The End

The Awakening

"As I said, I'm Reijzest from Planet Aeryn." He took a breath and paused, and my patience diminished even more.

I itched to shoot him in his arm, growing tired of him pulling my leg, but when he continued, I was wrong to think it was a scam.

"The planet your former colleagues blew up two years ago."

"What?" It was an automatic response. An actual response was scrambled in my head. I desperately tried to piece together the right words. "How are you alive then?"

"I casted a force field around the planet, but the explosion was too much for some parts of it and only a few, lucky beings survived."

"But how did you know that it was coming?" Byron inquired.

For a while, I forgot that he was here. My resentment towards him at the moment, erased him completely.

Reijzest expression was distant, "we had been studying and keeping tabs on your planet through our advanced technology. Learning your dialect, behaviour and so on. However, a certain conversation that day brought our attention to a specific area."

"At A.P.S.A." I frowned.

The alien focused his attention on me, "Indeed. My people and I were in shock that they were going to do something so vile. Something so perfidious to innocent lives."

It was heartbreaking, but I was still happy to hear that some of them survived.

"I can just imagine the panic and fear that erupted when you saw that beam coming towards you."

His gaze was serious, "I can show you just how scared my people were."

Byron spoke up again, "How are you going to do that?" His tone was unimpressed.

Reijzest matched his tone, "it's quite simple actually. Time travel."

Those words should have surprised me. I should have looked at him like a madman and sent him on his way.

But after he morphed through a locked door, and then appeared in front of me, I decided to not deny the possibilities of what is usually considered impossible.

So I stood up, and spoke with sheer confidence, "show me."

Byron got up as well. "Are you seriously going?! I don't think it's a good idea. It may not be safe." He hands clutched my shoulders.

My anger towards him grew, annoyed with his hypocritical behaviour right now. "You're the one who said 'hear him out Zeke'. You're the one that told me to listen and everything will be explained eventually. I'm caught between, if your a bulldog or a chihuahua, bitch."

He was hurt by my words and it gave me a sick satisfaction. Byron masked his hurt with anger and stepped away from me, "fine go with him, see if I care."

He bumped his shoulder into mine upon passing and I stumbled backwards.

The sound of the back door slamming startled me but I kept my composure.

I was angry, but I didn't want to stay mad at him or him at me. He was my only friend and I loved him, but maybe it's best if we separated and calmed down.

"Let's go." I avoided Reijzest's piercing gaze.

"Are you sure? You need a clear mind."

I closed my eyes and took deep breaths, "I'm sure."

He silently nodded and stepped closer. I felt his hand interlocking with mine and I pushed him off, unsure of what was happening.

"Relax, you need to hold my hand so I don't lose you between time. I know our destination, but you don't. If your mind isn't clear, you could think of somewhere different than me, and it will create two different time tunnels, eventually splitting us apart."

I blushed embarrassed, "oh."

Stupid, why would I think he's trying to make an advance on me?!

Wait, he's probably reading my mind right now.

That's why you should clear your head!

I looked up to see a small smile on his face, "ready now?"

No. "Yes, I am."

"Alright, close your eyes."

I was reluctant at first but I pushed all the warning lights aside and held on to his hand.

A chill passed through my body when a sudden gush of wind blew past me and a loud whirring noise surrounded the room.

I wanted to open my eyes, but there was this invisible force preventing me from doing so.

So I came to the conclusion that the thing beside me was a portal.

The whirring amplified and my body felt like it was being pulled towards it. We started in a slow spin but the closer we went to it, the faster we spun.

My stomach and brain felt like it was spinning separately from my body but a soft voice spoke in my ear and a relaxing chill went through my body, calming me down.

"Relax Zeke, I'm right here." He pulled my body against his and my body responded willingly, completely ignoring the sirens my mind was blaring.

It was ironic how clear I could see the bright, spinning lights despite my eyes being closed.

The whirring and rotating got faster and faster until everything came to a complete stop.

All I could hear now was my pounding heart.

"Can I-I ope-en my eyes n-now?"

His hand snaked up my arm and caressed my neck, "yes."

My eyes met with his and I took notice of the bit of blue in the green of his eyes.

He leaned in but I finally got control of my body and stepped back. "What are you doing?"

He dropped his hands to his side, "I was just examining if you had suffered any damage to your molecular structure upon coming through the portal."

Upon my what?

"Yes, my 'molecular structure' isn't suffering any damage."

He inclined his head, as a sign of a simple nod, "come then."

He strode ahead and I scrambled behind, just taking notice of my surroundings.

The only source of light, was the large moon that created a shadow on one part of the planet, and the stars that still seemed so far away even though I was now out of the regular world.

Houses of various sizes and colours were on both sides of the silver pathway we were walking on.

Silver dust kicked up as we walked and beings of different shades of blue and green interacted around us.

I wondered if they could see us, because of how real they all looked. That is until two small blue boys ran through me and the hologram shifted before going whole again.

Byron would have freaked if he saw this.

The dust at my feet was now gold and I looked down to see that the colour of the path had changed.

"This is where my family, most of my people and I, resided with some of the attendants."

I gazed up at the gold and blue castle as Reijzest ascended the white marble steps. The gold, and lights present on it, threatening to surpass the brightness of the moon itself.

"Desist the dawdling and kindly follow me." His voice travelled from above me, where he was waiting at the door.

"I'm sorry." I climbed the stairs as fast as I could, but careful enough to prevent humiliating myself.

He took me inside and the interior astounded me more than the outside. "Damn, this must be for the king."

Reijzest guided me down a series of hallways and into a dark room filled with holographic screens and panels.

"Well, darling..." he drawled as he closed the door.

Different persons worked around the room, but the tall figure sitting in the middle of the room, with his back to me, overpowered the presence of the others.

"Switch all screens to panel ep421." The figure commanded.

"Yes, King Reijzest," the workers said.

My eyes snapped to him, surprised with new information.

He held my gaze with his, "I am the King."

Screams and frantic shouts then erupted around the room.

"Fire!" I looked at one of the monitors and saw my former employer giving the order to my former colleagues.

The past Reijzest got up from his seat and shouted orders to his people. "Send out a warning! Get as many people as possible to the escape ships!"

"My King, it is too late for that! The beam has already been fired, there's no escaping!"

My eyes went back to the monitors and I saw the big beam getting closer.

I grabbed on to Reijzest's arm, "I don't think I want to see this anymore!"

The aliens passed through us as they tried to escape through the door. When past Reijzest exited, present Reijzest held my hand and followed behind.

Most of them gathered in the centre of the castle and Reijzest held out his arms and a yellow force field surrounded us.

"Brace yourselves!"

"We have to leave now." Present Reijzest hugged my face in his chest and the whirring from earlier came back.

When he released me, I saw that we returned to my house. "I'm so sorry."

He lifted his hand to stroke the back of my neck. "Why are you crying? You shouldn't be the one apologizing either."

I wasn't aware that I was, but my tears automatically fell upon witnessing the death of innocent people.

"I should have thrown that coffee on his stupid machine earlier. I-I should've-" I hiccuped.

Reijzest pulled me to sit on the couch, "save your tears for more important matters, human. Through simple procreation with the females we find, we can easily rebuild a nation."

I gaped at him, shocked at what he said.

He cleared his throat and straightened his posture, "now with that said, let's talk about the real reason I'm here."