16. Chapter 16
Josiah
Istood with King Kian at the command deck. The captain of the ship swiftly tapped away at the buttons on the panel.
“The hatch is released. They should be able to go out momentarily,” the captain explained.
“Thanks, I should probably head that way. Vina won’t be happy if I try to hide away in here,” I chuckled.
“She might try to fight you,” Veshkru laughed.
“Oh, don’t worry, my friend. She almost carved me a new asshole the last time I saw her,” I said, as I thought back to her flipping around me like a lethal gymnast.
We moved our way toward the hatch, when I heard the shrillest sound I’ve ever heard in my entire existence. The sound broke me. I knew exactly where it had come from and my body moved on its own toward it. Toward her.
Veshkru was flanking my left as we sprinted toward the exit. That was when I saw it. My entire body froze as I took in the sight in front of me. The blood. There was so much blood. And in the center of it all, was Vina, or what was left of her anyway.
I went rigid as my eyes fell on her lifeless ones. Her severed head was spiked on top of a spear. The sound of screaming was softened in my state of bewilderment. My eyes were disoriented as I tried to focus on the devastation all around us.
I couldn’t move. I just stared at her eyes, the cloudy appearance of death looking back at me.
I wasn’t sure how long we all just sat there, trying to wrap our heads around the scene in front of us, but I suddenly snapped out of it and started to move about the area.
I began to look for survivors in the immediate space.
Camille was huddled with Jade. The tears were streaming down her face like a cascading waterfall. I quickly looked away and continued on. I knew that I would want to comfort her if I stared any longer, and as much as I wanted it to be, it wasn’t my place anymore.
To my dismay, the land was silent, there was nothing.
Not one single life left to save. Bodies were scattered around, all at odd angles, like something came in so quickly that no one even knew what hit them.
Like they were hit by such speed in the moment before their death that, whatever it was, it whipped them around like rag dolls.
That thought was the moment that my mouth went dry, and when my brain acknowledged the sickening realization that this—this horror scene in front of me—may have been all because of me.
That was when I realized, without a shadow of a doubt, that the situation before us, was more than likely because of my visit.
In my haste to find Camille, I had come here asking questions. Vina’s blood was on my hands. All of these innocent people's lives were taken away senselessly, because of my arrogance. Why had I even come back to this place, other than for selfish reasons?
I fell to my knees in utter defeat. There was no way that just anyone could have done the amount of damage done here.
Not to Vina. Not to a planet full of warriors and savages in battle.
There was only one being I had ever met, that brought absolute terror to my very being, just with his mere presence; only one that could have caused this amount of calamity.
“How could this have happened?” Veshkru choked out.
I looked at his eyes; the amethyst of them shimmered with a rim of tears ready to spill over. Kresh and Veshkru were all that was left of their planet. I quickly looked away from him. The guilt and absolute shame of my arrogance rippled through my body.
“I… I… don’t know,” I stuttered.
It was a cop out. An absolute lie. I did know. I knew without any hesitation. And because I was a coward, I wouldn't take responsibility for what happened here. I couldn't admit that I had done this. I may as well have come here and murdered all of these beings myself.
I heard movement behind me. A hand rested on my shoulder. The soft pressure of her petite palm brought tears to my eyes. I continued to fail this woman, time and time again. I continued to fail everyone in my life.
“You couldn’t have known this would happen,” she said softly.
I looked back at her, her eyes meeting mine, my stomach tightening uncomfortably as our gazes collided. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how she knew what I had been thinking.
“I never meant for any of this,” I said, almost inaudibly. “He killed them all.”
She looked around at the massacre around us, “How do we even fight a monster like this?”
The sadness I felt in that moment was crushing.
I had only gotten a small taste of what Kyril was capable of.
If I was being truly honest with myself, I didn’t think we had a chance in hell.
But, did I tell her that? Did I tell them all that we had no shot of beating him? That fighting this fight was futile?
I decided it wasn’t worth demolishing everyone’s hope, even as slim as it was. We were all already feeling the weight of the moment—of the loss. I couldn’t bear to make it any worse than it already was.
“I really don’t know,” I finally said back.
“We need to go. If we have any chance of defeating Kyril, this is the last place we can stay,” Jerrod cut in.
When he met my eyes, I realized I was not the only one that didn’t have any hope left in stopping Kyril. He gave me a silent nod and I knew he had no intention of saying anything now either.
“What about the dead?” Veshkru asked.
“Vina would want us to make it out of here alive. All of these deaths will be in vain if we don’t go, right now,” Jade justified.
“She’s right,” Jerrod said. “If we stay and he comes back, we all fail. We all die. We aren’t prepared for him right now, not as we are.”
The entire group—aside from the captain—congregated around a large table in the med unit. The grim tone of the room was stifling. Everyone was silently suffocating in their own form of grief.
“Our options are a little limited,” Kresh said, eyes down and looking away from all of us. “Most of the planets we can get to easily are too similar to Earth.”
“What exactly do you mean by that?” Camille asked with a brow raised.
“I meant no offense by this. They… just aren’t aware of the vastness of the universe. Much like you once were ignorant of,” Kresh explained, his voice morose and flat.
“Oh… uh… right. That is true,” Camille said sheepishly.
“I don’t think we have a choice. We need to find a planet that is completely ignorant to other worlds. But, most of all, we need to choose a planet that Kyril won’t bother to look on,” Jerrod urged.
“What about Kinlingspar?” I suggested. “It’s probably as close to Earth as we can get. They wouldn’t be surprised if we end up in their air space. They are already questioning life forms outside of their own planet.”
“I think they might be too advanced for our current situation. It would cause too many questions, take up too much precious time. We need somewhere to train, uninterrupted. We don’t have time to appease anyone or answer unnecessary questions,” Jade said in response.
“Taylagonia is another option,” Veshkru suggested.
“That actually… isn’t a bad idea,” Kresh agreed softly. “They’re probably the furthest behind technologically. No one would even notice us there.”
We all looked at each other in agreeance.
“So Taylagonia?” I questioned, one last time.
My eyes fell on Camille, to make sure she was on board with the idea too.
As soon as my eyes met hers, I knew something was wrong.
I got up to my feet to move toward her, wondering why my brother wasn’t concerned.
Her eyes were suddenly glossed over, distant.
When I looked at Jerrod, I knew exactly why he wasn’t doing anything.
He had the same distant, glazed look, eyes staring ahead, blank.
“Josiah, it’s okay,” Jade said softly. “Jerrod’s visions have always been easy to pick out and notice. They will both be just fine. Maybe they will have answers to help. We wait now.”