Chapter Three : Seed of the Devourer

Ari weakly opened his eyes, looking at the smooth black ceiling with confusion. After a moment, he grabbed at his stomach and then sighed in relief.

His last memory was being stabbed after all. After making sure he wasn't wounded, he looked around and realized he was in a room laying on a soft bed.

"Where am I?" Looking around at the smooth walls of the room, Ari tried to understand what had transpired while he was unconscious.

"This is the medical bay of the ship Re'zl." A soft voice came from behind him. Turning around, he locked eyes with a woman who was impossibly beautiful with mesmerizing green eyes.

"Who are you?!" Ari had no recollection of ever meeting a beauty like this woman or getting on to a ship, so how could he remain calm after being stabbed and miraculously healed?

"My name? You can call me Zila, I'm happy to see your feeling better." Zila smiled gently, tapping a hovering screen that faded out of view like magic.

"Zila? Where am I?" Ari looked around for anything he could use as a weapon, but he couldn't find anything that could be useful.

"This is the Medical Bay of the ship. Do you want to go meet with Alia now?" Zila looked at Ari and spoke lightly, not minding his repeated question.

"Who is Alia?" Ari turned and looked at the smooth wall that quickly slid open, revealing a doorway into a hallway. Zila led the way while Ari followed from behind.

"Alia is the... Ruler of this Sector? I'm not sure how to translate it due to our language differences." Zila chuckled when she saw Ali's blank look.

"Don't worry, Alia isn't evil or anything. She's also the only one who can give the Seed to you." Ari nodded as Zila stopped and the smooth walls opened up to reveal a massive chamber.

Through the transparent film, Ari could see specks of light shining brightly. Most of his attention was on the impossibly woman sitting on a black throne with a hand propping up her head lazily.

"I thought you were going to sleep a bit longer?" With a faint smile, Alia looked at Ari playfully. Ari turned his attention from the woman and to the view outside.

"This isn't Earth?" Half asking, Ari wasn't too surprised when Alia nodded in affirmation. If he couldn't understand his situation by now, he'd be a fool.

"So you're Devourers?" Ari looked back and forth between Zila and Alia trying to see if they had any inhuman features, but aside from their eyes, there weren't any major differences.

"Correct. Do you want to sit down? I have a proposition for you." Alia tapped a finger and a small black vortex appeared, spinning in the air as if it wanted to consume everything around it.

"Sure, I don't think I have much if a choice." Ali watched on in surprise when a black throne appeared behind him, seemingly made from nothingness.

Sitting on the throne, he realized that it wasn't hard or uncomfortable, it was extremely soft and warm. Zila sat down on a throne to the right as well.

"Okay, I'll tell you from now, I don't have anything against Earthlings. We entered this world by accident and it's not high on our priority list to wipe out your species since we can find planets with far more material and essence than Earth."

"Then why are you here?" Ari didn't think they were lying as he could see that they were far more technologically advanced than humans.

"We fought against The Creators and accidentally entered the wrong coordinates, thus bringing us to this region of the star map."

"We Devourers and The Creators have been waging war for countless cycles, it's almost silly because neither side can actually prevail over the other."

"So you aren't even hostile to Earth at all? The why did our technologies become useless?" Ari's priority was simply to stay alive.

"That could be blamed on Zila. She used a Disruptor to clear this Sector by accident. The aftereffects are the clouds within Earth's skies being overcast for a while." Ari looked over at Zila who simply avoided eye contact.

"Okay, then why am I here?" Ari didn't beat around the bush and instead just asked head on, surprising the two ladies present.

"You and the Seed of the Devourer have quite a high compatibility score. We want you to join us, to become a Devourer, or rather, join the Dark Void Race, our true race name and not the name humanity gave to us."

"What happens if I don't agree?" Ari barely managed to get the words out when Zila tapped the armrest of the throne and spoke in a light tone.

"Well, according to the Ruler of the Sector, it could range from immediate death to long term imprisonment." Seeing that they actually told him the truth, Ari had a better opinion of them.

"I don't want to accept without knowing if I'll still be me. Will I change or will I remain the same?" Zila and Alia would've rathered answer any other question, but they spoke truthfully anyways.

"It depends on how high the compatibility between you and the Seed of Devourer. If you manage to get a good score, it won't alter your personality much."

"Much?" Seeing his hesitation, Alia spoke in a resigned tone, her fingers tapped her armrest as she looked at Ari with her playful blue eyes.

"It's just like Zila said. Do you want to try it?" Seeing that he didn't have much of a choice, Ari nodded after thinking for a moment.

"Fine. I don't mind." Seeing him agree, Alia smiled and waved a hand, causing a beam of black light to fly into Ari's consciousness, instantly knocking him out.

"Alia, are you going to watch over him? I kind of want to watch a bit of Earth's dramas now that we have nothing to do." Seeing the excited Zila, Alia nodded and rolled her eyes when Zila blew her a kiss and ran out the room.