“I have not prayed to the Fates in a long while,” he confessed, turning to look across the Lopitax Sea. “But when I did, I prayed to Kollasor. As my mother did.”
“And which Fate is Kollasor?” she asked quietly.
His eyes burned into hers as he murmured, “The Fate of Rebirth.”
Something flickered in her eyes. Relief?
“So the Mevirax rebelled because they wanted to return to the old ways? They wanted to conquer, to extend their power across the universe, because they were not satisfied with peace?”
Jaxor inclined his head. “You must understand that there has been a long history between the two sides. The modern and the old ways. The rebellion was always going to happen. Many had happened before, even, but Likar proved to be a capable and strong leader. He was determined and driven to create a people who could prosper without the aid of the Golden City. And he did.”
“How many of them are there?” she asked quietly.
“Hundreds now,” he said, inhaling a long breath.
Erin hesitated, but he knew what she would ask next. “And do you consider yourself one of them?”
His hands dug into the black sand behind him, the grit digging into his palms.
“Once,” he confessed. “I sought them out when I left the Golden City. I wanted revenge against the Jetutians, as many did. That hatred fueled me for a long time and I knew that the Mevirax would understand that need for violence.”
Erin touched his arm. Just one simple touch. As he spoke, he hadn’t realized the way his muscles had bunched tight, but she helped relax him.
“But I realized my mistake, perhaps too late,” he told her, not looking at her. “They were not what I believed they were. Likar had created a place for his people, tev, but they had descended into rage. They were unpredictable. They had no weapons, or technology, no means of transportation or space flight. Nothing. Without those things, war—revenge—was impossible.”
But they had those things now. And it was perhaps Jaxor’s own fault, though he hated to admit it. It had been a harmless, frustrated remark, made in the presence of Tavar about three rotations into his leadership. War with the Jetutians had always been the common ground between him and the Mevirax, though they’d had no means of bringing the Jetutians there.
Jaxor had thought that in luring the Jetutians to Luxiria, perhaps the Golden City—and his brother—would finally realize the threat they posed, entering their atmosphere at will. Perhaps then, his brother would declare war and use their vast resources to take their revenge.
The comment Jaxor had made while he’d been in talks with Tavar had been just that…why not lure the Jetutians here instead of trying to acquire a spaceship to meet them on their own planet?
Unbeknownst to Jaxor, Tavar had begun to think of how to do just that. And his answer had been the one thing Luxiria was known for, a resource prized across the universe.
Luxirian crystals.
The Caves of the Pevrallix were riddled with them.
“The leader of the Mevirax now is a male named Tavar,” he told Erin. “The youngest son of Likar. It was under his guidance that the Mevirax were able to contact the Jetutians, to gain access to technology and weapons.”
“How?” she asked quietly.
“There are those even in the Golden City that are sympathetic to the Mevirax’s beliefs. Even in the command center. One such male there was able to contact the Jetutians with the promise of Luxirian crystals and allow their vessel to enter our atmosphere undetected while Tavar met with them on the surface.”
Realization was spreading across her face. But then she looked down in her lap and said, “And were those the crystals that allowed them and the Krevorags to travel to Earth?”
Dread churned in his belly, but he didn’t want to lie to her. “Tev.”
“I see,” she whispered, raking a hand through her hair, blowing out a small breath. “Tell me what happened next.”
This was where he needed to tread carefully. He hated that he needed to, but too much was at stake.
“I left the Mevirax five rotations ago. Most held radical and dangerous beliefs, Tavar most of all. So I left. I journeyed from the Cave of the Pevrallix and made my way here. I settled here, building my home slowly over the rotations. I trade with outposts, I scavenge for spare parts, I make traps…I survive.”
“It’s a hard way of life,” she noted. “A choice not many would make if there were other options.”