Chapter 2
"I wasn't trying to hit her! She dodged into it!" said Michael. He had to turn away and take a few breaths away from the burnt flesh in front of him. When he turned back, he kept his breaths shallow and through his mouth. It took forced concentration to keep from throwing up.
The blast had come from his hand. It was created by an energy that he was able to build within his body, something that humans were not generally able to do, which made sense, since he was not entirely human.
On another planet, in a different lifetime, he had been a General in the army. In fact, he was Second-in-Command. He held the position of being on the right hand side of the King of Antar.
The King of Antar, who, happened to be Max in this lifetime.
Max was kneeling by the ruined side of the woman. Her empty eye socket faced him. The other desperate blue eye darted wildly about. Her mouth tried to work, but no sound came out. The lips had been burnt away, leaving her teeth fully exposed. Some of the muscle was also gone, leaving that side partly skeletal.
There was still a chance to heal her. Max had gifts, as did those who were like him, but some gifts were more prominent in each individual.
Michael's gifts were under the least control, due in part to his impulsive nature, but they were powerful. As a soldier on Antar, he was in charge of the defense of the planet. In this life, he continued to be on the alert, looking for potential threats. On Earth, he had the misfortune of having a foster father who did little to help him develop a trusting nature. The abusive alcoholic collected his paycheck from the government each month for taking care of Michael, and Michael collected bruises and took care of his welts.
With Max's help, he was finally able to be emancipated by the time he was seventeen.
He was fiercely loyal to those he cared about, but did have a tendency to jump the gun when facing an unknown situation. His course of action was generally to act first and ask questions later. Right now, he was having a hard time looking at his actions.
He had actually been forced to kill before, but then their lives had been at stake. That was not the case here. The girl had been running away from them.
Fuck! he thought. Why did I aim a second blast at her? The first one didn't stop her, so why in the fucking hell did I think a second one would?
He was kneeling by her right side opposite to Max. The eye that remained in the woman played a fearful tennis match between the two men. It didn't seem to be able to settle on which one to be more afraid of. Michael had a fleeting thought that if someone could see all three of them, it would be her that would send them off screaming into the night. Of all the monster movies he had ever seen, he couldn't remember ever seeing anything as terrible as what he was seeing now. And, the knowledge that he was the one who had done this to her, left him sickened.
Isabel should have been the one to be here, not me, thought Michael. She would have thought it through before firing a shot. And even if she had shot and hit her, it wouldn't have caused this much damage.
Isabel was the third member of the alien triad. While she could control the molecular structure of objects as well as the other two could, her true gift ran toward 'Dreamwalking'.
On Antar she had been a princess, sister to the king, as she was sister to Max in this land. She was able to slip into people's minds through their dreams and while she was in their subconscious, she could gain information about their true thoughts or feelings.
However, Isabel was out shopping for some furniture at the apartment complex they were currently residing in with their human companions. Liz, Maria and Kyle.
Max and Michael had come back to the desert to tie up some potential loose ends. Liz had felt that there was something left behind, probably in the desert that could affect them.
Liz, Max's wife, had recently developed precognitive abilities. It was believed to be a side effect from when Max saved her life a few years ago from a stray bullet that was fired during an argument at the 'Crashdown Cafe' where she used to work at her family's restaurant. Though Max had worshiped her from afar before that event happened, it was the start of their relationship and the beginning of other humans knowing about their existence.
At one time they had been forced to bury their collection of alien artifacts in the desert. After Liz's premonition, they began to worry that maybe in their rush, something was overlooked, perhaps something that a curious person that might ask a lot of questions could happen to find.
When they come upon the woman in the desert, running her hands over the rock formation that had previously housed the granilith, Michael had impulsively decided to talk to her.
Normally, they would have both just observed and waited it out, but Liz's premonitions had a way of always coming true. Listening to her had saved their lives in the past. Unfortunately, in this situation, she wasn't able to tell how it would affect them. In cases like that, Michael was always happy to ere on the side of negativity.
He knew something was up when she started running when he called out to her. She had to be either FBI or another alien. If she were an alien, she would understand the blast and stop. If she were FBI, she would assume he was firing at her and stop. Either way, they would get answers to their questions.
Only...she didn't stop.
"I wasn't trying to hit her! She dodged into it!" said Michael. He had to turn away and take a few breaths away from the burnt flesh in front of him. When he turned back, he kept his breaths shallow and through his mouth. It took forced concentration to keep from throwing up.
The blast had come from his hand. It was created by an energy that he was able to build within his body, something that humans were not generally able to do, which made sense, since he was not entirely human.
On another planet, in a different lifetime, he had been a General in the army. In fact, he was Second-in-Command. He held the position of being on the right hand side of the King of Antar.
The King of Antar, who, happened to be Max in this lifetime.
Max was kneeling by the ruined side of the woman. Her empty eye socket faced him. The other desperate blue eye darted wildly about. Her mouth tried to work, but no sound came out. The lips had been burnt away, leaving her teeth fully exposed. Some of the muscle was also gone, leaving that side partly skeletal.
There was still a chance to heal her. Max had gifts, as did those who were like him, but some gifts were more prominent in each individual.
Michael's gifts were under the least control, due in part to his impulsive nature, but they were powerful. As a soldier on Antar, he was in charge of the defense of the planet. In this life, he continued to be on the alert, looking for potential threats. On Earth, he had the misfortune of having a foster father who did little to help him develop a trusting nature. The abusive alcoholic collected his paycheck from the government each month for taking care of Michael, and Michael collected bruises and took care of his welts.
With Max's help, he was finally able to be emancipated by the time he was seventeen.
He was fiercely loyal to those he cared about, but did have a tendency to jump the gun when facing an unknown situation. His course of action was generally to act first and ask questions later. Right now, he was having a hard time looking at his actions.
He had actually been forced to kill before, but then their lives had been at stake. That was not the case here. The girl had been running away from them.
Fuck! he thought. Why did I aim a second blast at her? The first one didn't stop her, so why in the fucking hell did I think a second one would?
He was kneeling by her right side opposite to Max. The eye that remained in the woman played a fearful tennis match between the two men. It didn't seem to be able to settle on which one to be more afraid of. Michael had a fleeting thought that if someone could see all three of them, it would be her that would send them off screaming into the night. Of all the monster movies he had ever seen, he couldn't remember ever seeing anything as terrible as what he was seeing now. And, the knowledge that he was the one who had done this to her, left him sickened.
Isabel should have been the one to be here, not me, thought Michael. She would have thought it through before firing a shot. And even if she had shot and hit her, it wouldn't have caused this much damage.
Isabel was the third member of the alien triad. While she could control the molecular structure of objects as well as the other two could, her true gift ran toward 'Dreamwalking'.
On Antar she had been a princess, sister to the king, as she was sister to Max in this land. She was able to slip into people's minds through their dreams and while she was in their subconscious, she could gain information about their true thoughts or feelings.
However, Isabel was out shopping for some furniture at the apartment complex they were currently residing in with their human companions. Liz, Maria and Kyle.
Max and Michael had come back to the desert to tie up some potential loose ends. Liz had felt that there was something left behind, probably in the desert that could affect them.
Liz, Max's wife, had recently developed precognitive abilities. It was believed to be a side effect from when Max saved her life a few years ago from a stray bullet that was fired during an argument at the 'Crashdown Cafe' where she used to work at her family's restaurant. Though Max had worshiped her from afar before that event happened, it was the start of their relationship and the beginning of other humans knowing about their existence.
At one time they had been forced to bury their collection of alien artifacts in the desert. After Liz's premonition, they began to worry that maybe in their rush, something was overlooked, perhaps something that a curious person that might ask a lot of questions could happen to find.
When they come upon the woman in the desert, running her hands over the rock formation that had previously housed the granilith, Michael had impulsively decided to talk to her.
Normally, they would have both just observed and waited it out, but Liz's premonitions had a way of always coming true. Listening to her had saved their lives in the past. Unfortunately, in this situation, she wasn't able to tell how it would affect them. In cases like that, Michael was always happy to ere on the side of negativity.
He knew something was up when she started running when he called out to her. She had to be either FBI or another alien. If she were an alien, she would understand the blast and stop. If she were FBI, she would assume he was firing at her and stop. Either way, they would get answers to their questions.
Only...she didn't stop.
