Amid the Clouds (Brave New World Book 1)

Chapter 32

Xan exhaled loudly through his nose – either a snort or a sigh, I now knew. He shifted until he was sitting more comfortably with me on his lap.

"Single females who don't shoot at the sight of my brethren and who agree to come here willingly, I could save. Humankind... is beyond my abilities to save, anima. Even if all homeclouds were to unite - which has never been done before - it would still not be enough. The hope was lost the moment the aliens approached Earth, and the human leaders chose not to fight, too greedy for the technologies offered. They chose to stand disunited, unwilling to share those technologies with other kingdoms."

I was slack-jawed yet again. "You're saying that some governments knew the aliens were coming but decided to keep it a secret?"

Okay, that actually wasn't so surprising. But in alien invasion movies the humans always chose to fight, even when the aliens were peaceful. Why hadn't humanity acted as stupidly now? For once it wouldn't have been a dumb move; the third apocalypse might have been averted, darn it!

"I had my informants on the ground, so I know the human leaders were not just keeping the contact with the aliens a secret from each other. They were also planning to use the alien technologies against other kingdoms. Humankind was divided and vulnerable, and its incoming fall was foreseen by all shadow kinds with informants of their own. It just happened so that the flesh eaters' king was the first to take advantage of the situation."

"He wanted to take over before the aliens did," I thought out loud. "But what do you mean by 'shadow kinds'?"

Moving his hand up and down my right arm soothingly, Xan explained. "The kinds who have always lived in hiding from humankind. They chose to come into the light before the alien ships infested the skies. Many of the shadow kinds perceive as theirs what humans call their own, and finally saw a change to take it back."

"Like the elves?" Everything was starting to make sense now. "They want the forests of the world for themselves, along with any green territories."

"Yes, it is so."

"And those ugly mermaids have taken over the rivers, lakes and seas."

"There are also those who want control over the ground for its resources. The blood suckers, the moon-cursed, the pixies, to name but a few - they all need humans to feed on or replenish their numbers."

I fell silent. Gargoyles, as romantic as they were, were also among the shadow kinds Xan was talking about. They needed human women to survive, and so they were part of the war for Earth themselves. But if there was such a thing as good guys in this war - from the point of view of humans - it was the gargoyles.

I had been crazy lucky to find myself in the arms of one. And one hell of a gargoyle at that.

Which made me decide that if Carson had made it back to the community in one piece, I wouldn't kill the coward. I would thank him for forcing me to stay in that nightmarish building, thus helping me find my Xan. Then I would beat the crap out of Carson for leaving me behind to die.

"So, the aliens joined the party last," I spoke, finally having pieced everything together. "They pretended to want to help us – what remained of humankind, anyway – so that we would go to them willingly. Like lambs to the slaughter. And while gathering the survivors up for experiments and reproduction," I shuddered at the thought despite being enveloped in Xan's warmth, "they also began bombing the cities. They needed to get rid of the zombies and vamps as the greatest threat to the aliens' precious human resource."

He nodded. "Now you understand why my kind cannot save yours. It is too late."

"But you waged war against the zombies when they started this. Against the vamps, too. Now you can continue fighting!... You plan to do so, don't you? You spoke of an alliance with the elves in the war room."