43. ZAAREK
ZAAREK
I gave Raasla full power over the bridge while the others stayed in the breakroom. If we hadn't already been brothers in arms, we were now bound by the same mating marks and a common cause—to figure out our origins. Questions had arisen that I had never asked myself before and probably never would have if it hadn't been for the Soulweb Glyphs, as Raasla explained they were called.
It didn't take long until Raasla's ship came into view.
"Are you worried the Ohrur will trace us through the ships?" I asked.
Rising, he nodded. "Princess Luphelia has purchased another ship for us, one that will be big enough to accommodate you, your mate, and your friend as well if you want to join us."
"Princess Luphelia?" The name sounded familiar.
"The female Noodar was tasked with protecting."
"But she's a…" I searched my brain. "She's a Mantarian."
"Yes, is that a problem?" For the first time, Raasla seemed disconcerted.
"Not at all. For some reason, I just assumed all our fated mates were human. My mistake."
Raasla's tension eased. "He's always been the odd male out."
I grinned, liking the comradery developing between us.
We gathered the others from the breakroom and made Vraax follow us as we boarded the other ship.
Two females awaited us impatiently. One rushed to Raasla, the other to Noodar. I squeezed Nova's hand when she let out a small hiss at the sight of the Mantarian female. It wasn't pretty. Even though Princess Luphelia wasn't as hideous as some of the other Mantarians I had encountered, she was one of the few who walked erect and not stooped, maybe because of her slight build or her three legs, which were something to get used to, same as her orange eyes.
Like the others of her species, her skin was yellow-dotted, dirty-looking, and gray, wrinkled from head to toe. Strands of black hair clung to various body parts, some longer, some shorter. Some had even been braided.
What stood out most about her, though were the dark mating marks, matching Noodar's.
Raasla took over the introductions after a long embrace with his mate. "This is Zoe and Princess Luphelia, Luph." He pointed at each one of us, giving the two females our names. "And Nock."
"Oh by the gods, Nock! I never thought I would actually meet you in person. I'm your biggest fan," Princess Luphelia squealed and moved forward to embrace the startled holostreamer.
"Tha-nk you!" Nock recovered. "That's a high honor coming from you, Princess Luphelia."
"It is very nice to meet you." Zoe came forward. With her brown hair and gray eyes, she was a startling beauty, much in contrast to the Princess. Without fanfare, Zoe embraced Nova, who seemed a bit hesitant, sending a comical expression my way.
"Ahm, you too," Nova replied, awkwardly petting the other female's back.
"You don't look like you enjoy hugs," Luph said with a smile that transformed her entire face into something beautiful.
"It's okay," Nova surprised me as she spread her arm out to include the princess in her and Zoe's hug. I knew she felt awkward about it, but my respect for her grew when I realized she didn't want the other female to feel left out.
Noodar stood beaming behind the three, nodding happily at me and Raasla, while Vraax tried to appear unperturbed, but a small crease on his forehead betrayed him. If I wasn't mistaken, he might have been coming around to actually listen to our stories. I didn’t like him very much, but we were in dire need of allies and I wasn’t going to be picky about who they might be.
"Come, I prepared some refreshments." Zoe beamed, waving us forward to where the breakroom was located.
Confused, I looked at Raasla, who mouthed, just go with it . It's her thing .
We found our seats around a table Zoe had filled with snacks and beverages. Nova even squealed over one of the items. "Is that a real human Oreo?"
Zoe nodded and grinned. "Not the original, but one of the humans on Astrionis makes them, and Silla sent an entire box with us."
"I like Silla." Nova reached for a cookie and held it under my nose. "You have to try this."
Snacks were not something I had ever eaten before. I ate when I was hungry and ordered what appealed to me. Eating in company as an act of socializing was a strange notion for me, but I loved Nova enough to indulge her.
The sweetness of the cookie made my teeth hurt and did something to my taste buds, which I can only describe as twisting them every which way. My eyes watered. Nova watched me like a hunter watches his prey and I tried to smile for her, but it was hard when the entire inside of my mouth contorted.
Zoe's laughter broke the ice. Raasla pounded on my back. "No worries, that's how I felt the first time, too. You get used to it."
Why anybody wanted to get used to having their tongue twisted was beyond me, but I managed a more convincing grin this time.
"I'm flattered you watch my streams," Nock blustered at Luph.
"Oh, I love your streams. Especially the one of you and him." She nodded at me, making me cringe. I still felt like wanting to wring Nock's neck for it.
"That one was good, hilarious." Noodar laughed, slapping his thigh.
"You never showed me." Raasla looked hurt.
"You don't like Nock," Luph retorted accusingly.
"Yeah, you really missed out on that," Zoe added.
"Did everybody in the universe see it?" I asked, bewildered.
Vraax's snort confirmed it, even before Nock bragged. "I told you I had trillions of followers."
Noodar seemed the only one to have mercy on me. He cleared his throat. "Let's fill each other in on what we discovered first, shall we?"
"Alright." Raasla took a deep breath. "After some digging through various databases, the only lead we got is the planet Darlam. The Ohrurs terminated all the original inhabitants and absorbed the planet into their system."
"Hold on, the information we discovered said that Darlam is under quarantine. It and two other planets, around the same time a mysterious disease killed fifty percent of the Ohrur population," I interjected. "Soon after the first Space Guardians appeared and the Ohrur Oligarchy made a comeback."
"Hmm, interesting." Noodar scratched the back of his neck. "We discovered something similar, only that it happened after the Darlams went extinct."
"Either way, I think we'll find answers on that planet," Raasla stated.
"One more thing," I interjected, "do any of you experience any weird dreams? Or discovered some startling things?"
Raasla shook his head. "No, like what?"
I hated being the center of attention like this, and I hated talking about my dreams, but something inside me told me that it could be important. "Alright, when Nova ran from me," I was interrupted by snickers and some oohs, but continued, "she ran into a forest. I've never been in a forest. Have never hunted any animals, but somehow I knew how to, and not only that, I knew how to skin and prepare them."
A moment of silence followed, and I added, "It just felt like I'd been there before, not exactly the same spot, but in a forest. I even dream about running through a forest, being hunted by—"
"Some unknown predator," Vraax finished my sentence, rising. Could it be possible that he had had the same dream? He shook his head. "What is this? What are you doing? You're all traitors to the Ohrur Oligarchy, and you're…" he faltered. Rubbing his neck, he stared from one of us to the other.
"That predator," I asked, "did you ever get a glimpse of it?"
Vraax shook his head. "No, I wake up before, but sometimes I wake up with a splitting headache, and my neck hurts as if a needle was injected."
"I get headaches when I try to remember things." I couldn't shake a foreboding feeling growing inside me.
"Same," Noodar offered. "Luph and I"—he took her hand, and they smiled at each other—"we were talking about having younglings." Luph's face transformed into a dreamy state, making her look beautiful, and I realized what Noodar saw in her, deep underneath her not so enticing exterior lay a warm and giving soul. One that shone through her. "Which led to us discussing our childhoods."
Luph explained, "I've been cursed with a perfect memory. I remember every moment of my life from the instant I was conceived." I blinked, wondering what that must be like. "So I remembered every minute detail of my childhood, which wasn't exactly pretty. I worried about not being a good mother, but hoped Noodar would fill the gap."
"Unfortunately, as it turns out, I have zero memories about anything other than the last forty years of my life since I became a Space Guardian. In the past, whenever I tried to remember, my head felt like it was about to split in half. And then, yes, that's when the dreams started. Dreams about a beautiful planet with three moons, one that has the most beautiful purple color, and a bright red sun. Gorgeous trees, a small city, and people who look like us and, yes, danger. Something chasing me through the forest before everything turns black."
That was a lot more than I had ever dreamed. "People? You actually see people like us, as in males and females?"
"And younglings, yes," Noodar confirmed.
A slight tingle inside my skull warned me about the imminent headache.
Vraax scoffed, but one look at him stopped any snide remark laying at the tip of my tongue. He might try to appear like this didn't faze him, but he was failing. He was clearly enraptured by our words.
"What do you remember about growing up with the Ohrurs, the training?" Noodar asked.
I shrugged. "Just… living in a dorm with several others. We woke up, ate breakfast, trained…"
"How old are you in that scenario?"
"Old?" My head started hurting, and I looked helplessly from one to another. "I don't know…" I tried to focus. "Sometime before I graduated, about twenty?"
"What about before?" Noodar prompted.
"Stop it. This is ridiculous," Vraax raged, hitting the wall next to him with his fist. "We all grew up the same way. There is no mystery here."
"No? Nova, tell me, what is your earliest memory?"