Wexxon the Great Alien Warrior - Juno Wells Page 0,46

the warrior stopped in front of babbling brook, staring down at its waters, his body going perfectly still, there was a sensation I’d never felt before prickling all over my skin, knocking right into my brain.

I could feel her.

I could feel my mate.

The realization brought a smile to my face, even though the situation was still unknown, still impossible to decipher without more information. A part of me even worried that my Rachel was somehow already drowned in the waters, our connection only felt as she called out for me in her back of her mind.

I then brought my attention back to the warrior, watching as he calmly stepped into the water, his frame sinking beneath the waves until he’d completely disappeared in the night. When enough time had passed, I made my way to the creek for myself, puzzled by his disappearance, unable to comprehend where the warrior had gone if not into the water.

I reached a hand out toward the brook, fingers prepared for the waves to rush right by it.

But no water ever came.

It was an illusion.

The water in the brook had been nothing more than an optical illusion, another one of my brother’s tricks with technology. For a fleeting moment, I was proud of his achievement, knowing that it’d always been one of his dreams to create such a mechanism, even if it never would’ve been approved for the arena.

And after my small moment of admiration, I leapt into the water, feet-first.

There was pain when I landed, the ground underneath the faux brook tough like rocks. But I was used to pain, and the sensation easily passed over me, allowing me to quickly regain my footing. With the robe billowing behind me, I continued on my journey, even though I couldn’t help but notice that the night had somehow turned into day, that the darkness had been replaced with light so bright it almost burned my eyes.

How is he able to live like this?

The thought crossed my mind as I followed in the direction that seemed to be calling me, Rachel’s pull tugging on my very soul. It was one thing for my brother to be holed up in the woods, training warriors and seeking out his vengeance against me. But there was something disturbing about him potentially creating his own version of the world, one where night was day and day was night.

I then wondered what else he’d changed in his version of the world, if he’d told his trained warriors a different version of events that’d happened between us, if he’d told them that he was the one who’d taken the lashes on my behalf, that I was the biggest liar of them all.

Maybe Aldvirion had been right about Reddin all along. Maybe the shame had caused something to break in my brother, turning him into a person I would’ve never recognized if we happened to cross paths again.

“Intruder!” a stranger suddenly shouted, their finger soon pointing right at my frame. “Intruder! Intruder!”

I pulled out my blade in response, discreetly angling it between my fingers. I knew that the biggest advantage I’d have over anyone who tried to attack me was going to be the element of surprise, which meant that it was in my best interest to keep it.

And then, the attacks started to come. There was a warrior with his fist at my jaw, his hand connecting with my face within seconds. I winced before I knocked back his fist, my small blade coming down right in the center of his hand. And as he screamed in pain, I sliced at him again, the blade going right through his fingertips.

The warrior pulled his hand back toward his side, a look of pure horror falling over his features. I didn’t have too much longer to analyze his reaction, though, as I felt someone else wrapping their arms around my waist. Again, I used the small blade against the attacker, quickly stabbing at their forearm in rapid succession, not stopping until their skin was torn and bleeding, not stopping until their arm had fallen away from me.

“Die, you piece of scum!” another warrior screamed, running toward me with a sword, its blade aimed right at my chest. Thinking quick, I ducked out of the warrior’s way, watching as he stumbled off balance, the sword sinking into the ground below. And as he tried to recover his sword from the sand, I sank my small blade into his back, just until the warrior sank down