After Earth

Chapter 16: Back To Attas

        "Shut everyone out, and you won't have a soul to save you from me."
     "Rentie!" I spat. "If you don't shut the fuck up now, I will not hesitate to kill myself right here. You can't-"
     The door that had been shut all this time had cracked open to reveal Orgeti with crossed arms and a darkened look. He approached me, walking along the ground as gravity had returned to us. Wherever we were. I had gotten a chance to glimpse out the window to see a cakey white surface that resembled the moon, but I couldn't recall much else. Orgeti extended a hand for me to take, but I shook my head.
     "We're here. You're the last to exit the ship," he said. "Let's go so Alaxier can heal you."
     Alaxier... I followed him through the door and walked through the empty ship half-expecting to see my son discarded like trash. But it was Orgeti and Kaiglanr that believed that Alaxier could fix him, no matter if he was just a corpse. I grabbed at my chest and kept my head low in shame at the thought of the idea of reanimating a dead body. That was a fate worse than death.
     I was the one to blame. How could I have promised Acki the world and let it all come crumbling down to some crack trip to a planet I wasn't even sure was good enough to be on. Rentie was right. I was a fool to allow her to live through that experimental treatment. I was a fool to believe that when none of the others worked that Rentie would be any different. Who was I kidding? Me? A hero? When Agitit came to me and asked me to become something more than just a rotting man in a cell, my first thought wasn't that I was going to save the world. I was going to escape.
     "This one cries. I've never seen a monster hold so many regrets before."
     I looked up to see a man with a pale face. He was small, starved perhaps, but his hands had wrapped around my left wrist as they began to make my black skin glow. It was a calming effect, and my eyes slowly began to shut.
     "If I am to understand it, this is the man that saved you?" he spoke back. Behind him was everyone else, all mortified at how I looked and how absurd it felt. They nodded to the man holding me, but it was getting hard to see. Hard to think... "He can... live with this sickness. It can be controlled, and he will survive. His son will live, too. What's his name?"
     "Tayas Votipae." Nashi came out from within crowd, half afraid and half nervous for another reason.
     The man stared at me. "Tayas Votipae. I am Alaxier Ornerve. It is a pleasure to save you."
     And then I shut my eyes tight enough to spiral into the darkness.

     I gripped my bed sheets tightly in hopes that my grip on them would force me to stay inside or them even longer. I pushed one against my face to smell what I described as the scent of sleepy. It was a warm scent, fresh enough to pull you back down into eh depths of your own dreams but keep you wakeful. I missed this. But, as I crept my eyes open, the ceiling had a few black holes craned at the top that reminded me of the vivid imagination I carried. Of course I wasn't back in Arizona with Rentie. But it did feel real, right?
     "Do you want some breakfast, hon?" Rentie came crashing through the doorway with a goofy smile, an apron over her very pregnant stomach.
     "Why am I here?" I grumbled, lying face down on the bed.
    "Well," Rentie sighed. "Maybe it's a thing people do before they die. They relive their happiest moments, and then... POOF! You're dead!"
     "Sounds stupid."
     "Life is stupid, Tayas. Anyways." I felt a weight on top of me. "You're not dying. You're, well, I guess figuring out how to live in two bodies at the same time. Like, ever think you could be a monster and a human at the same time? Crazy."
     "This is dumb."
     "Yeah. I know. For what it's worth, Tayas, you're going to wake up healthy and happy. You're going to be able to save Acki like you've always dreamed of. Ain't that nice?"
     I lifted my head. "Is that what you think?"
    "No, that's what you think. Remember, this is your head. You made it all up, so ta-da!" The ground beneath us began to turn black like the ceiling. "Oh, I suppose it's time to wake up, Tayas. What did you always tell me when I was dead tired and had to go to work?"
    I laughed. "You can't sleep in, Rentie. The world is starting to spin without you."

     I gasped for air, clutching the sheets that didn't hold the scent of tired like the ones I knew.    These felt unreal, but generally I also felt unreal. Alaxier stared at me, smiling with big teeth. What?
    "That was cute," he smiled.
     "W-what?"
     "The "You can't sleep in, Rentie. The world is starting to spin without you." Not what I expected."
     I said that out loud? I turned my head away.
     "Oh, I suppose I should brief you," he said, switching topics. "First things first, you're healthy now. Your powers from the drugs are in check and the monsterization process has stopped entirely, so yay we won! Oh, and, uh, the Tavos would like to personally thank you for the opportunity to study monsterization."
     "The who?"
     "Oh, the species of Attas." I stared at him, deadpan expression. "Oh, well, you'll see them soon enough. We are in the big city. Oh, and about your son."
     "Yeah?"
     Alaxier went towards the exit, and creaked the door open slowly. There were shadows of people with big ears and the oddest of shapes, to which I figured was the Tavos that Alaxier spoke of so briefly. Then, out of nowhere, Acki came running towards me and squeezed me tightly. My face tightened, but then it softened, and then Acki and I were hugging each other and I was crying. Crying, crying, crying so much that I thought the floor would be covered in water.
     "Okay, the bad news is that your hands can't be... reverted back to the way they were," Alaxier continued. "Good news is that Acki is healthy. And, I know you're concerns, but I'm not a necromancer, so he's alive."
     "Dad, you gotta meet the Tavos! They're so nice! They look like elves with blue and yellow skin!" Acki yelled in excitement.
     "One minute." I turned to Alaxier. "Is everyone safe now?"
     "Of course. Everyone's been waiting for you to wake this past week, and we have a house set up for you and Acki. I can take you-"
      "What's the status of Earth, Alaxier? Are they..."
      Was everyone else dead? I held Acki closer to my chest.
     "Hm..." Alaxier looked puzzled. "Why do you worry? We could not save them, even the Tavos who are immune to such a disease. It is pointless."
     "I suppose I thought... maybe there was a chance. You saved me, you know."
     "It's different. You're different. Trust me. If I had a way to save everyone, I would have never left.  But this is after Earth, Tayas. We cannot expect any more chances."