The Dawning of Fate

Whispers in the darkness call my name but I will not listen to my mind’s cruel tricks.

“Echo, Echo,” they say, like the chirps of a bird. They taunt me with the name of a girl who once was, the name of a woman who once lived, the name of existence. I am not her.

A flickering light hovers in the distance. No, I will not give in to hope. But my heart, ever the masochist, pushes me to my feet. The pulsing light does not belong here in this dark, forbidden place. I can feel the warmth from it as I get closer. It feels wrong, painful in such a cold place.

“You must leave,” I hear myself rasp. How long has it been since I heard my voice?

“Only if you come with me,” a baritone voice responds. I know that voice. How? How do I know this voice?

“I am no use to you. You must leave while your light is still on, while you are still alive. There will be no living here,” I explain. I find myself desperate to save this light from the fate I was unable to escape.

“I will not leave until you come with it,” it states, holding to its word.

No, it can’t be. Zan? No, I won’t hope. The heart I believed incapable of feeling, contracts in my chest. I shake my head furiously, walking away. The light grabs my wrist and I gasp as a familiar warmth floods my veins.

“You will come with me,” the light demands. Suddenly I’m being blinded by the light as it pulses impossibly bright and the next time I open my eyes, I’m back in the meadow.

Purple fingers are intertwined with mine. My eyes travel up to their owner and when our eyes lock, his face breaks into a beautiful smile. Full lips crush into mine and I laugh as the force of his kiss knocks us to the ground.

Screeching interrupts our tussling and the ground shakes with the force of a landing. Zan tenses and pulls me behind him when he gets to his feet. The dragon, in all its glory, stands before Zan and they study each other carefully. I don’t say anything because this is something he must do alone. He must learn to accept and tame the beast that rages within.

Tentatively, he takes a step forward and the beast roars. Zan flaps his wings, flying up until he is eye level with the great dragon. They stay like that for a while, silently communicating until all at once, Zan is on the beast’s back and taking off to the skies. I watch in awe as they zoom through the clouds together and tears form in my eyes.

When they land, the force of the wind causes me to stumble back to the ground. The beast walks forward and looms above with me beneath its chest. He and Zan let out a roar before he dips his head to me. I press my forehead to its snout and it rumbles loudly.

“Mate.”

I hear the loud, guttural voice say in my head and I know that it didn’t come from Zan. The influx of overwhelming love and devotion I get in response makes me gasp. His emotions. A tear slips from my eyes onto his snout.

Once Zan and I come back into the real world, the sounds of fighting fill our ears. Zan is the first to act, jumping from his position on the couch and fleeing from the library. I have no idea how he manages to do that so effortlessly when I’m still trying to connect my brain to the rest of my body. This is nothing like the times I visited the spirit world in my dreams. This feels like a massive hangover.

I’m eventually able to get my body moving, holding on to the walls as I make my way outside. The stairs themself were a feat in their own right. The air is stolen from my lungs when I spot the green scales and spikes being forced to the ground.

He looks up at me with a sinister grin that makes my skin crawl. “Nice to see you again, Terran,” he hisses. Thunder’s roaring barks almost drown out his words but I still hear them crystal clear.

“I can’t say I share the same sentiment,” I respond, applauding myself for the lack of shakiness in my voice.

A guffaw of laughter escapes his alligator-like mouth before Zan punches him in his jaw. Amondis halls him up and drag him downstairs to the ship, leaving the rest of us to follow. I can’t say seeing him dragged away didn’t leave me with a sense of satisfaction. Zan tries to get me to stay back but I adamantly refuse.

They secure him tightly to a seat in the command center and I wonder why they didn’t lock him up. But when Amondis punches him repeatedly in the stomach, I understand why. My former kidnapper coughs and spits black blood into the pristine floor of the ship. My nose turns up in disgust.

“Why are you here?” Zan asks.

“That much is obvious, is it not?” he responds, leering at me. Zan pulls me to his side with a possessive growl. My insides flutter appraisingly. Not the time Echo.

“How’d you know where to find her?” Amondis asks instead. “Icturi is not a small planet.”

The Aligolian, as I recall the fish-guy saying, barks in laughter before sneering at him. “As if I’d divulge anything to you, traitor. Dronan looks forward to mounting your head after he retrieves his prize.”

“You can either start answering some questions or we could start removing body parts,” Zan warns lowly, an eerie calm settling over his voice that causes me to shiver. “Perhaps we’ll start with your tail. Maybe your outer layers? Carving them off, one by one.”

The army green alien’s face turns a lime shade as he takes in Zan’s deadly expression. When he doesn’t move fast enough, Zan nods to Amondis who extends his claws and pries off one of the scales lining the creature’s neck. The bellow of pain that came in response almost made me feel sorry for him. Almost.

“Ready to talk now?” When no response came, Amondis ripped off another without hesitation or care.

“I’ll talk!” The Aligolian wails in pain. For a moment, I question why I’m not more upset by what I’m seeing. Sure, this alien threw me in a cage but does that make it okay to torture him? Why does this not bother me? What does that even say about me as a person? Zan turns back and looks at me, perhaps feeling my confusion. A sudden wave of reassurance washes over me and I know that it came from him. I smile before nodding and he turns back around.

“How’d you find the Terran?” Amondis asks again, choosing to withhold my name.

“The implant I gave her has a tracker,” he hisses.

“How did you get past the perimeter?”

He scoffs. “Your defenses are outdated and weak. I didn’t even have to use the military-grade destabilizers.”

“If you knew I was here the whole time, why are you just now showing up?” His eyes settle on me.

“I assumed you died after I shot down the ship,” he answers plainly and without remorse. I knew it was him who fired at us, it had to be.

“You could’ve killed me, you son of a bitch,” I hiss.

“And yet,” he responds, motioning to all of me. I scoff and roll my eyes.

“No, there’s more to it. Talk or I will slice your tail into miniature pieces and feed them to my dog,” Zan threatens. I snort in laughter because we all know Thunder will gladly eat him. The Aligolian glares at me.

“Someone on Icturi is trying to get rid of you, female. Rumors spread as wildfire and word got back to me. I knew it wasn’t a coincidence,” he explains in a huff. My brain starts firing too many questions with not enough answers. Someone here wants me gone? I’ve done nothing wrong. My eyes settle on Zan and his brother but they both glare at me silencing the accusation before it formed. I knew they’d never do that to me but I needed to be sure.

Who else could it be? Perhaps the merchant I bought my blade from. No, he had no reason to get rid of me. If anything he wanted me too close. I haven’t interacted with anyone else worth remembering.

Zan asks the guy if he knew who it was but he didn’t and I believed him. He’d informed us that whoever it was is sloppy, untrained. Suddenly a thought came to me. The registration lady. But why would she want to get rid of me? I grab Zan’s hand and pull him further into the ship with me.

“Echo, what is it?” The confusion etched into his features is so adorable. Not now.

“Do you remember the woman from the registration center?”

“Vaguely.”

“Maybe it was her. When we first went there, she was trying really hard to get your attention but you weren’t giving her the time of day. Then when I went to the market with Amondis, she said something to me about you and him. Has she ever tried to come onto you before?”

“Perhaps but my heart belongs only to you Echo, you know this.” A smile stretches across my face.

“Yes, Zan, I know but maybe she’s jealous and wants you to herself. I’m very familiar with women babe and if this chick had her sights set on you for a while then all of sudden I show up and steal the show, she’s beyond pissed.”

He nods thoughtfully before responding. “Then I will kill her.”

“What?! Zan, no!”

“Do you wish to kill her then?” The inquisitive look on his face tells me he’s completely serious and I can’t help my laughter even though the situation is not amusing in the slightest.

“I am not killing her because she’s jealous. We don’t even know if it’s truly her. If so, she’s just going to have to get over it,” I shrug.

“I’m afraid I have to disagree. She has threatened your safety and I will not stand for it. Either you kill her or I will, Echo,” he states with conviction and I knew there would be no changing his mind on this. I sighed and walked back to Amondis with a heavy heart. Zan follows and nods his head at his brother.

“You’ve been useful but your time has come to an end. You’ve threatened the life of my brother’s mate thus threatening him and me and we do not take threats lightly,” Amondis announces, his features schooled with indifference.

“I’ve accepted my death long ago. Will you allow me one request?” Zan nods. “Make it quick.”

Amondis nods and Zan takes my hand, leading me away from the ship and upstairs to eat. But I have no appetite. A man was being murdered below my feet and my mind was still reeling from everything I saw in the spirit world.

“We must remove your implant,” Amondis says when he enters the kitchen hours later.

“How? It’s inside my skin.”

“There is a device. It will be replaced but I must trek to the Aligolian’s ship to retrieve a new one if there are any left,” he explains. “In the meantime, you two must rest. A journey to the spirit world and back is not an easy feat and your bodies need time to adjust properly. Go, do as you’re told and I will return shortly.”

Zan clasps his forearm with his brother and they press their foreheads together. I assume this is a show of gratitude in their culture. Zan forces me to eat before we shower and settle into bed. Exhaustion crashes over me and I’m soon fast asleep. The worries of what lies ahead will have to wait until tomorrow.