Nakiel Read online

  But maybe fate wasn't done with her just yet.

  And just as she begins to doubt her own blind faith that she would see him again her faith is rewarded. She could barely believe her eyes when he had returned, battered and bruised but still breathing, still in a treatable condition. And in his hands was the oracle.

  It was a rather quiet day at the fortress. The group figured that Iza would have sent the forces here already or that the sun god would have begun his bombings of the human facilities but nothing of the sort happened. The commanders watched the horizon and the skies with bated breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop since Nakiel had entered the cave system. There was some news that they had received recently of a reported sighting of Nakiel with the Oracle in and he was coming home to them. That was enough to put her at ease for a while, but the last stretch until she could see him again ate at her.

  And so she waited, waited for her love to come back with the hope of the world in his hand.

  And he appeared from the sands, drifting back and forth as if he were injured. He was labored in his movements, his leg dragging behind him as he began to walk a bit faster once the tiny glimmer of the base became visible from the spiraling cracks of stone. His cloak was held over him in order to avoid detection by the machines. The soldiers began to emerge in order to aid him and to take the Oracle for delivery to Damien. He refused them, he must've trusted only himself to hold that device.

  And so now she was on her knees with him in her arms. He had passed out as soon as he had touched her and her arms wrapped around his heated body as the oracle hung from his fingertips, his arms swaying at his side.

  He was back.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  He had thought that the sun god might pull it all out from under him the moment that he had returned.

  He had lost most of his weaponry but he had taken the oracle from the rubble, that was the important part of it all. @@

  He had succeeded.

  The rebels could scarcely believe it when he had shown up with it, he explained to Heather that his communicator had been damaged during the journey back and that was the reason behind his silence. That was only slightly enough to quell her rather amusing frustration with him. Nakiel imagined that she would have worried quite a bit.

  But he was back now.

  His arms ached, his legs were as sore as could be. He could barely move and the medication from the humans was slowly but surely mending the damage. The strain put on his body from such a long and treacherous journey was enough to knock him out for quite a while but he knew better than to sleep right now. He could feel something coming, a tragedy that was fast approaching over the horizon with the dark spectre of what he had done still lingering in the air. He knew that the sun god had something planned out, he just wasn't sure what.

  He had insisted that his bow and arrows be kept at his side. The scientists were already working on implementing the Oracle, there were some hic-ups with the tech, as was to be expected considering the fact that there was a massive discrepancy between the old human government and the rebel forces now. Still, he wished that they would begin the process soon. Apparently, the humans wanted everything to be absolutely secure before the virus began uploading towards Iza's servers. "How are you feeling?" Heather asks him and he smiles, nodding as he dips his head slowly and allows his eyes to shut in a show of traditional Verotan affection. "Much better now.....and you?" There was this hollow feeling that was consuming him, it made his blood slow a bit and Heather remained silent to him for some reason despite her mouth clearly opening. His muscles still ached but he willed himself to move as he grabs his bow and arrows and leaps onto her. The attack had begun.

  A mass of missiles struck the building and began to shake it. He wasn't entirely healed but he didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Heather was still in a state of shock, the girl had gone from the most peace that she had ever known to this chaos in a matter of moments.

  And he was not about to let these monstrosities claim her, he would die before that happened.

  They emerge from his room to the sight of the rebel army rushing amongst themselves in order to prepare their own defenses. The leadership had seen this coming, the airstrike was even faster than they had expected, however. It appeared that Iza was really pulling out all the stops for this one. Nakiel exhales as the force of the adrenaline running through his veins suddenly occurs to him and brings him back to his fighting form. He checked his weaponry and realized that he only had his regular arrows left and his sword was missing. He wasn't 100% but this would have to do regardless.

  "Damien!" shouts Heather as the leader rushes past the two of them in the main hall, fully dressed in his battle regalia.

  "We need a bit more time to upload the virus. If our mainframes are destroyed then there's no way that we can do that. Our forces will hold them off for now but we need someone trustworthy to guard the virus." The general said before continuing, "And that's going to be you Nakiel."

  "Why am I not in the general battle?" asked the Verotan warrior.

  "Even with your damage you're still the best warrior that we have and that means that if you remain in the control room that we have the greatest chance of it remaining protected. There is a large contingent of my best soldiers there to support you. Now go!" shouted the general.

  His silver dash of hair disappears amongst the crowd of soldiers as Nakiel looks to Heather and nods. Heather shakes her head and suddenly Nakiel remembers something.

  Sophia.

  Her sister had stopped by to visit him but he quickly went back to work, she had mentioned that she was in the medical ward again, aiding in the treatment of some of the soldiers. They were close to it but with the amount of damage done to the building even Nakiel had his fears about the state of the girl. They rush towards one of the doorways and Heather practically throws herself in, screaming her sisters name.

  "Heather!" shouted Sophia, her voice spiraling amongst the chaos as Heather rushes towards its source. Nakiel didn't want to risk his mate being in there when another missile could easily crumble the place.

  And then they find Sophia, she was hiding under a table that was now trapped under a large amount of rubble.

  Nakiel grips the rims of the rock before beginning to lift them Sophia and Heather grab one another's hands and Heather pulls her sister out from under the debris. There were soldiers in here that suffered less merciful fates, their bodies had been crushed under the rock and they would be next if they didn't get out of here.

  But then another missile strikes, a rock was sent tumbling downwards towards them but Nakiel musters his strength. Something within him awakens as his eyes begin to glow a brighter shade of red and his muscles swell. He looks back at Heather in order to summon the strength needed before cracking one of the rocks in half.

  It splits just in time to avoid them and he grabs the two girls before dragging them back outside into the main hall. They would have to make it to the mainframe room quickly if they wanted any shot of making it out of here alive. The fate of the world was now resting on them.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  As the doors to the mainframe room opened there was a sight that not even Nakiel expected. Amongst the floors were laser burn marks and the corpses of some soldiers. Apparently, some of Iza's machines had made it through the first line of defense and infiltrated the base somehow. These were a far cry from the tank like machines that he had fought in the tunnels and back at Heather's village. These were rather slender beings with knives for hands. A singular red eye laid in the middle of their head that spewed out a laser that drags across the floor and nearly melts into one of the machines had it not been for a soldier shooting it at just the right moment to prevent it from firing further.

  From Nakiel's count there were about four of them.

  He draws his arrow back and fires at one, only to miss and arouse the ire of the machine. He could hear Iza's mocking voice echo acros
s the room as he begs Heather and Sophia to hide. He sidesteps a single swipe from the bot before bringing his hand back up for a hook to the body with his claws out that splits the bot in half.

  He had to win, for that dream that he held so dearly.

  "Nakiel, behind you!" shouted Heather before a human soldier fired a round that dug into the machine that had nearly pounced onto his back. He gives a look of gratitude to the warrior before drawing his claws and holding his hands up.

  There was no way that he would be able to catch one of these slippery bastards with his bow, it would have to be hand to hand to have the accuracy that he needed.

  He feels a rush of wind and barely dodges under a swipe of one of the machines that was aimed at him. He peers at the monitor and prays that the uploading process would go faster, that the virus would just consume the sun god already but it would take a few moments longer. There were more of these opponents appearing the more this battle continued.

  It was going to be a matter of outlasting them.

  He looked to Heather to make sure that she and her sister were alright. They had tucked themselves behind a piece of cover along with two soldiers. He prayed that the men would be able to protect them before he sidestepped a swipe and crushed a robot's head in his hand before it could fire off a laser. It scalds his palm and he hisses in pain before tossing the wreckage at another machine that was close by.

  He let the rage consume him, the overwhelming need to protect his mate coursed through his veins as it granted him the extra bit of strength that he needed in order to fight back. He prayed that it would last him enough.

  "80%" he could hear a scientist whisper, "5 more minutes, just 5 more....."

  5 minutes, he didn't know how long that was but he could manage, he would have to manage.

  ....

  Her head presses against the metal barrier in front of her. It was all that laid before her and these strange monstrosities that were attacking Nakiel

  Heather knew that she should have felt an overwhelming fear consuming her and yet all that she could feel was a deepening concern for her mate. She knew that the soldiers were doing their best to aid him and yet she wanted to take up arms herself. She knew that she couldn't shoot, she didn't have the proper training nor did she have the composure.

  And just then she hears it.

  "ARGH!" shouts Nakiel as a blade digs into his left arm. She peers over the cover to see him grab the bot with his other hand and rip it off of him, the blade was left jammed into his arm while he tossed the wreckage at an approaching machine. He leaps over a swipe of its leg before stomping onto its head. From that wreckage he tears an arm and uses the blade of it as a weapon. How much longer did they even have? How much more would he have to suffer?

  Heather shuts her eyes and tries to calm herself but none of it works, her breath was shallow and her body quivered with every sound that those machines made. She looked around her and saw that one of the machines was sneaking behind the lines, its aim directed at the mainframe.

  At the oracle.

  Heather screams and grabs one of the pistols from the holster of the soldier next to her before charging the machine. Laser bolts fire out from the tip of it and strike the machine as it stumbles back before it fires its own bolt at her. She attempts to dodge but it sears the side of her arm and she watches as the machine gets closer, its arm drawn back as it was about to deliver the killing blow.

  All that she could see was the glimmer of that blade, she swallows and looks to Nakiel who runs towards her, a soldier takes aim and fires at the bot and it stumbles back before her mate tackles it to the floor and smashes its head. Nakiel shoots a look at Heather that depicts an annoyance that was now familiar to her, yet it was gradually replaced by pride.

  The scientists were praying, the soldiers that ran out of ammunition tossed their rifles at the onslaught of machines and charged forward with their knives drawn. Men had their limbs cut off, their heads bisected. Sophia grips the side of her head and cries as she begs for this madness to end.

  And then it does, the machine finishes its upload just as another wave of bots pounced onto Nakiel, they promptly fall harmlessly onto him.

  He crawls out from under the wreckage and looks to his mate with a smile that was rather rare for him. He had done it, he had claimed her and had won back the honor that had been lost so long ago. His enemy had been vanquished.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Departure had been a bit easier than she would have imagined.

  Apparently, Sophia had grown quite close to one of the soldiers that had been guarding her during that entire battle and had opted to stay. Heather couldn't believe it herself, she would have thought that Sophia would have jumped on any chance to leave the planet as well but apparently, there were many things that she didn't know about her sister. It was high time she realized that, she supposed. As for the rebel army in its totality, they slowly began to branch out to towns that were now left without rulers due to the absence of the machines. There was a lot of outreach to be done to get everyone readjusted to this new, human-led world. But it was the best chance that this planet had for quite some time.

  Heather was glad to be leaving. Nakiel would have thought that he would have cried a bit but Heather shed no tears. There was enough grief that had already been demonstrated on her part, all the nights spent in that mining camp were already spent growing accustomed to leaving.

  And now she was about to make that dream manifest.

  Nakiel and her had been set up with a private room in the springs while the engineers manufactured a ship for them to depart in. They used parts from Iza's vast swathes of machinery in order to build the craft. There had been the fear that Iza had subsisted on some mainframe deep within the Earth but that fear turned out to be unfounded in the end. The scientists tracked every bit of data they could in order to ensure that such a thing was unlikely to occur and, there was nothing found that indicated the subsistence of that monster.

  That eased a great deal of heartache in Heather.

  Still, the hubris demonstrated by this machine was almost laughable. The idea that no contingency had been established in case the oracle had been retrieved other than a full-scale invasion was strange to her. Yet there were probably many things about the AI that would seem strange to any human that studied it for a long period of time. That was simply the nature of these machines, as Nakiel explained.

  But now she was here with her love, his arms wrapped around her waist as he held her from the back while the two of them gazed out amongst the moon drenched sands. Their bodies meld together as her curves pressed against his hardened and scarred muscles. His blue eyes flicker as his nose digs into her blond hair, tickling her temple while she giggles.

  "Nakiel!" she hides while turning her head, her eyes shut as he captures her lips in a kiss, "You're tickling me!"

  "That's the point my mate@@." He observes with a sly smile before dragging her towards the bed.

  She still was surprised at simply how strong he was, he was able to pick her up like she was a feather. His strong hands rub against her arms and she shivers before he pins her onto the bed. She was in the mood, they had made love nearly every night since they had gotten this room but she never tired of it and he certainly never tired of it either.

  After all, they were young and in love. It also helped that she was literally the only woman that he was attracted to and that he was the sexiest man that had ever lived in her mind.

  His hands gripped her thighs as he spreads them and leans in. His abs grind against the fabric of her gown before she pulls him in for a kiss. Her curves meld against these muscles before his tongue flicks against her's and the kiss deepens. The two of them shiver and his hands run down to her buttocks, gripping the cheeks and massaging them while she groans. His leg was grinding against her crotch, rubbing up against her clit while she bristles at his touch.

  He was so, so addicting, she wanted to feel every bi
t of flesh and to feel his breath on her body as he thrust deep inside of her. She needed it more than anything.

  He slowly grabs her gown and begins to disrobe her, she hides her breasts on instinct but she realizes that he's staring and giggles as she moves her hand away. Her entire body slowly revealed itself to him as her gown strips off and falls onto the bed. He strips off the shorts that he had been wearing and tosses them onto the floor while his hands press into the white cloth beneath her.

  His hands close over her shoulders and their lips meet once again, her breasts pressed against his hardened pecs and bounce a bit as he leans in and instinctively rubs his bare cock against her breeding slit. Her womanhood begins to grow hotter as her lust gathers on the pink lips. His tip dashes over her clit with every little kiss that he gives her and she nearly loses herself to the pleasure that was now coursing through her veins. She needed him to grip her hips and ravage her, yet he understood the importance of cultivating anticipation within her mind.

  Her thighs pressed against his legs in an attempt to pull him in and lock him in place, their lips clash one more before he separates and kisses her chin and then suckles her neck. She gasps and her cheeks flush, her blue eyes wildly dart back and forth in a haze of lust before he begins to approach her lower body. His mouth first encircles her breasts, his teeth gently gnash against her nipples which elicits a yelp from her mouth. A hand is now covering her lips but he pulls it away despite the momentary shyness of his partner. After all, there was no one listening, they were all alone now, ever since they had gotten this room, they had been left alone. This was the most privacy that the couple had been granted ever since his arrival.