The Odyssey of Scylla

Chapter 1

Watching the stars hurdle by can make one feel small and insignificant. It's an insignificance that is difficult to get over when you feel smaller than everything around you. Feeling especially small is something you get used to, though. When I was on Earth, I was singing in bars trying to make ends meet, and now, I was announcing one of the most formidable warriors in the cosmos.

The day the fleet arrived, it had been bright, and snow blanketed the ground. I walked from one dive to the next, trying to make my rent payment. It hadn't been easy for me. Without a family to fall back on or friends who weren't friends until they needed something, I was alone in the world.

---

The sky rumbled, and those of us on the street looked up. Thunder during snow was unusual, but there weren't clouds in the sky that day. We collapsed to our knees from the deafening sound of jets flying overhead. As others began to panic at the sight of strangely shaped vessels leading the jets in an aerial display, I grew excited.

I remember grabbing my amplifier and holding onto my bag's straps tight, and following as fast as I could. People and vehicles fled past me, and away from the action, I couldn't run away from that potential danger. As I had begun to assume, two ships landed in a heavily wooded area, reducing the trees to tinder.

Low soundwaves flooded the area, and those of us still close collapsed again. I had cupped my hands over my ears, sparing my eardrums irreparable damage. When I was able to right myself, the ship's inhabitants were in front of us. They were all different, different colors sizes but most definitely not human.

One of the aliens stepped away from the group and stood in the middle of us all. It held its limbs in the air and a scream emitted from it. I protected my ears again, but after a moment, the sound changed, and I was beginning to understand what it was saying.

"You are in the presence of greatness. Behold your conqueror and his minions. I give you our lord, Death."

A thin, human-like alien moved from the shadow of the ship. His skin was a pale green-blue, and his large eyes reflected the sun. It had looked at first like he had dreadlocks covering his head, that was until they moved. One lock moved away from his head and grabbed the alien who had spoken around its middle. He threw the alien away, and it landed below the ship with a heavy thud.

"Can one of you pathetic creatures do better than that?" His words hissed through the air, punctuated by the sounds of the roaring jets.

The jets had dived low, but they ricocheted off some invisible force instead of hitting the ships. Pieces of the jets flew through the air, landing and sliding down around us but not close.

"Make me feel what that announcer couldn't."

I swallowed my fear. I had known I could do better than that creature had. I stood up and faced Death. I took a deep breath and let the words flow from my lips. "You face an inevitable being. One that's name alone should fill you with dread or the joy of release. For Death has swept down from the heavens; he has come to conquer you and release your souls upon the winds. You may kneel in submission or face the weapons of Death."

Death smiled that day, and I knew I had sealed my fate.

---

I jumped as clawed fingers and tentacle-like appendages wrapped around my body.

"What are you thinking about?"

"How vast space is, and how insignificant it makes me feel." I leaned into the alien behind me.

"You are not insignificant Scylla." His voice was calm and even, lending to his demeanor.

"I am. Look at the sky as it flies by us. I'm so small compared to everything around us. I'm..."

He pulled me tighter against him. "You are not insignificant. You are the only one of your species that made an impression on me. Your voice and knowledge of death let me know you were the most perfect creature to be my announcer."

He nuzzled my ear. "As time has passed, I have realized that you are the only female of any species that has moved me to this; moved me to love. You will never be insignificant to our child Scylla or to me."

I pressed his hand tighter to my belly. We had been surprised that we were compatible at a reproductive level. His anatomy had been closer to human than some of the others on the ship. However, it was still different enough that we hadn't considered offspring.

"I'll do my best to remember that."

He let me go and went back to the bed. "You should, Scylla, now come back to bed. We have a world to invade tomorrow, and I want you rested."

I turned from the window and went back to the bed as well. Death wrapped his arms and tentacles around me, and it made me feel safe, safer than any life had made me feel.