I Lied, Purgatory Was Here.

I LIED, PURGATORY WAS HERE.

Chapter 5

I remember when our Bio-teachers talked about religions and beliefs from other planets. Our teachers spoke of some Tertian's worshiping many gods, some did not. I remembered our teachers telling us that if we did not do right by them; we would be punished by the scariest god of them all. Ishtar, the Assyrian goddess of sex, fertility, war, genocide, and ultra-violence. She was a so-called "Murderous Mother Goddess". She was a contrast in her self, and she demanded blood.

Let's just say the gow was Evil. She created destruction just for the fun of it, causing enough problems that even the other gods had to lock her demented ass up. Point is, if she was an evil goddess, who, ruled over one place. A place where all dark souls went, it would be probably be called purgatory. I remember telling myself that purgatory was the domes I trained and recruited in.

I used to think that Ishtar was Elvira herself. I always told myself that I was her little, demonic slave running around and doing her horrific bidding. Plaguing, torturing, and corrupting the lives of the innocents. She was just as wicked as the Teachers used to describe her. So, I thought. Now, ooooh, I know... I LIED. Purgatory was here. Elvira was not Ishtar no, if anything, she was her right-hand man. Ishtar herself was disguised as the man standing in front of me, and oh, did he love to play and torture.

"I've heard so many stories about the Sui-Generis. Stories about how all of you were the best. The best in the league, and so far, I can confirm what I believed from the beginning. You are all disappointing, to say the least." The only response to his demeaning words was the sound of heavy breathing.

I was on my hands, and my knees sweat dripping down my temple. It slid down my cheeks before hitting the ground, where it collected with the rest of the droplets creating a puddle on the faux grass. White sunlight pierced through the pentagram shaped windows of the training room and into my eyes. I closed my eyes, trying to think of something other than my exhaustion. I blinked, shaking my head. My only thoughts. going back to the throbbing in my side. Instead of thinking of a nasty response to his diss, I decided to watch as a Thorang bug crawled across the fake grass. Its faux image flickered in out as the computer system worked out some kind of glitch. My arms trembled from my weight, and it took every effort in me not to collapse on the ground. The training land he chose was somewhat beautiful, although, the brown dried grass did little to help against falling hard on my ass.

I wasn't the only one suffering. My teammates were scattered all around me. Kira was on her side, her onyx hair covering the side of her face. The dark strands blew outwards as she breathed in deeply. Masha, like me, was on her hands and knees staring blankly at the ground. Concentration flickered in her white eyes as she tried to make herself stand again. Zaylee was lying on her back. Her arms and legs spread out over Daisha, who laid in the opposite direction of her. She laid there with her blue eyes skyward.

If it were not for the rise and fall of her shoulders, I would have thought she was gone and ready to be floated.

We were all exhausted. The training he dealt us with was meant for the elites. The snake armada training did not prepare us for this shit. When we first arrived, Drakson took us through five fighting sequences, three workouts, and five running exercises acing all of them. He told us it was to prepare for something else. At the time, all I could think was how stupid the idea was. Now, all I could think was how I wished I had paid attention at the moment because I was severely paying the consequences now. Little did we know, it was all just a preliminary practice before the real battle began. And, oh, did we fail miserably. Xanth Cavallo was an estimate to that. Our team captain strolled by Masha, he looked down at her with a face devoid of all emotion. If it weren't for his eyes, I would say the man was a Bio-android. His eyes held all the emotions he harbored that he wouldn't allow showing on his face. They may have been looking at us with such negative emotions, but I couldn't deny how truly beautiful they were. The color was the same as amber stones when the sun hit them at just the right moment. It reminded me of the stones that held together my land's temples. The color of the brownstones unique but not in a genetic mutation way like the rest of the Bios. Unfortunately, the brown orbs kept casting us with looks of utter disappointment. Rightly so.

Later, when we finished our exercises in the training area, we waited for Drakson to give us orders, but instead, he walked in. Xanth slowly walked through the door on bare feet. He casted us all calculated looks. A sharp look that sent a jolt down my back when his eyes landed on me. Those golden-brown orbs, leading me to one conclusion. Danger. Xanth had menace written in every fiber of his being, and when he spoke, I had to keep myself from taking a step back. His deep voice, echoing across the training dome.

"Let's begin, your first task is simple. Knock me down." Xanth slid a foot behind him, readying his battle pose. No one moved. Each one of us exchanged surprised glances.

"I'm sorry, captain what?" Zaylee exclaimed.

Xanth shrugged. "I said knock me down. The first task is to simply knock me, what is it you young bio's say?" he tapped a long finger on his chin. "Ahh. Knock me on my ass." He gave us a sinister smirk. "That is your assignment. If you can complete it before training is over, then you can go back to your rooms early. If not, then we will continue this, until one, or all of you can do it. Strategize with each other, use whatever abilities you would like, but the objective is simple, you are to knock me over."

Worried facials expression could be seen across the room.

"Um, okay, so this has to be a trick right?" Kira scoffed over the link. Her perplexity coinciding with mine. "He's our team captain, for the Gods sake, it can't be that easy. Can it?"

I watched as Daisha's eyes narrowed. "No, this isn't a trick. It's a test. One we need to pass. Zaylee you attack first, then Masha you go in after her, then we will-"

"Wait, why just me? Would it not be better to attack at once, so he can't see one of us coming?" Zaylee interrupted.

"It is, but I want to test how he fights, and since you ignored my orders to stop teasing Kira this morning, you get to be the first bait in the test." Daisha retorted over the link a smirk cresting at the edges of her lips.

"Grozit, fine let's do it." Zaylee shook out her shoulders. "Be ready on three, once Zaylee fails, Masha you move in, and do not let up. I want to see how well he deals with consistent, multiple attacks." Daisha ordered. With unison agreement, we kept our stances casual. Daisha, Kira, and I put some distance in between us and Xanth. It was still close enough to strike when ready, but far enough not to get hit when Zaylee and Masha got their asses handed to them. Zaylee unsheathed her large daggers. She twirled one of them in her left hand while circling Xanth.

His eyes stared forward, a bored look settling over his face. He looked relax, but I was not stupid enough to think he was unprepared.

Zaylee moved forward with literal lightning speed. Her electricity, sending a crackling sound in the room. She swung out a blade, which was inches away from slicing, Xanth's cheek off.

Xanth quickly sidestepped the blade before delivering a knee to Zaylee's stomach. I watched with narrowed eyes as surprise registered on Zaylee's face before she smacked against the wall behind her.

Ouch. Masha growled as her scales flipped, turning her invisible. I watched with fascination as Xanth smoothly slid his foot behind him. His hand posed palm out in front of him. Zaylee quickly recovered as she shook out her hair. Electric sparks zapping as she wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. Her amethyst eyes flashed with a spark of blue light, and a wicked smile slid easily across her face. She launched forward at the same time, something blurred beside Xanth. Before I could blink, Xanth had something pinned to the ground. His hands were wrapped around something, and Zaylee was lying down, unconscious on the ground to the side of him. Xanth slowly stood up, letting go of whatever he had secured to the ground. Masha's scales flipped back as she went visible again. She was lying there. Her eyes shut. I did not have to guess that she was unconscious. I relaxed my shoulders when I saw her chest still rising.

"By the kings, this man is unbelievable. He hasn't even used his abilities yet, and he took Zaylee and Masha out in minutes." Kira enquired her green wavelength jumping with what sounded like awe. "What's our next move?"

"We-" With our guard down, that was all it took for Xanth to make us look like complete failures. He took down all three of us before we had time to retaliate. My ass was still sore from how hard he took us down the first time. That wasn't even the worst part.

From that day on, we strategized, exhausted our abilities to the last bar, slashed, and fought with all we had. It still was not enough to lay a finger on him. Each effort was a miss or worse a hit to the body. Three days in and I was ready to KILL Kira. We all were. Every single time she said what's the worse could happen; shit always went to the worse side. Although we had hated to admit it, our infuriation had to deal more with failing Xanth's mission. Xanth was a relentless force. Our efforts each time completely useless. Today was no different; finally, the three days of endless had got to us all. You would think someone with all that muscle, and large stature would be slow. Wrong. I watched as Masha collapsed to the ground exhaustion winning the silent battle. Three long days of endless ass whoopings were enough to exhaust anybody.

Xanth casted his eyes skyward. He shook his head, strands from his ebony, ombre, shaded hair sliding over his back. It was terrifying how beautiful he was. Usually, Bios were known for having ugly scars from battles or mutated features present from their mixed genetics. Skin and physical mutations that resulted from something going haywire in the genetic codes binding to their DNA. Masha was a good example of this; her teeth, claws, and serpentine eyes being a genetic defect to the animal DNA they used to modify her genes.

Xanth, however, was another story. Everything about him was beautiful, and I hated it. It meant his DNA was perfect enough to bind with the given genetic modifications. From what I could see his olive-toned skin was flawless. No scratches, or whipping marks, which meant no Bios were able to close enough to mark him, and he was perfect enough to have never made a mistake. The only markings on his flawless skin were of his own doing.

He had dark patterns running up his arms, disappearing underneath his robe. They were unique enough that I couldn't guess the shape of the design. The intricate and detailed shapes something that seemed ancient, and tribal. They seemed more like birthmarks, the way they seemed to fit the muscular shape of his arms and maybe his chest. I wanted to know more about them. I wanted to learn more about him.

Xanth's Bio file was highly classified and impossible to hack. That was something I never encountered. Everything had a back door in the Bio-world. Everything. Except, his file. It was harder than anything I have ever tried to hack. It was also a warning I had every intention to adhere. It meant that his past was being sealed with a lot of power. Digging around could get me floated or worse thrown on the Bio prison planet. That was something I had no intention of doing.

If I couldn't gauge his powers the technological way, then I would just have to watch him closely from afar. Asking would only cause suspicion I didn't need. So far, his fighting abilities were the only thing he showcased. I watched as he walked around us, his footsteps somehow silent against the brittle grass. I stared through my hair, watching as he trailed in between us, disappointment flashing through his eyes.

He was indeed lethal to the eye. He wasn't like Masha, who used her innocence to trick Bios. No, Xanth was lethal enough to never hide his power and to back it up. Xanth was the perfect example of the Bio's need for perfection. His strong hands were cupped behind his back as his white robe billowed around him. The nice breeze a welcome caress to my hot, sweat-soaked skin.