2199 Extinction

Not long after Alpha and son leave, I decide to investigate the room. I wonder what exactly is in here. I open cabinets, move stuff around on the shelves, and that’s when I find a small door in the wall. It’s not that big, just the size of a very small window. Not sure if you could even call it a door. It looks more like someone took a blade and cut a square chunk of wall out and put it back. It might not be anything at all. I would just ignore it; except for the fact that it’s hidden behind varying sized jars and boxes.

I slide my fingers along the crack until I am able to pull a chunk of wall out. Inside lays a single, small, brown book. What the heck is this and why was it hidden? I lay the piece of wall down and reach for the book. On the cover is a large letter K with vines wrapped around it, with a small sun just above it. I run my hand across the cover and spot a small letter M with some sort of creature, above it. M? Could it be? Nah. No way.

I open it up and see that it’s someone’s journal. It describes various experiments as well as drawings of what I’m assuming are the experiments. Now the only question is who does it belong to? I skim through several pages before I ever come across a name. I, Malum, am no servant. This is Malum’s journal?! That explains why it was hidden.

I hear the sound of approaching footsteps. Malum. Am I ready to face him? I place the journal down, turn around, and I take a fighting stance I learned in the Copaie military, drawing my blade. I don’t know how this will turn out; I’m just hoping that I survive this encounter. Maybe out in the open isn’t such a good idea. I quickly and quietly rush towards the door, stopping behind it. At least I’ll have the element of surprise. Maybe I’ll be able to work it to my advantage.

I hold my raptor up in the defensive position and listen as the footsteps stop in the doorway. Just a few more steps. If you will just walk in, I can end it now. I hear Malum step into the room and stop. Guess he’s taking in the scene. Maybe wondering how the little Katara escaped. I rush out from behind the door, blade held high, and bring it down. I hear the klink of metal on metal and it’s a good thing I missed. Because it isn’t Malum on the other end of my blade, it’s Amancia.

“Vos! What are you doing?” she shouts.

“Sorry.” I say, lowering my blade.

“Guess I’m a little tense.”

“I’d say. You almost killed me! Lucky for you I was prepared for a fight.” She says, lowering her own blade.

“You would be a little tense too if you were almost eaten by the local wildlife.”

“You left me sleeping under that tree.” She says accusingly.

“I’m sorry. I really didn’t intend on leaving you. It just happened that way.”

“What do you mean, ‘it just happened that way’?”

“I mean, I woke up because I heard something, and I heard my mother chatting, so I looked to see what was happening and she was wandering off by herself. And then….”

“What do you mean woke up?” Amancia asks, cutting me off.

I run my hand through my hair, trying to think of a good excuse, before answering, “I fell asleep. Okay? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. But I did.”

She narrows her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest but doesn’t say anything.

“Anyways, I decided to follow her because all of the Talfarians were sound asleep. She was meeting with Malum. They discussed some creatures called Katara and then he kissed her.”

“And?”

“He. Kissed. Her.” I say, putting emphasis on each word. “I got so mad, I just couldn’t let him worm his way into her life, again. So, I traveled back and stopped him from doing that. Then I saw Malum meeting with the Katara leader, telling him to kill everyone. And then the Katara caught me, and I made a deal with their leader to free his son and kill Malum.”

“In exchange for?”

“In exchange for both of our lives. I rescued his son, and now I just have the killing part left.”

“Hm.” She says, uncrossing her arms. “Are you really prepared to kill someone? Because it’s not an easy task. Killing someone, even someone you hate, kills a piece of you as well. It changes you. That person will never leave you. You will think of them constantly and at the most inopportune times.”

“You sound like you’re talking from experience. But how could you be? You don’t have any black stripes.” I say.

In response she lifts up the bottom of her shirt to reveal her stomach and one single black tattooed stripe. “Your very existence was threatened. Another female was angry that your father loved me and not her. She tried to make me miscarry. In my anger, I killed her. After you were born, I gave myself the customary stripe.”

“But why hide it?” I ask.

“Copaie females rarely have a chance to get out and fight. You should know that. That’s why most don’t have stripes. And everyone knows I didn’t stay with the military, so questions would have been asked. You know the law, and punishment, for killing one of our own kind.

Being the General’s daughter would not guarantee my life. My own father turned over one of my brothers for breaking that law. I used to have twenty-five brothers, but not anymore; now I only have twenty-four.” She says sadly.

“Well, your secret is safe with me.” I’m quiet a moment while I think. I’m definitely not ready to kill anyone but if I don’t Alpha might eat me. Might eat us both. I really don’t know how I’ll find Malum or my mother. This is my last chance to put a stop to their getting together. I remember my mother telling me, one time, that her and Malum marry the moment they make it to Talfar.

“Amancia?”

“Yes?”

“How did you get here? How did you find me?”

“After waking up under the tree, alone, I decided to follow the Talfarians. You kept talking about saving one of them, so I figured if I followed them, I would eventually find you, again. And I was right. As for finding you in this particular building, I just decided to search every building for any sign of you. I saw a strange creature leaving this building and decided to check out this building.”

“Does that mean my mother and Malum are heading this way?”

“I don’t know where Malum is, but I do know that your mother and her entourage are on their way here. I saw her not too far away petting one of those Loftin things.”

“They are heading here?”

“Looked like it to me.” She says, shrugging her shoulders.

“That means Malum will be here, as well. We need to hide and make a quick plan. But first, lets shut and lock this door back.” I say, following Amancia out of the room.

“Why?” she asks, just outside the door.

“Hopefully Malum won’t check it. Won’t know anything is amiss. I don’t need him paranoid, he’s unpredictable enough, as it is. Wait. Hold on.” I run back in the room, grab the journal, and jog back out. “Don’t want to forget this.”

“What is that?”

“Malum’s journal. Apparently, he worked with the scientists that caused all of this.” I hold my hands out. “And it will hopefully shed some doubt about him, in my mother’s eyes.” I check the handle on the other side of the door, no lock. Maybe that means it will lock automatically when I close the door. I close the door behind me, as I walk out, then turn around and rattle the handle. Good. It’s locked.

“Okay. Whatever.”

“Let’s go to the roof, and chat before we get caught,” I say. We walk back to the entrance and towards the stairs that I saw earlier. I am at the bottom of the stairs when I notice off to the right, a long table with a few scattered papers, and some pens on it. Amancia stops at the table and picks up a square bag and slings it over her left shoulder.

“What’s that?” I ask.

“Medical kit. You never know, right?” she asks, before climbing the stairs.

Inspiration strikes me and I grab a pen and write on the inside cover of the book.

To whom it may concern:

I’m not sure who is going to pick this up and read it, but I really hope it is you, Princess Nova. I shouldn’t be telling you this, since our people don’t even like each other. But I just had a baby and I’m feeling a little overjoyed. Having a baby is such a wonderful thing, it really changes how you see the world, the universe, and everyone in it. Having this baby has lit a fire in my heart, a fire to see our peoples reunited under one planet and one leadership.

It was that way before and I hope it can be that way, again. But that’s beside the point. Princess, please know that Malum is not your friend. He has hired the Copaie general, Soltig, to hunt you down. He hopes to use fear to divide you from the Talfarian named Henric. Do not fall for his tricks. He aims to steal your throne, have a child or two with you, and then kill you.

You must be asking yourself why you should believe me. I know it’s a lot to ask, for you to just blindly trust me. But I want you to know that I do hope that one day our people can be reunited, but I do not believe that will happen under the rule of Malum. Hate and fear are his weapons. Please take care, so that we may, one day, meet and reunite our people.

Signed,

Amancia Princess of the Copaie

​There we go, maybe this will help her to believe how dangerous Malum really is. I leave the book and walk up the stairs to join Amancia. I am just starting to shut the door, behind myself, when I hear the front door open. I leave the door cracked and stare through the crack. The sound of four individual voices floats up to me on the rooftop. I can’t tell what they are talking about, but they sound like they are arguing about something.

I hear a familiar growling sound followed by a high-pitched chattering noise. What the heck is going on down there? I hear the voices moving closer to the stairs so I back away from the door and into someone. I spin around to find it’s only Amancia.

“You scared me to death. Why didn’t you say something? Let me know you were there?” I whisper.

“Sorry, I didn’t expect you to be sneaking around. I thought we were both coming up here. I got distracted, looking around and didn’t notice you missing, at first. And then I was just curious what you were doing.” She says, following my lead and also whispering.

​“I was leaving that journal for my mother to find and writing her a quick note.” ​

“Why? She doesn’t know who you are, yet.”

​“No, but I needed to warn her about Malum. Don’t worry, I didn’t use my name. I used your name.”

“Why would you do something as crazy as that?”

​“Call me sentimental, but it would be nice if we were able to unite our people’s together. You know, live on the same planets. Not fight each other.”

​“Sounds nice, but you do know that will never happen, right?”

​“It could.” I pause a minute, listening. “I think someone is coming. We need to hide. Where can we hide?” I look around and see an elevator just past the door. That won’t work. The elevator may not make it up here in time.

​“Over here.” Amancia says, grabbing me and pulling me down behind a short wall. ​I duck down, just behind the wall when I hear the door slam open. I hope they didn’t see me ducking back here.