The brutal and silent invasion ...

Events narrated by kalael

-Girl?!

Zorack rolled his eyes.

Patience.

Patience.

He knew very well that for those natives the notion of time was completely different.

Rays!

Only she was not a native, although she looked miserable as a teenager.

He mentally did the math bothered. Ah, how old is that creature? 160 ?! It was by no means a child anymore. At least in their world. The only most serious problem he faced was her mental reprogramming. Psychic blocks were not that easy to break on their own.

And perhaps it was providential.

He might not be involved with her and her confusion any more than he would have liked. In a way, it was a lot easier to deal with her like that. It was not Caillin at all. Everything was easier. The girl was nothing more than a stranger to him. And it didn't even look like her. Her hair ... Since when was her hair so blond?

He told himself that she meant nothing to him.

Maybe it would be easier to convince yourself of that. She was annoying. And for all the stars. It wasn't your impression! He could have sworn that the flushed cheeks showed a feverish appearance. Deep inside he hoped to find the girl with the strong and trouble-making will she was.

She had been a lovely child, but temperamental and suspicious after her mother's death.

"And it is much better that way! No sentimentality!"

He noticed the girl trying to get away and grunted angrily.

Where did so much irritation come from? Was it the fact that she didn't recognize him? Well, that bothered him terribly. And it was not pleasant.

He was going to replicate his bad mood loudly and stopped. Attentive and prepared.

What the fuck!

The streetlights blinked in the darkness of the night until they went out completely. And it was never a good sign. Only it was still early for that, wasn't it? Although K'Aldriants were on the planet looking for new hosts, Ravenack was never unwise. Its creatures only advanced into enemy territory after the virus had already spread, ensuring healthy and strong guinea pigs that could become new sources of food.

-Don't move away! -he recommended, checking the pistol.

The air was starting to get cold around them.

He looked at the girl in the light clothes, cursing even more when he took off his coat for her to wear. By this time Angel was freezing, the breath of her breath condensing in the air.

-God! C-C-Cold.How did it get so cold? "Angel sighed shakily.

Zorack shook his head in annoyance.

Cold?

So the creatures also felt the adversities because of the hot temperature there? It was no big deal. The cold could even slow them down, but it didn't kill them. Just like fire or lasers. None of the weapons they possessed seemed effective in fighting these creatures. The ability to assimilate the shape of their hosts gave them incredible strength.

-I hope you didn't make the wrong calculations. It's 76 hours! "He grabbed her hand, forcing her to walk.

-But 76 hours for what? - Angel looked at him. Nothing he said made any sense at all.

-Come on, move! - he insisted again.

Angel stopped motionless. The hands-on waists showed that she was possessed.

-I'm not going anywhere with you. I need to go home. Or wake up from this nightmare. I have French proof and ...and math...

The comment seemed as unreal as those last few hours.

-I think you still don't understand, do you? Forget the damn proof of I don't know what. - Zorack finally exploded. - Damn, Caílin! I can't believe you don't remember anything.

Nothing at all?

It was not easy to stand there and look at her in those clothes that hid nothing and pretend that she did not attract his attention. Damn and miserable bath. Ah, his charges were the most unfair. Of course, she didn't know he was watching from a distance. But what kind of female was she? Seeing her so relaxed in the privacy had left him stunned.

It was a movement in the street that caught her attention and she breathed a sigh of relief. It was a man.

She could ask for help if I was being kidnapped. It was by no means an abduction! Just an unfortunate hoax from the school veterans. I would ask for help! Maybe then could run away from that lunatic stranger who thought he was an alien. Only the high-pitched scream escaped his chilling throat.

"I would still have to explain to Ana all the mess in the house and a destroyed door. This time I would also have to explain that perhaps the blinding lights did exist. Abductions ?! No! It couldn't exist, could it? What happened to her ... Angel shook her head.

They were just hallucinations. Just as the doctor said.

All of this came at lightning speed when she bewilder fell on the approaching man. A man?

Ah, it wasn't a man ... It was ...

Angel would later discover that he was a host of the K'Aldriants and that symbiosis had been unsuccessful in the symbiotic relationship of the parasite and its host, which would be a hybrid of reptiles with humans, and that his appearance was not at all pleasant.

His face ...

Her stomach tightened. It wouldn't look worse even if acid had been splashed on his face. It was a mass of decomposing tissue. The necrotic skin showed a reddish appearance and it was not possible to recognize any facial expression. It was almost as if they had melted.

The hope that it would all be a nightmare or an unfortunate hoax was beginning to fall.

It was a parasitic species and needed a host. That man or what was left of him showed a face without any features or features like mouth, eyes, or something else. The chest had a rupture that left deep groove marks, through which arms with piercing claws gestured frantically.

A frightening creature emerged from this hole. Or at least what seemed to be left of it. The skin resembled a snake with layers piled on top of each other, with a humanoid aspect that highlighted completely red, shiny, and furious eyes. Articulated tendons protrude from where there should be hair on the oval head.

-What is it? - She stopped squirming as she bent over, throwing up.

The creature's open mouth showed teeth like any predator and salivated.

-Getaway! - Zorack ordered, grabbing her roughly as he pulled her.

That was a bad sign.

They wouldn't have 76 hours. The invader gained the atmosphere of that planet, infecting its first hosts. A virus so terrible and feared that even the Essassani had not resisted contact with the poison of those creatures. Or other peoples of the United Federation of Planets.

It was a decomposing host.

A symbiosis is rejected by the invading organism when detecting weaknesses in the test subject. That is why the transmission of the virus always preceded the arrival of those creatures. Ravenack preferred to make a natural selection among his new acquisitions, selecting those who had the greatest compatibility to endure living with them.

It was a symbiosis, an association between two different species, parasites that naturally because they are carnivorous would feed on the host until it was killed. And the process had been a failure.

-Wow! Do you see this? What the hell is this? Please say you are not seeing this. - Angel shouted backing pale in an attempt to impose distance. And it didn't work, her feet felt like they were nailed to the floor. The voice was high-pitched and high-pitched, an eighth higher.

-Started. - Zorack cursed and shot the post several times until he fell, placing himself between them and their visitor. - Damn! It's too late. We need shelter. Now!

-What do you mean, shelter? - Her eyes shot him. - You are the star man here. You should know how to handle these things! How do you not know how to face these things? So try to use your damn weapons. That is not human ... How come you don't know how to kill... this ...?

-Neither are you nor me, baby. I think you still haven't noticed that the small problem is that no weapon works even against them.- Zorack was pure frustration.

None?

What do you mean, none?

-You're kidding me, aren't you? - Angel grunted out of her mind.

Holy shit, no weapon? Not even if they were bloody zombies!

Well, with zombies the solution in the movies was always drastic.

It was enough to cut off the head. Her stomach started to wrap even more. He was just shooting and it didn't seem to work. It kept going for them. She never knew what happened at that time. It was perhaps adrenaline. The fear he felt activated all his survival instincts. It was as natural as breathing. His hand reached Zorack's belt and it was long enough for him to be able to draw determinedly the laser sword she was carrying there.

Zorack barely noticed until he saw the glowing, greenish glow dazzling her eyes and without any action for a moment. Rays! Since when did the girl know how to handle weapons like that?

-It is better to be careful or you will ...- he tried to warn and stopped before the withering look.

At that very moment, he was able to see the child he knew and who had grown up. Her eyes shone as green as any Edrian.

Her movements were precise and decided. He saw Angel grasp the sabre's fist with both hands and lift it with all his strength as he aimed it at the creature and without hesitating to deliver the final blow.

There was the unpleasant sound of something hitting the floor.

It took Angel minutes to assimilate what it was. The blade of energy severed the head from the rest of that creature's body. And it was not a sight she would soon forget.

Finally, the whole bombastic combination of treats and junk from dinner took its toll.

Shaking and freezing, her stomach did dangerous turns when she rested her hand on the wall of one of the houses there in the alley and staggered back. Her legs were shaking. Every dinner took its toll. She barely noticed Zorack pulling the sabre out of her. She vomited incessantly, the arms around her stomach and gasping for air.

-You fool! Shit, Angel! - Zorack still showed an expression of admiration. - You're lucky you're not a K'Aldriant. If it were that easy ... These creatures are toxic even to attack like that. You were lucky that this one was an attempt ...

-What ... what started? - Angel still had her eyes wide and mesmerized by the monstrosity until he raised his hands to his ears with shrill hisses. - My God! What ... what did I do? Does that exist? "She took a deep breath, pushing her hair away.

It was still squirming and crashing on the floor, limbs flapping in midair.

- You killed and remained alive. - Zorack looked at her penalized. - In a war, deaths are inevitable. I can assure you that unfortunately there are.

He would never forget the first time did that. Nor did it satisfy the girl to be forced to do that. would never have expected that reaction from her.

The end.

They had then arrived.

Now it was just a matter of time ...

-I ...- Angel had wide eyes and glazed eyes in shock- I ... I killed ...

Zorack grabbed her tightly.

-Look at me. Forget it! "He ordered loudly, shaking her lightly.

-I ... I'm not even feeling ...

Zorack studied her pale face with death, worrying again. Fever. he could have sworn the girl was burning with a high fever. Was it the magic skill that did that? Or the virus that was now in the air?

-Caílin ...

-I'm not really ...- Angel didn't finish.

She lost her balance and let him support her, trembling over and over.

-Let's go! Zorack supported her, testing her attentive temperature. It did burn. It burned with fever. -What's it? How are you feeling?

Angel was panting, her head radiating snaps and flashes of old memories popped into her mind in a blinding, involuntary stream. This time the head seemed to explode. It wasn't going to be just a migraine. It would look awful for days. She did not remember having felt the sting in the back of his neck so hard.

-My head ... my head ...

Zorack rolled his eyes indecisively.

They needed to get the ship back. Only he still felt exhausted to try to conjure another portal in that warm atmosphere. It was strenuous. And Angel needed care. They needed a fight. He was looking for divine illumination when the wind blew, swinging the rusty chains from a sign not far away and could read the word motel.

-I think we can rest for a while somewhere sheltered ... -Your suggestion hardly caught Angel's attention.

Did they arrive?

Who had arrived?

Angel looked at the strange man beside her, struggling to free himself, in a panic attack, seeing images in her mind as if they belonged to someone else.

They were hands that held her.

No, they were cold, metallic claws. The cold was penetrating but nothing like the fear experienced when looking at those creatures that arrived. Her eyes closed, unable to fight the pain anymore. Voices she knew overshadowed her reasoning.

"You will be the first. A whole kingdom of a new species awaits your command at my side.

No. What did you do with it? What did you do with my family? Are they all dead? I want to go home.

You are home now. With our people and beside me. Besides Ravenak, child.

That's when the nightmare started.