“They’re my brothers and sisters,” Kallisto said, her tone flat.
It took us a couple of seconds to register that snippet of information.
“You tore one of your brothers up, quite literally,” Hunter pointed out, putting his sword away and crossing his arms.
“We’re not a happy family,” Kallisto said. “As for you, I’m not surprised they found you so quickly. You’re all so loud and careless.”
Zeriel came next to me and offered me some of his water. I gave him a thankful nod, then gulped down half the bladder. My mouth felt like a desert in late summer. I couldn’t help but groan with pleasure as the cool liquid poured down my throat and instantly chilled my stomach. It was like drinking pure happiness.
“We’ve been careful,” Elonora replied, slightly insulted.
“I’ve been following you since you set foot in the woods,” Kallisto replied. “Trust me, compared to me and my people, you’re sloppy as hell. No wonder they tried to kill you.”
Rose got up, as Dmitri and Kailani had made a full recovery. Whatever that blue stuff was, it worked incredibly fast. Given our circumstances, it was basically a blessing. None of us could afford to be down for too long.
“You’ve been following us,” Rose murmured. “You know how to keep a low profile, then, since we didn’t spot you.”
“Where do you come from, Kallisto?” Ben asked.
“My father made me,” the creature replied. “And I’m trying to get back to him. I heard you were going to see the… What did you call it? The colosseum,” she added, pointing ahead. “My father might be there, so I thought we could go together. You obviously need all the help you can get here.”
Normally, I would’ve felt slightly offended, but this was the second time we’d nearly gotten ourselves killed by the locals. I didn’t like the pattern, and I knew we needed to improve and do more in order to survive.
Clearly, Strava wasn’t the planet we’d thought it was. All our data was now either obsolete or incomplete. There were creatures living here that had most likely come out of those cave pods, and most of them seemed to want us dead.
If we were going to survive, we had to consider allowing someone like Kallisto on our team.
Elonora
(Daughter of Ash and Ruby)
The blue stuff worked like a charm. Within five minutes, I was standing on my own, with no support from Nevis—that kind of disappointed me, as I actually liked being so close to him. Though I would’ve rather swallowed a bucket full of nails than tell him that. Besides, I’d just thrown up in front of him. My cheeks were flaring.
“You don’t look so good,” Nevis observed, carefully measuring me from head to toe.
“I’m fine,” I shot back, having a hard time looking him in the eyes.
“She needs blood,” Rose replied. “And I imagine some energy, too. The poison took its toll on her.”
Kallisto smirked. “It most certainly did. We’re designed to inflict maximum damage and weaken our prey before we take them out,” she said.
“That’s what we are to you people? Prey?” I scoffed.
“I’ll be right back,” Nevis whispered, then vanished from my side and between the trees. I could still hear him. He wasn’t far away, but I had no idea what he was up to.
I would’ve spent more than two seconds worrying about where he’d gone, but Kallisto had my full attention. Her self-confidence didn’t irk me. It crippled my morale, because it confirmed what we’d already experienced twice now: whatever these creatures were, they could kill us with greater ease and speed than anything we’d ever dealt with before.
“You said your father made you, and that you’re looking for him,” Rose said to Kallisto. “What did you mean by that?”
“I’ve been separated from my father, and I don’t know where he went,” Kallisto replied. “He kept us safe for over a hundred years, but after we woke up, we lost each other.”
“Hold on,” Ben muttered, frowning as he tried to piece everything together. “Were you and your father in those cave pods?”
Kallisto’s expression lit up like the morning sun. “You know about our pods?”
“Yeah. We were there. We saw them,” Ben replied. “How long were you in them, exactly, and why?”
“There was a terrible plague a long time ago. It killed many people,” Kallisto explained. “Millions died. Father put us in those pods and kept us asleep until the plague faded away, since it only affected our kind.”
“How did you wake up?” I asked.
Kallisto shrugged. “I don’t know. I think the pod system was tampered with. We all woke up at the same time. There was great confusion until we found the others. Me and the wildlings you dealt with just now were in one of the smaller chambers.”
“Oh! So you got separated from the ones in the main chamber, the big one, right?” Dmitri chimed in as he started piecing it all together.
“Yes. We were supposed to be asleep for three hundred years, but we woke up early,” Kallisto replied. “Fortunately, the plague is gone already. So we could roam freely.”
Ben took a step forward, narrowing his eyes at her. “As you can see, Kallisto, you share certain physical features with us,” he said. “But you have scales and claws and fangs like we’ve never seen before. Your brothers and sisters were noticeably different, too, with horns and fur and whatnot. Is your entire species so diverse, so different from one individual to another?”
Kallisto nodded. “Father made each of us, one at a time,” she replied. “Ta’Zan Marduk is his name, and he created us. He gave us our abilities. Our bodies. Our strengths. He gave us life,” she added, her smile fading quickly. “Which is why it’s important for me to get back to him.”
We looked at each other for a while without saying anything. We were definitely getting some answers, and it was more than we could’ve hoped for.
“So, your entire species was made by Ta’Zan,” Ben concluded, and Kallisto nodded again. “What about Ta’Zan? Who made him?”
“The Draenir. They used to live here before us, but the plague killed them all,” she said.
“And what does Ta’Zan call your species, then? What are you?” Rose asked, moving closer to her brother.
Kallisto chuckled softly. “We’re not perfect,” she said. “Father says that all the time. So he calls us Faulty. We’re the Faulty, but he loves us, and we love him.”
I had more questions than before, but I had a feeling this wasn’t the time or the place. Those other Faulties might’ve run off, but there were plenty still out there in the jungle. It was only a matter of time before more came after us.
“You move incredibly fast,” I said, staring at Kallisto. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“And what’s that blue stuff you gave us? How’d you make it? What ingredients did you use?” Vesta added, sounding curious.
“What abilities do you have, Kallisto?” Rose interjected.
Kallisto seemed a tad overwhelmed by the plethora of questions. She didn’t strike me as a patient kind of creature.
“I can kill any of you if I want, and that is all you need to know,” she replied dryly. “I’m no fool. I don’t know you well enough to tell you what I can or cannot do.”
Dmitri smirked. “We could try and find out.”
“If you’re okay with losing your head, sure,” Kallisto shot back. “I’m not here to be friends with you. I simply took pity when my brothers and sisters attacked you. That is all.”
Rose exhaled, then brought her hands up in a peaceful gesture. “Okay, that’s enough,” she said. “Thank you, Kallisto, for helping us. Forgive us for having so many questions, though. It’s just that we’ve never met anyone like you before, and, well, frankly, we are fascinated. I mean that in a most positive sense. You’re stronger and faster than almost any other creature we’ve ever crossed paths with, and we’d simply like to know more about you.”
Kallisto took a moment to mull over what
Rose had just said, once again measuring each of us from head to toe. Her black pupils dilated whenever she made eye contact, before they turned back into the small serpentine slits cutting across the yellow irises.
Nevis came back, holding a medium-sized animal in his arms. It was a warm-blooded creature, most likely a mammal, and he’d just hunted it. I frowned at him as he handed the creature over to me with a serious look on his face.
“Rose said you need blood,” he muttered.
Dmitri chuckled. “Aw. He brought you breakfast!”
My face burned. My heart skipped a beat. My body was so quick to betray me as I tried to keep my cool in front of Nevis—the one person who made me flare up like a solar storm. I gave him a weak nod and mumbled a “Thank you,” then took the animal from him and moved a couple of yards back to feed. I kept my eyes and ears on my group’s conversation with Kallisto, though.
“Kallisto, what started the plague?” Rose asked.
“I don’t know. People just started dying,” she replied. “My father said that if we deprived the disease of its biological environment, which was us, it would die out, as well. We just didn’t know how fast.”
“Well, turns out it’s gone already,” Kailani said. “When we first scanned the planet and took samples, everything came back clean and negative.”
“Which is good, because that way we can resettle and rebuild in this world,” Kallisto replied. “But we need our father to do that. He’s the one who teaches us, who guides us.”
Rose nodded slowly. “I have to say, you’re different from your… brothers and sisters,” she said. “Why is that? Why didn’t you try to attack us, as well?”
Kallisto smiled. “I see more value in life than I do in death. Not all of us think the same, though,” she replied. “My brothers and sisters are mostly savages, with primal instincts. I’d much rather help you find what you’re looking for and gain an ally, than make an enemy. By the way, what business do you have with the… colosseum? What are you looking for?”
Ben and Rose looked at each other, then sighed and shifted their focus back to Kallisto.
“Our parents and their friends,” Ben said. “We think they may have been the ones to accidentally wake you all from your slumber, but we can’t find them anywhere. Maybe you know something about them? They were here on vacation, minding their own business and meaning no one any harm, when they found your cave. We’re worried about them. It’s why we’re here. We’ve come for them.”
Kallisto blinked several times. “Then the rumors I’ve heard must be true,” she said quietly.
“What rumors?” I asked, licking my lips as I disposed of the drained animal carcass.
“My people, they’re scattered all over the islands, but we still meet once in a while, in our search for Father. Some of them have seen him but lost him again. But they all say the same thing: there are strangers with him. He takes care of them. My father is a good soul. He looks after those who help us,” Kallisto replied.
I couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief when I heard that. “So they’re alive.”
“They must be, yes,” Kallisto said. “My father doesn’t kill unless his life or our lives are at risk.”
“And I doubt Derek or anyone else in that group would take the aggressive route first,” Nevis said, giving me a sideways glance.
“The only thing is that I cannot guarantee that what I know is more than a rumor.” Kallisto sighed. “We have such a hard time communicating or staying together without my father that it is practically impossible for me to take anything I hear at face value.”
“Then let’s go find out,” Rose replied. “You’re looking for your father; I’m looking for my parents. We seem to have similar missions here.”
Kallisto smirked, then nodded and pointed ahead.
“My siblings and I just got to this island,” she said. “We saw the diamond building from a treetop on K’challa, the small patch of woods just north of here. We’re trying to get closer, but we’re being cautious. I advise you to be the same.”
“Why is that?” I asked, not sure whether I liked Kallisto or not.
Her emotional aura was a jumble of dark ribbons, most of them red and blue. There was murkiness that didn’t inspire much confidence about her, but I couldn’t accuse her of anything, either—at least not yet, not so soon after she’d just literally saved my life, along with the lives of my friends.
“There are creatures out there, faster, stronger, and deadlier than all of us put together,” Kallisto replied, scowling as she looked up, catching a glimpse of the sky between the tree crowns.
My blood ran cold. “You mean the ones that can fly faster than the speed of sound and can shoot fireballs at us?” I asked, crossing my arms.
Her yellow eyes widened as she looked at me. “You’ve met them, huh?”
“You could say that.”
“Well, it’s why we’re careful ourselves,” Kallisto said. “They’re deadly even to us.”
“But what are they?” Rose asked.
Kallisto shook her head. “I just know to stay away,” she murmured, but the yellowish flare in her aura caught my eye for a second. She was fearful. Probably afraid of the flashes, just like the rest of us. “We should go now,” she added. “It’s not good to stay in one place for too long. Not in these parts, anyway.”
Ben then motioned for her to go first. “Please, Kallisto, lead the way. We’ll follow.”
She took the lead, as asked, while the rest of us moved in a tight group behind her. The sun barely pierced through the tree crowns above, and silence settled around us, barring the occasional chirp or animal growl.
Something didn’t feel right, though.
Whether it was just my instincts, still on high alert, or the yellowish streak in Kallisto’s emotional aura, something just didn’t sit well with me. As we followed her through the jungle, I still wondered if we could really trust her.
Elonora
(Daughter of Ash and Ruby)
I was quiet for about five minutes, until I decided to bring up what I’d seen on her emotional spectrum. It was better to cast the doubt aside now, than to regret not doing it later.
“Kallisto, there’s a lot of anger, fear, and frustration in you,” I said. “I can see it all, quite literally. It’s intense and precisely targeted. Care to tell us what’s on your mind?”
She gave me a scowl over her shoulder, while Rose observed her reaction.
“Elonora is a sentry. She can read most of our emotions quite easily. You can’t hide them from her,” Rose added.
Kallisto’s gaze softened, and it was swiftly followed by a long and tired sigh. “I miss Ta’Zan,” she muttered. “I want to be a part of the family again. I guess I just don’t understand how they could leave us behind like this. That makes me angry. The fact that I can’t find my father is probably where my frustration stems from. As for the fear, well, I suppose it’s the fear of never getting back to my family.”
I nodded slowly, then caught a glimpse of Nevis watching me as he walked by my side. His icy blue eyes were drilling holes through my soul again, making me feel weirdly naked and vulnerable.
“Is there something you wish to say?” I muttered to him.
He shrugged, then went back to watching our surroundings as we advanced through the jungle. There were still Faulties out there—dozens of them. But, this time, they kept their distance. We avoided the clearings and open spaces as best as we could, fearing another attack.
“Did you have a good relationship with your father, Kallisto?” Ben asked. The rest of us exchanged curious glances.
“For the most part, yes,” she replied. “Sometimes, I was too hard-headed. But all I did and all I will ever do will be to make him happy and proud. Right now, however, I want answers, just like you. I want to understand why we were left behind. After all, my father knew how many of us were in the cave pods. I assume he did an initial count and came up short by at least a hundred. So I’m tr
ying to find him and understand why he didn’t take us with him.”
The diamond colosseum grew larger ahead, beyond another mile’s worth of jungle. I could see snippets of it through the tree crowns. The closer we got, the more I understood its titanic size and architectural complexity. As wary as I was of another attack from either the flashes or the Faulties, I had to admit, I was really curious about the colosseum and what it looked like on the inside.
“Kallisto, you said something earlier,” Rose then said. “About Ta’Zan creating you all. Can you tell us more about that? How did he… make you?”
That was a good question to ask. My interest was piqued.
“Ta’Zan is the most brilliant of creatures. His intelligence knows no bounds,” Kallisto explained. “The Draenir themselves were aiming to create the perfect being, and they got Ta’Zan Marduk. He is perfect. But the Draenir were starting to die out, long before the plague. Low fertility issues. Many chose not to marry and have children of their own, focused more on their work and worried about overpopulating the planet. By the time the disease hit, they were doomed. So Ta’Zan went away to a safe and isolated place, and he realized he could do better. He created us. One by one, he picked out the genes he wanted to use—from the Draenir, from the animals, and even from himself.”
“He made you from scratch, basically,” I murmured.
Kallisto nodded. “Each of us is different in one way or another because my father experimented a lot. He tried various genes from all kinds of creatures, including some interstellar travelers who came through,” she said. “Lifting genetic material is a minor procedure, with no long-term effects. For Ta’Zan, it’s easy. So, yes, he made me from scratch.”
“What genes do you carry, then?” Rose asked.
“Well, all the Faulties have a Draenir base,” Kallisto replied, then tucked her hair behind her long, pointy ears. “We all have these, for example. Our figures, with two arms and two legs, our biological systems, mostly stem from the Draenir. Just like Ta’Zan, for that matter. But we also have some animal or insect features and abilities embedded in our systems. You must’ve spotted the differences during the scuffle with my siblings.”