Endosymbiosis

50. R.E.M.

Fifth circle of the Empire
Earth

I never wanted to talk about my destiny out loud, as if, if I did, the universe would decide to give up on my requests. But now that I no longer saw that door as my only exit to happiness, I felt brave enough to defy everything and take the pain I'd caused so long on Doxy.

"I was born 7 years before the Empire arrived on Earth... When the worst monsters I knew were humans, the farthest place I could go was at the opposite end of the world's circumference, and the paradise was already there, around me, even though at that time I couldn't see..."

"But..." She looked me up and down, searching for something she never noticed but had always been there. "You should be dead..."

I knew that very well.

"Apparently the universe had other plans for me." I shrugged.

"So... You're 720 years old?" Doxy recoiled, like I wasn't human anymore.

"No. I'm still the same age as before, because I skipped most of those 700 years."

"But..." The confusion on her face was palpable. "How?"

I took a deep breath... And then I revealed her my entire past:

My father died when I was the same age as I am today, but about 700 years ago. The moment I saw the bullet pass through his head, I let out a roar that, through my father's helmet communicator, alerted the Empire and its soldiers that I was there - a witness to their brutality.

And, in the blink of an eye, they were advancing towards the Hasta.

I started the engines and fired into the sky as fast as my ship could, but not enough for the Empire to lose sight of me.

The guards followed me through the emptiness of space - where it was impossible to hide - and I heard gunfire at the metal around me. I needed to find some Itopis' world to land on, but the nearest pore wasn't close enough. I tried to dodge the shots, but those creatures' aim was too good, so one of their bullets made the Hasta roar, begging me to land before it was too late.

I advanced to the first world I saw, not caring what was on its surface, and pierced the atmosphere like a shooting star, the Empire at the back of my neck digging in the knife and twisting. From the window I could see the smoke that escaped the Hasta mingling with the air, painting it black as blood on water, and the next shot turned my descent into a fall.

Everything was failing and the ground approached with violence, while the Hasta sank around me...

But I could still swim.

I ran my hands over the panel in a brief moment, saying goodbye to everything my father had once built, that life that rose around me and was no longer enough to sustain me.

"I'll come back for you..."

For the Hasta. For my family. For my life.

So I pressed a button.

And the Hasta exploded.

The fireball took over that world's skies.

The guards prowled the debris from the explosion for a few minutes, but found nothing alive for them to kill and quikly took off back into space.

That button had also ejected me from the Hasta with a mirrored parachute that camouflaged me in the skies. I slowly descended to the surface of the planet, and when my feet hit the ground once more, I dropped onto the soft sand, my back to the ground, my eyes on the endless sky.