Survivors

Test

"Blow it up! Blow it up!" Jade yells.

"I am blowing it up!" I protest, shooting at the Gorfonian ship. We are alone in this battle. Not for a planet or anything. I think Polois might just have a bone to pick with us after the events of the breakout.

The sleek fighters are in front of Orvain and Peapyd's ship, defending them. The fighters are easy to destroy if you land a direct hit. But they're crazy fast, and I'm not exactly an expert with aiming a ship's artillery. In fact, I have terrible aim. I have no idea why they stuck me with the bow and arrow.

"If this is that whole heir thing again, I'm gonna lose it." Jade groans.

"I'm not leaving without getting my job done." Peapyd growls.

"Oh my god."

"Look. Let's talk it out in a civilized manner." Wessa suggests. "You get the Gorfonians out of the way and we dock our entrance into your bay so we can physically meet."

"Fine." Yardisse growls.

"This isn't your business!" Xavier announces.

We retreat to the mothership and I take off my armour to show a more peaceful approach. I'm only in my long-sleeves shirt with the tee-shirt over it and the ripped jeans, the backup outfit I bought on Sammaine.

I head to the entrance, which starts to slide open.

"Stay back." Wessa suggests.

"No." Declines Regeit.

"You're acting weird, you know that?" Xavier comments. Regeit is silent. We meet Peapyd and Orvain. I extend a hand. They look at me sceptically before Orvain shakes it.

"Hi. I'm Orvain Nagridi, twenty-five torams old. This is Peapyd Sarvalid. She's sixteen."

Peapyd is younger than me.

Wow.

"Um, Rowan Brooks. Nice to meet you." Orvain laughs lightly.

"No need to act like we're friends. We aren't. Now, what do you want to talk about?" He asks. I ignore his atrocious wooden crocs and start a conversation.

"The heir."

"I think you know more than we do." Peapyd rolls her eyes.

"You've gotta believe us. We aren't denying that one of us is the heir, but if one of us is, we don't know." I say.

"Would you like to run some tests?" Orvain asks Peapyd. She nods. "Follow me, Rowan." Xavier narrows his eyes and grips my arm.

"I'll be fine." I assure him. He lets go and I walk off with the Black Star Pirates.

"Someone's in love." Peapyd smirks.

"What? No." I blush.

"Do you want to retrieve your armour? I don't know what types of tests the Gorfonians have." Orvain looks at me. He's actually concerned for my physical health.

"I'm fine." I say. "Bring it."

I'm stuck in a room. There's nothing much in there except for a pedestal with a screen on it in the middle of the room. Everything is written in Gorfonian. I can't work it, seeing how Gorfonian technology works with blood. But it activates anyways.

The first thing I feel is cold, crushing wetness.

I start to panic. I look upwards. I can't see the surface of the water. I try to swim up but with every movement I just get sucked down more.

I'm drowning.

What type of test is this? I should have been more cautious. With Orvain and Peapyd being so open and all.

I have no reason to be afraid of the water, really. I just am. It surrounds you at all sides. It pulls you down. And it's everywhere.

I stop flailing my arms and stare into the bluish-blackness. I just sink slower.

Maybe there's something at the bottom.

I start to paddle downwards. It may be the most terrifying thing I've ever done in my life. Drifting into the blackness as pressure builds.

And then it's over.

I'm perfectly dry.

I'm not in space, though. I'm home.

Was it all a terrible nightmare?

I stare at my house. My mom and all my relatives are smiling, waving at me.

Tears fall off of my chin.

Earth is alive.

I start to run, but with every step I take, their smiles drop. I ignore it and continue running.

Until I hit glass, that is.

I look down.

I am now on a Gorfonian warship. We back up until I can see the planet as a whole. I look at my hand. It's hovering over a button. I feel like pulling away, but I can also feel thousands of eyes boring into my back.

They want me to press the button.

I know it's not okay. It's wrong. But, without me even moving a muscle, my hand slams down on the button and the Earth explodes before my eyes.

And it's my fault.

I look at the guilty hand.

Grey.

Not Orvain grey, Gorfonian grey. It starts at my fingers and creeps up my arm at an alarming speed.

"It's not real!" I tell myself. "I'm hallucinating! This isn't real!"

And then it hits me.

It isn't real.

I turn around just as another nightmare is starting. I look at the pedestal with the Gorfonian technology.

"Don't do it, Rowan!" Regeit. I freeze. Then I inch my hand closer again.

"Don't do it! Stop!" It's my mom. I want to turn around.

"Stop it! You're hurting us!" Xavier.

Nothing here is real.

None of it.

I press my hand onto the screen. I feel a needle prick my palm as screaming surrounds me, starting pained but getting agitated. Arms rip at my clothes, pull my hair.

And then everything stops. I'm in the same room I started in. I curl into a ball and start crying.

"What happened in there?" Orvain comes running in. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I whisper. "I'm fine."

"Yardisse would like a word with him." Peapyd says.

"Oh." I gulp. "Is that good?" She shrugs. They lead me to a room where you can see Yardisse on a screen.

"What's your name?" He asks.

"Rowan Brooks." I state.

"Wrong!" He snaps. "Your name is Rowannik Gorfona!"

"I think you're wrong."

"Your blood says otherwise." He smirks. "Heir."

"What am I the heir to? I'm human?" I object.

"Half human." He corrects. "Don't forget your Gorfonian blood. How else would you be able to work out technology? To learn our language without pain?"

A few Gorfonian guards appear behind me and snap handcuffs around my wrists, dragging me to a cell.

"Emperor Polois Gorfona- your father- would like to see you."