Chapter 33: Domination Diminished

Talia felt as if all the life had drained out of her. She was weak, not physically, but mentally. What she had witnessed had certainly affected her and made her feel guilty. It was her fault that those parents had come this way, it was her fault that the little girl had been there in the first place, it was all her fault. Why did she even come to this camp?

Eventually, the guards brought Talia through a hallway and threw her, and the child, down on the ground where a man stood, up at a window. This situation was becoming too familiar for Talia now. She didn't even bother to get up and just lay on the ground, tears in her eyes. The little girl ran over to Talia and tried to get her to stand up, but Talia couldn't do it.

"I don't like troublemakers in my camps," This man said, his back remained to the girls. He spoke with eloquence and definitely sounded of a higher-class. He was in charge here. Talia still didn't move. The little girl dropped to her knees beside Talia and was sniffling, she'd clearly been crying.

The man turned around and started to walk down some steps, towards Talia. He was wearing an armour similar to what Cold Empire soldiers had, although it had a strange couple of symbols on the right side of the chest and he also wore a grey cape with it. Talia glanced up, taking in his entire appearance. He had grey hair that was up in a sort of pompadour style, and he had a lilac kind of skin-colour. He was extremely humanoid in his facial features.

"I could just throw you back to the camps, but you were found with these two swords," The man said, holding up the swords, but not touching their handles. He clearly knew about the Dark Blades. "You will earn me quite a bit of praise from my leaders."

Talia looked back down, not saying another word.

"As for the little girl, she isn't needed," The man said. This managed to get a bit of a reaction from Talia as she gritted her teeth and shuffled slightly. This went unnoticed by the man. He walked over to a control panel and looked down at the screen. "You took out quite a few of my soldiers. I'm not very happy about that… and neither are some of my men."

Talia could hear them move behind her and even heard some crack their knuckles. She finally took a breath and got up to her knees. Staring blankly ahead of her. The man looked down at her, bending down slightly.

"Can you not look at me?" He asked, teasingly.

"Just kill me…" Talia muttered, "I deserve it."

"Maybe you do, but we have plenty of other plans for you right now. Plus, I know that my soldiers have their intentions," The man said, looking up at his men. Talia glanced over her shoulder slightly. "Some of them have good ideas, and you're still young."

"You got that right, Commander Roik!" One of the soldiers called out, chuckling and coming close to Talia, breathing heavily in her ear. She visibly shivered at this and clenched her fists. The commander noticed this and smirked.

"This angers you. The thought of my men having their way with you," He started to say, clearly trying to tease and annoy her. Talia kept her mouth shut, but her anger was building and she wanted to hurt them all. The commander moved in close to her and came down to be level with her face. He lifted it up so she was looking him in the eyes. He slowly strokes her cheek. "Once they're done with you we'll find out just where you come from and who will pay the highest price for you."

He then gripped her face with his right hand and licked her cheek, causing her to shake and cringe at the feeling. He pulled away, laughing.

"As for the little one, she can die," He said, looking over to her as she started crying uncontrollably. Talia felt tears coming to her eyes again and so badly wanted to do something, but there wasn't anything right now. She just lost whatever drive she usually had.

"You're sick…" Talia said as the commander started to turn around. "You and all of your men."

He turned back to face her and showed her the swords again.

"These will look good with the rest of my trophies," He then motioned his head towards the exit and looked at his soldiers. "Take them both to a cell for now. Clean-up duty comes first."

The soldiers groaned as they dragged Talia and the girl back down the hallway and towards the prison. One of the soldiers seemed happier than the rest. He turned to two of them and ordered them to take the little girl to her own cell, and he then turned to the other two and told them to start clean-up. He said he'll deal with the killer. Talia found herself being dragged away from the little girl, but she looked back and saw her get locked in a cell and left alone. Talia was taken down a different corridor and thrown into a different kind of cell. It was far more solitary. She was thrown on the floor as they entered.

The soldier closed the door behind him and Talia heard it lock. She didn't want to turn around right now, but she heard the soldier chuckling to himself as he approached her.

"Time for a little fun."

Guida and Niku were still on their search for a lonely Cold Empire soldier. The plan to take a suit of armour was the best one either of them had and it was pretty good, if Niku was to be honest with Guida. Really, Niku didn't want to have to wear a proper Cold Empire uniform again, but this was to help Talia. He was just happy that Guida agreed to help.

"Wait. Stop," Guida whispered as they rounded a corner into an alley. He dove behind a box and Niku had to follow suit. They looked up the alley as a group of soldiers made their way down. They waited for the soldiers to pass by and kept moving. They didn't want to be seen without the uniform otherwise they may be recognised later. They rushed on down the alley once they were in the clear and upon reaching the exit they came to an area that looked down on a port, but to the left there was one Cold Empire soldier standing there, leaning over the railing.

Niku approached slowly and took the soldier in a sleeper-hold, managing to get him to pass out. Now they had their suit. It's lucky they were one-size-fits-all. Niku put the uniform on and stretched to get reacquainted with the flexibility.

"This is an updated one from what I used, feels great," Niku said, as he moved into a fight stance. Guida shook his head and walked past.

"We better head to the camp now."

"Wait, don't you need a suit too?" Niku asked, but Guida shook his head.

"It'll work much better if I pretend to be a prisoner, or some criminal," Guida suggested, "That way, when we get in there you can take me straight to the prison area."

"Good idea, now we should get moving there," Niku reached for his binders and walked over to Guida. "Sorry, I have to put these on you."

Guida smirked and held his hands in front of him. Niku put the binders on and the two started to make their way back towards the camp. It didn't take them too long and they were at the front checkpoint again. As Niku walked up with Guida a soldier stepped in front of them.

"Who's this fool?" The soldier asked. Niku, bigger than the solider, looked down on him.

"I caught him stealing supplies from a nearby scavenger ship and felt like a couple of nights in a cell, and a few beatings, might set him straight," Niku explained, casually, showing his experience with the soldiers. Guida started to try and break free to make it seem more realistic. The soldier looked at Niku closely and then nodded.

"Go through, take him straight to the prison bay," The soldier commanded, stepping aside and letting them walk across the bridge towards the entrance. Guida and Niku made sure to keep up the act until they made it inside. Upon getting through those doors Guida turned to Niku.

"I hope you know which way to go," Guida asked, quietly. Niku scoffed and pushed Guida to the left.

"Get moving, scum," Niku said, keeping up his Cold Empire persona. Guida was shocked by this as there weren't any soldiers around, but he realised there may be cameras watching them. All they needed to do now was find Talia.

Back in that cell, Talia picked herself up and turned around, leaning back against the wall. She remained seated on the ground though as the soldier started to move closer. He had an excited and creepy smile on his face, Talia looked around her to find something she could use as a weapon, but no luck.

"Oh, baby," The soldier said, licking his lips and rubbing his hands together. "You're so young and cute, just how I like them."

This made Talia wince and look away. He moved right close to Talia's face and placed his right hand on her cheek and his left on her leg.

"I'm gonna enjoy this," The soldier muttered as he leaned in closer. He was inches from Talia's face and the girl couldn't back up any further. This couldn't go on, and it wouldn't. Talia closed her eyes and head-butted the soldier and then kicked him back away from her. He stumbled back, but managed to remain on his feet. He shook his head and lifted a hand to his nose to feel blood. He was about to say something else before looking back at Talia.

Talia's white aura had flared up around her and her hair was waving around. She slowly made it to her feet and broke out of her shackles. The soldier backed right up against the wall and was clearly scared of what was going on. Talia's eyes had turned completely white and it appeared as if she had no more control. She rushed towards the soldier and just with her nails, she slashed across the soldier's throat, cutting it open. Blood spilt to the floor and Talia started to refocus.

The soldier fell to the ground and bled out, while also suffocating due to all the blood now filling his lungs. Talia watched him writhing in pain with the most neutral of facial expressions. She stepped over him and smashed the door open, knocking it right off its hinges. There were a couple of soldiers standing outside in the halls of the prison area and they had been drawn to the commotion. Talia shot them a glare of utter contempt and raised her hand.

She manipulated her energy sending a pulse through the air that knocked all of the soldiers off of their feet and thrust them into the walls. They dropped to the ground, passed-out and Talia continued forward. As she walked on her energy started to calm down and she was beginning to regain her sense over the situation. She seemed completely oblivious of the change her energy had just gone through. Talia approached one of the bodies on the floor and took a small blade from him and continued down the hall.

A couple of other soldiers rushed down and had their weapons aimed right at the teenager. Talia took in how many of them there were. She then assessed her distance. About 10 feet. Normally, this is something that Talia could find some enjoyment in, but right now, she had something to really fight for, other than her own life. She threw the blade at the soldier on the right with an extreme pace. It hit the soldier in the face and as it did Talia sprung from her spot and reached that same soldier, pulling out the blade. She then jumped to the other soldier and sliced his throat and dropped down to slash at his gut too.

Both those soldiers fell to the ground, dying, as Talia walked on. She had to find the commander now. Talia was about to leave the prison area, but stopped when she heard a voice calling out. A young girl's. That's when Talia remembered something. She turned and rushed back to the prison area and saw the little girl in the cell. She managed to find more strength again and ripped through the cell bars. The girl rushed up to Talia and hugged her. Talia accepted the embrace and then backed off.

"I'm going to need you to stay somewhere safe. I'm going to put you inside one of the solitary cells and I'll be back for you soon, trust me," Talia tried her best to explain to the girl, but forgot that she couldn't understand her. Talia started to lead her to one of the solitary cells, but just as they entered one a lot more soldiers arrived and Talia had to quickly sort out the situation.

She pushed the girl into the room and closed the door, then proceeded to cut through all the soldiers and finally, she left to find the commander. As she made her way up to where the commander had been before Talia was cutting through many soldiers. Right now, she didn't care about all the killing. All Cold Empire soldiers had blended into one massive mistake as far as she was concerned and they were all guilty of many crimes. Talia would do something here, today.

As she finally reached the Commander's room she was instantly surrounded by many more Cold Empire soldiers although some of them looked a lot more elite than others. The Commander was standing at the end of the room by his window, but he was facing Talia.

"You really are a nuisance," Commander Roik stated, a smirk on his face. He then lifted a hand to give his soldiers the signal. Talia, with her one blade, moved into a stance, ready for anything.

Guida and Niku finally made it to the prison part of this camp and were instantly met by many dead Cold Empire soldiers. There was a lot of blood around the place.

"Talia's been busy," Guida said, stepping over the bodies and moving through. Niku was looking into the cells, trying to see if Talia was inside any of them, but if she really was responsible for all this mess then she wouldn't have stuck around.

"We better find her," Niku stated as he prepared to rush off and follow the trail, but then they started to hear some light banging and a child's voice. "Do you hear that?"

"A child?" Guida said, questioningly. He looked up at Niku and then started to try and follow the voice that was calling out. They made sure to have their weapons up, just in case. Niku was the one that came closest to the voice and realised it was inside a cell. He opened up the cell and saw a very small girl there, but she looked almost like a younger version of Talia.

"Ok…" Niku murmured to himself, "There's a mini-Talia here."

Guida headed over to see what Niku was on about and noticed the girl. He raised his eyebrows and looked to Niku. They were both surprised about this. The little girl started to back away from the two men, but then Niku bent down and tried to be friendly.

"We ain't here to hurt you, come with us," Niku said, beckoning for her to closer, but she only cowered away. Guida looked at Niku and then around at the bodies. He then stepped past Niku.

"You're dressed like them, she's scared. I'm not though," Guida put his weapons down and walked over to the girl. "Hey, we're not going to hurt you. We're not with them."

Guida said all this and was making hand gestures to try and get his point across. He could tell she didn't understand them. She was warming up to Guida though and even let him pick her up.

"We have to take this kid with us, if she's the same species as Talia then maybe it will mean something to her," Guida said as he and Niku walked on, following the trail. Guida made sure to cover the girl's eyes though, not wanting her to see this violent stuff.

The soldiers didn't close in on Talia right away. They waited for her to make the first move. Big mistake. Talia jumped to action and was in there with that small blade. She slashed at the two soldiers closest to her, causing them to drop back as Talia moved on to the next few. She leapt at one and drove the blade through their chest and as he landed on his back Talia jumped up, avoiding a hit from another soldier, throwing the blade down at that same one. It struck him in the face and he stumbled back in pain as Talia, no longer holding a weapon, dropped to the ground.

She straightened up as a few of the soldiers started to back away. Commander Roik looked around at his soldiers, showing weakness in front of this girl. The soldiers took a second, but they aimed their weapons back on the girl, awaiting the order to fire.

"SHOOT HER!" The commander yelled, clearly losing patience, and control. The soldiers opened fire and Talia had to duck and dive to avoid being hit. She rolled towards the soldiers, kicked one over and started to use him as cover as she moved over to a table where she noticed something. Her blades.

The commander saw where Talia was heading and he wasn't prepared to let her get what she needed. He rushed to the same table getting there are the same time as the teenager, but only managing to get a hand on one of the blades. Talia jumped up, grabbed her sword and performed a back-flip towards the soldiers. Reunited with one of her swords, Talia started to feel her energy returning.

Meanwhile, commander Roik had dropped Talia's other swords on the ground and was backing against the wall, gripping his right wrist. Not having thought about it he grabbed the sword by the handle and now there were some burns on the palm of his right hand. He was beginning to feel extremely nervous now.

Talia, however, was in her element as she began to tear through the soldiers without second guessing herself. Talia's increase in power, and her rage, seemed to have blinded her as she killed all of those soldiers. Once done, Talia stood in the centre of the room with all those dead bodies, and blood, around her. Roik was at the other side of the room watching in fear. Talia glanced over to him and he flinched, but had nowhere to run to.

Talia walked over to the commander, slowly. Guida and Niku finally arrived as Talia stepped up to the commander and without a second thought, slashed her sword through his neck, removing his head from his body. The head dropped and rolled away as the body fell into a heap on the floor. Talia took her other sword, sheathed them both and turned around, but was surprised to see Guida and Niku, and the girl.

Finally, Talia's rage seemed to calm as she rushed over to check on the girl who had broken free of Guida's arms and run over to Talia. The two of them embraced, and Talia began to cry. Guida and Niku walked over to them.

"Do you know each other?" Guida asked, placing a hand on Talia's shoulder. Talia looked up, wiping a tear away.

"No, not really," Talia responded, standing up with the girl in her arms. "I found her in the camp…"

Talia stalled and looked to the ground, saddened.

"Her parents are dead."

Both Guida and Niku looked to each other and back to Talia. Both girls were clearly not thrilled to be here right now and to be perfectly honest, they just needed to get out of there now. The group rushed off and made their way into the camps and began to free the prisoners. They all fight the guards as they make their way through, leading the prisoners to the exit. They did this successfully and managed to get back to their ship, safely. But now…

Before they got on the ship Talia stopped, still holding the little girl. Talia looked into the girl's eyes and started to think deeply. Guida and Niku turned to face their ally.

"I don't know what to do…" Talia said, tears still in her eyes. "As far as we both know we're the only ones of our species out here, and… I don't think I could just leave her."

"What are you going to do?" Niku asked.

"I… I don't know…" Talia said, getting choked up. She placed a hand on the girl's face and smiled at her. That's when Talia remembered something. She turned to face her allies quickly. "My translator… get it, and get her one too!"

Niku quickly rushed off and returned with two translators, Talia put hers in and then gave the girl the other one. For a moment Talia was unsure of what to say and the two of them just stared at one another.

"Hello…" Talia said, nervously. "Do you understand me?"

There was an extended moment of silence as the little girl's eyes went wide, realising she could understand her and a smile appeared on her face.

"I do!" She said, excitably. Talia smiled too and composed herself.

"Ok… um, what's your name?" Talia asked.

"Aimu," the little girl replied. Talia's smile softened a little and she leaned back.

"Well, hello there, Aimu. I'm Talia," The teenager said, her smile fading a little. "Do you know anything about our race, where we're from?"

Aimu had to ponder that thought. Clearly thinking over anything her parents might have said, but she seemed far too confused and thinking about her parents didn't appear to be a good idea right now as she started to get upset again.

"I'm sorry, please, try not to cry," Talia said, pulling the girl into a hug again. "I understand how you feel… a little."

Both Niku and Guida were still standing there, watching Talia bond with this girl.

"I never knew my parents. I was raised on the streets of a city on an unknown planet," Talia explained to the girl, hoping she would understand. Aimu was probably a little too young though. Talia just kept the hug going, but her original thought returned. "I don't know what to do, Aimu."

She pulled out of the hug and looked into the girl's eyes again, this time she was serious, and trying to fight back tears.

"I don't want to leave you, but you can't go where we're going… it's just far too dangerous," Talia explained. "So… I want to find you a new family. Now, I know that's not the best option, but it's the only thing I can think of."

Aimu didn't seem to quite understand, but she was definitely doing her best.

"But once we've done what we need to… I will return for you. I will," Talia said, getting choked up again and pulling the girl into another tight embrace. "I promise you."

The two of them remained in the hug as Niku and Guida went off to prepare the ship for take-off.

Talia spent quite a bit of time in a very, very posh district as she desperately tried to find someone that looked worthy of looking after this girl. Talia saw a rather nice-looking couple, they appeared to have an older son, probably about Talia's age. The teenager, took Aimu with her as she followed the couple and their son back to their apartment in a very nice building.

Talia followed them up to their floor and knocked on their door. The wife opened it.

"May I help you?" She said, looking very sympathetic to how the two of them looked.

"Um… well," Talia was very nervous, but looked into Aimu's eyes again and knew she was doing the right thing. "I'm sorry to put this on you, but you looked really nice and friendly and I really hope you can do me this favour, even though you don't know me…"

Talia realised how stupid she was being and turned around.

"Forget it…"

"Wait," The wife said, following Talia down the hall. "Tell me what it is."

Talia stopped, looked down at Aimu and started to cry again, she turned around and wiped her tears away.

"I need you to look after this girl for me," Talia finally blurted out. The wife was certainly taken aback, but listened. "Her name is Aimu, she's very young and came from a Cold Empire camp. Her parents are dead and as far as I know she's the only remaining person of our species. I want to care for her, but I have something far too dangerous that I need to do first and I don't want her to be caught up in it. So please, please, please, can you do me this very big favour?"

The wife stood in silence as her husband stepped out, hearing what had gone on. The couple walked forward as Talia set Aimu down. The little girl gingerly walked forward, but looked back at Talia and reached her arms out to her. Talia fought back her tears and had to be strong because if she was, then hopefully Aimu could be strong too.

"I will come back for you."

With that, Talia turned and rushed away. She couldn't bear it any longer and had to get all this emotion out of her. The couple took Aimu into their arms and promised to each other that they would do this for that teenager.

Talia returned to the ship and was ready to leave with her allies. She apologised that they didn't get Shirken and crew this time, but Guida assured her that it was ok and they would get them next time, for sure. Guida made sure to inform them that the crew would be stopping at a planet called Eoz so they could get some work. This would benefit them a lot because it may mean that's where they'll take up residence.

It was on to Eoz next…

After all of that day, Talia had to shut herself away for a little bit and started to think about Aimu. She would definitely keep that promise.

So there is the end of that little 3-part tale I was telling. Next time we get part 1 of the 2-part finale to this arc! I've been excited about writing this part of the story and I hope you readers will enjoy it!

If you liked what you read here today then please, leave a review, it's been far too long since I last read one.

Thanks.

Next Time... Chapter 34: Dawn of Ashes - Part 1