Chapter 9

I gasp for air as I recuperate from being flung across a stretch of sand.

She has been keeping me at bay using her powers. When she said 'fight', this is not what I had in mind.

I ran towards her, dodging the huge red rocks being tossed at me at high speed. I wonder if she's actually being serious. If not, then I'm in big trouble if i don't end this. I slide to avoid having my head sliced off by a sharp jagged rock and jump up to avoid the shooting up of sand from right under me. I manage a difficult turn in midair to dodge another rock. I push myself by using my leg on the huge rock thrown at me.

I manage to land in one piece and slide over the sand.

I haven't even hit her and it's been almost an eon by now. I have to end this nonsense now. I ran as fast as I can .......wait, how am I so close to her after one step?? Did I even take one step??.

I put off those thoughts and take the opportunity to knock her out by hitting her in the back of her neck. I catch her as she falls down.

Since I don't wanna carry a dead weight across a desert, I wake her up by sprinkling a little dvaali, the human equivalent of water, on her.

She blinks and covers her face with her hand after waking up. "You won, huh? I guess I don't need to teach you anything, do I? Your power is super speed. At least the only one I know of now. Probably the only one you now know about too." She struggles to sit up and I help her.

"We should get going. It's almost sunlay and it might be dangerous if it gets dark." I pick up my carrier and throw hers over to her. "Unless you want to stay here forever." I turn and smile at her.

She puts on her carrier and throws me an amused stare.

I look at the hologear, now showing clearly the detailed map. I guess there isn't much distance left. We'll probably reach an eon before sunlay if we start now. I take a sip from my dvaali jar and lift my hand to block the glare of the scorching sun.

We begin to move at an averagely quick pace.

"So do you have a girlfriend or a wife??" She asks breaking the long maintained silence.

"Why do you ask??" I reply, still walking, trying to hide my startled expression from her.

"Seemed like a good thing to ask, I guess. So do you have a wife or a girlfriend?? Tell me." She pleads in a childish tone.

I let out a chuckle and looked at the little human mutation. "Yes, I do have a wife and she is the only reason I'm here on this vast red stretch of disintegrated rocks."

I pick a small red stone and throw it as far as I can. That's when I realize the swirling red mass in the distance. She comes up to my side and looks at the gradually approaching sand storm.

"I guess we're going to be late after all." She says as she makes her way ahead of me. "We better find someplace to stay till the storm passes."

I follow her whilst checking the hologear for the closest safe place we can reside till the storm recedes.

After locating an abandoned mine at the base of a small mountain, we make camp there. The storm catches up to us really fast. She sits very close to me as we wait for the red storm of sand to pass.

We continue our journey with no hindrance to our final destination. A village, built into the side of a plateau, by the name Tirai.

The village had a very minimal population of 300. Our presence in the market area did attract a few stares. To be honest, every one who we met  looked at us weirdly. I approach a young villager to ask for a place to stay. He directs me towards an inn after I had to pay a little encouragement.

As we start in the direction of the inn, a hand holds my shoulder. I turn to find a cloaked figure of a woman. She signals that we follow her.

I look at Elina and she just simply shrugs. Well I guess there's no harm in following a stranger, huh??

Against my better judgement, I agree to follow this cloaked figure by nodding at her.

She leads us to a small building after winding through the walkways connecting the building to each other. The building turns out to be a drinking spot.

We move to a table at the far end of the room to avoid attention. Even though that hardly changed a thing.

She moves to the counter and says something to the bar's attendant who nods.

She comes back to our table and sits directly opposite us on the benches attached to the wall. She pulls back the hoodie attached to her cloak to reveal a beautiful blue face Fjan with dark blue lips and a pair of bright yellow eyes.

"I apologize for my poor introductory appearance. My name is Kalil Mara. You can call me Mara. You must be Squad Leader Muad..." She says looking at me as though trying to read my mind. "...and you must be Elina. Nice to meet you all."

Her jolly attitude makes her seem more approachable than I thought she was. I put my right hand on the table propping my self in an intimidating position. "Why did you bring us here?? And how do you know us??" I ask through my teeth in a low tone, still trying to avoid attention which has now seemed to dissipate.

"I am Onii of the Maru Eaters. I am the only one who made it here before the time limit. I have something to show you, Squad Leader." She says in an official tone.

"Call me Muad." I'm still not used to the overbearing respect the military offers those in higher positions. "But before you say anything else, show me anything prove to me that you are legit and not a fraud or a spy."

She smiles, obviously admiring my alertness and quick wit. She pulls out one of the hologear and slides it over to me. "Not here though." She whispers as she leans in. "Follow me. I got a place where we can stay for a while. It's not far from here."

With this said, she gets up from her seat and starts away from our table. I nudge Elina who has surprisingly been quiet throughout the whole conversation with Mara. I wonder why.

We follow her to a building a little larger than the drinking spot we had been in.

We are led into a room, well spaced and well furnished. She quickly takes of the cloak and plops herself on the soft couch. The suit she wore under the cloak had the Maru Eaters insignia on it. The suit was just like mine. Elina takes a seat on a single seat couch close to the window and I sat beside Kalil.

"Before you ask anymore questions, watch the holo recorded video on the hologear." She gestures at the metal block now in my hand.

I put on the table and activate it. The face of the General popped up again just like in the other recording.

It seemed like a rushed recording. "Squad leader Muad, you must have met Onii Kalil by now. The Squad has been made to go to different locations in small groups so as to increase anonymosity and ensure that the afore discussed plans are carried out to restore our race to its former glory. You are to regroup and carry out Project ROPE. All supplies for the missions are at the next destination where all the Maru Eaters will be united. You are to regroup as soon as you can and initiate the Project immediately after then. I wish you good luck. Please Save Us All." The holovideo ends.

Kalil picks up the hologear and waves it in the air. "I guess that answers some of your questions, huh??" She asks and then continues without waiting for an answer. "So any questions for me to answer or....??"

"What did they do to us in those pods exactly??" I ask.

"I was expecting you to ask that." She says. "Well, what happened in the pods could be referred to as a biogenetic upgrade, BGU, to help us survive the extreme conditions of our mission. Anything else?" She asks.

"What are the side effects of the BGU?" I ask, standing up to stretch my muscles.

"Nothing much really. Just minor changes depending in the abilities obtained." Her eyes follow me as I walk over to Elina and smile at her as she plays with her fingers on her lap.

"I suppose you know about your abilities by now." She asks with a brow up.

I just shrug and let out an almost unnoticeable yawn. I mean we hardly had decent rest throughout our journey here.

"I'll take that as yes." She pauses and looks outside through the window I'm standing in front of. "We should take some rest because tomorrow is gonna be rough." She gets up and walks towards the door we came in through.

"Between you two, one gets the bed and the other must make use of our comfy nice couch." She has her back turned to us as she talks. "You guys decide who gets what. I'm tired. See you tomorrow."

She opens the door and suddenly stops as though remembering something important. She turns smiling really wide and slides her eyes all the way from me to Elina. "If you need anything, I'm in the next room. Bye!" The slam of the door and the receding footsteps indicated her departure.

"You take the bed. I think you'll need it more than me." I pick up the armrests and position them in the couch.

"Okay. She seems nice." She finally breaks her silence. "If you were wondering why I decided not to speak when that woman was here, it's because I wanted to read her mind properly and she seems legit. I guess trusting her for now isn't much of a task. Goodnight."

With these words, she jumps unto the bed with her face on the puffed up headresters made from flaini feathers.

"Goodnight." If tomorrow will be as rough as she says, well.....we'll see.

I close my eyes slowly and allow the sleep to envelope me.

Author's note

Thank you all for reading👍.

Anyone care to guess what's gonna happen next.

What are you thoughts about Kalil?? Or should I call her Mara instead??😰

Hope you guys keep reading my book and share it too😝.