Chasing Orion

We followed along the bottom of the sea, exploring all the caverns, trenches and rock formations that we came across. Down here was a completely different world from the one from above and all of it was overwhelming to take in all at once. As a child, my educators told stories about massive creatures living out here in the darkness of the ocean, and now it was time to find one.

We swam for a few more hours until we finally came up on what we were looking for. History would come to call it Megalodon, which was a greatly oversized shark. It was feeding on a blue whale that it had undoubtedly caught. We circled around it a few times assessing it.

From my guess, it was well over sixty feet long and had teeth as large as my own head. I admit that it was intimidating given its size. We stopped up above it watching it rip and tear away at the whale’s carcass.

Mara looked at me with a giant grin, and I held out my hand to her, which she took up in hers. I gently pulled her forward in offering her the first attack. She shied away tucking in behind me as she did up on the ship and held on peeking out from behind me.

I turned to her laughing and gave her a kiss on the forehead, then turned back to face the shark. I extended my claws and teeth and darted towards it.

The Megalodon seemed completely oblivious that we were even there, which made this attack boring to say the least. I slammed into the side of it knocking it away from the whale and clearly aggravating it. I could tell that it was not sure what to do about me and just swam back to the whale biting into it with its massive jaws.

I swam up the side of its head looking at my reflection in its eye as it appeared and disappeared again behind the protective lens of its eye. I slashed at its jaw with my claws tearing through its cartilage. It let go of the whale and started to swim off. I slashed at it a dozen more times making giant gashes in its sides.

The shark twisted and turned trying to get away, but its size made it clumsy and slow in comparison. Mara joined in and grabbed it by the tail jerking it down against the bottom.

It flailed about kicking up a massive cloud of silt and started to go up. Mara came up from behind dragging her claws across the entire length of its body, splitting it open. The shark snapped at her as she swam past away from its head.

I knew it had no fighting chance with its size and we were mostly just toying with it. I swam past cutting off the top of its dorsal fin and then by its mouth. As it snapped at me, I went inside its mouth. I heard Mara scream through the water followed by hearing her tear away the flesh of the shark. It was shaking its head side to side violently, smashing me around inside its mouth.

I thrust myself off the bottom of its mouth making myself into a point and pierced through the roof of its mouth exploding out the top of its head. The shark instantly went limp and started to sink down to the bottom.

Mara tackled me hugging me then lunged at the shark kicking it in the side of the head sending it smashing into the bottom against a rock outcropping. The impact ripped it in half spewing its internal organs into the ocean.

Mara swam down and shoved her face into one of the spots where blood was seeping out of its flesh. She pushed away from it quickly spitting the blood back out into the water. She shook her head side to side and looked up at me with a disgusted look on her face.

I joined her and started ripping and tearing at the shark ripping it into pieces. She stared at me puzzled wondering what I was doing. I pointed to the other fish and crabs that were feeding on pieces from the whale that were now eating the shark.

She nodded and started to rip it into smaller pieces spreading it out across the bottom. After a few minutes, the shark became disassembled over several areas along the bottom where hundreds of fish, crustaceans and other life was showing up to take advantage of the banquet. Mara swam up beside me and threaded her fingers in between mine laying her head on my shoulder.

I squeezed her hand, pulled her away, and started to head for the surface. As we swam up and the sunlight started to become visible again, I realized just how far down we were, which had to be three or four thousand feet.

It was becoming evening now and sunset was only a few hours away. We continued to head out west staying just a few feet below the surface taking in the warm water compared to the bottom we just came from. Mara was playing again spinning and dancing under the water as we went along.

We played cat and mouse games and she would tease and taunt me to chase her and we could travel miles in a few seconds with the speed at which we could achieve. I would cheat at the games and right as she was about to catch me I would shoot out of the water knowing she could not follow me. She would look up at me and frown but wait patiently for me to splash back down then kick me in the back or side as punishment sending me hurtling through the water.

As we raced across the open ocean and the sun got lower and finally starting to breach the horizon, Mara would dip out of the water to test its potency. By this time, she could regenerate quicker than the sun could burn her and started to jump out of the water skipping across the surface like a stone.

I am not sure what we were going to do anymore or even where we were going, but she did not want to stop and kept pushing out further.

After the sun went down the atmosphere of the ocean changed. Like us, the predators came out for feeding. We could hear the chaos as it traveled around the ocean. We joined in on some of the fun swimming among the schools of fish, until a predator came along, then turning the tides so to speak.

We did not like the taste of the fish blood, but as a normal food, it was good. After we had our fill and fun, we stopped to watch the moonrise. Out in the middle of the ocean it was different. There was nothing around, and the moon seemed to come from the water turning the surface into shimmering silver.

I could see Mara struggling with something in her mind as we bobbed in the water. She would hold her hands out to the side, as if she was feeling heat coming off the water.

“What’s the matter?” I asked her, putting my hand on her side.

She lowered her hands hearing my question, turning to me,

“Nothing, just feeling the water,” her voice cracked as she spoke.

I knew she was holding something back, but I did not see a need to push her. She could tell me if she wanted or needed to.

She sunk back down under the water slowly sinking down into the darkness. I stared at the moon wondering what else there could be to all of this. I had the knowledge of everything from the Orionak, but that was different from seeing it myself.

We could make it to the other continents in another day or so and explore that area which for the most part the Orionak marked to be uninhabited. Mara quickly interrupted my train of thought by springing out of the water spinning into one of her acrobatic routines.

The moonlight on her skin made her glow and shimmer from the water. It was beautiful. Every time she would smile at me as she crashed back down splashing me and jumping up higher each time.

We continued along heading west. Mara was jumping in and out of the water like a Dolphin as had become the norm. After one of her jumps, she never came back down. I looked around underneath me thinking I missed something but she was not there.

I surfaced looking to where she was last, and to my amazement, she was hovering above the water about ten feet staring out over the water.

“How are you doing that?” I asked her excitedly, but she did not respond. “Mara!” I called to her again.

She slowly raised her hand outward pointing ahead. I turned around to see what had stunned her in place. Shining out on the horizon about ten miles was a large island. There were several large greyish structures on it unlike anything I had seen before.

What was more shocking was the spacecraft hovering around it. They did not look like the Orionak ships, but they seemed familiar to me somehow. Various colors of pulsing lights, brightly illuminating the city.

“Mara come down,” I commanded her.

She slowly descended sliding into the water next to me and grabbing ahold of me tightly.

“What do you think it is,” her voice trembled as she spoke.

I thought about that question for a very long time. Only seconds to the world, but hours to us. My instincts told me to leave. Whatever this place was, it is not meant for us. However, if this was not part of the Orionak’s group then everyone could be in danger.

Knowing what I knew about the galaxy and its inhabitants the possibilities were quite extensive to this being a threat to our world.

“I don’t know, but we need to find out, but I need you to do something for me.”

“What?” she replied squeezing my hand.

“Go home Mara.”

I felt the pain and confusion in her as I said it, and I knew she felt the pain in me saying it.

“What? No! I’m not leaving you. I can’t. My place is with you,” she pleaded.

“I don’t know what this is, and I can’t put you in this danger. Even if this is the Orionak, we’re a threat and they will be hostile to us. I need you to go!”

There was sadness in my voice as I spoke those words knowing just how true they could be. I did not want her to go, and she was dangerous out in the world by herself. Even sending her home there was no guarantee that people would be safe. She had to feed and would do so without hesitation.

“If you won’t go will you at least promise me that you will stay here until I return?” I knew that was the best option for everyone. “If I’m not back by sunrise, I want you to promise me that you will go. Go back home and tell the first god that you see about this.”

Tears streamed down her face, as she knew what I was really asking her to do, and it was not something that I wanted to do. I reached up, cradled her face in my hands, and pulled her against me. I kissed her face and neck softly, and she buried her face in my neck.

“I promise. I love you,” she said in her soft angelic voice.

“And I you,” I said kissing her one last time.

I let her go slowly swimming backward away from her, before sinking under the water. That was the hardest moment in my life. I had not known her for very long, and really, this whole life was brand new, but this life and her, felt like it had been part of me since the beginning of time.

I shifted into my full Ut’ari appearance and changed up my armor to my traditional molten black. I exploded with speed approaching the island skimming just along the surface.

Within minutes, I was close to the shoreline. I stopped a few hundred yards out, surfacing halfway up just to my eyes so I could see, and surveyed the area. There was a massive wall about hundred feet tall going around the perimeter in a circular shape.

Down the shoreline to the north there was a passageway cut through the wall leading into the ocean. There were several small craft hovering above the wall patrolling back and forth. Every few minutes a larger craft would come down from above and land within the wall. I calmed my mind and focused my senses.

I did not hear any heartbeats, or really heard much of anything other than the noises from the crafts, but I could feel the energy of living creatures so I knew there was someone in there. The air around the area had a metallic smell and taste to it and was drier than the normal air I would have expected.

There was also a considerable amount of heat radiating from the island that would come off in waves. I swam down closer to the channel leading inside the wall and made my way on shore. From the beach, there was a moderately dense canopy consisting of palm trees and sea oats.

As I pushed my way through the tall oat stems, I continued to shift my armor to blend in with my surroundings to camouflage me as best as possible. The closer I got to the wall a static charge started to build in the air. I quickly burst through some open ground and pressed myself up against the wall at the opening to the channel.

The opening was about two hundred feet across and had indentations on the inside corner that mirrored some protrusions on the other wall. I speculated that these were doors, which opened and closed as needed.

I peeked around the corner and looked inside to shockingly discover an entire city inside with buildings of various shapes and sizes made up of a dark grey material like the inside hull of the Orionak ships, but this was clearly a different design.

There were two more smaller walls inside spaced a few hundred yards apart making a circle around the island that was gradually sloping upward coming to a plateau in the center of it with a large elaborate spire peaked on top of it.

Spread throughout were smaller buildings of lighter greys and even some whites. Most of the buildings did not have grass but solid rock looking ground, and at first glance, I did not see anyone walking around.

I slipped down into the water and made my way inside the walls. Just inside, was a series of steps leading from the water into a platform that was lining the inside of the wall. I ran up the steps and took a position alongside the edge of one of the smaller buildings.

A deep hum pierced through my concentration as a massive ship dropped down through the clouds and hovered slowly toward the central spire. It stopped within the inner circle and a smaller craft detached from it and landed on a pad in an open space in front of the spire. A small group of people got out of the craft and went inside an adjacent building.

The craft was obscuring my sight to get a look at whom they were, but they seemed smaller than the Sah or the Orionak.

The small craft lifted back off and reattached with its mother ship, which then started to ascend back up through the clouds turning translucent as it sped away. I jumped onto the roof of the building and looked out over the city.

Not seeming to emanate from any single source, all the structures seemed faintly illuminated in dim light and glowing. I still could not pinpoint any people but I could sense their presence, and faintly heard heartbeats every so often that were much more rapid than humans were. I leaped to another rooftop of a larger building giving me a better vantage point near the second ring wall.

The roof was solid in texture and structure but responded to my touch with a greenish blue glow that pulsed and shimmered. It resembled a bioluminescence that became more transparent as I pushed on it. I could feel its energy underneath my feet like it was alive and aware of me touching it.

I walked over to the edge and looked out again over the city. A very deep horn like sound blared through the air and pulsed on and off every few seconds. The small crafts patrolling the border wall turned on some very bright lights, dropped off from the wall, and started speeding around the city. An alarm, I thought to myself.

Under my location, the building started to glow a bright red circle sending a beam of light into the air. I leapt from the roof onto the ground and dashed across the pathways weaving in and out of the buildings. The beam followed underneath me making it impossible for me to hide.

The small ships began converging on where I was and I was rapidly running out of ideas. One of the ships searchlights hit me and I bolted away toward the water that was in front of the second ring wall.

The ships chased me through the city getting closer with each moment until I leapt and dove into the water. I quickly went down to the bottom and remained motionless. The beam of light stopped at the water’s edge where I was, but did not seem able to follow me in. The small ships stopped hovering above the water shining their lights down at me.

I changed my armor to replicate the sandy bottom of the canal and slowly moved along the bottom. It appeared that the ships could not track me under the water nearly as well. Every now and then, they would move above me shining down, but then quickly lose me again.

I swam along the canal to the intersection that lead back out to the ocean, but the outer wall doors closed blocking me off from the ocean from the security alert.

I thrust myself off the bottom lunging toward the top of the outer wall. I expected to clear the wall, but instead smashed against an invisible wall like the barriers the Orionak had. The barrier flashed and flickered from my impact and the beam lit me up again as I fell back down to the ground.

The patrol crafts quickly flew over to me and engulfed me in light.

I knew there was no point in running anymore and changed up my armor and mask to my warrior appearance as I called it and drew a long intricate sword from my side. A series of clicks came from behind me followed by a shrieking voice in a language unfamiliar to me.

I gripped tightly onto my sword and felt a sharp pain hit my back. A bright blue light engulfed me that traveled around my body then my vision went black as I went unconscious.

When I came back to, I was in a small dark room about fifteen feet square. There were no visible doors or windows and the walls appeared to have the composition of a bluish grey material like the rest of the structures in the city. It was almost dejà vu from my first experience with the Orionak.

Comparatively the walls were very warm and reacted when I touched them with a flicker of energy as if a barrier encased the room. To my surprise my belt and necklace was still on me but looked tampered with in trying to remove it without success.

“Well?” I shouted standing in the middle of the room with my arms held out.

I waited for a response but as expected, there was none. I dropped down my armor and shifted into my Ut’ari form.

“Is this what you wanted to see?”

I dashed over slamming into the wall sending a ripple through the walls energy. I kicked and punched at the wall each time hitting it harder and harder. I flickered back off the other wall lunging myself forward hitting the wall again. The barrier pulsed and jittered then appeared to drop. I growled and slashed at the wall with my claws making long slices into the material.

A small black ball about a foot in diameter appeared in the room and shot me with a stream of electricity. I collapsed down to the ground convulsing from its attack. After a few moments, it stopped and retreated to the other side of the room.

I let the anger build inside me and let go of my control leaping for the ball. It caught me again with a beam of electricity. I slammed into the wall underneath it, convulsing on the floor again. I admit that it was very effective and quite painful. This time it continued to hit me for about a minute before stopping.

“Fine,” I said struggling to get to my feet.

I stared at the ball as it slowly moved around the room watching me. It had a small circular lens on the front of it that I assumed was its eye or a method for someone watching to see me. A guttural voice filled the room speaking in a language I could not understand. I looked around the room then back to the ball.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

I changed my appearance back to human and put my armor back up. Three more balls appeared in the room and each took positions around me. I stood up straight preparing for the pain. Simultaneously all four balls shot out greenish beams of energy that wrapped around my body immobilizing me.

I tried to move but I could not. The balls slowly ascended raising me off the ground about a foot. The rest of the barrier dropped and a rectangular seam appeared in the wall in the shape of a door. The lights in the room slowly rose, and the door slowly slid open.

The balls started to move forward leading me out of the room into a circular shaped corridor. In the middle of the wall following along it was a red light that was pulsing and moving in the direction the balls were pushing me.

An odd odor filled the air that smelled like a combination of wet dirt mixed with sweet flowers, but I could not identify what it was. As they escorted me down the corridor, the temperature started to drop down to more of a normal level.

They pushed me around a corner in the direction the red light was pulsing, where a room was waiting for us that was black in color and did not appear to have any walls or ceiling. In the middle of the room was a large metallic table with an assortment of mechanical arms and devices suspended above it from a large cylindrical shaped pillar descending from where the ceiling should be.

The balls positioned me next to the table, rotated me into a horizontal position, and set me on the table. The table engulfed me in the same greenish energy, held me down to the table, and collapsed my armor. Paralyzed and unable to move anything other than my eyes, I watched the balls disappear and the doorway leading to the corridor close.

I laid there for several minutes becoming increasingly concerned about what was going to happen. I was certain in knowing that whatever was about to happen, I would survive, but thinking about the pain level made me uneasy. Then the thought of Mara pushed away all of that, and I could not think of anything else.

What if they are looking for other intruders around the island? Are they doing this to her as well if they caught her? Was this the Orionak’s plan all along so they could study us?

With that thought, the machines above me came alive. One of the arms descended and transformed its tip into a small pointed object. It lowered a few inches from my chest just below my neckline.

A high pitch noise started to come from it followed by smoke rising from my chest and a green glow. I cried out in pain as it drew a line slowly down my chest. I could feel the wounds closing behind it and assumed it was trying to cut me open.

After it got about halfway down it reset its position and started again, but this time using a much stronger cutting method as the pain amplified by a factor of ten.

Another pair of arms lowered down with flat hooks on them that tracked behind the cutting arm. I felt the hooks slide into my chest and pull the skin open. After a few seconds, the pair of hooks started beeping and then ascended. The hooks looked like they had melted off, and I felt my chest close back up.

The cutting arm also ascended and the whole device rose back into the ceiling and disappeared. I heard another door open to what would be behind my head. I could sense four or five beings enter the room. They were talking amongst themselves in a very rapid chittering clicking kind of noise.

It sounded like the same language as before, but much more rapid. The figures gathered around the table and I could finally see what they were. I tried to think about what they could be from the information I got from the Orionak database.

There was mention of these beings but the information was very limited and they just referred to them as the Greys. They were a subspecies to four others of similarity.

The color of their skin, which was a silverish light grey pigment, was the etymology for the assignment of their name. They had thin and fragile looking bodies with an enlarged head shaped like a teardrop and stood about four feet tall.

They did not seem to have any protrusion for a nose but had small slits that were expanding and closing. Their eyes took up about three quarters the width of their face and were a solid black color with an exaggerated oval shape. Their mouths were also very small maybe only an inch in diameter.

The texture of their skin reminded me of a shark and looked rubbery and smooth. One of them leaned over me and extended his long arm inspecting my chest.

Two of the others came up on the other side with instruments both of which appeared to have piercing capabilities. One of them began messing with my leg, and I felt its device sink into my thigh.

The other began to cut off pieces of my skin, which was turning to ash in its hands and healing over again. They began to chatter back and forth again pointing and pushing on different parts of my body. One of them pulled up a larger tube-shaped object from the side of the table and ignited it extending out a red beam of light about a foot.

It moved the object over to my arm and pulled it down. Immense pain shot through my body and I roared out loudly extending my fangs. The Grey was holding my arm and handed it across me to one of the others that had moved away during my scream.

It grabbed hold of it and it crumbled to ashes in his hands.

“Why are you doing this?” I shouted to them in Orionak.

They paused and looked at each other for a moment before continuing to talk amongst each other. Two others came over to the table and pulled the one who removed my arm away and out of my vision. I heard the door open again and another entity entered the room.

All the Greys hovering over me stopped and stood upright at attention of whatever came in the door. That deep guttural voice filled the room again and spoke only for a few seconds. The Greys chitted back to it, then the being left the room, and the Greys continued.

One of them pushed a device in my mouth that forced it to stay open. I bit down hard trying to break it to no effect. They began to pull and probe my teeth with various small devices.

I retracted my fangs, which seemed to anger them. One of them arose up a small box to me and pressed a button on it pointing it toward me.

Electricity engulfed the table and I yelled out again in pain. The Grey cocked its head to me and pushed the button again holding it down for almost a minute. I knew it wanted me to extend my fangs again but I refused.

It continued to electrocute me making it stronger and stronger each time over the next few minutes. I could feel myself starting to get weaker as it advanced its torture.

For the next hour or so, they tried dozens of ways to get inside me and take samples of my blood and skin to no avail. Once removed from my body it turned to ashes.

I discovered I could almost control the effect of my blood out of my body, and either allow it to stay liquid or turn it to dust as well and connected to me like a form of energy. I got weaker and weaker and began to accept that this was a bad idea and might be the end of this short-lived existence. I would never see Mara again. That thought enraged me but I could not do anything about it.

The deep horn sound went off again and the Greys scrambled out of the room. I could hear the small patrol crafts pass and guttural commands barked by the other being outside.

I heard several small explosions, followed by high-pitched shrieks and then silence. I felt helpless trapped there unable to do anything.

The silence broke by more craft passing by, more explosions and weird quick hums like the sound of Sah energy weapons. The noises got closer and sounded right outside the building I was in. Shrieks echoed down the corridor and then were right outside the door. I heard impacts against the door that got louder and harder.

Part of the door flew by over me mangled, bent, and smashed into the wall at my feet. The table rocked sharply from an impact and the restraint collapsed. I was barely capable of holding my eyes open and tried to move.

I sat up and held up my right arm to discover that I no longer had a right arm; they had it removed at the middle of my bicep. I collapsed back down to the table exhausted.

I shifted my form and was about to try again when a liquid filled my mouth. As the flavor surged through my mouth, I knew what it was. It was blood, cold and thick. I swallowed it and immediately felt the burst of energy. I snapped open my eyes to a wrist dangling over my lips streaming out blood.

I grasped it and forced it down to my mouth sinking in my teeth. I took several gulps before reality came back to me and my senses focused. I knew that flavor, and I knew that scent. It was Mara, and she was delicious. My lust took over and I sucked harder. I could feel her trying to pull away but I held on tighter and sucked harder.

“You’re hurting me,” she said as soft and delicate as usual.

I immediately stopped and flickered to my feet next to her. She lowered her mask and smiled at me. I wrapped my arms around her and yanked her against me. I just squeezed and held on to her.

“Happy to see you too,” she said giggling with a distressed voice from my grasp.

“What are you doing here?” I asked kissing her repeatedly.

“I was halfway back home before I stopped and turned around. I couldn’t leave you. Then I felt your pain and went harder and faster.”

“How did you manage all of this though?” I looked around the room at the destruction. “I had no chance of escape, what did you do?”

“I did what came natural to me and just killed them,” her voice was more serious and mature now.

I looked at her shockingly, wondering how she managed to not only get inside, but also avoid the crafts, plus any of the Greys that were inside, and then break this building apart. The ground and table started to vibrate and I knew it was time to get out of here.

“I will get us back out. Follow me if you can,” she said sarcastically and then dashed out the door.

I looked down at my arm that had already begun to regenerate a new one then ran out after her. It was daytime outside now which shocked me given that Mara was here and not on fire. She was about a hundred yards away taking on a dozen or so Greys in battle gear dashing and diving away from their weapons fire taking out each one of them one at a time.

There were several plumes of smoke and fires from destroyed patrol craft and just as many bodies scattered about of Greys in a line leading from the canal entrance.

“That must have been her route in,” I said running up to help her.

She had her own suit of armor up that explained how the sunlight was not hurting her, and bodies were flying in many directions as she fought through the attackers. Her armor was much more form fitting and feminine than mine and adorned in gold accents with a pearly white base color, a black cape with purple shimmers flew around her as she spun and twisted around.

I could feel her anger and excitement running through her with each strike. She was so incredibly fast, that the Greys or their technology did not stand a chance. The large ship had come down over the spire again and launched a half dozen smaller craft that landed on all sides of us.

Larger beings came pouring out of the ships with heavy armor and massive sized weapons compared to the Greys. They looked like shock troops or an actual army unit of whoever these aliens were.

Mara finished off the last of the Greys and took a position next to me. With her armor and claws covered and dripping with the dark green blood of the Greys, she picked up one of the bodies and levitated off the ground about fifteen feet.

I was shocked and dropped to my knees staring up at her. She hovered in place for a couple seconds then slowly drifted toward the approaching troops. She let out a booming roar that I felt rattle my chest and then ripped the Grey she was holding in half and threw one-half at the troops and the other half at the large ship.

She hit two of the troops with the body sending them crashing and tumbling backwards. The other piece flew for a long distance and splattered against the hull of the ship. She roared again and then vanished.

That part scared me. Why and how was she able to go invisible? Could I do that too? I could still sense her so I concentrated and focused on her scent. Before I had time to pinpoint her, she was at the approaching troops from the spires side.

They were much taller than she was by a couple of feet and the same in width and brawn, but to her they were rag dolls. She tore through each one of them with ease dodging all their massive energy blasts from their cannons. It was quite beautiful. I just sat down where I was and watched.

After she had made it through them down to the last one, the guttural voice echoed through the city and the other troops started to retreat to their ships. She cut through the last troop with a thin sword she had manifested with a dashing slide then turned toward the spire.

She jumped onto the roof of one of the buildings and started to bounce across the rooftops making a straight line for the ship.

“Mara! Stop!” I yelled getting to my feet.

She stopped in midair hovering with her sword pointed at the ship. Greys underneath her were both scattering away and shooting at her, but their weapons seemed to be passing right through her. She slowly slid backwards, then turned and flew at me remarkably fast landing at my feet and sheathing her sword.

“Are you ok?” she asked me, looking at my half-regenerated arm.

I looked at her dumbfounded and stuttering trying to find the words to figure out what I had just witnessed. She giggled and did a modeling pose showing off her armor in different angles.

“Do you like my armor? It was inspired from the shark!”

“I uh, uh, wha?” I just shook my head up and down.

“Are you ok? They didn’t make you stupid, did they?” She asked me again with a raised eyebrow.

I looked around at all the carnage lying on the ground. The large ship started moving closer to us, and I could see the ships turrets start to track on us.

“We got to go,” Mara exclaimed grabbing hold of my hand and jerking me as she took off running.

We ran through the city jumping over the bodies and aftermath of Mara’s entrance. When we got up to the wall, she dove into a hole underneath it. Smart girl, I thought to myself as I followed her out.

She had launched herself back into the air and was looking over the wall as I ran down to the beach diving into the ocean. She flew backwards and then shot down skimming just above the water. The large ship came up over the wall and opened fire. Dozens of energy balls filled the air from the turret fire and hurdled towards us electrifying the air.

Mara splashed down into the water next to me and we headed back out to the open water diving down deep. We swam hard and fast leaving the island and ship behind us.

I was barely able to keep up the speed we were traveling at and felt the energy draining out of me as the hours went by. I knew something was bothering Mara, because she had barely even acknowledged me since we left, other than to look behind her to make sure I was still following her.

By the time we made it back to the mainland the sun had already set and the moon was high in the sky. I was somewhat not looking forward to what lie ahead knowing the need to feed was approaching rapidly. Mara, I knew would be ok as she does not seem to have much issue with taking a life, but for me, I still struggle with it slightly.

When we approached the strait, Mara headed for the surface and shot out of the water. I followed and surfaced in time to see her fading into a small dot in the sky. She hovered for a few seconds before descending back down into the water.

“Come on, there is a ship about five minutes away heading north,” she said is a less than enthusiastic tone.

She was right. Heading along the coast was a large size ship unknown to me with about forty or so oars rowing across two levels of the boat. It had two giant masts and sails tucked down and secured. There did not seem to be much activity up on the deck as we approached.

Mara quickly ripped the ships rudder off, and then crawled up the back of the boat waiting just below the railing. She motioned for me to go down with her hand, and I complied slowly sinking down under the surface.

A few moments later, a man approached the side of the ship and looked off the railing. He appeared to be wearing some form of uniform with an emblem of a tree going across his chest. He had a black covering made of fur and leather hanging from his shoulders, and a helmet that covered most of his face.

He leaned over to look down at the rudder and Mara grabbed him by the throat crushing his larynx, then tossed him into the water to me. He kicked and thrashed trying to stay afloat and I grabbed him pulling him under.

Without wasting any time, my fangs extended and I sank my teeth into his neck sucking the blood out of him quickly. In a few seconds, it was over and he stopped moving. As I felt his heartbeat slow down I sucked the blood harder knowing it was about to stop flowing. The hunger and the rage took over me and I wanted more now.

His blood shot through me like a lightning bolt of adrenaline, and I lunged from the water clinging to the side of the boat next to Mara.

She glared at me breaking into a seductive grin, lowering her mask. She sniffed the air eccentrically,

“Do you smell her?”

I sniffed the air too and the scent hit me.

“What is that?” I mumbled to myself sniffing again. “I know its blood, but I’ve never smelt that before like that.

Mara inhaled deeply again and extended her fangs.

“It’s a young girl starting her transition into a woman,” she said pointing down to her abdomen and then peeking over the top of the railing.

I thought about that for a minute, until it clicked in my mind to what she was referring. The scent was not more desirable than normal; it was just unique and created a trail to her location in the air. Still the scent of blood in the air of such purity and youth was very appealing.

Mara changed up into some volcanic looking armor like mine and flipped over the railing drawing two thin swords from her belt. I changed my armor to match and came up the side to her location.

The deck was mostly empty save for a handful of guards that were now charging at us from different sides. What chance did they have really? Mara, overall went slow giving them a sporting chance. She blocked and parried their attacks with her swords slowly cutting them down one by one.

More guards ran up from the stairs leading down hearing the commotion on deck. I joined in the fight slashing and ripping at them with my claws very quickly and tossing them over the side.

We ran down stairs to the over watch deck looking out over the slaves rowing the boat. Old and young the men continued to row, even though they were aware of the alarm on the boat.

“These men are rotten,” Mara said sniffing the air. “Malnourished and diseased. Fools to treat their workforce to such conditions.”

Two guards and the slave driver charged down the walkway overlooking the rowing pit. Mara sheathed her swords and slowly rose in the air drifting forward slowly with her arms outstretched.

The guards stopped in their tracks frozen in place from what they were witnessing. She glided slowly towards them and descended calmly landing in front of them about ten feet. She collapsed down her mask revealing herself to them.

They relaxed slightly seeing a woman underneath it all. She flicked both her hands out to the side of her extending her claws and crouched down snarling exposing her teeth to them. The guards became overwhelmed with fear and stumbled backwards and turning to run away. Mara easily overtook them like a wave attacking in a fluidic sort of dance leaving them in pieces.

This terrified the slaves, but they had nowhere to run and huddled along the wall of the ship as far away as possible.

I hopped over the rail and joined Mara that was licking the blood from her fingers. She straightened up composing herself and calmly walked to the door leading into the room on the back of the ship. There were three people behind that door, undoubtedly the owner of the boat, king, royalty, captain, or someone important. We could hear two of them crying while the third was knelt near them.

Mara calmly pushed open the wooden door breaking it from its lock and frame and stepped inside. Tapestries of gold and silver lavishly adorned the stateroom. Strewn about a table with a pile of gold coins underneath it, various jewelry and gems littered the top.

A couple was cowering in the corner of the room next to a huge bed with their arms wrapped around a young girl. The man was wearing a gold style crown and a bulky covering made of animal fur.

He was quite large and muscular comparatively to Egyptian men and had a long brownish red beard braided and adorned with gems and beads. The women were wearing very clean crisp white dresses with various streams of colored cloth and gold stripes.

The older woman had bright red hair neatly braided and wrapped into a bun. The young girl clinging tightly to her mother I assumed, had dark blonde hair loosely hanging to her side.

Mara took a few steps toward them and the man arose to his feet drawing a long sword. By comparison, he towered over Mara and made her look like the young girl she was. She cocked her head to the side examining him curiously. She took a step toward him and he reared back swinging his massive claymore at her.

She did not even flinch and let the sword hit her in the side. The sword rang out in a vibration as it bounced off her skin as if he had struck granite. He swung again hitting her in the legs, but again it did no damage and just made a reverberation off her leg.

The man took a step back and lunged at her trying to pierce her heart. She quickly grabbed the blade of the sword with her hand and ripped it out of the man’s hand throwing it hard to her side. The sword crashed through the wall of the ship and into the water.

The man stumbled backwards accepting defeat and rejoined his family. I could not understand his language but from his posture and hand gestures, I think he was pleading for his life and that of his family. We walked over and took flank to them cowering on the floor.

The young girl looked up at me from underneath her mother’s arms and the look of pure terror was burning in her eyes. She was afraid in a way that I had never felt in a person before. The guards were afraid but not like this. She saw us as the monsters we were and I could feel that radiating from her. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying and she was trembling.

I knelt beside her collapsing down my mask and stared back into her eyes. When she saw my teeth, she cringed and nestled in tighter against her mother who was almost cutting off the circulation to her arms from the strength of her grasp.

Mara grabbed hold of the man’s head and jerked off his crown tossing it across the room to the floor. She ran her fingernail down the man’s cheek making a small cut. As a single drop of blood ran from the wound, she scooped it up with her finger and then scraped it along her tongue.

She closed her eyes and exhaled deeply savoring the taste.

“We don’t have to do this. Not like this,” I said glancing at Mara.

She turned her head to me and had a look of darkness and evil on her face. Her eyes were solid black like a doll’s eyes, just uncaring and lifeless. Her facial ridges had become more accentuated and made her look inhuman. I did not recognize her. This was someone new.

I wondered if the virus or whatever it was that let me infect her with this alternate version of Ut’ari had finally taken over completely and evolved inside her just as mine did.

“This is what we are, and you need to feed,” she said with a grin.

The coldness in her words sent a wave of sadness through my body. Based on the hysterical emotions coming from the girl’s mother, I could only assume she was begging us to spare her daughter’s life. Little did she know that her daughter was the driving force of our blood lust.

Mara quickly climbed up onto the man’s chest and yanked his head back then made a slow and exaggerated bite down onto his neck opening her mouth wide to show off her teeth. He flailed and punched at her head struggling against her grasp. The woman screamed and hit Mara in the back trying to pull her off him.

Even though I knew that they had no chance of harming Mara, the defensive nature inside me took over and I grabbed the woman by the back of the neck.

I jerked her backwards tossing her behind me. She tumbled and slid along the floor slamming into the wall by the doorway. I heard some of her ribs shatter along with her right arm.

She let out a quiet whimper struggling to remain conscious from the pain shooting through her. I quickly turned back to the girl and roared at her, teeth shining. The look of utter dread went across her face again.

The young girl got to her feet and faced me looking up at me. I could hear her fathers’ heartbeat begin to slow as Mara was finishing off the last of his blood. She took a step toward me touching the tips of her toes to mine.

I looked down into her eyes that were streaming out tears. I could feel her body vibrate as her shaking intensified, getting closer to me.

I changed my armor exposing my bare hands and put my palm up against her cheek. She flinched at the coldness of my touch as I wiped away her tears with my thumb. She slowly rose her hand to my face and ran a finger across my teeth feeling the sharpness of my fangs. I snapped my teeth together and she jerked her hand back.

Mara reared back roaring to the ceiling as blood poured from the sides of her mouth and onto her chest. The girl turned to look at her father’s corpse exposing her neck to me. I slowly leaned down and gently sank my teeth into her holding her by the waist.

She did not make a sound or move at all. Her body began to relax as the blood flowed out of her, and she was everything I was expecting. Her blood was sweet and thick. The energy from it was detonating inside me as if I was drinking lightning. A few more moments later, she went limp.

Mara darted over to her mother and started feeding. The woman tried to scream and cry out but Mara was just too vicious and bit down on her throat quieting her. I picked up the girl, carried her over to her bed at the other end of the room, and gently laid her down on it. I did the same with her father placing him on the larger bed adjacent to hers.

“Bring her over here and place her with her family Mara,” I said straightening out their clothes.

“Why? What’s the point? We’re just going to have to sink this ship anyways. Plus, what about the rest of the slaves still on board,” she replied wiping the blood away from her mouth.

Damn, I had not thought of that. I forgot about the rowing slaves in the other room.

“We leave them. Let them go to wherever they came from.” I stood up enabling my armor and mask.

“We leave them? Just like that? They’ve seen us; they know what we look like. You told me we can’t leave anything behind for anyone to find,” she argued picking up the woman and walking over to the bed.

“It doesn’t matter anymore Mara, and what are they going to say, that two people dressed in black stormed their ship killed all their guards and their king and then just let them go?” I retorted.

She laid the woman down next to the man and shifted up her armor and mask again. I could feel the options running through her mind as she debated with herself on what to do.

“We’re leaving them here,” I commanded punching through the back of the ship. “It’s almost sunrise and we need to get going before we really do become visible or run across another ship. Now let’s go!” I said jumping into the water.

I began to swim away and a few seconds later, I heard Mara hit the water too and swim up next to me. She collapsed down her armor and got up on my back wrapping her arms around my chest, pressing herself against me laying her head down below my neck.

I collapsed down my armor too and placed my hand on top of hers diving down deeper to avoid the sunlight for her and started to head back home.

I gave no thought to the scene of devastation that we just left behind us and ignored the urge to look back at the ship, pushing the tragedy from my mind, replacing it with what I witnessed on the island. I let that thought consume me as we swam back.

What could possibly be going on there I wondered? How could the Orionak not know about another species as advanced as that being there? Surely, they could detect the ships coming and going if nothing else.

However, if they did know about them, how was nothing in the database? How did they never mention anything about another race being here?

I started to question the real motives that the Orionak had in being here. The design of that place was not for laboratory research in the way I would expect. It was a hostile environment with a hostile species, and they clearly wanted to remain undisturbed and undiscovered.

The Orionak wanted us to sever our relationship but this was something that I would need to talk to them about.

It was nearing sunset by the time we reached the Nile delta. Mara put up her armor as we ascended to the surface, but before we even made it to the surface; we could see that something was wrong.

A formation of Orionak fighters streamed by above us flying low over the water and heading south. I motioned for Mara to stay under the surface then slowly popped my head up out of the water enough so I could see.

The sky was swarming with different types of Orionak spacecraft. Several dozen fighters and dropships were flying around, and Isis’ giant command ship had landed next to the Pyramid of Khufu and covered in Sah guards and mechanized sentries that were crawling all over its outer hull. Mara could sense me starting to tense up and surfaced beside me.

“Oh, my gods,” she exclaimed tucking in behind me to hide as she did in the beginning.

“They know something about that island, and I’m pretty sure they’re looking for us now that we know about their little secret,” I said engaging my armor.

“Am I in trouble?” Mara asked me innocently.

I thought about that for a second considering what happened.

“Well you DID destroy most of their ships and half or more of their guards,” I replied jokingly.

Mara made her mask transparent and glared at me frowning. I cracked a smile and kissed her forehead on her mask.

“We forgot about the girl we left on top of the great pyramid too,” she said in revelation.

“Damn, you’re right. I forgot all about her,” I turned to Mara cradling her face in my hands. “I won’t let anyone harm you, I promise,” I smiled at her.

“Might as well get this over with,” I said engaging my mask.

We dove back under and followed the river down to the group of palm trees we left at a few days ago. It had decent cover and chances are everyone is in the city at this point with this much ‘God’ activity about.

We got out of the water and darted over to the tree line changing our armor to camouflage against the trees. Another squadron of fighters came blazing past us skimming just above the water. The jet wash kicked up sand and blew the trees back and forth.

Two of the fighters broke off and did a big loop straightening out coming straight at us. We crouched down as the two ships slowed around us hovering and circling the group of trees.

One of them jerked its direction at us as it circled and let out a deep deafening alarm that pulsed on and off in repetition. The rest of its squadron turned back and began to circle us.

“Don’t run Mara, they can see us even with camouflage,” I said stepping out into an open space.

“Yea, but can they catch us?” She replied and burst off running toward the outskirts of the necropolis leaving behind a cloud and wake of sand.

“Mara! No!” I shouted at her, reaching for her but she was gone.

Headed our direction from the city, a squadron of fighters broke off and started to track her following the rooster tail of sand she left behind her. Another dozen or so fighters surrounded my location as three dropships landed just past the trees dropping off a small army of Sah and a pair of Orionak that I did not recognize that started to head in my direction.

“I really hope they know what they are dealing with,” I mumbled under my breath as the Sah stormed through the trees.

They formed a circle around me with their weapons trained on me. The two Orionak cautiously circled around before entering the circle with their hands on their swords.

“I need to see Osiris,” I said holding my hands out to my side trying to be as non-threatening as possible.

Off in the distance the fighters had opened fire and were blasting an area on the side of the city. My mood changed to anger knowing what they were attacking. I clenched my fists and moved into an attack stance focusing on the Orionak. I dropped my mask and showed them my true form exposing my teeth to them snarling.

The moment before I lunged, one of the Orionak raised his hand to me in defense, then keyed his bracer and ordered the fighters to stop their assault. The fighters acknowledged and stopped firing.

“Sorry,” I said to the Orionak nodding to him, then flickering off past them as fast as I could toward the massive debris cloud the fighters had made.

I heard the fighters speed away behind me in pursuit. When I got closer, I could see the area they bombarded swarming with guards. Two of the guards were holding up Mara by her arms, dragging her out of the crater from the assault. She was limp and not moving.

Panic washed over me and surged through my blood pushing me faster. Without stopping, I plowed through two buildings emerging from the other side at full speed slamming into the nearest guard holding her.

He went flying backwards with enough force to decimate three other guards watching and smashing through several buildings losing body parts as he flew along. My skin and appearance changed to that of the Ut’ari and I roared grabbing the other guard and dismembering him tossing limbs at the others.

Mara dropped to the ground and the guards opened fire on me. I weaved in and out of the energy bolts slashing, hacking, and ripping at the guards as I moved through the pack.

A few seconds later, it was over and the blood of the guards covered the ground and surrounding walls. I dashed back over to Mara and knelt next to her casting a shadow over her head and collapsed down her mask, gently smacking her cheek and shaking her trying to arise some signal she is alive.

I quickly grabbed hold of one of the humans that had been nearby when it started now lying in the crater trying to crawl away. I jerked him over near Mara and grabbed the sides of his head removing it and pulling off his forearm.

I dangled the severed limb over Mara and let the blood run into her mouth. The fighters caught up and encircled the crater where I was holding her. The blood filled her mouth and just poured out.

I closed my eyes trying to focus on her to see if I could feel anything. The other guards that were running in to attack stopped in their tracks and began to fall back. I tried to get her to move and drink but to no avail.

A small family huddled next to the broken building began pleading to the Sah and fighters not to shoot, that she had saved them and shielded them from the falling building when the ships opened fire missing her. She saved them and half a dozen others taking the hits from the weapons protecting them.

A very human emotion flooded my body. It was sorrow, despair, and a shattered heart. I pulled her against my chest and squeezed her as tight as I could and started to shake from the agony I was feeling in seeing her die. I began to sob uncontrollably and rocked her back and forth. Although we had only known each other for a few days, our bond felt like an eternity.

She was part of me, and that part was gone now and I could not control my emotions. My skin and armor flickered through different colors and textures as I lost control of my mental focus.

The fighters moved into a circular formation training their weapons down at us and opened fire.