Date on Earth: Wednesday, October 4th
I hated Axones.
"Hated" was a strong word. One that I didn't use lightly. In fact, I had never really hated anything before.
But the gray creatures deserved my hate. They had ruined everything.
Just a few days ago, the Axones were my friends. My family. Even though my skin wasn't gray and my eyes weren't purple, I felt like I was one of them.
My mother felt that way too, and she had ended up losing her life all while giving me one mission: to find the ones on Earth chosen by the Jh'ai. Which seemed impossible, considering the vast size of the green and blue planet.
The rage I felt when I had watched her ship being blown to bits was unlike anything I had ever experienced. If I could've controlled the escape pod, I knew I would have flown the ship straight into the Jh'ai Protector ships and destroyed them all single handedly.
I will avenge you. I had said it in the heat of the moment, and I still intended to keep the promise. I would wear the words as if it were tattooed onto my skin.
Even so, I had to remind myself through the anger that not all the Axones were horrible creatures. In fact, six of them had helped with my mother's mission to keep the Jh'ai out of their hands.
But my heart didn't seem to use logic in its feelings.
While I was descending to the ground, the pod malfunctioned. I had tried to eject myself and override the controls, but it was no use. By the time the parachute had ejected, it was too late.
The last thing I remembered was the ground rushing towards me.
After what felt like years, I started to wake up, loud voices echoing in my ears.
"Guys, she's waking up!" I managed to translate one of the voices. My mother had taught me the human language English-her native language-while on Nibura.
I heard footsteps coming my way. My breath quickened and fear threatened to overtake me. Out of pure instinct, I sat up straight and pulled out my gun, pointing it at the three humans that stood in front of me.
They were frozen in place, eyes wide. My breath caught when I saw the three humans, the only ones I had seen besides my mother.
The humans had their hands in the air, showing that they were unarmed.
"Great, we save her and bring her in, and the first thing she does is pull a gun on us," the shortest one with red hair muttered.
"It's okay," the human that towered over all three of them said gently. "We're not gonna hurt you."
"Yeah, I actually saved you. You're welcome by the way." The skinny boy wore a grin, despite the gun pointed at his small body.
I didn't lower my weapon, worried that it may be all a trick.
"Can she not hear us?" the redhead said. She yelled at me, "Hey! We just saved your sorry butt, so you can put the weird weapon down now!"
I kept my gun up.
The tall one shrugged. "Maybe she doesn't understand English."
"Don't worry, I got this." The skinny boy showed his empty hands. "We," he pointed to himself and the two kids behind him, speaking slowly. "Do not want to hurt you."
I debated whether or not to believe the boy. They seemed innocent enough, but I knew how deceiving looks could be.
Hesitantly, I lowered it, deciding to take a chance.
The skinny boy crossed his arms smugly. "See? Told you."
"I can understand you," I said. The three humans started. The language sounded strange on my tongue, but the kids still managed to make out the words.
"Well," the tall boy seemed out of words. "Should make things easier."
The skinny boy moved towards me suddenly, tempting me to pull out my gun again. "Woah, I've never heard an accent like that before. Where are you from?"
I opened my mouth to come up with a response.
The short girl interrupted me, also getting closer. "If I had to guess? India."
The skinny boy shook his head. "No, that isn't an Indian accent. Besides, I found her in a weird spaceship thing. If she's from anywhere, it would be Mars."
"You found her in a spaceship?"
"Guys," the tall boy pushed the two humans back. "Give the girl some space." He turned back to me, smiling apologetically. "Sorry 'bout them. They can be insensitive at times."
The short girl glared. "I'll show you insensitive, Unicorn Boy." Turning around with a dramatic flare, she grabbed my wrist and I pointed my gun at her. She rolled her eyes. "Relax, I'm just checking your injuries."
I shifted uncomfortably as she observed me. Then I noticed a symbol on her wrist. I gasped.
"Je Kinshe sies," I whispered.
The redhead lifted an eyebrow. "What was that?"
"The Chosen ones," I translated, a large grin forming on my face. "You are one of the Chosen."
I couldn't believe it. There I was, fretting that I wouldn't be able to find them, just to be saved by one.
"Chosen?" the skinny boy said. "What do you mean by chosen?"
I took a deep breath, trying to control my excitement. "Her arm," I pointed to the short girl's wrist, "is imprinted with the mark of the Jh'ai, which only appears when it chooses you."
The two boys looked at each other. "In that case," the skinny boy showed his own wrist. "I guess we're all chosen then."
I stared dumbfounded at the three humans. All three Chosens. All in one place. Rumors of the Jh'ai and its inimaginable wisdom and power were always constantly spread on Nibura. But only now did I truly believe that they had such powers. Somehow, it had known the future and had chosen the three humans that would save me.
Confidence swelled up in my chest. If nothing else, fate was on my side.
The tall boy shook his head. "The cubes chose us? How's that possible? And why me?"
"Uh, you have no right to ask that question when I was literally blind," the redhead said.
"Not like it's a competition or anything, but I couldn't walk. So I think I'm the one most qualified to ask the question of why whatever-the-girl-called-it thought I'd be useful," the skinny boy stated.
"The Jh'ai work in mysterious ways," I told them. "Even on the planet Nibura, they tended to gravitate more towards creatures that struggled. We were always told that it was because the ones that had to fight their whole life were stronger than the rest of us."
"I knew it!" The skinny boy cheered, pointing at me. "You're not from Earth!"
"Nibura?" the tall boy said. "Where's Nibura?"
I shrunk back a little, not yet sure how much I trusted them. Yes, the Jh'ai had picked them, but that didn't mean they did not have potential for evil. I would know.
"It is very far away," I answered vaguely.
"No dip Sherlock," the short girl muttered. She rolled her sleeves down and looked at me. "You sounded so excited when we turned out to be the Chosen. Why is that?"
"It is my mission," I said. "I was to find the three Jh'ai and their hosts."
The skinny boy scrunched up his nose. "You make it sound like a parasite."
"Its relationship is very similar," I agreed, ignoring his look of disgust. "I was sent here to protect them and teach them the responsibilities that come with being one of the Chosen."
"Protect us from what?" the tall boy asked, a slight waver in his voice.
"There are many things," I responded. "As a host, you are each in possession of one of the Jh'ai. They are very powerful, and creatures from all over the galaxy will be looking to obtain them. It is now your job to use the abilities it has given you to keep it safe."
The redhead groaned. "Oh, so almost dying once wasn't enough? Fantastic. Might as well prepare my grave since there's no way I'm surviving another monster attack."
The skinny boy swung his arm around the short girl's shoulders. "Well, now you have us. Together we shall be unstoppable!" He pumped up his fist, as if he had just won a big victory.
Another one? A chill ran down my spine as I focused on the other girl's words. Had other aliens already tracked down their location? I was supposed to have some time to teach them before they were in any immediate danger.
But if they were already being hunted...
I had to find Zogi, and fast.
"There is a creature here that we need to find," I told the three. "He is a Zygot, and is also from Nibura. He will help us."
The tall boy swayed with his hands in his pockets. "Do you know where he is?"
The question destroyed my little bit of confidence, but I regained my posture. "No. All I know is that his kind lives underground."
The redhead snorted. "Hate to break it to you, but that hardly narrows it down."
"She's right," the tall boy agreed. "Earth is huge. Plus, we don't have good technology to see underground."
"Well...on the bright side," the skinny blond boy started, "we don't have to worry about him being under water. I mean, could you imagine if we had to search the whole entire ocean?"
"Yeah, because searching for an alien underground is so much easier," the redhead retorted.
The hopelessness of the situation started to weigh down on me. They were right. Earth was huge; it was much bigger than Nibura. And Zogi could be anywhere on it.
"What's so important about finding this zygote anyways?" the blond boy asked me, catching me off guard.
"They are called Zygots," I corrected him. "And he can decipher the markings on each of your wrists, something only his kind can do."
There was a moment of silence. Then the tall boy said, "Thought we all had the same tattoo."
"Look again," I took the two boys' wrists and compared them to one another. I pointed to a spot on it. "See the curves? The differences are small, but every little unique marking tells something different."
"Like your fate?" the skinny boy asked.
A light smile came across my face. "Nothing that specific. It tells the host's potential for good or bad, and other vague things that are hidden deep inside oneself."
That was why I needed to let Zogi read the humans before I could even think about trusting them. Knowing their potential for good or bad would give me a better judgement of their character, preventing me from making the same mistakes as Lord Temaku.
Lord Temaku was one of the Axones that helped care for me on Nibura. As the Niburan king, he had a large amount of power, which was the only thing keeping the Axones from banishing me and my mother from the planet. He had trusted the Jh'ai above everything, so when the Jh'ai had made a questionable choice choosing a power-hungry Axone to be its host, the king made no effort to stop the merging.
Even when the host proved unstable and dangerous, Lord Temaku showed a blind eye to the problem, believing that the Jh'ai would never make a mistake in their choosing.
And yet, the host had planned to steal the three remaining Jh'ai, then planned to take over the entire solar system. And he would have succeeded, if my mother hadn't stolen the remaining three first.
There was just too large a possibility that another monster like that could arise from the great power given to them. No longer could the Jh'ai be trusted to choose the right beings to protect them. The hosts must be regulated to ensure they are the right fit, and that they won't misuse their abilities.
I scavenged my mind for ideas. Surely there had to be a way the undertaking of finding Zogi would not seem so impossible. After all, my mother had given me this mission, and she wouldn't have done it if it wasn't possible.
Unless she wasn't thinking straight at the time...
I banned the thought from my mind. No, my mother was always level headed. Nothing was able to faze her. If she told me to do something, then she was sure I could do it.
Think, Tesha. Think.
I closed my eyes, ignoring all other distractions. I let my mind work, an answer starting to take shape.
"Of course!" I exclaimed in Axonian. The three Earthens looked at me strangely, and I blushed.
"I need to get back to my ship," I said, switching back to English. "All the escape pods are given the same programming. It tells them to land in a certain spot and stores all orders ever given to them."
"If they all get the same orders where to land," the tall boy interrupted, "won't they crash into each other?"
"No, the ships have a built in sensor that prevents them from bumping into each other. If they were all to deploy at the same time, they would land side by side," I explained.
I continued on without any more interruptions. "Zogi arrived in an escape pod. If I can find the coordinates that the pods were set to the day he departed, then we will know where he landed."
"Can you find the coordinates?" the tall boy asked skeptically.
I stood up and dusted myself off, flinching as I grazed my wounds. "It shouldn't be too difficult. It may take a few tries to guess the correct password, but the process should be fairly simple."
"You think you can find her ship again?" the tall boy said to the other boy.
The skinny boy smiled confidently. "No doubt about it, but first-" he extended his arm to me, "-we haven't even introduced ourselves! I'm Asher, the tall kid over there is Tristen, and the pessimistic girl next to him is Diana."
I shook his hand, recalling that the gesture was one way Earthens welcomed each other. "I'm Tesha. It is nice to meet you all."
"Well then," the short girl who I now knew was Diana, said. "Now that that's cleared up, can we go?"
The blonde boy, Asher, sighed melodramatically. "If it is such a 'life and death' matter, then I guess."
He scanned the forest; for the first time I noticed how he leaned on a stick for support.
"Okay, so I was standing right there," he pointed right next to a pile of sticks, "and went that way."
"I still don't get why you even left in the first place," Diana muttered.
Asher shrugged. "Just...a healthy curiosity."
"Oh, so your 'healthy curiosity' caused you to walk blindly into a forest and bump into a dying girl?"
He rocked back and forth. "...yes?" Asher then flinched, grasping his head. Tristen rushed to his side.
"Hey, you good?" the tall boy asked. Asher refocused and closed his eyes before responding. "Yeah, my head just hurts a little. That's all."
Without saying another word, Asher walked into the trees, the rest of us trailing behind him.
...
"Woah, it really is a spaceship," Diana said in awe. The two boys also observed the ship, astonished.
Asher walked around it, peering inside. "It looks so much cooler in the light."
I shrugged, not seeing how the escape pod was anything special. It didn't have any pretty details like the ships of the Jh'ai Protectors, and there was barely enough room inside to stand up. Not to mention the scratches it had from the crash and the broken door.
Walking forward, I ducked my head inside and crawled my way in, being careful to avoid getting cut from the debri. I sat in front of a small screen with a keyboard of Axonian letters.
I tried guessing a few passwords, typing key words that were common among the Axones. Unsurprisingly, the screen didn't unlock.
"See if you can find a note. Somewhere here should be one that states the password," I told the three. Turning around, I looked under broken ship pieces, searching for a small slip of paper from a Kesie Tree. Hoping that the note policy applied to all spacecrafts.
"This it?" Tristen said, holding up a small slip of milky pink paper. "Don't know what it says, but-"
"Yes!" I exclaimed, "That's it. Thank you." I took the note from him and read the symbols. My eyes started to water as I translated what it said.
"Starburst." It was a strange word, a nickname my mother had given me as a small child. She had said it was her favorite treat while she lived on Earth, and promised one day to take me to Earth to try one. Of course, neither of us could have known she would die before we had time to do so.
I forced the thoughts out of my head and typed in the password, determined to not fall into the downward spiral of grief.
The screen lit up, and Axonian letters filled it. I went through its history, reading all the coordinates it had been set to. The more I scrolled, the more confused I became. And the more hopeful.
"All these coordinates are the same," I said to myself. "It hasn't been updated in ages."
"That's a good thing, right?" Tristen asked. "Must've landed in the same spot as us."
Hearing the thought out loud made me feel giddy. "Yes, it is a very good thing. Zogi should be close."
"Unless he moved," Diana mumbled. I shook my head.
"Zygots are not ones for travel," I stated, allowing the feeling of hope to swelter in my chest. "Most likely he would find a place to stay no more than a mile away from his escape pod."
"Still, how we gonna find him if he's underground?" Tristen asked.
I turned to Asher, waiting for him to put in his positive input. But the boy was distracted, running his fingers through his hair and closing his eyes. He tapped his foot furiously and a drop of sweat fell down his face.
"Asher?" I said gently. "Are you alright?"
He snapped open his eyes and massaged his temples. "Yeah, I'm fine." He took a deep shaky breath before a guilty look came across his face. "Actually, no. I'm not. This place isn't safe. I think we should go back to the campsite before something bad happens."
We all looked at him in confusion. "Uh, not to be blunt Smiles," Diana said, "but I think you need to get some sleep to clear your head."
"This isn't a joke!" Asher snapped, the first time I had heard him raise his voice.
"Asher, being one of the Chosen is stressful, I understand," I tried to calm him. "But you can't succumb to the fear."
Asher was fuming. "I'm not-" he bent over, grasping his head and groaning.
"They're here," he gasped through breaths. "They're here."
"Who's here?" Tristen questioned.
The response was interrupted by a loud BOOM! from behind, causing us to fall to the ground. A bright blast shot from above us, destroying a large oak tree.
Asher cursed. "I told you guys," he muttered.
I turned around, pointing my gun. My breath quickened as I came face to face with a huge Jh'ai Protector ship, intimidating as ever.
"Run!" I yelled to the others. Without hesitation, they darted into the trees, flinching when another purple blast was shot.
My mind was racing as I ran. How did they find us so fast? How had they gotten reinforcements?
Did they know I was still alive?
Visions of me in a cell, bleeding from toture, filled my mind. No doubt would I be charged with the punishment of death if I were caught. I was a wanted fugitive. A traitor. My young age wouldn't offer me any safety during a trial. I had played a part in stealing the Axone's most sacred artifacts, and no one could avoid punishment for that.
Of course, there was still a possibility that they weren't here for me and assumed I was dead, since they had destroyed the ship I was on.
The reminder gave me the temptation to turn around and blast the cursed ship with everything I had, but I knew that wouldn't accomplish anything. All I could do was run away and survive. I would attack them when the time was right.
Branches scratched and slapped me as I concentrated on running. Tristen and Diana were far ahead, while Asher trailed behind. He was struggling to keep up, having to use his stick occasionally to prevent him from falling.
I hooked my arm around his, offering support. Together we picked up pace, focusing on each step and making sure to duck when we heard an explosion.
Suddenly the forest cleared, revealing miles of grassy hills with no cover.
No.
We turned around to run back inside the shelter of trees, but the Axone ship blocked the way.
My heart thumped loudly as the ship landed smoothly on the ground. There was a loud hissing noise and a ramp extended forward.
A tall creature took a step on it, revealing its half-shaved head and body covered with tattoos.
I was frozen in place. Its purple eyes found mine and smiled. A spine-chilling cold smile.
"Ms. Aster." the creature said simply. More Axones appeared from behind him.
It was General Inugio.
The most arrogant and power-hungry Axone in existence.
The fourth Chosen one.