Battle of the Base

It takes a while for them to gather the reinforcements that we need, but once they finally do, we all head back through the tunnel system. By now, Jaxx is a little bit better, but he looks extremely tired. Kor's hair has completely turned silver, but his eyes aren't all the way yet. I overheard them talking as we went through the tunnel.

"It will take a while for your blood to turn as well. I hope you are okay with being like this... one of the last Zulis on this planet. We could not even... repopulate us, given the fact that we do not have the parts for it." Jaxx sounds a little sad about this.

"Hey, it's okay. We can always figure something out later." Kor tries his best to reassure his boyfriend, but he can't seem to figure out what would work to do that. He's learned by now that when he gets into a dark mindset, it's hard to bring him back out of it.

We reach the opposite trapdoor that enters into the Med Center and come up with a plan. We all decide that once we get out, we should split up into teams of ten, each led by a different person out of me, Xan, Jaxx, and Kor. Them, we divide and conquer. It seemed like a simple task at the time, but what we came up to was something we hadn't expected.

The fighting was worse than ever before. I can't say I've even seen the men fight like that. It's like something happened to them while we were gone. I look at Xan, and he just stares at the fighting, a strange look in his eyes.

"Well gentlemen, it's been a pleasure serving with you... I've seen this happen before. They hit the place up with a gas that makes you super aggressive, getting rid of all your inhibitions as to who you fight and who you don't. I wish all of you luck in your groups, and may you fight proudly." Jaxx suddenly perks up.

"We have gas masks in here somewhere, we can use those to avoid being affected by the gas." Xan smiles a little at him.

"Good thinking. But this gas can get through masks too. We have no choice but to go out there and fight." Xan looks at me, and quietly says, "I love you." I feel my face get hot, and before I can respond, he leads his troop out into the battle. I look at Jaxx and Kor, wondering what they're doing. They're standing face-to-face with their foreheads together.

"Jaxx, I don't want you killing yourself out there by doing what you did earlier." Jaxx smiles a little.

"You amuse me sometimes. I would not even think of it. But, if it does happen, I am incredibly sorry that you are in love with an idiot." Kor smiles widely.

"You're not an idiot. You just make poor choices."

"Same difference. I wish you luck." Jaxx kisses his forehead softly and walks toward the door with his troop. He runs out into the mess of a battle this is turning into, and I look at Kor.

"Well, old friend, looks like it's just you and me left to go out there." I say to him, trying to make light of this situation. He nods.

"I suppose. Well, if I kill you, I'm sorry in advance." I laugh softly.

"Ditto. Now, you go out there, I think I need to gather myself a little before I go out there." Kor nods and leads his group out. I stand there with my group, trying to calm myself down. I just hope that we all come out of this okay. I run out into the fray with my troop, and everything after that goes totally blank.

The fighting is ruthless. People fighting Gragzuls, Gragzuls fighting people, people fighting people, and Gragzuls fighting Gragzuls. This gas ended up leading to the sheer number of casualties and injuries at the end of this battle, considering it affected both sides of the battle and it was only meant to affect the humans to make them fight among themselves.

Xanthos, having been first to leave the Med Center, ended up in the thick of it right away. He was dangerous before the gas, but now that he has no boundaries as to who he wants to fight, he is an absolute killing machine, tearing through mainly Gragzuls and people alike. He is mostly targeting the Gragzuls because it is instinct for him to attack them, but he does still hurt a few humans.

Jaxx, having been next, ended up where the Gragzuls dug into the base, which isn't far from where Xanthos is. But, this gas has affected him much differently than every other living thing on this field. It made him stronger, gave him more energy, but he still knew who to fight and who not to fight. His mind was clear, unlike the others who could barely even think or keep a thought in their mind much longer than a few seconds. He is practically cutting down any Gragzul he can reach, which is pretty far with the almost dagger-like pieces of silver that he can summon.

Everyone that heard of this battle believes that he was probably the main reason that things turned out the way they did.

Korax was next, and he ended up on the northern side of the battle, having managed to go around the enemy and attack the from behind without brutalizing many of his troop members. The gas affects him partially like the rest, but partially like it does Jaxx. But he doesn't know how to summon the silver pieces. He hasn't earned his marks yet.

He tears through a good chunk of Gragzuls before ending up near Jaxx, and the two pair up to deal with the threat. Jaxx is using more energy than he is getting from the gas, so Korax figures out a way to transfer some of his to him, enabling him to attack longer.

Adraxian on the other hand barely made it past the Med Center doors without running into someone or something trying to kill him. He fights his way across the battlefield, not even knowing where he's going, but then, when someone tackles him, he can suddenly think clearly and act rationally. He then realizes Xan is about ready to tear his throat out.

"Stop! It's me!" I yell, making Xan stop for a moment. His eyes are glossy, but the moment I yell at him they start to go back to normal. He looks me in the eyes, and he looks confused for a moment. His voice shakes when he finally speaks.

"A... Adraxian...?" I nod.

"Yes, yes it's me!"

"Oh my god I almost killed you..."

"It's okay, no hard feelings. How's the fighting going?" Xan hesitates after I ask him this.

"I don't know... I can't remember entirely."

"I don't remember much of what just happened either." I say softly. I look around and see a Gragzul hurtling at him. "Get down!" I pull him down on me suddenly, causing the Gragzul to hurtle into another of its kind, starting a fight between the two.

Xan looks at me, blushing a little. He starts to speak, but someone interrupts him.

"Good god, get a room you two." Kor says. We both look at him. Jaxx is behind him, keeping an eye out for anyone that might try to fight any of us.

"You shouldn't be talking, goofus." I say, laughing. Xan stands up and I get up with a little help from him. We both look at Korax.

"How has your fighting been going?" Xan says, looking around.

"Well enough. Jaxx has been doing most of the fighting though, since he knows what he's doing when it comes to this stuff. He said that I can't do any of the stuff he's doing since-"

"DUCK!" Jaxx says suddenly. All three of us duck as he spins in a circle, launching jagged pieces of silver everywhere. It sounds dumb, but had you seen it, you would be amazed.

Anyway, Kor stands up and continues his story as Xan and I get up.

"Since I haven't 'earned my marks', whatever that means." I glance at my hand, and I remember the tattoos on Jaxx's body. I realize that the marks signal some sort of power inside the person who bears them.

"It's for power." I say softly. I look at Jaxx, seeing his markings glowing under his shirt. "The marks are a symbol of power." An alarm bell rings out, making everyone stop suddenly. The fighting continues, but we all seem to have regathered ourselves and are fighting with clearer minds. I look around and see a line of Gragzuls charging directly at the four of us. If one of us doesn't do something, we're gonna turn into pancakes.

Kor and I turn to face them, and we both reach out a hand. Jaxx stops and looks at Kor, wondering what he's doing.

A line of fire explodes outward from my hand, but from Kor, hundreds of shards of silver, tearing the Gragzuls he's aiming at to shreds as I practically cook mine alive. Markings appear on Kor's arm, swirling and intricate. I don't know what it means, but it must be something.

Then I realize the same is happening to my arm, but the markings are different. They're more like fire, starting at my wrist and going up to my elbow at the ends. Kor's are the same length. We both put our hands down and look at each other, surprised. Jaxx looks at Kor's markings.

"Wow... you... you did it... you earned your marks. This is the mark of the Shifter. It is mainly due to the fact that you are now a Zulis instead of a human. There are three types of marks: Shifter, Healer, and Warrior. I was lucky enough to be granted two, Healer and Warrior, but I have never met someone with the Shifter mark. It is one of the most powerful marks when it is alone, but it is even stronger when paired with another mark. That is why I can do the things I do. The two marks make the other mark's power stronger. They all do different things. Shifter is mainly appearance changing. Healer is self explanatory. Warrior is being able to fight like our distant ancestor brothers." Kor looks at Jaxx curiously.

"What would that be?"

"Do not freak out when I tell you this, but Zulis are closely related to the Gragzuls. We are obviously very different, but we are still similar in some ways. Their evolution was more of a brutal one than ours, which is why we are now so different. They kept their wings, whereas for us, only Warriors have wings. They got bigger and stronger, we wanted to try to be more like the Cordraxians we were around, which is why we look somewhat like them. Do you understand?" Kor looks at Jaxx with a blank expression. He nods after a while. "Maybe I can give you a history lesson once we are out of this battle."

We draw our attention back to the fighting around us, and then we realize that the Gragzuls have actually started a retreat, having lost more of them than we did of us. This was a close victory, but it at least turned out well in the end. After we deal with the few thousand bodies scattered around the base, we decide it would be nice to celebrate. Oh, and the hole they dug into the base? Jammed some wood in one part so that the concrete we poured in wouldn't just run down the tunnel instead of seal it off.

However, as everyone celebrates, including Xan, who generally doesn't celebrate battles, I notice Korax and Jaxx as they leave the building. We always celebrate in the rank house, but this time we decided to celebrate in a large, usually empty building and just pack the place with tables.

Jaxx leads Korax to his tent, eager to tell him more about the history of the Zulis, as well as their connection to the Gragzuls. He set up a little sort of presentation to make the explaining a little easier.

"Okay, so long ago, the twin gods Graz and Zuli made two races: the Zulis and the Gragzuls. They started similarly at first, but as time went by, the two races became more and more different as they evolved. War broke out between the two races, but no one knows why the war started in the first place. After several years of fighting, they called for a meeting between the two commanders, who eventually worked things out and made a peace treaty between the two races. The treaty is still upheld today, even though there are not many Zulis left. When we first started as a race, there was a thousand of us, but after Raxio commited mass genocide after finding out that we were related to the Gragzuls two years after the war between Cordraxians and Gragzuls started, there was only one left, and that one was me.

"I was lucky enough to survive the attack with minor injuries, but everyone that I knew and loved was dead. I went and joined up with the CCFF, and I met the first person I ended up changing, but that is a story for another time. Do you have any questions?" Kor nods.

"What exactly did Raxio do to your people? Or I guess our people, since I'm one of you now." Jaxx's expression darkens.

"He sent in a force of two thousand of his best soldiers and ordered them to slaughter us all while we slept in our homes that night. The burnt remains of the city lie northwest of here. I survived only because I had been out of the city that night, running an errand to get medicine for my father, who was dying. I found one person alive among the burnt and collapsed buildings. I tried to help them, but it was too late for them. When Zulis die, we are given the option to transfer our mark or marks to someone that we think deserves them. He gave me his Warrior mark, and that night I earned my Healer mark. I came back the following morning to find out that it was my brother I tried to help. I... I wish I could have done something..." Korax gets up and hugs Jaxx, trying to comfort him.

"I'm so sorry..." Kor says. Jaxx doesn't say anything, just leaning into him. "You at least have the Warrior mark to remember him by." Jaxx nods a little, eventually hugging him back.

"That is true..." He sniffles a little. It's been a long time since he last cried. He doesn't even remember the last time he cried, but now that it started, he knows it's not going to stop any time soon.