After Earth

Chapter 15: Alaxier Ornerve and The First Expedition

     "You can't be serious! Work with you?" I heard Navan laugh in hysterics.
     Everyone else agreed along those same words that working together was a dumb idea and that we should be trying to get the spot to Attas all by ourselves. After all, everyone was watching our progress now in hopes that we could find a good way to save the rest of humanity. I sat back down on the bench, and I stared at my hands.
     It didn't make sense. Any of it. If Attas was relatively the same as Earth, what the fuck was the point of giving us powers like we were gong on some crude mission? These people, their ideas and their dumb nature, really irked me to the point where I wasn't even certain I should be here. I didn't have any powers like everyone else, and I didn't have anyone I was fighting for.
     "Hey." I lifted my head to see Kaiglanr, and he sat on the bench right next to me. "You okay?"
     "No," I stiffened. "I feel... left out. Stupid."
     "That's okay. Hey, you know, I know the real reason we have these powers. If you're interested."
     I stared at him. "I am."
     "Watch this." He grabbed at his chest, to which this dark, blackened circle that glowed came out. My eyes were fixed to it, how it happened to form shape and deform into a strange black string with bumpy ridges. He put it back into his chest with a smile. "That's what Agitit is looking for. And he thinks if we have these powers, we can find a pure white one. He thinks that's the key to saving the infected, not running away to Attas."
     "So, what is the point of Attas?"
      "Plan B?" He shrugged his shoulders. "Some things just don't have answers."

     I woke up with a jolt, hitting my head on the ceiling of the spaceship. Ceiling? Corner? We were floating now, and my body was suspended in the middle like I was a dead body. I held my head as it throbbed, and I felt the pain of an oncoming headache right on top of the banged head. My mind was hazy now, and I wasn't certain I had any clue as to how I got on the ship. The last thing I remembered was trying to save Kaiglanr from infected.
     "You're awake." I turned my head to find just a figure of Rentie, sitting on one of the floating chairs. "Don't give me that look, Tayas. Did you really think you got rid of me?"
     I stared at my hands and saw the black growing on my fingertips. "So this is what I am?"
     "Resilient, but turning into a monster is inevitable. IT was always going to be you because you have a weak heart for all the things you've done. Like killing me."
     "You're the one that cheated."
     "And aren't you the one that let me live long enough to cheat?" She snaked her way around my neck, but I couldn't feel her. "Don't try and speak lies to yourself."
     "I thought..."
     "Don't act like you thought you were helping. You just didn't want the responsibility of Acki for the rest of your life. You were afraid of bringing a child into this world with no way to save him. Ain't that a part of the reason you agreed to be here? Who gives a shit about being a hero? You were going to be a villain anyway, right? I mean, look at you!"
     "Rentie, get away."
    "Or what? You'll kill me? Newsflash, Tayas. I'm just a figment of your imagination, and you can't kill me!"
     "I said get the fuck away from me!" I slammed into the ground, to it indented pretty bad.    Rentie disappeared, but not because of me. Nashi and Kaiglanr came into the room, forcing me to calm down by restraining me. Kaiglanr spat something under his breath before staring directly at me.
     "Tayas, are you okay?" he asked. "I need you to talk to me, okay?"
     "What are you doing here?" I spat. He looked at Nashi.
     When he turned back, it was only concern. "Tayas, you brought me on and refused to let anyone hurt me."
     What? "That doesn't sound-"
     "He's right," Nashi butted in. "You ran onto the plane, an infected, and you covered him with your body until you... turned back to Tayas. And you ate Acki's soul. Just putting that out there."
     I stared down at my feet and felt a cold chill. Me? I... I took Acki's... I pushed myself away from them and looked out a window. All there was out there was stars forever. We were beyond Earth now.
     "Tayas, I'm sorry," Kaiglanr started.
     "For killing my son?" I grumbled. "I'm not accepting it." I hit my head into the wall. "God, why did I even help you?"
     "I'd like to know that myself."
     Orgeti came through the door. His wife stayed in the doorway, eyes glazing over the situation in hopes her husband wasn't about to make a mistake.
     "Perhaps your subconscious knows that Kaiglanr is the one who can convince Alaxier to allow us on Attas," Orgeti said with arms crossed. "Maybe your subconscious is aware of the fact that Alaxier Ornerve can save Acki."
     "Don't fucking lie to me about saving my son. Don't... Don't say things that aren't true," I darkened. "I can't... deal with this right now. I can't..."
     "Hey," Orgeti grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. "Tayas, it's going to be okay.    Tayas, you're going to get through this, okay? We just have to... We have to explain."
     "Explain that is is completely ridiculous?" I shouted. I pushed him away. "Don't tell me things that I know can't happen! Don't..." I felt a sudden warmth on my face. "Please, don't give me hope."
     "Alaxier can revive Acki from the dead," Kaiglanr softly spoke. "I've seen it. That's what his power is."
     "He can't save a dying light." I closed my eyes. "I don't understand why you've decided to lie to me like this, why when I'm on my hands and knees that you've decided to kick me in my  chest."
     "Fine. Don't believe us, but when we get to Attas, you'll see." Orgeti had a stern look. "Nashi, I want you to watch him for now just in case he decides to dent the room up."
    Orgeti and Kaiglanr left the room with their heads sort of hung low, and moved back to the window. Endless stars. No answer to them, no rhyme or reason to their existence other than the fact they were just there out in the open. It was a distraction from this.
     "Tayas," Nashi said. "Can I ask you something?"
     I closed my eyes tightly. "What?"
     "Do you see Rentie? Like, is she here right now with us?"
     "No. I don't see her now."
    "But you see her."
     "Yes." I turned my head. "What the hell do you want?"
     "I-I... I see Artomer sometimes, too. I see him, and he always accuses me of not doing enough, of not being the right person. I just... I just want to say that I know what that feels like to feel that  way."
     "Nashi, I want you to leave."
     "W-what?"
     I turned away. "Just go away. I don't want to talk to you right now. I don't want to talk about Rentie."