Xenos

Arc 4: Endgame

Chapter 23: Xenos

“What are you two even waiting for?” Mersoy’s yelling voice came from above, and Aez looked up, seeing the girl sitting at the roof of the museum, “RUN!”

The footsteps were rounding up and both Nia and Aez dropped at the ledges of the balcony and started to climb down from the fourth floor to the ground. There were people all around, pointing at them. They had halted. There was fear in their eyes, and some were screaming.

The Tokreians were shouting among themselves, but Aez couldn’t pay attention to them now. After climbing down, he ran fast, holding Nia’s hand tightly. Where would they go now? He didn’t know. He didn’t know what he was trying to accomplish either.

But he knew one thing for sure.

No matter what, he wouldn’t leave her alone.

They ran, not stopping to notice anything anymore. Nia was yelling to leave her alone, Mersoy was nowhere to be found. But Aez had nothing on his mind except taking Nia to somewhere safer.

Where could be a safe place inside Tokrei?

Suddenly, something was fired. Aez bent down, narrowly dodging a dart. But his hand felt heavy.

“Nia!” Aez yelled. The dart had hit the back of Nia’s head, and a black band had opened from its place, covering her eyes and forehead. Though she looked the same, it was as if she was carrying heavy iron objects in her backpack. No matter how much Aez pulled, he couldn’t move her.

She collapsed at his feet, and let out a painful scream.

Aez put his hands at the back of her head, trying to pull out the dart. But somehow, it was stuck tightly, and no matter how Aez pulled, he couldn’t bring it out, no matter how much force he applied. The band wouldn’t come out. And Nia was screaming in pain all the time.

“Stop it, don’t,” Nia yelled, “It hurts so much!”

The footsteps were gaining on them, the people in black suits were coming to them, pointing guns.

“Don’t, Aez, don’t,” she said, crying, “Leave me alone and GO! SURVIVE!”

“There’s no way I can do that!” Aez said, his voice trembling.

“But if you don’t,” she breathed heavily, “None of us will make it out alive. For all of us, you have to go on!”

“No,” Aez yelled, “I don’t care about others!”

“Then go on, for me. It’s what I want, I’ve told you!” she screamed and tried to push him away, “GO!”

“She’s right,” Mersoy’s low voice came from his back, “Come on.”

And without any more words, Mersoy tugged his hand and pulled him away. His strength was nothing next to the part-fiend, and he could only watch as Nia lay on the ground, watching them.

The Tokreians were advancing towards her.

“Ugh, these bastards!” Mersoy yelled, and at that moment, her firearm roared, dropping the Tokreians ahead of them.

“I’m sorry about this, Aez,” Mersoy said to him, “But it looks like you won’t listen. Like anyone could when that person...,” she muttered, and without warning punched at his temple.

And then, Aez couldn’t see anything at all.

***

When Aez woke up, night had fallen. Mersoy was sitting silently at his side, her face solemn. Upon waking up, the first thing he asked was where Nia was. Mersoy shook her head, saying she didn’t know.

“What? Why-”

“I couldn’t go back like I thought I could. Ugh. Like it would be possible!” Mersoy hissed, “We’ve been changing camps every two hours. I can only save one person at a time. And if that headband couldn’t be torn off, we don’t know if we can keep her with us - I’m damn sure that would have a tracking device attached to it and we would all die sooner or later.”

Aez was horrified. He clasped his head with his hands.

No. No. No. This can’t be happening.

“Aez,” Mersoy said.

Aez didn’t answer.

“Goddamn it,” she cursed, “Aez. Be a man and listen to me.”

“I don’t care anymore,” he croaked, “If she isn’t here… what is the point of it all? What should I be going on for? Why help Dottonex? There’s no one left anymore.

“We said when it’ll be over, we’ll go home together. We’ll be by each other’s side, like we’ve always been. Why didn’t she let me die-”

“And don’t you want revenge?” Fire spitting from her tongue, she said, “Don’t you want to kill them, those who did the same to the person you loved?”

Aez paused a bit and looked up at her. But then he looked down again. “Do you really think, someone like her would ever want revenge? No, she’d hate the thought of killing someone even if it cost her own life. I can’t do it. I can’t.”

“I’m not asking you to murder people,” Mersoy said, sighing, “But she’d have wanted to finish the mission. There was a mistake made, and she paid for it by sacrificing herself. And to honour that choice,” she clenched her teeth, “we can’t back down now.”

“I think I can understand it all,” Mersoy continued, “These Tokreians - they aren’t human. They are people from the outside world - heck, from a different planet. They messed up everything here. All because they want to go back to their planet. All because of that…” she gritted her teeth, “All because they wanted to take vengeance for a group of scholars. I don’t get it, you know? Deaths in the middle ages aren't anything new. But planning to destroy a country just because of that?

“They think highly of themselves,” Aez said depressively, “Because they aren’t what you can call humans.”

“But they don’t own this world,” Mersoy said, pacing around, “The world can’t be bought.

“I don’t care anymore, Aez. We’ve come forward and become the world’s enemy. It’s enough.

“I’ll put an end to this.”

Even though Aez wasn’t speaking, Mersoy knew he was listening, and so she continued.

“The tower at the center of the capital - the light that’s always glowing, it’s not just an ordinary light. It’s their everything. It’s what they refer to as Xenos. The seed of all their knowledge. They didn’t need to work hard to find out anything from scratch. All the knowledge, everything was available to them from the start. How can they think that they are better than us?”

“What do you want to do?” Aez asked. His voice was hollow, but at least he was speaking now.

“I’ll destroy that seed.”

Aez was gaping.

“If that is destroyed,” Mersoy said, laughing hysterically, “there won’t be any hope left for them. Just the same way they have done things to us, we’ll break them too. Do you know, their gears, those damn devices are functional because of that seed? Hah. It’s such a weakness to them. The only way they can keep things running here is by putting that seed on the top of the tower…”

“So that the waves could reach everywhere,” Aez whispered, “somehow, they keep amplifying it. And that keeps them connected.”

“You’re back,” Mersoy smiled, “And that’s the truth about them, Aez. That’s all we’ve been always searching for. The truth of their power, their technology - it’s the seed of their knowledge. Destroy it for good, and they’ll become the same as us.”

And we’ll become the criminals they see us as.

We’ve come so far and found the truth already. But without any actions - her death will be meaningless.

You can’t go on without thinking your past actions won’t hinder your future.

Aez clenched his fists.

“But will that be enough?”

“Enough to blind them for years,” Mersoy laughed, “How would it feel to not have what they had depended on so extensively now? They won’t give us answers for their actions. Heck, the museum even justifies them. They’re a bunch of morons who had elitist scientists at their side. And in one way, I can break it all.”

She snapped her fingers.

With the destruction of that seed, many dreams will end. But our dreams have ended too. We’ve died inside, too many times now.

“Aez Emer. Are you with me?”

He stood up and shook her hand, “Yes.”