Last Breath
Prologue:
The third sun of Axitar L-95 bore down on the acrid land below, scorching the blackened landscape and leaving a bitter taste in the air. A faint wisp of wind gently blew across the field of charred grass, leaving the sound of harsh rustling in its wake. While the land below was dark and foreboding the sky above blazed with a warm buttery yellow that lasted from sunrise to sunset every day. Days themselves persisted for many hours stretching towards the length of a week leaving the planet stranded in the cold darkness for an unbelievably long time. Subjecting its inhabitants to roam in the unyielding darkness, and nestle in the blackened grass waiting for the sunrise that marked a new day.
A soft crunch, crunch, crunch, rang across the empty plain as the light feet of the Ataxis quickly trod upon the open plain. Its long supple limbs a blur as it raced across the endless sea of dark prairie, his paws kicking small puffs of dust that billowed behind in his wake. He only began to slow as he neared the thin grove of trees where his mate and offspring nested. Their heads tucked underneath their mother as they suckled on her teats. His mate lazily chewed on a flower that matched the radiant yellow of the sky, her four bright eyes blinking slowly as she swallowed her cud.
He bellowed in greeting as his children ran up to welcome him. Their brown skin brushed against him as they began to wrestle in the evening rays. His mate watched lazily as she lay in the shade of the lofty black trees, and began to slowly clean the long spindly spines that arched along her back. She laid her head down and listened to the sound of her children playing accompanied by the constant rustle the crispy leaves above. Her eyelids began to droop as the lullaby of her surroundings carried her off into a deep gentle sleep.
She was ripped from her gentle slumber by the panicked screeches of her loved ones. Jolted awake she saw her mate's back spines were erect and his eyes were locked on to a large dark shape looming over the coal coloured savannah. She couldn't believe her eyes as she stood her feet frozen to the sun baked earth, eyes wide, and mouth open gazing on that which inevitably was her doom. Its gleaming hull shone brightly in the afternoon light as it slowly descended down to their world below, blasting hot dirty wind across the desolate plain.
The object was too foreign for the Ataxis to comprehend; they were baffled and confused unable to do anything but gawk at its immense size. Even though it shimmered and glinted in the warm sunlight it seemed cold, distant, and alien compared to their surroundings. It was decorated with a blue stripe that ran across its flank, with words and symbols printed in black on top, it also had two fins on either side and a large transparent section across the front. Everything about it seemed wrong.
The giant metal bird slowly descended and connected with the ground gently crushing the foliage beneath it. Its constant roar lowered to a softer purr, but the Ataxis remained on red alert their curiosity getting the best of them.
The object slowly opened its dark gaping maw and out marched four creatures walking on only their hind legs. The creatures had odd baggy orange skin and clumpy feet with no toes, but what startled the Ataxis the most was that they had no faces. All they could see was the sun glinting off of a blank sheet of dark material on the front of their large round heads. But to the Ataxis's horror one of the creatures reached up to his head and lifted it off. They recoiled in shock; underneath the odd head of the first creature was another head though this one was tan, with a red fur falling down its head in long strands. It had only two dull green eyes and small white teeth that looked delicate and harmless. The Ataxis felt relieved that these creatures were so defenceless with no claws or fangs how could they hurt them. They watched in awe and fear as other creatures followed suit, lifting and exposing their dainty faces with a variety of colours and combinations among the group.
One of them looked down on a certain object and called the others around. It lifted its hand and slowly swept its arm across the landscape until it stopped pointing directly at the Ataxis. The creatures began to head towards the Ataxis slowly step by step crunching softly on the delicate crispy grass. The male Ataxis went out in front of his mate and children to protect them the best he could. He puffed himself up, stretched his spines out to their full length, and bared his fangs attempting to look as terrifying as possible. The creatures continued to advance albeit a bit more cautiously, so he began to rattle his spines as a warning.
But then he smelt something delicious against his better judgement he began to relax slightly. The wonderful aroma wafted in his nostrils, his tensed muscles began to lax and his mind wandered. Out from the corner of his eye he saw his son shoot out from under his mother's soft and safe underside. The boy quickly approached the visitors and began sniffing eagerly trying to pinpoint what was making the smell. As he reached them time slowed down for the Ataxis. One of the humans raised its arm and fired something and his son. It hit his body in mid-air and he slowly began to turn and fall to the ground mid jump, hitting the ground with a crunch as the brittle grass was broken beneath his little body. The mother launched forward fearing her son was dead, her long legs propelling her forward at an amazing speed.
The human raised its arm once more and the shot hit her directly in the chest three times she fell with a resounding thud issuing one last anguished screech and quiet whimper. The male thrashed his head seething with anger, his thoughts reeling, his muscles tensed, jaw clenched and fangs bared. Then he surged forward driven mad with anger with a furious roar. His large hind legs bulging as he ran. The creature raised his arm firing one, two, three, four shots in his chest but he continued forward. He felt his legs begin to go numb as he made his final jump crashing down on his victim; his last action before blacking out was ripping his assailant's throat out.
He welcomed the numb feeling as it spread from the connection points in his body, his eyes swam in the dark as his consciousness began to ebb and sway. He thought of the warm buttery sky of his home, he thought of returning home after a long day to see his family once more. But then it dawned on him that he may never see them again it burned long and deep in his heart as if he fell in a pit of acid. Then he thought of his daughter all alone and all by herself on the savannah with those savages. His heart longed to see her again.
He felt as though he was floating in a void of nothingness the darkness wrapped around him like a blanket, soft and comforting just like the night of Axitar L-95. There was no concept of time in this darkness just existence, but then there was light. The Ataxis opened his eyes to see that he was propped up and strapped face down on a cold metal table. He felt searing pain all along his body he tried to screech in agony but no sound came out all he felt was excruciating pain coming from his throat. Trapped, terrified, and distressed he opened his mouth in a silent wail.
Then he heard a Click, click, click sound quickly approaching where he lay, his spines began to rise. In walked the red furred creature though this time it was clothed in white long skin rather than orange. It walked up to him and picked up a polished scalpel from the table inspecting it before beginning to dig into his side to test its sharpness. He squirmed in pain, she didn't seem to notice or didn't seem to care. She began to slice around the base of his first spine and proceeded to wrench it out of its socket. He lifted his head in an attempt to screech but still no sound. Out of the gaping hole oozed his bright blue blood. The painful slashing continued until all of the spines were removed yet she seemed oblivious to the torture she was putting him through. When she left him his body racked with spasms of pain that shook him violently, even though she was done he still felt the burning of the knife slowly dragging through his flesh. He wondered with fear if the rest of his family was going through this. He knew he wouldn't last long after losing this much blood but he needed to know how the other Ataxis were doing.
He closed his eyes and began to lift his consciousness out of his body and create a psychic link with his mate. Because he was so physically drained it was difficult to keep the link open but they made the connection. She was about to die they both knew it so with heavy hearts they made their goodbyes and she relinquished her psychic energy to help him reach their son. It was too late he had already passed on unable to survive the loss of blood. He was overcome with sadness now he had to grieve his dead mate and son. His energy was quickly dropping he needed to find a body quickly returning to his own would mean certain death but on one hand he could be with his love and son once more but he remembered his daughter was out there somewhere and he needed to find her. He surged on looking for a suitable body to settle in, and then he found it.