one of the gods. Images of putting her in an inescapable embrace and sinking my teeth into her played repeatedly in my mind, but I was in control and slowly took a step towards her.

I heard Ra’s armor change most likely into something more combat oriented, but my gaze never broke from her. I took another few steps toward her stopping in front of her. I inhaled her smell deeply letting it fill every capable space inside me.

I knelt and extended my hand to her. She hesitated for a moment, but delicately placed her hand in mine flinching at its temperature. I closed my hand around hers softly and began to rise pulling her up with me. I heard the sand granules scrape against the platform as Ra leaped from it.

I looked up at the falling Orionak who was clearly making an offensive move toward me with his sword in hand and the time slowed again to a crawl. What was he thinking? He knows he is no match for me in a fight, should it call for it. Was he just protecting this human?

To fight me effectively he would have to drop his mask into something more manageable, so what was he trying to do? Through another bout of instinct, I jerked the young girl toward me, wrapping my arms around her pulling her up against me.

The impact of Ra’s landing into the loose sand was going to create a very unpleasant shock wave of sand and I had to shield her from it. People began to run away in the second that they had and I turned my back to Ra protecting her. He landed just behind me sending up a plume of sand into the air. Before the sand had time to clear, he was lunging through it with his sword extended.

I could have dodged his attack, but at risk of him hitting her. I pushed her away from me a few inches just as Ra’s sword pierced out through the front of my chest just nearly missing her. I stared into her eyes still thralled by my lust for her. The sword retracted from my chest and a single tear ran down her face.

I do not know if it was from fear or sorrow, but as I stood there in a daze, her heartbeat began to slow back to normal. The wound in my chest began to close shut and repair itself.

I looked down at her hand still grasping at mine and rubbed the top of it with my thumb, then let go. I looked back up into her eyes and could only whisper one word.

“Run.”

Ra realized the mistake he had just made and started to walk backwards defensively. I slowly turned around to face him emitting a deep growl that vibrated the sand at my feet.

Looking down at the blood dripping from my armor, I felt a new kind of rage build within me. Ra could sense it too because he began to plead with me to calm down and control myself with his voice trembling.

“It was a mistake to bring you here so early. She was so wrong. You do not understand what you are capable of. Please calm down, if not for your own sake, then the sake of your people. You could have hurt that innocent girl.”

I did not even know what her name was or who she was, and the simple words of him even mentioning her, angered me even more. I pointed my fingers to the ground and marginally long claws emerged from the ends.

The people around us could sense the impending conflict judging Ra’s movements and pleading and started to flee. I felt like I was going to explode with the rage about to boil over.

She was still behind me though; I could feel her, hear her heartbeat now rapidly pounding in her chest from the panic of the crowd. Why did she not run away? Could she not see she was in danger?

The Sah guards were now in full alert and were making a running dash to Ra. Then it happened. With the booming sound of a thousand voices, I roared in anger with a vicious and monstrous ferocity. People nearby covered their ears with their hands from its intensity.

The guards stopped dead in their tracks, and even Ra cringed back slightly from the noise. I felt warmth on my chest that wrapped around my sides to my back. It startled me and halted my roar that was echoing off the pyramids.

She was holding me, as I had done to her, shielding me from myself and everything else. The claws retracted from my fingers and I looked down into her staring up at me. Her eyes were blazing again with that calm innocence, and I lost myself again within them.

For lack of a better description, my body engulfed in black flames, for what reason I am not sure, but it did not hurt either of us.

“Why?” I asked her quietly.

She put her hand up to the side of my mask where my cheek was.

“Because you won’t hurt me.” Her voice was angelic and surreal, a true compliment to her beauty. “I felt it in you when you held my hand and then again when you blanketed me from the sand.”

She forced a smile and another tear ran down her face. How was this possible? Just a few moments earlier, I was ready to pounce on her and end her life, and now here she was possibly saving mine. She was right though; there was nothing in me anymore that thought anything other than defense and compassion for her.

I was frustrated. I had accepted what I was; knowing that I could kill indiscriminately at my leisure, but now this innocent person broke me. She tamed my fury with a single touch of kindness. Ra straightened up and returned his sword to his side. He keyed his bracer sending a message to Osiris about what just occurred.

“We must go Ut’ari. Now!” he commanded making his way to the ramp up to the dropship.

“I must go,” I whispered down to her.

“Who are you?” she quickly replied just as I darted from her grasp leaving just an outline of my flame and smoke dissipating around her.

She grasped at the flames trying to hold onto one of them as they slipped through her fingers.

I reappeared back inside the dropship passing by everyone undetected due to my speed. Khafre was about halfway down the ramp and met up with Ra. He was upset and querying Ra for answers as to what and who I was and what just happened. Ra ignored him and rapidly ascended the ramp into the ship.

The guards followed in behind him and the door shut. I removed my armor going back to the more simplified Orionak uniform and stood looking down from the windows of the bridge. She was still there looking up at the ship.

Ra came into the cockpit, sat down, and began quickly entering buttons spooling up the ships engines.

“I’m sorry,” I said lowering my head in shame.

Ra paused shortly then entered the last commands in the console and the ship lifted off.

“No Ut’ari, the fault is ours. Allowing you back into the civilized world so quickly was a mistake. You know almost nothing about yourself, nor have you learned to control your emotions and instincts. Osiris put far too much faith into your humanity being able to control such a monster,” he said sitting back in his chair changing down his armor to his regular uniform.

The ship quickly accelerated upward and into the upper atmosphere.

I could still feel the evil crawling around underneath my skin. It was a part of me now but in many ways, it still felt foreign when it came to the surface. Control over it was something that I knew I could accomplish and at this point, I had to learn how.

Something changed down there today. Something inside me changed. I should have ripped her apart along with most of everyone else, but something held it back. Maybe it was as Ra had said that my humanity could force its submission.

Why her? I did not know her, nor had I ever seen her before today. What made her so special? She was my motivation now. If I could control myself then it was possible that I could come back down to the surface and in turn, I could find her.

My mood changed to that of optimism for a change as I looked out into space at the ship we were closing distance on. It was a massive ship almost identical to one of our pyramids in shape and the yellowish tan color of sand. It had a smaller protruding base running along its bottom of a blackish color.

Running alongside of it were two smaller crafts of similar design and color. Spread around all the pyramid ships were several hundred of the smaller fighter type crafts flying in formations on patrols. As we approached several of the Sah dropships passed by us on the way down to the surface.

The ship docked in the hangar, I could already sense the beings on the other side of the door waiting for me. The ships engines whined down and Ra joined me as the door opened. Horus and Osiris were waiting with about two dozen of the elite guards with weapons drawn and pointed at me. Ra went out first reporting to Osiris.

“He’s fine at the moment,” he said turning to face me.

I inhaled deeply taking in the scents of the hangar searching for Isis. I could not detect her on the hangar other than a small lingering fume of her on Osiris.

“She is a few decks up in the main library,” Osiris said taking a few steps forward and motioning me out of the ship.

I complied and stepped out onto the flight deck. We began to walk off the flight deck under escort by the guards, Horus, and Ra.

“You have complicated things Ut’ari. The people do not know what to make of us now. We have always acted with a calm disposition acting through the Pharaohs. In exchange, the people have never had a real need to fear or question our chain of command.

Ra is in command at Giza. Your people look to him as the supreme leader, and by your actions, they know there is another god that they have never seen, that Ra cannot control. They are questioning his very being as we speak.”

We got to the main thoroughfare and took the lift down to a lower deck.

Osiris continued as we walked down the corridor,

“Then there is the matter of this girl. What were you feeling when you saw her?”

I thought about that question for a minute with images of her flashing through my mind. Her scent, being the delicious smell of her blood flowing through her.

Then there was the animalistic scent of the innocence of her womanhood that compiled her smell into something overly intoxicating. My mouth salivated at the thoughts of grasping onto her and holding her so close within range of my bite.

“I understand,” Osiris, said responding to my thoughts.

I forgot he was a mind reader, but at least he knew I was not lying to him. I answered his questions.

“At first, I wanted nothing but to tear her apart and lap up every drop of blood she had, but then the overwhelming thirst for blood changed into an overwhelming thirst for her directly. I was drunk by every aspect about her.

Everything was perfect in a way that was impossible. She was something out of a dream designed specifically for me. Nothing else mattered, and I did not want to hurt her anymore, but the opposite. I was ready to kill everyone else including Ra to protect her.”

Osiris glanced back at Ra and smirked.

“Her blood is all that your mind wanted. That lust for it overtook your reasoning and made you love her. You do not love her now do you? It was just the blood.”

He was right. I did not have any emotional feeling about her whatsoever; the smell of her blood is what I desired.

The corridor gradually changed into a darker and dim passageway and then opened into a large hall with a series of small rooms with semitransparent barriers up as doors circling the hall.

Each room had a number and a guard posted outside of it. At the center of the room was a raised pillar extending about twenty feet up into the room.

Operating the station perched on top, was a creature I have never seen before at a circular shaped console. It was somewhat large in comparison to us, about twice our size, and had a bluish gray skin that changed with intensity as it moved against the light.

It was very slender and seemed to move slowly but with purpose in fluidic motions. It had on a transparent helmet that was displaying rapidly changing data streams.

As we walked past I tried to pick up a scent from it but it had none. The creature and I stared down each other intently while moving past. It was just as curious to what I was as I was to it. It keyed a button on its console and a barrier sprung up around its platform like a shield obscuring my sight from the creature.

We approached one of the rooms on the other side of the great hall where the light was much darker and seemed to have extra protection in means of guards, sentry weapons, and barriers. The wall next to the entrance of the room had the number nineteen displayed just above a restricted access notice.

Osiris nodded to Ra who proceeded to input data into a wall console outside the door. A series of barriers dropped, partially opening the room creating a type of airlock from the outside to what was inside.

“What is this?” I asked him to try to peer into the darkness of the room.

“These are holding facilities for various forms of criminals or beings that are just too dangerous to allow to roam free, but whom we also can’t execute under our laws and the treaties we have agreed to. Some things in these cells are unlike anything you have imagined.

They are cruel and they are vicious. I want to give you the opportunity to be yourself. To learn what you are, and what you are capable of. Inside this chamber is the deadliest creature we know of. We do not even have a name for them, and we have never studied them. Like you we believe them to be intruders from another realm or possibly another galaxy. They have killed billions of species across the galaxy. Void entire planets of life for no reason.”

He barked a command to leave in Orionak and all the guards in the hall began to leave alongside Ra and Horus. Osiris continued,

“We spent centuries testing different methods of containing them and in turn the creation of this cell. We managed to capture and contain eleven of them, and we have yet to discover a method of killing them.

We do believe however that you or the Ut’ari could be from the same realm and natural enemies of these beings. Your capabilities are very similar to theirs, but we believe you to be stronger.”

Part of me got angry at his words, and he could sense it.

“So that’s what this is really about! I’m just a weapon to fight something you cannot. You never wanted to study me which is why you haven’t since the day I got here,” I yelled at him forcing him to take a few steps backward in fear.

“You are unlike any Ut’ari we have made before. You can think and communicate. Part of you is still human. We downloaded the data into your mind; you know the truth of what I speak.”

Osiris adjusted his armor and straightened back up justified in his explanation. He took a few steps forward and leaned in to whisper to me.

“If you do not want to always be a threat and go back down to the surface, you must learn what you are. Take out your aggression on something deserving. Hone your skills and learn yourself Ut’ari.”

All I thought about was the girl down on the ground. Everything I did was in control; Ra was the one that took it over the edge. I sighed to myself and collapsed down my armor. I took off my belt and necklace, handed them to Osiris, and walked inside the doorway wearing just my own skin.

Osiris keyed the console and the series of barriers appeared again sealing the room. The constriction barrier dropped and I stepped into the darkness.

This prison cell was not nearly what I was expecting. The air was stale and damp as though you had just walked into a tomb that has had its occupants marinating inside for a thousand years. I calmed my mind and reached out with my senses. My vision was the first to acclimate to the room and I could see in the darkness as though it was daytime. The room was not a room, but more of a corridor leading to different hallways.

Inside, blood and a black slime coated the walls, floor and ceiling. Inhaling deeply taking in all the smells my head flooded with the scent of blood, human blood, mold, ash and death.

This place was indeed a tomb, yet I felt the most comfortable here than any other place I had been before. I slowly started to walk down the hallway letting the blood and grime squish under my feet.

The scent of the blood in the air became overwhelming and I felt the monster inside me rise to the surface. It was loose now and in control.

A predator unlike any the world has seen, and I was looking through its eyes. I felt myself and I felt him. Our minds battled for control of my body and slowly merged into one. The memories followed shortly after.

I knew everything now and it terrified me to where this creature had been and what it had done throughout its existence.

Thoughts blurred and the anger I felt before replaced with desire and need. I wanted to hunt. I wanted to kill. The Ut’ari was expertly tactical and clever in its ideas, concepts, and methods of attack.

A million years of predatory warfare all rolled into a single mind. Then the girl entered my mind and the predator took control.

My skin hardened and I felt my heartbeat stop. My fingernails extended into perfect razor-sharp talons. Searing pain shot through my mouth and jaw as my incisors extended becoming more pronounced.

I could feel all the muscles in my body swell up and tear to their new size as if years of heavy weight lifting applied itself in a few seconds. It hurt badly. I wanted to scream from the pain, but the monster kept my emotions at bay.

Then just as fast as it came, all the pain and transformations just stopped. It was calm and silent except for the low hum of the ships engines slowly drifting us through space. I began to walk cautiously down the corridor listening and watching for movement.

I stopped at the t-shaped intersection at the end of the hallway and went into a crouch placing my hand on the ground trying to feel vibrations. I closed my eyes and concentrated listening for sound. I heard a gasp of air coming from the right-most hallway in a deafening whisper as if a canon blasted off next to my ear.

My head snapped toward the noise and a loud husky bark burst from my mouth and went echoing down the corridors. Another gasp and footsteps running away followed.

I scurried down the hallway coming to a left turn and tucked in against the wall peering slowly around the corner to another empty corridor.

Something had been there watching me as it left footprints behind in the muck on the floor. I stood up confused recognizing the footprints as human. I walked into the hallway examining the floor discovering that there were several footprints, all looking human.

I inhaled deeply trying to decipher the scent among the pungent aroma of the decay in the air to little success.

Out of the corner of my eye, down the hallway I caught a shadow darting across at the next junction. The lust for the hunt quickly overpowered the confusion and I ran off after it around the junction corner. I came to a sliding stop just inside the doorway of a smaller room.

Confusion quickly flooded back into my mind as I stared down at a small girl curled up cowering in the corner of the room with her head buried in her knees pulled up to her chest. She let out a delicate whimper realizing I was in front of her.

She grasped at her legs pulling herself into a tighter ball as she looked up at me. Her eyes were red and swollen as tears streamed down her face as she took another gasp for air in between her rounds of sobbing. For the most part, she was naked other than a torn and mutilated shirt that loosely clung to one of her shoulders.

Blood and filth covered most of her skin and shirt from a combination of the grime of this tomb and several gashes and cuts she had along her face, sides, and legs.

Despite the Ut’ari’s lust to devour her where she sits, I managed to remain calm. The darkness inside me was screaming and clawing to get out, but all I could think of was why this girl is here. Was this a trick? Is this the most dangerous being the Orionak know of? A sixteen-year-old girl? The Ut’ari calmed momentarily as my thoughts shared with his. This close to her I could smell her blood easily over the cells odor.

She was most definitely human. Again why? I took a few steps back giving ample space between us just in case it was a trick. Several minutes passed without any change to the scene. She sat crying in a little ball against the wall and cowered away anytime I approached her.

At this point, the Ut’ari was almost nonexistent as it was considering all the possibilities as to what this could be. Maybe this girl is just food, and she is the last piece that whatever is in here must eat, so it is saving her. That aroused both our interests and we decided to go explore the other side of this prison.

I darted out of the room quickly and stopped at the intersection again facing down the other corridor. Slowly heading down toward the next corner, the air turned very cold. At the corner, a faint mocking giggle came from right at the edge of the turn. I sensed nothing and heard nothing; the air was still and lifeless.

I crouched down slightly with my hands ready for combat and darted around the corner bounding from the wall in to the air and slashing the corner, but there was just cold air and the bulkhead which now had five long slashes in it from my claws.

The giggle again quietly echoed off the walls from down the new hallway. I quickly moved down the hall and flattened against the wall at the corner.

I thought that if this one mirrored the other side as it appeared to have so far, there should be a little room around the corner trapping it in to a dead end. I held my breath and darted into the room.

I came to a slow sliding stop against the other wall. In the center of the room were dozens of dismembered bodies and limbs splayed out in a pile just higher than my own head. I was shocked.

What in the hell happened in here and where is this creature? Just as confused as I was, the Ut’ari was pondering the scenarios of what could have occurred.

Blood and filth covered the room far more than the rest of the cell however, unlike the rest of the cell there was no footprints on the floor save for one that I would match to the size of a child, and the ones I just made. I crouched down looking at the footprints that seemed to make a ring around the pile of bodies.

The footprints never left the room I thought to myself repeatedly. Just then, the air in the room started to drop and I could see steam beginning to rise off the pile of corpses and my own skin. A high pitch scream of a young girl shattered the silence echoing off the walls.

The hair on my neck stood up, the blood rushed through me forcing me into rage, and I bolted out of the room and down the hallway leaving an outline of steam in my wake. In the split second, it took me to get around the corner, the scream muffled down to a gurgling gasping sound as if she was drowning.

As I rounded the last corner, everything went into slow motion again. I could see a horrific looking creature standing in the room holding up the girl by the throat with one hand and rearing back to swipe at her with the other. Whatever that was it truly was something incomprehensible.

The creature stood well over nine feet tall and had short spines sticking out of its arms and chest. It was mostly humanoid with massive over muscled legs, and an elongated head with two finlike protrusions that made up either side of its scalp.

On its back was what I could only describe as wings, which loosely wrapped around it like a cloak with more spikes running down its spine leading into a stubbed tail.

At the end of each finger was a well-defined talon not unlike my own. Its skin was as black as space with very subtle flecks of red within it. Thick black smoke was dripping down off from its body and pooling on the floor like fog on to a pool of blood was now forming underneath the girl from a gaping wound going across her stomach.

The fresh blood dripping out from her was so intoxicating that I completely forgot about the creature for a brief second. My mind flooded with aggression and lust for her blood. Something else happened at that time that stopped me in my tracks. The Ut’ari for a split second lost control of itself and dropped its guard.

All its knowledge, memories, and emotions exploded inside me and mixed with my own. The creature must have sensed something as it turned to face me while still holding the girl up by the throat. A fury and anger backed by a newly felt strength peaked inside me with the fusion of the Ut’ari.

I moved a few feet in front of the creature poised to attack and unleashed a deafening roar that vibrated the walls around us. The creature in the blink of an eye thrust his claws into the girls’ chest and then tossed her aside sending her tumbling into a bloody heap on the floor.

I spun around quickly kicking my foot into the creature’s chest creating a small shockwave from the impact and sending it slamming into the wall.

It quickly recovered from the blow and lunged at me with teeth and claws snapping and flailing wildly. I would be lying if I said that it did not take some effort to dodge and block its assault, but I managed to counter its swings and lunges with some of my own.

I punched it hard in the chest again sending it sliding backwards. It reared back and lunged repeatedly slashing at my body and trying to bite me with its formidable jaws.

Every time it failed, being counter hit harder and harder. We exchanged this dance of combat for several minutes until something within me began to wane. I could feel myself getting weaker physically.

With it, the creature began to get the upper hand making devastating gouges and swipes at my limbs covering the room with even more blood. I was losing, and for the first time as my new self, I was afraid and doubted whether this was something I am supposed to be doing. Why did I let this happen? Playing host to a demented creature bent on destruction.

The creature took advantage of my hesitation and returned the favor I gave it at the start of our encounter kicking me backward slamming into the bulkhead next to the girl. Shattered bones filled my chest, and I collapsed on to the floor clutching at my ribs.

The girl was still alive, barely. She was slowly gasping for air and whimpering ever so softly no doubt from the pain. I felt the human aspect of me rise to the surface, and felt sadness, guilt, and a compassion for this girl. I could smell the fresh blood from her wounds seeping out of her and it sent me into a rage, but not like before. It gave me hatred and anger toward this creature.

I could feel the bones in my chest heal back together and I staggered getting back to my feet. With an arrogant confidence, the creature made its way over to me laughing quietly to itself. The Ut’ari in me pushed back the human side and I changed.

My skin hardened and darkened to a gray tint. I felt my facial features change and my teeth altered into longer fangs. Like air blown into a balloon, I could feel the power inside me start to compound and swell. The creature licked the blood from its fingers and lunged at me.

In one swift action, I darted past the creature stopping at the wall on the other side with blood dripping from my hand. The creature straightened up and slowly turned around. It staggered before dropping to its knees.

The impact of it falling released the nature of my attack and the sliver of skin holding its head in place finally broke sending it tumbling onto the floor, followed by its body.

I gathered myself and rushed back over to the girl picking her up in my arms. She forced her eyes open and stared up at me. A wave of horror crashed over her face as she looked up at me to the monster staring back at her. I took a deep breath, concentrating on pushing back the horror within me and I could tell it worked as she forced a smile raising her hand up to my cheek.

Her skin was warm and I could feel her heartbeat through her fingertips slowing as her heart struggled to keep her alive. Her body was trembling and I could sense the fear and pain she was experiencing. She did not deserve this. A lamb for the slaughter in this nightmare of monsters.

How could the Orionak do this to innocent people for some test of my ability to fight? It is evil versus evil. I also could not help but make the revelation that I was controlling myself now. I felt no aggression or lust for blood, just anger and disappointment in my creators.

I stood up holding the girl tightly in my arms. She was colder now from all the blood loss and I knew that she only had a few minutes left. Things would be different now, because I am different now. Running and hiding from what I was, I knew was not going to be possible, but I did not have to be a weapon, and I was not going to be.

The girl whimpered again cringing at her pain. I looked down at her and she just stared back up at me ready to give up and broken.

“Don’t leave me,” she whispered trying to cling onto my neck.

We moved over and sat down leaning against the wall.

“What’s your name?” I asked her, brushing the hair from over her face.

Fighting to stay conscious, she slowly licked her lips and mumbled,

“Mara.”

Her heartbeat was much weaker now and I could feel her body start to relax and go limp as her eyes closed. I shook her gently and she forced her eyes back open.

“Hi Mara, I’m Talrin. I promise that I will make the people responsible for this pay gravely. You are such a brave young woman Mara. I know that you don’t know me but I hope we can meet again on the other side, I would like that very much.”

She forced one side of her mouth up to a smile and took one last breath. As her heartbeat thumped one last time, my mind flashed back to the night in the temple when the Ut’ari first infected me. Infection, I kept saying repeatedly in my mind thinking about everything Osiris had said.

With a quick jerk, I pulled her up and sank my teeth into her neck. A euphoria that is beyond imagination engulfed my body as her pure clean blood flowed across my tongue. The control I had was slowly slipping away as I continued to drink her.

Harder and faster, the blood came until it was gone just like that. Her body was now lifeless and pale. Slowly I lowered her to the ground shifting to my knees and hovered over top of her panting and dripping her own blood down upon her from my lips. An eerie stillness fell over the room like a veil.

The sound of the blood dripping echoed off the walls and was almost deafening. As the euphoria subsided, my emotions surged back into my thoughts. I tilted my head back and unleashed a furious roar then collapsed down on my elbows in shame.

Maybe I was wrong about being able to infect the girl. I looked over to her cold shell of her body and her eyes were staring at me. She looked like a doll, just frozen in time. I shook my head in disappointment and got to my feet wiping away the blood dripping down my chin.

I picked up her corpse and slowly made my way back toward the entrance. The glow of the force field was now illuminating the hallways indicating that the door was open and waiting. Making the turn around the last corner, the entrance to the prison cell was open and Osiris was waiting just outside with Isis.

Isis immediately took a few steps backward and turned to someone just out of my view. She then suddenly moved out of the entryway. Osiris stared at me puzzlingly as if I was not supposed to have come back like this.

A few moments later defeat fell over his expression when he noticed I was carrying her in my arms. I ran a stream of insults and profanities through my mind knowing he was reading my memories, but he never flinched. Could he not read my mind now?

I tested the theory on something I know would make him respond and thought about Isis, but again he never changed his pose. Merging with the Ut’ari must have altered more of me than I had realized. Osiris gasped and quickly moved backward.

A sharp pain rippled across my back like a hot poker stabbing into me. The pain pulsed repeatedly moving around my back. Mara moved in my arms and I looked down to see blood red eyes staring up at me.

She growled and flung herself out of my arms and darted back down the hallway toward the room. I could feel the pain on my back now as claw marks. My skin healed back over quickly as I turned to chase after her. Osiris was barking orders rapidly to the guards outside and then the entrance way closed again.

I cautiously made my way down the hallway not really convinced what has truly happened. I was more surprised that it worked and resurrected her. On the other hand, whatever she was, she can cause me damage, which makes her incredibly strong.

Peaking around the last corner, Mara was standing in the middle of the room with her hands held out, and she was inspecting herself, running her fingertips along her skin. She tore the tattered shirt off and examined where her largest wounds were.

They had all healed and her skin was returning to the normal tan color that I was expecting her to have. Her hair was now a shiny silver color that looked full and perfectly in place. Her body had aged several years to adulthood and her figure was now near perfection, that of a blooming young woman.

She also now had a new scent lingering off her that was sweet and crisp to my senses, like the flavor of sugar but in a smell. I made a quite low growl and she countered with one of her own.

I slowly walked up behind her and she turned her head to the side slightly and inhaled deeply.

“I can smell you and feel you walking,” she said slowly turning around.

“Yes, everything about you is different and better now. It was the only way to save your life,” I replied stopping just in front of her.

She looked down at herself and ran her hands up and down her new figure. She smirked moving her hands up to my chest feeling around my skin. I could not help but become partially aroused by her actions and it showed. She got aggressive and extended her claws slowly cutting my skin and watching it heal.

Each time the blood ran down the cuts, her lips would curl back slightly exposing her new fangs followed by her playfully biting at her bottom lip as they healed back. It was somewhat adorable in a monstrous sense. Her teeth were not like mine and curved into a point but were instead straight, like cats, and had a shorter set of them next to them. They were fitting in theme of her size and gender.

Very slowly and cautiously, I raised my hand to her chest, her eyes following my hand intently and with a single finger made a small cut down between her breasts. She did not flinch or move at all. A few moments later, the cut healed over. I wiped up the blood on my finger and slowly put it in my mouth.

She licked her lips and made a quiet whimper. Her blood although still tasting good, was not nearly what it was when she was still human. It had a distinct sour taste now instead of the sweet taste it had before, and my mind knew whose blood it was and flashed some of her memories in my mind.

“I want some,” she declared slashing at my chest then immediately latching onto the cut with her teeth.

The pain was intense and concentrated with a burning feeling that seeped into the area around my skin. I could feel the pain traveling through my body. It had to be the venom or infection from her bite, except it would not have any effect on me. I could feel the blood flowing out of me, and the longer she drank the stronger her grip on me got.

Her bite felt good, more than good, it was erotic and pleasuring in a way I had never felt before. I stood there speechless allowing her to continue. A few moments later, the wound closed and she let go panting heavily with the blood dripping down her chin.

She wiped and scraped the blood up with her fingers licking and sucking them clean.

“Well what do you think?” I asked her, wiping away the last bit of blood from her lips.

“It’s different. Everything is more alive and moving. I feel strong and nothing is confusing anymore. My thoughts are more organized and direct. It’s amazing,”

She looked around the room again taking everything in.

“I can hear something like a low humming noise but I don’t know what it is, and the blood and death, I can smell the different bloods. There is so much more now.”

I took a few steps backward and crouched down watching her study everything with intrigue. She walked around the room touching and smelling everything.

Part of me in a way felt sadness for what had to happen to her, but the other half was excited and proud that I could save her life and give her something new and better that she was clearly enjoying. Granted I cursed her with what she was now, which honestly, I was not even sure I knew what that was. We were similar, but in some ways also different.

I was a host to another creature that fused inside me, and she had become infected with what I had become, just like the Orionak database had described.

In addition, there was something about her that gave me a feeling of ownership and responsibility, much like I would assume a parent feels to a child, except she was not a child anymore, far from it in fact from my point of view. I was her maker, and she was my progeny.

I thought back to what I had learned from sharing thoughts with the Ut’ari and the only way it made sense, was that the Ut’ari command structure is a chemical bonding of leaders to subordinates.

By me infecting Mara, I had in turn passed on the same type of command structure in which gave me the sense of ownership, which should also mean that she would follow me and only me.

“When you were drinking my blood did you see any of my thoughts or memories?” I asked standing up.

Mara was knelt next to the body of the other creature and was poking and clawing at it ripping it into small pieces. She paused and looked up at me deep in thought.

“I think so, maybe. I saw the other gods and one of the temples from back home, but I can’t remember what it looked like now.”

She returned to disassembling the creature before continuing to walk around the room. She started to write our names on the wall in the blood alongside the tribal symbol from our town.

I admit she was somewhat quirky now as if her body had grown up, but her mind had gone backward a few years. It was kind of cute and disturbing at the same time knowing that she was capable of indescribable violence and destruction. As she walked past me, I grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to face me,

“Aren’t you at all concerned or upset or anything about what’s happened to you?”

She looked up at me with the most innocent expression and simply replied with,

“No, I understand.” her response to me was more unsettling than the overall series of events we just went though.

How could she be so calm? My first moments were horrific, and I almost killed a god.

I grabbed her by the hand and pulled her along behind me toward the entrance of the cell. The door was open and the barriers were down, but there was no one waiting for us. Cautiously I approached the door listening for whom and how many were waiting for us outside.

The easy answer was all of them. Osiris, Ra, and Anubis were just outside the doorway, and the rest of the prison ward filled with about seven hundred guards all trained on the doorway with their weapons.

Mara could sense the impending danger as well and tucked in behind me pressing her body up against me and wrapping her arms around my stomach. I placed my hand over top of hers reassuringly and took a step out into the room facing Osiris.

Ra and Anubis glanced over at him and he simply shook his head back and forth and replied with,

“Nothing.”

I moved into a better position placing the wall at my back shielding her from them as best as I could.

“Everything is ok, I swear to you she is not a threat nor am I,” I said raising my hands up slowly.

Anubis tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword making his armor crackle under the pressure, before taking a few steps toward me.

“What is that, and by that, what are you? You’re not the same, and that thing is alien to us.”

He drew his sword and held it defensively out in front of him.

“Something happened to me when I came into contact with that creature you sent me to fight. The Ut’ari evolved, ascended, or did something and its entire consciousness became mine. We are no longer separate beings. It is part of me. I am in complete control of everything now.”

Osiris looked at me hesitantly then focused on the girl.

“Your thoughts might be shielded from me now, but hers are not,” he said moving in closer to my side mirrored by Ra on my flank.

“Then read her thoughts. I saved her from dying from what YOU taught me. That creature killed everyone in that room that I am assuming you put there to die.

Her family, slaughtered for your little experiment, and this girl survived until the last minute against the most dangerous creature you know of. A frail weak little girl stood up to what you’re so afraid of.”

I noticed there by the end I was yelling quite loudly and had shifted my appearance into the new face of myself. Mara was not clinging on so tightly anymore and was peeking out from behind me at Osiris and emitting what I can only describe as a purring noise like a cat. I shifted myself back down to normal appearance and relaxed.

“I trusted you, please trust me.”

Osiris turned to Anubis and gave him a nod.

The gesture infuriated Anubis who hissed loudly sheathing his sword as violently as he could, turning to face all the guards and shouted at them to stand down and return to their posts. Mara let out a little giggle followed by Osiris. Again, she shocked me. Seeing Osiris laugh caught me off guard. I did not even know they could laugh or understand humor, let alone given the current atmosphere. Anubis was even less amused than he was before and spun himself around in anger.

“She was just thinking how much of a child you were acting like, throwing a temper tantrum. You reminded her of her little brother when he did not get a treat from his mother,” Osiris said placing his hand on Anubis’s shoulder.

Even Ra at that point let out a smirk. Anubis spun himself around then disappeared in a flash of light. Osiris began to speak,

“Very well Ut’ari,” I cut him off before he could finish,

“Talrin, my name is Talrin. And this is Mara.”

I looked down at her still hiding behind me. She let go of me for a moment to wave her hand at Osiris who inhaled heavily and appeared to relax, collapsing down his armor to more normal wardrobe.

“We would like to run some tests on the girl as she is the first of her kind. The same for you Talrin, we have never known anyone to merge or combine with the Ut’ari before.” Osiris said handing me two sets of belts and necklaces.

I handed one down to Mara who clearly understood what they were and quickly put them on engulfing herself in an exotic golden-laced ceremonial robe that only the Pharaohs wives would wear, accented with a golden tiara adorned with the head of a jackal.

She came out of hiding and joined me at my side still holding on to me with an arm. I followed suit and put on my armor to the black armor I used down on the surface. Ra walked over to the cell entrance and looked inside for a few seconds before closing the door. He pulled a small device out from the wall, handed it to Osiris before giving a small formal bow to Osiris and myself and made his way out of the prison ward.

Osiris motioned for me to walk with him and we began to head toward the exit on the other side of the room. Halfway to the exit I stopped him grabbing his arm.

“No tests. We will tell you anything you want to know, but no tests.”

He struggled with that declaration for a moment but agreed and we continued. I noticed then that Mara was no longer at my side. A small burst of panic fell over me as I looked around for her. She was about fifty paces behind us staring up at the top of the control pillar in the middle of the room.

I jogged over to her side and grabbed her hand. She pointed up to the pillar and my eyes followed. It was just the pillar with the shield up in front of it effectively becoming just that, a pillar. The top was flat and it was a greyish blue color, but otherwise it was just a pillar.

“Incredible,” Osiris exclaimed, crossing his arms looking up to the pillar.

“Who is she?” Mara asked tilting her head to the side slightly still pointing to the top of the pillar.

I stared at the pillar like an idiot trying to figure out what I was missing.

“She smells good, can I eat her?”

I almost fell stunned from her words and focused on my own senses that I had been ignoring. Her scent hit me. It was Isis.

A female devilish laughter echoed through the room and in a swirling vortex of blue mist, Isis materialized standing on top of the pillar. She took a step off the pillar and gracefully floated down to the ground in front of Mara. Mara sniffed her and then turned to me and asked me again if she could have her.

I stuttered still in shock looking down at her angelic face filled with vicious bloodthirsty red eyes and teeth that would scare the fiercest predators. She grinned biting her bottom lip and began to beg me,

“Please, please, please can I have her? She smells so delicious and I’m starving. Oh please, oh please.”

What did I create? She was a child clearly, but also so grown up at the same time. It was all so confusing and unsettling to say the least.

“Well no you can’t eat her she’s one of the gods.” Isis slowly approached her studying her intently and circling to her side.

Mara kept her gaze locked on her mimicking her movements keeping Isis just out of reach. Every gesture Isis made, Mara replicated exactly.

Osiris joined me at my side and watched the two in what was now shaping into being a choreographed dance. He looked amused with a half-smile on his face crossing his arms behind him. Isis sped up the movement until it became a full on literal dance. Osiris took a step closer to me and began whispering,

“That’s what we call the Dance of Pleion. It is a ceremonial dance normally carried out by the younger females of our species of royal ancestry that are seeking acquisition of status, such as moving from maiden to princess or princess to queen.

Normally it is a performance executed in front of the Council of Matriarchs when she is about nine of your years old. After which if the council accepts her, they take her to one of the moon pools underneath our capital and sacrificed then reborn into her new position. This rebirth is where our primary form that you know of, as well as our abilities evolves.

The Orionak exist in multiple stages, this one being our main and longest-lived stage. Before this, we are a much different being. Shorter and thinner in stature with a pale grey skin and enlarged eyes suited more for a subterranean environment.”

We continued to watch the two locked in their dance, which became more elaborate and exotic.

“What comes for you after this stage?” I asked Osiris relaxing my posture.

“The actual process is unknown to us. One moment we are there, and then the next we simply phase out of this reality. We have never been able to track or communicate with those who phase out. The most accepted theory is that we shed physical form and exist as energy or some other type of particle.”

About the same time, Osiris finished his reply; Mara stumbled and got out of rhythm with Isis. She stopped moving, staggered as if she was dizzy then collapsed. I darted over to her side catching her before she hit the ground. Her skin was clammy and much paler than it was previously.

“She’s craving blood,” Osiris said sending a surreptitious glance at Isis taking up a position next to her grasping her arm,

“We have no idea what this creature is capable of. Making it stronger might not be a good idea.”

Isis keyed a button on her wrist, and the ship began to change course.

“She is not our responsibility. She is his, and he alone will bear the burden of her actions,” she delicately spoke looking down at her arm.

Osiris let go of her arm taking a step backward formally posing and nodding in acknowledgment to her. He turned shifting up his armor to its full appearance and headed for the exit.

I extended one of my nails and made a cut down my finger. As the blood began to run down my finger, I held it just above her lips and let it drop down on her. I expected her to latch on and start to drink as before, but she was not responding.

“I’m taking her down to the surface. I think she needs blood of her own origin unless you want me to pick one from part of your crew?”

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