Chapter 5

The forest was quiet when I got there. I suddenly felt danger coming. I twisted my body sideways and saw a knife hit a green tree. It vibrated when it connected there. I looked in the north side when lasers followed to assault me.

“Yetti!” I cursed in Aryan language while I dodged and rolled over to take cover. My back was pressed against the blue tree. I looked up when the tree creaked and groaned. It broke and I rolled to the next one to not get hit when it fell.

I peered at the direction the lasers came from. ‘Who are these Aryans? Why are they attacking me?’ I ground my teeth as I took Ponpon out.

“This is not good,” he said.

“You’re just telling me that now?” I hissed. He was quiet this entire time.

“Those are definitely not Aigleans,” he observed. His red eyes were rolling in alert mode. “Your east!” he screamed.

I just barely glanced and I dove and rolled towards south, evading the white laser that was going to incinerate me. My heart was already beating fast from the adrenalin rush.

“I know, Ponpon! Just shut up!” I said when I was hidden behind two entwined trees. They were like lovers doing something… well, suggestive enough to an Aryan mind like mine at this moment. But seriously, it was fascinating. How could two different trees form like this? They formed like Aryans having… sex! Maybe some Aryan made these two like this for some personal entertainment, perhaps?

Oh! Why did I have to see this right now? I hadn’t noticed this before.

“Looks like it’s not only one Aryan,” Ponpon observed.

“Yes, thanks for the enlightenment,” I answered sarcastically, as if I had not realized that. There were at least three of them, I could feel it.

I looked up and leaped on a tree branch. I smirked when I saw them. They wore blue and green overall suits that camouflaged in the forest. So, that was how they played it. I quietly leaped to another branch and landed smoothly behind one attacker. I covered his mouth and slashed his neck.

“One down!” Ponpon said triumphantly. His eyes went redder.

“Silence!” I hissed at him again.

“Someone’s behind you,” he said in a bored tone.

I ducked when I heard a low swish of a sword and left a back kick, hitting my enemy in the chest. He flew some meters away from me, which was stopped by a tree branch and impaled him. A fast oncoming enemy ran towards me with a high kick. I parried it with one hand, forced to step back a couple meters away from him, while he landed smoothly on the ground. He pounced on me with straight punches, which I easily parried or dodged. I counterattacked with a roundhouse but he was quick to dodge it, too. But the same foot gave him a sidekick, hitting him in the rib. It made him stagger backward.

“Who are you?” I questioned, looking at his covered face. Only his fiery green eyes could be seen, typical Aryan.

He didn’t answer me. Instead, he took his laser handgun and fired at me. I dove to evade his shots, which made a soft whirring sound. The trees that were hit broke and fell to the ground with a loud crash. I could smell the burned part of the tree. Sitting on the ground with my back against a green tree, I quickly scanned my surroundings. He was about to shoot me again. But with my telekinetic powers, I hurled the tree towards him. He was sandwiched between the entwined trees, with the broken tree stuck in his stomach.

“Now we’ll never know who sent them,” Ponpon commented and sighed.

I sheathed him but pulled him out of the scabbard again while I quickly stood up. I felt that familiar presence again. I turned to my left side, cocking my head.

“You?”

“Yes, I sent them to test you.”

What in powerful being’s name did he do that?

I looked at him fiercely. Using my telekinetic powers I raised my hand and the laser handgun was in my hand in half a dot. I pointed it at him

“Tell me why or I’ll shoot you now!”

But the stranger calmly paced in front of me, with his eyes on my face. “You’re not going to shoot me. I was training you.”

My eyebrows drew together while I gritted my teeth. He was training me? What kind of nonsense was that? I was forced to kill those Aryans! That was my first time! I did not even hesitate because I was threatened! If I hadn’t, my father only knows what would have happened!

“Don’t talk to me in riddles, stranger!” I demanded. “What’s your angle for doing this? What did I even do to you?”

He stopped pacing, looking at me with his hard green orbs. “You are going to the Banatan, Xerra. You can’t help but kill someone there! I’m doing this for you! You should not hesitate when the occasion calls for it!” he lectured.

I blinked. My hand tightened the hold of the handgun. I fired it next to him. He looked behind him as a tree fell. He did not even flinch, but he turned his head back to me and gave me a hard look.

“I don’t want you to do that again. The Banatan is my business!” I hurled the laser handgun to his face but he effortlessly dodged it.

I turned my back to him. Why am I not even fighting with him? Why didn’t I just shoot him right through his stomach?

Something held me back to do it. I didn’t know why. Maybe there was something in his eyes that told me he didn’t mean me any harm… that he was indeed telling me the truth… that he was just helping me.

I sheathed Ponpon back to his scabbard.

“I think he’s a good Aryan,” he observed.

“Huh! I was almost killed earlier! And you’re telling me that?” I growled.

“You have to learn the hard way, too, Xerra. You know that deep inside,” he argued.

I didn’t have a rebuttal for that. I just kept quiet before I broke into a run to clear my head.