The night was deep and the station was mostly silent. The few patrolling guards were diligent and observant, but the area was too large to cover effectively and they didn't notice the person slipping between the shadows toward the dock area. It took time and dedication, but eventually, the shadow reached the *Void Wolf*

Silently making his way into the hangar of his ship, Eirik frowned as he looked over the area he had just crossed unseen. How on earth did he manage to cover so much ground without being spotted, when there were roaming guards with irregular patrol patterns? He would have to reinstate the Dallas buttons* so he could monitor their patrolling times.

Pushing those thoughts behind him, he slowly walked around his empty ship, taking in its atmosphere. He was shipping out in 2 days, going to hunt down Dalle. Jimmie would be transferred to the ship's prison so Eirik could continue to question him as he looked for the asshole that betrayed him so long ago. That sold out his brothers in arms for paltry riches. What reason could have had that caused him to accept?? Surely he could not have been that honorless the entire time... Had he misjudged him?

Eirik's thoughts, for once, had a chance to just take whatever road they felt like and his mind was all over the place as he walked down the empty corridors. He was so caught up in his musings that he didn't hear the muffled rustling the first time. The second time, however, he heard it and froze on instinct, listening intently for the noise to appear again. It did, and he estimated it to come from deeper in the ship, near the... armory!

Eirik made his way through the ship as quickly as he could while moving silently. On a whim, he took a moment to draw the Seax that always sat on his thigh, before he turned the corner that would give him a line of sight of the armory door. He had heard the noises steadily increase in volume as he approached and was no longer in doubt. As he crept towards the door, preparing to pounce on the would-be thief, he heard the sound of whispering and froze again.

More than one opponent might make things difficult in the low-light conditions. Sneaking back to the corner, Eirik sent a message to the security station from his datapad to activate the silent alarm, pinging the dock as the target. Cursing himself for not bringing an extra weapon, Eirik settled for a piece of loose wiring left on the floor from a repair job. He wrapped the solid copper wire around his left hand, forming a crude knuckle duster.

As properly armed as he could be, he approached the door to the armory. The whispering had stopped but he could hear muffled grunting and stuff being shifted around.

He jumped into the door frame and shouted as loud as he could "NOBODY MOVE!!" In the small amount of light that was present in the room, he spotted 2 creatures. A N'amlei, the bird/deer hybrid-looking pacifists, immediately threw itself on the floor in submission. The other being was new to Eirik. 4 long spindly legs covered in chitin plating, judging from the way it reflected the light, and 4 manipulator limbs on the torso, that were the same size as that of a Terran but situated at a 45 degrees angle. The head had 2 small antennas on top and large compound eyes underneath, making it look like an oversized ant with an extra set of legs. It moved at a speed that surprised Eirik and it made it past him and started scuttling down the corridors like its life depended on it. Which it most likely did, if Eirik had anything to say about it.

"STAY!!" Eirik roared at the N'amlei that was shaking on the floor in fear, as he turned around and started running after the unknown creature. While running he managed to get a call through to security. "Intruders in the dock! 1 N'amlei in my personal ship, take it in! Unknown species involved, send everyone! Turn off automatic translators and have the men use personal comm links for communication! In pursuit!" He reported before he focused on the chase.

________________

This could not be!! Not now, not when he was so close!! The prophet had given him a holy task and he had been so close!! Then they had been discovered and now he was running for his life. The thundering *THUD* *THUD* *THUD* of the creature chasing it spoke of it being the same race as the prophet. It heard the creature speaking into a device and for a moment, it understood the words, but suddenly, the melodious flowing language turned into an unintelligible mess of horrible throat noises, which only increased his fear.

During his hidden stay in the magical sky city, he had been able to understand every single creature he had seen. Now, that magic seemed to be gone at the command of the creature chasing it down. it wasn't fast enough though. It could keep up but not catch up. He soon made his way out of the flying wagon and started running back towards the entrance to his hiding place. He was forced to turn away as more of the creatures approached at a speed that astounded him, considering they were balancing on only 2 legs.

They might look like the prophet, with different faces, but they moved as though they were experienced predators on the hunt. As the creature that had discovered them left the flying wagon, it saw the 2 others chasing him and started gesturing while running. Both his pursuers changed directions running away from him at an angle, and while he did not understand why he was immensely thankful for the room it gave him to maneuver.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

Turning a corner he cursed audibly as he saw more shapes approaching from the direction he had turned. An open door on his right became his salvation as he saw a storage hangar filled with storage containers. As quick as he could, he started scuttling up the containers, certain that they could not follow him.

He was wrong. When he looked down he saw them climbing after him with surprising ease. The prophet's species must have ascended from primates as they climbed after him with frightening ease. A few laps around the hangar, up and down the containers stored throughout the large room yielded no hiding place they could not locate and no place they could not reach, so he returned to the corridors of the sky city. He was tiring, the constant movement taking its toll on his body. The creatures hunting them seemed less than unaffected, more invigorated than tired.

The heavy thuds of more of them kept coming and he soon found himself in a headless sprint away from his pursuers who seemed content to just keep up, constantly switching out who was pressuring him to keep up speed.

"Ingenious hunting method." He thought to himself, even while they chased him. "Run the prey down until it either succumbs to fatigue or accepts its fate. The prophet is truly from a blessed species!"

He reached a large open area dotted with furniture and the creatures immediately spread out as soon as there was room. He saw the end of the hunt approach as they had his flanks covered and he was running towards a dead-end, toward the back of the open area. Realizing he was caught, he simply slowed down until he stood still. There was no way out anyway. He was heaving and gasping, trying to catch his breath. Folding his legs underneath himself, he sat down on the floor and closed his eyes. He heard the horrible throat noises again before they turned back into the wonderful tones of the prophet's species.

________________

Eirik was surprised to see the fugitive simply stop and sit down, but he was not about to complain. Whatever it was they were chasing, it had given them a run for their money.

After getting security to turn on the station-wide translator he walked up to the strange creature and asked, "What are you?"

_____________________

"What am I?" He thought to himself. How could he not know? He was of the prophet's species, the enlightened ones. From the great sky, they come, bringing an age of enlightenment and prosperity. The old ones had foretold it and he had lived to see it come to pass. In the great flying wagon he had arrived, the prophet, descending from the sky in a blaze of fire. He had emerged from his mighty wagon and declared himself lord of his people. Told them he had been sent by his people to finally uplift them to live among the gods. They just had to pass the trials. And now... he had failed his.

"I am a failure." He answered, looking up at Eirik with his compound eyes. It was strange, to see a different face on the prophet. This one seemed better suited for combat. lacking the excess fat deposits of the Prophet back home, he dared say he was looking at an avatar of war amongst the prophets.

That illusion was shattered moments later when larger and burlier men entered his view. The one he had mistaken as an avatar was almost dwarfed by these prophets, and yet they seemed subservient to the one that had spoken.

"A failure?? that makes no sense. Then, who are you?" the prophet said again.

"I am Narvik, of the Glorpil people. Surely you must already know this, prophet." He answered perplexedly. The prophet back home had known all their names the first time they met him.

"The Glorpil? Prophet?? Did you hit your head while we chased you?" Another question was fired at him.

"No, Prophet," He replied, "Your messenger told us all about you and the trials we must face to be uplifted to live amongst the gods in your sky cities and flying wagons." Narvik gestured around him to indicate the space station.

"...FUCK!!!" The prophet suddenly roared before he started speaking a whole lot of words that made no sense at all to Narvik.

_____________________

"David, I am sorry to wake you up, but I have a situation that needs help, NOW!! Uncontacted species, pre-spaceflight... wait, strike that, pre-flight, in general. Shit, I don't think they have even reached industrialization yet. I need a first contact advisor as soon as possible. I don't care about the pay, shit, I don't even care about diplomatic incidents, just make it happen. Use Andreas, I'm sure he has contacts we can use.

I need a decontamination squad, Knud and his medical crew, a linguistics expert, and a psychologist down here. From what I can gather so far, Dalle is involved with this species and has played upon religious superstition to make them believe he is a member of a prophet race, coming to uplift them to godhood or something. I'm not completely sure though.

Oh, and get me the one responsible for running the night patrols! I have a bone to pick with that idiot." Eirik rambled off to David who had accepted the call in a sleepy and slightly confused voice with a muffled feminine mumbling in the background.

"Yes, Captain!" Came David's reply, sharp and awake at the news. He knew what it meant. So many intergalactic laws had been broken by Dalle at this point that he could Involve whatever government he desired. But that would mean giving up on his revenge...

"Prophet, might I be bold enough to ask for a swift death? I would very much like to not suffer too much." The translated voice of the... Glorpil... in front of him suddenly sounded out, breaking through his thoughts.

"Death?? We are not going to kill you! Though, I do feel like it, considering the amount of trouble your presence here means to me. And stop calling me prophet!! My name is Eirik! Use it!" Eirik snapped back. He had no intention of letting this *prophet* thing stick. Better to kill off that notion as fast as possible.

With a deep sigh, he looked at Narvik. Might as well use it while it lasts. "If I ask you to follow me freely, will you do so?"

"Of course prophet! Anything for the one to grant me my life!" Narvik said reverently. as he unfurled his legs.