Chapter 3

The alien commander and the figure stood a few feet apart.

They stared at each other’s masked faces.

The commander reached up to remove his mask, revealing a smooth face with large black eyes. A large mouth opened with flat, square teeth filling the inside and being hidden by incredibly thin lips. Multiple holes sat between the eyes, acting as nostrils that opened rather wide to suck in air.

“I guess we should get to know each other. I am Commander Jonathan of the Royal Military of Alpha Centauri. And who might you be?” The commander spoke.

The figure only slightly tilted their head as they stared silently.

The figure reached up very slowly and touched the side of their mask.

A thin laser shot out, scanning over Commander Jonathan as he only stood and watched curiously.

After a second, the laser grid shot back into the mask.

“Now…what was that about?” Jonathan spoke, his language being translated into English.

“I am Colonel Yular of the Human Republic of Callisto.” The figure replied, his voice said in English, but translated into Jonathan’s language for him to hear and understand. The voice was deep and gritty, but artificially made clearer and more understandable.

Jonathan looked confused, but smirked.

“I will not let you kill anymore of my family. I will fight you to the death if I must.” Jonathan said.

Yular continued to stare as he wielded the glowing green daggers.

“You will die without much struggle.” Yular replied.

“Maybe, but it will create some time for my people to escape.” Jonathan said back.

Yular shrugged lightly.

“As you wish.” Yular said.

He stepped forward as the floating machine began to fire away with two machine guns.

Yular quickly jumped to the side, becoming a blur as he moved.

He made his way to the wall, jumping up and pushing off with one leg as he managed to dodge hundreds of bullets in a few seconds.

He spun around before slashing through the pod with his daggers, cutting the machine perfectly in half before landing on his feet with ease.

He landed right next to Jonathan, the two standing shoulder to shoulder facing opposite directions.

Both of them turned their heads to stare at each other, Jonathan staring with his bare face at the elaborate mask of Yular.

Jonathan then quickly slashed his sword as he spun around, Yular dodging out of the way at the last second.

Both of his daggers were continuing to glow green as they were blocked by Jonathan’s sword.

The two were face to face with their blades in between. The hatred was apparent in Jonathan’s eyes as he pushed back.

Yular stumbled back into the wall as the two stood again.

Jonathan slashed his sword, but Yular jumped and flipped over his body. He slashed both daggers out as he went over Jonathan, slicing his skin just under the base of his neck.

Jonathan’s blade cut through the wall of the ship as if it was made of paper before he stumbled forward.

Jonathan reached up to feel the blood pouring down his back before turning to look at Yular.

Yular was standing, as if respectfully waiting instead of attacking.

“Good hit.” Jonathan said.

“Thanks.” Yular replied.

Jonathan fully turned and squatted down, lifting the blade up in a fighting stance.

Yular began to wildly slash his daggers out in a flurry of green light.

Jonathan was able to dodge or block every strike with his blade, stepping back before Jonathan punched him right in the face.

Yular spun around when Jonathan slashed diagonally across his back, yet the armor around his body blocked it with ease. Sparks flew out, but no damage was visible.

Jonathan had a second of hesitation as he stared at the armor, but that allowed Yular to backflip and spin in midair, gripping the dagger and going to stab downward.

Jonathan grabbed him by his wrist and flipped him over their body like a judo throw, slamming him onto the floor violently hard.

Both daggers were released as Jonathan kicked them away.

They slid across the floor, creating sparks as the sharp metal scraped along.

Yular suddenly arched up, standing on their feet with their back bent at a sharp angle. Their head was nearly touching the floor when they spun to face down, then twisted to free their wrist while making Jonathan front flip from the force.

Jonathan landed on their feet, quickly slicing their sword after they landed.

Yular bent backwards as the blade ticked the elevated part of his mask, sending sparks flying and landing on the eyeline of the mask.

Yular then grabbed Jonathan by their waist, yet Jonathan slipped out as if they were made of gelatin.

Yular seemed confused as Jonathan slid between his legs and stood up behind him.

Yular spun around just as Jonathan stabbed his sword into his stomach.

Yular stared back with the green line subtly flickering.

The blade pierced through the sharp armor, sticking out the back with blood covering it.

“I am…” Jonathan started.

Yular suddenly shoved Jonathan back and quickly pulled the sword out, spinning it around and stabbing Jonathan in the stomach.

Jonathan’s eyes went wide, but there was something else to them.

It wasn’t just from pain or shock from being stabbed so quickly.

There was fear and panic in their eyes.

“You…you don’t know…what you’ve done.” Jonathan said.

The blade was pulled out of Jonathan and landed on the floor as Yular stared into Jonathan’s eyes.

The language written on the curved blade of platinum suddenly began to glow with white light, the words scorching the air around it.

Yular turned and looked at the blade, looking back at Jonathan.

The white light burned brighter and brighter, blinding both of them and filling the hall with nothing but white light.

They both hid their faces until the light suddenly died down.

Yular stood up, but suddenly began to feel weak and fell to his knees.

“What…what is…happening?” Yular asked, sounding confused and hurt.

“That blade…had an enchantment…attached to it.” Jonathan said as they began to cough blood.

“Enchantment?” Yular asked, turning to look at Jonathan despite hunching forward.

“Our souls…have become interlinked…” Jonathan said as they groaned, feeling more pain than the wound in their body would suggest.

Yular gasped and suddenly clutched at the back of their neck, the same spot that Jonthan was bleeding from.

“What?” Yular asked.

Jonathan coughed hard.

“The blade…whatever blood is shared on that blade…are to be connected forever…the pain I feel, you feel…and the same in reverse.” Jonathan said.

Yular groaned and got to their feet, struggling to walk due to the immense amount of pain.

Yular grabbed Jonathan by their shoulders and forced them to arch forward. Both of them groaned in agony as Yular put his hand over the cut at the base of Jonathan’s neck.

A thin, white smoke started to pour out from the hand and float in the air for a few seconds before disappearing.

The cut was surrounded by crystals of ice before they stretched out and sealed off. Yular groaned as they turned their neck very slowly. The pain was still there, but there was no chance of dying.

Yular then moved his hand down to the wound in Jonathan’s gut, doing the same thing to both sides. Yular could be heard gritting and grinding his teeth through the mask as the wounds were rather quickly closing from the ice.

Yular looked down at his own wound, which began to look less infected as Jonathan’s healed. The blood was stopping and the cut was looking to grow smaller at a slow pace.

“Shit…” Yular whispered softly.

Yular fell forward and turned around to sit shoulder to shoulder with Jonathan. The two were breathing hard and fast while staring forward.

They sat together in shared pain, as if the pain was making them grow closer and closer.

“So…” Jonathan said while still breathing hard and fast.

“Is there a way to get rid of this?” Yular asked.

“The sword must be broken.” Jonathan said.

Yular turned his head to stare at Jonathan.

“That’s it?” Yular asked.

Jonathan slowly turned their head to face him.

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to break that sword?” Jonathan asked.

“I’m gonna guess pretty hard.” Yular replied.

“It was forged from a planet-killing asteroid. It has the energy and power locked inside to slaughter an entire world and its inhabitants. It will never be stopped. The enchantment only strengthens it. It has a power that corrupts.” Jonathan said.

“Corrupts? Then why do you wield it?” Yular asked.

“My people…we are peaceful…we do not wish for violence…we only fight when we must survive and to protect each other…that was why I fought you…but because of our supposed weakness…we are constantly invaded…so we created the strongest weapons in the Universe to protect ourselves…a way to more so scare them off…” Jonathan said, still catching their breath.

“So, you pull a mutual destruction card huh?” Yular asked.

The both of them seemed to chuckle, as if bonding more and more.

“Yeah, guess you could say that.” Jonathan said.

Yular sighed.

“My people…we tried to do that many different times. Tried to create more powerful weapons to try and create peace. How stupid does that sound huh? Weapons that can kill a world and everyone is given them.” Yular said.

“What happened to your people?” Jonathan asked.

“Luckily, we had expanded off of our world and inhabited our entire solar system. Problem was our home world was scorched to a crisp. Now it's a floating and spinning rock of lifeless ash.” Yular said.

Jonathan subtly nodded along, imagining what they were being told.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Jonathan said.

“It was never my home. I only ever heard about it in school. I have no attachment to the world, but I do have the lessons learned in order to not repeat the history of my ancestors.” Yular said.

Jonathan began to observe the strange, multilayered mask over Yular’s head.

“Why do you wear the mask?” Jonathan asked.

“Growing up on Callisto, the atmosphere is not suitable for human life. Hell the planet isn’t really suitable. We have to be put in suits before we’re even born. Injected with chemicals while we’re fetuses that create stronger bodies, only to be forced into suits by surgery. I have never removed any part of this suit in my entire life. But the mask itself, well that’s a longer story.” Yular said.

“One you wish to share now?” Jonathan asked.

The two of them softly laughed.

“It has these multiple layers…plates really. The air is so cold and so poisonous that we require multiple different filters to allow us to breathe. The suits are made of material found on the planet, yet are perfect for keeping our bodies warm. Even floating alone in space I can survive until I starve to death. The mask though gives very little space leftover for our eyes. This thin green line is just a wide and thin line for us to see. We adapt to see out of it, but it does take a long time to get used to. Especially with very little peripheral.” Yular said.

Jonathan looked down at their own mask.

“We simply need this to breathe off of our world. Our atmosphere is thicker than water. We can’t survive anywhere else without suffering from deprivation.” Jonathan said.

“I noticed it when I was in here. Very strong and thick air.” Yular joked.

The two once again laughed.

“Well, now that we are intertwined, we should get going.” Jonathan said.

“Where to?” Yular asked.

“Anywhere.”

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