Chapter 8
Lucius sat in his cell, feeling miserable. Modula was in the same cell with him, while all the soldiers had been split in half in two additional cells across from them. The guards allowed them to talk to each other if they wished, but that was because they knew that the King had no real power, for the first time in his entire life.
"I should never have come here," he muttered helplessly. "We should never have come here. I was so foolish, wanting to explore places that were better left for others."
"Don't blame yourself," Modula insisted. "You didn't know what you were getting into. Edward is to blame. He could have learned a lot about this planet before risking the lives of so many prominent Galalunans!"
"But I wanted to come here," Lucius reminded him. "I took his place when he died when I could have just let it go to anybody else. I've never felt so incompetent. I always tried to look at things too optimistically. I've never been good at seeing danger when it's right before me. You of all people should know that by now."
"That's why I'm here," Modula reassured him. "To show you what you can't see—or perhaps don't want to. Marietta will make a fine queen regent until Ilana comes of age. She has none of your…disillusions." Lucius sighed, feeling ashamed.
"I'm sorry, Modula. I'm so sorry that I let us both to our deaths."
"Perhaps it was inevitable," Modula replied with a sigh.
"Your Majesty, there's nothing wrong with your judgment!" insisted a soldier from another cell. "It's these aliens that wanted to kill us! We came in peace, and our blood will be on their hands if they kill us!" Lucius smiled weakly in gratitude, but did not correct him. This humbling moment, he feared, would cost him at least his life, if not that of the others. And all because he had wanted to keep a dead man's dream alive.
But suddenly, a blast of green energy sent one of the brutish gray guards flying, and a second shot sent the other one crumpling. Lucius and all of the Galalunans could see a frog-like creature holding a blaster, and behind him appeared a wide-mouthed, plant-like creature and a thin limbed blue thing with beady red eyes. The frog-like alien took the keys of the guards, opened the cells, and pointed at the door at the end of the hall they had been detained in, opposite from where he and his two companions had emerged.
"Are these 3 trying to rescue us?" Lucius asked hopefully to Modula as the Galalunan soldiers streamed out of their cells. They didn't have any weapons, but all three of the aliens had some crude-looking ray guns. After the frog and the plant-like creature gently jostled their way to the front of the crowd of anxious soldiers, they ran ahead and opened the door, and the group went out in almost single file down a spiraling set of stairs. The blue alien held up the rear.
Once said blue alien had reached the bottom the group followed the frog through a large room that seemed empty save for its desks and numerous doors, presumably leading to offices. The frog led the group to a side door on the left, and although it first appeared to be a simple office of some sort there was a panel in the wall.
"What's this for? Who made this tunnel?" Lucius asked the frog. But the language barrier proved impossible to surmount. The frog merely glanced at him somberly, perhaps wishing he could explain what his intentions were. But then he gave a faint smile, and Lucius could tell that he was trying to demonstrate that he wanted him to trust him. Lucius nodded, and the frog handed him a blaster as the group went along through a tunnel, lit only by the glowing red eyes of the blue alien in the back, who was constantly glancing backwards to see if he was being followed.
"Do they have an extra blaster?" Modula asked Lucius as the group's pace slowed to a brisk trot.
"I don't know, and I wouldn't ask. What does it matter?" Lucius replied.
"Life and death," Modula snapped. "Why is this so complicated for you to grasp?!"
"Modula, calm down. We're getting out of here," Lucius replied.
"It's nice that you see it that way. Now give me the blaster!" Modula cried.
"No," Lucius rasped. "Don't be so childish about it. They're trying to help us." Modula sighed, slowing his pace to fall back.
"We can't be too sure with these aliens. They're clearly more competent then we are." Lucius didn't turn around as Modula slipped to the back of the group, focusing only on the people in front of him, his rescuers.
But just a few moments later everything went horribly wrong. A shot from a ray gun fired out from behind him without warning, and Lucius glanced back behind him briefly to see a bunch of soldiers running towards him in panic, while a few brave souls went back to see what the problem was. Surrounded by a sea of his countrymen, Lucius was forced to move forward with the group. The tunnels were too narrow for him to get back to see what had happened. But as far as he was concerned, the aliens had caught up to them.
Thankfully, no one appeared from the front, but as Lucius could make out a light at the end of the tunnel coming from some above source, he heard more shots fire out and more screams of agony. Looking behind him, he could just make out a few shapes in the darkness, and his heart jumped when he heard a very familiar groan.
No time to linger on it. Modula is dead. Lucius had difficulty processing this in his mind due to his panicked state.
From the front, the frog alien opened up a hatch in the roof at the end of the tunnel, and he and his other alien friend climbed out, pulling up the first few soldiers behind them. Two by two the Galalunans were lifted out and many more simply piled out themselves. Lucius nearly froze with fear as he saw an energy blast from one of the alien blasters go past him just as he was nearing the end. Looking back, he saw that now there were no other Galalunans behind him; all he could see were some of the aliens that clearly weren't his rescuers; in fact, the dark red one with the tentacles looked a lot like the one he had seen at his capture.
Xeexi. That one's name is Xeexi. The one who did the mind probing. I can't let it learn anything about Galaluna!
Lucius leaped out of the hole, supported by both of the aliens, who sealed the exit with a circular metal slab that several Galalunans had to help them heave into place.
"Where are we?" Modula began. Looking around him, he could see that they were outside of the walls of that city, behind him, unable to ignore how impossibly high they were. No wonder their rescuers had gone under the walls rather than over them. From what he had seen of the planet, Lucius could only assume that the walls had been built to block out the giant monsters.
And there, Lucius thought in shock as he turn his head to look forward again, was the robed alien from before! On top of a giant rock monster! But what was he doing here? Had Modula been right not to trust these aliens? But if they had planned on having them re-captured, then why did they try and let them out in the first place?
At the wordless urging of the frog and the plant, the Galalunans climbed aboard the rock monster as the robed alien forced it to lower its body so they could cling to its back and shoulders. Several troops clung to its four arms, some even going so far as to wedge themselves in the monster's hands. Lucius didn't understand why they were so willing to trust these people, but perhaps it was just because they were desperate to get home.
Once all the Galalunans besides him had gotten aboard, the frog pointed to the robed alien, who leaped off of the monster and landed in front of Lucius. The King realized that this one was different from the one he had seen at his capture; perhaps these two were different individuals of the same species.
The eyes of the robed alien flashed green suddenly, and Lucius suddenly could see nothing but a white void. Had the alien blinded him somehow? Seconds passed, and Lucius realized that he couldn't speak or move, and there was nothing to hear. It was as if he was somehow forced to sleep while remaining conscious and aware at the same time. How was this happening, and why?
But then he heard a voice speak in a strange accent not found anywhere on Galaluna:
"We deeply regret the loss of your friends. We wish only to send you and the others that are still alive to your home, to prevent you from being exploited by our leaders.
Who are you? Lucius wanted to ask, but couldn't. And what do you aliens—or your masters—want with us?
"My name is Munqadi," the voice replied. "I am the 'robed alien'. The creature you call a frog is Bufonidus, and the one you call a plant is Ctesiphonis. And our leaders—they are not our masters—and their intentions cannot be explained here. It is best that you do not know at all, in fact."
You mentioned my friends. How do you know about Modula?
"I simply read your mind—but to learn from you and your language, not to extract information out of you. There were memories and intimate secrets that I dared not touch. I respected your privacy as best as I could, but I had to learn what was so significant about the one you call Modula. I must inform that although we Cosovians—but perhaps you would be more comfortable with the term 'Mutradi'-look strange to you, many of us are capable of feeling the same things you feel. Let us take you home so that you can feel free while we remained enslaved."
And then the experience ended, and Lucius found himself being forced along to the top of the rock monster with the robed alien, while Bufonidus and Ctesiphonis climbed on the shoulders. Just as the rock monster slowly stood up with so much precious cargo on it, the slab sealing the tunnels was open.
The rock monster turned to face the ever-increasing swarm of attackers, and Lucius gasped in surprise when he felt the skin feel warmer as it glowed, utterly speechless when the creature fired a blast of blue-green energy at the group of Mutradi. Those that survived scrambled back into the tunnels, perhaps to seek reinforcements. Taking the opportunity, the rock monster turned back around and ran across the wilderness of the planet. Minutes passed in silence, with the Galalunans taking in the scenery of the alien world, mostly empty save for the occasional giants that roamed around in places that Lucius knew his people could never inhabit.
"How does he know where to go?" Lucius asked Munqadi.
"I told him the way through your memories," the Mutradi replied with a gruff, heavily-accented Galalunan equivalent of English. He then added, "If only there was a way we could have warned Edward of what lay in store for his people on this planet."
"And if only I had been more cautious and stayed behind," Lucius added. "I suppose you already knew about that, though." The fact that he was talking to a strange creature that had claimed and proven to have looked through his memories wasn't as bizarre as he would have assumed.
"I did not know you felt about your capture," Munqadi replied, indicating that he had been truthful when he said that he hadn't accessed his insecurities. "But take heart. It seems that making foolish mistakes is a universal constant."
"But mine almost got me and so many others killed!" Lucius cried, the realization of Modula's death finally hitting home. "So many of my people are dead, and it's all because I wanted to continue Edward's dream. I should have just let his desire to go to Mutrad die with him. And your lives are at risk, too!"
"Indeed," Bufonidus agreed, as if to assure the King of his guilt. Lucius had seen Muqadi perform a similar technique on him and Ctesiphonis during the ride, so it was no surprise for him to be able to understand him. "But it was all as foretold. The prophecies of the Achillacasus were correct after all. But there is still hope that we can prevent the things that should supposedly befall us all from happening in the future. And to blame you for everything would be unfair."
"What's the Achillacasus? What do you mean by 'everything?'" Lucius asked.
"It is best that you never know," Ctesiphonis replied. "We are approaching your ship. Can you pilot it out?"
"Yes, I think we can," Lucius confirmed, still curious about the things that he was supposedly not allowed to know.
Soon the ship came into view, and the rock monster lowered itself to let everyone off, save for the Mutradi. While most of the soldiers eagerly piled into the ship, a few turned back to wave goodbye and thank their rescuers.
"Where will you go now?" Lucius asked. "Your city will be after you, and this planet is extremely dangerous. Please, come with us! You can tell me everything once you're safe, and I promise to help you overthrow your leaders in any way I can!"
"It is our battle to fight, not yours," Bufonidus insisted. "We must try and restore our home to the way it was long ago, before it became the place you see before you. To do that we must return to Yersirin, the city from which you've just escaped. If things are ever made safe, we will contact you again. But for now you must go in peace and understanding, and for your own sakes do not return."
Lucius was dragged into the ship by his fellow Galalunans, emotionally scarred from his brief visit to Mutrad.
AN: I apologize for not having updated this sooner. Thou Art Mortal, my Hunger Games SYOT, was much easier to write for than this.
But the latter is coming to a close, and when it finishes the first thing I'll be working on is this. That much I can guarantee.
I know some people were suggesting to make these shorter, like the regular episodes from before. As much as I would like to do that, and as fitting as it would be to do so, I don't know if I can. My stories are longer and the plots more complex because, in my opinion, I'm getting better as a writer. Battleship Mutrad and everything before that was written years ago, and while the plots there are pretty good, I think I've gotten better with other things. Those plots were all rather simple; something happened, and the crisis was solved. Perfect for the show, definitely, but now I want things to get deeper.
This means, I believe, that the episodes will have to be longer, roughly several chapters, like mini-stories. I apologize for this and no it must be irritating because I know you wanted shorter episodes, but this will just have to do.
I admit that I'm not as interested as continuing this series as I once was, but I cannot leave a story unfinished. The galactic trio WILL return home to Galaluna unless I have meet a tragic, literal death, in which case I will try to have someone posthumously inform you of this. I don't want to just leave and make you think that I've given up or got bored.
I have other projects and stories as well that I want to write, and I might be writing those around the same time. But rest assured that this will get done first.
After this episode, the next one might be released pretty quickly. See, it's already been written, but it was written before this one. I'd have to retcon a few things, although not much since it doesn't involve Mutrad at all. In fact, there are no monsters in it, and I know that some people would prefer those sorts of episodes to break from the formula. I promise there will be some of those, but due to the nature of the show I kind of HAVE to have some Mutradi with cool designs.
If anyone has ideas for that, BTW, I'd love to hear them :D
Just wanted to let you all know what's been going on. Also, there wont' be a "spooky" update for Halloween. Maybe I can give SBT a Halloween special next year, though.