There was a weird knocking sound. It was bothering Kayen. Disturbing his sleep. Reminding him of where he was. He rolled over, trying to turn away from the sounds. But they only got louder and louder.
After a while, the air felt warmer. There was a breeze. Wind blowing through. Kayen curled up into a ball, desperately not wanting to face whatever was behind him. He was tired. He was broken. He just wanted to go home. But no, the shadow monster had been torturing him. This knocking, this breeze, whatever was approaching him, it was probably just more of the shadow monster’s tricks.
Another trick, like the eerily cold hand that had just been placed on Kayen’s shoulder.
“Thank goodness, you’re still alive.”
Unfurling himself, Kayen tried to respond, but all that came out was a tortured gurgle. He was thirsty and hungry, barely able to speak. The being standing over him was… a Skyavok. Not a horrible shadow monster.
“Can you stand? Can you talk?”
It wasn’t just any Skyavok. This one, Kayen recognised.
There was no time to ponder those thoughts. The ground was shaking. The shadow monster knew what was going on. A hideous screech rang through their ears as the red skies grew darker. The monster could be seen, swimming through the clouds, charging right at them.
The friendly Skyavok scooped Kayen up in their arms. They were bigger than a normal Skyavok. More heavily armoured. Kayen couldn’t work much else out as they started moving. Somehow this Skyavok was carrying him and running at quite a pace, fleeing from the horrible cage that had once held him.
“Close your eyes.”
Kayen didn’t want to at first. The world around them began to shift. Pits of darkness appeared out of nowhere. Pillars of red crystal burst forth from the ground. The shadow monster roared menacingly as it tried to attack them, fended off by what looked like basic telekinetic shields. How was that protecting them? Why was Kayen even questioning any of this?
The shadow beast though was getting angrier. A well-placed crystal pillar knocked Kayen’s saviour off his feet. Another pillar knocked Kayen into the air, straight into the looming shadow beast’s mouth.
The massive jaws of this monster confirmed that it wasn’t actually made of shadow. In fact, there were little, glowing lights running along the roof of the gigantic monster’s mouth. Not that Kayen cared much, as he was busy clinging on for dear life, his arms wrapped around one of the monster’s larger fangs. Part of him was thankful that the creature didn’t want to eat or crush him.
“Let him go!”
Was that Skyavok still trying to save him?
“It is mine!”
The beast roared. Briefly, Kayen saw the skies outside, the horrible red mists. He saw something else. The Skyavok, flying on pitch black wings. He only saw them briefly.
Yet again, everything shook. Something had hit the shadow monster, wounding it. The monster screamed in agony. Kayen lost grip of the tooth he was clinging on to and fell forwards, out of the beast’s jaws, down towards the jagged rocks below.
Kayen closed his eyes, trying to summon his psionic wings, but he was too weak. Thankfully, the wings of his mystery rescuer were plenty strong enough to carry them both. The ground stopped zooming towards them, instead only gradually getting closer. A silver ship waited for them on a rocky outcrop, protected by a force field.
“HOW MANY YEARS HAVE YOU TAKEN FROM ME, MONSTER!” the massive creature roared as it disappeared back into the mist.
“Clearly not enough, Epani…” Kayen’s rescuer muttered.
The creature roared once more, then faded away for good. The rocks and earth around them settled down, allowing for a proper landing.
The two beings landed awkwardly, and the Skyavok shifted his weight to better carry Kayen. The force fields around the ship automatically lowered and a door opened as they approached. Once they’d climbed inside, his rescuer placed Kayen on a bed, then headed to the cockpit.
“Dessi, prepare a Medi-pod for our new friend, then get us out of here.”
The ship sparked to life. An AI voice happily beeped away to itself. “Yes, ser! Where do you want to go?”
“Home, please.”
“Of course! Preparing now!”
Kayen blinked, trying to clear his head. But as he tried to work out where he was, the Medi-pod arrived, surrounding him in a clear, calming, healing fluid.
“Get some rest…” the Skyavok smiled. “I’ll explain when we get back…”