Morph: Book One

| 42 |

"We need to talk."

I had dreaded the moment that those words would escape Ezic's mouth. They were the very words that I had been trying to avoid for the past few days.

"We are talking." I say, less than assuredly. Ezic narrowed his eyes slightly before sighing. His eyes became tired and worn.

"Please," Ezic whispered. "I need to speak with you. Alone." His eyes snapped up from mine to stare at the girls who were sitting in front of the hologram in the living room. I looked up at him hesitantly for a few seconds before nodding. I carefully stood from the couch with a soft groan. Ezic automatically went to grip my arm, but I shook him away.

I caught Georgia's eye, and she cast Ezic and me a questioning look. I offered her a reassuring smile, and she slowly turned back to the program playing in front of her.

Ezic led me up to his office on the second floor. By the time we made it inside, I had exerted so much strength walking up the stairs that Ezic had to support me. I ground my teeth together in frustration at how weak I had become. I couldn't look Ezic in the eye as he guided me to a chair in front of his desk. Finally, I sat with an exasperated sigh and looked up at him.

"You look miserable." Ezic whispered as he knelt in front of me. He examined me closely before meeting my eye. "What can I do to make it better?"

"Distract me." Before I could stop the words, they had slipped out. Ezic cocked his head at me for a moment before slowly nodding.

"Elik has news." I sat up straighter at this and felt my interest peak. Ezic stood from his kneeling position and leaned onto the back of his desk before continuing, "He found her."

"Her?" I ask. Ezic smiles slightly before grabbing a tablet from his desk and handing it to me. I skimmed my fingers across its translucent surface, and it shuttered on. As I flipped through the device, albums and information on the child appeared. Before I could get lost in it, I glanced up and searched Ezic's eyes. Looking for confirmation. Confirmation that this was the best thing to do.

Ezic nodded lightly to the device in my hand, seeming to catch my hesitation. I glanced down at the tablet and dove in.

Images of a female child appeared when I clicked on an album, and I felt my skin cool at the first image. The child couldn't be any older than a toddler, maybe four or five. To my relief, she looked like any other Zorr child and had no features of a hybrid. As I swiped through the album, I found myself frowning. Each photo of the child showed her smiling. Sometimes other Zorr appeared in the images, but they all had the same theme.

"She looks happy." I felt myself choking out the words behind a teary resolve.

"It is as you hoped, is it not?" Ezic asked softly. "Yet you seem unhappy." I shook my head at his assumption. But he was right. I was unhappy because the child in the photos seemed to be...happy?

"Thats...not all I need to show you." Ezic said when I finally handed the device back to him. I stared up at him, confused, and watched as he went around to the other side of his desk and retrieved something from one of the drawers. Then, as he returned to his original position in front of me, I saw him fidget with something small in his hand. I craned to see what he had, but his hands closed around the item in question.

"You have to understand something first." Ezic started. "I only wished to understand." He took one of my hands in his and dropped something into it. When I got a good look at the item in my palm, I found my eye widening in surprise.

"You've watched it, haven't you?" I asked. I turned the drive in my hand a few times to examine it. It wasn't like my original one, but it was close. When Ezic didn't respond, I looked up. Our eyes met, and I could see his eyes turn soft.

"Yes." Ezic finally responded. I remained quiet.

So that was it, then? Now he knew everything there was to know.

"I'm going to assume that you have questions?" I asked, clearing my throat uncomfortably.

"Only one," He started softly. "Help me understand something. Help me understand your world." I stared up blankly at Ezic. After watching what he has, that's the only question? I sighed.

"Ask away." I whisper.

"Start from the beginning." Ezic said, and I couldn't help myself from snorting.

The beginning? The beginning of what?

Unsure of where to start, I began at our downfall.

We were the worst that the universe had to offer. Humanity. Constantly at war with itself, over anything and everything. Resources, land, politics; it was all the same. We prided ourselves on the weapons we created. Yet, it was with these weapons that we used against each other that ultimately destroyed our planet.

War brought devastating and irreversible effects on the planet and its inhabitants. Famine and disease pillaged and destroyed what was left. The aftermath left Earth nearly uninhabitable. Most of the land turned infertile and radioactive, causing some to resort to other means of sustenance. Cannibalism. Those that resorted to such lengths often were due to the effects of monstrous mutations. The wars on ourselves soon turned to wars on the mutated creatures that ravaged the land in search of human flesh.

War wasn't the only thing that killed our planet. Overpopulation suffocated all the Earth's resources, which only continued to lead to our downfall. As our population grew, so did the monsters that hunted us. As time passed, humanity began to adapt and slowly band together to save what was left of the planet. However, it was too late, humanity was fighting a losing war, and they knew it. Thus began our search for other options. Our search into space.

This was where the experiments came into play. In exchange for resources, humanity offered itself up to any extraterrestrial it encountered. Their bargaining chip? Women.

"I come from a dying world where only abominations roam and feed off of what's left." I finished.

"Would you go back?" The thought had never occurred to me, not since Jax and Ron had informed me of the state of Earth.

"There's nothing to go back to." I said sadly.

"Speaking of which, where did Jax, Ron, and Maxwell end up going?" I asked. Ezic smiled at me, which only caused me to frown at him.

"They never left. They took up positions with the Krispar Division. As I'm sure you know, we lost one of our best navigators–"

"Narv." I whispered and my mood saddened at his mention.

"Yes." Ezic said as his eyes glazed over in thought. "There's something I need to tell you." I watched as Ezic's face turned grim. His sudden change in demeanor spiked my anxiety, and I fidgeted slightly.

"Zolar lives."