TERA; The Edge Of Sanity

Tera blinked a few times to make sure that he wasn't seeing things again, though he was used to it by now. Nevuler's technology wasn't anything to marvel at, considering that every construction was sloppily built. But after what their planet and their bodies went through, it was still impressive that they survived like ants beneath the surface. Maybe they were hanging on to hopes that Tera just couldn't comprehend. Their team of misfits moved through the marketplace. Tera's presence turned a lot of heads. Many looked angry or disgusted through their disfigured faces.

'Don't look so surprised. They have been working hard through all those years that you left them to their misery' the ghost added delicately.

''But how can they do that much within 20 years" He whispered as silently as possible. But the nevulers around him still turned to look at him. They looked even more annoyed.

'Wow they really dislike you' Sien added whispering to his ear. Tera swayed him away like an annoying fly who was trying to settle on his ear.

The market consisted of various goods. From simple cups and bowls made of clay to unrecognizable dark meat parts hanging from the stalls. Every Nevuler looked disfigured like his companions. Their displaced eyes looked sulkily to the ground. They were a beaten by life. But many of them focused their eyes on him, displaying an amount of animosity he hadn't seen before in his life.

They passed through more and more goods that Tera never laid eyes on before. Till they finally reached their destination.

A huge building made of asymmetrical blocks of stone, stood atop the layer of dirt that occupied the edge of the cave. It had banners of all kind hanging from poles, tattered and winded down from time to mere fabric with colorless illustrations of animals and weird shapes.

"what is this place?" Tera looked at his companions. All of them were wearing a serious expression.

"You'll see soon enough, let's go" the leader said, not ready to take no for an answer.

Tera stepped inside, only to find himself in darkness. He could barely see the shapes around him. The team led him to a stairway. He carefully stepped atop each stone step, whilst following the figures in front of him. They eventually ascended to a small hallway, which was a little brighter than the rest of the tower with two small lights like the ones on the cave, lighting the way.

They reached a wooden golden door with small engravings on it. The one in front opened the door only to reveal a small room like an office. There were small devices all around and some glass bottles filled with liquid sat atop a cupboard. A small Nevuler stood next to a cracked round window at the edge of the room. She looked up at her unexpected guests.

Her face like the rest had a disfigurement but hers was in an advanced state. Her two eyes asymmetrically looked into Tera's. Her mouth was a thin wavy line. And when she opened it her green tongue moved frantically as she spoke briefly with his companions. Seeing the old female nevuler put a short stop to his suspicion. The two Nevulers did not lie. They did not mean to harm him. For them to not attack him meant only one thing; the traitors had already secured some form of a ceasefire treaty before reaching Nevul. His stolen black suit saved him. At least for now.

The old Nevuler said something more. An argument seemed to emerge but the Nevuler woman spoke again and Tera's companions left the room.

She turned her attention towards Tera. "Why are you here? We were promised that all of you would have left" .

"I was merely a step behind, I am sure my squad is looking for me, once I reach the desert I will be able to get to them." Tera said hesitantly " If that is acceptable" he added, knowing that leaving was not up to him.

"I see" the old female Nevuler said stoically. "My people will lead you to the surface; there you will find some of your friends". She said with finality and turned her back to her guests.

Tera turned to leave but he couldn't help it and asked the question that was on the mind since the beginning, "Why help a human?".

His gut feeling was warning him that nothing was as it seemed, they were hiding something from him and they had no real reason to help their mortal enemy.

"I used to be an envoy for our people, during the war. " That explained why the old Nevuler wasn't using a translator when she was speaking in the human language. She solemnly looked on the dusty roof of the small room and continued. "And the things I have seen cannot be forgotten; the atrocities on both sides. But in the end we lost. And this is what became of us" she said while showing her room with her small 4 fingered hands.

"Tell me human; do you know why every Nevuler despise the humans?"

Tera hesitated, if this was a trick question he did not know the answer.

"It's because of the war" Tera answered weakly.

The Nevuler woman smiled. "You would think. But the real reason is what happened afterwards. She pulled up a small projector. The scene of the projection was simply a group of individuals surmised of Nevulers that were sitting around in a small circle atop the desert of Nevul. They were wearing protective, radiation suits and they were looking above at the stars, their shuttlecraft was parked right beside them. But all of them seemed angered. Their expressions were that of helplessness and despair.

"The reason Nevulers despise Earthers is because they were not allowed to leave the atmosphere while the radiation of the atomic bombs were poisoning our people. Earthers were scared of what will happen if we dared to recuperate and survive this ordeal. That's why every one of us stayed here, underground and survive we did. And now you came back to our pitiful planet." She paused. She did not look angry, but rather disappointed. Tera stayed silent, he knew not what to say to all that. He was unaware of what his compatriots have caused to the inhabitants of this planet, all of these happened years before he was born.

"But to answer your question first you need to know that I am not taking pity on our enemy. A deal is a deal." The Nevuler woman said with finality.

Tera begun to speak but stopped himself before forming the question. Whatever the deal was, he couldn't show his ignorance. He simply nodded.

The Nevuler woman called Berb and his team in their native tongue and spoke a little with his escorts. Once she was done she turned to face him once more. "Goodbye, Earther. We shall never meet again, good luck Earther, you are going to need it". She almost seemed saddened.

His escorts were already leaving the room. Tera attempted to thank the Nevuler woman but she was already facing the other way having already moved past their meeting. Tera sighed and turned to catch up with his escort team.

Berb stopped for a moment on the market place to talk briefly with a Nevuler shopkeeper. Tera used this moment to take a better look at this place. There was a sea of Nevulers moving through the market. A big crowd was also standing near the edge of the wall cavities they called home. You could see smaller Nevulers; the children playing around. Their deformation was much milder than their parents. It looked to Tera that their terrible fate might have improved.

But still, those caves could hardly be called homey. He could see small holes around the cave system, used for circulating the air. The cave was huge and the roof of it stood at least a hundred meters above their heads. There were protective nets widened to cover a bigger area to protect the population from possible collapse.

"We are moving out, try to keep up". Berb said stoically and stepped inside the crowd with agility which did not match his physique. The other two stayed a little back and nudged him forward with their expression. He followed into the crowd.

----------------------------------------------------------

Moments later they were snaking around the narrow twisty tunnels within the cave. These ones were unaffected by the bombs and collapse that occurred earlier. The nevulers were hurrying along. The two Nevulers behind him were still watching him with the same intensity as when they ventured into the tunnel system.

As they were passing along different tunnels Tera noticed something. He stopped to observe the phenomenon a little better. In the entrance of one of the tunnels, there was a green sign with writing on it. Small green lights were hung as well along the stony walls beside the entrance of that tunnel.

"what is this about?" The nevulers looked at each other.

"It's not important we should keep moving" Berb answered.

"It's the way I came" Tera stated, pressing the matter. Berb seemed hesitant to answer him.

"Very well, if you need to know; this place is considered dangerous to Nevulers. There were instances with scouts going in to investigate but they either never returned or their mental state was broken when they did. They claimed to have seen a ghost or a being. But all these are irrelevant. Whatever was the case that area was blocked off until you humans came along"

Tera glanced meaningfully sideways to his ghost familiar. Sien just shrugged his shoulders in a surprisingly human-like way.

An idea began to form in Tera's mind. Pieces were falling into place. The reason the cave of that peculiar machine was untouched was due to the Nevulers fear of approaching it. And before the war forced the Nevulers into hiding, that place was hidden from everyone. And yet somehow his captain and the rest of the traitors or rather the one who ordered the mission, knew of its existence beforehand. Too many unfit pieces still remained at play.

Their progression through the cave was slow. But the Nevulers didn't seem to mind one bit. Instead their sweaty piglet fingers swept the ground every now and again. Their action seemed ritualistic in nature but Tera didn't ask any further questions. He just wanted out of this cave once and for all. He could feel his exhaustion; nervousness and frustration piling up by the second, till he felt Sien hovering nearby. He was observing him with an amused expression.

'I am surprised you are following along so obediently. You have a plan?' Sien said with sarcasm lighting his amused demeanour.

Tera looked perplexed. His words had some meaning. Sien knew something that Tera ignored so far. He couldn't ask him directly. But what could it be? Of course the only thing that made sense was that he was lied by his very untrustworthy companions.

' BINGO' the spectral shouted in a funny voice.

"what the hell? You can read my thoughts?" he whispered as silently as he could but still managing to draw some unwanted attention to his maddening self-talk.

'So you knew Nevulian all along and you didn't say anything.'

'You never asked.' Sien countered.

'What did they say?' Tera asked.

'They plan to do to you what they have already been doing to all the human survivors that were left behind. And it's not pretty'

Tera groaned. Once again Sien's knowledge and behaviour made him realize that he knew nothing about his companion and his purpose. But Sien's shenanigans was the least of his concern. He had bigger problems. The creatures in front of him were patiently leading him to his end. How could he be stupid enough to believe he can get away from that situation scot-free? If they already had information about the departure of the black suited team then he was completely exposed.

The nevulers were clenching their guns with their deformed hands, they looked around nervously. Tera realized they were nearing the end of the road - at least for him. He had to do something quickly.

Sien was smirking all along next to him. He understood the spectral a little better now. Though he still didn't understand why he had bonded himself to him.

His weapon was still on his back. They didn't ask for it, probably not to raise suspicion. The nevulers knew he was armed but while the nevulers had their fingers on the trigger, he could hardly do any movement to reach for his own. The light at the end of the tunnel was signalling his time running out.

The nevuler behind him was on edge. They passed of an area of the cave with a small L shaped cavity. He heard shouts up ahead which made the Nevulers around him become even more nervous. Tera clutched the chance; he turned around and pushed away the nevuler with determination and dived behind the small shelter of the cavity. He heard the bullets fly really quickly. He pulled out his gun and exhaled heavily. He tried to peak, a bullet grazed the glass of his helmet and hit the other end of the rock wall. He smiled foolishly.

'What's so funny?' Sien asked curiously.

"well, it was just a little while ago, that I was on the exact same situation."

Though this time. I have no doubts.

Tera ventured a look the moment the firing subsided. One of the Nevulers was making a run for his position. The rest were keeping an eye on him and began firing again the moment he peaked through his cover.

'I think I need your help.'

'My help? You were handling yourself just fine to this day. '

Tera smacked his lip in annoyance. 'Just tell me their position and I will take the shots. We have no time, if I don't keep them occupied they will ask for reinforcements.'

Sien slided along the rough surface and smiled. 'Fine, the first one is 35 degrees behind a rock 22 meters away deeper on the center of the cave. He will peak on the left in a few seconds. '

Tera grabbed his rifle with his two hands and prepared himself.

'Now!' Sien shouted.

Tera dropped on his left knee and through the scope he saw a head appear behind the rock that Sien described it, he popped the trigger followed by panicked shouts a few seconds later.

'One down. That was some good tracking.'

'What are they doing?' Tera ventured a look behind his cover. The nevulers were shouting to each other in their language.

'They can't call for backup, their communication system is blocked since they are so near the exit.'

Tera felt a huge sense of satisfaction; when he chose this place for his final stand he took only one thing into consideration; whether they could call for backup. He realized the drawback of being able to communicate within the cave system. They were not using radio signals but something else. When they found him in the caves that had collapsed it took them a while before they were able to contact anyone.

Tera stood still with a smirk on his face. For the first time today, lady luck smiled back at him.

'One of them is making a run for it.' Sien said without warning.

'Well shit.'

He turned over to look at the runner and more shots blocked his peaking. One of them was staying behind to cover for the other one.

He damned himself for choosing this place for his showdown. If the runner got to his friends, there would be no escaping the Nevulers; especially after he shot down one of their own.

He took a deep breath. What he was about to do was fatally risky. He pulled a long roll, with shots hitting all around him, stood up as fast as he could and started running towards the enemy's cover. The Nevuler peaked at him moving like a madman towards him on open space but Tera had already lifted his big rifle and was steadying it on his forearm and took a shot without thinking. The Nevuler's head knocked back and fell lifeless to the ground.

Tera rushed to the body of the Nevuler and grabbed his com system. He quickly got up and run after the other one. He was feeling short of breath, he looked at his abdominal area and saw and felt the warmth of the blood enveloping his sides. He got hit. He expected that. His fear was that his suit was exposed again he could stop the bleeding with the clogging pills at any point. But to his astonishment as he was rushing through the cave system following the sounds, his suit began to mend on its own; Nano machine technology. The traitors had some good sponsors. He chuckled and turned his focus towards the most important problem; the last Nevuler.

It was none other than Berb. Tera could see his small deformed greyish body ran around the corners of the cave panicky. Tera's strides were faster and longer. But he listened to other voices echoing far into the distance. That was alarming and Tera couldn't waste more time chasing, he raised his pace to the maximum and turned another corner, his sides exploded from pain as Berb clogged him with the edge of his weapon, Tera doubled over his stomach. But before Berb could target him Tera smashed his knee with his forearm. The Nevuler fell down surprised and Tera immediately jumped on top of him and held his neck with one hand and shoved Berb's weapon aside with the other.

Berb tried to scream but his voice was drowned in the whizzing choking sound of his throat being restrained. Tera was doing his best to reign himself in. He didn't want to kill him, at least not before learning everything he could. And Berb was the only one with a translator attached to the side of his neck.

"How about we have a quick chat?" Tera said whispering in Berb's ear, his voice was hoarse and it was tough to breath from his injury and the chase.

Berb looked at him fearfully with his wide unblinking eyes.

"you killed everyone" he said in a trembling voice.

Tera looked at him curiously "yes, you were about to do the same to me. What did you do to the survivors?" Tera asked with a trembling voice.

"No, you don't need to know that. To us you are all trash, you all get what you deserve" Berb said with his voice seething from a mix of anger and fear. He immediately received a blasting punch to the face; his eyes rolled and lost consciousness for a second. Tera cringed from his impulsiveness. He needed him alive and awake.

This time his eyes were more fearful than anything else. He was looking away and around him attempting to find an escape. Tera pressed him to the ground again.

"Where are the survivors?" Tera asked and looked him steadily in the eyes. Berb stopped his twitching and looked back at him.

"I don't want to die" he said squeaking.

"You will have to. But I can make it quick. Quicker than you creatures are ending my friends out there. So speak and save yourself the trouble". Tera said coldly. He didn't need to press him much, Berb was about to break. He could see it in his eyes. To Berb's eyes, Tera looked like a cold blooded killer, after murdering all of Berb's companions he knew he couldn't escape death anymore. Tera saw the surrender on him. His eyes watered but it was in the color of blood.

"You damn humans" he whispered. "Why couldn't you leave us be?" Berb paused. "Your friends, at least the few that remain, are right outside of this cave. There are a few guards. That's all I will tell you." He closed his eyes and opened them again "I hope you meet your end on this fucking planet. " He added with revulsion.

Tera took out his knife from the side of his suit and brought it down with force on the chest of the Nevuler. "Yes, I might as well die here" he said whispering. "But not just yet".

He listened for the Nevuler's final breath and removed the knife from his bloodied chest.

He got up. Sien was next to him looking at the rugged body of their foe. 'Is your guilt lessening?' Sien asked abstractly and with a slow tone to his voice.

"No. Hardly." Tera paused. "I am just getting started".