Kyle West - Revelation

I felt my face go red. I’m working on it.

You should mate with her.

My face burned even hotter at the suggestion. Askal didn’t understand that we humans worked a little differently from the Askala.

“What is he saying?” Anna asked, with a smile.

I was too flustered to answer immediately. I felt my vision swim, and Anna’s form wobbled before me.

She paused a moment. “Your eyes…”

“They turned just now, didn’t they?”

She nodded.

“So, it is when I’m interacting with xenolife. Otherwise, they are normal.”

“That’s it, then?”

“They were white while I was in the Great Blight. They are white here, touching Askal. And when I awoke on Odin, after having my dream, they were white…” I paused. “I think the connection is clear.”

“Well, what is he saying? You still haven’t answered me.”

I hesitated, wondering how to respond. Clearly, the Askala liked to cut to the chase. Askal felt insistent that I should tell her exactly what he had said.

I decided to compromise a bit.

“He says…” I paused. “He says that you and I make a good pair.”

She smiled, and blushed slightly.

I hopped onto Askal’s back, reaching out a hand for Anna. She hesitated at first. After a moment, she took it, and I helped her onto Askal’s back. She sat behind me, wrapped her arms around me, settling her head on my shoulder.

With a thought, I gave an image of the mesa we had left behind. With a roar, Askal cast off, leaving the ground below.

It was time to meet with the others.

When Askal flew near the mesa, I decided on impulse to fly directly into the camp. These people would have to get the idea that at least some of the Askala were on our side. What better way to do that than flying one and landing it in the middle of all of them?

It seemed like a great idea at the time.

“Um…” Anna said. “Are you sure we shouldn’t be landing this thing farther away?”

“A little shock might do everyone good,” I said.

“I think they’ve had enough shock…”

Just when I realized that Anna was probably right, it was too late. The camp came alive, having spied the dragon from a distance. People ran into tents, grabbed rifles, and pointed them into the air.

They reacted far more quickly than I would have thought. They must have trained or something.

“Pull back,” I said.

Askal obeyed, and I could feel his gratefulness. Several shots fired, but they were so distant that they would have missed by a wide margin. Askal wheeled around, turning to the direction we had come from.

Only to find Gilgamesh approaching at lightning speed.

“Down!” I yelled.

The ship’s turrets opened fire, bullets whizzing through the air. Anna began to slide off the Askala’s back. She screamed, but Askal jerked to the side, throwing her back on before she could fall. Her fingers dug into my torso, and I gritted my teeth in pain.

“You alright?” I asked.

Anna didn’t answer as the ship swooped overhead, the turret disengaging.

Tell your girl to hold on .

What?

There was a lull for a moment.

“Anna, hold on!”

She complied, and immediately after, Askal made a nosedive, letting out a mighty bellow. We both cried out as we zoomed toward the nearby mesa. Gilgamesh was turning around, chasing Askal away. They meant to shoot us down, right here, right now.

I can’t outrun that metal Askala , Askal said.

I knew he couldn’t. Gilgamesh was way too fast. Instead, Askal circled round the mesa, then roosted on a ledge. His long neck craned to the left, the right, searching for somewhere to hide.

But it was too late. Slowly, Gilgamesh glided round the mesa sideways, its front facing toward us. Its twin turrets spun, aiming directly at us all. Anna and I threw up our hands, waving at the ship’s crew to stop.

Gilgamesh paused. One second. Two. Three.

They knew it was us.

“We’re safe!” I said.

Gilgamesh turned sideways, facing the blast door toward us. As it slid closer through the air, the door opened, revealing a familiar face I hadn’t seen now in over a week. He wore an unbelieving smile.

“Alex!” he yelled.

“Julian! Thanks for almost killing us.”

He shrugged. “I see you found a new ride, huh?”

Michael was next to appear in the doorway. He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Ashton says to follow him back to camp. Fly in sync so that they know we are together.”

I gave a salute of acknowledgement. Both Michael and Julian disappeared from the doorway, and the blast door closed. Gilgamesh veered away in the direction of the camp.

“You get all that, Askal?”

Askal snorted, and cast off from the ledge. Anna gripped me more tightly.

“That was too close.”

“We got lucky.”

Askal eased in beside Gilgamesh, flying at the same slow speed. I could feel the Askala’s nervousness. I didn’t blame the poor guy.

“You’ll be fine,” I said, patting the creature’s back.

Gilgamesh circled and alighted atop the hill next to Odin . When Askal flew right along next to it, people that had once fired now lowered their weapons. They could clearly see Anna and me on the Askala’s back.

The worst of everything was over — at least, for now it was. Askal flapped his wings a couple times, slowing his descent. He gingerly landed next to Gilgamesh . He kept his head down. I could feel his body shaking beneath me. I could feel his fear in my mind, emanating in waves.

“It’s alright, buddy,” I said. “Nothing’s going to happen to you.”

While I tried to calm the Askala, Anna tapped my shoulder.

“Look,” she said.

A large crowd had gathered before us. At the front were Makara, Char, Ashton, Julian, and Michael, all staring up at me.

Makara was the first to speak.

“Alright. You have a lot of explaining to do.”

I nodded. “I know.”

“I’ll let Samuel know they’re back,” Michael said. “Hopefully, they won’t be out too far.”

While Michael raised his radio to his mouth, Ashton took a step forward. His expression was more curious than afraid. Was he already beginning to piece together what the rest had yet to figure out?

“We can talk of all this,” Char said, “but first, let us step inside the ship.” He gazed in the direction of two of the gang lords, who had been drawn to the commotion. There was Rey, and Cain beside him. Their eyes stared, hollow and cold. I suppressed a shudder.

It had been a while since I had seen any of these men — Rey, Cain, Jade, Grudge — even Boss Dragon. They were here with us, too, but I had not had the burden of dealing with them, fortunately. That had been Makara’s and Char’s prerogative, and I had no idea what their plans were regarding the gangs. I guessed I would find out as much about that as anything as soon as I went inside Gilgamesh .

We sat around the conference table. It was quiet, and no one spoke for a while. It was me, Anna beside me, and on my other side, Michael. Across the table were Makara, Char, and Ashton. On either end of the table were Boss Dragon and Rey. They were both here to represent the Vegas gangs. The others had balked at not being included, but with a word from both the Dragon and the King, they had backed down quietly.

First, everyone wanted to know what I had learned. So I told my story. It was a lot of catching up, so I tried to keep it brief — I would let Makara or anyone else in the inner crew know more in greater detail later on. For now, I just stuck to the main points. I didn’t want to take up too much time with a play-by-play, and besides, there were people in the room who might not be friends. This is what I did say: I told them that I was infected, but that there were two different versions of viruses — Elekai and Radaskim . I told them that I had the first one, and that each virus corresponded to a different alien faction. The Elekai were trying to stop the Radaskim from taking over Earth. Next, I told them about the war between the Elekai and Radaskim that had been waging for millions of years. I told them how we were just one world out of a thousand that had been attacked, and that it was my job to stop the Radaskim Xenomind, Askala — that as both a human and an Elekai , I was the only one who could infect Askala — that this was the only way to stop the Blights and the invasion.