4. Thyros #2
I stayed silent. Instinct warned me not to interfere.
I was afraid if I did, Naeris would refuse to answer altogether, and I didn't want to jeopardize the small chance that she might give us some information.
Every time I spoke, the bond tightened violently between us, and I could practically feel her fighting the pull.
If I pushed too hard now, she would retreat behind those walls completely.
Ella, however, kept talking in that disarming soft way of hers.
“We’re trying to understand, because your people seem very advanced, and so do…
our people.” Her gaze moved apologetically between Zapharos and Xandros.
“And it’s just so… mind-boggling that neither of you has ever interacted with the other…
” She grimaced slightly. “I’m not saying the universe is small and everybody knows everybody, obviously, because it’s huge, but?—”
“The observable universe alone contains several trillion galaxies,” Nadine jumped in helpfully.
Ella blinked. “Right. What she said.”
Nadine slipped into full lecture mode now.
“Statistically speaking, multiple advanced civilizations evolving simultaneously is not improbable. What is improbable is prolonged complete isolation.” She gestured vaguely between Naeris and the rest of us.
“Interstellar expansion patterns should eventually overlap. Trade routes emerge. Signal leakage occurs. Even hostile species tend to leave detectable astrophysical signatures.”
Naeris stared at her.
Nadine kept going. “The probability of two technologically advanced civilizations developing in relative proximity to the same planetary system without prior contact is astronomically low. Especially when both apparently interacted with Earth independently.” She frowned thoughtfully.
“Earth appears to function as a kind of anomalous convergence point.”
Silence.
Then Ashley muttered, “I understood maybe four words of that.”
Nadine looked genuinely surprised. “Really? I simplified considerably.”
Dravok rubbed a hand down his face.
“She did,” he confirmed grimly.
Naeris’ gaze sharpened. “Wait. What about Earth?”
Ashley answered this time. “The Pandraxians didn't know about Earth,” she admitted. “Not until recently.”
“What happened?” Naeris asked carefully.
Ashley exchanged a quick glance with Xandros before continuing. “Earth was attacked.”
The chamber temperature seemed to drop several degrees. Naeris looked intrigued, but if possible, even warier than before. “Again? By who?”
“The Cryons,” Ashley said grimly.
Confusion flickered briefly across Naeris’ features, and Ashley deduced, “You haven’t heard of them either?”
Ella laughed humorlessly. “Wish I hadn’t either.”
Xandros stepped forward, and I willed him to step back. This was between the females. The less we got involved, the better. He threw a glare at me, sensing I had just given him a mental command, but he stepped back.
“The Cryons harvest worlds,” Ashley explained. “They are traders of… commodities.”
"It's a long story," Ella interrupted. "In essence, Earth was attacked, the Pandraxians saved the humans, and they found their soulmates with them. Then the Arkhevari showed up and?—"
"It's been a clusterfuck ever since," Ashley added dryly, earning her a suppressed laugh from Zapharos.
Naeris’ gaze shifted toward Zapharos, the Praetor of War, standing outwardly silent and immovable between Dravok and Xandros.
I watched the exact moment another piece shifted inside her mind. The moment she realized we weren’t merely strange aliens dragging her across space. There was something that had pulled all of us here.
"They're Sythari," Naeris offered. "Also traders. At least that's how it started."
Xandros straightened away from the wall, folding his massive arms over his chest. “You hate them.”
It wasn't a question.
Naeris looked directly at him. For the first time since entering the chamber, real emotion surfaced openly across her face. Not fear. Not confusion. Hatred. Pure and ancient. “Yes.”
The room stilled. Even Ashley seemed caught off guard by the intensity behind that single syllable.
“What are they?” Ella asked carefully.
Naeris was quiet for a long moment. Thinking. Calculating. I could practically see the internal debate happening behind her eyes. Then, finally, she exhaled slowly through her nose.
“They prefer weaker worlds. Easier to exploit. Or they used to, until they started harvesting humans from Earth.”
Something dangerous flickered across Xandros’ expression instantly. Zapharos noticed too. The Praetor of War’s voice turned very calm. “Explain.”
Naeris hesitated again. Not because she feared us. Because she was deciding whether we were useful. Which made her formidable in my eyes.
“They came to Earth a very long time ago,” Naeris continued carefully. “Humans were primitive compared to them. Easy prey.”
“And they took your people,” Ashley whispered.
Naeris laughed softly. A terrible sound. “They took whoever they wanted.”
The hatred pouring off her now was almost tangible. “They discovered some humans had… abilities. Rare ones.”
Dravok straightened subtly beside Zapharos.
“What kind of abilities?” Ella asked.
Naeris’ eyes darkened.
“Useful ones,” she said carefully.
Not enough. Ella opened her mouth again, but Naeris cut her off smoothly before she could continue. “I think we’ve reached the part where I stop casually handing over highly dangerous information to people who still haven’t decided whether I’m a guest, prisoner, or science experiment.”
Ashley winced. “Fair.”
Naeris’ gaze swept slowly across the room.
“You want answers.” Her eyes lingered briefly on Zapharos, then Xandros. “So do I.”
Something sharp entered her expression. “I’ve spent my entire life surrounded by beings stronger than me deciding what information I was allowed to have.” Her arms folded tighter across her chest. “I’m not particularly eager to repeat the experience.”
She wasn't refusing, she was negotiating. A feat for a person in her position that was admirable.
Xandros seemed to realize it, too.
“What do you want?” he asked bluntly.
Naeris considered him for a long moment.
“Reassurance,” she said finally.
The word hung strangely in the chamber.
Zapharos tilted his head slightly. “Of what?”
“That you’re not going to hand me, my crew, and my prisoners back the moment the Sythari come asking politely enough.”
A dangerous stillness settled over the room immediately. Because suddenly the conversation was no longer theoretical. Naeris genuinely believed that was a possibility.
The others saw it too.
"Very well. Let's take a break and continue this conversation in the morning, shall we?" Xandros offered.
I wasn't even close to ready to leave her side, yet I couldn't wait to get as far away from her as possible. I needed time to think, to digest.
Just as we were about to leave, Ella turned. She looked pleadingly at Naeris. "Wait. One more question, please."
Naeris' stance didn't change, but she didn't stop her either. Ella took a breath. "Do the names Caelor and Ashera mean anything to you?"
The reaction was instant. Naeris froze. There was a sharp intake of breath. A sudden tension in her shoulders. For one heartbeat, genuine shock flashed across her face before she buried it beneath cold discipline. "We're done here for today."
She turned away. But it was too late. Every one of us had seen it. Silence settled over the cell after she disappeared behind the privacy screen. No one spoke. No one needed to. Because the question wasn't whether she knew those names. She did.
The question was how. How, by all the stars, had a civilization that somehow remained hidden from the Pandraxians, the GTU, and every major power in known space preserved names that should have been lost millions of years ago?
Names that had only survived as fragmented myths among the Arkhevari themselves.
Names tied to the First Fracture. To Earth. To the Dark Abyss.
My stomach tightened. Because suddenly, I wasn't sure Naeris had come looking for Earth. I was starting to wonder if she'd come looking for something else entirely. And if she had...
What in all the stars was she not telling us?