In the Blink of an Eye - Part 8

Posted on 29 Jul 2023 @ 10:14am by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alexion Wylde

2,913 words; about a 15 minute read

:: 2366 - 26 years prior to current time
A couple of days after the events in Part 7
Capital City of Sol, Vaeron ::


Stepping out onto the intimidating, sweeping path that led up to the mansion, Alexion just stopped and stared at his father's home...the home he had been brought up in. His breath caught in his throat at seeing the blood spilled on the old stone, the broken bodies of household staff strewn across the lawn and steps, the door battered and splintered open, and the smoking crater in the top floor.

His throat tightened; he wasn't sure if it was with pain or anger. The two had become interchangeable at some point. All he knew was that his hearts were beating so hard inside his chest that he was sure he would die from it.

The Wylde estate, his family home, desecrated by that filth.

His family were in there.

Dead.

Slaughtered.

And his brother and son had witnessed it all and barely escaped.

Seeing his battle-scarred family home with his own eyes forced him to see the reality.

All of it...all of the horror delivered on his home, planet and people, it made it too real.

"Alexion?" Hanri moved to him, slowly reaching out to touch his hand. He watched with worry, slowly taking hold of his wrist, prying Alexion's white-knuckled fingers off the enemy's hunting knife that was hanging from his belt. He held his breath with the effort it took, the blood smearing on his own skin. "Alexion."

Alexion turned his head just a little towards him, but his gaze was still on the scene before him rather than on Hanri.

"Where's the shuttle?" Captain Eaest asked firmly, trying to snap him out of it. "We shouldn't loiter, we don't know if they're still here or not."

Alexion was silent for a long moment before he finally licked his dry lips. "I need to go inside and do something first," his voice was broken and distant.

"Alexion..." Eaest frowned, clearly not convinced as he moved to him. He understood how Alexion thought pretty well by now, a hang over from how many Duels they'd fought over the last days. "The only thing we need to do is get off this planet before we're killed."

"I didn't say we, I said I," Alexion replied gruffly with a shrug, finally looking to him with heavy exhaustion. "I'm not leaving until I'm done here. If you don't want to wait then go without me, I'll find another way."

Eaest sighed as he folded his arms, shifting his weight uneasily onto one leg. "Well, that's not going to happen," he said matter of factly. "We're all going, together. We'll wait, just...be careful."

Alexion glanced to the rest of the group, to be sure they agreed. "Wait with the others, in case the bastards show up," he said quietly to Eaest, motioning out across the gardens. "The shuttle pad is in the outer grounds at the back. Let's hope the forcefield held, or judging by the state of the house the shuttle will just be a smoking pile of rubble."

"You shouldn't go in alone," Eaest whispered, but firmly, lifting his brows with certainty and warning. "Let me go in with you."

"No, they could be in the grounds, get the group to the shuttle. If the shuttle's intact and I'm not there in ten minutes, use Ridion's Talent to bring the shield down and just go. If it's not intact and I'm not back in ten, well...you better come up with a new plan."

Eaest hesitated for a moment, his lips pressed together, torn between common sense and loyalty. He finally nodded and turned away, unable to look at Alexion as he broke into a light run. "Let's move," he motioned for the others to follow suit.

Alexion's gaze lingered on them for a moment or two longer before he looked resolutely back to the mansion, holding his breath before forcing himself to walk up the stairs and through the shattered, stained door.

He walked slowly, taking it in with shaking breath. White, gleaming stone covered in pools of thick, red blood. Beloved family heirlooms smashed. Lifeless bodies left to wither.

Steeling himself, Alexion moved up the vast staircase, taking himself to the room that had been his since he was a child, and had still been his when he visited. He grabbed a bag from the trunk, opening a few boxes, kicking into a burst of speed as he put a few precious keepsakes into it.

He forced himself to leave the room without looking back, knowing it was probably the last time he'd be in it...but he refused to let himself linger.

He strode to his father's office, looking at the scene with sheer disbelief. His papers and belongings had been scattered across the room during a crude search. He moved quickly for the wall opposite the desk, seeing the scorch marks and deep scores to the edges of the safe that they'd tried to get open without success.

"Barbarians," Alexion breathed, lifting his hand to press to the safe door, letting it scan and analyse his DNA as he spoke the code. The door clicked open for him, allowing him to reach in and pull out the entire contents, pushing it into the bag. He could sort through it later, but for now, he wanted to preserve whatever was left of his family's long legacy and their part in the ruling circle.

Just as he closed the bag, a sharp tug pulled him backwards, making him fall to the ground with a hard thud.

The air was knocked out of his lungs in a sudden, rasping rush, but Alexion forced his eyes open just in time to see the face of one the enemy soldiers looking down over him, knife lifted, ready to thrust down.

Driven by sheer instinct, Alexion pulled his leg back high enough to kick him hard in the stomach, taking the chance while he stumbled backwards to scrabble back onto his feet.

Alexion ducked just in time to avoid a brutal punch aimed for his eye, and he swayed back for just a second before smashing his palm into the other man's face.

Adrenaline and anger pumping through his veins from days of savage, unprovoked attacks on his people, Alexion ran forward, punching him hard in the jaw with his right hand before following up with a left hook, crying out with rage and satisfaction when he felt the crunch of his nose under his knuckles.

Alexion was thrown back when the soldier's knife slashed across his side, making him hiss with the pain, but he was too full of adrenaline to let it stop him.

As the soldier moved to thrust the knife into his chest, Alexion pulled to the side and grabbed the arm stretched out to him, using the man's lunging movement to yank him down and close, driving his knee brutally into his side and then into his face.

Alexion was breathing hard as they stumbled a step away from each other, trying to regain his balance first as blood seeped through his already ruined shirt.

The soldier recovered first, grabbing hold of Alexion and slamming him forward into the wall, grabbing his hair to smash his head forward against the unyielding stone with a sickening thud.

His world spinning, Alexion managed to get his foot up, planting it against the wall along with the palms of his hands, using the leverage to push his body away from the stone with a groan of effort. He threw his whole weight back into the man, sending them both tumbling backwards onto the ground, Alexion landing heavily on top of him with a pained gasp.

The soldier groaned with the treatment but was already trying to lock his arms and legs tight around his body, squeezing with vice like strength.

Alexion gave a choked groan of pain as he tried to catch his breath, struggling for a long moment before finally driving his elbow down sharply into his assailant's ribs, forcing his grip to loosen enough so he could turn to face him.

Alexion wrapped his hands around his throat, everything screaming in him to squeeze every last breath out of this man...one of the men that had carried out the massacre in his home.

The soldier's arm flailed under the strength of his anger, his hand catching against his knife that had been dropped to the floor in the struggle. Grabbing hold of it, he stabbed Alexion deep in the upper arm.

Alexion cried out and flinched back on sheer instinct. It was only a moment, but it was long enough for the soldier to grab a hold of him and roll them over so he was on top, lifting the knife to thrust down towards his chest.

Grabbing his wrist while the knife was still on its way down, Alexion breathed hard with the effort it took to keep his grip on him, struggling to try and push the knife away. All the while the soldier on top of him was pushing back down against the force of his grip to try and drive it into his flesh.

Their arms trembled with the strength of the struggle between them, one trying to push the knife down for a fatal blow, the other fighting for life. Alexion groaned with the effort as he started to lose the battle of strength, the knife edging towards his chest, inching closer in an agonisingly slow but inevitable journey to his body, the tip starting to push down and slowly cut into the flesh above his right heart.

Alexion gritted his teeth against the pain, knowing he couldn't win the battle. His eyes were wide as they looked into the other man's, resolve setting into his own. He slid his hands up tighter around the knife that was digging its way deeper into his chest, using the skin on skin connection of their hands to use his Talent. He stared into the soldier's eyes with sheer hatred as he started to drain his energy, without mercy, taking as much as he could to weaken him.

As soon as he felt the man's arm falter under the drain, Alexion shoved up hard and sent him sprawling off him.

Groaning with pain, Alexion turned onto his front and managed to get his leg under him. He grabbed onto the desk, using it to haul himself up off the ground, but he was breathing hard as he virtually fell forward onto it with the state he was in from the fight.

The soldier scrambled up, pressing forward onto Alexion to pin him on the desk, knife ready in his hand to try and drive into his side.

Grabbing hold of the desk, Alexion took a sharp breath before slamming his head back into the other man's face, using the moment that he gasped out in pain to struggle over onto his back, but he was still pinned under him.

Alexion yanked the knife from him and stabbed it savagely into his assailant's shoulder, crying out with just how hard he thrust it into him, twisting it in his flesh for all he was worth.

Shoving the screaming man off him, Alexion watched as the soldier fell forward onto the desk then rolled onto his back, gasping for breath where he laid on the antique wooden surface.

Alexion stalked forward, grabbing the soldier's long, dark hair to pin his head back onto the desk, breathing hard as he looked into the face of the enemy...looked into the eyes of a man who had become a murderer of his race. "I hope it was worth it..." he breathed coldly, thrusting the knife into his throat before shoving the thrashing, dying body away with disgust.

Wiping his face with the back of his arm, Alexion swayed on the spot as he caught his breath, his body covered in both his own blood and the soldier's. Pain burned through him, but it was a reassurance that he was still alive, for now at least.

He grabbed hold of his bag with a clumsy hand, heading out into the hallway with a stumbling step. As he looked up, he saw another black clad soldier at the end of the hallway.

Alexion just stared at him, unable to do anything else in his state, watching with contempt as the soldier lifted his bolt rifle to shoot him.

Before the man could get a shot off, he jerked with the impact of a Vaeron rifle, his legs collapsing under him as he dropped down onto the stone floor with a heavy thud.

Alexion turned to look behind him with wide eyes, holding his breath...he found himself staring at Hanri, his rifle still lifted from where he'd shot the enemy soldier. "I told you to get to the shuttle."

"Yeah, well good job I ignored you because you're an idiot," Hanri shook his head with a frown, moving quickly to grab a hold of him, seeing as he looked like he was going to fall over any minute with his injuries. "Let's go," he started to pull him forward.

"No," Alexion pushed at his arm, shaking his head as he took an unsteady breath. "No, I haven't found my parents and sister yet."

"Alexion, they're dead," Hanri whispered, watching him with pain. "Everyone here is. They're not here, just their bodies are."

"I know, I just..." Alexion's frown deepened as he looked back down the other end of the corridor, breathing harder with indecision and emotion. "I haven't said goodbye...and they're alone, laid out like animals..."

"Alexion, you said everything you needed to say to them while they were alive," Hanri grabbed the side of his face to make him look at him. "And they wouldn't want you to remember them like this. Don't taint your memories of them...and don't get yourself killed for something that won't bring them back."

Alexion's bruised lips parted as he searched his eyes, his pain all too clear in his own. He finally swallowed it back though, hearing him, taking the words in.

Nodding silently, he let Hanri take some of his weight as they struggled down the hallway and out of his family's home.

He forced himself not to look back as they half stumbled across the vast gardens and grounds to get to the shuttle pad. As they drew close enough for the others to see them, Eaest ran forward to get to them, grabbing hold of Alexion on his other side.

"Got you now," Eaest assured him, touching his bloody hair for a moment as they half carried him to the rest of the group.

Alexion had been watching the ground in his struggle to keep getting one foot in front of the other. He finally lifted his head, looking to the others and then past them, his eyes widening when he saw the beautiful sight of his family's shuttle locked down and still protected by the forcefield.

Unable to stop the laugh that escaped his throat, Alexion stared in disbelief, shaking his head with awe. After everything that had happened, after all they'd gone through to keep pushing forward and survive...finally something had gone their way when it mattered.

Smiling despite it all, Alexion looked in the direction he knew the ocean was, his lips moving in a brief but crude prayer to the gods. "Get me to the panel."

The three made their way to the unit that the forcefield was generated from, covered in scorch marks and slashing scores where the invading soldiers had obviously tried to break it when they couldn't get through the forcefield.

Pressing his hand to the surface, it took a few moments for the system to recognise him as an authorised pilot of the craft, making the interface shimmer into life.

Dropping the forcefield, Alexion let out a long, shaking breath of relief, the adrenaline fading fast and being replaced with pain and exhaustion. "It'll be a tight fit, but it will hold us all," he assured.

Eaest nodded firmly, already half carrying Alexion toward the craft, pushing him inside as the hatch opened. "Let's go!" he shouted with the sudden spur of energy that washed over him at being so close to finally getting the hell out of the fire.

Alexion dropped down heavily into the pilot's seat, not up to flying in his state, not really, but having no choice as the shuttle would only respond to his touch.

Eaest moved quickly to take the co-pilot's seat, looking over the controls to check the layout. "Don't worry, I've got your back."

"Just as well, or we'll crash," Alexion replied with a gruff laugh, but it was probably true.

Hanri moved up to sit on the ledge next to Alexion's chair, reaching out to press his hand directly onto Alexion's bare arm so that he could take energy as and when he needed to keep flying.

Lifting off the ground, Alexion took a few moments to steady himself before working the controls to send them on a course to leave the planet, but despite his resolve, he couldn't stop himself from looking out of the forward view port to take a last look at his home, the estate, and as they climbed higher, the broken and burning city of Sol.

[TBC]

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