Chapter 1: Discovered

Now that I’ve come so close, the project can start bearing fruit. I can finally achieve the great milestone that has eluded humanity since the dawn of time. By applying the physical resiliency of my creations to the human race, I will make us the most evolutionarily advanced species in the universe. Immortality itself is finally within our grasp!

Éclair struggled to escape her pursuers. The Parasites. There were so many of them. They were relentless. Nothing she did seemed to hurt them. They weren’t afraid of her no matter how many she killed, but she was deathly afraid of them. She ran. She couldn’t seem to escape, but she ran anyway. She needed to get back to camp. She had to protect Ryan. Thinking of what they might do to him sent her heart reeling.

Just as she neared their campsite, a Parasite rose from the black ground in front of her, its appearance from the stuff of nightmares. It was large, many times bigger than a human at nearly twenty feet in length from the end of its tail to its head. It had slimy, pink skin. It had no legs to speak of, only a long, flexible tail. But it did have arms ... long, skinny, spindly arms. Its hands were large with three hooked fingers curved into claws that were long enough to wrap around Éclair’s whole waist. On its chest were four writhing tentacles, each about two meters in length, but they could stretch farther if the creature wished. The tentacles had white, barb-like stingers on the ends for injecting venom into prey. It had no eyes, only a bulbous head with four jaws that opened up like the petals of a flower. In the mouth were row upon row of rotating razor-sharp teeth and a long orange tongue that also had a stinger.

The monster made that horrible screeching noise, like a high-pitched squeal of a child or a dying animal. Then it lunged for Éclair, pinning her to the ground with its disgusting tentacles that wrapped around her arms and her legs. Éclair cried out from the pain as the barbs dug into her flesh. She tried to summon her Elemency, but nothing happened. She was powerless. Helpless. It was just like when the Morlocks captured her. All her training and all her knowledge of Elemency didn’t mean a thing. There was nothing she could do.

The Parasite hissed down at her, opening its terrible mouth as its long tongue shot forward, stabbing her in the chest. Éclair screamed from the terror and the pain as the venom poured into her veins, but that was hardly the worst of it. She looked over at her arm pinned to the ground as a horrible transformation took hold of her limb. Her armor seemed to peel away, revealing the gruesome sight. From the shoulder down, her arm mutated into a red, bleeding disfigured mess of rancid flesh and jutting bones.

“RYAN!” Éclair gasped as she sat up in the darkness, covering herself and twitching terribly. “Ryan, please don’t let it-”

But he was already there. He was already holding her in that wonderful, loving embrace. Éclair shivered and sobbed into his big chest, praying desperately that this was her reality, that he was really there comforting her.

Ryan spoke soothingly as he ran his hands through her hair while hugging her around the shoulders. “It’s alright, Éclair. It’s alright now.”

Thinking of the nightmare, Éclair lifted up Ryan’s shirt to observe the wound where he’d been injured by a Parasite’s stinger. “You’re sure, aren’t you? You’re sure the infection hasn’t spread in your arm?”

She couldn’t see much in the darkness, and her enhanced senses had yet to return to their normal sensitivity, but she still had her sense of touch. She ran her hands beneath his shirt along his hard shoulder, checking again just to be sure. She confirmed the same thing from the last few times she checked. The wound was healing. No sign of swelling. No sign of infection. Ryan was alright.

“See,” he whispered in her ear. “I’m okay. We’re both okay.”

Éclair shook her head as she felt the wound on her leg that had still yet to heal beneath a caste of ice. She was no longer crying at least, but her voice broke as she said, “No! We’re not okay, Ryan! You should’ve left me! You’re endangering yourself by staying! You should-”

He hugged her tighter with both arms. “Don’t talk like that. I’m not going anywhere. We’ve already decided, remember?”

Éclair wanted to argue, but she knew full well that it would be no use trying to persuade Ryan. Besides that, she was fairly certain that if he wasn’t there with her, she’d likely go mad. Even the thought of him leaving her all alone in her condition was terrifying enough. Whenever he left the cave to get supplies, it sometimes felt like the loneliness might kill her before the infection.

Éclair finally got her breathing under control as she nodded. “I ... I remember. I remember how stubborn you are despite all my warnings.”

Ryan chuckled and was just about to lie down again when she felt him tense in the darkness. His big hands started rubbing her arms. “Oh, Éclair. You feel so cold. Let me make a fire.”

Before he could get up, she gripped him by the shoulders and held him in place. She did feel cold, but she would rather freeze than let Ryan leave her in that moment. “It’s ... it’s alright, Ryan. I’ll be alright. You’re warm enough for me as it is. Just stay here, and let’s ... let’s try to go back to sleep.”

He didn’t respond, perhaps in hesitation. Then she felt him nod as he said, “Okay, as long as you’re sure.”

Éclair clung closer to Ryan’s chest in assurance, and he wrapped his warm arms around her waist as he leaned down with her, letting her rest on his chest. She still trembled a little, but more from the fear than the cold. Ryan slowly warmed her as he rubbed her arms and her back with his hands. Soon, his steady heartbeat and breathing helped calm her, soothing away the cold and her fears, and she drifted off to sleep.

A few hours later, Éclair woke around the same time Ryan did. She knew what he was planning to do. Their supplies were getting low. He’d soon go out again. She tried not to be such a child about it. She knew he had to go. Still, she couldn’t deny that she wished he would never leave. More than that, she wished she could come with him and help, but with her leg broken and the other infected, that would be impossible. She’d be a liability to him out there. She already was one for him in here.

He was looking out the exit to the cave as the soft light of the sun shone through the forest outside. He was mentally preparing himself for the day’s tasks. She knew it was hard on him too, leaving her. She knew he’d worry. She knew because she had felt the same when she had to leave him when he was the ill one.

“Ryan,” she said softly. “Could you wait just a bit longer? I ... I don’t need-”

Éclair started coughing and shivering all at once. She bit her lip to keep herself quiet. Though Ryan had said that he could not sense the presence of any Parasites about, she still didn’t want to take any chances. Neither one of them had so much as raised their voices in the week since the attack.

Ryan turned to her, rubbing her back and her arms to get her warmed up. With the morning light peeking into the cave, she could see him clearly now. Ryan was a half-breed. That meant that he was part human and part alien. The alien side he descended from was Saurian blood. Saurians, like her good friend, Grafael, were a reptilian subspecies of the Dragons. They were sometimes called Wingless Dragons, and they were incredibly strong and durable. Having Dragon blood in his veins, Ryan was also unusually strong, even as one of the Elementals who all possessed superhuman abilities thanks to the power of Elemency.

Because of his heritage, Ryan had bright, red eyes, and smooth golden skin-like scales. His hair was bright red just like his eyes, along with being short and messy. He used to be short and scrawny because of years of food deprivation while living on the streets of Tarrus, but since starting his training at the Fire Ministry, he was tall and powerfully built now. He had a smooth, ruggedly handsome face, and a strong chin with a small white scar that went down his neck. His ears were slightly pointed now almost like an Elf, a new development along with his growth spurt into manhood. He had long fingernails, almost like claws, and big canine teeth, almost like fangs. Since their escape from the Commandment, the only articles of clothing Ryan wore included a white T-shirt and black pants, each with several holes in the fabrics after being worn constantly in the wilderness for weeks now. He wore no shoes, leaving his golden feet bare, though Ryan never did like wearing shoes to begin with. His feet were hard and scaly anyway, so Éclair wondered if he even needed footwear. Grafael and Tork never did. He no longer had his Psionic Sword, something he lamented about often, though he had said that he felt it was nearby. Éclair found that hard to believe as the most likely scenario involved his weapon being thrown into the depths of space when the ship exploded.

When Éclair got her coughing under control, Ryan ran a hand across her forehead and frowned. She knew he possessed little to no medical knowledge, but she still found the gesture quite adorable ... and heartwarming.

Then Ryan shook his head. “I may not know crap about medicine, but I can tell you’re getting worse. It’s not just food we need. I have to get those other supplies, too. I think I’ve found a good path back to the ship, so I’m going to see how fast I can push myself to get there and back within the span of a day.”

Éclair wrinkled her nose. “You said that it’s at least a few hundred miles away.”

Ryan shrugged. “Sounds like a nice jog.”

Éclair snorted a laugh. If it was anyone other than Ryan, she would’ve called them mad. Actually, Ryan probably was a little mad anyway, but that was also why he succeeded in things Éclair would’ve considered impossible for almost any other person save for extremely high-level Elementals.

Éclair could only shake her head and sigh. Then she reached up to rub the mud coating Ryan’s golden cheek.

He grinned wolfishly at her and chuckled as if she were tickling him. “What are you doing?”

“I’m spreading the mud to cover your face and scent better,” Éclair explained, continuing to rub. “What did you think I was doing, dunderhead?”

He looked a little disappointed as he glanced away and muttered, “Well, I ... technically, we have been sleeping together, so I thought...”

He trailed off when she gave him a light conk on his noggin. Then she added, “Don’t forget to add another layer of mud while you’re out, especially when you get close to the ship’s wreckage. And don’t go anywhere near that place if you sense any Parasites in the vicinity.”

“Got it.”

“Promise?”

Ryan rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, mom. I promise.”

Éclair nodded, already feeling anxious as the time for his departure drew closer. She watched him a moment, conveying not the same love she felt for Leon, but her affection for him as a dear friend. Currently, her only friend. Her only line to life and sanity itself.

He watched her too, those deep red eyes strangely hypnotic at times. Then, in a slightly somber tone, he said, “Let’s get you taken care of before I go.”

Ryan then stood to his feet and picked her up as easily as if she were a doll. He took her to a corner next to the gray stones of the cave and gently laid her down in a bed of brown grasses and moss. Then he started covering her up in those grasses that would serve as her cushion and her blankets. They found that the grass and the moss helped to keep the cold out splendidly, allowing Éclair to stay warm when Ryan was gone, though not quite as warm as when he snuggled next to her.

Éclair started to think of what an odd pair they must make, not just with Ryan’s bizarre appearance, but her own as well. She had always been told how beautiful she was, even to the point that many found her beauty intimidating, almost unnatural. She wasn’t short, but nor was she overtly tall for a girl. She had a lean, athletic build thanks to her training as an Elemental, and a well-endowed, curvaceous figure. Her skin was fair and creamy, almost pale. Her strangest qualities were her deep, violet eyes, and her long, silver-gray hair that was always shiny, sparkling slightly in the light. Before the Commandment exploded, she had been wearing a blue diplomat’s dress. That dress was in shambles now, though she had stitched it together as best she could to allow her to move freely by parting the skirt in the middle. The sleeves were gone, and the cleavage of the dress had taken a bit of a beating as well, showing off her large breasts a tad more than she would’ve liked, but she didn’t really have the tools or the energy necessary to correct the error. She had managed to save her Psionic Bow, but that was gone now as well, destroyed in the attack by the Parasites.

When Ryan had covered her up to his satisfaction, he looked down at her with a puzzled expression. Éclair wondered if he might’ve been having boyish fantasies, prompting her to ask, “What?”

“I just had a thought,” he said with a grin. “Are you a natural silver head? Is that just a trait for mysterious, badass princesses? Cause I was thinking how cool it would be if I had silver hair, too.”

Despite herself, Éclair couldn’t help a chuckle. No matter how dismal the circumstances, Ryan never failed to make her laugh despite the stupidity of his jokes ... and his jokes got really stupid sometimes.

“Well, you shouldn’t think that way. I really like your red hair. I think it’s perfect just the way it is.” Éclair almost blushed when she let that one slip out. She hoped Ryan wouldn’t read more into it than what she meant.

Ryan didn’t seem to notice as he was already looking out the cave while she spoke, his hands on his hips. She could tell by his posture that he was hesitating to leave.

“I’ll be fine,” Éclair forced herself to say. “Just like all the other times you’ve had to leave. We haven’t heard their calls for days now. You said yourself that you didn’t think they came to this part of the planet given all the animals and vegetation here.”

Ryan sighed. “You’re right. I should get going.”

Before he headed out, Éclair asked, “You do remember the description of the equipment we need?”

Ryan looked back to her and smiled. “I remember. East wing. Deck 5. The ship may be in shambles, but I should be able to find the sickbay. We spent a good while on a capital ship anyway, so I know the layout. I also remember what you said the machine for blood transfusions looks like. They’re held in secure containers in case of a crash, right? With any luck, I’ll find one still intact.”

Éclair smiled back at him, pleased with his recap. She was proud of how much he had learned since coming here. Already he had matured so much. No longer a boy. Ryan was slowly becoming a man.