Chapter 14
I stood near the crater that Rallen had left me by, but made sure not to stay near the cruiser. I didn't want to raise suspicion of my allegiances to Krux if he did happen to show up. And sure enough, he did show up, him appearing out of thin air from above the entire crater, me gawking at his presence, me already sensing that his power was far stronger than mine in physical strength.
"Monster from eons past... awaken from your selfish slumber... and terrorize the world once more! HYA HA HAA!" Krux laughed as he attempted to drop a ball of pure dark energy down, but I spoke up before he could let go of it.
"Master Krux?" I asked him, getting his attention from my standpoint, Krux letting his powers down as he looked at me with his mask on him.
"Ah, Maja. What are you doing on this planet?" Krux asked as he floated over to my location at the edge of the cliff.
"Well, I simply stowed away on those stupid Nanairo duo's ship. They're here too, just an FYI," I said, Krux curling his hand into a fist at that.
"And I see that you also have the redhead's Prizmod on your person. This can be used to our advantage. Now, watch as I bring forth a monster that will terrorize this planet," Krux said with seriousness as I then asked a serious question to him.
"What was your life like in the past, Master?" I asked him, Krux stopping in place and turning around, him looking at me with unflinching movements, almost as if he were trying to stare me down.
"My life in the past? Why would you ask such a ludicrous question, Maja?" Krux asked with a snarl.
"Well, I've come across glowing fossils while going to the different planets and they showed you back in the past... but you were nothing like you were today," I said to him.
"Peh, I didn't expect you to be able to see those stored memories, let alone of me when I was a disgusting human," Krux said, me looking at him with seriousness.
"You are still a human, Master. You may not act like one anymore, but you were once a caring man that had actual friends. And you still are, despite you having more Krawl characteristics," I said to him, hoping he may show a shred of dignity or kindness. No dice. What did he do? Something that I didn't expect.
Krux warped directly in front of me and grabbed me by the throat! I gasped as I suddenly felt my air leave my body and I felt like I was getting my power drained from my body! But then I remembered my fire arm! I forced it into Krux's side and he dropped me as I left a giant burn mark directly on his side, Krux hissing from it as I gasped back to life and I immediately fled by means of flying, Krux trying to send some attacks at me, but me dodging them while hitting him a few more times with fireballs. I then fled into the desert nearby, me hearing and seeing a giant structure rise from the ground in the process, me knowing that hit had to be Rallen and Jeena.
I caught my breath and waited outside of the door at the base of the giant structure and Rallen and Jeena emerged along with a new face I hadn't seen before. "Maja? What happened?" Rallen asked. I simply walked over to him and slapped him across the cheek with tears in my eyes.
"I almost died by Krux's hands, that's what goddamn happened!" I exclaimed at him as I then hugged him, Rallen a bit confused by my actions while the new face looked at me with intrigue.
"What are you? You look human, but your skin color and robes scream gothic extraterrestrial," the man said. I simply sniffled and sighed at him.
"Maja... High Krawl... almost died by my creator," I sighed at him.
"A Krawl? You mean those monsters that eat planets?" he asked.
"Focus, Neal. Where are the next set of ruins?" Jeena asked him.
"Oh, well the book said to search by a giant cactus with red flowers," the man named Neal said.
"Okay... l-let's go..." I sighed as I sniffed in again and wiped my tears, our group moving to the area in question and Rallen petting me on my shoulder as we went, which felt nice in all honesty.
"I'm sorry, Maja... I shouldn't have asked you to face Krux..." Rallen sighed at me.
"It's fine... I just... when you almost die, it makes you realize just how fragile life is," I admitted as I looked at my hands with a sigh. Even without Gelberus's powers, they were as purple as the rest of my body. But I didn't really feel the color I naturally was. I felt like I was blue... I was a bit taken aback at how I almost died because of Krux's powers.
When we finally found the red-flowered cactus, Jeena's Paga searched the ground and found the elevator down to the ruins. "Let's go... you okay, Maja?" Jeena asked.
"I'm coming with you... no more going alone... I want to stay with you and never be away from you... Krux would try to kill me if I got alone again, I'm sure of it..." I gulped with honesty as I followed them down the elevator.
"You really are scared of Krux now... Maja..." Rallen said, me hugging him again as we went down the elevator.
"Thanks Rallen... I'm just... I really am scared..." I said as I sniffed again.
"We need to keep moving. If Krux didn't retreat, he may make that Krawl wake up again," Jeena said.
"Yeah... agreed," I said, trying to smile, but my eyes still watering.