Page 60 of Twin Warriors
Iron looked up at them, tears dripping from the huge male’s eyes.
Amy went to him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Iron, will you let me try to help her?”
He met her eyes, pulling in a ragged breath. “Help Steel. He needs your help as well. It is what my Ice would want.”
She looked over at the covered form of the warrior, biting her lip. The symbiotes would not be able to heal them both. Not with the extent of both their injuries. They would need to choose one and let the other die.
Grief at the decision they faced burned in Cole’s eyes. He knew Steel well. He was a good male that had worked hard to make a place for himself at the compound. Having been rejected by the Arusian military as too weak to be a warrior, he had come to Mura seeking a place he could fit in. The Arusians had made a huge error in judgement with the male, dismissing him when he was still and weak. He had skills that even he envied. Growing up in the mountains had given Steel the ability to hunt and track like no other. He was a ghost in the trees, having taught him and Cane many of the techniques of hunting in the forests. Now, his life was laid beside the life of Ice.
Cole lowered his head, unable to bear the thought of what was to happen.
“I can save both,” The soft, whispered voice of Kisma rang out in his mind.
Cane, Amy, and Iron mirrored his own frown as they all stared at Emi. She had slipped into the tent unseen and stood watching them with sad, tear-filled eyes.
“You can? How?” Amy asked, rushing over to Emi and gripping the thick black collar around her neck.
The symbiote flowed off the beast, moving through the air until it settled on top of Ice’s chest. It shimmered taking the form of a small female, before it looked up at Iron.
“Accept our spawn, warrior. You are pure of heart, as is your mate.”
“Spawn? As in… your child?”
The small head nodded, “Yes. But we do not breed like you do. We are able to multiply, but what comes from us is not an adolescent. It will need guidance and training to know how to fight with you, but it is no child.”
They all stared at the small black female that hovered inches above Ice’s chest.
“You can save them both?” Iron’s deep, harsh voice asked as another tear fell from his eyes.
The small female reached out a hand, gently touching his cheek. “Yes, warrior. But if you accept, it will be you who saves us. We are the last of our kind. We need strong, good beings to bond with. Ones that will not abuse the power we are capable of… Not like the race that invaded our planet. We need you, just as much as you need us. I can see your heart, Iron. I can see the truth in your soul. You are a fine male, and I am willing to trust you with the fate of our race. Accept us.”
“Kisma?” Amy asked, kneeling on the other side of the bed, “What about you?”
“I will be fine, child. Maku and I will save the warrior. Our spawns will save Ice. They will bond to Iron and Ice, like we did with Emi and Tope.”
“But… I thought you needed five to survive.”
The small female smiled, “No. We needed you. We needed someone that would guide us to a future. The night beasts… The night beasts are tainted. We cannot save them. But you showed us to a new race. A strong, noble race that will protect our kind, as we do them.”
Cole finally understood what the symbiotes wanted. Vivid images flashed through his mind as Kisma showed him what happened to them, what they needed, and how they came to be here.
Kisma and Maku were of a race called the Di’Ki Jar’Su, from the scorched red planet that hung in the skies above Raka. He saw the flashes of what the planet used to look like. Endless green oceans covered most of the planet, with small land masses dotted between the sprawling oceans. The Di’Ki Jar’Su lived in the water, with countless other creatures. They lived in harmony with all the beings on the planet, bonding to various creatures to help them all thrive. Then, hundreds of years ago, a race of beings invaded their planet. He saw the large black ships hovering over the waters as enormous funnels of the vibrant green waters were sucked up into the ships.
He saw the large, reptile-like beings land on the planet after they discovered the symbiotes and what they could do.
Pain tore through his body as more images of the black ooze being melted away by a weapon because they refused to bond to the reptiles.
He could feel the fear and pain pouring from Kisma as he saw what the reptiles did with the power of the symbiotes. The wrath they inflicted on other worlds. The tortured silence their kind suffered.
Kisma and Maku had left their home on a small trade vessel that came to Raka. It landed in the middle of the desert, where they were discovered. They had fled to the sands, almost dying from the dry heat, before they found the cave they would spend the next three hundred years in alone.
Then, one dark night, two tiny creatures came tumbling into their cave. Kisma and Maku knew that if they didn’t bond, they would die soon. They were weak and without a host to thrive in, they would wither away.
They had watched in helpless defeat as their home was sucked dry of all life from the hole leading into their cave. They were the last of their kind. Cole could feel the despair… the loneliness of knowing that their kind had perished at the hands of the reptiles.
The only way their race could survive, was to bond to a new, strong species and begin to spawn more. They wanted to survive. For their kind to survive.
But before they could bond to the new species, the Korok released a vile poison that they hoped would wipe the night beasts out once and for all. What they didn’t count on, was a genetic anomaly in the creatures that, instead of killing them, drove them to a savage and blinding haze of hunger.