Terror Chronicles 1: Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I could only stand there as Jaco, now with eyes and hair of golden, ripped his crudely tied rope free and leapt up into the air, teeth locked in an angry snarl. Jaco spread his hands out, and I heard glass shattering to my sides.

Then, I felt a hand grab onto my shirt collar, then jerked me back violently as stream after stream of small yellow crystals crashed into where I stood before, embedding themselves deeply into the concrete floor, and stacking onto each other until they form one person sized crystal obelisk. My eyes widened at the impossible feat performed by Jaco, who had landed back on the floor. He spun around and back kicked a charging Daniel, sending him crashing into and through the metal door, and the thug jumped out after him, ignoring Rose.

I still could not move, eyes still on the crystal obelisk in front of me. The golden crystal dimly reflected my image back to me, slightly distorted and twisted.

How could it be?

Rose turned towards me while brandishing a blade at the same time. "Samantha, Rivin, get the hell out of here! We'll hold off the Aerilosac." Then, she darted towards the empty doorway and into the hallway where Daniel and Jaco went.

Aerilosac. The Orbsic controllers of the Losac army, much more powerful than the standard Losac soldiers that we were told of. Sure, I'd seen a single Raixien soldier fight four of them at the same time, but this one moved so incredibly quick in front of my eyes that it made me feel dumbfounded, shocked that I was just face to face with an Aerilosac. Just face to face with my death.

The Orbsic obelisk cracked, then shattered in a brilliant cascade of crystals, showering the floor with tiny fragments of the crystal. I flinched, but Samantha apparently did not give a single crap about this revelation, who punched my back in order to snap me out from my thoughts.

"Oh my god, can you not freeze every time you see something expected?" Samantha complained loudly, slowly heading towards the hallway, her twin pistols in hand. "He's an Aerilosac. We kill him."

"But aren't you the least surprised that they are here? That they recognize us as Raixien?"

"Big deal. Besides, the only reason the douche could have known was because you healed him with your Rengar." To that, I scowled angrily at her.

"So you're saying this is my fault?"

Samantha stopped midway, glaring back at me with a half turned head. "Maybe it is, stupid. Maybe your display of power told him, or he already knew from the start. We don't know, and honestly, I don't care right now. He's an Aerilosac, so we are not leaving our Corors behind. We have to help them, so stop thinking and keep it simple."

She's right. It doesn't matter right now. However the Aerilosac is here, it can be discussed about later. I have to help now.

I nodded. "Let's go." I said, also pulling out my Raixien pistol and headed towards the door.

"No, you two are not going anywhere." A young voice came from our backs, and a sharp pain immediately spiked on my back. I shouted out in surprise and stumbled forward, while Samantha snapped back around and fired a few shots at another person, all while I was lying on the floor still contorting in pain.

Take a deep breath, and don't panic.

I craned my head downwards to see an Orbsic crystal jutting out from my back, the surrounding area covered in bright red blood and bleeding profusely. More shots were fired from behind me, and I could hear things falling over and breaking behind me.

Gotta get up, or else Samantha will be fighting one on one with the other Aerilosac.

I grit my teeth together as hard as I could, then without giving it much thought, reached down and yanked the crystal obelisk from my flesh, making me scream and throw it across the room, where it clanked away harmlessly. There might be shards of the crystal still inside my body, but I've got no way to take those out for now.

My healing will have to do. I called on the familiar power once again, letting it fill my wound up and seal it shut, all the while a raging battle is right above me. It was then that I felt another surge of pain in my back, tearing away my focus of healing away in a wave of spikes. My wound opened up again, having not finished the healing process, and blood started to drip again.

There must be some shards left in my body, I thought. When my flesh knits back together, the shards are blocking the full healing, so it hurts as much as it did.

Damn it, I'm not taking those pieces out!

Samantha grunted, and I heard something crashing above me, and I braced myself as I felt something heavy and hard fell on my head. It was a very painful flinch from me, but I ignored the pain and shoved the object off my head and once again began the healing process. As my flesh began knitting back together like my first attempt, I prayed to Samantha that she was ok, and whoever was attacking us didn't suddenly come for me. Would be a pretty stupid way to go.

I somehow managed a quiet chuckle. It immediately turned into a teeth clenching snarl when I felt the Orbsic shards in my back press against my open flesh. It took all my might to not scream once again, which will alert the second Aerilosac to my undead presence, but this time, I kept pushing, closing in the wound on the shards.

A guttural sound emitted from my throat as my flesh screamed for a release, more and more blood flowing free from my wounds as my healing flesh squeezed the shards.

Harder.

My jaw clacked, a result from my teeth clenching, and I began to pant as my body threatened to give in on me, the pain very much unbearable.

Harder!

I shut my eyes as I forced my final burst of healing into my wounds, crushing the Orbsic crystals and forcefully healed my wounds. Then I heard it. The sharp click and a follow-up flinch from me indicating the shards were fully crushed. I let out a breathe of air I didn't realize I was holding, and completed the healing process with shuddered shoulders, the strain of healing putting a toll on my body physically.

I groaned, and pushed myself off the floor as I felt my wound fully healing up. My healing simply healed the injury, but the pain still lingers after the healing. As such, I often showed up to school hiding many bruises and aches under my clothing. All those times I got beaten up by Samantha did nothing to help me this time, as I still struggled to keep my balance and horizon stable.

A young boy around my age sat on the cool metal table where we interrogated Jaco before, watching me with surprised eyes as he took in my panting form. He had short golden hair and the same coloured eyes as I expect any Aerilosac would have, but instead of the typical aggressive look that I've seen from my dream, his was one of eager. Curiosity.

He spoke with a monotone voice. "Huh. My teacher told me that an obelisk into a healer wouldn't let them heal. My textbooks were wrong, then." He looked me up and down, and frowned when I didn't say anything in return, simply giving him a seething gaze.

"Where is Samantha?" I growled, and the boy sighed, pointing out a broken window to my right that I hadn't noticed before.

"She was annoying me, so I threw her out. I got distracted watching you somehow get back up, so I didn't chase after her." He said matter-of-factly, not taking his eyes off me for one second. I frowned, and I could hear quiet shuffling outside the window. Samantha must have lived. I confirmed it moments later when I heard her loud cursing downstairs. "I think she lived."

I eyed the boy's golden sword with suspicion. "Get out of my way, Aerilosac. I'm not going to let you and your people kill my friends."

The boy's curious eyes turned into those of a beast. "Then you have to get through me, because I will not let you kill my friends either."

I saw his grip tightening on his sword, but I didn't react, my brain still caught up in what he wanted to do. He said he wanted to protect his friends, who has to be around here somewhere. Maybe in this very warehouse right now, fighting Daniel and Rose.

Were they still alive? My stomach churned at the thought of my guardians, dead on the floor.

No. They're not dead. Daniel and Rose are strong enough to handle a few Aerilosac on their own. They're the strongest people I know. I have to believe in them.

"Your last chance. Get out of my way. I don't want to kill you if I have to. Just those that stand in my way." I growled, but I knew it was a half empty promise. I have never fought an Aerilosac before, and judging by how even Samantha, who was the superior fighter of the two, lost to this boy, my chances of succeeding is very low. I know that. The only thing I can do to boost my chance at success is by bluffing.

Though, what are the chances that an Aerilosac will leave us alone when I tell them to?

The boy blinked. Silence passed between us for a few seconds, before the boy tilted his head and dropped his sword onto the floor with a loud clang, the blade popping back into its golden handle.

"Ok." Then the boy shouted something out in a language I didn't recognize, and I took a step back, worried that he just attempted something. "We stop." He said firmly, then he swiped at his waist, and another handle dropped to the floor harmlessly. A holstered pistol.

This time, it was my turn to look surprised. My mouth was agape, and only one word came out of me.

"What?"

The four of us sat uncomfortably on metal chairs, facing three other Aerilosac that sat directly opposite from us inside another office. The door was closed, and the light illuminated their dazzling yellow eyes very well.

The Aerilosac on the left, who was disguised previously as 'Jaco', introduced himself as Leki, was scowling at us, still bleeding from multiple places and obviously still infuriated that he was interrogated slash shot by us. He had short golden hair just like the other boy, but his hair was slightly darker than the other two. He wore plain, normal clothes like we were, and if it weren't for their eyes, we could very well mistaken them for simply humans.

The young girl on the right, who introduced herself as Lyla, gave us warm smiles, and was the only one who looked completely relaxed in the face of people who wanted to kill them not an hour ago. Her long flowy hair also stood out within them, and she wore a rather happy face compared to our on-edge and annoyed faces.

The boy that I first talked with hadn't yet introduced himself, but he was the one that spoke first. "You must be very suspicious right now, and you have every right to be. I only hope that you would agree to have a momentary truce with everyone here, and listen to what we have to say. We would like to know your stories too." He spoke in a professional tone, sounding much more mature than what his age was supposed to sound like.

Then again, we aliens don't age the same way as humans do. I was told Raixiens can live up to a few hundred years, and Aerilosacs even longer. The boy could very well be decades old.

A Daniel with a swollen eye leaned forward. "Well, you haven't killed us yet, and though I feel an overwhelming urge to exterminate you bastards, we will abide by the truce." He said as calmly as he could, but his eyes were still narrowed. "For now."

The boy gave us a polite smile. "That is all I wish for. A truce until explanations are given to each other."

Samantha, who sat next to me, was tapping the chair in a rapid beat and itching to shoot the three Aerilosac in front of us. I looked at her and shook my head, while Daniel replied to the boy.

"Are you in charge here?" He queried, not getting into any explanations.

The boy nodded quickly. "Yes. I am the commanding officer of this base in New Orleans, one of the five Aerilosac bases here on Earth."

Daniel said nothing, not expecting this forthcoming from the boy without hesitation. He spoke slowly the next time. "Ok, and why are you here?"

This time, Leki held up a rough hand, stopping the boy from responding. "We shouldn't tell them anything more, commanding officer. We should be expecting explanations from them as well." He eyed Daniel and Rose with the same suspicion we had for them. "They are our enemies after all."

"No. These Raixiens are victims of our many wars. They're not our enemies, and they should earn our trust first." The boy replied curtly, before turning his face towards me. "They need to know our story first."

Leki sighed, before shaking his head in defeat. "Your call, commanding officer. Just saying."

"So," The boy settled his head atop his hands. "Let's start."