"Are you sure someone else has landed?" Kiko sounded nervous.
"Yes," Tammy replied from her back.
We ran down the mountain as fast as we could and made great time because of it. We were only about five minutes away when Tammy told Kiko to let her down.
"Kiko, drop me off here. Stellan and I will take the Jago to the village."
Kiko nodded and set her down.
"Stellan, look after her for me!" Kiko told him as we took off again.
"I will!" Stellan yelled back.
We ran downhill through the trees, and it was getting harder to keep up with her. Once most of the trees cleared, my heart sank to the pit of my stomach.
The village was on fire.
Kiko took off sprinting. I tried to keep up with her, but she outran me easily.
How could this happen?
My lungs, arms, legs all burned from exertion, but that didn't stop me. I had to get there as soon as possible. Rei, Cashel, and the others in the village—they had to be all right; they just had to.
I reached the outskirts of the town. People were screaming in terror as they fled the burning homes. I ran to Vero's house to find it engulfed in flames. The heat seared my skin as I called for Rei and Cashel, but no one came out.
They're fine; they weren't there.
I ran towards the other end of the village where a bunch of unknown men were slaughtering anyone they could find. I hid behind a house to catch my breath and try to make sense of it all.
This can't be happening. What's going on? Why is this happening?
Suddenly it came to me. No. But I knew it was true; this was our fault. Months of peace had dimmed my senses, hiding a truth I knew could eventually happen.
The sounds of crying came from inside the house I was pressed against. I glanced around to see if any of the men were looking my direction, then snuck inside. I quickly scanned the house, trying to pinpoint where the crying was coming from. I found a toddler hiding under a bed, eyes and cheeks red from tears.
"Sh, sh, sh its okay. I'm not gonna hurt you," I whispered to her, and she quieted down a little. I remembered this little girl. She was only about three years old, and her mother was nowhere in sight.
I gently took her in my arms and ran for the door only to come to a sudden halt.
A man with ruby red glowing eyes stood at the doorway, staring at me with a sinister smile.
"Well, lookie here," he said, his voice low and threatening, as he stalked toward us.
Taking a step back, I grabbed a kitchen knife from a nearby table.
"Stay back!" I shouted, holding it out like I knew how to use it, my other arm still holding the little girl.
He just chuckled at me and continued to stalk towards us.
Behind him, a silhouette appeared from the doorway and blasted him from behind. He fell to his knees and then thudded face forward on the ground, exposing the shooter.
The dim light hid all features except for another pair of bright glowing red eyes. I wanted to run—except I thought I recognized the person. It was the form of a familiar girl, but with unfamiliar eyes. The girl lowered her blaster and called to me.
"Sarth!"
It was Rei, or at least it seemed to be. Her eyes made me nervous, and she could tell.
"It's me, Rei!" she pleaded.
She looked and sounded like Rei, all except those petrifying red eyes. But she had saved us, and if she wanted to hurt us now, she easily could, so I slowly put the knife down. She came up and grabbed my hand to lead me outside where the chaos was still in full motion.
"Give her to me," she said. "I took all the other kids up the mountain."
I handed her the crying toddler.
"Have you seen Kiko?" I asked.
"She's right—"
Without warning she kicked me. I staggered backwards and hit the ground, just out of the way of a blast from another man with red eyes. Kiko appeared and struck the man from the side, sending him crumpling to the dirt.
She turned to yell at us. "Get out of here!"
Then something I've never seen before or imagined could happen, happened. The blur of a large muscular man appeared out of nowhere in front of Kiko and struck her hard with his fist, sending her flying across the village.
It was not a human punch.
"Kiko!" I shouted.
She readjusted in midair and skillfully landed in a defensive position to face the man.
It was him. The man from Crux, the only person who could make Kiko nervous. It was Ozias.
I took a step toward her, and slowly Ozias' crazed face met mine. He locked me in his gaze, eyes glowing vibrantly blue, a color like the Quwallie's but with much more intensity and desire. A long scar ran from underneath one eye, across his face, taking out a chunk of his nose like a meteor impact, and down to his chin. I remembered how the second fight with the Quwallie went for Kiko. Looking at this man, and remembering what she'd said about him, I knew she was in for a tougher fight.
For the first time ever, I feared for her life.
"We need to move!" Rei took my arm.
"No! We can't leave her! This guy—"
"I know what he is! Which is why we can't distract her by being here!"
I was torn. Rei was right, but I just couldn't bring myself to abandon Kiko.
"I'll back away but I'm not leaving her," I decided.
Rei grunted. "Fine, but stay out of sight. I'll be right back."
She turned to leave with the toddler still in her arms.
I did as I promised and moved back, away from Kiko and this mysterious fighter, but not so far I couldn't hear them.
"How did you find me?" Kiko demanded, taking her knife from her side and holding it up behind her defensive position.
Ozias' long black coat draped against his thick boots. He didn't answer. Soon, they were encircled by more men with red eyes. They'd gathered around to watch the finale. A few cheered the blue-eyed man while others merely watched for the outcome, but one thing was certain; this man, Ozias, was definitely their leader.
The burning village shifted in the flames, releasing a heat wave that made me hold up a hand to shield my face. The screaming had decreased drastically. I wondered if anyone else was still alive.
Ozias had a deep, booming voice. "It was only a matter of time. Soon, your power and Vo will be mine."
He disappeared again. This time Kiko was ready, but she wasn't nearly as strong as he was. He threw her against a burning log house, and she went crashing through, exiting the other side.
I held my breath, but it hardly fazed her. She jumped up and ran towards him. Now she was catching on to his cues quicker and able to dodge his attacks, which were extremely fast. They exchanged blows, and it looked about even, but there was something about his crazed smile that gave me a bad feeling.
The battle had my full attention until I sensed someone directly behind me. I jumped and spun, fists in front of me. But it was Stellan. His eyes followed Kiko's movements as he came beside me.
Ozias' speed continued to increase drastically, and finally, he knocked Kiko onto her knees and quickly pulled both arms behind her back.
"You've been with these humans for far too long, Kai." He bent over to whisper in her ear, "Or should I say … True Kai."
Stellan and I both flinched forward, caught between crying out and getting caught and waiting for Kiko to somehow wrestle out of his grasp.
True Kai? What's a True Kai?
Kiko tried to jerk free, but he had her snug in his clutches.
"Tell me." He put his foot on her back, on top of her arms, and shoved her to the ground. "Why do you fight it? Your magnificent power?"
Stellan flared with anger. "Hey, you jerk!" He threw a rock at the large man, and it bounced off him like it'd hit a stone wall. "Get off her!"
Ozias turned to Stellan and smiled. My eyes widened, and I grabbed for Stellan's arm, but he took a step closer to them.
"No! Stellan, get back!" Kiko struggled harder to get break away from his grip.
He laughed. "You fight for them? These puny beings are worth nothing. They're lower than even the dirt we stand on." He took out a blaster from his long trench coat and aimed it at Stellan. "Why don't I just put him in the dirt where he belongs?"
"NO!" Kiko screamed.
Ozias fired, but I tackled Stellan, and the bolt of energy zapped above our heads. He aimed at us again. This time we wouldn't be able to dodge in time. I covered Stellan and readied myself to be blown to pieces, but it never came.
I looked up and saw him grinning at Kiko, who was now quietly facing the ground, seething with anger.
"Which one shall I kill first?" he asked, his deep voice brimming with excitement.
In the air, a humming sound rapidly approached. I was never happier to hear the Jago.
Ozias looked up, and at that moment, Kiko turned over and kicked him in the side with so much force that, even though he blocked it, he skidded straight back at least twenty feet. A carved trail marked the ground where his feet dug into the dirt.
As soon as they were apart, the Jago made its appearance, firing its large blasters at the men. Kiko ran toward us and lifted us on our feet.
The long cables shot out from the ship and picked us all up. Kiko took out her blaster and fired at the blue-eyed man. He easily dodged them as he watched us being towed into the ship, a twisted smile still on his face.
Once we passed through the red gel wall, Rei helped Stellan up. "We're going to drop you off with everyone else," she told him.
"No! I want to stay and help you!"
"Your friends need you. Your father needs you. Don't tell me you want to abandon them?"
He looked to the ground. "Promise me you guys will come back," he said finally.
She smiled at him with swelling eyes and gave him a hug. "I promise we will."
Kiko stood looking through the gel wall as we passed treetops and reached the hidden area just around the edge of the mountain, a mile away from the burning village. The cables wrapped around Stellan as it prepared to set him down.
"I know you can beat that guy," he said to Kiko with a smile before the cables took him through the gel and back to Dezner.
Kiko didn't react to his statement, nor did she make any sort of movement as we began to ascend into space.
Tammy's voice brought us back to a harsh reality: "Prepare to leave Dezner's atmosphere."
We left our destroyed haven to return to the cutthroat race track.
#
Our flight deck was full of somber faces and fresh memories of death.
Rei was the first to speak. "How did they find us?"
Her eyes were their normal color again and fighting back tears.
"It seems they were able to trace us," Tammy answered.
"Yeah, but how?!" Her voice strained as she yelled at us, "They killed them! They killed the villagers because we were there! That was our fault! We shouldn't have gone there!"
Rei fell to the table, weeping with what was left of her energy.
I wanted to know, too, why and how this happened, but most of all I wanted to know what we were going to do about it. Our hiding spot had been found and destroyed. Were we going to find a new one and endanger more innocent lives?
Kiko clenched her jaw before confessing. "He's going after the stones."
Cashel's gaze met each of ours, and after months of debate, he finally gave in to what he had been trying to avoid for a thousand years, declaring the Jago's next mission in a whisper. "Kiko, we can't risk Ozias getting his hands on Vo." The creases grew more prominent on his face as he spoke. Only people who had spent as much time with him as us would know that the look on his face, although trying not to show it, was just as sad as Rei's. "We have no choice. We have to win the race."
#
A few days went by, and I hardly saw Kiko or Rei. When I did see them in the sky deck one day, Kiko was consoling Rei, so I let them be.
I went to find Tammy. As expected, she was in her tech room working on a way to track the stones.
"Who are they?" I asked. "Kiko knows the man with blue eyes, Ozias, and Rei had the same red eyes as the men who slaughtered the villagers."
It took a moment before Tammy answered. "They're from the same planet and the same species as Rei and Kiko."
"They're the same species?"
"I'll start from the beginning since I now have clearance to tell you this information." She set aside her work to talk to me. "Rei and Kiko are from a planet called Drogonaaz."
"Drogonaaz? They're Drogonians? One of the most vicious planets in the galaxy? It really does exist?"
Some legends even reached the far edges of the galaxy like Sola.
Tammy stared at me, waiting for me to finish.
"Sorry," I said.
"Yes, Drogonaaz is in fact one of the most vicious planets in the galaxy. It breeds some of the galaxy's most feared warriors, and the planet is constantly in a state of civil war for more power.
There are two different species on Drogonaaz. One is called Eyes of Red; the other is called Eyes of Blue. The Eyes of Red are rarer. They do not focus on fighting; rather their skills lie within their eyes. They can see through another's eyes and sense the presence and power of an Eyes of Blue. They are also able to soul link with other species, and like their name suggests, their eyes turn a ruby red color when sensing an Eyes of Blue.
Unlike the Eyes of Red, Eyes of Blue always hunger for more power. They are bred to be soldiers. Their eyes turn a glowing blue after they've killed their first Eyes of Blue. They are physically much stronger than a human, and more durable, with keener senses. They are also able to link to an inanimate object with their soul stone, to heighten their power. They are said to possess no fear and crave killing."
Did this mean that Kiko, the girl who saved my life, was actually a bloodthirsty killer?
I realized I'd never seen Kiko's eyes change color, nor were they blue. "Is Kiko an Eyes of Red?"
"No. She's an Eyes of Blue. Rei is an Eyes of Red."
But that didn't seem to fit with Tammy's explanation. If that were true, wouldn't Rei's eyes always be red around Kiko?
Tammy caught on to my confusion and continued. "Rei is an anomaly. A normal Eyes of Red's eyes will turn red when an Eyes of Blue is near. You have probably noticed that Rei's eyes do not turn red around Kiko. Instead, she can only sense other Eyes of Red."
I thought back to when I first saw Rei's glowing red eyes. She was standing next to another Eyes of Red, her own species.
"Kiko's eyes are not blue because she is suppressing almost all of her power. Lately, it's been harder for her to do so. Cashel and Tiberius both used their powers to help contain Kiko's. However, when Tiberius turned into Vo and spread throughout the galaxy, his seal on Kiko vanished, leaving a crack in the barriers so to speak."
Things were starting to make sense now, but how did Ozias find us on Dezner?
"Do you know who Ozias is? How did he find us?" I asked.
"He's a power-hungry Eyes of Blue from Kiko's past," Tammy responded as a hologram of the large man popped up. "My guess is that he used those Eyes of Red to track Kiko down, since Eyes of Blue power-sensing is their specialty."
There was no way we could let this man win Vo. After seeing what he could do just on his own, he would definitely destroy the galaxy with the power of Vo to get to her. And the only one who could stop him was apparently Kiko herself.
"He said he wanted Kiko's power."
"Seeking power is what drives the Eyes of Blue. It's at the core of their being; a natural instinct. It's called soul stone collecting. When two Eyes of Blue commit their battle to the death, they summon their soul stone. It heightens their power to the greatest extent, but at the cost of its location. When they summon it, the stone becomes visible on some part of their body. The only way to kill an Eyes of Blue then is to destroy their soul stone, and the winner receives the loser's power. If you gather enough soul stones you receive a title, Kai being the highest."
Chills ran down my spine remembering the words True Kai slither from Ozias mouth. Was True Kai an even greater title?
I let Tammy continue working and went to my room to reflect. From now on we weren't trying to avoid the race; we had to win it. If we didn't, who knew what would happen to us and the galaxy.
No pressure.
#
We met on the deck the next day to discuss our next move.
"I was able to assemble a makeshift tracking device that can locate a stone on a given planet," Tammy informed us.
"How'd you do that?" Rei asked. The past few days had been especially difficult for her, but she tried not to show it.
"Since Cashel and Tiberius are of the same particularly rare species, I analyzed Cashel's chemical makeup and was able to create a device that would locate any matching remnants found in space."
I had a question. "Cashel, how did you locate the stones during the last race?"
He chuckled and took a swig of his drink. "It wasn't my job to search for them. Plus, I wasn't sober enough to remember much. It's been a thousand years, you know."
I guessed Cashel's prior experience was going to be no help at all.
"Shall I continue?" Tammy asked.
"Have you found anything yet?" Kiko asked.
"I'm only able to scan a few grids of the galaxy at a time, and so far I've found nothing. It could take months or years to find any trace of a stone."
"Years? Someone else could find them by then!" Rei burst out, losing her cool.
"Calm down, Rei," Cashel said. "I'm sure most of the racers don't have any clue how to find the stones. At least we have a way of tracking them."
Rei sighed, taming a tress of hair behind an ear. "All right, so we just have to wait until we find a trail?"
"Yes," Tammy said, "that's currently our best and only option."
#
There was nothing else we could do but wait and it was harder than it seemed. Kiko suggested I learn how to defend myself properly since we were now going to participate in the dangerous race. She taught me the same dodging and defensive moves that she taught Stellan but never any offensive moves.
I eventually got pretty good at it. We spent a lot of time sparring and even more time meditating. Anytime I tried attacking instead of defending, she took me down … hard. All her movements looked so graceful and easy, and I found myself wondering if it was hard for her to hold back, but I never asked.
Rei taught me how to fire a blaster and aim at a target. I sucked at it, like really sucked. Even after weeks of practice it didn't seem like I was getting any better, but Rei was always optimistic about my progress. Every day she told me I was improving. I wasn't, but hearing her say it made me feel better, her too probably. She often used the memory flasher I got for her to send Cashel images of my "progress," either with shooting or with Kiko. I could sometimes hear him laughing all the way from the flight deck, and he occasionally sent back pictures of funny faces or pranks he pulled on Tammy.
After a while it didn't seem like we were in a life-threatening race. We went back to our usual routine. I even got Kiko and Tammy to play cards with Rei and me, and those were always full of laughter. Rei and Tammy were determined to out-cheat each other, but Tammy always won somehow. It was one of the rare times I saw Tammy smiling.
One day I was relaxing in the sky deck with her, which was unusual for someone who hardly ever sat still long enough to be relaxing. We were lying next to each other on one of the larger beds, and starlight twinkled off her silver hair like water running over a riverbed.
"Has it always been like this?" I asked.
"No," she said honestly.
"It hasn't? Then, how was it?"
"It's different with you around." She took a second to think of the right word. "More … cheerful."
"Oh." I smiled. To hear her relate to an emotional word was like hearing a blind man read. It seemed impossible. Then my mind shifted, and I remembered the devastation we caused on Dezner. "Do you ever have nightmares? Can you even have any?"
"I used to, until I joined the Jago." She paused. "I've noticed you've had a few since we left Dezner."
"You can tell?"
"Yes. I monitor your vital signs."
"Oh. Yeah, I've had a few." I swallowed hard. "Those eyes. The blood, the screaming …" I trailed off before shaking the images out of my head.
"You're taking it very well," she insisted.
"I'm just doing my best to focus on our new objective."
We continued to watch the stars pass.
"Are you ever going to tell her how you feel?" she asked out of the blue.
I was startled. "What? What do you mean?"
"About Kiko."
I hesitated. "Tell her what? There's nothing to tell."
"Did I not just say I monitor your vital signs?"
I hadn't even realized my heart was pounding faster.
"I … uh … guess I …"
"Hey, you called me?" Kiko's voice came from the entrance hole.
I nearly fell off the bed.
"Something wrong?" she added, giving me a concerned look.
"No. Why don't you join us?" Tammy beckoned.
"Sure, all right."
My heart beat out of control, and I tried to make myself relax as Kiko came to lie down on the bed beside me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a smile creep across Tammy's face. This was all her devious plan for her own enjoyment.
"So what were you guys talking about?"
"Nothing," I said quickly. "Just umm … the … weather."
"The weather … in space?"
"Well, yeah. It's cold, isn't it?" I laughed nervously.
"Oh, well if you want we can get under the covers."
"No! I'm fine here actually. It just got really hot suddenly." I'm sure my face was turning bright red.
"All right," she said with a quizzical look.
I was sure Tammy was enjoying every second of this. For someone who didn't express much, she sure enjoyed meddling with others' feelings.
"How dare you have a star-gazing party without me!" Rei bellowed from the entrance.
Could this get any more awkward? Thank you, Tammy.
"Hey, I just got here myself." Kiko scooted closer to me to make room. Tammy didn't budge so I was left getting extremely close to them both.
Rei joined us on the bed, next to Kiko. "So what's going on?"
"Nothing much, I think," Kiko said, obviously still hung up on my last few comments.
She snuggled next to her. "Sounds fun."
No one spoke much after that. We just watched the stars go by and enjoyed each other's company. I made myself a mental note to never forget this moment, being together here with my friends—and realizing I was surrounded by girls.
After about an hour I fell asleep, and when I woke I found Tammy asleep on my shoulder. Her hair was glowing in a peaceful, soothing pattern. I made sure not to move so I wouldn't wake her.
I looked over to see Kiko was still awake. Rei was asleep on her shoulder too.
She turned her head to face me. "I've never seen Tammy so attached to someone," she whispered.
"I guess I make a good pillow," I joked.
"No. I've known her for years, and since you've arrived she's happier than I've ever seen her."
I looked down at Tammy, still in a peaceful slumber. I remembered her telling me she'd never really had friends until joining the Jago.
"I know I can tell her anything. In fact, she knows me better than myself."
Kiko smiled. "Those are the best kind of friends."
I glanced in Rei's direction. "Like you and Rei?"
She turned to face her. "I've known Rei nearly my whole life. I made a promise to her mother that I'd protect her no matter what."
It was true; Rei and Kiko were very close. Kiko was like Rei's older, protective sister. They always seemed to know what the other was thinking. Or maybe they were soul linking. Rei only needed about an hour break before being able to soul link again, which left her a lot of time to soul link with Kiko if she wanted.
There was one other thing I'd wanted to ask her for some time now.
"Kiko, how do you know Ozias?"
I was afraid I might have gone too far but she answered, "He's from my planet. He's one of the strongest Eyes of Blue."
"He called you … True Kai."
She cringed at the name. "I—" she started, until an alarm cut her off.
Beep, beep, beep, beep.
Tammy's hair flashed in the same rhythmic pattern as the alarm. Not a moment later, all four of us were sitting up on the bed awaiting Tammy's explanation.
She turned to us and said, "I have the location of the first stone."