"Here." Siti said as Ralkos turned around as she handed her the container where a strange creature resided. It was about the size of a baseball and seemed to be made of a gelatinous fluid. 'Or gelatin.' Ralkos thought, she wanted to poke the creature before turning her head around as Siti reported the injury. "How were you able to touch it?"
"I didn't hold it." answered Siti as she turned her head for a moment. She sighed before taking the container from Ralkos and placed a lid on it. "We can talk about it later, first I'm taking you down to the medbay to get it treated."
"You're taking it with us?" Ralkos asked as she was guided out of the door, her head still down at Siti. Siti sighed before deciding honesty is the best policy. "There is a science lab here, I want to examine it. Find out what it is and where it came from."
"You should talk with Kavis and Larial." suggested Ralkos as she headed towards the elevator. "I don't think I managed to pick this little guy up from just my walk here."
Siti nodded her head as she summoned the elevator. Ralkos felt a little irritated, it wasn't like she was incapable of doing that herself. She opened her mouth to say something when she felt like someone was watching her. Her eyes glanced around quickly but didn't say anything. 'It could just be my imagination. Or it could be the owner of that weird thing.' Ralkos thought as the doors to the lift opened up and she was gently nudged inside. There were a few people, including Kas, already inside. Ralkos grinned at her friend who glanced up at her before nodding his head with a slight smile on his face. Siti glanced towards him as well as he looked down at the container, the creature inside moving away from him. This caused Siti to frown, something was up between the two. Then Kavis walked in as well with Larial right behind her. They moved in between cutting off Siti's sight to Kas causing her to look forward.
Ralkos glanced down noticing the look on Siti's face and was about to ask her about it. Then she remembered that it wasn't a good idea to do so in public. Siti had one of those looks on her face that was rarely seen in all the years that Ralkos had seen her. The first time must have been when she first came to Verotis City. 'She had that distrustful look back then too.' Ralkos thought back before the doors opened and the crowd of examinees climbed out. Siti grabbed onto Ralkos' arm gently as she led the way glancing back at Kas once in a while.
Later that night Ralkos found herself laying on her temporary bed. She was missing home a lot more than she thought. Siti, though still rather obnoxious in calling her "Halfy" hadn't been terrible as a roommate. Instead she let Ralkos have her space. Currently she was still studying the strange creature in the labs on the lower floors. Kas had visited her while she was being examined relaxing when it was revealed that the damage wasn't bad. Ralkos was glad that he visited, Kavis and Larial had been stalking her. Though Larial did follow Siti instead. 'I think they have something to do with that creature.' Ralkos thought as she shifted to the side. Her skin, though healed, still felt irritated and she was doing whatever she could to not touch it. Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes. Then she felt like someone was staring at her so she opened them jumping when she saw what seemed like five red lights, three small and two large, above her. Rubbing her eyes, she stared up again seeing them gone. Rolling onto her side, Ralkos tried to get some sleep but any traces of tiredness were just gone.
When the next morning came, Ralkos and Siti were all woken up at 0400 to get ready for the exam. Ralkos, having gotten no sleep through the night, was exhausted. She hid her yawn as Siti walked into the dining area going straight to make herself something to drink. Ralkos was just poking her way through the food that was there, finding nothing of interest.
"Nervous?" Siti asked, almost sensing that something was up, Ralkos glanced at her for a moment. Rubbing the back of her head, Ralkos replied. "More tired than nervous, I didn't get any sleep."
"I heard that this is one of the most difficult interviews." Siti told her and Ralkos shrugged her shoulders. "From what I hear."
"It changes every year, hence why it is difficult." Ralkos told her as she straightened her uniform. "Nothing looks good."
"Have you ever tried frosted cereal before?" Siti asked as she spoke her order to the replication unit. "Wish they had a box here."
"Looking for a toy?" Ralkos joked and Siti frowned at her. "Was it that bad?"
"Halfy… you sound arrogant all the time." Siti answered and Ralkos winced. "And I'm sorry for calling you Halfy all the time… as a kid I just thought that was your nickname and… never learned your real name."
"Oh!" Ralkos felt like an idiot herself, she had been offended all the time. She and Siti never shared a class together and Kas would always just go quiet around Siti. Never once did she ever call Siti out on calling her Halfy until now. "Ralkos… my name is Ralkos."
"I kind of figured, your name is on the board." Siti said as if trying it out for the first time. "Better late than never, I still don't like you, but it's good to know your name."
"Thanks?" Ralkos wasn't sure how she should respond beyond that. She looked at the frosted cereal. She scooched over to the replication unit before saying. "I'll have the previous order as well."
She almost drooled at the sight before picking it up and heading over to the table. Taking a seat she began to peck at the food. Siti watched her for a moment before shrugging her own shoulders. The rest of breakfast was eaten in silence until they were summoned. The energy in the elevator was a nervous one. Except for Kavis, who seemed to have none of the serious attitude from the previous night, and Larial. There was a saying among the Akakoa: "Elken are either eternally serene or drugged." 'If that is the case, Larial must be asleep.' Ralkos joked in her head. The doors slid open with a quiet hiss as Ralkos shifted uncomfortably. She could feel the talons on her feet slowly come in as the group began to move out and towards the first building. Through the glass hallway revealing the wide open sky where Ralkos longed to be. An attendant waited at the door on the other end silently. Once they all stopped they addressed the group. "You will be called in one at a time. When the interview is finished you will leave through a separate door."
The group nodded their heads not sure if they were allowed to talk or not. Kavis was already whispering to Larial about something and the attendant didn't seem to mind. After all there was no way anyone could actually cheat at the exam. One by one a person from the large group disappeared into the room allowing for a little more space in the hallway. People were relaxing a little more each time since there was more space despite how wide it was. Ralkos' wings subconsciously stretched out a little more as well as her tired brain wasn't doing so well. She couldn't stop thinking about what she saw last night. 'Maybe it was Kavis, Cheldrasi are shapeshifters after all.' she thought to herself seeing Kavis glance in her direction.
"Hrevia, Ralkos." the attendant said, causing Ralkos to snap out of her thoughts.. "You may enter."
Squaring her shoulders, Ralkos entered the room. It was dark for the most part, the only light shining upon a chair and from the holographic form of Wisdom. Wisdom had the form of a cube always rotating parts of itself. "You may sit."
Nodding her head, Ralkos took a seat trying not to fidget waiting for the first question.
"How was your day yesterday?"
"Despite a little trouble with an acidic creature and an argument everything went pretty well." Ralkos replied truthfully. She paused for a moment, debating whether or not she should mention the lights. "Actually I think that the lights were malfunctioning last night. I saw five red lights, two large and three small, before they went out."
"Thank you for informing us of this, we shall look into it later." Wisdom told her, there was a pregnant silence before a minute. "The report has been filed, you are excused."
Ralkos got up before bowing as she said. "Thank you." Internally she was thinking. 'That's it?! This is what the first exam was leading up to?' Reigning back any complaints Ralkos exited through the door that opened up and nearly ran into Kavis. Ralkos took a step back as Kavis grinned at her saying. "Well we've got the rest of the day off."
"Yeah…." Ralkos replied wanting to scoot around the Cheldrasi but failed as the shapeshifter merely was floating in her way. "I should head back to my room."
"Come on, it's a lovely day out and Siti is going to take a while." Kavis said, placing their hands on Ralkos' shoulder before leaning in to whisper. "There is something I want to talk about."
To say that Ralkos wasn't curious was a lie. So, despite her better judgement, Ralkos followed after Kavis and Larial. They took her to the open courtyard as Kavis darted about before flying up in the air. Ralkos taking off after her as Larial just stared up at them before starting to grab at blades of grass.
"What did you want to talk about?" questioned Ralkos and Kavis turned to face her, the normally mischievous smirk on its face now gone. Moving in closely Kavis spoke in a hushed voice. "It's about that Slime that was attached to you. What happened to it?"
"Siti is still studying it." Ralkos answered, unable to fly back, not liking how close Kavis was. "Why? Wait… what's a Slime?"
"A creature from our homeworld that normally doesn't produce an acidic residue." Kavis answered, flying upside down still watching Ralkos. "Only two conditions can cause it. One: It was threatened, unlikely considering that it had even burned several of the examinees yesterday. Hence all of the arguing on a few floors."
"What's the second condition?" Ralkos wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer but her curiosity got the better of her. Kavis looked at Larial before the gaze returned to Ralkos. "The presence of a Draemon can create a Slime that produces an acidic residue."
Draemon, a destructive species that had caused chaos and mayhem across the galaxy. For over hundreds of thousands of years they enslaved and dismantled the galaxy. Except for a handful of planets. 'Or so the legends say.' she thought to herself as she consumed some feed to calm her nerves. She really didn't want to think about legends that could be real. "They're not real." she muttered to herself as she moved to stand up when hands gripped her by her shoulders and arms forcing her to sit down as a voice whispered. "Are you sure about that?"
Ralkos' eyes snapped open suddenly as she lifted her head up from the desk. She pushed away from it climbing to her feet, blood dripping from her feet as the talons were poking out of her skin. Stumbling back and forth she made it out of her room and into the bathroom. She turned on the sink to wash her face and to clear her head. 'Kavis must have been messing with me. They're probably laughing at me right now.' She thought to herself but the image of Kavis' serious face made her doubt that. Cheldrasi were the species that were supposedly affected the most by the Draemon. Their shapeshifting abilities were sought after and exploited to the point where they lost the name of their species. No one really knew a lot of the myths that came from them.
She sighed tiredly before turning off the water, looking away from the mirror for a second to grab a towel. The light above her head flickering for a moment. Drying off her face she didn't notice hands reaching for her until they gripped her head causing her to fall back in shock. She felt a strange sensation as if something was pulled off of her yet couldn't bring herself to care as the pain in her feet vanished as everything went dark.
"Ralkos!" Siti's voice called and Ralkos felt herself come to, she was laying on the ground staring up at a group of people surrounding her. Pain flooded through her feet again as people shouted at Siti. Blaming her for putting something into her boots. Words made no sense. Yet there is one thing Ralkos knew. "Siti didn't do this."
Her voice came out weaker than expected as Ralkos tried to sit up but another Akakoa placed a hand on her shoulder. He looked towards the others saying. "She's right, I saw her and Siti go to the infirmary earlier to report her talon poking through."
'We did?' Ralkos thought before glancing down at her feet seeing blood pooling from her combat boots. 'I don't… I don't remember that.' A hand touched her shoulder causing her to look up at Siti who said. "Come on, I'll take you to the infirmary."
"Thanks." Ralkos replied as she was helped up by the other Akakoa. The others were about to protest, most of them were ones who knew how Siti and Ralkos got along. Siti just gave them a sharp glare as she snapped. "Now's not the time to bring up the past, right now I've got someone who is injured. I am the team leader so I'm going to make sure that someone I'm supposed to be looking out for is alright."
Ralkos noticed that another exam group was with them. Kas was trying to make his way through the crowd but something caught his attention taking it away. Trying to look over as well Ralkos soon found herself being helped out of the large test arena. Ralkos' vision began to blur as the pain started to become a dull throbbing. Siti was saying something but it was like the blood pulsing blocked out any noise.
"I'm just a bit tired." Ralkos muttered before she was lifted from the ground. The Akakoa who was with them had begun to carry her. Ralkos felt a giggle well up in her throat as she was starting to feel a little light headed. "You know, I never got your name."
Grey eyes glanced down at her as the male Akakoa stared at her in what she thought was shock. Then the eyes glanced down at Siti who opened the infirmary door. Siti glanced at him before saying. "She did lose a lot of blood."
"That isn't her blood flowing under the skin." the Akakoa said as he brought her in just as Ralkos fell unconscious again. "It's a blood reserve."
Ralkos groaned as she opened her eyes, seeing a lumpy ceiling above her pulsating and dripping with blood. She panicked trying to force her body to move back yet all that happened was that she sighed. Sitting up she felt herself push back hair. 'Hair? HAIR?' she thought as she climbed out of bed passing by a mirror. Yet she couldn't get a glimpse of her own reflection. All she saw was light blue hair blocking her view.
"Another day, another round of sitting in the throne room watching my boss and his buddy planning." she muttered as she opened a closet made from bone. "Dreamons really need to work on their craftsmanship."
"Hey Shortstuff!" a voice called and Ralkos felt irritation grow within her as she turned to look at the door grabbing a random shirt. Standing in the dimly lit doorway was a strange looking being. Ralkos was getting annoyed with how many eyerolls and avoiding looking at people.
"What do you want?" Ralkos asked, grabbing a deep red shirt and a black vest. "Shouldn't you be laying down the roadwork for whatever is being planned?"
"I am." the creature replied, moving close to Ralkos and slipped a scaled arm over her shoulder. "But your presence is being requested quite insistently."
Ralkos moved forward to get out of the one armed hug when the space around her began to warp before changing. Instead of the dimly lit bedroom from before it seemed to be a grand hall decorated in so much gold that her eyes hurt from just looking at it. Above her was a glass ceiling revealing the sky above them. It was still dark out but it was starting to lighten as if to signal the dawn. Standing in front of a throne decorated in thorns were two figures. One was headless, though it was holding a head under its arm, wearing armor talking with a winged figure next to it. The other was a white figure dressed in dark grey with what seemed to be wings made from black water. Ralkos felt disgust by looking at the other winged figure as claws nearly tore his shirt. She turned to glare at the other figure as everything around her began to glitch.
Ralkos' eyes snapped open again and she sat up quickly, her head was spinning again. This time she was in her room and it was dark out. Confusion flooded through her as she moved to check on her legs pushing the dream into the back of her mind. They were bandaged up rather neatly and she could tell that the shedding was nearly complete. This didn't make any sense to her, that would mean she was out for a few days. The other possibility being that she had been blacking out a lot. 'It's not that common but it does happen during this time from what I hear.' Ralkos thought as she flexed the talons on her feet. 'That dream though….' her mind was a bit hazy and it worried her. She's never felt like this before and it was frustrating that she was missing out on so much of the test.
'I should get some water and ask Siti if I've been acting strange lately.' she thought as she got out of bed and headed out to grab a glass. As the automatic door slid open she saw a light glowing from the kitchen and frowned for a moment. 'It might just be Siti.' she thought as she continued on. Ignoring who it was for a moment she was grabbing a glass with ease when she heard some cursing. Startled, she turned around to see a blur rushing towards her. Before Ralkos could react she blacked out again. 'Seriously?'
Ralkos grunted as her back hit the wall. Once again she couldn't look around or do much other than struggle. From what she could tell she was back in the throne room. The bone white figure from before was lifting her up with ease by her neck. Black blood fell from a wound over his right eye as the smell of burning flesh hit her nose. It made her want to vomit.
"Where is he?" the assailant growled finally as he stared into her eyes. "Where is that pathetic fool you call 'Boss'?"
"Go back to Hell." Ralkos coughed, clawing at the arm only to have her appendages restrained and pinned to the wall.
"I asked you a question, you pathetic excuse for a Demon." the creature growled as his own claws began to slice into her flesh. "Where is Son…"
There was a flash of light above them and Ralkos was released, dropping to the ground. It didn't help much as it began to shake. A roar was ripped from the lips of the being above him as the sky darkened to a color darker than black. Ralkos spread her wings and tried to fly away only to have her leg grabbed and to be thrown into the ground. Coughing she tried to crawl only for a foot to be placed on her back.
"You need to learn who your betters are." her assailant told her, grabbing her by her hair and pulling her head back. Swears fell from her mouth, some of them made Ralkos want to bleach her brain with how colorful they were. Panic began to flood her as claws stroked her back resting right over where her heart was. "I hope this will leave you in immense pain."
The claws left her back for a moment before pain began to grip her mind as the pain went straight through her spine and back. The hand gripping her heart before pulling back. "Perhaps now you will tell me what I want to know."
Ralkos thrashed wanting to get away as smoke wrapped around her neck solidifying into a collar. It was as if her body was changing and her mind was beginning to grow hazy. Nothing was making sense to her anymore. Was this really a dream or was it something a lot more sinister. 'A warning?' she thought as she felt herself get pulled backwards. She prayed that this would be the last time that this happened. That she would finally be done and perhaps then she could get her answers.
"Morning sunshine." an unfamiliar voice spoke and she opened her eyes with great speed. "Or should I say good evening."
She looked around quickly trying to locate the source before she noticed an upside down face in front of her. Three solid red eyes blinked at her. She backed away in panic as they were a similar color to the one from her dreams. Then she sighed as she realized that she had heard the voice before. "Very funny Kavis."
This earned her a rather insulted look from the stranger as they dropped from the ceiling. "Do I look like a Changeling to you?"
Blinking a few times, Ralkos looked down at the creature. He was a short creature, without a scan she wouldn't be able to determine it accurately. What got her tense was that he had three solid red eyes on his face and two large eyes on his wings. 'This is the creature from that night.' she thought, she didn't want to think of it as a dream anymore. Now that this being was in front of her and talking. Rising to her talons she watched as the look on the creature's face went from irritated to downright pissed.
"Are you angry with me?" Ralkos inquired before wanting to smack her forehead. "Who are you?"
"Angry at your height." the creature corrected before taking a step back. "My name is Richard."
"Weird name." the moment that the words left Ralkos did she get a chuckle from Richard who smirked at her. "Actually it was pretty common on Earth for a very long time. Now they've got strange names like Kas and Siti."
Ralkos stiffened, it made no sense that he would specifically call out the names of her best friend and the common thorn in her side. "W-What are you?"
"I really thought you would figure it out by now." Richard sighed, shaking his head as his wings spread causing Ralkos to back away. "I'm what you folk call a Draemon, though Humans call us Demons. I say that there is a large difference."
Ralkos lifted up her hand before moving onto her next question. "Why did you possess me? Why are you here?"
"Doing my job with very little effort." Richard chuckled as he sat down on the bed. Ralkos' eyes narrowed as she stared at him in confusion. "I'm a distraction, Birdy, I'm supposed to keep everyone's eyes away from what is really going on."
Ralkos felt her mouth grow dry as she collapsed on the bed next to him. "It was your memories I saw, wasn't it? When I was blacking out."
"You saw those?" Richard flinched a little before looking away. "Didn't think that possessing you would have that big of a consequence. It wasn't even for that long. I always made sure that I left with plenty of time before it became rather permanent. I was wearing your skin."
"You're not making any sense, just like those dreams… memories of yours." Ralkos pointed out and Richard nodded his head from side to side. "Just explain to me why you are being a distraction."
"I can't." Richard answered, looking at his hands and Ralkos stared at him. "Hey, I want to survive whatever plan is in place."
His eyes glanced towards the desk where a picture of Ralkos and her family was resting. "So even if I did know I wouldn't be able to tell you. Not without suffering serious consequences."
"What? You'll die?" Ralkos scoffed as she climbed to her feet to check the time. Richard chuckled behind her before answering back. "You know, you're species really haven't lost their arrogance and condescending attitude towards others."
This caused Ralkos to freeze before rotating her head over her shoulder to look at the demon who was using his wings to stare at her. Ralkos closed her mouth from whatever retort she was about to give. Instead she placed her hands on her hips before asking loudly. "House, what time is it?"
"I was wondering when you would remember I am here." the monotone voice of the A.I. responded and Ralkos winced a little. "I have been trying to signal you for the past forty minutes. The time draws near."
"What?!" Ralkos rushed to get changed taking a full look at her body. All of the changes were finished and it began to dawn on her how long she had been inside of those memories. "You possessed me until the Eve of Adulthood?"
"Hey I didn't want to sit there and expose myself for a whole week." Richard told her, brushing his fingers through the fluff around his neck. "So I did it in secret, kind of hard when I really want a drink. During the days I pretended to be you and completed your tests relying on your memories and at night was on the hunt for some booze."
Ralkos gave him a confused look, she didn't know what the term "booze" meant. Richard, taking notice as she finished getting into her uniform, tried a different word. "Alcohol."
"Oh… my species do not drink." Ralkos answered and Richard just gave her a very irritated look. "We make it but alcohol has some very negative effects on the species of this planet. Since the crops aren't in season the breweries ...."
"Closed, I noticed." Richard told her as he was at her side in a flash straightening her uniform. This confused Ralkos, because despite his demeanor he seemed to be rather meticulous. Once it had been straightened to his liking Richard straightened his back for a moment before staring up at Ralkos. "I'm going with you, only due to the fact that I have my orders."
"I don't think either of us have a choice in the matter." Ralkos pointed out, she didn't know who his boss was. Yet if his first boss had left that would have meant that his new one was a lot more harsh and cruel. 'Plus there is the fact that he seems so small and cute, like some of the Earth moths. All fluffy and flighty. I wonder if he is drawn to light.'
Richard's wings twitched as she glanced towards the light as he spoke. "Don't, I know what you are thinking, and don't. I'm already going to be jumpy enough as is at that little ceremony of yours."
'Right!' Ralkos jumped before heading out the door. "If you want to make it in time you better run quickly."
"Rather not move any faster than I need to but you're going to be late and I can't have that." Richard said as he got up. "Open the door to the balcony, we're flying there."
"The laws state that only after…."
"Then I will fly you, I mean I may be…" Richard interrupted as he gestured to his body with one of his four hands. "Compact, but I'm also a lot stronger than most creatures. Besides, what is one little law when it's better to just fly there? You're not breaking any rule if I'm the one driving."
Ralkos was about to say something when he was behind her causing her head to almost rotate 180°. Then another hand reached forward placing on the back of it. "Look forward, can't have you looking at my wings. They tend to cause…"
Ralkos' eyes glanced towards the wings for a moment and felt a shiver of fear. "...problems when I spread them out. Hallucinations, urge to flee, paralysis, euphoria. As long as it is a drug, alcohol, or bodily fluid I've ingested I can replicate the effects with my wings as long as it stays in my body for a while."
"House, open the balcony doors." Ralkos ordered and with some protest from the A.I. she had to give a firm. "Now."
The doors opened and Ralkos expected to be rushed out with a run but instead it was like they were teleported through silk. She wasn't sure if that was there already or Richard forming it without her noticing. Either way they were up in the air a lot sooner than she expected. Her eyes pierced through the darkness with ease as she was flown towards the base of the tower. She could see the lights sparkling as well as the crowd that was gathering. Kas was waiting outside of the area looking around for her. Richard touched the ground just out of sight. The hands released Ralkos who moved forward to tell Kas about everything she saw before hesitating. Richard was scared of whoever was controlling him, so if she blabbed that would mean putting him in danger. 'That's not the right thing to do. Ever.' she thought to herself. So she took a deep breath and moved on as if she never met the Draemon. What he had told her, that he was a distraction still weighed heavily on her mind. 'I never got to ask him why he was spying on me in the first place.'