Mustering every bit of aura from inside his battered body, the boy finally gets up on his feet with sword in hand.

Taking a fighting stance, he points his blade at the group of dark rats that were observing him from a distance.

Of course, it was all just show.

It was taking everything he had to not keel over from exhaustion. He no longer had any strength left to even swing his sword, let alone fight back. Most of his vision had already faded and he could only faintly make out the three dark shapes staring at him.

Struggling to hold on to his consciousness, he puts on a display of strength to intimidate the rodent group.

“Can…they even…be intimidated?”

He wasn’t sure.

The dark rat lying dead beside him had seemed like an emotionless killing machine, only revealing its fear in the final seconds of its life.

“I…can..only hope…they’re not the same.”

All four rats had their gazes fixed in his direction. The three dark rats peering at him with their blood red eyes while the one and only remaining gray rat with its dark eyes.

The gray rat’s mouth hung loosely open because of its broken jaw along with its tongue which was dripping saliva down on the floor.

All four of them stood incredibly still, as if they were statues or inanimate objects than living creatures.

Despite his failing vision, the boy could broadly make out their size and build.

The gray rat with the broken jaw was the smallest member of the group, the other three dark rats towering over it.

But these dark rats were not twice the size of the gray rat standing beside them. Compared to the one he had just killed these rats were somewhat smaller.

They were definitely bigger than the injured gray rat which was shivering and hunched beside them, but they were smaller than the dark rat lying beside him.

“Are..they…juveniles?”

It could explain why they hadn’t intervened throughout the entire fight. If they had joined in the fray while he was fighting the now-dead dark rat then it would have been his extermination rather than a fight.

He remembers the rats’ positioning on the map, how the four red dots were grouped together in the upper right corner of this chamber. One of the dots was standing a bit further ahead of the other three.

“That red dot….must’ve been…..the dark rat I…. was just fighting.”

In the map it appeared that the dark rat was protecting them. Now that he thinks about it, in fact, all the rats had been protecting this group of dark rats by attacking him at the cost of their lives.

This could only be the case if this group of rats were still children or juveniles.

“So they’re baby dark rats…..if they’re anything like their parent here….. then these three are going to tear me to bits.”

He had recovered some of his breath although swinging a sword was still out of the question.

Standing completely still with his blade pointing at the group of rats, the boy deliberated on what to do.

There was no chance he could fight, especially not against three of these dark rats at the same time.

He could walk out of this chamber and comeback to kill them after some badly needed rest but then the security lockdown would still be in place and he would not get any food or water.

Even if he ignored his parched throat and empty stomach, walking toward the entrance door of this chamber was too much of a task for him in this condition.

He could feel that if he took a single step in any direction, he would fall over, and then these blood thirsty rats would realize their dead parent had left him within an inch of his life.

“Th-there’s nothing….I can do.”

There was no other plan he could think of with his tired mind. It was all he could do to not fall unconscious in front of them.

He was only human in the end, albeit a human that can flare out colored energies out of his body but still made of flesh and blood that can tire.

He had survived and fought well even in this child body but this was without a doubt the end of his road.

While the boy was busy contemplating about the end of his road, the rats begin to move.

Rather than rushing in to tear him into pieces as he was expecting, they trot in a wide arching path, staying as far away from him as possible.

They make their way to the giant tubes embedded on the left side of the chamber and gracefully scale up their length.

He follows their blurry forms with his worn-out eyes as one by one each rat squeezes into an opening in the ceiling above the tubes.

“That opening…it’s probably….. a path…for the black pipes leading out….of this facility.”

The tubes embedded in the walls of the chamber had two parts. The lower parts contained the glowing viscous liquid that was illuminating this chamber while the upper part contained the living black ooze he had observed outside. Both liquids were separated by some mechanism in the center of the tube’s length.

Since there was black ooze inside the tubes, it was only reasonable to assume it was coming from the black pipes leading out of the facility.

The rats were squeezing up into the space meant for the facility’s black pipes. It could only mean one thing.

“They’re….finally….leaving.”

Just to be sure, he weakly waves a palm in front of him and summons the digital map of the facility.

There were no red dots on the entire map.

Relief loosens his weathered body and he slumps down to the floor.

No longer propping himself up from effort, his body begins to shut down. The blackness edging at the peripheries of his vision begins to extend outward, covering his entire sight.

As he lies down, he feels his body sink into the cold hard floor.

His limbs were becoming unresponsive and felt infinitely heavier with every passing second, as if they were turning to lead.

Blackness completely overtakes his vision and his mind descends deep into the darkness.

While he is floating between the edges of awake and slumber, he thinks his final thought before going under.

“Please let this all….be a nightmare.”

 

The pack of dark rats crawls out of a slightly carved-out pipe opening in the artificial rocky exterior covering the facility’s outside.

Excluding the injured gray male, the three dark rats were females and sisters, the only three females left from the pack.

They were a matriarchal pack, ruled until recently by their now-dead mother.

Each of them was groomed by their mother as future leaders of their own packs but everything came crashing down because of the infernal biped inside.

They were having to leave the only safe haven they had ever known but all was not lost.

There were other safe havens, ruled by their mother’s sisters.

Although their hierarchy was going to slightly lower inside the packs of their kin they would still be welcomed with open forelimbs.

Females were much more important than males for the proliferation of their species.

Perching on top of the artificial rock tower, the pack sniffs the air.

There was no light in the pitch blackness outside, rendering their eyes useless but fortunately they had other senses to navigate through the rocky wasteland.

The three sisters nudge the only male in their group, telling him to climb down and scout ahead.

The gray male trembled at this command. Unlike its dark sisters, it had ventured outside countless times to hunt for food, sometimes during the darkest of nights. It knew all too well the deadly predators that emerged under the cover of darkness.

It tries to huddle close to its three sisters but they shove it away angrily.

Resigned, it climbs down the tower, using its fine-tuned senses to listen, smell, and sense for any signs of dangerous predators nearby, its broken mouth still ajar, with its tongue hanging out and saliva dripping onto the ground.

It detects nothing.

Making sure the coast is clear, it climbs back up the tower to signal to its sisters which climb down along with it.

One of the sisters climbs down the side of the column with the gate leading inside. Its forepaw accidentally touches the fake rocky panel hiding the gate’s display panel inside.

The display panel extends out from the fake exterior with a faint hum of machinery, its light illuminating the pitch blackness around the pack.

All four rats petrify into silent statues from fear but for different reasons.

The three sisters were terror struck by the sound and light of the display panel they had never seen before.

Their sole male brother, however, had already been aware of the panel. It was terrified because of something far worse.

The display panel’s light had illuminated the nearby entrance gate leading into the facility, except there was no longer any gate. In place of where the gate had been there was torn metal that looked to have been shredded by something obscenely powerful.

The gray rat knew what that something was.

It was looking at the dimly illuminated eight long legs of that something standing close to the torn gate. These dim creepy legs extended up into the encompassing darkness, connected to something that not even the light dared to touch.

The gray rat knew this something had been standing close by the entire time it was surveilling for predators and yet it had detected nothing.

It knew this something was going to wipe them out.

Before its sisters even comprehend what is happening, the gray rat pisses in terror, its last action as a dark claw extends toward it out of the darkness.

 

The boy opens his eyes.

Immediately getting to his feet, he notices that he was no longer a boy but a man. It was his old body.

He looks back and spots the blue checkered couch that he had been resting on. It was the same familiar couch that was Amaara’s favorite.

Looking around, he recognizes the cozy and homely apartment.

He was standing inside Amaara’s apartment.

Hearing shuffling footsteps, he turns around to find Amaara standing at the kitchen’s door, looking at him with a bemused expression.

Staring at her lovely face, he tries to voice out his longing and the nightmare he has been living under but no words come out. His throat had tightened as if to silence him.

Struggling with his restrictive throat, he desperately tries to voice out his thoughts.

Something in his expression must have alarmed Amaara because her own expression had changed to a serious one.

She walks up to him and grabs his hands.

Staring into his eyes she says something.

“---- --- -- - ------”

He couldn’t hear her voice.

Somehow, she also knew he hadn’t understood and repeated her words.

“----- ---- --- ------- ---!”

From her expression and tone, he knew she was conveying something important, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not make out her words.

Worry creeps into Amaara’s expression and she repeats her message.

“—ke up –rd –fzaar.”

“Plea-- wake up -ord Alfzaar”

Hearing the name Alfzaar snaps the boy out of his stupor and he slowly opens his eyes.

The dull gray ceiling above him was bathed in a glaring red light.

One by one as his senses come into focus, his ears pick up the shrill trilling of an alarm blaring in the distance.

“Lord Alfzaar you’re finally awake!”

Lying on the floor, he tilts his head toward the source of the voice.

It was Arya, or a shrunken fairy version of her floating in the air beside him. No bigger than the palm of a hand, she floats close to his face and states.

“Well done lord Alfzaar, thanks to your efforts the security lockdown has been lifted, however, a new problem has arisen in its place.”

After delivering her message she stares expectantly at his face.

The boy did not understand what she was on about. His mind was still reeling from the dream he had just had about Amaara.

“What was she trying to tell me.”

“Lord Alfzaar!” Arya exclaims with a pushier tone than he remembered her having.

“Wha…t ha..ppe..ned?”

Speaking hurt his dried-out throat and his voice sounded hoarse in his ears.

Seeming happy to see him responding to her, Arya starts her narration.

“You have successfully eliminated the intruders inside the facility so the security measures are down but a powerful darkling is trying to forcefully enter this facility, it doesn’t seem to be succeeding so we can take it easy for now. You’ve been out for about an hour and your vitals are not looking good lord Alfzaar, you need water and sustenance fast. Please follow me immediately.”

Her words fell on deaf ears as the boy had zoned out halfway through her speech. His disoriented consciousness was slipping back into the deep realm of slumber.

“LORD ALFZAAR!!”

Arya’s loud high-pitched shrill snaps him out of his daze.

“Huh…whaa…”

“Please follow me, this is no place to nap. I will lead you to food and water.”

Hearing the word water rouses the boy out of his delirium.

“Wa…ter.”

“Yes, lord Alfzaar water, please follow me.”

Everything starts piecing together in the boy’s disoriented mind. He was on an alien planet, fighting alien beasts, and trying to find information along with food and water.

“Not….a nightmare. It was…all real.”

He was disappointed to learn this was still his reality.

“Lord Alfzaar hurry up!”

Slowly and with great exertion, he pushes up his body into a sitting position.

Next, he feels around for his sword so he can use it as a crutch, but it is nowhere to be found.

Raising his hand, he looks for a crested ring on his finger but it is not there either.

 “If you’re looking for your sword lord Alfzaar then it is up there on the wall.”

“Oh..yeah…damn..I..completely forgot/”

It occurs to the boy that since he was forgetting about something this important then he must be in a pretty bad shape.

He scans the chamber’s walls and spots his sword still impaled into the eastern wall. It was dozens of feet in the air, making it impossible for him to get to it currently.

“You don’t need the sword right now lord Alfzaar, I doubt it’s going anywhere.”

The boy does not reply but simply places his hands on his knees, attempting to get back on his feet.

He rises a few inches off the floor but his strength gives out during the effort and he falls back down to the floor.

It was a curious sensation. He was not feeling any pain and there wasn’t anything broken, at least he didn’t feel it was anything like that.

It was more like his body felt empty, like it was completely hollow and devoid of any strength. He physically couldn’t lift up his own body weight.

“That’s right you can do it lord Alfzaar.”

The boy ignores the AGI’s cheers as he tries to lift himself up again. He did not want to stay on the floor beside the dead dark rat any longer.

Its dead vacant eyes were creeping him out.

The sheer struggle almost causes him to pass out again but this time he finally sways over onto his feet.

All throughout his struggle Arya had been twirling impatiently in the air around him.

“Yes, well done! Now please follow me lord Alfzaar.”

She zips toward the entrance door of the chamber and floats there, waiting for him to catch up.

“Is it me or…is she more….chipper than before.”

He doesn’t voice out this opinion and slowly walks toward her.

Walking was a challenge all in itself. His legs felt like lumps of lead that he had to lift and move along the floor to advance.

But he perseveres and little by little he covers ground toward the impatient Arya waiting ahead of him.

When he gets to the door it opens automatically and Arya zips into the long passageway ahead.

“Come on lord Alfzaar, you’re almost there.”

The same flashing red light was illuminating the dull gray walls of the passageway, signaling a state of alarm.

Looking at the long corridor stretching out in front of him, the boy sucks in some air with a sharp inhale before calmly exhaling.

Placing one slow and steady step at a time, he advances slowly.

The shuffle onward was taxing on his tired body but the movement was also slowly restoring some strength back into his limbs.

Along the way at one point, he almost loses his balance and quickly places a hand on the adjacent wall to level himself.

When they get to the three-way split of the corridor Arya quickly zips into the path to his right.

“This way lord Alfzaar!”

“Wait…isn’t this..?

It was the unmarked path that was initially on his left when he was making his way to the purification chamber.

“Everything you will need is through the doors at the end of the passage.”

Arya says with her calm and gentle voice while staring him in his eyes. There was an imperceptible change in her tone, a tinge of seriousness.

The boy stares back at her augmented eyes and then towards the path beside him.

“I knew there was something there.”

He thinks to himself as he starts moving toward the unmarked section of the map.