The Archaeological Chronicles - The New World

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All is almost lost

Armor on the ground

I will raise my hands and take my chances naked

All is almost lost

Can’t you see the horizon?

Don’t you see that they are coming for us?

--

Mari

‘’Jesus Christ,’’ I pant as I lean my palms on my knees. Sweat dripping from my forehead.

I had thrown off the robe the second we started training. Now, I’d folded the trousers up a bit, so that my ankles could roam more freely. Thanks to the wide and comfortable material, it was quite easy to train in it.

We’ve been going at this for hours now. I think I’ve only just grasped the basics.

‘’Tired already?’’ Zuuri calls out. A smile on his face.

He didn’t seem tired at all. Didn’t really seem like he even tried to fight me off.

‘’No way,’’ I wheeze out.

Yes way. I was tired. But never in hell would I admit that.

‘’How is your breathing? Knees?’’ he ask.

I frown. I had totally forgotten that the giant Smurf ‘fixed’ my body. My frown deepens.

‘’Why can I breathe this air?’’ I blurt out, ignoring his question.

‘’Because when I fixed your lungs, I changed your DNA a little. Just to make you able to function normally with this air. It is too much oxygen for a normal to take in. You would die within minutes,’’ he explains.

‘’Can I still breathe on earth?’’ I ask as I straighten up. Cracking my neck from side to side. I was ready to go again.

He nods.

’’Of course. I am a talented man, Mai’yri, I do not play healer,’’ he jokes. His eyes glowing.

He was happy. Happy enough that it shone through his eyes.

‘’Answer my question, though,’’ he adds. His head nodding towards my knees.

I haven’t put much thought into it. I’ve had so much else to think of during this stay. I don’t need my inhaler, which I take twice a day – sometimes more. My knees don’t hurt when I walk too far. I don’t need my glasses any more to see. I think I’ve never seen as clearly as I do now.

It suddenly feels a little weird. Not feeling quite myself. The knees, asthma and glasses were like, like part of me somehow? I don’t know how to feel without it. Yeah, it was great not to be in pain or be able to breathe, don’t get me wrong, but that was also a part of me.

Then again, it was freeing to be able to run and not pant like a hippo or knees shutting down.

‘’It’s good. it’s really good,’’ I smile.

He nods once, satisfied with my answer.

‘’Let us go again,’’ he says as he readies his stance.

I mimic it.

We charge towards each other, both barefoot and running as fast as we can.

Well, I was running as fast as I could, pretty sure he wasn’t.

He aims for my throat, but I duck under. Avoiding the hit by millimeters. As I duck, I kick at his knee from behind, making him lose his stance.

He swings back, with one knee touching the grass, aiming for my chest. I roll backwards, avoiding yet another hit. He jumps to his feet and charge towards me.

He aims for my throat once again, but I duck away. As I duck, his other hand, that I missed, hits my stomach, palm flat.

The air is knocked out of my lungs completely, as I fly backwards.

I see worry cross his eyes briefly. He tries to reach for me before I fall.

But he was too slow.

I fall into the ice-cold purple water stream. Without any air in my lungs, my mouth opens by instinct and tries to breathe. I take in a lot of water, and the only thing my body wants to do is to cough it all up.

The sensation of drowning in freezing water only last a second or two, before I am pulled out from the water, by the cuff of my shirt, and I heave for air. Coughing for dear life.

I’m pushed flat on my back, with a palm on my chest. It feels as if the water dissolves in my lungs, and I can breathe again. As my vision clears, an annoyed Kai’ine hovers over me.

‘’I am sorry Mai’yri! I pushed too hard,’’ Zuuri yells as he comes running towards us.

Kai’ine’s head snap backwards and snarls at his brother.

‘’It’s no problem, Zuuri! Don’t worry about it,’’ I smile up at him as I try to stand.

Kai’ine’s hand keeps me firmly pressed to the ground.

‘’No problem? This looks like a problem to me,’’ Kai’ine states as he glares at his brother.

I grab the hand that’s keeping me firmly pressed to the ground and pry it away and sit up.

‘’Kaine!’’ I snap. Too annoyed to care that I wasn’t able to pronounce his name correctly.

It’s not like they can pronounce mine either.

His gaze meets mine, without him even moving his head. Those freakishly big eyes.

‘’I wanted to train! A little push won’t kill me. I’m not that fragile,’’ I say, annoyed.

He looks intensely at me, expressionless, as usual. Without another word, he gets up from his kneeling position and hovers over his little brother.

‘’We are done for the day,’’ he states as he stalks away.

I sigh frustratedly and grip the grass underneath me between my fingers and pull on it idly.

‘’Helvettes blåbær,’’ I curse.

Zuuri sits down beside me and laughs loudly. In an unnatural way, of course.

‘’I do not know what that meant, but I am sure it is nothing positive,’’ he laughs.

‘’Correct,’’ I say curtly.

‘’How can you be so nice and he so mean?’’ I ask.

More to myself, than to Zuuri.

‘’He has the world on his shoulder,’’ he shrugs. ‘’And he has also always been that way,’’ he add with a wink.

He stand up after a moment of silence, brushing the invisible dust off of his trousers and reach his hand out for me to take.

I accept it, and he pulls me to my feet.

‘’I will be back tomorrow morning. We can go for a run as a warmup and train after?’’.

I nod eagerly.

‘’I’d like that,’’ I smile.

He nods once again and walks off with a wave.

Now I’m left with the idiot Smurf for the rest of the day.

I turn to look at the sky. The sun is setting. If I were to guess, it’s probably around six or seven in the evening. The day flew by when Zuuri and I trained.

‘’Mai’yri,’’ Kai’ine calls. I see him leaning against the doorframe by the patio.

‘’Feeding,’’ he state.

I assumed that he would walk back inside after that announcement, but he didn’t. Just stood there, leaning against the doorframe.

Staring at me. Waiting.

No fucking personal space.

I sigh annoyedly and head towards the patio. My bare feet brush delightfully against the warm grass. The fading sun made it colder, but it was still nice.

I really missed being outside. Not that it had been so long since, but you know, the little things matter in situations like this.

You forget that you are a captive and can feel completely free for just a couple of hours.

‘’Dry clothes are in the dresser to the left,’’ he states as he waits for me to head inside first.

He’ll let me dress myself?

What a day!

I nod, gratefully, and head upstairs. Taking two steps at a time.

As I open the dresser, a gasp leaves my mouth and tears fill my eyes. Black Levi’s jeans and a pink t-shirt laid neatly folded on the very top of everything else.

I fling the wet clothes off in an instant. I slip the jeans on – they fit. High waisted and wide-legged, just as I like them! I pull the t-shirt over my head quickly and tug it down in my jeans.

When I take a look in the mirror, my tears nearly spill over. I look like me again. Maybe with less color on the clothes than I normally would choose, but still looked like me.

I squeal loudly as I rush down the stairs. Nearly jumping down the entire thing.

‘’Kaine!’’ I call excitedly.

He pops his head out from the kitchen, a worried look in his eyes, that disappeared quickly.

I think that when I take him by surprise, it’s easier to see his emotions.

I run to the kitchen and fling my arms out.

‘’Look!’’ I squeal.

A ghost of a smile appears on his mouth. He places a bowl of chicken salad – well I think it’s chicken, at least – and some buttered bread on the counter.

‘’I thought you might like it,’’ he says as he waits for me to sit down and eat.

He usually sit right across from me, whenever I eat, to keep me company or to make sure that I eat, I’m not sure.

‘’I love it! Where did you get it?’’ I say as I skip over to the chair beside the counter and plops down.

‘’Earth,’’ is his only reply, as he sits down across from me, looking at me intently.

As I start basically inhaling the food from hunger, I start to think.

Why would he give me clothes from earth now? Not when we came? This doesn’t make sense.

I look up from my food, to meet his intense gaze. I let go of the fork.

‘’What’s the catch?’’ I ask, narrowing my eyes.

‘’Catch?’’ he asks.

Acting all innocent on me. Ha.

’’Why did you give me clothes from earth now, and not before?’’ I ask, accusingly.

He blink once. Painfully slow.

We continue our stare-down for quite a while. That was proof enough for me that something was going on.

‘’Your stay here has been prolonged,’’ he starts slowly. Never breaking eye contact.

A crushing feeling hits my chest. A horrible feeling settles in my gut.

‘’You were supposed to be back within the end of the human calendar month. That is approximately two weeks from now-‘’

I try and get up from the chair and run off, but he holds up his index finger.

‘’Let me finish,’’ he says sternly.

He stare at me until I sit back down in the chair, defeated and angry.

Most of all, hurt.

‘’But the rebellion has, somehow, manifested on earth. This means that they already know who you are. If I let you go home, they will get you. And it will not be pretty if they do,’’ he says calmly.

’’If you hadn’t brought me here, you fucking shit, they would have never known who I am. And how do I know if you’re just making this shit up!’’ I yell.

’’They tried to kill you, Mai’yri, twice,’’ he says in a dangerously calm voice.

‘’Yes! On this planet!’’ I snap back.

’’If you never brought me here, this would have never happened. It doesn’t matter how you twist and turn it, the end result is that this is your fault!’’.

I can feel myself getting angrier by the second. It literally bubbles inside of me.

How could he?

I could have been home, having the time of my life with my friends and family, but he took that from me.

’’You will stay here for at least six more months,’’ is his only reply.

I throw the fork at him. He dodges it easily.

’’I don’t care if they get me on earth, I would rather die than be here with you!’’ I scream as I get up from the chair, he mimics my actions.

‘’Let me go home!’’

I suddenly feel trapped in these clothes. He got them just to make up for the fact that he won’t let me go home. He’s saying six months, but we both know that he doesn’t mean it.

And there is nothing I could or can do about it.

’’You may not care for your life, but I do,’’ he snaps. ’’I will not let you die,’’ he snarls as he takes a step closer to me.

His fingers twitching.

‘’Oh?’’ I say, feigning surprise. ’’So you care about my life now? I still have marks on my throat after you hurt me!’’ I scream as I take several steps away from him.

What a liar.

I feel trapped once again. In these clothes. In this house. This planet. Trapped by him. My skin is crawling, wanting, needing, to be free.

I can visibly see him get angry at that comment. Good. It was his fault, after all.

Black spots appear in his eyes.

‘’Hurt and death are two very different things,’’ he state as he stalks towards me.

‘’Don’t you dare,’’ I hiss as I get to the opposite side of the couch in the living room.

He literally has to fly to get to me here.

He’s standing on the other side, closest to the kitchen.

’’You and I both know that you didn’t bring me here because of my education. Because ‘you saw’ something,’’ I snarl.

‘’It’s all lies! You keep underestimating my ability to see right through your emotionless face!’’

His upper lip turns into a snarl. His eyes are completely black by now.

‘’You know nothi-‘’

‘’Why am I here!’’ I scream as I cut him off.

‘’Because you’re a genetic match, Mai’yri!’’ he yells.

My anger quickly changes to confusion. The hell is he talking about?

‘’I am a what now?’’ I repeat, slowly, angry.

He better not repeat what I thought him say. Realizing his mistake, his eyes turn back to normal in a second.

It was too late to turn back now.

‘’You’re a genetic match,’’ he repeats, much calmer, much less angry.

That just makes me angrier. Who the hell does he think he is?

’’Do you think that kidnapping a human girl and giving her some human clothes will magically make her want to give you children?’’ I scream out the last part.

’’Are you insane? What the fuck! You took me from my own planet, hurt me physically and mentally because you want to breed with me? Like some breeding machine!’’ I rant.

I don’t even know how to feel about it. I’m just so angry and hurt. This is so not okay. Who does he think he is? No one does this in real life. Not even movies goes this far.

He opens his pathetic mouth, but I cut him off even before he manages to utter a single word.

’’You know what, you sick fuck? I don’t even want to hear it. I am going to walk out those doors and I am not returning until you muster up a better way to explain this shit!’’ I snarl as I head towards the door, still barefoot.

He reaches for me.

‘’Nei!’’ I scream up at him.

He retreats his arm. An unreadable expression crosses his face.

‘’You are going to let me walk out that door and leave me the hell alone!’’ I yell.

Finally. I finally found my courage.

Some alien just had to tell me that he wants me as his breeding machine, for my courage to wake up.

I stare at him for a long moment. Never breaking eye contact. Daring him to protest. Tears threaten to spill, but never in a million years am I going to cry in front of this shit being.

When he doesn’t reply, I take it as my cue to leave.

I don’t care that I’m barefoot. I don’t care that I’m not wearing enough clothes. I don’t care if I freeze to death out there, because then, at least, I don’t have to think about this sick and fucked up situation.

I slam the door behind me and se Kaohl trotting up to greet me. He gets the cue and bends down, so I can get on.

‘’Run, Kaohl,’’ I murmur as tears spill over.

I am not a breeding machine. That is not my fate. Not now, not ever.

He runs for what seems like hours. It’s dark outside by now. My tears have yet to stop. This is just so fucked up.

I don’t know how many countless werewolf and vampire books I have read, where a girl gets kidnapped by a dude and they magically fall in love. But that is all that they are. Books.

Kaohl pauses in his trot. Whines. His long neck cranes towards me. Looking at me with those serpent eyes. I hug his snout for dear life.

Cold and scared.

His head move, as I cling to it desperately, pulling me off from him. He sets me down, gently, on the ground.

I look around us.

The grass is moist from the cold temperature. We’re in a deep forest. Tall, dark green trees surround us. A glistening waterfall is right in front of us. He nudges me towards it with his gigantic head.

‘’What is it?’’ I whisper as I dry my tears with the back of my arm. Well, at least attempts to.

His only response is to nudge me further towards it.

I crouch down beside the water, trying to see what he wants me to see. I hear tiny squeaks. A loud vibrating comes from deep within Kaohl’s chest.

Four, tiny, creatures – like Kaohl – comes swimming towards us, from the backside of the waterfall. They squeak in happiness as they see their father.

A louder splash is heard, and I jolt when I see Zuki swimming towards us. Not sure if I should run for the hills or not, I stay frozen in my spot.

The tiny creatures jump into my arms, squealing happily as I pet them.

‘’Så søte,’’ I murmur.

Kaohl lies down, right behind me, stretching his neck over to greet his children.

I momentarily forgot about the evil twin sister, but as she pulls herself out of the water and stands right above me, dripping wet, I can feel myself swallow hard.

‘’Why are you here?’’ she asks calmly. No malice or ill intent.

I look up at her, surprised.

‘’Um. Kaohl brought me here?’’ I answer, more like a question.

She shakes her head as she sits down beside me. One of the barracks jumps into her lap. She pets is absentmindedly. She’s dripping wet but doesn’t seem to either care or feel cold.

‘’Why did my brother let you out on your own?’’ she asks. Focusing her warm yellow cat-like eyes at me.

‘’He didn’t,’’ I answer curtly.

I’m pretty surprised that the human-hater Zuki even wants to have a conversation with me.

‘’You fought,’’ she states. As if she knew.

I nod once.

Tears swell up in my eyes, once again. They never seem to stop. I swallow hard, trying to rid myself of them.

‘’He, he, uh- he told me some fucked up shit,’’ I finally answer.

Her eyes return to the waterfall again.

‘’That you are genetic matches? Yeah, when he first told me I wasn’t thrilled,’’ she says.

The head of a grey barrack pokes through the waterfall. The mother, I’m guessing. She calls for her children and let out a rumble when she sees Kaohl. The tiny barracks swim back to their mother and disappear behind the waterfall.

‘’They are newborns,’’ she says after a moment of silence. ‘’I helped Cica during her birth,’’ she explains.

I don’t answer.

‘’I get your situation. I truly do. He did not choose the right way to do this. He should have let you live your life in peace, without interfering. I think he was going to. I am not sure what changed his mind. He did not handle the situation well at all, either way,’’ she says silently as she looks back down at me.

‘’We can agree on that,’’ I say with a strangled chuckle.

She smiles. Smiles!

‘’You will get to go home human, trust me. He will not keep you here longer than he has to. He may look like a hard man, he is not really,’’ she snorts the last part.

‘’If you’re trying to defend his actions, I don’t want to hear it,’’ I mutter as I pull my knees up to my chest.

‘’I am not. He fucked up. He will never admit it, but I will do it for him,’’ she says, eyes glowing.

Why was she happy?

Kaohl rises.

‘’Seems like it is time to head back,’’ she says with a laugh. ‘’Kaohl is not a patient barrack,’’ she adds.

I chuckle a little.

He flings me over his back with his gigantic head.

‘’I will join your training someday. I just need to make sure that the babies are healthy, before I can leave them with their mother,’’ she says.

I nod. Not sure how to feel about it.

Without another word, she dives back into the water and swims back inside the waterfall.

Kaohl doesn’t waste another moment as he charges ahead and runs back to the glass villa. The trip was much shorter than I thought it was.

I slip off his back and pat his neck twice.

‘’Thanks for the ride, Kaohl,’’ I say softly.

His chest rumbles as he licks my face with his serpent tongue. He trots off after that.

Leaving me in the dark, in front of the glassed villa.

I take a deep breath and walk inside. I can barely feel my toes and I’m shivering from head to toe. It’s completely dark inside. The glassed windows and panels give me natural light and I am able to find my way upstairs.

I debated sleeping on the couch, without having a shower to warm myself up, but I knew that was a stupid idea, because I was cold to the bone.

Praying that Kai’ine is asleep, I walk as silently as I can across the bedroom and skid into the bathroom. The moon gave me enough light to find my way to the shower and I hissed as I turned it on. It stung almost my entire body.

When the stinging finally stopped, it was so good.

I stood under the spray for at least thirty minutes, constantly worrying that Kai’ine might burst into the bathroom at any minute. I finally leave the shower after a while. I wrap a towel around my body, still slightly shivering, as I pad outside to get some clothes.

The hair in the back of my neck rose and I spun around quickly.

There, in the darkness. He stood hovering, like some kind of horror movie.

His eyes glowed in the dark.

I give him a glare, as I rip the clothes I need from the shelf and get back into the bathroom to change. I hurry to slip it on, scared that he might come in.

I slam the door shut when I’m done changing and head downstairs.

He doesn’t say a word, but I can hear him follow me. I walk over to the couch in the corner of the second floor, the one overlooking the scenery.

He stands in the background, staring.

‘’Go away,’’ I snap, without turning to face him.

‘’You are cold,’’ he states.

‘’Go away!’’ I repeat, louder.

‘’Your lips are blue, Mai’yri,’’ he says, ignoring my demand.

I turn to face him, with an angry look on my face.

‘’Go. Away.’’ I snarl.

He manages to grab a hold of my upper hand, after me trying to slap his hand away, and pull me close to him.

And that’s about when my courage and bravery dissolved into nothingness.

Tears pours from my eyes, uncontrollably. No matter how hard I struggle, scream and cry, he drags me upstairs to the bedroom. He flings me on the bed, whilst I scream my lungs out.

He throws the warm covers over me and leaves.

Leaves?

I lay in complete and utter silence for a few minutes to try and listen if he was coming back. Utterly shocked I look at the open doorway.

He’s not coming back?

My body involuntary relaxes and the heat from the covers seep through my body. My shivering stops. I close my eyes. Listening if he’s coming back.

At least that is what I tell myself.

I doesn’t take more than a few minutes before I feel my body slipping into sleep, and I don’t have the strength to resist it.

--

Translation

Jævla blåbær - fucking blueberry

Nei - no

Så søte - so cute