Plutonian

Chapter 24

"There's no need to look so shocked, Aria. It's perfectly normal for soldiers to make their first kill when they are in their teens," Lucian says as he takes in my horrified expression. 

Teens? A twelve year old child was barely old enough to be considered a teenager. I couldn't imagine killing anyone at such a young age. But then again I never imagined I would be here at the edge of Pluto after surviving two gruesome fights and the death of a human caused by me.

"So young--How?" I stutter, unsure where my voice has gone. How can he live with himself after doing such a thing?

"It was my first expedition and my initiation was to punish a slave trader in one of our colonized planets. He was smuggling in ammunition to be used against us but one of our spies caught him before he could sell them to the rebels who lived there. The punishment for aiding a rebellion is death and I had to do it as my initiation into the army," He explains. 

"You joined the army when you were twelve?" I stare at him with wide eyes. 

"Yes, it was a requirement for Lazarus and I. Luna joined when she was sixteen like everyone else."

"But don't you think that's too young. I mean how did you even do it?" I wondered out loud and Lucian stared at me looking deep in thought. 

"I didn't think about it. I just did it because it was what was expected of me," His stark blue eyes bore into mine and I can see the uncertainty in them. "I thought it was normal but I guess it never felt normal." 

He sighs and gets up from the ledge and then walks to one of the walls in the cave we are in. I get up as well and follow him to see what he is looking at. 

We both stare at the dull grayish-blue color of the walls and some movement within the stone catches my eye. Feeling curious I lean in and notice what looks like millions of orange dots gliding against each other underneath the hard rock. 

I put my hand on the wall and they disperse outwards, away from my hand like an explosion. 

"These are Tessniens, minute microorganisms. Only the adults are visible to the naked eye. They're offspring are said to be the size of protons. They are found in abundance all over our planet and all the drilling the miners do destroys the stones and kills millions of them," Lucian leans against the wall and I watch the Tessnien's swarm away from his shoulder.

"I've never seen them before,"  I admit even though I have spent most of my time here working in the mines in the South. 

"And yet you have killed thousands of them," He says and I shoot him a look. 

"You never felt guilty because you couldn't see them and you didn't know they existed. But what is the difference between the life of a Tessnien and that of a human? Or the slave driver I killed? They were all life forms and yet we feel guilty about killing one but not the other?" Lucian questions me and throws me off for a second. 

"But it's different. I saw him die right in front of my eyes and there was nothing I could do about it. I watched his neck snap--," I close my eyes and shudder just thinking about it. "But of course I feel bad now about killing these organisms as well."

"But did you ever lose any sleep over them?" Lucian challenges me and for some reason it makes me feel angry. 

"I didn't know," I frown at him. 

"It's normal to react the way you are, Aria," My name rolls off his tongue and I feel like he is mocking me.

"So what you're trying to say is I shouldn't care about killing someone because I have already killed so many other creatures that I couldn't see and didn't know about? Well then should I go on a rampage and kill everyone I hate?" I snap and he smiles at me in amusement.