Chapter 107: In the hospital. The beeping wouldn't let up, and Chasm didn't know how to get the annoying noise to stop. Was this a new kind of cruelty? His head throbbed, and his mouth was so dry he felt like he had not drunk water for years. While agony beat at him, he tried to turn off the beeping with his mind. Would he have to listen to that damn sound over and over again forever?As Chasm gained full consciousness, the steady beep had him confused. He didn't think he was in Elijah's apartment. His entire body screamed after every inhale and exhale. Chasm was used to pain, but this frozen pain feeling was new. He couldn't move, and that was the thing that he didn't understand. Where was he that he was suffering like this? It was as if his body now matched the torment in his soul.Chasm's eyes opened first to a fuzzy light and then to a white paneled ceiling. The room was primarily white walls with pale blue and tan accents. Odd-looking machines were to his left and right, and he w
Chapter 108: An important conversation.The soft bed of Nebos was warm, and Chasm didn't want to wake up. He didn't want to return to the agony he was swimming in before. Eventually, sleep left him, and his eyes opened to light streaming and dancing on the ceiling of vast waves of silk. Turning his head, Chasm knew where he was the second he felt the silk glide on his skin. He was home. Chasm lifted himself onto his elbows and looked to his right. Norwell sat at the end of the bed with her back to him. She didn't turn around or move as he shifted to a sitting position. Rhylent stood in the doorway that was open to the garden. The alien also had his back to Chasm and didn't turn around or move either. Both aliens were silent as Chasm shifted to the foot of the Nebos bed. He tipped his head at Norwell. Being quiet was never Norwell's gift. "You brought me here to fix me, but you don't want to talk to me?""I want to talk to you." Norwell turned her head, and her golden eyes looked w
Chapter 109: The mark of the Rosh.Norwell rode him, and Chasm threw his head back on the Nebos in sheer, unadulterated joy. His penis was encased in heaven, pure and bright. He moaned out his pleasure as Rhylent slipped into his back entrance. The slick oil-covered tentacle pressed and played until he was twisting, turning, and begging for more.It was so nice to be home. What was he even thinking? Sloan was right. Earth had nothing on this.Suddenly, Norwell froze on top of him. He wiggled to get her to bounce on top of him again. He tried to thrust up inside her wet heat, but she had him pinned. He should have noted long before now how heavy she was. No human girl was this strong either."Norwell," he groaned. "Fuck me.""I think my Chasm has learned some new words from Earth.""I think my Chasm has given up on his caution." Rhylent laughed. "She will fuck you as you put it. Just wait."Chasm gasped as Rhylent slipped into his body a little deeper. The alien's sense tentacle used me
Chapter 110: The end of... Catch and Release.Chasm paced back and forth in front of Rhylent. The alien sat at the table like he didn't have a care in the world. He leaned back and tipped his head up to the sun. Chasm wanted to shake him until his tentacles fell off."I thought you said she would come back?" Chasm glared at the alien."So brave to scowl at a Dagerstanteen warrior. I should take you into the bedroom and distract you just for that.""You know I can't think about sex when I'm worried. What if Norwell doesn't come home?""She will.""You said that when a Rosh is happy, they reproduce, and then they come back. She isn't here. What if she is hurt in the mountains all alone? What if something got her?" Chasm couldn't believe that Rhylent wasn't more concerned. Didn't he love her at all?"Yes, I love her. Yes, I care, but Norwell is a Rosh. She can kill anything. Norwell is stronger than me.""But…""Chasm." Rhylent turned and pinned Chasm with a stern look. "Norwell could kil
Chapter 111: JP and Voice.Place: Dagerstanteen's palace. Inside JP's lab. JP's perspectiveJP didn't know who poisoned the future ruler of the Dagerstanteens… yet. Rubbing his tentacles together, he strode out of his lab. His failure beat at him with every step he took. What he knew about the Ply Weed was still so limited. What he needed to do was travel back to the moon of Franca.Trying to calm his annoyance, he inwardly cringed at the idea of leaving the palace to hunt down a weed of all things. All this work, and in the end, he wasn't helping in the search for his lost sibling. Fenton was still not found. In every aspect, he was failing his family. He needed to think. Reaching his sleeping chamber, JP used his mind to ask Rhylent to ready his ship. When he was finished talking to his sibling in his head, JP headed into the room that held his loominairin. His gray Nebos fluttered, sensitive to his frustration. After JP paused, he shaped his Nebos into a stool. Once seated in fron
Chapter 112: Meet Ike, AKA Voice.Ike sat at his eating table across from Fenton, Queen Shay, and Shay's daughter, Princess Lee. He absently petted the end of his long black hair braid while the three of them grumbled over his announcement. "Can we discuss this?" Fenton asked as he shook his head. The bolo beads on the tips of his purple tubes clacked together as if seconding the Dagerstanteen's question. "Can we talk about options?""Discuss if you must, but you all know that we don't have another idea." Ike let go of his long hair and studied Fenton's sharp gaze. "We keep talking about this repeatedly, but the answer is always the same. I must sacrifice myself. The Panchen Fire grows bigger and bigger every day, and soon I will not be able to contain it in my body. The fire must be returned to the heart of the Planet Albeon. It is the only way to keep everyone safe. You all know the dangers if this continues.""I think what Fenton means is that we—" Queen Shay wiped at a single tear
Chapter 113: The orange tree.Ike entered his two-acre enclosed garden and scanned for the queen. Shay's typically regal form sat hunched on the bench under his orange tree. The glass ceiling of the yard was being pelted with rain as she wept softly. Ike paused as he considered what to say to the only mother figure he'd had in his life.Reaching into the pocket of his robes, Ike fished out his rolling papers and his small square container of Pix herbs. He pinched out a tiny amount of loose leaves from the box and then rolled them into a cigarette. Once he had the cigarette to his lips and his container back in his pocket, he strolled toward the queen.Sitting next to Lee, Ike blew on the end of the rolled paper. The Panchen Fire turned the herbs into glowing embers, and he started to smoke. The old king of the Dagerstanteens used to say that sometimes silence was the best way to communicate. At this point, Ike didn't know what Queen Shay wanted to hear, so he sat."Baja used to love wa
Chapter 114: One small stop. Sitting at the main control panel of the small spaceship that Princess Lee had brought to him, Ike set a course toward the planet Albeon. Even though Fenton and Lee had given him a speech on not giving up his life without looking into options, Ike couldn't ignore the Fire of Life burning inside him. The Panchen fire wasn't a creation he could explain to anyone unless they had the living blaze inside them. The inferno was getting harder and harder to contain, and Ike had to get rid of the fire spirit soon. He felt like a bomb was about to go off, and he was also aware that Albeon was dying. The planet's life force was less than a flicker, and without renewal, the surface would grow cold and no longer support the people and animals.He had to do this. He must. Besides, he was tired of living in solitude and sitting in a sanctuary, watching years go by, day after day. Maybe the long periods of isolation weren't so bad when Baja was alive, but then the Dagerst