"Shit, this is not good… Run!"
I grabbed Raidha's hand and ran the fastest my legs allowed. The citizens were in a state of panic, confusion, and expectation. Even those who were chasing us were stunned by the sudden light attack. Thanks to that, they didn't focus on us, which at least allowed us to escape from the scene relatively quickly. The problem was that when we were a few meters away, and running at full speed, we could not avoid standing out once more.
For them, we were two strange beings who ran out from the place where the ray of light fell. Some fled terrified, others began to take photos… or that's what I think they were doing… I also heard in the background occasional desperate cryings saying: "We are being invaded" or something similar. I couldn't blame them, that's really what it looked like.
We ran for what seemed like an eternity and at a speed I had never reached before. We thought we had a chance to escape when those chasing us focused all their attention on the lights coming out of the ship, but even then we couldn't get far. Five lights separated from the others and blocked our path in the blink of an eye. After the light faded, a group of men with white wings, dressed in blue armor similar to that of the girl Raidha fought with.
"The dark energy signal comes from her," one of them pointed at Raidha.
Raidha and I took a couple of steps back. The five men stabbed us with their glances, though it didn't take long for them to show doubts on their faces.
"Is this girl a Silphen? Take a good look, she doesn't even have wings."
"She seems to be, but she's a very strange Silphen."
"Well, for a Silphen she seems very weak."
"We worried about what might happen and it only came to be this."
Those guys started talking nonchalantly among themselves. When they appeared in front of us they seemed to be somewhat tense, but now they were practically mocking Raidha, that couldn't refute their words. She just stayed quiet with teary eyes and clenching her fists.
"It's easy to talk when you attack in a group…" I whispered.
I said that in a low voice, but apparently they heard me, as all five fell silent and turned to me scowling. I probably touched their pride.
"This is not a Silphen, is it?"
"I doubt it, it has so little presence that I didn't even notice it was there."
"It, is a human," I complained.
"Whatever, a being like you would do well not to mess with things that are too big for you."
"A being like me? The only difference between us is the wings…"
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
One of those Katryde burst into laughter. The others also began to make fun of me, as if I had said the greatest nonsense in the world.
"Are your eyes not working? You don't look anything like a Katryde."
The comment struck me as simply surreal. How could they have such an ego? Did they believe they were gods or something like that? One of those Katrydes even began to wave his hand in a gesture that seemed to indicate that I should leave. No, rather, it seems as if he wanted to ward off a simple bug that was hovering around him.
"I guess I don't want to look like guys who need to send dozens of men to hunt down a single girl, either."
I stepped forward, hiding Raidha a bit behind me, who immediately tugged on my arm and urged me back.
"Drayd, forget it. This isn't worth getting into. Go away, I… I will manage alone."
"Nonsense…"
I moved my arm and pulled her off. I couldn't help but sigh heavily and take another step forward.
"Yesterday you said that nothing seems to matter to me… Well, as you can see, you are wrong. Right now I'm quite upset… No, I'm actually furious."
"What are you going to do, human? Frown at us?"
The same Katryde who had spoken earlier scoffed at my words again. I stared at him and clenched my fist tightly.
'Frustrating… very frustrating… but true. What can I do?' I wailed inwardly.
There were five Katryde in front of me, and who knows how many behind me, plus there was no way of knowing if there were more left on the ship or if there were other ships waiting. I could not escape. No, I didn't want to run away again.
I gathered all the determination that I had accumulated and grasped Vurtalis in my right hand at the same time that the pistol with my left, determined to fight… but as soon as I raised my weapons a little, a ray of light passed a few millimeters from my face. All my determination melted away upon hearing a huge explosion behind me. I stiffly turned my head back… Part of a building had completely collapsed...
"Boy, shut up for once and stop the show. It will be wise for you to listen and not get into something that is not related to you."
That Katryde, who was still pointing his finger at me, seemed to be the leader of the group. At the moment he moved, the teasing of his companions completely stopped and everyone became more serious, now looking more like really disciplined soldiers. They even already had their weapons in their hands, weapons ranging from simple swords to something resembling rifles.
I gritted my teeth in resignation. Before I could notice, they were all on guard. If I made a move they would blow me in less than a second.
"Leave him alone, he has nothing to do with this! I won't do anything, so let him go… let him go and tell me how long have you been following me… I only ask that…" Raidha stepped between me and that Katryde.
Raidha's voice trembled. She was probably still worried about having drawn them to her people… She was probably worried about me too…
'This idiot…'
… And I couldn't do anything.
"Follow you? What do you mean by that?"
"Eh? You have attacked me twice! You are obviously following me since…"
Raidha fell silent. The one who looked to be the leader of the group raised an eyebrow, he didn't really seem to understand what Raidha was talking about.
"Twice? So you have already escaped from a squad. Perhaps… are you the survivor of a group of Silphen? I see, you lost your wings in the battle and have been on the run since then."
"No, that's not… So you weren't following me?"
"There are squadrons patrolling everywhere, we simply detected traces of dark energy on this planet and have been searching for the origin."
"Is that so..."
Raidha seemed to have lifted a weight off. On the other hand, I couldn't avoid thinking about what that Katryde had just said. Something did not quite match. They had discovered us by noticing Raidha's dark energy… so why hadn't they appeared until now?
'Right, Raidha said there was dark energy in my body and that's why the Katryde would come after me, but they don't seem to care much… Besides, they didn't show up until… This fucking idiot!'
If my deduction was not wrong, they had only become aware of our presence after Raidha used her dark power to escape from that laboratory, and they had only been able to find us when she used it again in the city. Probably the only ones capable of easily sensing dark energy would be the Silphen themselves or some Katryde with high perceptual abilities, and they probably weren't many, or they wouldn't need to send patrols everywhere. But it was late to realize that.
'And the worst is that this idiot doesn't remember that I can't leave this world without her…'
I sighed heavily again… It had really become a bad habit of mine. I raised my hand and grabbed Raidha's shoulder. She whipped around and looked at me as if begging me to let her go, but obviously I wouldn't.
"What do you think you are doing, idiot?! Remember that right now we are in the same boat. I am not going to run and leave you alone with these assholes!" I yelled.
Because of my desperate cry, the leader of the Katrydes came toward me, probably willing to shut me up for good.
"And you, damn… whatever you are… don't stay silent as if it wasn't your problem at all!" I screamed again, talking to that thing inside me.
The Katryde was about to attack me, but he abruptly took a step back, with a nasty grin. The others reacted similarly. At first, they seemed to have freaked out, but they quickly switched to something that just looked like disgust.
"What are you?" He asked.
For a moment I did not understand that reaction, but soon I realized that kind of black smoke was coming out of my body. I smiled wryly at that Katryde.
"Wow… it seems that with the screams I finally managed to wake up the monster…"
My head began to cloud rapidly. I closed my eyes and sighed again, this time with a small smile on my face.
"I beg you… protect Raidha…" I whispered.
—How useless you are, again delegating your problems to others. As you want, moron, I will take care of it… I won't let them do anything to her...