OH, ANCESTORS, I'M IN TROUBLE

Chapter 8

Oh, Ancestors, I'm In Trouble

"Loo, how many times do I have to tell you. We need to keep to ourselves. If Elvira or anyone else finds out what we could do, they would wage war on our people and turn us into slaves."

Nyx paced in front of me, as we waited for our team to return. "What was I supposed to do, let her die?!" I retorted, frustrated at how my sister could not understand that any death, whether a teammate or not, should be unwarranted. We have had this fight many times over. Me wanting to help while my sister wanted us to hide. It was not in our nature to hide. It was innate for us to fight and protect those who could not defend themselves. I crossed my arms under my chin as I laid my head down, staring at my sister. I rested on one of the cots of the room, already, tired from the training of the day and the wounds tearing down my back. Earlier, the snake armada captain started going too hard on us. One of the girls had slipped up. Elvira had noticed. That's when I had retaliated. However, my retribution came with a price. I had been whipped across the back, and now I could barely raise my head. Even If the pain was excruciating, in the end, it was still worth it to see the look of gratitude on the girl's face. My sister stopped in her pacing to kneel in front of me. Her onyx eyes, softening as she locked them with mine. She spoke, her soft voice reverberating around the room.

"Lulianna, I understand where your ethereal soul is coming from, but you must realize…the girl is going to die anyway. She is too weak to thrive in this type of world." I shot up, grimacing in anger and pain as my new wounds took reprisal on me. I pushed it aside, and my sister's black eyes head-on.

"Not by my hand! I will never stand by when these people require our help." My sister's eyes hardened as she quickly rose into a standing position. "As opposed to what? This!" My sister pointed at the bleeding slash marks on my back. I could only stare at her. Her eyes searched around the room, seeking answers it would not give her. She huffed out a breath, running a hand over her braids. She stared at me, waiting for me to contest. She would be waiting for a long time. I was through with arguing for the day. Exhaustion settled hard over me, and I blinked to keep my eyes from closing. I sighed, slowly laying back down and careful not to agitate my wounds further. I calmly spoke to my sister, staring past her, remembering the girl's horrid scream as Elvira broke her fingers.

"Any amount of pain is worth it when giving justice to those who cannot grasp it for themselves." Her eyes returned to me before softening again as she saw the resolution on my face. She sighed, massaging the sides of her temples.

"You have no idea how frustrating you are."

My sister sat next to my cot on the ground. Her dark eyes, staring at the gray wall in front of us. The silence stretched between us once again. The engine of the bio-hover craft ignited, and the sound of the blades acted as a filler.

"You're right." I blinked at her before frowning.

"I am?"

She chuckled, rubbing her fingers over her eyes. I was not the only one worn out.

"Yes, you are right. Our ancestors would want us to help as many of these people as we could." I smiled at her, my heart soaring in my chest at her agreeance.

"Get some rest. We have a long sun sky ahead if we want to save others." She smirked at me, her amusement not quite reaching her eyes. She patted my hand before turning, and I re-grasped hers, not wanting to let go just yet.

"Thank you for believing in me."

She squeezed my hand tighter. "I will always believe in you and I will always fight with you, Loo." She smiled down at me before walking away, heading toward the only exit in the room. She paused as the door slid open.

"Just be careful, Loo. I may not always be around to defend you." I didn't know it then, but my sister was right.

She was always right.

I blinked against the red and white beams of the planet star burning my retinas. Using my hand as a shield against the harmful rays is where I noticed my arm had been bandaged. Both actually, I guess my dragons had burned me worse than thought. I sat up wincing.

Every single muscle in my body ached down to the bone. It was a wonder I could even move. I clinched as I swallowed, the spit rough against my parched throat. I was paying severely for trying to defy the king, but to see the look of anger in his eyes was worth it. When my vision finally cleared, I noticed that I was in the bio-medical wing. The oval-shaped, wooden room had octagon windows all around it with the light of the sun, spreading an iridescent red and yellow glow throughout the room. The beams reflected off the gloss of the wood on the furniture scattered around the room. In the middle grew a gigantic tree. Its tall trunk going all the way to the ceiling where its branches grew out through the hole in the roof. Fresh air came through the hole where the tree grew. It breezed across my face sending curly hair strands to tickle my cheeks. I breathed in deeply, smelling the sweet lilies sprouting all around the bare roots of it.

Fatales slept around the orange and black petals of the flowers as they waited for the night to come. The soft, satin white gown I wore fell to my ankles as I shuffled out of bed. I gradually hobbled over to the beautiful tree. It was almost close to the trees that grew around my homes. Almost. It was a bit smaller in comparison to the grown adults that I used to sleep in. Instead of lilies growing from the roots of the tree. Our trees had blue-greenish; honeysuckles hanging from the branches. Whoever designed this place must have had a visit to my home planet or they were from the same galaxy. The oval training area, the sweet-smelling soap, and even my swing bed resembled everything I had from home. That was impossible though. If one of my ancestors had been captured as I had wouldn't I have met them by now. Or they could have been dead? I sighed. Now was not the time to get depressing, Loo. I place my bandaged hands against the trunk of it.

I closed my eyes, trying to sense anything. I felt my teammates in the training room with Drakson and my dragons, but there was no Xanth. There goes something else to add to the list of Xanth. His powers were still hard to mentally understand, and my abilities had trouble locating his ethereal wave signal. My dragons sent a surge back, letting me know they were on their way to me. I exhaled, smiling. My dragons were the only things I had left of who I was. If they had become lost to me… it was hard to imagine. I would probably let myself completely morph into this Bio-world, and become the killing machine Elvira always wanted me to be.

"You shouldn't be out of bed, Nor, should you be using your abilities." I jumped, turning sluggishly around to face Xanth.

He wore a different ensemble today. Today, he wore a white long-sleeved t-shirt and pants. His top hugged tightly in all the right places. The bottom half of it had a trail flowing out behind him as he walked over to me. His long black hair was now in a single braid, but tiny strands of it framed down his angular face and high cheekbones. His smooth tan skin, looking rather touchable at this moment. It was still a wonder to me how Xanth couldn't be a tempter. He had the looks and charms to be one, and a smooth voice to bring you down to your knees.

"But since you are using your abilities. Does that mean you're feeling better?" Xanth asked thankfully, knocking me out of my thoughts.

I shook my head yes. I was still sore, but it was hard to give him a proper answer when he didn't understand my star sign. His amber eyes were full of relief as he surveyed my injuries. Ancestors, he was beautiful. I held up a finger, searching the nearby bio-medical trays. I used that as an excuse to look away as I searched for something to write with and on. I leaped when I felt Xanth's warm hand on mine, casting my eyes at him. He held his hands up, and I followed the movements. "You can speak your sign language to me. I went about learning it when I found out you were voiceless from your Bio-file." I took a step back.