This was one of the greatest losses the female Granian had ever experienced in her life of war and combat.
A battle which she once thought would be quick and flawless in their favor turned into defeat once a fleet of Ethisians appeared suddenly, destroyed the Granian forces from advancing forward and then took Helda and the humans as their prized prisoners.
Meanwhile, her mate Grim—the one who was put in charge of the whole operation and given a fleet to control—was nowhere to be seen. He vanished without a trace, leaving his pregnant mate and unborn child behind at the mercies of the Ethisians.
Distraught, speechless, and too pregnant to fight back, Helda let the Ethisian soldiers bind her arms and legs before they took her to Commander’s ship.
Her mind tried to make sense of the entire situation but it didn’t stick. How did the Ethisians get there so quickly? How were they able to cover such a great distance like they did?
"Gates..." she mumbled, drawing Commander’s attention to herself. "...do you have...Gates? How did you..."
"Get here so fast?" he asked with an evil smile etched on his scaly face. "Explaining it to a warrior such as yourself won’t be of any use so I won’t bother. I am glad we did before you and your kind could do anything to our allies. Now..."
The High Grade placed the tip of his sword on the Granian’s chin, tilted her head upward, looked her dead in the eye and asked,
"...where is your mate, Grim? He’s the one I’m most excited to meet."
Helda frowned, angered by the disgusting expression the High Grade showed. How dare he ask such a question yet he himself denied Helda a response she wanted?
"Speak, Granian. I haven’t gotten all day." He commanded, pushing the tip of his sword a bit closer to her throat. "Or should I make you scream so loud that you draw him out for m..."
A bright light flashed in the sky, like a star twinkling in the midnight sky. Except this was brighter than usual.
Helda, Commander, and everyone on the battlefield—Granian, Ethisian, and Rayan alike—gazed as a light shone so brightly.
It came from the atmosphere above them, the position where the battle in space took place.
The High Grade, looking through a scope, witnessed as a portion of his fleet’s ships approached another fleet of Granian ships. The Granian ships entered one end of a ring-shaped object and never energed from the other end.
Once the last ship entered the ring, charges were set off, blowing the mechanism up while destroying a few Ethisian ships that were within its blast range.
’Damn it!!’ he cursed, having the faintest idea that his target made a narrow escape.
Angrily, the Ethisian looked at the Granian who had blend of micro-expressions. A slight upward curl on one side of her lips,reptilian eyes relaxed but locked onto the High Grade and a small exhale that released pent up tension and an air of defiance.
"Don’t be so smug, Granian," the High Grade cursed, slashing his sword’s tip across Helda’s cheek, forming a long but not so deep wound on her face, "your people may have escaped but they will return, and when they do, you won’t be alive to welcome them....and neither will your humans."
The sound of metal banging on metal, followed by a body forcefully shoved onto more metal, echoed in the short hallway as the female Granian was thrown into a cell in the High Grade Ethisian’s ship.
The doors behind her were sealed shut, leaving her completely isolated with no assurance of help coming her way anytime soon.
But that didn’t phase Helda. Seeing the Gates blow up meant that her mate, Grim, had managed to get himself and the rest of his fleet to safety. Sure, she was left behind, but Helda was more than certain that Grim would come to her rescue...
"I hope he does." She whispered to herself as she used her robe to wipe the blood from the wound on her face. "He’ll come back for me...for us. I’m sure he will."
Rubbing her belly, Helda stood to her feet and looked around. She didn’t have plans to escape, not just yet, but when she did, she needed to find the quickest and safest way out for her and her unborn child.
After that was done, there was nothing else for her to do other than meditate and practice what she knew about Eneraflux.
Like the other Granians in her "grade", Helda knew about Eneraflux and was more than capable of using it. Ever since the Granian became with child, she wasn’t allowed to fight as often as she used to and instead focused on increasing her input and output. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢•𝕟𝕖𝕥
Having picked up a few new lessons from Glissk when they were on the Bastion Planet, her current situation was the perfect time to learn, practice, and grow.
In the meantime, something else took place outside the ship. While the Ethisian, Rayan, and YYrejite mercenary clones disposed of the slaughtered Granian and Cyclitharan bodies and imprisoned the survivors, their commanding High Grade went a few miles away from his fleet and the settlement.
At a safe distance, the High Grade and a few soldiers who accompanied him set up camp and built two pod-like cases in the middle of the camp.
Surrounding the pods were turrets programmed to go off once any sign of movement or hostility came from said pods. And placed in the pods were the unconscious, frothing evolving Blood Mutants, Jim and Anya.
The High Grade sat in his pitched tent with his sword grasped tightly in his hand. Once the camp site was set, he commanded the rest of the Ethisians to return to the fleet, leaving him alone with the two Blood Mutants.
For an extra flare, the High Grade placed two barrels filled with Granian Blood infront of the pods, waiting for the blood thirsty creatures to wake up and break out in a bloodlusted frenzy.
’And as soon as they do...I’ll kill them.’