Eleanor pointed down below them. The ten descended swiftly. Szlena crouched so she could come off her back to the ground.
"Where are they?" One of the Xanians asked.
"Human..." Szlena looked at her.
"They're hiding. This is an ambush," Eleanor said. She placed her hand on the ground. The ground where her hand covered went in some more. She looked up and realised the pink laser lights piercing through the fog.
She knew the mechanics of turrets and weapons the humans had developed to kill Xanians because of her husband. He warned her about it sometimes ago.
"Magnom Turrets!!!" She shouted.
The turrets fired relentlessly at them, hitting 5 of the Xanians down. The other soldiers began shooting at them from their places of hiding.
Eleanor crawled on the ground amidst the conflict to avoid the barrage if bullets flying about.
Szlena flew right at the turrets, effortlessly dodging the bullets. The other Xanians supported by taking out the humans.
Eleanor got up after crawling a little away from the crossfire behind a signboard that had collapsed on the floor. The signboard stood up vertically forming the perfect shield.
"You!!" A voice stormed through the air. "I should've fucking killed you!"
Eleanor turned quickly. A pair of angry eyes stabbed at her. It was Agatha.
Agatha fired her rifle. Eleanor tried to hide completely behind the signboard but she was too late. She felt the bullet go through her arm. She fell to the ground, wincing in pain.
Szlena looked at Eleanor. She flew at Agatha and pinned Agatha to the ground by her head. Agatha looked at the other soldiers as she struggled to break free from Szlena's grip.
They were all dead.
Szlena raised her up by the neck and flew towards Eleanor.
"Human!" Szlena called out. "Is she the one?"
Eleanor looked up at them. She was wounded but rage still burning in her eyes, she got up.
"You are bleeding, human," Szlena noticed her arm. She stretched out her hand towards her and clenched her palm into a fist.
Eleanor shouted as she felt a sharp pain in her arm. "What did you..." She felt the pain from the bullet wound go away, slowly.
"Exert your revenge," Szlena placed Agatha on the ground.
Agatha sat there, unable to move.
"Why is she immobile?" Eleanor noticed.
"That is my doing," Szlena answered.
"Why do you help me, Szlena?"
"Help? No, this is simply a last wish I am granting you, before your death by my hand."
Eleanor nodded. "Is this what you call a dignified executions? What does this make you feel anyway?"
Szlena frowned a little. Perhaps she wasn't sure why but she just felt obligated to. No, obligation wasn't the word for it. It was more of compassion.
Agatha looked at her. "Look at you," she snickered, "all alpha wolf. It kind of suits you. I made a mistake with you. I should've put a plasma bullet in you head."
"You killed my son..." Eleanor said. She remained expressionless and vaguely calm. "He wasn't a threat and yet you didn't hesitate to kill him."
"He's the fucking enemy!" Agatha yelled. "Besides, he looked really disgusting."
Eleanor took her gun.
BANG!
Eleanor shot her arm. Agatha screamed in pain.
"You fucking psycho!" She shouted.
"He was my only reason to live, and you took that away from me," Eleanor said. "Death is mercy for you." Eleanor stepped back. "There's a part of the brain that if hit by a bullet, doesn't kill the person. You just slowly feel the blood spill into your eyes, your vision becomes blurry and then you find it hard to breathe. Though..." She stopped and turned to Agatha again. "...you need the right distance."
Szlena stared at Eleanor. There was no hint of fear of anger in her eyes. It was the purest kind of revenge.
Eleanor shot Agatha in the side of her head. Agatha looked blankly and fell to her side. She was breathing but with too much effort. Blood covered her pupils quickly and she began to cough blood.
Eleanor stared at Agatha slowly dying with a feeling of satisfaction. But it didn't feel enough to equal the pain she felt when her son died.
Szlena flew towards Eleanor. "It is time," Szlena said.
"I understand," Eleanor answered. She looked around to see if there was a way to escape this death.
They were both interrupted by huge crack in the ground emerging right under their feet. Eleanor's eyes widened as she realised she was falling. Szlena however took flight and stayed in the air.
Hoot lava raced up out of the giant crack, coming straight at Eleanor.
"I am the one to kill you," Szlena said. She flew below and caught Eleanor. They both came out with the lava coming right after them.
She threw Eleanor to the ground. She was aware that something like that was a bit too strange. The other Xanians looked as confused as her. Szlena looked up to the sky and saw rubbles beaming around a blue star. It was so visible. Too visible.
"What is happening?" She stared.
Eleanor got up and stared to the blue star in awe. She had never seen anything so bright in her entire life.
"Cosmic...?" Szlena said. "Cosmic! What're you doing?!"
"SZELNA. I NEED YOU TO TELL EVERY OTHER TO LEAVE THIS PLANET."
A voice echoed audibly in her head. It was Cosmic's voice.
"What? Why?" Szlena asked.
Eleanor stared and wondered who she must've been talking to. She looked where Agatha's body was. The cracks replaced the spot where it laid. She must've fallen into the crack.
That fact annoyed Eleanor. That meant the heat would kill her fast and it was the opposite of how she wanted Agatha to die. But there was no time to think about that.
"I AM ENDING THIS WAR. THIS PLANET...THE PEOPLE...THE EARTH NEEDS TO BE PURGED. EVERY XANIAN MUST LEAVE THIS PLANET NOW."
"Cosmic...don't tell me that's what you're thinking?!" Tears filled Szlena's eyes. "Cosmic!!!"
"BUILD US ALL, SZLENA. I HAVE DONE THIS FOR OUR KIND."
Szlena clenched her fist.
"What is it?" Eleanor asked.
"Where is the nearest shelter?" Szlena looked at her. Her face was a mix gloominess and frustration.
"What? You still want to kill some more? Innocents are in those shelters, not soldiers."
"Shut it, human. The fact that their innocents didn't matter to your kind when they slaughtered our children." Szlena sighed. She really would love to do that but Cosmic mattered more. "But this isn't what it's about. I'm not asking so I can kill them. I'm asking because you're wounded, you need to get help."
Eleanor stood there in disbelief. "If you're going to use me—"
Szlena flew down to her and picked out the bullet in her hand from the hole. "Have you asked yourself why you felt no pain? I dulled your senses to ignore it. If I wanted to end you, it wouldn't take anything from me. That said, I did want to kill you...but not anymore."
"Why?"
"Because you're going to die anyway."
Now Eleanor was struck with more confusion than fear. What had been out to kill her just told her she wasn't going to die by it's hand.
"What?"
"All of you."
Szlena stretched out her hand. "Take my hand... Eleanor," She said.
Eleanor took her hand reluctantly and she flew up into the sky.
________________________________________
The cracks on his body ran further down his chest.
"Cosmic," a Xanian said as he watched the others exit earth, "are you sure about this?"
"Yes, Tritane. You have to make sure our race makes it out of this alive," Cosmic strained. (Pronounced as Trai-ta-ni).
"I will."
________________________________________
"What the fuck is that?"
Ivan and Diane stared at the star on the screen. The rubbles swirled around it in a chaotic manner but were all converging around it.
"He's...creating something?" Diane guessed.
"Sir!" A soldier called out.
"Not now!" Ivan yelled.
"Sir, it's the Xanians. They're all leaving the earth."
"What?!"
Ivan walked over to the soldier's screen.
"They're all flying out of earth," the soldier explained.
"Why?" Diane asked.
"Something's off," Ivan reasoned. "Cosmic is out there doing god-knows-what, and the rest just casually leave? Unless..."
Ivan's eyes widened. "...unless he's planing on obliterating the planet at a go."
"That's too much. Even for him," Diane shook her head.
"If he's being sacrificial about it, then it'll make a lot more sense."
Ivan was panicking now. He didn't realise that Cosmic was one to pull off the suicidal attack.
"Shoot him down. Now!!"
"Yessir," the soldiers responded.
________________________________________
Szlena landed softly and put Eleanor on the ground.
"Szlena," Eleanor called out at her. "Thank you."
"We are enemies, human. I am not your friend," Szlena frowned and flew away.
Eleanor headed into the shelter hurriedly.
Szlena continued flying above the clouds. She wanted to understand what was going on. She flew and finally burst open the final cloud. Her eyes widened and her lips trembled.She could see it form, from above. The star glistening as its core. It was visible now. Beyond the clouds, it could be seen covering a small fraction of the sky.
"You're...going to kill yourself," Szlena muttered.
It looked like a jewel. Big and luminous, somewhat beyond the moon. She looked to her left and saw millions of Xanians fly across the sky.
She flew higher and looked down at the earth and then back at the "forming planet" visible in the sky. The "forming planet" had not yet fully emerged, but she could tell they looked similar.
"He's...cloning the earth?" She gasped. "That's too much. Even for him. Creating something like that in such a short period of time. He's going to implode himself."
________________________________________
"I can see them."
Cosmic said to himself with a little smile on his face.
He looked at the earth once more, with his hands stretched out and pointed toward the formation before him.
"I have given out myself for both these planet's existence," he soliloquised. "This way, there would be no more conflicted."
"Cosmic!"
Cosmic looked down, as if looking away from someone's face.
"Szlena," he answered. "Please get out of my head." He saw her as a distraction preventing him from achieving this feat.
"What are you doing? You're going to die! Just stop, there's definitely another way to do this."
"No there isn't. There isn't another way to end this..."
He looked at the clouds and frowned.
"You need to leave the earth. They're shooting at us," he warned her.
"Forget about me! Cosmic please don't do this to me..."
"Even after everything...even after leaving their planet. They still want to kill us all."
Now his demeanor had changed. He was ready to give up his life to leave earth and save his race and yet the humans wanted nothing more but to kill them off.
Cosmic flew down to the earth with impeccable speed.
Szlena saw him burst through the clouds.
"Cosmic!" She shouted.
"Szlena!"
She ignored the voice calling out to her and hurried after Cosmic. She could see the Xanians follow her from behind.
"Stop following me, Tritane!" She looked at the Xanians behind her.
"Don't be foolish, Szlena," Tritane said. "Cosmic is saving not just our race, but these humans as well."
"I don't give a fuck about the humans. He doesn't deserve to die."
"He's sacrificing himself for us all!"
"He's being selfish."
"You're being selfish Szlena. Stop or I'll—"
Szlena stopped and turned to him. With one swish from her arm, she hit him greatly in the face. He flew back due to the impact.
"I'm stronger, Szlena...you do not want to go down this road."
"You will not stop me."
"I didn't want to use this but...you've forced me hand."
Szlena screamed loudly as she threw her limbs about. There was something in the air that kept shaking her from the inside out.
"Sleep." Tritane sighed.
Szlena struggled till she lost consciousness. Tritane grabbed her and flew beyond the atmosphere.
"Cosmic..." She muttered as her eyes closed.