Chapter 14

I woke with a dull headache, and carried on through the morning feeling heavy and tired. Once we were given a small breakfast, Thaili gathered with the crew outside the ship.

"My best wishes to your journey, I'm afraid not even I can change my father's views. So you are on your own." He rubs his chin. "I can't even change my sister's mind."

As if on cue, Centauri strolls out onto the deck we stand on, clad in light armour. She tightens the band on her wrist, "what are you staring at?"

All eyes are averted to Thaili who looks entirely too exasperated. "Steer clear of danger, alright? Father's going to kill me for letting you go."

"He favors you much more," His sister scoffs.

Thaili wears a much more serious expression now, and I look over at Alkina who scowls and turns heel for the ship.

"I won't react. Trust me." Centauri brushes past the group following Alkina.

"We'll keep her safe Thaili." Eridia gives a forced smile before ushering us all the same way.

Once in the air, Eridia turns to everyone sitting and sighs. "Our last resort is gathering our own kind of rebellion. Otherwise we have nothing."

"Well then we keep hoping." I mutter, my mind still on last night. My eyes falling on the back of Centauri's head. She sits hunched over the display on her band, nothing I can see from here. I feel Eridia looking at me, and immediatly avert my eyes, suddenly ashamed for making this weird in the first place.

"Here we...are..." Alkina trails off and slams a hand on the consol, jerking me out of my thoughts. "What in Syth has happened here?"

Everyone clambers to the front to get a look at the huge space dwelling paradise. Now in complete wreckage. Pieces of ships that had docked outside of it fly past our ship at alarming speeds. I don't like the look of it and the pain of seeing it hits deeply. With a deep inhale, I release my iron vise grip on the chair I knelt on as we move inside the wide open air lock doors.

"I'll get them closed." Centauri turns and leaves as the ship lands in front of what used to be the beautiful gardens of the Thule palace. There's a loud groaning sound of metal before Eridia gives and all clear to open the hatches. She leads the way out.

My boots hit the ground with a muffle thud. Dust arises everywhere making Cain sneeze quietly. The kitten-like sound too out of place of this sort of Hell.

"Wait here," Eridia holds a hand out as to signal all to halt. "Don't make a sound."

Centauri opens her mouth to say something but glances at me and snaps it shut. Her face vaguely fearful and posture restless. Pushing this out of my mind, I watch my mother step over fallen stone arches and a statue of some kind of dragon looking thing. She stops suddenly and puts a hand to her ear, looking down and then back to us.

A droning ring starts in the back of my head, when I look around the disasters there's a building sense of dread. "Impics." The word muttered under my breath seems to strike the beginning of a problem.

A loud screech draws the attention of a wary crew, slowly but surely, I step out and join Eridia who hasn't moved an inch. When I look around in the dust, there are moving shapes atop every pile of the palace that once stood.

Eridia turns to me with wide eyes and shakes her head. "They've come to Thule."

I can hardly hear her breathy whisper, but watch as the beasts zero in on us. "How come they're just waiting?"

"They navigate by heat signals. Really strong ones. It takes a moment..."

I think back to feeling the brush of Centauri's hand and look to the ship. She looks wildly in the directions of movement, wings furled behind her and ready to take off.

Impics suddenly stops and lift their spined heads, their double stacked mouths opening to taste the air with long slimy tongues. Before any of us get the chance to react, they're onto us, Or more specifically, Centauri.

Eridia grabs my arm tightly and pushes me over so that she may fight of one of the monsters with a long rod. I stumble back and lose my footing, feeling nothing behind me but empty space. So I fall into a deep emptied marble fountain and lay there a bit stunned.

An Impic reaches over the rim of the fountain, and I freeze. It opens its mouth and two saliva covered tongues come within a few inches of my leg. I pray it doesn't move any closer and my wish is granted when it looks up sharply to be met with a blast of something radiant. Centauri stands over the rim, panting and her hands glowing brightly with foreign symbols up her forearms.

I wipe a slick sort of blood from my face and peer up at her. the blood from the beast is a pale white and feels like tar, I shake it away and grimace.

"You're not safe here," she drops down and crouches beside me, eyes wildly flitting over the surroundings.

"Neither are you." I push myself up and glare as intimidatingly as I can. "Are you... okay?"

A harsh scream tears through the still air and we both look up.

"I don't- I thought I could do it." Centauri's hand glow a little brighter and I'm not surprised about the whole magical element in this. It literally couldn't get any worse.

I sit up in my knees and watch her struggle internally with something. "What, is it the Impics?"

She wraps her arms around herself and groans, body quaking like a leaf.

"Centauri?" I reach out to touch her shoulder, an impic leaps down into the fountain and its just me. A mortal, powerless human being against an alien beast. The beast snarls and I know it's looking for her. "Hey I really could use some help."

I look behind and don't see her anymore, not before hearing a savage yell of something that could be cursing and turning to the Impic now in pieces at my feet. Centauri, now a six foot being complete with a spined tail and fangs I can see tearing out my throat.

"Uh, Centauri?" Cautiously, I step towards her as she looks up and eyes everything above the rim. Without thinking, I touch her arm lightly. Even without touching her I feel the warmth of her skin radiating off like a star itself. Her arms light up with those symbols again and she lashes out at me before jumping out and carrying on with a massive slaughter of beasts. Blood wells up on my cheek where claws cut skin and I curse myself for my own stupidity.

Once I climb out, I see Yex. Yex, impaling my mother with a spear. Yex, who has made a big mistake.

An angry scream erupts from my throat and I run for them only to be catapulted the other way by a swinging tail. Dazed, I sit up and rest my chin on the head of another animal statue. Evrythings much of a blur, but Cain slides into the gap I've landed in and ducks behind the statue. His eyes dilate with the fear and he pulls me down too.

"We've been duped," He hisses in my face, which fails to portray the emotion that I feel. Or do anything really. "Yex is there, she got ahold of Eridia. I couldn't find Alkina, but I'm so glad I found you at least. Centauri's going bat shit crazy and the Guard are trying to get her. Oh Arcux, we are through."

"Cain, shut up." I grunt and look over the pile of shit again. Now the Guard has Centauri down on the ground, placing white bands on her wrists and removing her bracelet. Cain and I now watch her shrink down to normal and lay still at the feet of Yex. Another woman steps out from the ship that I had never noticed land amidst the turmoil and noise. Once she gets close I recognise Commander Halfling. Confusions clouds my head, and something like the distinct knowledge of being betrayed.

"As far as anyone is concerned," The commander's eyes graze over the wreckage, then fall on Centauri. "This one's to blame."

"Two murders and the destruction of Thule." Yex laughs dryly. As Centauri is hauled off onto the ship, both the Alpha and commander stand around.

"Anyone left on that crew is to be disposed of. We don't need anyone trying to be a hero." The Commander snaps and heads to the ship.

"Of course," Yex purrs and gestures to her guard which disperse into the mess.

"Ceceilia," Cain grabs my arm and pulls us both further into the gap. "We have to get out of here."

"Believe me, I know. But Centauri?" I inch down the gap in between fallen arches and pull a tattered banner over the hole, enveloping us in a semi-darkness. "We can't leave her. Not to them, you heard them, she's going to take the blame for this shit!"

He grits his teeth, ears laid back on his head. "I dont know." He mutters, repeating himself quietly.

I run a hand through my tangled pouf of hair and a lightbulb goes off in my little brain. "We go back."

Cain looks up blankly.

"To the Celestial place, I know it's sort of an assholish move to have to tell her father that his daughter went beserk and now he's gotta be guilt tripped into helping us save her but-"

"Ah Syth, lets just do it," he looks out a small space in to ruin and sighs. "They're leaving now and lets face it, what else could really go wrong."

"Well Thakur could also have us killed."

"Lets hope we get him in a good mood." The last of Cain's words re drowned out by an engine taking off. We both watch agape as our ship and the commander's take off simaltaneuosly.

"Are you fucking kidding me." I curse and drag Cain out of the hole with me. "Now what!?"

He tugs at the back of my shirt and points a pawed hand at the loading bays. Through the huge glass walls I can see that many of the ships have been destroyed but a few smaller ships up higher. A couple Impics trudge through wreckage, missing a couple limbs each but still capable of killing us. Of course, I have another idea. Maybe some proof, maybe some support for when I go batshit crazy.

"Before we run into fire." I look back at him. "We need to get a cat."

"Whats a cat?" He blinks. "Is that some sort of alien?"

"As far as I know the name sounds like meme ass."

"It's Mimas," He points out. "That's Centauri's Astridian, why do we need it?"

"I...don't actually know yet, ok. Just bear with me."

This is how we end up running across the expanse of ruined buildings, cheered on by the few survivors, trying to make it to the loading bays. All the while hauling along a grumpy Astridian.

Cain leaps up on a post with his powerful hare-like back kegs and I chuck Mimas to him and scramble around the mess to avoid meeting an Impic on the other side. We both meet up at the loading bay doors, out of breath but finally there. Pushing through the doors, I turn and watch as Impics blindly clamber over piles of rubble and frown. They just, fell when they were tired and those wails sounded like a tinny child's scream.

"Ceceilia, lets go" Cain sets Mimas down and we make our way for the small ship.

"You know how to fly right?" I slam the tiny bay door shut and turn to him.

"Uh, lift off? Not so well. Once I get the hang of it, yeah."

"Fantastic."