2199 Extinction

We quickly wake everyone up, light every lantern we have, and draw our weapons. Backs are pressed against rock walls, and each second seems to turn into an eternity. For some of the most feared warriors in all of the known universe; I see the fear on every face. Copaie are known to run straight into battle, win or lose. “You can’t fight what you can’t see.” Amancia once told me.

No one knows much about what is making the scratching noise. The Copaie call it Furbos or simply Fear. You never see much of it, but you do see its destruction. A few of its victims become food but most seem to be killed for the sake of killing. They are like a Copaie without morals.

We are all waiting for the General’s word on what to do. Making a run for it would mean certain death. For now, we stand at the ready, weapons held high. Soon we are surrounded by the sounds of the scratching and skittering noises, and then, all at once, everything grows silent. Not a sound is heard but the heavy breathing of fifty Copaie. Maybe the Furbos have left. Maybe they decided not to attack? I look around at everyone, seeing no signs of relaxation. Every muscle on every single body is tense. Or maybe it’s just wishful thinking, that they went away.

A noise that I have never heard before, starts out quiet and grows louder and louder, echoing off the rock walls. It’s a cross between, a growl, a scream, and a roar. And then mayhem erupts all around me. I catch flashes of movement in the lantern light. Something large and green darts around us. The light reflects off of large teeth and sharp claws. I hear the sounds of metal blades occasionally hitting rock, screams of pain from both Copaie and Furbos.

“To Minerva!” the General yells. “We will take our chances getting there!”

It becomes a mad scramble of yellow skin and green scales, as everyone flees. I follow behind, surrounded by Copaie; with Amancia running beside me. I lose track of time as I run. Seconds turn into minutes which turns into hours. The dim light from the lanterns barely lights the path in front of us.

Colors run together and become blurs as we pass trees, flowers, and vines. The sounds of screaming fill my ears until I’m sure that I will never be able to hear anything else. I see Copaie after Copaie fall, and occasionally see green-clawed hands reach out and slash someone new. And then I feel that Amancia is no longer running beside me. I look back to find her on the ground, having tripped over a large tree root.

“Amancia!” I shout, as I stop and turn back. I run back in her direction and see something large with a long muzzle grab hold of her leg and pull her back towards the cave. “No!” I push myself to run faster.

The General turns and sees his daughter’s predicament. He turns and races in her direction as well. He reaches her first and swings his raptor blade at the Furbos biting her leg. A large cut opens on the creature’s face. The Furbos let’s go, and screams at him, giving Amancia enough time to turn and ram her blade into its chest. It screams again and swipes its claws, cutting the nearby vines in half. I make it to Amancia and help her up.

She throws an arm over my shoulder, and the General offers his shoulder on her other side. We move as fast as we can, with her in between us. Another flash of green and sharp claws appears to my right, and the General goes down. I slow down and prop Amancia up against a nearby tree, turning to see what I can do to help.

“No!” the General shouts, his blade cutting the Furbos again and again. “Get my daughter out of here, now!”

I hesitate momentarily and see a few other Copaie running to help their leader. I turn back towards Amancia, prop my left shoulder under her arm and continue back in the direction we were running. I don’t see the attack coming this time, instead, I feel the sharpness of teeth in my right arm. I am being jerked to the right and can see Amancia hitting the ground. I am caught unarmed, having lost my blade at some point while fleeing.

I find myself being drug over roots and vines, in the opposite direction of where I need to be going. Branches slap me in the face, cutting my face, my neck, and my body. I am drug over a dead body, a blade laying nearby. I grab the blade as I go by, with my free hand. I turn and slash the Furbos’s eye. Blood runs down its face and into its eyes, causing it to let go of me.

That’s all I needed. I take off back in the right direction, the screams of the Furbos echoing around me. There’s only one problem, I don’t see any signs of anyone else. Where did they go? Fear fuels my body and I run faster than I ever have before. I whip my head from side to side, looking for anyone, but seeing no one. I can hear one of the Furbos getting closer. I run for a while, but I can feel my body starting to slow down. I can’t run forever; I have run longer than most could ever hope of doing.

But still, exhaustion is creeping up on me. I will eventually run out of energy and will be eaten. But I won’t go down without a fight. I will take as many down with me as I can. I take a deep breath, stop, and turn around to face my inevitable death. I want to face my death head-on like a true warrior.

I don’t want to die running like a coward. I back myself up against a tree and wait. The Furbos chasing me must also sense my end because it too slows down. It’s walking on two, muscular back legs, and soon two more appear beside it.

“Bring it on!” I shout at them. And bring it they do. One jumps at me and my blade slices across its stomach, spilling guts everywhere. It falls over with a heavy thud, dead. Lucky hit. Maybe I can bring one more down before they end me.

The next one slashes at me with its claws, and I drop the blade as I duck and cover my face with my hands. It grabs my blade in its mouth and runs off.

“Hey! Bring that back!” I shout, heading for the creature. The other Furbos screams and heads my way, causing me to back towards the tree again. I press both hands against the tree as the creature jumps. The tree gives way behind me, and I stumble backward into the empty space. I see a door slide shut behind me and then darkness as I blackout.

​The next thing I’m aware of is the sound of my own breathing and a faint beeping noise. I keep my eyes shut,afraid of what I might find. They killed me. I’m dead. But if I’m dead, why does every part of my body hurt? I don’t think you are supposed to feel anything if you are dead. And what is making that blasted beeping noise? Some kind of insect? And then I hear it, the sound of scratching nails on a hard surface, followed by a skittering noise. Furbos! My eyes fly open, and I sit straight up.

Two of them stand right in front of me, and two more approach from my left. Where’s my blade? Where’s my blade?I quickly scan the ground but don’t see it. But what I do see is that I appear to be tangled up in some kind of thick vines. I start yanking and pulling on them, trying to free myself before the Furbos can get any closer. They sure are taking their sweet time to attack me. I yank harder and hear a hissing sound as I free myself from the vines.

I manage to jump to my feet and take a defensive position. One of the Furbos gets closer, I have nothing in my hands so, I use what I do have and punch it in its mouth. It screams in anger and stays where it is. Two more approach and I swing at them as well. These two are smart, and duck, causing me to miss them. Ugh! You have got to be kidding me! “I’m not going down without a fight!” I scream at them.

One of the Furbos turns to look at the other, and I take advantage of the distraction, slamming my fist into its face as well. This one staggers backward and hits the floor. But it doesn’t matter, I am finished. While I was watching the ones in front of me, two more snuck up behind me and grabbed ahold of my arms. I scream and kick and try to free myself, but it’s no use, they are stronger than I am. I feel sharp teeth sink into my neck as I blackout. The last thought I have is at least I went down fighting.

****************************

I feel something. I’m not sure what. The pain feels far away. I open my eyes and blink as bright light obscures my vision. I sit up and as the world around me comes into focus and I notice that I’m in a beautiful green meadow, a small brook flows nearby. I hear birdsong above my head. I recognize this place; I’m home. I climb to my feet and walk around, touching trees and flowers as I go. Mother used to bring me here when I was a child.

We would eat lunch and swim in the nearby pond. Pond. That’s right. The brook empties into a small pond. Everything that happened the past few months had to have been a dream, a terrible dream, but a dream. This place was added to the castle for mother. It’s a recreation of the place she grew up. The strange planet is called Earth.

Since she wasn’t raised on Talfar, she quickly grew homesick, and this place was built for her. If I’m not mistaken, someone even rescued some of the plants and animals from that planet. I follow the small gurgling brook, in the direction of the pond. There’s the bench that we used to sit at and have our heart-to-heart talks. But who is that? Someone is sitting on the bench. A woman. As I get closer, the woman becomes clearer, and I realize it’s my mother.

“Mother?” I ask, rushing to her side and wrapping her in a hug. She giggles and hugs me back, before pulling away.

Mother pats a spot on the bench, next to her. “Come. Sit. Let’s chat.”

I sit down beside her and before I know it, everything I thought had happened starts to spill out of my mouth. I tell about her funeral, Malum’s execution of my people, the time travel, being in love with Amlican, the baby, everything. She sits quietly and listens while I unload five months’ worth of activities on her. When I’m finished, I just sit there and wait to see what she will say.

“Astra.” She says, in that tone of voice she uses when she wants me to understand something.

“You know I love you. I have always loved you. I will always love you. But this. This here.” She raises her arms out to indicate everything around us. “This isn’t real.”

“No. No. Don’t say that. Of course, this is real. It has to be real. I want it to be real.” I say panicked.

She reaches a hand out to briefly touch my face before putting it back down. “You are stressed. A lot has happened, quickly. Your mind is trying to cope, so here I am. But Astra, you have a baby. I know you can feel it flutter inside of you. Your baby needs you. You can’t stay here in this dream world. You must cope. You must accept the truth of what has happened and love your child as I have loved you. You can’t go back to Talfar, now. I don’t know you in this timeline, and surely the people would kill you. Stay here. Raise your son as a Copaie. Learn about your people. Enjoy your new life.”

“No. That’s not true.” But even as the words pass my lips, I can feel the stirring of life inside of me. Fluttering caused by tiny feet and fists reminds me of my responsibilities. “I love you. I’m glad I was able to save you.”

“Astra.” A voice I don’t recognize whispers. I turn my head from side to side looking for the source of the voice but finding nothing. “Astra. Astra!” the voice gets louder and more urgent.

“Who’s there? What do you want?” I call. The world around me starts to collapse in on itself and everything fades to black again.