Selena
We traveled in silence down the rocky hallway. Now that I was paying attention to my surroundings, it was clear that the base had been carved from stone. No matter where I went, there were no windows, and the walls were made of rock adorned with a metallic casing around wires and scanners. If Tori and her clan hadn’t told me we were in an asteroid, I would’ve thought the base had been built underground, judging by the oppressive silence.
We only passed a few inhabitants in the hallway, all onyx-colored Swynemi. I wondered if the infirmary was a restricted section or if there were simply few patients.
Celyze passed us and flew to a door down the hall. A few keystrokes and a hand scan later, the entrance slid open. He stood in the doorway, watching us approach with an expression more stoic than I had seen from him before.
“We are here,” Zyxel announced, gently placing me on the ground.
“He’s in there?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder. “Why is it sodark?”
“So we can keep track of how intensely his tattoos glow,” Celyze replied. “The Verya’s tattoos demonstrate their power. His tattoos are starting to lose their glow. Once they extinguish completely, he will become a dull.”
“A dull?”
“Someone whose species possesses psychic abilities but was born without or somehow lost the ability to tap into those powers.” Celyze frowned. “It would be very unfortunate if he became a dull after everything he’s done.”
“Then let me get this over with,” I said, pushing past the sapphire male.
Entering the secure room, I was surprised to find the setup similar to the room I had woken in the second time. Just like in my private infirmary, a large bed stood in one corner, though no one but a male lying on the medical bed occupied the room.
“What’s that bed for if no one else is staying here?”
“It’s for long term stays,” Zyxel replied, slithering beside me. “Mainly used by the mates and children of the guest in the infirmary.”
“Mates and children?” I asked, turning to the crimson Ezzaska in confusion. “Then why were you using the bed in my room?”
When he didn’t reply, I rolled my eyes and sighed. How ironic that he was wondering why I avoided him when he sure didn’t know how to make me feel welcome—or explain himself, for that matter.
Approaching the medical bed, I studied the male I was supposed to somehow heal. Lying beside him were nine daggers, each with an emerald embedded in the hilt. There was a faint light flickered inside each, in rhythm with the emerald tattoos on his body and even the emerald streaks in his hair.
“What are those?” I reached for one of the blades. “Why does he have weapons next to him while he sleeps?”
“Whatever you do, don’t touch these,” Celyze hissed as he grabbed my wrist, yanking me away. “They are a part of him. We don’t know what will happen if someone else touches them while he is unconscious.”
“They look like normal daggers, though,” I muttered. “I don’t understand—”
“Just trust me,” he interrupted, releasing my wrist with a stern expression. “I don’t want to deal with the aftermath.”
Eyeing him, I stepped away from Celyze and closer to the fallen commander.
He would have seemed peaceful if not for the weapons nearby, especially compared to his brother, Xenak. The streaks in his blonde hair matched the color of the tattoos marking his body in a crisscross pattern. No part of his body had been left without some sort of marking, including his face. A nine-pointed star-shaped design marked the middle of his forehead and streaks descended from the middle of his eyes to his chest’s markings like the paths of tears.
Something about him called to me.
Almost like my nestmates did.
Approaching him once again, I studied his body and wondered exactly what I was meant to do. They had kidnapped me to perform a miracle, even after I had insisted that I wasn’t capable of healing him.
Yet some instinct made mewantto help him, though I didn’t know why.
“What am I supposed to do?” I asked, glancing at the two who had escorted me here, standing side by side a few steps away. “What has Xenak done?”
“He always comes in and grabs his hand, begging for forgiveness.” Celyze frowned. “But no matter what he did, he couldn’t wake him or make his tattoos brighten again.”
Closing my eyes, I released a slow breath as I tried to calm the storm within me. Nerves and the dreadful fear of failing everyone on the asteroid filled me with doubt.
What if this didn’t work?
