Kisei no Shinryaku

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Azuma and Dai quickly made their way across the wide expanse of saltwater. Each time they looked back, Kiyomi was still following behind, albeit much farther behind.

Once again, Dai looked back. He saw nothing.

"Azuma! Kiyomi has stopped following us!" Dai cried.

Azuma looked behind, taking his eyes off the wheel for a moment.

"Finally! She's left!" Azuma said happily, the relief clear in his voice and tone. Then, his eyes saddened for a moment. "She was such a good person and friend," he said dejectedly.

"Azuma, think about it this way," Dai said trying to cheer him up, "We're not going to die in a cruel, painful way, and will hopefully live our lives to the fullest extent possible. Don't depress yourself over the loss of Kiyomi. There will be many other people in your life."

"When you put it that way. . ." Azuma's voice trailed off. "I suppose it's for the best. But no one can or will replace Kiyomi. But at least we won't die a bloody death. We should go warn the other clans and villagers to not go to Shark Island.

. . .

A haggard Kiyomi emerged out of the water. All the sailors, which were now inhabited, turned to stare.

"I see you have all made yourselves comfortable," Kiyomi said in a language known only to the alien parasites.

"Ugh. You've really mauled these bodies Kakhan'oro," said one of the sailors, calling the parasite by its true alien name.

"Well, I had a good meal, Hanchora'ka. I trust that the body is at least able to perform the basic functions that we need to survive?" Kakhan'oro/Kiyomi replied in the same guttural language that the parasite race spoke in.

"I'm tired of this! For centuries, we have been going around planets, stealing the bodies of unwilling creatures. Why must we always be so violent and take innocent lives?!" said an outraged burly man. He went by the name of Orokan'zao, and he was always the most rebellious of the group. But this time, he took it too far.

The blank eyes of all the inhabited people turned to stare at him, and didn't speak for a while.

Finally, Hanchora'ka spoke, his voice quiet, but deadly,"Then why don't you leave and side with the helpless human race, you pathetic fool? This is how we must live, and if we don't do this then the last of us will be exterminated by people who are afraid of how we do things!"

"Then maybe I will leave," Orokan'zao said, his voice barely above a whisper, but full of finality.