VERMILLION: The fall of Zaleon

Chapter 2

    ‘We’re so glad you accepted our offer. We figured that now that we’ve made peace with each other this would be a good way of keeping that peace going. Please, come in, we’ll show you around the place’ offered Elize, Stregov smiling by her side whilst the rest remained silent. Liem, as per usual, had remained smirking in the corner, disappearing into his own space the minute they entered, and the rest reluctantly moved forward. Amana looked as unbothered as she could, and it seemed evident that she had been forced into this against her will. Dregov had been neutral, though it seemed he too, was quite passive about the entire situation. Daraz, had spent his time watching Amana, and trying to be as close to her as possible, thus not being as discreet about his crush as he may have thought. All of them remained, however, as they walked around rooms and rooms of absolute rubbish until they arrived at the familiar lounge where lay the grand TV that the couple had to familiarise themselves with. ‘This is a television, you’ll find one in your chambers as well, it plays films and all sorts of things. Whatever you see, it’s fake, it’s all actors pretending, but it’s great entertainment, so feel free to use it as you please. Also, I got you guys some phones’ announced Elize, and to the pair, the words were as foregin as foreign could get. What were phones? The Witch handed them funny looking devices that they had seen at some point during their time on the human planet, though they had yet to make a proper understanding of it. ‘It’s a device used to communicate with people. All of our numbers are already there, if you ever need one of us, you can call us or write us a message. You can even talk to each other when you are away from one another. Very handy tool, if you need any help with it, just ask one of  us to help you’ she stated in a most patronizing way. The pair only nodded, being vaguely familiar with the concepts, though took it in all at once, before after what seemed a million years of passing by rooms and rooms, kitchens and lounges, they finally arrived at their own chambers. ‘This will be your chambers, you have a bathroom inside, and there’s a small kitchen right down the hall that you can use if you get hungry, but we always have the robots make our food anyways. If you need any supplies at all, the basement has an unlimited supply of anything you want. Though like I said, if you need anything at all, just find one of us. Hopefully you’ll make yourself at home really quick, after all, we’ve been waiting for your arrival’ stated Elize, a grand smirk slapped onto her face as she watched the overwhelmed pair try to take in their new reality.

    ‘Thank you Elize, you have been most helpful’ responded Eliana, bidding them goodbye before proceeding inside her room with Razaar and their things. As soon as the door closed, the pair glanced at each other, knowing they had a million things to say to each other.

    What were these odd devices they were so affiliated with? Why did no one else say a thing? How did they have an unlimited supply of things? What secrets were hidden within the walls of the mansion? But mostly: how did the devices work? So many questions yet no one spoke, they merely glanced at each other with a knowing glance, and proceeded to unpack their things before deciding to give technology a go. 

    ‘Alright, let’s figure out how this works, shall we?’ Attempted Eliana, picking up the device in her hand. Clicking the button to the side, the screen lit up, and she observed it with shock, as she fiddled with trying to get the phone to do something. As she accidentally swiped up, the screen unlocked, and she realised immediately that that was the right action to open the phone. Then, she proceeded to read everything on the phone one by one, and nothing seemed to capture her eyes, but the glowing words “My contacts” once she clicked on it, only a handful of names popped up, one of them being her mate’s. Clicking on his name, she realised she was then presented with several options: Call, Facetime, Message, which one should she choose? Deciding to try them all, she clicked on the first button that read: Call, and waited for something to happen. Immediately, Razaar’s phone began ringing, and he looked at the device with horror, contemplating what source of magic had caused it to happen. On his own device, he read two options: a green button and a red button. Taking his chances, he clicked on the green button, and it was as if the two had turned into human toddlers who were figuring their way into technology. Hearing each other on the other line had made them freak out beyond belief, and soon they hung up, deciding to try the next feature: Facetime. Clicking on it, the same icon appeared on Razaar’s phone, and he once again clicked the green button, quickly realising that red meant reject. His face popped up on the phone, and so did Eliana’s, and from each other’s phone’s they could see each other, which they found to be most odd as they once again hung up, and with more excitement in their bones, decided to try out the final feature: Message. Clicking on it, another screen appeared, with a keyboard and a black screen, and the Hybrid leader found herself confused at what to do. 

    ‘They’re letters, maybe you can make words out of them’ suggested Razaar, grabbing his mate's phone and trying to spell anything at all. To his surprise, the trick had worked, and soon he had spelled out “Hello” though as he looked at his phone, he had not received it. ‘Why aren’t I receiving it?’ he questioned, retyping the word again. His fingers accidentally clicked the blue arrow in the corner, and soon the message had been sent, and delivered onto his phone. A moment of realisation struck them, and soon they had figured out how to roughly navigate through some stuff on the device. 

    ‘This is magical, how did humans even think of creating these things? They don’t even have magic on their planet, I wonder what sorcery this is made of!’ Speculated Eliana with amazement. 

    ‘What about the other device? I wonder what this does’ he pondered, walking up towards the television, and grasping the remote into his hands. Upon clicking any random button, the tv screen lit up, and several options popped up in front of his face: Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Browser, TV. The man had no idea of course, what any of these meant, and he soon clicked on the first option, not knowing what to expect from it. Upon clicking random things the Alpha had ended up playing a film that had scared the pair to the core when a film started playing. Without realising it, the pair had gotten engrossed in the movie and hours later, when the film terminated, found themselves sitting in shock at what they had just seen. 

    ‘Is this real? This can’t be real can it?’ Asked Eliana, worried that all the events in the scene had, in fact, been true. 

    ‘Remember what Elize said, it’s not real. It’s actors pretending. Who does that though? Do you think this happens a lot on the human planet? Humans pretend to do things and others view it and believe it?’ Posed Razaar, and the immortal couple of Zaleon realised just how much they had to learn about the human world to adapt into this sector of their own planet. As they took notice of the time outside, they realised that they had spent way too much time in their room’s spending their energy on useless things when they were supposed to have been investigating the Vermillion and their traits. This was, after all, still a war that they had to win. 

    The rest of the Vermillions had all dispersed into their own lives, carrying on with their plots and plans, and none had any idea what each other were doing.

    Liem had buried himself in his room of fire, torturing himself as he did most days, Daraz had been in his room, daydreaming about his life with Amana, Stregov and Elize had been in their room, mating like there was no tomorrow, and Dregov had been in Amana’s room, thinking of the several ways they could join the rest of the planet in the war without making it obvious to their people that they were abandoning the team.

    ‘If we just talk to them-’

    ‘And say what? Hey we hate everyone here, please take us in? Dregov, we need a better plan, they won’t believe us that easily, they’re going to want proof’ mentioned Amana, keeping her voice down as much as she could. 

    ‘So how do you ever expect to join them? We’re going to have to prove it to them somehow that we don’t care about anyone here, how do we do that?’ He asked, and waited for his smart sister to think of something. 

    ‘We’re going to have to catch them red handed doing something they shouldn’t be and help them, that’s the only way they’ll know we aren’t lying, because why else would we help them with the destruction of the Vermillion?’ She mentioned, and it confused him slightly what she had in mind. 

    ‘What if we can’t catch them doing anything?’ He asked, having thought that surely his sister would have come up with something better. 

    ‘We will figure out a way. For now there’s not much we can do because there’s not much happening. It’s only the first night. How about we drop this now and revisit when we have something to say. Come on, let’s go eat’ she responded, grabbing onto her brother before heading outside, towards the dining room, where they all sat, and waited for the pair to arrive so they could all eat together.

    Soon enough, the immortal couple of Zaleon emerged from the darkness, and took their seats on the table to commence one of many awkward conversations to come. 

    ‘So you got married eh? Congratulations! We are so happy for you’ brought up Stregov, only putting a fake smile on everyone’s faces as the robots arrived with the food.

    ‘Thank you’ the Alpha responded briefly. ‘So, how long have you and Elize been...together?’ He then raised, aware that the question may have been more awkward to the rest of the crowd than particularly to the two leaders of the gang. Stregov laughed, grabbing onto Elize’s hand as she then proceeded to answer.

    ‘We’ve been together since we were very young.  We got together after years of friendship and have been together since. What about yourself and Eliana?’ She asked in return, ensuring that the rest remained silent as they ate their food. 

    ‘Not too long, just about when this whole thing started really’ he stated being vague and leaving out the gory details of their relationship. As they ate, they tried to figure out how they were supposed to spend months or maybe even years in this cell trying to kill off these members one by one by earning their trust when they could not even have a proper meal together without the awkward pauses and dishonest comments. They had little to talk about and when they did they only lied and lied. No one was willing to be honest or genuine, and that was the sad reality of the Vermillion. They were too vindictive and spiteful, their hate against the flame was enough to punish all those who had done nothing to them, and the rest of the planet were not willing to pay the price. 

    The one thing that had become evident was that Stregov and Elize were one for public display of affection. The way they sucked each other’s faces in public and came across in general in front of the pair had made them rather uncomfortable at certain points, though the pair knew there was nothing else they could do but adapt like the rest had, who only overlooked by looking away and carrying on with their own tasks. 

    That night the pair were invited to watch yet another film with the rest of the Vermillion in the lounge, where the Vermillion had sat together, and gotten just a little too comfortable in front of everyone else. The rest had just sighed and one by one, disappeared out of sight, forcing the immortal couple to do the same to leave the s****l couple to themselves to mate openly in the public space. 

    Once they returned to their rooms, they had a chance to finally talk about things. Though before they could, a thorough check had to be done around the entire room to ensure that Liem had not been hiding in the room, disguised as anything at all. The pair focused on the particles around the room, and noticed a general aura of tranquility. Only when they were certain that he wasn’t there, they began talking in their lowest voices possible.

    ‘Why are they like this? Razaar, how are you supposed to get anything out of them when we’re all just clearly lying?’ Asked the Hybrid leader, and only got silence from Razaar, who had been traumatised by the events of the day. 

    ‘They’re awful, no wonder the flame doesn’t have a Galon here or gives them mates. But despite that, we made a promise to our people, we can’t forget that, so if we have to get closer to them by acting like them or tolerating their disgusting behaviour, then so be it. A small price to pay to save the planet. We still have no idea what their weaknesses are, we need to find out. The one thing I can tell you is this: pushed to their limits, neither Elize nor Stregov will die for each other, they are not each other’s weaknesses in the long term. However, we could use it as a starting point to getting them to their location of execution. That is if we take them out together’ he stated, and Eliana had another thought. 

    ‘No, Stregov and Elize need to be taken out at the very end. They are the weakest link, if we take them out first we need to deal with the tougher ones. We need to start by taking out Daraz, and work our way up from there. Elize doesn’t care about her brother the way other people do, she only cares about herself, that’s the sad reality. So let’s use that to our advantage, and take out Daraz. Then we can move on to Dregov, and work our way up from there. We need to be strategic about this’ responded Eliana, and Razaar nodded, understanding her point. 

    ‘Alright. Let’s just go to sleep for now’ brought up the Alpha, and the Hybrid leader nodded, crashing on the soft mattress after the longest day of her life. 

    As they all slept, Liem had stayed awake, and had quickly stumbled into the chambers of the pair, disguised as the door first, then the table in front of the bed. When he finally gave up his act, he had sat on the small window sofa, merely glancing at the perfect woman in front of him. Eliana Genova was a woman very much to his liking, perfect in any and every way, and it was only a shame that she was mated. Though in his world mating meant nothing, as the flame had never bothered granting them mates of such sorts. Perhaps he could get away with being with her, if he was careful enough. Would she buy into his act? Most probably not, but there was something about this particular Hybrid leader that had turned the creep of the group into an even bigger creep. A smirk lay on his face as he merely sat and watched the woman sleep, knowing that in no time he would be making his way out, and resuming his normal activities, and Eliana would fall into the routine of being away from him and closer to her actual mate. 

    His thoughts had considered all the ways in which he could eliminate Razaar Solonov out of her life, though he could agree with none of the methods. It didn’t help that the flame had taken such a liking in the pair, which only made it harder for the manic Liem to figure out how to be the man sleeping next to the gorgeous woman. Daylight was fast approaching, and the deranged man took it as his sign to return to his chambers, where he undressed, and fell onto his bed, his thoughts lingering on the perfect woman for just a while before he got his daily intake of a 2 hour sleep. How the man was alive with the schedule he had was a mystery, for even the creatures of Zaleon needed sleep, just like humans did, but then again Liem was truly one of a kind, physically and psychologically, and it would not be easy to change the psychopath and turn him into a normal being. As crazy as Elize and Stregov had seemed, none of the others compared to the real psycho that lived within the Vermoca, and somehow everyone around the man had managed to gather that much, but they were still unphased by it. 

    The next morning the immortal pair had woken up with an even lesser motivation to complete their mission, though it did not matter that they were mentally and physically exhausted, tough times lay ahead, and they needed to keep pushing till the finish line. Joining the rest at breakfast, the rigid tension remained in the air as they all exchanged fake smiles at each other, and Eliana and Razaar helped themselves to the luxuries they could once not afford. Once the most agonising breakfast had been completed, they returned to their chambers to set up a plan for th day, and before talking, decided that it was necessary to complete their particle check for any sign of Liem. 

    ‘Alright, so we already know something about Elize and Stregov. Elize is a control freak, she doesn’t think she could ever be wrong. Hates Aman, probably because Amana is smart and she is not. Very fake, very dumb. Stregov is perhaps the dumbest, horny, arrogant, very dominating but very submissive in front of Elize. The pair of them think they are in the lead but in reality they are not. Am I missing anything, do we need to look into them any further? I mean their weak spot is merely that they’re absolute knobheads!’ Exclaimed Eliana, having already decided that these two were perhaps the most foolish people she had ever met on their planet, and she had come across her fair share of idiotic, stubborn people. 

    ‘No you’re right, there isn’t much to them. Perhaps it’s best if we move onto someone else, like Daraz. He seems to be infatuated with Amana, but just how much. We need to find out. Let’s organise an outdoor activity with them, maybe that way we can catch onto some things. And while we’re at it, we can send a note back to Paulina on our progress and the update on Stregov and Elize. She might have something to say about it’ suggested the Alpha, and the woman nodded, grabbing onto a piece of parchment and quickly scribbling a note to a woman they considered to be their own commander. 

    ‘Alright, done, what to do we tell them? How do we get them together? I don’t even know where each of them could be’ she then considered, finding herself at a loss with their plans. It suddenly occurred to Razaar that they had something in their possession that would be perfect for the job.

    ‘The device, what was it called? A phone! That, we use that, and get them together’ he recommended, and she nodded eagerly, watching him grab his phone from the table and attempt to ring Stregov. 

    ‘Razaar, it’s good to see you’re getting the hang of this’ began the Doirekh on the other line, sounding as cheery as ever. 

    ‘Yeah, I figured I better start practicing now’ began Razaar, absolutely uncomfortable with their most horrible small talk. ‘I was wondering, would all of you be interested in going around your territory for a walk, could you show us your grounds a bit?’ Asked the man, and they waited impatiently for the man’s response. Despite not being near him, they could hear the confusion in his pause, and for sure his eyes were confirming with Elize that she agreed with the plan. Soon his voice responded.

    ‘That sounds great! We’ll get everyone together in the lounge in 5 minutes’