Chapter 1: An Old Man, A Young Man, A Mission
"You ready Ox?" Jay had his hand extended to me with a fist, waiting for the 'You bet' and then the fist bump. I just sat looking out the giant glass window.
"It's his first time Jay, of course he'll be a little nervous." Quincy looked over at me, and gave me that reassuring look. "So Jay, you think you're going to last 1 year without any play?"
"Haha very funny," said Jay. Did those two always love to joke around or not. Quincy, married for 40 years, had 2 children, a 16-year-old boy named Jake, short for Jacob, and a 10-year-old girl named Leila. And then there was Jay, the college boy, or "just-out" of a college boy. He was your typical 23-year-old guy who hops around picking up girls at the bars. The two of them seemed so close despite the age gap. And me, I'm Ocean, they call me Ox for short. Why? In the 2nd grade, my teacher told us to draw a horse. I bet you can guess what I drew. My teacher laughed and smiled and my "poorly drawn horse". She said it was an ox, and the name stuck. I don't find it offensive, just weird on how it came to be. I was the same age as Jay, 23.
From the far right side I could hear Quincy jokingly say, "I hope I don't have to be your father when we're up there. Jay gave him a light punch it the shoulder as if to say 'haha' again. I looked at Quincy again. He had out a picture of his two kids. I thought to myself, maybe I could start a family like Quincy. He had a passion for his job and his family. It was his 4th trip now, my 1st, as well as Jay. I took out my lone picture, my older brother Sail.
"You'll see him again, I promise you that." Quincy said, his sincere attitude always gave me reassurance. Sail and I were both raised in foster care our whole lives. I was 2, Sail 5, when the guy came in one night, and murdered our parents. He took everything that belonged to them. Their jewelry, pictures, everything. I guess Sail and I were both lucky that the man didn't know our parents had kids. We were lucky a foster family was willing to take my brother and myself in. As soon as I was able to comprehend things on my own, they told me the truth, that I was adopted. They did the same for Sail. They were surprised on how both of us never really cared to know about are real parents, even though they had no idea, proof, or any other clue on who our real parents were. I guess we both had a knack for being able to accept things. It's not that neither Sail nor myself didn't care, it's just that we are able to accept things as they are and not question them. Everything happens for a reason.
"OCEAN! OCEAN TAYLOR!" the shout came from my ear piece.
"Stay focused Ox, come on." Jay gave me a little nudge.
"OCEAN TAYLOR, ALL SYSTEMS STABILIZED?"
I quickly fastened up my suit, and prepared for the worst.
"YES SIR!" I replied back. Through my ear piece, there was a bunch of mumbling. I managed to catch an 'all systems go'. Before I knew it, it was here.
"10..." I closed my eyes, trying to stay calm, and focus on the mission at hand.......
"9..." Earth is what mattered most right now. Quincy, Jay, and myself would be heroes.......
"8..." Getting a little nervous. I felt a sickness toward my stomach, the kind you get when you get nervous........
"7..." My sister. I didn't want to leave her behind. As old as she was, I still needed to protect her, she was my sister......
"6..." I told myself, I would be back.......
"5..." I clenched my wrists. I could feel the sweat.......
"4..." No turning back now, this was it......
"3..." The sick feeling went away. I was ready. I was focused. I was determined.
"2..." It got really hot, really quickly.......
"1..." Blastoff......
Chapter 2: A King's Welcome
2 years ago...
I strolled down the aisle, happy as can be. Graduation was finally upon me. i had my degree in my back pocket and was ready to take on the world. I hope the world would be ready for me, i laughed inside.
"Ocean Taylor". I reached out to take my diploma. I didn't want to drop it, so i didn't.
Later that night.......
"Ladies and Gentlemen," Mr. King had started, raising his glass, "To my son Kevin, and Ox Taylor." Everyone accepted the toast. The King's knew me well. I met Kevin in one of my classes during my 2nd year at college. We became friends quickly, and before i knew it, i moved in with him and his family, who lived 15min from campus. i had to pay some sort of rent of course, but it was better than living in one of those dorms. Kevin introduced me to his dad, Ray. Ray was a professional weightlifter, but blew his back out trying out for the olympics. That is why he WAS a professional weightlifter. now he is an agent for professional athletes. He still was a strong, intimidating man, but he was a very cool person nonetheless.
The King's new my story. They knew about my past and being adopted, about my brother Sail, they welcomed me into their family full-time, as well as Sail, who I brought over one day, when our step-parents suffered instant death in a car crash with a drunk driver. They were very compassionate to us and they "adopted" us and Sail and myself couldn't be happier. Like my step parents, the Kings were also confused on why i was able to cope with a horrible death so easily. I guess it's just me.
...I drank my wine. Kevin and I were on our way, Sail doing his own science, going to some other school, despite his problems.
"Kevin, anything you'd like to say?" Mr. King looked at his son.
"I am just happy to be where I am now. I am happy I met Ox over here. Things couldn't be better now."
"And you Ox?"
I waited a couple seconds, "Thank you to Mr. King and his family for welcoming my sister and myself into their family. College is over, and I am looking forward to conquering any obstacle that the world puts in front of me."
Everyone clapped. We all continued eating... Sail, who was seated to my left, turned to me, "I'm so proud of you!"
Chapter 3: A Disaster
present time...
We've been up now 2 months. only 2 months? it seems like we've been up here forever. we should reach destination in another 3 months.....it's times like these where i like to sit back and reflect. I was already planning out what i was going to do when i got back. after the fame had subsided for a little, i would try and get a family started, like Quincy. I don't how right now, but I'll get it done.
Jay was telling me about his childhood. he was the 3rd of 5 children, the other 4 being girls. I laughed and told him, "so your sisters haven't taught you anything about treating a woman right and loving one?" he laughed and nudged me. I already knew jay would take whatever play he could get. if only his sisters taught him better.......I laughed inside
Up 4 months now. we.........
"Ox! Jay! Get over here stat!" Quincy shouted from the control room. Jay and myself ran over to Quincy, who filled us in. "It's bad. While we were sleeping, our space shuttle has flown out of the orbit of Earth. We no longer our being pulled in by gravity. We have lost contact with the station and the meteor is approaching quickly. Not to mention that we are completely off course away from the meteor."
"Well what are we going to do? Will we be able to do something?" Jay questioned.
"I don't know right now. Who knows how long it will take to find the meteor and destroy it. Let alone get gain contact with Earth, or find Earth."
"But we need to destroy it. We're civilization's last hope."
"And there is no way we can contact anyone to let them know our situation. We need to do this on our own. You want to be famous? Then lets do something about it!" That was Quincy's one fault. He was a selfish man. He was a nice guy and an awesome family man no doubt, but he was selfish in a way, and fame would be important to him.
"We're going to find the meteor, destroy it, and save the day" I chimed in, seeing the two of them with worried looks on their faces, "our mission is to destroy this meteor, and were going to do it at all costs, it's why were up here!" I looked at Quincy with a stern look. He nodded. I turned to Jay, who waited for a few seconds with a concerned look on his face, then nodded.
We were all trying to get contact again with earth. no luck. the power computer line broke. now there was absolutely no chance for contact....this would be bad if we couldn't do anything. Earth is riding on us.
What did i get everyone into. we had no way of finding the meteor now, let alone Earth. inside, i was concerned. All we could do now is search, and hope....the race against time was on..... "The Auron Vincible" vs. Time......
Chapter 4: A Burning Feeling
1 year ago...
My step-dad once said, "the opportunities are out there for you. you just got to reach up to the sky and grab it."
I guess I took his advice literally, and that's why I'm here, registering for a chance to go on a mission of great danger, but of great importance. I was able to register, even at such a young age, because i had a great knowledge of earth and it's atmosphere. the people at NASA said i had a knowledge of things unheard of before. because i didn't "show off my knowledge", i quickly gained the respect of everyone there...
...i was selected for the mission. then, i met my crew
"I'm Ocean," i said, "Ocean Taylor."
"Ocean?" What kind of name is that?" the young remarked. I could tell he was joking around.
"But you can call me Ox."
"Well nice to meet you Ox," said Quincy and we shook hands.
"I'm Jay," we shook hands as well, "I'm kind of interested Ox, how did you wind up with the name Ocean?"
"I don't know..." tilted my head down, "my parents were killed when I was young. I was in a foster home my whole life with my sister."
Quincy grabbed my shoulder, "I'm sorry to hear that Ox, we're here for ya. Ain't that right Jay?"
"You can count on that one"
We talked some more and learned more about each other. I learned that Quincy fought in the Persian gulf war, and jay won his school spelling bee at age 9. We all got along easily, but we still needed to focus on our mission soon to be.
We had to go through a lot of tests and simulations. Jay almost puked when he got off the Shuttle Mission Simulator. the 3 of us had to be ready for anything.
Before we even were talked to in-depth about the main mission, we were briefed on basics, which included breaking the atmosphere.
"As smart as the 3 of you may be, you have to be prepared when going through the atmosphere." the commander said, "if you're not careful you can get severely hurt, or even worse, die"
After the presentation, the commander came up to me, "you look a little tense" he said.
"Doesn't surprise me," I replied, " I just threw-up inside"
Chapter 5: Gone
15 days before expected impact....
"Quincy! Quincy!" I ran to him and woke him up, "Quincy, I see Earth and the meteor, we may have a chance!" he popped up and we all got right to work.....
"Jay, is there anyway you can alter the engine to make us go faster?"
"I'll see what I can do." That is why Jay was here. He was the mechanic on board. Not to say he had no other business there, but he was the designated mechanic. Like myself, he was also very bright and handy. he knew so much at such a young age. Jay went to work on the engine......
eventually he got it to work faster and we were able to go 1.25X faster than before.....
15 hours before expected impacted....
"I don't think we can stop and blow up the meteor in time" Jay was worried.
"We do all we can, you here me Jay? We can do this!" Quincy was determined, "there will be no slacking off until we do this. i trust you guys. now lets get this done.
We prepared all we could with the explosives....
5 hours before expected impact....
Jay was still worried, "By the time we get there, we'll be in the atmosphere, there's no chance we can get this done!"
Quincy wrote down a couple of formulas, "you're right Jay....."
...after minutes of talking and arguing and finally realizing there was nothing we can do, i stepped in, "I'll go out there. ill put the explosives on the meteor. We will save everyone"
Quincy looked astonished, "Ox?! you're crazy you'll die out there. there's got too be another way!"
"There's got too be another way? There IS no other way!"
"Let him do it Quincy" Jay was somber, "let him..."
Quincy stood there with his head down, then picked it up, "Well what are we waiting for boys? lets do this"
We made all the preparations we could before reaching the meteor.
The world was in my hands....
15 minutes before expected impact....
We reached the meteor. we opened the side door and I climbed onto it. I turned to my side, and earth was right there. i was moving in on it quickly, i had to hurry. I set charge after charge after charge, and before i knew it, time was up.
Quincy shouted over the headset, "OX! GET YOUR ASS BACK IN HERE! WE GOT TO BLOW THE THING!"
"I can't make it Quincy! you're going to have to detonate it with now with whatever charges I was able to set up."
I got no return through the headset, no last pleas, nothing. We had entered the atmosphere, ship, meteor, and all. i let go of the meteor. all around me i saw reds and oranges and everything, i was burning up, but why wasn't i dead yet? there's no way i can withstand the atmosphere for this long. I saw the meteor ahead of me, and saw an explosion, all the pieces that came off deteriorated very quickly, there was a small portion of the meteor left.
Before i knew it, i saw the meteor slowly fade away. piece by piece, the meteor deteriorated, or as i liked to call it, disambiguated. after that, i saw the spaceship, "The Auron Vincible". the impending explosion had almost completely destroyed it. Piece by piece, it slowly deteriorated. quincy and jay were gone. i saw all this while i was speeding down to earth at god knows how fast, feet first, and under my feet, you could see a flame, and that flame shot up along my sides. I myself was meteor. eventually nature came to me, i saw my feet burn up. it looked like little squares just flew off my body, and each one carrying a little piece of me.
My knees just broke off and disambiguated on their own.
My waist was eaten by the atmosphere....
As were my arms and torso.....
I closed my eyes as nature finished its job, "I had saved the world"
...i dreamed of Sail that night. i hope he would be ok....
that would be the last thing I ever remember.......or so I thought.
Chapter 1: Floating on Reality
...So this is what it feels like to be a hero. To save the day. Who would of guessed that saving billions of lives meant death in your own. When I go back to think about it, I ask myself, was it really worth it? I answer my own questions too. Of course it was worth it. Sail is safe. The whole world is safe. "Ocean Taylor is a hero" the televisions would say.
But reality is, I'm no longer there now. No longer on Earth. No longer with Sail. I'm all by myself. My mind and my body just floating around aimlessly in this endless space. All I can do now is sit.....well not even that. I have no body and nobody to sit with. I need to accept the fact that there is no one else anymore. Just me. But if I was here then,.........SAIL!!!!
Who was going to take care of Sail? Who was going to help him out? Sail couldn't live without me. He needed me. I needed him.......Without me there, Sail wouldn't be Sail. But he is my older brother. He is strong. That is why he is still around now. But me being dead, does that mean I am not strong? Of course not, I'm a hero. Calling myself a hero isn't selfish if it's the truth.
And I know one thing for sure. Sail, I'll always be up here thinking about you. Always up here waiting for you, not that I'm asking for you to die, but you know what I mean. I love you.
But emotion means nothing when your dead. When your dead, all feelings are sucked out of you, just like your life. When your dead, emptiness fills your body and that is all you really feel then. When your dead, you......
"Hey you! Hey! Can you here me?"
What was that? Is someone else here? Where is here anyway? I'm dead. I'm only suppose to hear inner voices, not outer ones. I felt my body shaking left and right, up and down. Suddenly, I could open my eyes again.
I saw another man above me. He was the one shaking me.
"Hey, you awake?" This man said to me.
"I'm suppose to be dead."
"Reality is, you're not. At least not now you're not.
Reality, I laughed inside.....touche.....
Chapter 2: Special
"I'm not dead? Where am I?" I exclaimed.
"In the clouds." the man said.
"Heaven?"
"No, no. Just the clouds. The same ones you see when you look up into the sky." I turned my head and saw the fluffy white stuff I was laying in. "Let me help you up."
He reached out with his hand, and I took it. "Say, how did you even get up here? I thought I'm the only one who could be 'here'." he asked, and he emphasized the 'here'.
"Look I don't even know. I thought I was dead."
"Well looks like your special then."
"Last thing I remember was blowing up a meteor, saving Earth. I saw my whole body disassemble in the atmosphere before my very eyes. First my feet, then my knees, then my body-"
"Hmmm...interesting. So you should be dead, but you ended up here. There is something to all this." He gave me a puzzled look and then his eyes lit up and he started talking to himself. "Well, he may have some power of some sort. I guess he just hasn't figured them out yet." He then looked back up at me. "Hey, I got a proposal, why don't you stick with me, join my alliance?"
"What's the catch?"
"Oh there's no catch. I believe you are very special."
"Special? I'm just an astronaut. I'm suppose to be dead." I remarked.
"That's why your special my friend. What do ya say?"
I gave it a moment. What was this guy doing? What was he all about? After some thinking, I realized I had only one option.
"I think I have to pass."
The man quickly murmured something to himself, then said, "Well, I ain't gonna force ya. What are you gonna do anyway? You gonna stay in 'here' for the rest of your life? Up in the clouds?"
"I'm going to look for my brother, Sail. He needs me."
"Sorry, never heard of him."
I just kind of looked at him all solemn and just started to walk away. No goodbye or anything cheerful like that. After a few steps I turned my head back, "Hey, what's your name by the way?"
"Zixan."
"I'm Ocean" I said. I kept walking away. I didn't know where I was walking to. Zixan said I was in the clouds. Was this really so? Should I take his help? He didn't even know Sail. Neh, it's for the better. I turned my head again and Zixan was gone. I sat down and just laid there. I thought to myself, maybe I really am special......
Chapter 3: Flying Blind
I woke up from my nap, but I wasn't in the clouds anymore. I was on the ground. Zixan's words suddenly came through me head. "That's why you're special." What does this all mean? Was it a mistake to say to to his offer? I don't even know his intentions. But whatever the case, he knew more than I did. But going home to Sail was my objective. Find him. He needed me.
I stood up and looked around. Just a forest. I started walking. It was all I could do. As I walked through the forest, I would try and peer through the treetops and see the bright blue sky. The fresh, open air always felt nice. I wished I was back on the clouds. The air up that high was so nice and thin, so easy to breathe. I felt closer to the sky now then I did before. Was it from the spaceship? The biggest mystery of all was why I was still alive. I may actually be breathing, but I still feel like something is missing from me. I feel like there is nothing inside me, that I am just a shell. But i couldn't deal with that now, I needed to find Sail.
I finally reached a river. Water! I ran to it and started slurping away. I stopped for a moment to catch my breath and peered into the river. I was still there. Still good ole' Ocean. I reached down to scoop some water up, but something strange happened before my hand had reached the water. Like out of thin air, a giant circle-like object, maybe 3 feet in diameter, with spikes sticking out, appeared under my hand. I quickly through the object to the side, I mean, it just appeared out of thin air. The frisbee-like object lay a few feet away. I slowly walked to it, like I was a lion stalking its prey, ever so cautiously. I looked at the top of the thing and it had all these symbols and whatnot on it, with a design shaped somewhat like a heart on it. Like it was a monster, I kind of reached out with my foot to tap it, thinking it would bite me. As my foot touched it, it stuck to it, like glue.
I kept trying to kick it off, but it didn't budge. I put my other foot on it to try and pry my first foot off, but the moment that hit the object, it stuck as well. I was waddling around like a penguin trying to get this thing off. I looked down and the object started expanding. It expanded maybe to about 7 feet in diameter and then I got really freaked out.
It started rising, floating off the ground. I tried to keep my balance, like on a balance beam or surfboard. Before I knew it, I was flying through the air on this object, quickly gaining speed. I felt like I was going to fall off, but my feet were stuck to it. I was flying through the jungle, weaving in and around trees, upside-down and through caves. All I was doing was try to keep my balance.
I finally came to the end of the forest and into an open field. I came to a stop, tilted 90 degrees upward, and shot straight into the air, the clouds. I went so high I was flying into the atmosphere. Through everything I studied as a student, experiencing it first hand. I was no longer scared. I just stood there and let this object take me wherever. I was fascinated.
Eventually, I started to make my slow decent back toward the ground. I started hovering about a foot off the ground. I lifted my foot, and I was able to step down from this object. The object vanished.
What just happened? I thought. I kept thinking about all these weird possibilities that maybe I was on drugs or something. Am I special? I soon came to realize that I had not died again. Why? I was in the atmosphere. I was suppose to disambiguate like before. I was so fascinated about what I was seeing, I had no time for factual things. I look ed at my hand and put my palm down. The object appeared again. I stood there for a second and decided to hop on again.
I spun my self in a circle. I was able to control this somehow.
I looked up. I took off, not knowing what lay ahead of me...
Chapter 4: Toriexla
What was this power I had. It was all new to me. But one thing was for sure. I was enjoying it. I was just soaring through the sky when I heard a "bump" right under the shield. I quickly turned my head and I saw a bird falling to the ground. Oops. I followed the falling bird to the ground.
It was a crow. I buried it right where it had landed. I dug a hole big enough for the bird, put the bird in, and buried it back up. I said rest in peace and stood up. As soon as I stood up something big knocked me in the back. I flew forward and landed face first 10 feet from where I buried the bird. A body was on top of me. This girl slowly got up off me, helped me up, then brushed off her "revealing" leather top and her skimpy leather shorts. She raised her hands to her face.
"Sorry. I can't control it. It just does whatever. Are you ok? Are you hurt?"
"No, no. I'm ok. You just kind of startled me, blind-sighting me."
"Yea, sorry about that. My power. I can't really control it."
"Power? You have a power?"
"Yea, don't get me started on it. What's your name by the way?"
"Oh, Ocean. Nice to meet you...."
"Toriexla." She stuck her hand out for the handshake. I took it. This Toriexla, she was beautiful. I mean her hair may have been a little whack, but she was beautiful. And she did look good in that leather 2-piece suit type thing. Are hands let dropped. I looked at her and asked
"So you just sort of transported here?"
"Yea I was fighting someone, no, something, and I used my power. My power is random, I never know what can happen. I can shoot fire, I can fly. I never know what will happen next. I guess I transported here and fell on you."
I hesitated to tell her about my power, what I could do. I could fly through the atmosphere on my "flyer" as I now called it. And that was just the beginning. I could mix and combine and mess with atmospheric elements. I was basically a weapon.
"And what are you doing in this..." and she looked around, "field?" she asked.
"Well do you want the simple answer or complicated one?" I asked her back.
"Both."
"Well, the simple one. I hit a bird. I was flying through the sky and accidentally hit a bird. I flew down to bury it. Then you hit me." I hadn't realized I told her I was flying until after I said it.
"You can fly?" She asked?
"Well not really fly, more like soar on a board. Hey let me tell you the complicated answer." I tried to buy myself some time. "You see I was in a space shuttle. I was saving Earth. I was going to blow up a meteor headed straight for Earth."
"You! You were on that space shuttle? The Auron Vincible?! It blew up in the atmosphere. They said the 3 men on board died."
"That's what I thought to. Before I was living a normal life. No flying powers." I decided to come to, "Now since that explosion I've gained all these powers, these abilities. And I feel empty inside. I feel like my insides were blown out and I was just left with a shell."
"I know what's going on here, you are just like me," she exclaimed.
"Like you? How so?"
"Well let's just say that you and me, we're not alone. You are a nobody. not the adjective, the noun. Nobodies have no hearts. Look it's complicated. And now that you are one of us, your name is not Ocean. It's..." she paused for a sec, "It's Aconex."
"Changing my name?"
"You'll understand soon enough."
I didn't really. I became more confused. I had only begun to ponder what she said before she pipped up again. "Say Aconex, you said you could fly, soar whatever. What else can you do?"
She caught me off guard. "I....can.....control elements of the atmosphere."
"Oh really," she became sarcastic. Then I decided to make my move.
I summoned my flyer and stood on it as it hovered on the ground.
"Here, grab my hand" I extended my hand to her.
She was reluctant at first but then took it. I pulled her on the flyer with me.
"Ready?" I asked her
"Um, yea?"
We flew off....
Chapter 5: Not Brotherly Love
I headed back on the flyer with Toriexla to the spot where we took off from. She had told me everything about being a nobody. She told me why I must be Aconex.
It was a bright, sunny day. It was when we landed that she asked me the question.
"Hey Aconex, can I tag along with you? I'm not really going anywhere?" She was still a mystery, she kept very secretive about her past, not like it was a bad thing though. I guess she was shy or something.
"Sure." I said.
"Where are you headed anyway?"
"Well I'm looking for my brother. His name is Sail. He's older than me. He's blind, and he needs me."
"So you left your brother to go save the Earth?"
"Yea, he wanted me too. He is smart though. He has overcome his disability and is very successful, but I worry for him sometimes."
"That would make sense."
"But yea, you can tag along." So she did. We just walked and talked the rest of the day. We talked about being a nobody again, my brother some, and just about life in general. Nightfall came and we both sat down to rest. The sun was almost down. There was still a little light left. Toriexla turned to me and asked another question.
"Hey, I don't give you the impression that I'm a tease or anything do I?" she asked me. No one had ever asked me that before, I was deciding if I really heard that or I was imagining it. "Hey," she nudged me, "Did you hear me?"
"No, no you're not a tease. Where would you get that impression from?"
"I'm just known for that. People say I just move from guy to guy like their nothing. Unfortunately their right." I put my head down. "No no no. You're good. You're not like the other guys." And she grabbed my shoulders to make sure I wouldn't walk away. "That's one thing I'm trying to change about myself." I didn't know what to think.
I turned to her and asked, "Can you give me a minute?" I stood up.
"I hope it's not from what I said."
"No no. I just need a minute to get some air."
"O-ok"
"Just sit tight right there, I'll be right back." I summoned my flyer. I got on top and went straight up, into the atmosphere, into the clouds. I needed to think. Why am I Aconex. Think about Toriexla among other things. Was she falling for me? Why did she ask me that? She is being honest though. But would she purposely draw me away from her? I had only begun to thought about all this when a familiar figure appeared.
"ZIXAN!" I shouted toward him.
"I'll give you points for remembering me." He floated on the clouds to me.
"What do you want?"
"I came to make you the same offer."
"I told you already, I don't want to join. Thanks but no thanks. Look, I know it must be hard being far away from your brother. Just let me help. I mean you sound more like 'us' now. Aconex. I think you are the first to start with an 'A'."
"How do you know that?!"
"I overheard you talking to yourself. When I first met you, I knew you were special. I mean, I thought I was the only one who can float among the clouds. But you, you can, and you're different. You have a gift. As soon as you said Aconex, I zoned in on you and I want you to join me."
"No thank you." I got back on my flyer and started to head back to the ground. As I left, he said something either I won't forget. "I'll tell Sail you're being difficult." I stopped. I turned around and Zixan was gone. Is Sail with him? I flew back to the ground. Toriexla was still there. "Sorry about that." I said to her.
"No problem. I understand." she responded. We both just lay there under the star-filled sky. She reached out and grabbed my hand...and held it.
Chapter 6: The Others
We just layed there all night, Toriexla and I. We didn't do anything but hold hands, then just fall asleep.
The bright sun woke us up the next morning. I felt recharged at the crack of dawn. My inner powers felt stronger. I was feeling better. I turned to Toriexla.
"Sleep well?" I asked.
"Yea. So what's on the agenda for today?" She asked.
"I don't really know. I plan on doing what I've been doing lately. Just walking and looking for Sail. Say, you know of anything to eat....anywhere?"
She reached into her pocket and pulled out something. "Just a little change sorry."
"Why don't we go find something to eat first and then go from there."
"Sounds like a plan."
We started walking.
I asked her, "So what did you do before you got here, before you became a..a."
"Nobody"
"Yea. What was your life like?"
"I love science and I wanted to prove to people that majicks exist. Kind of silly if you ask me."
"Well what you and me can do, I guess that proves your point. I mean this.." I summoned my flyer," is majick."
We looked ahead. A small little creature poofed out of nowhere. Toriexla and I looked at eachother. She said "That looked like majick too."
This small little black creature stood like 3 feet tall just stood there with its beety yellow eyes. A few seconds later, 6 more popped out in a circle around the 1st one. A few more seconds later, these 4 ft creatures appeared. They looked the same as the other creatures, only taller and had armor with some weird heart logo on it.
"Aconex, these are some of the creatures I was fighting before. Come fight with me!" Toriexla ran toward them.
"Fight with what?" I shouted to her.
"Use her powers and your flyer."
Toriexla was on to something, as I said that a fireball flew out of her and killed one of these creatures. I summoned my flyer and shouted "Toriexlas, duck!" She turned her head and ducked. I threw my flyer like a frisbee. The spikes on the end had the illusion of a swirling blade on the flyer. The flyer cut through the air so smoothly. It took out 4 or 5 of these creatures and flew back to me. I caught it.
"There you go Aconex, keep it up" Toriexla shouted as a lightning bolt shout out of her and killed another creature. As far as my powers went, I still wasn't quite sure how to use them. I could manipulate things in the atmosphere, use the air to rip things apart. I hopped on the flyer and flew toward the creatures. As I flew toward them, I stuck my hand out, similar to what Toriexla was doing. Then all the sudden, a beam of light shot down from the sky into my hand, then from my hand into the creatures. The rest of them basically exploded. All the creatures were gone. I flew to where Toriexla was.
"Well that was fun, wasn't it?" She said.
"What were those things?" I asked her.
"I don't know, they randomly show up and start attacking, so the only thing I can do is kill them."
"You're not hurt are you?"
"No I'm good."
"Shall we continue?"
"I guess so." And we continued to walk. We were both starting to get really hungry . Finally we came to an apple orchard.
"Food!" I shouted and I ran ahead. Toriexla caught up to me. We sat and ate. I asked her if she could use that fire again later tonight.
"I told you Aconex, I don't control what I can do. Different things just happen."
"I know," I responded, "I'm just teasing ya."
Chapter 7: A Mistake Called Love
I don't know why I didn't make many moves on Toriexla yet. She was into me. I could feel it. I was into her. I wouldn't say I was afraid to do anything to her or make a move on her, it's just that I was reluctant to. I think though, I was afraid of the commitment I would then have if I did anything with her.
"I could really use that fire right now," I said.
"Aconex...." she said with a smirk, "besides, it's warm out. Quit being a wimp."
I put my arm around her shoulders, "I guess since you are being so difficult, you are going to have to warm me up with your body heat. I'm fine with this for the rest of the night."
She smiled. We both just gazed off as the dusk turned into night. She then looked up to me, I looked down to her. We kissed. A sweet passionate kiss. I was holding her and kissing her, under the almost full moon.
I released her from my arms and placed her in the grass and leaned down and continued to kiss. She had her arms around my head neck, my hands on either side of her. It was then I finally decided to make the next move. While kissing her, I reached up with my right hand and placed it on her bare stomach. I moved it up to her leather top. I caressed her breast. It was like she never even felt my hand. She just kept on kissing me. Before I knew it, I was taking off her. She was still kissing me, so I had to do it without looking.
I pulled me head away from hers, and worked my lips down to her breasts. She made a small moan.
"Keep going, keep going," she said. With my lips, I used my hands as well. She moaned some more. She was enjoying it.
I sat up for a sec just to take off my shirt. After the accident, when I had woken up, I was wearing a white "muscle" t-shirt and and a sweatpant type pants. That is what I had been wearing since then.
I took off my shirt and went back to work. I made my way to the bottom part of her 2-piece leather suit. I took those off.
Now, I don't want to say my lips got any special powers but I felt like they had. She gave me even louder moans and was arching her back. She was panting. I sat back up again and took off the pants I had. Toriexla proceeded from there. She was magic. She pleased me like no one had ever done before.
After that, I wanted more, she wanted more. I leaned her on her back and we made love. Her panting and moaning just wanted me to keep going, and not stop. I didn't. It felt like the whole night we were like this, her and I....
We woke up simultaneously sometime during the next day. She had this face on her that told me she was hiding something.
"Aconex, it was a mistake," she said.
"What are you talking about?" I inquired.
"I'm sorry I led you on, I shouldn't have"
"Are you saying you didn't want to.......you know?"
"Look, I need to go."
"Go? Go where?"
"I don't know." She got dressed and started walking. I got dressed too and followed her. "Please don't follow me," she said. I stopped walking. She walked off.
Chapter 8: Eyes on the Prize
I didn't get it. What happened? What did I do? After the best night of my life, she just walks off and acts like it never happened. I needed to find out what was wrong though. I decided to follow her secretly.
She walked for hours. I was growing tired. I breathed a sigh of relief when she stopped under a tree and sat against the trunk. I had to get to the bottom of this. What could be bothering her so much? I hope I didn't hurt her. I snuck up behind her.
"Can I sit with ya?" I asked. She was a little startled to see me. She didn't respond. I sat down anyway. Her head was just staring toward the ground. It was almost as if she hadn't even acknowledged me. "Look," I said, "I don't know what's going on. I hope I didn't hurt you. I didn't mean to. I'm sorry. If you didn't want to, you didn't have to. I would have been ok with it."
She lifted her head up and looked at me. She had tears coming from her eyes. She grabbed my hand. "You're a good guy Aconex," she said, "A good guy. Don't let anyone ever tell you differently."
I sighed, "Look, I---"
"Shhh," she said and she put her finger over my mouth. "Just don't worry about it, ok? You did nothing wrong." She was extremely teary-eyed. After a few seconds she spoke again. "Look, you're the only guy that has treated me like I wasn't just a piece of meat. I lived a good life before, but I never felt like anyone respected me much. But you, you're not like everyone else..............About earlier, I just want you to know that was one of the greatest nights of my life.....I love you Aconex." With tears in her eyes, she leaned over and kissed me. After a few seconds, she hugged me. She wouldn't let go. I was speechless through all of this. It all felt surreal to me, like this this whole second journey, this whole second life, like a second chance.
I kind of half-separated myself from her. "What is it?" she asked.
"I.......I need to go."
"Go? Where?"
I stood up. I didn't want to leave Toriexla, but I knew it was time. I squatted down to her and grabbed both her hands with mine and put them together. "I'll come back for you, I promise. You need to stay strong ok? Be yourself? You're a strong girl, a special girl."
I could tell she was confused. "Ok," she said, " I love you Aconex. I've never been able to say that to anyone before."
I was silent. I dropped her hands and then started away from the tree.
"Aconex, wait!" I heard a shout in the distance. Toriexla came running toward me and like a train, slammed into me. I fell to the ground and she kissed me....
I eventually nudged her off me. "Buy Toriexla.' I was solemn. There was not much else to say. A realization occured to me and as I walked away, I thought of one thing....Sail........I'm coming brother.....