Chapter 19: Failures

Safo Nur was stunned, the poison that the first snake injected into his leg started to do its work. The walls of the blood vessels became thinner because of the intoxication, bringing the hole here and there, Blood circulation damaged, the leg started to turn green.

"Am I dying?" Sadly Safo knew the answer. More snakes slithered their way towards the motionless prey.

"Move! Use your blaster!" An electronic voice boomed, shaking Safo Nur out of his shock. Dost regained his senses and an already white hue dome was covering him. He secured Safo Nur from new serpent attackers. Leaving only two of them, that currently were attached to him. Safo Nur's job was to get rid of them.

He looked at Dost, then back to his leg, then the shoulder. Latter was colored green by that time too. A numb sensation was slowly overwhelming his body. He lost control over his leg and arm. "I'm done." He's sleeping right hand was holding the blaster.

His mind was blank, he couldn't even think what to do or how to. He received advice, almost an order to use his blaster, but due to the shock, he didn't grasp an idea of how to do it if his hand was not working. He was in a mute state of panic. In his, inexperienced, understanding of the situation, there was no way to survive.

He gave up, his eyes were deliberately closing.

{"What are you doing? Take that blaster. Take that blaster."} Luna was yelling inside his head the whole time. It was just another noise in the background for Safo Nur.

New pain!

Abruptly, a tiny pinch in his chest. The gushing wind came from behind. Blood of the snake that was stuck on his shoulder pinched to Safo Nur's face.

Another painful feeling of his flesh being torn apart. Two more pinches.

Safo Nur turned on his focus, the world which he chose not to see became clearer. O'rmon stood next to him with facial features that could be described as - disdain. They had some medical equipment for emergencies, and she used 3 small syringe bottles on him. Chest, shoulder, and leg.

"Lay down, antipoison should kick in in a minute" She left, turning into a blur.

Dost stepped on every snake and squashed all of them by now.

In less than 30 minutes Kutch and O'rmon finished off the rest of the remaining dogs, letting some of them flee. They had no time to chase after them. All of them gathered around Safo Nur.

"Why did it feel right? The right thing to do. It felt that I must die. Something inside of me wanted me to die. Is it me who wants me dead?" Once more Safo Nur was crying while pondering over the fact that he couldn't help himself to survive. He didn't say the words out loud, he was enough burden for others as the weakest member of a team. He didn't want to get more pitiful looks than he was already getting.

Silence. No one knew what to say or how to start a conversation in order to cheer him up with some pep talk.

"Maybe, because it was the easiest thing to do?! It was easy not to resist, it is easy to give up. Pathetic. King? What the hell can you do as a King? You will fuc* up everything, you, useless. I hate you, and you know that. But you're the only one I have now. You have to get up and keep ongoing. It does not matter how many times you screw up. You're already a failure in everybody's eyes. You are at the bottom, no way to sink deeper. So you better try, just to try one more time." It wasn't that he had split personalities, he was extremely honest with himself. No one knew him better than himself. No one was more strict to him than himself. And no one could encourage him better than himself.

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The fact that he almost gave up on everyone he knew struck more than any humiliation in front of other people. Safo Nur gathered his will, opened his eyes, and stood up.

"I apologize that I put your daughter's life in danger. That won't happen again"

"Ah...yes...it is good that things have ended well. She is fine and I'm glad." Achraf himself was scared to stupor. And was unable to assist. If it wasn't for O'rmon who using her super speed came to the rescue. Dost woke up after being brutally shaken a little later but still made great assistance to Safo.

Achraf was scared to lose his daughter, but yet his character emphasized Safo Nur. He probably was under more pressure than the rest could assume. Inside of Safo was a foreign soul, giving a threat of dying at any minute. It was obvious that when on collision with two, internal and external, menace simultaneously he lost his ground.

"We don't have time to chat, let's move. Achraf could you please explain to Dost what happened to your daughter." She was unfazed as usual, coldness was her charm in some way. After telling Dost to listen to Achraf and keep them safe O'rmon turned away and went to Kutch to finish off the remaining ceacuniss.

Siblings managed to get rid of the two hundred or so dogs before Achraf completed his story. Dost by that time got the grasp of the situation and pondered about it for a while. All while they picked up several corpses and headed to the Achraf's broken ship. The trio of Kutch, O'rmon, and Dost walking, the duo of Achraf and injured Safo Nur mounted the spider which dragged the cage with unconscious 68 puppies.

"There is one Psios whose resource is soul stone. In the battle, he absorbs an opponent's soul with its soul stone to immobilize the body. Souls that he consumed fueled his stone making him stronger.

I remember him saying that no other living souls were able to do the same. Usually, it was the other way around like in our case. Luna had the ability to transfer her soul into different living creatures. Her soul stone was always bigger than the animals she was in, causing their death. But Psio is different in that department, our souls and soul stones are much bigger than any average person or animal. Even she admired his stone being more than ten times bigger than hers. She cannot harm him and she cannot leave his soul room due to stones gravity." Dost was straightforward but tactful for the Psios. It was a rare scene for Psios being nice to Psiora.

Rulers were rulers, after all, other Psio were always under them.

Everyone felt relieved, the biggest issue of keeping Safo Nur alive became easier. Kutch cheered up Safo Nur who was quiet the whole trip.

{"Are you fine with being stuck with me before we will find some other way for me to move?"} Soft voice of Luna echoed in Safo Nur's mind. Now knowing that chances of moving to another animal were slim, she felt guilty for occupying a place without permission. She felt unwelcome as she did every time moving from body to body, killing them in a process.

"Do not worry, if I'm not dying and you're feeling comfy then I'm only glad to help." He meant his words, it was an opportunity for father and daughter's reunion, Safo Nur acted as a host. But right now something else has invaded his thoughts. "What are all this soul stone, room, and everything means?" Though, he didn't ask those questions, instead…

Tone full of seriousness came out of Safo. "Kutch, on a scale of 0 to 100, where a 100 is the strength of an undefeatable God and 0 is a strength of absolute weakness. What would be the number for the person you fought on Earth?"

As soon as he heard his name Kutch turned around to be helpful and share some of his positive energy with Safo Nur but it all changed when he heard the question.

Trio's heads faced the ground. Memories that were hard to bear enveloped them as gloomy clouds.

"60-70, he wasn't fighting with all his might though." The short answer was everything Kutch could squeeze out of himself.

"What number would you have held on that scale?" Safo Nur saw how Kutch clenched his fist answering his first question but Safo still needed to know.

"3 or 4 at most." Duo on a spider was shocked.

"What? You who, in front of my eyes, annihilated hundreds of frenzy dogs are 3 to 4? Are you downplaying to be a humble Kutch?" Half joked Achraf.

It hit Safo now, when Kutch told him that they lost to the defenders of the Earth and had to retaliate to save their lives, Safo Nur thought that their look was the same as it was before. Lack of bruises, patches, or any sign of a battle with a tough enemy, gave uncertainty to Kutch's words. Now he understood, how could 3 go against 60?! It was impossible, as well as one ant trying to kill a human in a fight. Desperate escape and hide hoping for a miracle was only a chance.

"Kutch, train me!"