[A few hours later....]
The daylight cycle on the Rayan planet passed, giving way to the night. The beautiful night sky illuminated the planet, bringing its vast stretch of abandoned, desolate land to life.
Some of the planet’s wildlife came to life, seeking what to eat or where to hide from said creatures seeking whom to eat. Latest content publıshed on 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵⚑𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮⚑𝓷𝓮𝓽
The Rayans and Ethisians cleaned and restored their settlements, ridding them of whatever damage the Granians caused. As they did so, cheers and sounds of joy, laughter, and celebrations erupted.
Today was a joyous day for these peace-loving aliens because it was the day they and their allies beat the Granians and saved themselves from whatever destruction that would have befallen them.
To worsen things, the Rayans celebrated and made their Granian prisoners watch. It was like adding salt to an already bleeding, fresh wound as the Rayans openly mocked, taunted, and poked fun at their prisoners.
Meanwhile, as all of that madness occurred, the Ethisian who was responsible for the Rayan’s victory over the Granians sat at a camp pitched miles away from the settlements.
From that distance, he heard the sounds of celebration erupting and watched as lights flared like disco lights from the settlements, bringing a light smirk to his face. He too was pleased that the Granians were driven away, but he also knew better than to celebrate too early.
They may have won one battle, but the war was far from over.
’At least the tides are now in our favor.’ He thought to himself as his eyes returned to the two centerpieces in the middle of the camp.
Two metallic, pod-like cases stood erect side-by-side with two human heads sticking out. In front of the barrels were two barrels of fresh Granian Blood, and surrounding said pods were turrets which were programmed to activate if the humans showed any signs of movement other than head turns.
For hours, the Ethisian had sat still, waiting patiently for the Blood Mutants to wake up. To help pass the time, he cleaned his large battle sword, sharpened its edges, and studied the human physiques.
Like any other species encountering another, he was intrigued by how funny the humans looked. Like the Rayans, and maybe even the Parsians, they had soft flesh covering their bodies without any form of protection like scales or bone plates.
Their hair, unlike the other species he encountered, was soft, fuzzy-looking, and free-flowing flowing and it was almost on every part of their bodies, some more prominent than others. It looked softer to the touch, unlike the other species—Ethisians included—who had wire-like strands of hair on specific parts of their bodies.
Lastly, their bodies reacted differently from his own. Whenever the wind blew, tiny bumps developed on their skin which icked the Ethisian a little.
’Such a funny, oddly built species.’
Of course, the Ethisian didn’t let his curiosity get the best of him. Even though he was fascinated by how soft, fragile, and easily breakable the humans were, he knew better than to let his guard down around these two.
Just like the ones his race owned, these two humans could kill the Ethisian in his sleep without making a sound. Their abilities to control blood, whether within a living or dead animal, weren’t something he overlooked, not after what happened to his partner.
For that reason, he waited patiently and anticipated the humans to fight, hoping that he’d get a chance to wound the Granian race with their deaths. These two may not have been the ones responsible for his partner’s death, but they certainly were better than nothing.
’At last, you have awakened.’ Commander sat upright, his sword gripped tightly in his arm. Staring back at him with beady, darkened eyes was the now Blood Acolyte, Anya.
She stared at the Ethisian intently, not even daring to blink. Her face was frozen and stern, making her gaze even more eerie.
Jim woke up a few seconds later and had a reaction different from his female counterpart.
"I swear...Ace has to stop these random evolutions without our permission...we almost got killed th..." he stopped talking once he noticed Anya’s silence. He then stared where she was looking and saw, perhaps, the largest, most rugged, and most physically robust Ethisiain his had ever laid his eyes on. The only one who came close to such a physique was the one Ace conjured.
"What’s happening?" Jim whispered, but got no answer. Just then, his nose was hit with a glorious, meaty, minty smell that nearly made him drop his humanity and give way to his feral nature. Looking down, he saw two barrels filled with green blood. Jim’s hunger was so intense that he swore the blood was glowing.
"Humans." The High Grade stood, his physique somehow growing bigger than it was before...to the humans, of course. Like Anya, the Ethisian stared down the humans with a slight frown on his face.
He stood still and then spoke in a deep, stern voice, saying, "Good of you to regain consciousness. When I found your bodies, I was most certain that you were killed. Yet again...these damned Rayans can’t kill anything to save themselves, so it’s good that you’re still alive."
"Do you plan on killing us?" Anya asked as she tried to move her body. The space in the pod-like case was so tight that she could barely move her fingers, let alone the rest of her body. "The way you’re holding that sword shows you’re itching to cut our heads off."
"You’re right, to an extent," Commander answered and then remotely activated the turrets, setting the humans as their targets, "we, the Ethisians, know that the Granians broke several galactic laws to retrieve you for the sake of a war they were losing..."
"...not what Grim said." Jim mumbled.
"...your involvement in the war has proved rather catastrophic for my people. I lost someone very dear because of one of your kind. Now she’s one of your blood soldiers who fights for the wrong side."
"Easy now," Jim laughed a little and said, "we’re not the ones you should be lamenting all of this to. Sounds like your friend was conjured. We’re not responsible for that, you’ve got the wrong Blood Mutants..."
"Doesn’t matter," he interrupted, "what I know is that your deaths will be a crushing blow to the Granians. Now..."
The pods opened up, releasing the two humans from bondage. At the same time, the turrets activated and were set to fire at any second.
"...drink, regain your strength, and fight for your lives. I won’t kill you, not just yet, but once I win, I know two individuals who would love to kill you in ways I cannot begin to fathom or imagine."