Chapter 6: Thunder and Lightning

The storm had appeared out of nowhere. Within minutes the sky had gone from its usual red sunset to a black sea of humid clouds and streaks of orange lighting came upon the planet.

The sounds of rumbling thunder echoed throughout the walls of the Xandrian mansion, orange and white light flashed through the prized gigantic southern window and cast shadows upon the two figures walking through its light.

One was slightly larger than the average man and walked with a purpose, away from his taller pursuer. The clomping of his boots the only sound between the rumbles in the sky overhead.

"I've seen what their weapons can do, if we're nice enough we might have an alliance!" Grimley called after Xaviour who only walked faster away from the dark giant. Grimley caught up however and continued his ramble. "I'll have her eating out of my hand by tomorrow then we'll have the most violent warrior race in the universe on our side, the Humans will be gone in a week!"

Xaviour slowed and for the first time that evening made eye contact with his son. His red eyes were lacking in any kind of concern for Grimley's point. He had passed the point of visible rage for Grimley's actions of leading a fresh squadron to their deaths and interfering in intergalactic foreign policy. Even though Mars was a minor concern, he knew that despite their religion of peace they wouldn't be happy about their dwindling resources being spent on a fool's errand. Indeed, Xaviour was frightened. He hadn't thought that they had the means to still produce Black Smoke, if news of what Grimley did got out to the Ootzie elders then the Xandrians might have another war on their hands.

"You can bet they'll treat us violently when they find out what you've done. Keep away from that girl. Is it so hard to not cause any damage?" Xaviour picked up the pace again and left Grimley behind. He stood wringing his hands and slouching down, trying to get as close to his farther's eye level as possible.

"But dad this could work. Trust me!"

Xaviour continued into the next room. The door shut with a heavy slam.

Atari had been standing in the middle of the entrance hallway for quite some time. She clutched the sword to her chest. Nobody came forward to direct her to go anywhere. There were guards posted at each doorframe but they just stared at her from beneath their veils.

She began to feel the chill of the storm upon her back and had begun to hunch, both from nervousness and the wind seeping under the door.

This place, for lack of a better word, was all she could think of as 'alien'

The architecture with its unnecessarily massive roof. The oppressive cleanliness of everything. The mysterious faces of the guards. The distant scent of incense being swept away by the storm through an open window. She was afraid. Being alone in the company of the Xandrians was something she was only prepared for when she had the leverage of the Black Smoke. Now all she had was a mysterious sword and the word of a man who was obviously not well-liked in the Xandrian ranks.

Atari couldn't see much of Grimley against the black walls. His black skin morphed into the polished walls and the red of his uniform blended in with the rich, bloody tapestries that hung from the rafters of the high roof. If she'd been in a hurry she was sure she wouldn't have noticed him were it not for his electric blue eyes and the grey stripes that ran down his breastbone.

"How strange." She thought, "There's no blue anywhere else here. Just his eyes..." She mused on the thought for a moment. She had heard Grimley refer to Xaviour as 'dad' but it was obvious there was no relation between them.

Xaviour's eyes were blood red, Grimley's shocking blue. Xaviour had pasty grey skin whilst Grimley's was pitch black. Xaviour had claw-like feet, Grimley had horns. "However, I haven't seen the mother yet." She reminded herself.

The soft clopping of what she assumed to be high heeled boots came into focus, as did a petite woman dressed in long pink and red robes. Her mouth was covered and a headdress of scarlet beads hung between her pale horns. From what Atari could see of her face, her eyes were amber, and her skin pasty brown.

The woman approached Grimley who leaned down into her for a hug. She made no sound. Once Grimley had had enough of the comforting gesture she began to make twisting motions with her hands, Grimley nodded at them after each pause she made.

Atari hadn't heard much about the Mutant race. All she knew was that they were somehow related to Humans and had been at war with them for around 200 years. They appeared to like the color red, religiously. If their name was any indication of their origin then it could be possible that Grimley was indeed this woman's and Xaviour's son, just a victim of a random mutation. "It could happen. He seems to think so." She concluded.

A loud groaning crept through the black halls. The mansion was breathing with the storm.

Atari's antenna pricked up at the sound of a falling tree outside. Curious, she abandoned her post in the middle of the floor and walked to the massive southern window, almost as high as the trees themselves.

"I hope this glass holds." She thought. The black silhouettes of the trees were occasionally brightened by the clash of an orange thunderbolt in the distance. Rain pelted against the glass in a loud rattle. Despite how concerning the storm would be to the Xandrians in their pristine mansion, Atari was fascinated by it and even smiled at the sound and sight of the rain.

"I'm the first Ootzie to see rain in 5,000 years." She thought. "They won't believe me when I tell them I've seen rain."

Another crack of lightning. This time uncomfortably close. It struck a tree ablaze, the weight of the impact sending the tower of bark and orchids down towards the southern window.

Atari was sure the glass would hold or that the tree would rest on its crushed roots before it made the impact, but when it started plummeting towards the glass she retreated deep into the entrance hall just as a sharp crash of glass heralded the tree's arrival into the mansion.

Shards of glass ground to powder sprayed across the floor as did a few loose branches. Pellets of rain sprayed a few meters inside, doors started buckling further down the hall with the weight of the wind.

The guards, untrained to deal with issues of the weather merely bared their four-headed spears at the open window, as if they could fight the rain.

Xaviour reappeared in the doorway and found it half blocked by debris. He glared at Grimley, as though he was responsible.

Another lightning strike. This time it struck the series of uneven antenna that stuck out from the roof of the mansion. With violent pops, each light in the mansion exploded in a flurry of orange sparks. Plunging it into darkness except for the grey light of the storm outside.

Unbelievably, the storm became worse. More powerful than any naturally occurring storm.

Atari began to sense something out in the swamp, something she both heard and sensed. A hissing sound gradually growing in ferocity, through the gloom of the swamp came a dull orange gass. It moved with the wind and swept into the mansion in long whisps, creeping up to the veiled faces of the guards and choking them from the inside. They clawed at their throats and dropped to the floor in the same way the humans at the coastal factory had fallen. A long arm of gas detached and coiled its way towards Atari.

She ran. Only stopping when she came to a locked door.

"Hey! Open the door!" She shouted, beating on the metal with her free hand, the other tightly clutching the sword. The hissing sound was deafening now, only the dying gasps of the guards and cracks of thunder broke through. She turned around to face the mansion and saw it was overrun with the sick orange color. She saw Grimley and the mystery woman running towards an open door on the opposite side of the entrance hall, Grimley tripped over a branch and smacked his head into the polished floor, he didn't get back up. The woman tried to run back for him but was pulled away by Xaviour behind a door that slammed shut after them. Grimley still didn't move.

The sound of death and wind faded away. The lower half of Atari's vision became brighter. She looked for the source and found it in the sword, making that same sweet singing noise it had in the water where she found it. Or where it found her. She looked at the gem embedded in its hilt and felt something was looking back at her, from inside the sword. The gem began to glow and the creeping gas forming around Atari's feet retreated from the light. Curious, Atari swung the blade clumsily at a strand still lingering near, it recoiled like a snake at the approach of the light then started slinking back towards her foot one it had left.

Atari looked across at Grimley, he was still lying on the floor, a cloud of gas was nearly upon him. She ran towards him, the sword held out in front of her. The gas that barred her way slunk away from the light. She made it to Grimley just before he was enveloped by the gas. She held the sword up and the light intensified. Becoming a blinding white, swallowing them both up in a protective glow. Just before they were fully enveloped, Atari saw a figure roaming over the fallen tree and stepping into the mansion. It was bright orange and seemed to fade in and out of focus with each change in movement. It looked just a little bit like Grimley.