Hybrid: The Awakening

Chapter 26-Tesha

"How could Asher survive...that?" Tristen said as a whisper.

I didn't know. But I wouldn't accept his death until I saw his dead body.

"Come," I told him. "Take me to where you last saw him."

Tristen's breaths started to quicken. He wrapped his arms around himself, shaking his head.

"I can't, I can't, I-"

I put both my hands on his shoulders. With only a second of thought, I pulled him into my arms, hugging him tightly. His entire body shook, and he held onto me like I was the only one keeping him afloat.

In a moment of weakness, I found my own eyes brimming with tears. But I quickly wiped them away. The Chosen, my mission, my friends...they needed me to be strong. To do what I did best.

To lead.

"You can," I said. "You are strong. You are brave. You are a hero." I felt him shaking his head once again and I pulled him away from me, placing my hands gently on his face. "None of that. You have proved all this to be true. We will find him, I just need you to show me where he is, okay? You can do it."

The boy closed his eyes, taking several deep breaths. Eventually, they started to even out. He slowly opened his eyes with a new look of determination. I removed my hands from his face, nodding in reassurance.

"This way."

I followed him to the debri. We had only managed a few steps before two Axones emerged from behind the pile. I reached for my gun; they were two of the four that had sided with General Inugio.

I pointed my weapon at them, finger hovering over the trigger.

"Move out of our way, traitors," I hissed in Axonian.

"You are the one that betrayed us," one of the Axones responded. "Lord Temaku was a fool for ever allowing your kind to live on our planet. We showed our hospitality to you and your mother and in return, you steal our most precious possessions."

"We only did so to protect the Jh'ai from tyrants like your so-called general!" 

"Stop this now, Child of the Stars," the other interrupted. I recognised him from Lord Temaku's guard. The protector had always resented my mother and I. "Our general is on his way to retrieve the Jh'ai from your weaker friend. You two are not permitted to disrupt him."

Tristen looked from me to the other Axones who had pulled out their spears. "What're they saying?" He asked me.

I didn't answer. Rage built up inside my chest. Everything was falling apart. Everything I swore I'd not allow to happen was unfolding in front of my eyes.

But not this time.

Before I could change my mind, I pointed my gun at the Axones' stomachs. It only took two blasts—one for each—for them to fall to the ground, the plasma burning through their torsos.

My arm holding the gun was unsteady as I looked down at the two fallen Axones. I didn't have time to process what I had just done before the weapon was knocked out of my grasp.

"Tesha!" Tristen's voice served as a late warning as yet another Axone wrapped their arm around my neck and yanked me towards them. I scratched at their hands, but their skin was completely covered with Niburan armor.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Tristen fighting off the final traitorous Axone. It ran at him with its spear pointed forward. In a blink of an eye, Tristen transformed and stepped to the side, the long weapon harmlessly grazing off his rough gray skin.