Spacial Illusions

Chapter Thirteen

NOT PROPERLY EDITED

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"This is so fucking insane." Callisto was standing in the center of the training pad she shared with Deimos, staring at the wide choice array of weaponry. She strapped her katana to her waist along with a few different daggers and knives to her chest and hidden spots on her person. The urge to pick up a gun instead made her fingers itch but she covered them up and swallowed the feeling. If she were to use a gun on the village and Kasar then it would make her no better than Director Striker.

"Callisto?" The mentioned girl whirled around at her name, hand hovered over the hilt of her katana in preparations for an attack. Deimos stood at the edge of the flat expanse of knotted branches, head tilted and eyes wide. "What are you doing here? The village will tear you apart if they find you within the boundaries."

"I know but the situation has changed. They're coming."

"I don't understand, who's coming?"

"Director Striker. He's coming with an army and he plans to wipe you all from the face of Praesidium." His wide eyes stretched wider and he scrambled to follow Callisto as she leapt through the trees towards the village ruins and constructions to correct the damage the Mors Magna dealt.

"Wait how do you know this? Callisto, wait up!" She skids to a halt just above the center of the market, the fires still at their constant brilliance. At this moment she was regretting telling Ursa to stay in the ship instead of being by her side where she felt safer and more at ease. But this was something she was to do alone.

"I will explain in a minute, just let me do this alright." Deimos nodded and watched the girl take a deep breath before letting go of the branch and dropping directly into the bustle of the village, her entrance causing every project to grind to a halt with all eyes on her.

"It's the freak!"

"Why is she back here?"

"Kasar will have her head when he finds out." More gossip swept through the village and Callisto let it slide over her until Kasar broke through the crowd, lowly growling and lightly circling her like a shark around prey.

"Why have you returned, alien? Do you wish to die?" Callisto watched him circle her calmly, her head held high and her dark eyes fierce.

"I've come to warn you of an oncoming shadow. My planet, Earth, is coming to invade Praesidium. There will be no mercy and you all will be killed if you don't let me help you-" Her declaration was cut short when Kasar bellowed out a roar to bully her into silence.

"And how do you know this? Did the trees tell you?" The crowd snickered at his sarcastic remark, the lion boy widely smirking at their encouragement.

"No, I caught a piece of communication between my Director and his Captain. They will be here in less than a week, and they will gun you all down where you stand. I've tried to convince them to leave you all alone but it didn't work. Democracy is not on their priorities, domination is. And they will have no problem taking Praesidium from your cold dead hands." Kasar stepped towards her, bone knife drawn and pointed at her as he walked in tighter circles.

"You're lying, alien. You made this all up so we would let you back in."

"Don't you get it? They will come and they will not give a damn about who is the leader, who is the liar, or who is the alien. They will step on your corpses and burn you inside your homes because they want your land. You are all nothing to them and so am I. You know these trees and I know their tactics. If you let me, we can run them back to their dying planet and go somewhere else far away from here." Kasar got closer the more she talked until he was a few inches from her, bone blade still tilted towards her in a threat.

"These are my people, I am their protector and leader. I decide what's best for them." Callisto maintained ferocious eye contact with the boy, her piercing gaze unwavering from his intensely golden one. The rising tension between them palpable and crackling like a lightning storm.

"What's best for them is my help. You will get them massacred if you ignore my offer." Kasar jerked forward with a loud growl and his knife to her throat.

"Is that a threat, freak?" The blue-hued female drew up her own blade of steel and pressed it to his throat with just as much calm and pressure as he is.

"No Kasar, this is a challenge." The lion boy shoved her back with a shattering bellow before launching at her with his knife and claws distended for the kill. Callisto ducked beneath his strike and let him go sailing over her head to just barely miss the villagers. She shot to her feet and drew her katana before entering her usual fighting stance as she turned to face him smoothly.

"I don't want to hurt you, Kasar, but I will if I have to." The mentioned male snapped around with a snarl and bared teeth before launching at her again. Swinging the hilt of her sword forward, she jabbed him in the shoulder to deflect his momentum to her left and watched him roll across the wood to the feet of the citizens before her eyes lifted to the crowd above him.

"If I can do this to your leader, imagine the devastation that an entire army of soldiers just as trained as me can inflict. You all will be a mere nuisance in their way to claim your home as theirs." Pain seared through her abdomen as Kasar sliced open the flesh on her ribcage.

"She's lying to you all, don't believe a word she says. She's not one of us so why should she care what happens." Callisto dodges another attack and drops down to kick his legs out from underneath him. Once he was flat on his back, the female pinned his arms with her feet and held the tip of the curved sword to his jugular, cutting the skin and causing him to begin to bleed.

"Go ahead, freak, kill me. I know you want to." Callisto replaced her sword in its plastic sheath before dropping down to let loose a mountain lion roar of domination to seal her new place as the village leader.

"That would be a waste of a perfectly good warrior. I am not lying to you, I am trying to protect you. Yes, I'm not from this village or this planet, but you all deserve to live just as much as anyone on Earth does. They're willing to sacrifice a whole world to get what isn't theirs, but I'm not. I may not be the leader you want but I'm the one you need. I am a soldier, and we are preparing for war."