/\Areiya & The -Invasion- Of Zanathis/\

/\Chapter 18-- Areiya's Resolve/\

My senses were alert when I came to. My arms seemed to be pinned by something, I realized. My eyes shot open then, looking to the source of why I was unable to move. My eyes widened in utter surprise when I saw that I was wrapped in an unconscious Zeth’s arms. I searched with me, looking into my energy source to see whether I had enough energy. I had recooperated just a little, but I still needed time to heal, so I couldn’t risk waking him up at this moment. Looking at the time, I realized that only a little while had passed since I had knocked him out.

I also realized that I had to get out of his hold before he woke up because he could use it to his advantage. Slowly slipping from his grasp, I stood up and walked towards the door. Peaking out, I saw that Erick was still tied up, seeming to have been warn out for the time being, and Phethus was keeping watch over him. I wasn’t sure where Kai had gone off to, maybe to help treat Zari’s wounds. I closed the door and then checked to where I had put the ropes. I know that he had been able to escape them last time, but it would still buy me some time to recooperate even more so. I then proceeded to tie him up, finding it weird that he was able to stay unconscious as I moved him around like this.

I looked at the controls then and noticed that we were nearing Kai’s planet. I hadn’t noticed that it had taken up so much time fighting these guys. I wasn’t even sure whether landing on any of our planets at this moment was such a good idea since we still had captives. I heard a groan come from behind me and whipped around to make sure he wouldn’t try anything. Zeth’s eyes slowly opened and narrowed when he noticed his predicament. His eyes drifted towards me then, and he grimaced.

“I should have known something like this would happen.” I heard him murmur to himself before sighing and speaking to me. “How long have I been out?” I thought about it for a moment before responding.

“A couple hours I guess.” He nodded, but seemed to be lost in thought, debating something.

“So, since I’m stuck here for a while as your prisoner, I might as well get something out of it. How was your planet like?” He asked, curiously. I hesitated a moment, unsure whether I should tell him.

“My planet specialized in blacksmithing. It was a tradition and each family specialized in a different type of black smithing. For my family, we were to make the weapons to go to war. There was actually a lot of clan separation on my world. There seemed to be wars happening left and right, but my parents had told me that one day, I would change that and bring peace back to our world. I never really believed them… until I found out what I was and what I was really capable of.” Before I could go on any further, I stopped myself. He didn’t deserve to know about my planet, he’s one of the people who took me from it.

For all I knew, my planet could have been destroyed the day that I was taken. For all I knew, a century could have passed in my world as I lived my life on their world. I bit my lip, worried that the last time I saw my parents could possibly be the last time I’d ever see them again. What if they were murdered?

“Areiya?” I heard Zeth say, drawing my from my thoughts. I turned and glared at him.

“Why do you even care about learning of my planet? You’re one of the people to take me from it. You people are the ones who invaded it, so you should know about it yourself if you even knew where to find me. I remember you on the first day I was taken. You locked me away in that room, ignoring me completely as you let people in and took them out. I was left in that room, wondering when my turn to be experimented on would come.” Regret shone in his eyes as he remembered just how he’d treated me before.

Being reminded of all this sort of makes me wonder how I could even been slightly attracted to him. All these people had ruined my life in Zanathis and they would pay.

“Look Areiya, it’s not like I wanted to do those things. I was under strict orders to lock you in that room and to take those people to the labs. I already told you before that I owe Erick my life.” He seemed genuinely upset that he’d caused me damage, but I couldn’t allow myself to believe his words. I had a planet to return to and I had worlds to save because of his people.