Chapter 4
A Kneeling Universe
“Cordi, give me arms…This black piece of shit dies today,”
[Ursus arctos] [Gorillini] [Eunectes] [Dynastinae]
-Augmenting DNA strands…
-Morphing cells ... adding stem cells … connecting nerves.
-Upgrading skeletal structure, redesigning locomotion system.
-Creating bone structure ... Adding joints … Reinforcing marrow.
-Mutating arms... Adding muscle mass... Increasing muscle density.
-Mutating hands... Adding Bone nodes... Connecting tendons.
While my arms were forming, I scanned Komaal’s hulking body. Most of his vital organs were protected by some weird bone structure, His bones were so big I doubted a hit from a truck would even dent it, His skin was so thick and had many layers of protection.
I took the pain, it didn’t hurt anymore. I didn’t even think about it. All I was as thinking about is the creature in front of me, I wanted to tear it into bits.
As soon as I felt my arms. I instantly dashed into the creature. I didn’t think about dangers or outcomes. all I wanted to do is to kill that huge black Grokati and make the skull in my vision disappear.
My arms felt strong and tough, I glanced at it and all I noticed that it’s unnaturally long. My hands were as big as my head with more fingers than I used to have. I didn’t put much thought into it and continued my mad dash into the Grokati.
With a long jump, I flew into him, putting every single ounce of my power into my big hands, aiming for his solar plexus which I detected that it hosted his heart.
When I reached him, I released my punch while watching him put all his arms into a blocking position protecting his core. I gritted my gums and closed my eyes, wishing that my sole punch would be enough to finish him… How naïve I was.
*CRACK*
I opened my eyes and found myself in my apartment again.
Fuck, he probably blocked it and now killing me. I thought, feeling my heart beating fast.
I rushed into the living room, pushing the cage’s brown door, I stopped in shock. The usual couch and the turned off TV were there, but the little girl is no way to be found.
Scanning the cage’s corners in panic, I finally found her.
Crouching in fear, sat the girl shaking, her head buried between her legs. In front of her there was a human-sized black statue of … ME?
The statue just stood there, staring at me creepily with its lifeless eyes. I don’t know who made this statue or how it got there, but an eerie atmosphere was coming out of it.
I approached the girl, paying no attention to the motionless piece of granite. When I got to her, I reached out to her but she didn’t make a single movement.
I felt a motion behind me and turned quickly to find my feet leaving the ground. The statue’s hand holding my neck, preventing air from entering my lungs. Elevating me with just one arm.
I started flailing and kicking the statue stone figure only to find its grip getting tighter, looking into its face, life seeping out my me, he looked exactly like me, like I got petrified by Medusa gaze. The same thin oval face, the same small pair of eyes behind stone glasses, the slightly crooked nose and the thin lips that curled up in a grin full of small teeth.
Looking at it with horror, my eyes spotted a slight dent in its chest, probably whoever created it missed that spot.
Wanting to be over with it, I stopped flailing. The iron grip was too strong I couldn’t even budge his arm with all my body weight, no use fighting it anymore.
As I lie there waiting for my soul to leave my body, I hear the girl sobbing, and getting louder and louder. The ugly grin on the statue’s face… my face, is getting wider.
NO, this isn’t how it’s supposed to be. This is not the freedom is sought. The new destiny which was decided for me. I am not that weakling anymore. I will not let myself getting stepped on anymore. I will be reborn a new. i remembered the girl's words and the trust i put into it.
“NOT ANY MOOOOREEEE” I roared, clenching my fist and slamming it under the statue’s arm, hitting his elbow and crushing his arm, I do not where this strength came from but I didn’t think much about it, resolving myself to end this.
I felt strange power coming from the girl behind where I stood, but I paid it no mind, all I wanted to do is to crush this statue of me. I jumped it and caught the back of its neck with my hands.
Holding out the status by its nape, I kneed his stomach as hard as I could. Its face changed into an expression of pain instantly before it backed off a couple of steps.
I charged him again, preparing to punch him but my face was met with a strong punch stopping my momentum. For some reason, the punch didn’t hurt at all. The statue’s crushed arm regenerated in a few seconds but I didn’t care. I knew that I am stronger than it.
I don’t know how many punches and kicks we exchanged. Probably hundreds, or even thousands. My skin is torn, my clothes are red and my bones are crushed, yet I knew I was stronger. The statue is full of cracks. It stopped regenerating after a while.
It was swaying left and right, probably couldn’t stand anymore, much like me in that matter. I glanced back at the girl, only to find her standing up, her eyes are full of hope and determination like it’s giving me more power to continue.
Suddenly, a realization hit me.
“So, that’s how it was, how blind I was. Hahahahahaha. HAHAHAHAHAHA” I started laughing uncontrollably.
I looked at the girl and nodded, and she nodded back in return. I knew what to do.
I walked towards the statue in a slow yet firm steps. It gave me a weird look with his cracked face of mine.
I hugged the statue and whispered in its ears calmly.
“Thanks for freeing me, goro”
I stabbed the statue’s chest with my fingers. It cracked open with ease, letting my hand sink in, after which it came out holding a round, beating heart that I looked at for a second before raising it at statue’s face and crushing it in front of it.
The statue started growing bigger, its shape is changing and cracking. Revealing a giant black Grokati on his knees, blood gushing out of his face with his body is torn and full of holes.
I backed up a few steps letting the giant fall, making a big thud before i turned to the now smiling little girl.
To my surprise, she seems to be older now, about 10 years old or so, strands of black appearing on her white hair.
I walked up to her, put my hand on her head brushing her hair. I caught the skull hair tie in my palm and squeezed as hard as I could. I opened my palm, letting the white dust fall. The skull... is no more.
The earth shook and the walls started to crumble. The rusty cage is breaking apart.
Everything changed around us.
Instead of my apartment, we were standing in an endless green meadow by the ocean, with tall trees and a beautiful lake. I looked at the girl with amazement, the view was stunningly beautiful.
“Thank you, Adam” the girl stated while wiping the black tears off her face. “we are free” she continued.
As I was just starting to speak, I heard a loud noise coming from every direction of the meadow. To my shock, I saw dozens of animals approaching us at a fast pace.
Tigers, Bears, Gorillas and many other animals started approaching me, I didn’t sense any fear or danger from them. A huge grizzly bear came and sniffed my hand before started licking it. It sat down on its bottom, showing affection. On my left side, a tiger was pushing its face on my side like a cat. I scratched it behind its ears and moved on to see the rest of the animals.
I saw a few gorillas sitting down on the green grass, scratching each other’s back playfully. Hawks flying in the sky, owls standing on tree branches. Under the trees slithered a huge anaconda, pushing away yellow leaves and small beetle insects with every turn it takes.
Then I felt the girl’s palm holding my hand, I just smiled at her and we went to the lake. some snails climbing small rocks on the lake shore along some lizards bathing in the sun while some dragonflies hovering near some flowers nearby.
“What is this place?” I asked the girl, mesmerized by the place.
“Oh my! You really are stupid Adam?” replied with her usual giggle.
“Sorry,” I said, brushing her flowing hair with my other hand. It seems that it got a bit longer along with the new black strands. ” I guess I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed” I added.
I had many questions for the girl, but I knew that now isn’t the right time. After saying goodbye to the girl, I turned back to the motionless Grokati corpse, the lights dimming, switching back to the noisy, blood filled colosseum.
Passing Komaal’s corpse, I walked up to the bloody gray Grokati nearby, his withered arms tossed around his body.
“Cordi, is he alive?” I calmly asked.
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*** Neo Roma’s Grand colosseum … The Rex umbraculum podium ***
In the center of the colosseum stood the most important, luxurious and most guarded podium, the Rex.
In there, sat the most important human on earth, King Kaiser IV, king of the 12 nations of humanity.
On the king’s right, sat his wife, Queen Hannah Kiser and their 3 children. On his right were two thin figures. A bald tall old man with light blue skin and a strange human-like face with sharp features. A pair of blue eyes, three holes for a nose and a thin mouth. He wore a dark grey robe with strips of purple running through it.
Beside the blue man, was a woman that looked like she was from the same race as him, with a darker blue with more hue. She had almost the same features as the man but much younger. Dread-like turquoise hair settled sharply on her head. She wore military clothes with a big assortment of weapons covering almost every corner of her attire.
*** The blue man’s POV ***
It’s been more than 200 years since I attended the colosseum games on earth and I really couldn’t care less, if not for the persistence of my niece. She contacted me nearly every year, asking me to come visit her on earth, a kingdom we lately established 1500 years ago, after the solar war.
The current king annoys me with his constant disgusting human laughter and screams of cheering, maybe I should blow his head and wipe his family’s memories of him. Although that would be a hassle, he is compliant and obedient monarch.
While I’m dousing in my thoughts of this annoying lower organism, the face of my niece caught my attention. Her eyes were wide as if she is witnessing a birth of a star before her eyes. I shifted my gaze into what her eyes are viewing.
There were a couple of the so-called gladiators. A gray Grokati overlord and some … Thing that looked like an armless human with some strange legs, probably some lab experiment. They were approaching a larger black Grokati dominator that has just killed a small Hasmath giant.
It’s rare for a Grokati to be here in this far corner of the universe, let alone two. And one of them is a dominator. These savage creatures with their monstrous physical strength disgust me. Why would my niece even gaze at these animals?
I was intrigued, so I continued watching what was grabbing my niece’s whole attention. The gray overlord jumped the black one and started exchanging blows, nothing impressive. The smaller one kicked the dominator from the creatures back then uttered something that looked like a Grokati oath.
Such a superstitious filthy race. Gola, was it? Their goddess of war or something. I was getting bored with the fight already, until the overlord awakened. I already saw the Grokati awakening a couple of dozen times in my lifetime, impressive, but not that impressive. They simply accelerate their metabolism rapidly, making them much faster and stronger, but it’s a dangerous technique, even to these barbaric muscle heads. Most of the time they just die after awakening. With only a few that survived the ordeal. If I remember correctly only that annoying Grokati chief Loftar, the only Grokati in the history to have eight arms was able to awaken freely as much as he wanted.
I watched as the overlord smashed into dominator, punching him like the barbarian he is. I wonder why didn’t the dominator awaken too, he would have crushed the overlord like an insect. No matter, I will just wait until this boring event finishes, then ask her what was concerning her so much like that.
I mean, she is only twelve thousand years old, it’s normal for a young woman of her age to be excited, but she is much more mature for her age, that’s why she was appointed as a warden of this planet.
I kept watching as the overlord finished off the dominator, blabbering something afterward while looking at the sky. I was sure it was over, until I knew why the dominator did not awaken in turn.
He reached out to his side and took out a surge orb, injecting himself with it. I wondered how this filthy creature got his hand on such a precious piece of technology. The dominator sat up and began mutating, after which it dashed into the now withering overlord, it seems that the awakening was already taking its toll.
The armless human experiment just sat there while the dominator ripped off the other Grokati’s arms in a single motion. His long strange legs shaking in clear fear. This is a common practice of the Grokati. They spend their lives searching for opponents to fight to the death, taking out their arms and attaching it as their own when they reach the peak of their Grokati class.
That was how it used to be, until that eight armed one appeared, uniting the warring tribes and ending that tradition. Most of the Grokati now wait until their loved ones die, taking their arms as a memory of them and turning into overlords when they reach a certain level of power… Pathetic creatures.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Shaking the thoughts of these insects away, I watched as the dominator slammed the armless overlord into the ground and started kicking him.
I was about to turn away to find a more interesting thing to watch until I heard a muffled gasp coming out of my niece. I turned to her, never seeing her stern face twisted like that before.
“Ijna, what’s wrong?” I communicated telepathically with her, avoiding the ears of everyone present.
“U-Uncle this is him, T-The earth’s walker” she replied with clear shock written on her face.
It seems that the matter is more serious than I thought, I turned away, only to confirm what she just communicated, the human was sprouting arms.
Usually, it is not a big deal killing a walker, but Ijna wrote in her report that the Exorians implanted the Coordinator within him, helping him escape the capture 1500 years ago, a few days before the war.
I intended to kill it instantly like i did to many walkers before him, this distance might be hard for Ijna whose psychic powers have yet to fully develop, but for me, it is but simple thought.
But I wanted to see what he is capable of, so I waited several minutes, watching him charge the black dominator like a rabid animal, delivering a relatively strong punch to the dominator which seems to have felt danger and used all his six arms to block it.
Seems that the punch got through, but it didn’t affect the dominator that much. In turn, he reached out to the walker’s neck and grabbed his throat, covering it completely with his big fingers. The walker started kicking and squirming his way out of the dominator’s grip for several seconds until it gave up and stopped moving. The dominator should be honored, saving a few seconds of my time, which I would have used to kill this weak walker.
Suddenly, an eerie feeling that I have yet to experience in my eighty-nine thousand years engulfed me, its source was clearly the walker, I felt that if I didn’t kill this creature right now, every single organism in this city will die in the matter of a few seconds.
I stood up and focused my power on the walker which jumped the dominator, catching the back of its head and kicking him with his strange knee. It was a good opportunity to fry his brain.
When I entered his brain,ready to kill him instantly, I stood motionless in a colorless world, looking up at something that showed me that I am just a speckle of dust in a vast desert. i fell down on my bottom, looking at this monstrosity before my eyes. I tried to crawl my way out of his brain but it caught me, lifting me up into its supposed face, it was as big as far as I can see.
A mouth the size of a planet opened before me in a childish grin, an endless amount of power seeping out of the void inside of it before its voice echoed in my ears. A voice that belonged to a human child yet sounded like a something that could devour the universe.
“Oh! Look, a little Noran decided to crawl into my domain like a little cockroach. Heheheh” it giggled, imprinting a new kind of fear I never felt before into my soul. A fear beyond anything I knew. It said I was a cockroach to it, but I knew even that was a praise, I felt like I’m a microorganism compared to a whole sector.
“Tell you what little Noran, I’ll forgive this intrusion this time, letting you keep that worthless life of yours. But in return, you will do something for me” it spoke again, telling me that I would keep my life yet for some reason I began to shake more, all that I thought about that I wanted to get away from it as far as I can, escaping to the other end of the universe, even that wouldn’t be enough. Even death won’t get me out of its reach.
I used all the power my body offered me to make a single nod.
“good, listen then….” It started telling me what it wanted, then allowed my worthless self to pull my insignificant soul out of its domain.
I arrived back to my shaking body, tears pouring out of my eyes, the smell of excrement coming out of my wet lower body. What that being told me still echoing in my mind.
“UNCLE! UNCLE MEKSHIMA” Ijna’s screams snapped me back to my surroundings, I looked around to see the king and his family staring at me with dropped jaws, my niece looking at me with an unbelieving gaze.
Well, that is normal. For I am Mekshima Alaaly, one of the strongest individuals of the Noran empire and a member of the inner court of the emperor himself.
With a wave of my hand, I put everyone to sleep, wiping out their memories of the day before calling out my personal servant, the only person that can put a fight against me on this wretched planet, or so I thought, before what happened a few minutes ago.
“Ryola” I called, less than a second later she materialized behind me. Wearing her shadow armor, her strange weapon on her back and the usual nonchalant look on her face, not minding how I look or smell the slightest.
“Come here, I want you to watch this man closely” I instructed her as i kept looking at the human punching the dominator’s elbow, crushing his arm completely. the Grokati recovered from shock fairly quickly. They began exchanging punches at a fast pace. and to my shock, the dominator’s punches weren't affecting the human at all. with each punch the dominator delivered, the human delivered five punches even stronger than the creature several times his size, with only two arms.
They kept going for a while, the human is getting faster and stronger with each second. the black dominator couldn’t catch up and after a few minutes, his body was full of holes, bones coming out of its body and blood pouring like a waterfall from his mouth.
The walker stopped for a moment, staring at the semi-conscious Grokati before he bursted in hysterical laughter. He then approached the kneeling dominator and … hugged him and whispered something that made the black creatures dying eyes widen in shock.
He then stabbed the Dominator’s stomach, his hand didn’t meet much resistance from the thick layers of protective tissues and bones the Grokati were famous for. He took out his hand, holding the dominator’s beating heart, crushing it before of his eyes.
It seems I am not the only one interested in this impossible fight, the whole colosseum, literally everyone stopped what they were doing. be it spectators or fighters, everyone looking with gaping mouths at the human holding a crushed Grokati dominators heart. Even the usually calm and composed Ryola beside me, showed a rare expression of interest in her red eyes.
The walker just stood there for a few minutes, not making a single move. Yet everyone was the same, not a single sound can be heard for miles. Millions stood there like statues, staring at the man and trying to understand what just happened a few minutes ago,
“What do you think?” I asked my servant, seeing her back to her usual cold dementor.
“I think I can take him, probably losing my life in the process but killing him nonetheless” replied Ryola with the calm, cold tone of hers.
“Hmm, is that so?!” I scratched my chin, thinking about what I am going to do with the mess I put myself in.
I looked back at the walker who was now moving towards the gray Grokati overlord that he first came with. Moments later he cut his palm open and made a small wound on the overlord’s belly, he then calmly put his palm on the wound. After a few moments, the Grokati started shaking and convulsing, his wounds closing rapidly, his chest coming up and down steadily indicating that his lungs and now functioning.
Blood started pouring out of the walker’s mouth. His legs shaking, making him kneel wincing from the apparent pain on his face, before completely collapsing near the Grokati, looking like he’s in a critical condition himself before losing conscious.
“Come Ryola, we have work to do” I gave my final command to my phantom. I needed to contact home, a certain delivery had to be made.
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*** a few moments earlier ***
“Cordi, is he alive?”
“Barely, Adam”
Looking at Mahaar, I activated my multiple vision modes and scanning him. He looked like mess. Almost every bone in his body is crushed, cuts and bruises filled his body with even some pieces of flesh missing.
His four arms lied there beside him, only one of it managed to regain its original bulky appearance, the other three were now shriveled like the arms of a hundred years old man.
I really hope this works I thought, cutting a wound in my palm with my claw, another on where his heart supposed to be.
“Adam, what are you doing?” asked the AI, probably concerned.
“Cordi, I know you’re a very advanced AI, I want you to transfer some of the Nanomachines from me to fix him,” I told her with a stupid grin.
“No Adam, I cannot do that. The yocto machines are solely for you and your wellbeing>
“Cordi, he will die. The only friend I have in this world will perish, and I have the power to save him” I pleaded her.
“No, it is too dangerous. My mission would be compromised if you die” She instantly replied, a hint of her monotonic old voice apparent.
I felt Mahaar’s still beating heart getting weaker, his breathing now completely stopped.
“CORDI, PLEASE!”
“No, Adam”
Anger engulfed me. I can’t save him. I felt powerless again, a feeling that I swore that I will not have anymore. NO! I will not let him go.
“CORDI YOU FUCKING BITCH, I COMMAND YOU TO FIX MY FRIEND OR I’LL SWEAR TO GOD I WILL WALK THE UNIVERSE, SEARCHING FOR A WAY TO END YOU, EVEN IF I HAVE TO KILL MYSELF DOING THAT”
“Yes… My lord” I heard Cordi’s faint happy whisper in my head. It didn’t make any sense. What lord?, it didn’t matter now, i was only focusing on saving Mahaar.
I felt my power draining from me, my breathing became unstable and my vision became hazy. my hp bar decreasing rapidly.
I started coughing badly, blood particles and clots flying away from my mouth with each cough. it seems that I’m losing conscious. Probably dying as well. I wonder if she was right and I made the wrong choice saving Mahaar.
Naa it’s fine, I’m happy with what I’ve done. It just felt like the right thing to do. If I died from it, so it be, I have no regrets. well, maybe just not having sex before in my life, or making tons of friends, trying new food, or tr-. aaa, what am I thinking?
Before losing conscious, which is a thing I’m really used to now even before I was diagnosed with cancer, I glanced at my friend. He’s now breathing normally, his heart started beating at a good pace again and he’s regaining conscious, his round green eyes are slowly opening while mine is shutting down.
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I opened my eyes, finding myself in the barren lands. The warzones in my dreams, where the weird human giants fought the endless wave of insects.
I was standing on some kind of a hill, something holding my hand, I looked down and found that little hand holding mine belonged to the little girl, she just stood there with her usual grin on her face.
Looking in front of me I found billions, maybe trillions of the insect monsters kneeling before us, making some buzzing noise I understood as a sign of total submission.
The sound of numerous footsteps behind me caught my ears, I looked back and saw the army of the weird giant human with elongated heads standing in some neat, endless lines, wearing their weird armor that covered most of their bodies and held the weird U-shaped weapons I saw destroying thousands with just one shot. Every single giant was looking directly at me, which startled me a little. In the front line, stood seven of these giants with distinguished color on their armors.
One of them, who seemed to be their leader, broke the line and walked up to me until he was a few breaths away. Then he knelt on one foot and put his hand on his chest.
“Greetings Primus Numen, that was a well-fought battle” he suddenly spoke with a human yet otherworldly voice.
I opened my mouth, but words wouldn’t come out. He must have sensed that and continued talking.
“You should rest Primus, this indeed was a tiring day” he stated with a smile on his face before doing what made my jaw drop.
“My life for Primus, my life for Terra” he suddenly shouted while kneeling.
Every single giant present did the exact same, getting on one knee, their hands on their chests, and with a unified voice … they roared
“My life for Primus … My life for Terra”
“Adam” I heard the little girl voice calling, looking down at her grinning face beside me, she repeated.
“Adam, wake up”
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I woke up to chunky drops of some smelly liquid hitting my face. Opening my eyes and looking up, I saw Mahaar’s head above me, sleeping while standing near my bed, drooling like a broken sewer pipe.
He seems to be well, the good arm that was lying beside him reattached, taking away his balance and making him looking weirder than he already is.
“he has been standing here for four days in the exact same location, refusing to move except for restroom trips” a male’s voice grabbed my attention, making me spring up from my bed, instantly scanning him and the weird black figure standing beside him.
He looked very old. With a bald blue head and blue piercing eyes and some pearly white teeth that drew a wide grin on his face. A bright white robe that blended well in room’s white wall.
His anatomy was pretty much like a human, with a couple more different organs I didn’t identify. His bone structure was a little bit off as well.
The black figure was an enigma to me. I couldn’t detect anything from it except that it was a female, marked by the dents on her extremely black armor’s chest piece. This was the first time I saw that degree of blackness. It sucked away all light around it.
On her back, was a huge black rifle. It was so long I didn’t think it was practical to shoot with, dark smoke like miasma emitted from it.
I noted to myself that I should ask Cordi about that armor later. But I was really mad at her for refusing to help Mahaar. I know she was trying to preserve my life, but if Mahaar was to die, it would have scarred me mentally for a long time.
I don’t know why I took a liking in that giant, I just felt close to him somehow, he told me that he wanted to be my friend, and that was good enough for me. I guess I am a simple man after all.
“Adam …” Whispered Cordi in my head, telling me everything I wanted to know about that blue man. who started talking after a couple of minutes. intentionally giving me all the time I need to study him.
“Hello Mr. Adam, my name is M- “ The man reached out to me telepathically before I interrupted him.
“Mekshima of the Alaaly family, the mind killer. A core member of the Noran Emperor inner court and uncle to Ijna Alaaly, the Noran warden appointed to the kingdom of Earth ... should I tell you more?” I continued the man’s introduction, I tried to sound mysterious and cool. But in the end, I bet I sounded corny as hell. The man didn’t mind, nor showed any surprise.
“it seems that you are well informed Mr. Adam, the coordinator is truly a magnificent piece of technology” Stated the man before continuing. “You know, we have spent hundreds of thousands of years trying to replicate it, but we never even got close creating even a fraction of its capabilities . However, we found some … ways to at least hold it at bay”.
“Ok Mekshima, that sounds cool and shit. Now, why are you here? And what do you want” I went straight to the point, ignoring his threatful hints. And the man strangely complied.
“I am here to help you in every way I can Mr. Adam, that is what I am here for. And for what I want, as instructed, on behalf of the whole Noran empire and … myself, I would like to give you a present that you would very much like” the man replied with a sly smile on his thin blue lips.
“Instructed? Who told you that I need your help and presents?” I asked, demanding an answer to ease my confusion.
The man’s blue eyes gleamed for a second, it seems what I said confused him as well, but he instantly organized his thoughts before replying.
“let’s say it’s a … A mutual friend of us” The Noran said after a brief time.
I let out a mental sigh, I wasn’t going to win an argument with this old fox. So, I asked him about my presents, excited like a little child yet wary of him.
“Yes Mr. Adam, it will arrive in a few minutes, you should probably rest for a while. I will personally go fetch it myself, come Ryola”
So her name is Ryola, I wonder what she Lo- UGHH!
Something enveloped me like a blanket, squeezing me so hard I think I heard my bones cracking.
“AAAAAGGGUUUUUMMMMM”
Oh my god, he woke up
“I WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU” Roared Mahaar, deafening my already missing ears.
“Maar, om pffaine” I tried to talk to him, but his thunderous voice covered everything in the room, his sole arm curled around my upper body, covering everything between my shoulders, smearing his smelly drool all over my bald head.
He let me go after a few minutes of some tough love, if not for the nanomachines iside me, every bone he touched would have been broken.
I just grinned at him and nodded, he’s probably grateful that I saved his life, it warmed my heart a little.
“T-Thank you Agum,” He said in a low voice, pretty much unlike his usual dementor after a few minutes of silence.
“If it weren’t for you, my spirit would have been lost in the nothingness, just like my father, thank you for carrying out my oath”
I just replied with a simple nod, smiling at the gray giant towering over me.
So he didn’t care about saving his life? Or the fact that he lost most of his arms? According to Cordi, the Grokati valued their arms dearly to the point they kill and die for it in a flash. It seems that this oath to Gola is a much more serious matter to them.
“I spent countless years searching every sector I could for Komaal. that wretched backstabbing murderer ambushed my father, the grand chief of the Grokati, Loftar the hero. He, along with several other dominators, wanting the old ways and tribe wars back, made a coup and killed my father, taking away his golden arms and selling it after not being able to use it for their own” Mahaar started telling me his story, but for some reason, he stopped after saying the last phrase.
A few minutes have passed. Mahaar stood there in complete silence, then finally he spoke again.
“Now that I’ve lost most of my arms, I cannot fight for arms anymore with a sole arm, l lost my honor, not being able to fight my own battle, I have no home to return to, no future or purpose” said the Grokati, sorrow filling every word coming out of his mouth.
Looking at him, I saw the Grokati’s green eyes staring at the ground, the usually proud Mahaar is reluctant to look me in the eyes. As if he is hesitating to tell me something. I just kept staring at him, trying to encourage him to speak his mind.
“Agum, I know we just met five days ago, and that may be a selfish request… but…but C-Can you take me with you? I-I don’t care where you will go, but the moment I saw you hanging on that wall, I knew you were something else, you are someone who is bound for greatness. And when you saved my life, killing that murderous Komaal, any doubt I had within my heart about you disappeared, something I can’t explain is pulling me towards you, I never met a Hooma before so I don’t…. but…, p-please Agum... if- “
Hopping out of my bed, I waved my hand at Mahaar, signaling him to stop, making him look at me strangely. He didn’t have to say anything anymore. What he said is true, I have absolutely no idea what I was going to do. Hell, I barely have an Idea what I really am.
Strange things happening to me one after another since that fated day I got pulled into the purple sky. But I know for sure that this man here is my friend, my first and only friend I have in this world. With what Cordi told me about the Grokati, he wouldn’t live for long. Every single power hungry Grokati in the sector was going to hunt him for an easy arm. and I wasn’t going to let that happen. I wasn’t going to give up on my friend.
I offered him my arm in a fist pump position along with the best toothless grin I could make. He was startled for a second. Looking at me straight in the eyes, the Grokati accepted my fist with his own. Tears started pouring out of the giant’s eyes, tears that probably didn’t run on his cheeks for a very long time. We kept our fists like that for a few seconds.
“Cordi, show me how to write my name in Grokati language”
Primitive symbols of letters started appearing in my vision. I extended one of my claws and punctured a hole in my index finger. With my blood, I drew on the wall behind me.
“A D A M” Said the Grokati slowly, like a child first learning to read.
I nodded at him wearing my toothless grin “Cordi, race”
“H U M A N” Yet again, in even slower pace, Mahaar read what I wrote.
With another nod, Mahaar repeated what I wrote at a normal pace “Adam the Human”.
“Wait, where did you learn to write that good Adam?” asked the Grokati, he sure is slow. I mentally chuckled.
I just kept grinning at him. I couldn’t explain to him that a computer just drew it in my head.
Suddenly, Mahaar dropped on both his knees, looking at the sky.
Why is everyone doing that lately, it’s kind of annoying dammit.
“LET GOLA BE MY WITNESS-,
No no no no, please, not again with oaths.
I, MAHAAR, SON OF LOFTAR, SWEAR MY LIFE TO ADAM THE HUMAN-,
Oh shit.
MY BODY, SOUL, AND LOYALTY NOW BELONG HIM AND HIM ALONE”
Fuck my life.