The shadow of the presence that hovered around the fog vanished in an instant. There was a loud murmur between the soldiers, confusion and panic arose from each of them. The situation was highly unpredictable, not even the top Commanders knew what to do.
"Where did it go?"
"Are the Venusians still there?"
I stood still, staring at the fog, waiting for him.
"He's teleporting."
Rendevel turned to me in confusion. Nevertheless he didn't say a word or two before switching his laser gun for a sniper.
"He's not. I can still see him, switch to heat vision." he spoke without leaving his sight from the sniper lens.
I turned my eyes back at the fog, wielding my heat vision to sense the presence. As much as I wished he was wrong, the group of Venusians were able to blend themselves well in the fog, but they couldn't escape the clutches of heat vision.
"Fire!" Rendevel shouted.
The war cry of the soldiers ran loudly, each of them scattering and running towards the fog, shooting aimlessly on the Venusians. I grabbed my gun and aimed for a close creature across me. Strangely, the bullet hit right on the center of his body, but it didn't stumble nor falter, it standing upright and walking in a synchronized rhythm towards the soldiers.
"The bullets are useless." I muttered in anger, I threw the gun and sighed. I clasped my arms and forced energy through my palms, my powers had awoken a dark force nearby, the Shadow Dragon. My summon startled my fellow soldiers, who were staring in awe of the swift moving creature.
"No, Lydia stop!" a loud voice rang in my ear.
"Raid?" I growled in a husky tone. All of a sudden the dragon turned to me, offensively charging through the other soldiers without mercy. I was stunned, Raid's powers were stronger than I had expected. However, as the summoner of a dark force, I was the only one capable of whisking him away. Suddenly, the dragon disappeared in an instant, its roar leaving traces of him before leaving the battle zone. I walked carefully towards his last position, scared but curious in the same time.
Without a warning, a strong force appeared out of nowhere. It created a huge black hole, sucking everything around it.
"Damn, it's too powerful!" I muttered as I pulled myself away as far as I could. A strong presence walked towards me, crumbling the ground and turning rocks into pebbles as he walked past them. He shut the hole and strangled me to the last rock nearby. He pushed my neck towards the tree, choking me as strong as he could.
I quickly jumped to escape his strangle, but even my powers wasn't a match for his.
"You... you... princess..."
"Raid, get a hold of yourself!" I pleaded in a quivering voice. His eyes, as white as snow reminded me of myself during my slavery age. I stared continuously on him and pulled his hand away from my neck as hard as I could.
"You...you..." he stuttered as he revealed his fangs, showing his attempt to scare me.
"I told you to get out of him!" I screamed as loud as I could, using my dark powers to control his muscle tone,
"Lydia... I..." He cried as he collapsed in my arms. The fog disappeared, and so did the invisible Venusians. The crowd gathered around us, watching his eyelids closed as he gave us one last smile.
***
After a few hours, Raid finally managed to regain his consciousness. He carefully moved his fingers into mine as I fell asleep beside him. I quickly stood back straight, rubbing my eyes rashly before placing them quickly on my lap.
"Thank you... Earlier, I was just—"
"I knew what you were dealing with, I had those same voices ringing in my head when I was in slavery, shocking you and burning you was the only way to burn the chip planted into your ear. A nano-bug sent by the controller found its way to you and planted the chip into your back ear."
He sighed in relief, resting his back against the bed as he fell back asleep. All of a sudden I noticed a bright glowing object hanging off the table nearby, I quickly bent over and picked it up. The bright stone was glowing violet. The gently carved butterfly symbol emphasized the beauty within. But, there was a slight crack.
"Don't open it!" Raid screamed.
"I was just—"
"Don't wear or even touch that, it's dangerous and only I can wear it. It freezes the heart of its host to the temperature where only Pagosdurestelians can survive. By freezing the heart it boosts up your strength, stamina, speed, and even your inner darkness."
"But why is there a little crack?"
"I tried breaking it using The Snowy Stalactite from Planet Pagos. It only caused a scratch on the stone proving that it was indestructible."
I quickly placed the stone back on the table. I brushed off my hair and returned to my seat.
"This stone... where did you find it?"
"I was born with it. I guess. I've had it since I was a child, but the voices started appearing when I was ten."
"I heard the voices too, but I never had or saw a pendant like yours." I replied as I rubbed my forehead.
"The voices, maybe they are connected to the base materials of the pendant?"
"Well, I never had any jewelry when I was ten. I was poor, thrown into slavery."
"You never had any bracelets? Tracking device? Or maybe ear rings?"
"Nope."
"I guess—"
"Except for my ear piercing. It was placed when I was in slavery, there was a small diamond carved into it, I guess maybe you're right."
"Whatever that is, we have to find where they came from, before I return into my Dark form, Lydia you have to save me."
"I'll try, but you're not in the position to leave the hospital."
"I can teleport us out of here though, let's go."
"No way! The doctor said you injured your spine, by summoning an army of Venusians, you've overdone yourself. Rest assured. I'll find a way to escape."
"Hurry!" He shouted as I walked to the door.
Outside the room, the soldiers were running around, patrolling the area. Colonel Rick was there, apparently. I slid through behind the army of soldiers and went to his side.
"How is he?" He whispered.
"A few spine fractures, a few wounds, a pain in the ass necklace."
"What necklace?" He curiously replied.
"Hold on, don't tell me you never noticed the butterfly pendant he wore since he was a kid, I thought you were his Dad?"
"He never had any pendant, are you sure you're not making things up?"
"I would never—" I was about to yell when I quickly covered my mouth. I started to realize that the voices I had were somehow illusions that disappeared when I'm not in my shadow form, but still, no one noticed them other than me. Perhaps they were linked to the source of my powers?
"Lydia!"
"Huh? Oh, yes Sir!" I stuttered.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I was just... I've got to go..."
"Lydia, wait!" His voice trailed as I ran back to the room in panic.
"It can't be, he can't reveal it here..." I mumbled as I ran as fast as I could back to Raid's room.
End of Book One