"Can you move freely again?" Xan asked me quietly and I noticed the others looking at us confused. He must have been using my language.
I nodded only slightly, feeling the sensation back in every appendage. The paralyzer had finally worn off.
"Good," he said, "Because I want you to make a run for it."
I felt the rise of anxiety. Run to where? I grabbed his wrist tightly, knowing he could feel my concerns if I did.
"You'll know what to do," he reassured, but it only caused me more panic. How would I know what to do? I didn't know anything!
Suddenly he shot his laser at Alano, but one of the Vykas jumped in front to take the red beam. It absorbed into his chest and the only response he gave was an uninterested grunt.
Alano laughed. "You can't possibly be that stupid."
Xan almost seemed pleased by this response, quickly tapping a button on his gun before firing 4 more shots, each one for a different Vyka.
Alano laughed again, but Xan glanced at Neron, who nodded with a smirk. They held out their palms and suddenly sparks flew from where Xan had shot the beings.
The Vyka growled in discomfort and tried to charge, but the sparks intensified as both Xan and Neron stepped forward, brows furrowing in concentration.
The flashing lights extended out from each being and Xan brought forth his other hand, manipulating the electricity as it reached out from each being in a chained electrical current. His hands orchestrated a symphony of containment, interweaving their confines.
Neron threw his hands out to lasso the four beings to the side, where they growled and hissed like caged animals. Standing in the middle unprotected was Alano, who showed no form of concern.
"You fools," he muttered. "As if I was unprepared for government level Torians."
Torians can manipulate electrical currents.
I remembered Xan's words. So anything with electricity could be manipulated.
Alano reached out his hand and the electric confines began to loosen while the 3 of them had a battle of the minds. The Vykas thrashed and screamed, working with Alano to break free.
Suddenly, red sand from outside began to burst through the doors, as if a massive dust storm had popped up right outside. Before the room became darkened by the ruby sand, I saw in the corner of my eye the woman who was helping Neron standing posed with her hand to the sky. Was she doing this?
The sound of struggling was still evident amongst the Torians even as the blinding sand filtered with flashes of light from manipulated electricity. I heard footsteps running passed me and out the door where the sand blew in. This must have been my moment to run too.
I felt a pang. I didn't want to leave Xan, but he said I would know what to do. I desperately hoped he was right.
I ran forward blindly, holding my hands out to feel anything in the way. My right hand brushed against the doorway and I pressed forward having a slight idea where I was.
I ran outside of the building and found the dust storm was non existent. Turning behind me, it became evident that the sand was both rising from the ground and cascading from the roof to flow inside the building. That woman had to be orchestrating this!
I turned quickly, seeing the golden-haired beings running away from the building.
Suddenly, a large black space ship appeared above. This one looked like a massive fighter jet and it glistened with a reflective coating, forcing me to believe it had been here all along. It lowered and the Roxan man with violet hair started ushering the beings inside quickly. He must have ran outside in the dust storm to help these beings escape. His eyes fell to me, urging me to come along as well, but I hesitated. I couldn't leave Xan.
From behind their ship, another smaller one jetted forward but this one I knew. I recognized it's familiar etchings and round shape. It was Xan's. That's where he wanted me to go!
I ran towards it as it began to lower and the doors opened. He must have been controlling it remotely.
I glanced behind me and saw that the dust had cleared and the Vkya were being thrown outside. Alano ran outside and with a wave of his hand, the Vykas were freed. Xan, Neron and the woman filtered out to confront Alano and his beings. It didn't look good.
One of the Vykas thrust forward, arm raised to strike Xan, but he quickly pressed his palm to the being's chest and it flew backwards, as if touching Xan had electrocuted it. It lay on the ground, twitching, only fueling my hypothesis.
Neron pulled out what looked like the handle of a whip. As a Vyka dove for him, a massive stream of electricity flowed from the handle like a whip and wrapped around the Vyka. It contorted around him like a python and shocked his body.
Neron quickly tossed the being to the side and it,too, was incapacitated like the other. Now two beings remained at Alano's side.
The fight had started to take its toll on Xan and Neron, who both seemed to be standing in their last ounce of strength. Alano appeared energetic and ready for more and with two Vyka remaining the odds weren't good.
Vykas dodged at Xan and Neron and they continued to strike back, pushing them back, but the Vykas kept coming. It seemed that they had expelled too much energy taking out the others and now defensive maneuvers were all that remained.
Storm clouds appeared above them and thunder rumbled. Again, the woman had her arms above. She must have had Roxan traits!
Little bolts of lightning began to strike Alano and his beings, but they only seemed to be a minor annoyance. Nothing was stopping them. There had to be something I could do.
I ran inside Xan's ship and desperately looked around. There had to be something, anything, to help.
My eyes landed on the boxes in the entry way, where I once hid to stow away on the ship. They were covered in labels and symbols I couldn't read. I didn't care. I grabbed one and poured its contents on the floor and rifled desperately for something of use.
There were tools I had never seems and small gadgets whose purposes seemed unknown, but nothing that seemed helped. I dumped another box out. This one was entirely filled with little black cubes. I picked one up and analyzed it. It had a plus and minus symbol on it. Batteries!
I threw them back in the box and ran outside. There were two golden-haired beings outside watching concerned as well, one male and one female. I could tell they wanted to help as well. I motioned then over and they came, seeing what I had in my arms. They smiled and nodded.
We ran towards the fight, Neron was arm to arm with a Vyka and Xan was on his knees, holding one in place with bolts of electricity circling around the Vyka's body. The woman was trying her best to distract Alano with her thunderstorm of war but, he swatted away her lightening strikes with ease. Somehow, he was extremely powerful.
One of the beings grabbed my arm to stop me from running forward anymore. We were close, but still undetected. I looked at him confused and he smiled.
They grabbed the box and sat it down. Both of them held out their hands and I watched in awe as the little battery cubes began to levitate. They focused and drew their hands forward. One by one the cubes floated towards the battle and began to levitate above.
Alano slapped the woman across her face with an arm doused in electric shock. Neron growled and dove at Alano who sent him back with a powerful burst of energy.
"Xan!" I yelled, getting his attention. His eyes drew in our direction while he struggled against the Vykas.
The beings with me pointed above and Xan noticed the batteries. He smiled.
He grunted in ferocity as he threw his hands to the ground and strikes of lightening shot upwards, latching onto the batteries and turning them into explosive balls of electric. Xan stood and threw his arms down, forcing the bombs to strike the entire party.
I gasped in fear as I watch it collide into an electrical storm of violent flashes and red sand. Had he just sacrificed them all?
Suddenly amongst the sand and dust I could see the glimmer of some sort of protective field around Xan, Neron and the woman. I looked at the beings next to me and they were still focused. They held out their hands and suddenly Xan and the others were lifted up and began levitating towards us.
Their faces seemed pained as they brought them before us, but as they both winced in exhaustion the protective field disappeared and the levitation halted.
I knelt down next to a weakened Xan, barely able to pull himself off the ground. He looked at me and his eyes were glassy and the silver seemed to be almost white.
"Xan?" I asked fearfully, unsure of what was happening.
The two beings came over and each helped him up, assisting him to walk.
Neron scooped up the woman and pressed a button on his wrist and suddenly the large space ship came to us. It lowered and the doors opened with a ramp welcoming us inside. We all quickly staggered inside and the beings placed Xan down.
I hurried to him and touched his arm. "Are you okay?" I asked.
He looked at me and his eyes seemed even whiter. "Everything... is fine... Aeris."
Suddenly he collapsed.