Star Crossed: Finding the other - 5. Splashes of Red

Mekaias

Deep breathes.

I can do this.

They think that I feel owned by them.

They do not own me.

I just need to play the part for a little while...I'm nervous.

I am walking down the streets towards King Talemo’s palace.

Aileta has paid off some dancer to escort me there. She thought it would be best to be chained to not bring huge suspicion from walking in on my own.

I decided to wear some fancy underwear that is somewhat see through.

My mind had thought it best to try and make myself presentable to the King.

It would be best to try and seduce him to get closer.

We arrive in the the nicer side of the city and already the people are giving me looks of disgust.

They sometimes even spit in my direction.

That doesn’t exactly faze me.

What does, however, is the looks from their slaves following behind them. They give me looks of pity. They see my tattoos. The symbol of the king on my cheek.

Being a sex slave is considered the worst job to have.

One under the king is seen as even scarier in their eyes.

I look up and see the gate separating the palace from everyone else.

I feel like a hand is squeezing my stomach as we get closer and closer.

I haven’t been in the palace in years, but the memories have not blurred away yet.

The dancer is just about to talk to the guard, when suddenly he is pushed aside and the guard grabs for me.

I almost fight back but that would ruin this whole plan.

I did struggle a little to hopefully seem helpless.

As I am being dragged by two guards into the palace, I keep my head down from all the stares from the other guards.

I hear them whispering to themselves, calling me names or saying things they want to do to me.

One thing that sticks out to me is murderer.

I don’t remember ever killing anyone before.

I wouldn’t necessarily count the man in the mind projection.The spirit did that.

I'm questioning the last few years until I am grabbed by the chin and harshly made to look upward.

The dark eyes of King Talemo look down at me.

His blonde hair frames his face in a way that makes feel a lot larger than normal.

He’s rather tall for a human; possibly had some form of experimentation done to him.

I know those humans love to change themselves physically.

He smiles with full teeth and the look in his eyes seem to change into some kind of mix between anger and lust?

Either way, from the way his fingers are twitching against my face, I can tell he already wants to have his “playtime” as he calls it.

I only then realize that it’s been dead silent now until I hear Demetrius call to the King in English.

I know of some English. Still a bit rusty unfortunately with no one to speak to.

Demetrius whispers into Talemo’s ear, yet they are both staring at me.

It sends a small shiver down my spine.

“Take him to the cells,” Demetrius says to the guards holding me, “I would like to prepare the cat for tonight.”

The King stares after me with a smile as I am dragged off behind a set of doors.

So much for seducing him to get close.

~~
~~

Norian

One week later

We have been sent to a small planet named Utrio.

Me and my squad are sitting in the small conference room waiting for the Director to give us our orders.

Remy and George are talking while playing some game on their phones. Remelia is making upgrades and changes to her guns as per usual.

I am busy with a headache and staring out the window as we are orbiting around the small yellow planet.

There is barely any water on it. There are a few patches of blue but I am not sure if it is even safe to drink.

There is only one city on the planet so I am going to assume that the population isn’t quite that large.

Normally I would be excited to explore on the surface, we even learned some humans live here so it's safe not to wear our helmets!

Sadly my head is killing me ever since we got here.

Took some pain meds but apparently those did absolutely nothing!

The door slides open and the Director walks in. He goes over to dim the lights and sets up a video to play.

Then he stands there waiting for everyone’s attention.

I flick a finger against Remy’s head and both, he and George immediately shut up and look towards the Director.

“Today we are on a rescue mission,” He begins, “there is a alien that we are to retrieve and hopefully recruit into our squad.”

I raise an eyebrow at that and see Remelia stop tinkering with her weapons.

“I believe they would be a great benefit to us with any missions that needs a more stealthy method for it to be successful.”

I feel a little bit of my ego drop at that.

I know together we aren’t exactly a quiet squad and yeah we use big loud weapons against Firelight, but we usually get the mission done!

We haven’t had a new recruit since our old pilot died from getting gunned down during a firelight raid.

Having someone new will be quite interesting.

I will be fine with them only if they know to follow with my orders and stay in line.

George is already a struggle sometimes so I'd rather not have another problem.

“I am afraid we do not know where he is staying as of now. We do know that his name is Mekaias. After I show you this video on the monitor, George will bring us down to the entrance of the city. I have put a map on your small monitors that will lead you to a club that should have seen him."

Hearing that kind of brings my hopes down.

How the hell are supposed to find this mysterious Mekaias? Finding someone who visits a club doesn't make a great start.

It is a small planet but it is still big enough to hide in.

"I am aware that you most likely won’t understand a thing on this planet which is why I will be joining you.”

My eyebrows rise hearing that!

“You’re joining us?” Remy asks in bewilderment.

The Director has never joined us on a mission! Not even when we recruited George!

“Yes I am," He grins. "I received this video and decided that I would personally vouch for him to the other directors. I will help translate what I can and when it is done, we will be on our way home. Any questions?”

At the silence that answers for him, he clicks the play button.

A sort of prison cell comes up on the screen, large yellow bricks making up the walls and floor.

In the middle is what I am guessing is the recruit.

He is dressed rather weird for a prisoner.

He is wearing black see through harem pants with some chains of gold covering his thighs. He wears a top with two straps of black cloth that wrap around his shoulders. Gold jewelry hangs and crosses over his torso from one cloth to the other. He also wears a black and gold head-wrap with a mask that covers the lower half of his face.

He seems like a regular human to me from what I can tell.

I do notice however, he has these sort of pale lines like a tiger on his arms and hips. They stick out from his tan skin.

All thoughts of him being human are thrown to the side when I see him move his legs.

Mekaias appears to have cat paws for feet. He has black fur that covers from his feet and stops to the middle of his shins.

Definitely not Human!

He stands as someone opens the door to his cell.

There is no audio for this video unfortunately.

A tall human comes out and walks close to the prisoner.

He starts rubbing a hand along the recruit's side and is about to reach in front.

Suddenly a dark purple blade is shoved into the human's head, the tip sticking out of his skull.

His body falls forward against the smaller person.

The recruit pushes the body aside and stands there staring down at the body.

The human’s blood has gotten onto his skin, staining it red.

He takes a deep breath, crouches low then starts to sneak out of the cell.

As he disappears, there is a flick of static on the screen before it reveals a new camera placement.

Someone got in the camera footage to record this person.

~~
~~

Mekaias

One week ago

...I killed one!

I stabbed Demetrius in the face as he was telling me all the nasty things he wanted to do to me.

His warm, red blood rubbed against my face and chest as he slid down to the ground.

I was in shock for a moment...just with the knowledge that I have killed a living being.

It felt too easy. It was still one of the monsters though. It felt too good, like a weight lifting off of me.

I take a deep breath and get low to the ground to stay as quiet as I can.

Time to get find King Talemo’s room now.

I look out the cell and find it is clear of any guards.

I walk out and make my way towards the door to leave.

A few voices call out to me.

Reaching the door only makes their pleas grow louder.

I sigh and turn back.

I find the ring of keys on a hook against the wall and throw them into a occupied cell.

“Release everyone and wait for others to come in and save you,” I say and walk back to leave.

They all give their thanks and I head out the door.

I’m now out in a hallway but still no guards.

Did they release the guards today? Surely they aren’t meant to leave this entire area unsupervised.

I wipe some blood off of my eyebrow and go to the end with a stairwell.

I climb slowly and carefully, taking my time.

Laughter comes from above me.

When I near the door towards the source, I carefully push the door open enough to peek in.

A few guards are sitting around drinking and playing some card game at a table in the middle of the room.

A slave is busy serving drinks as fast as she can, her four arms somehow being more of a hazard than anything at the small bar.

There are only three of them sitting at the table.

Should be easy enough.

I take a deep breath and then barge through the door.

I throw two knives that find their marks in a guard’s neck and another’s head.

I pounce over the table while the other guard is still surprised, pushing him onto the ground with my knees on his chest. I quickly make another set of two knives and stab them into the sides of his head.

Standing up and letting out a shaky breath, I look back at the working slave expecting her to scream or even having to fight her off as well.

Instead, she stares at me with wide eyes and then a big grin slips onto her face.

I nod to her and get up to move on.

I open a door a little too loud, a bit cocky from the kills before.

Because of that, a guard immediately gets up and ready to fight me.

I summon a long staff and lunge forward.

I teleport during the lunge, coming up behind him and swinging one end at him, using the momentum of the lunge to hit harder.

As it is about to hit, a blade forms and falls onto his head and cutting down the middle of his skull.

He falls to the floor and I turn to keep moving on again.

I open another door and find it filled with crates and machines that I’ve never seen before.

I slip in and hop over a few boxes as quietly as I can.

Something I notice is that a lot of these have that fire picture that my Mother's killer has.

Not wanting to be in this room anymore, I hurry and reach the door on the other side, pressing my ear to the door to listen.

A guard sighs just outside the door.

When I slip the door open slightly, I see that he is alone.

He dies fast with a blade into the neck and I walk out into what finally looks familiar to me.

The hall goes up a few stairs and leads straight to the King’s room.

Sadly that is guarded with about six guards who are always on high alert to protect their King.

I crouch low at the stairs to peek into the hall where the guards all stand at the sides; never moving except to switch with other guards who take their place.

I take a deep breath and start walking forward in a limp, using the blood as a trick to seem that I am injured.

"Help me, please!" I call out.

Two guards immediately come towards me.

One comes to my side to help me walk and the other tries to talk to me asking me what happened. I kick him down in his crotch and he falls over onto his knees in front of me. I grab onto the other guard’s arm by my side and jump off the downed guard’s back, flipping over the helping guard and landing on his shoulders.

I begin pulling hard on his arm, using some power to make the pull stronger.

Soon I hear a popping noise and he falls to the ground. I stab him in the back of the neck and then stab the other guard as he looks up at me in confusion.

The four other guards start running towards me with their weapons drawn.

Quickly, I summon a bunch of knives and throw them at their heads, killing one immediately and wounding another.

As two reach me, I summon two blades and teleport above the wounded one behind them.

As I fall on top of the wounded guard, I push the blades into his back and he falls down dead.

The two guards who chased for me look around for me confusion. I use that moment to throw a knife into the back of one of the guards' heads.

The final guard faces me and seems scared now, looking behind him as if he wishes to run.

I teleport behind him and stab him in the back with two blades.

He falls to the floor and I walk to the King’s door.

I expected to maybe see the King try and use a surprise attack on me, or maybe even just be standing with a weapon ready to fight me.

What I didn’t expect was to see him in an undone robe, rocking into a sex slave underneath him on the bed.

He does stop when I walk towards him slowly.

He gets up and grabs a knife from a food tray by the foot of the bed, pulling it to the slaves neck.

“Stay there or I will kill this slave,” He says, pushing the blade ever so slightly into her neck, drawing a line of blood.

I freeze and stand in the middle of his room.

He starts walking towards me but keeping the slave locked up close to him. The slave is in tears and trying not to move too slow or far in hopes of not getting cut.

“So what is it you expect to do here," King Talemo grins. "Kill me? Set everyone in your little city free from me?”

He starts circling around me, knowing I won’t move with the slave in his hands.

“Answer me, Alentian.”

He doesn’t shout at all! He’s too damn calm! How could he be calm right now?

“You took me away from my friends and family for ten years,” I say, surprised at the almost growl like sound in my voice, “used me for years to abuse and torture. After a few years you start to want to fight back.”

“So it took you ten years?" He laughs.

"I must say I am a little sad this is how you repay me. From what I remember,” He comes close behind me and whispers in my ear, “you seemed to enjoy some moments with me.”

I shiver and grit my teeth.

I so badly want to kill him right now, but I don't want to risk him killing the girl.

“You would beg me to help you get release, pushing back into my touches,” He runs his hand down my back to my butt. “Come on now, you’re mine. Come back to me to play.”

I internally scream and close my eyes shut tight.

I shouldn't listen! Why is my body yielding?

“Come be my perfect toy. That is what you are, my sweet canvas.” He kisses my shoulder and I feel my eyes begin to water.

I yelp as I am shoved and pinned to the ground.

I immediately try and fight back.

I look to my side and see the slave’s face, blood spilling from her lips.

I gasp and turn away, trying to get the King off of me!

“Stop fighting me!” King Talemo shouts.

I refuse to listen and keep struggling against him.

I feel a blade cut across the middle of my back and I scream.

“Yes! Sing for me my pet.”

I feel some of the jewelry slide off my back, as well as my blood begin to spill.

I hiss through my teeth as a sharp pain cuts along my thigh, cutting the fabric of the pants.

When the knife digs a bit deeper into my skin, I wail in pain!

As I scream, a burst of violet light goes off above me and fades away instantly.

The weight above me is gone and I see King Talemo on his back gasping for breath on the floor.

I jump over immediately and straddle his chest.

I summon a blade then swing it down.

He can only manage to get out a scream before my blade meets his face.

It falls down on him over and over. Each time representing a year away from everyone. Each representing a slice this monster has cut into me. All for each and every rape. Each representing each call my mother made to me as I was being dragged away from her. Each one for the people I have lost.

I feel hot blood spraying in every direction as I lift the blade up. It completely covers me, save for my face, hair, and legs. The floor has become a puddle of red around me.

I feel my tears coming out, but I can’t stop swinging down.

My vision is blurry but each splash of red doesn't feel like it is enough!

His face is barely recognizable anymore, it has become a slab of bloody meat that has been cut up and ruined.

I finally stop and fall onto my back beside him, not carrying for the blood puddle.

I am so tired, I desperately need rest.

With a sigh, I wipe at my face and then stand.

I’m not completely finished.

I walk over to the window, breaking it open.

Looking over to the gate, I sigh and then look at the dead King.

I take a deep breath and jump out the window.

~~
~~

Norian

We were all talking throughout most of the video; mostly commenting at parts the recruit was teleporting, but when he started butchering that Firelight Captain we all grew silent.

Clearly this was not a mission. It was something more personal.

We see him jump out the window and create a glowing purple rope to swing over onto a giant barrier.

He kills two guards before pulling a lever that opens a gate.

As soon as it was open enough, people began pouring in.

The people wearing ragged clothing and holding up different weapons, even guns.

They began their storming of the palace.

A bloody Mekaias is seen walking past them all into the city.

The video then ends with static and a black screen.

The room is silent for awhile; everyone staring at their hands or blank monitors.

The Director stands.

“Lets go get him shall we?”