Chapter 7

Looking around the new surroundings, I felt dread pull at my heart. It was darker tones here in these halls lined with stained glass windows portraying wars and festivals.

"Celestial history is rich," Yex catches me looking at them and follows my gaze while we walk. "Not rich enough to save them however."

Beside me, Centauri bristles and fidgets with a small band on her wrist. I notice the rose gold colour of it and the tiny little planet charm on it. However my attention is drawn to the doors we reach, two guards push them open and we stand out on a platform overlooking thousands of floating orbs in a void like space. I can only see so far before it pitches into utter darkness.

"This would be the prison as humans called it." Yex waves a hand and the platform starts to move, floating seamlessly across the expanse. The eyes of contained creatures and what could very well be humans fall on us. All tired and dark from hardly ever seeing any light. The platform lowers to the ground which seems all too far from the altitude we'd been at. At this level is a dimly lit path to a large cage. A low thrum starts in my head and I already know whats inside.

"Don't be afraid." Centauri whispers, though she could be talking to herself.

A hand clamps down on my shoulder, one of the wolf-python guards drags me closer and I hear the snarling before the ringing. Firmly planting my feet to avoid going further I look back at Yex who smiles pleasantly as if this is some wonderful stroll on a beach. The creature inside the cage starts to writhe and spaz.

"What do you hear?" Yex's voice is next to my ear and I shudder away from it. Keeping a distance from the beast despite the resistance behind me. "The ringing would be the Titain effect. Which would prove that there's celestial blood."

Inside the Impic starts to screech and the guard behind me just picks me up by the shoulders and drops me directly in front of the cell. My head threatens to explode with the noise, I look up to the beast and find it's face directly before mine. The only thing keeping us apart is the strange semi-transparent particle barrier. I watch as it's two mouths clamp shut and open again repeatedly. The ringing dulls much to my relief and the six eyes of the creature lock with mine.

"I wouldn't do that," Yex snaps. "They're quite sensitive."

When I break eye contact, the Impic screeches shrilly and starts to clamber around the walls of its cage. It's wings have been sawed off at the base and even though. Behind me Centauri looks mildly surprised but she keeps her distance from the cell.

"So be it," Yex gestures to the guard and he pulls me from the cell and back to the platform where I sink against the railing. Unable to think a coherent thought as I watch the cell disappear when the platform rises. "You've met our special guest, Obyron. The first resident of this hell hole."

At her words, terrible howls arise from the prisoners. Jeers and screaming are thrown our way and Yex scoffs. She looks to her guard and tightens her grip on the railing. "Inform Eridia that she will have an audience." The Alpha look at me with a sour look, "she's got a few questions to answer."

The guard grunts in acknowledgement and once the platform reaches the hall we're on our merry way back. Though I still feel like my brain had been replaced with a static ridden radio, I follow closely behind Centauri who hasn't spoken a word since the ordeal.

The next destination is a smaller room much like the one where we had talked before. Though there are no couches, just wicker chairs where we are seated.

"Alpha, prisoner 392, Eridia the buried." Another guard shoves a rather disheveled woman to the ground in a bow and pulls her back up. Her skin is darker purple than Centauri's but she shares the same ethereal beauty. But once I the missing wings and long jagged scars on her back, i get the ruthlessness of these people.

"Eridia, long time no see," Yex smiles daintily. "Recognize this?"

It takes me a moment to realize she means me and I have all eyes on me now. Eridia's eyes narrow, then widen as she take it in. "I don't understand, where did you come from."

When everyone looks at me again I assume I've been given permission to run my mouth.

"Earth..." I glance at Centauri and her concerned look.

"This perfectly normal human shares the blood of the celestials. Might you recognise the features that it shares with Simon Glass?" Yex stands and approaches the prisoner.

"Yeah." Eridia's voice is soft like her head was a million miles away from here. Back on Earth perhaps. "That would be my daughter."

A laugh escapes me and I rest my elbows on my knees, placing my chin in my cupped hands. "So you dragged me all the way here, brought to me to hell and back then dropped me on front of someone and called them my mother?"

Centauri rubs the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. Eridia herself cracks a little smile and sighs.

"What now, I'm destined to save the universe?"

Yex blanks and looks to Centauri, then me. "The Impics just want the thing related to the asshoel that led to their destruction. The man who betrayed both humans and alien species. Simon Glass, who extorted his mates abilities," she gestures to Eridia, "and became synthetically celestial. But this man has gone missing for years."

"He calls himself Alnilam the Fearsome, and lives up to the name." Yex continues and taps her claws on her thigh while studying Eridia. She looks back at Centauri, "The same man who wiped out so many Celestials." Her voice gets swoony, as if she talks to a three year old. I watch as a scowl crosses Centauri's face.

"So, what do I do?" My voice is low and matches the darker mood that's coming on with this bullshit.

This seems to be the right question to ask because Yex nods to us three, "I want Alnilam found and brought to this place. If we can stop that madman from ruining the thousands years of peace we've had with humans and the beasts then there won't have to be any wars." She waves her hand in the air as if it's such a simple task. "You have his spawn, a thing he hates and his mate. I will give some support as well."

Centauri opens her mouth to retort but snaps it shut and wears a murderous gaze.

I look to the woman who is supposedly my mother and back to Yex. "Where would we find my father?"

"Well currently he resides with the Impic population," another woman enters the room. Her figure is slim and short and her face is graced with a sharp toothed smile. Two long tendrils of something like oil hover from her back, giving her and intimidating look.

"Ah yes Alkina, kind of you to join us." Yex sits up and looks on with a bit of disapproval.

"I wish to join the expedition," Alkina's small yellow pupils land on me and she narrows her eyes. "I know a lot more about Impics than anyone here."

With a nod from Yex, the guard cuts the cuffs from Eridia's wrists and shoves her forwards.

"All of you get out of my sight. Don't come back till you have Simon Glass dead or alive." Yex stands and gestures towards the door in a command for us to leave.