Teelikah Manor
Tantun [town], Haba [planet], Mip-22a [star system]
13 September; 20:10:44 Hours
Chirp. Chirp. Chirp, chirp, chirp echoed outside of a gigantic manor that sat at the center of one of the largest bictu farms on the planet. High brown stalks swayed back and forth in the cool night breeze as the small moon sat low to the horizon. A large, black feathered three-eyed owl was perched at the top of a massive tree to the left of the manor, and it let out a thunderous hoot that rattled the silence within the home.
A woman shot up in bed, eyes wide open as she let out a loud gasp. “<No!>”
She then quickly jumped out of bed, hurried out into the hall, and ran to the bedroom at the end where she frantically knocked on the door—bang, bang, bang. The young woman glanced over her shoulder every other knock before the door finally opened. She looked up to the man who opened the door, with his wife standing just beside him, and he asked, “<What is it, Kama? Are the children okay?>”
“<Yes, the, the children are fine, BUT they must move now!>”
The man’s eyes narrowed. “<They?>”
“<They’re in danger already?>” The man’s wife stepped forward, her eyes now growing larger by the second as she asked, “<Are you sure, Kama?>”
“<Yes, I am certain! I swear my life! And I know, I know I should not know they’re here but her boy is a curious one and, and, and forgive me!>”
“<Kama, if you are certain that they are in danger, we must move them,>” he said before turning back into his bedroom.
“<Ouden, where are you going?>” his wife yelped. “<We must move them, now!>”
“<I am aware, Vymah, I am but if He found them, then I will need to be armed to ensure they get to safety.>”
“<No, do not say that! You cannot risk your life!>”
“<Vymah… get the children, you and Kama must take them to the Gahbakut and alert them of His arrival.>”
Vymah began crying as she grabbed him by the wrist and pleaded, “<Please! Please don’t sacrifice yourself! Our children need their father! They need you! I need you—”
Ouden yanked his arm away from his wife and he then reached into the cabinet next to their bed, removing a modified TAK8 rifle from it as he scowled. Vymah remained beside him as she continued to cry, but as neither would budge, Kama came over and wrapped her arm around Vymah’s shoulders before guiding her off down the hall. Ouden’s expression began to change as his wife disappeared down the hall, his brow eased from its rigidness into the soft peaks as his eyes teared.
***
In the corner of the little 10x10 room, her knees up to her chest as she sat on the floor, Vhael looked intensely at her arms and the tops of her hands as she watched the intensity of Shine flowing through her veins. Flashes of the blackout on Welom continued to hit her like a fighter who nailed one-two punch combos without any give. Her jaw chattered, a whiteish-blue glow formed at the corner of her eye before rolling down her cheek. However, she steadied her tremble with her attention gliding from herself to her son, Jaes as he was asleep in the little cot opposite of her.
“Vhael - Take the boy and run!” she heard roar through her mind, one of the last things her husband said to her as He marched on them, but now Vhael took in a deep breath as she tried to pull herself from the spiral she knew she was in.
Her attention, though, quickly shifted to the candle that was sitting on the little table beside her as it blew out. Vhael’s eyes narrowed before she shot up and turned to the hidden entrance of the room as the door cracked open. She clenched her fists, waiting to see who it was but then relaxed them as she saw Vymah. She cracked a small smile, only for it to be yanked away when the door opened all the way and Kama was beside her.
“<W-what is it?>” she stammered.
Vymah didn’t enter the room as she normally would, instead she stayed outside the threshold and motioned quickly with her hand for Vhael to get Jaes, “<Hurry - We have to get you off-world!>”
“<Why? What’s going on? Vymah? What’s wrong?>”
“<He is coming,>” Kama nearly whispered, causing Vhael’s eyes to grow threefold. “<Please, hurry!>”
In a blink, Vhael rushed over to Jaes and scooped him in her arms. The boy immediately started to wake up, looking up at his mother as she rushed back to the entrance. His eyes could barely stay open as he struggled to ask, “<M-mom? Where, where are we, where we going?>”
“<How?>” Vhael yelped as they rushed out of the mansion’s library and down the hall toward the rear. “<How did He find us? Nae—” but she choked up, flashes of her husband’s last stand on Welom hit her and she nearly fell as she carried Jaes but Kama was quick to grab her.
“<We don’t know, but we will get you and your son to safety!>” Kama assured her as Vymah opened the rear double doors.
Vymah motioned her hand out of the mansion to the two. “<Yes, we’re going to the Gahbakut - They will get you to oasis!>”
***
The dozens of candles within the library intensified as their flames grew larger but thinned to needle width before one by one they went out like sparks, fading to nothing. The temperature dropped as a black mist rolled in through the open doors. Clump. Clump. Clump echoed through the mansion as the footsteps neared the library. Breaking through the thick, misty darkness that filled the air and walking over the threshold was a tall and lengthy silhouette that was at first much darker than all around Him.
This being stood nearly 6’7” with Shade crawling around Him like armor that continued to morph and roll over itself. Two burning-white voids were His eyes that scanned the library like an eagle looking for its prey. He then took several calculated steps toward the bookcase that was the hidden door of the safer room, but stopped and let out a reverberating growl that felt as if it shook every book in the room.
“<You’re too late!>” Ouden yelled from the upper level of the library, as he aimed his TAK8 down at Him.
His head slowly began to turn, the Shade rolling around Him as His body did not move and Ouden’s face contorted with disbelief. Ouden watched His head turn one hundred and eighty just like an owl as He now looked up at him.
The TAK8 swayed slightly from side to side as Ouden’s eyes were locked with His. Ouden then let out a loud yell, steadied his aim, and squeezed the trigger with the TAK8 briefly humming before it released an unstable charge of distilled Shine from its chamber. Though the two top humps of the six upon His back, the Shade quickly pulled away from them and allowed two blackened feathered wings to sprawl free before they curled around Him and took the hit of the Shine charge. Ouden shook his head and squeezed the trigger again and again with two more charges lighting up the dark before hitting their target but He didn’t move an inch.
There was a high-pitched squeal that emanated from the rifle in the haunting silence, the wings slowly pulled free from around Him as He was still glaring up at Ouden. Ouden flinched at the sight as he then watched as the Shade continued to morph around Him and His body turned around before He jumped from the lower level up to the next floor of the library. Ouden jumped back, he jammed the charging handle back but it ceased from overheating due to the altered Shine ammunition.
Ouden quickly threw the TAK8 at the being, though its left wing crossed in front of Him and blocked it before swinging out and knocking Ouden clear across the level. He slammed into one of the dozen bookcases where he slumped to the ground, books falling atop of him. Clump, clump, clump echoed as the Being began walking toward Ouden and he slowly looked up to see the two wings dragging on the floor beside the Being. They were cutting through the wooden floor and then Ouden felt a sharp pain. He looked down to his chest where he found he had a massive gash.
“<W-what?>” he uttered as he placed his hand over it, feeling the warmth of his blood against his palm.
The Being was no more than ten feet away from Ouden when he shook his head in disgust at himself, and he reached into his pant pocket where he pulled a charge-grenade. “<To the fields of forever I will go,” he stood up as he pulled the pin and then yelled, “but to the sands of perpetuity for you!>”
Ouden threw the grenade up between them, a bright white light flashed as Shine pulsated out, which sent Ouden flying down to the level below and nearly incinerating the top level of the library. A high-pitched ringing seemed to engulf everything in the mansion as Ouden rolled over onto his back, half of his body burned, he was barely conscious as he could see the library around him burning and a gaping hole in his home. He felt a peace wash over him as he believed he had done what could not, only to faintly see within the flames the silhouette of two gigantic wings open out wide. Ouden cried, “<No! No, this, it, it cannot be!>”
The wings flapped several times, extinguishing the flames around the Being before two more wings slowly sprawled out from around Him that had shielded the Being from the blast. Clump. Clump. Clump again boomed and neared Ouden before he felt the armored fingers of the Being wrap around his throat. The Being yanked Ouden’s body up from the ground, holding him in the air while the burning white voids gazed into his eyes, and then a sharp pain shot through Ouden.
One of the left wings plunged through Ouden’s chest and he began coughing up blood. The Being’s wing then yanked free before he released Ouden’s throat, dropping him to the ground but He then turned his head around to the doorway where Daemus, Haertrus, and Gael were standing. The three stared at Him, and He at them as the Shade began to intensify.
Haertrus gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly while Gael’s left eye squinted with curiosity at what was before them. Daemus took a step forward, walking through the threshold where he cracked a grin before saying, “<You’re not Him…>” but before Daemus could take another step, the Being burst into two dozen pitch-black owls that flew away in every direction.