Page 13 of Bonded By Savages

There’s a strange, mirrored surface that both reflects me back and shows me black sands at the same time.

I look so tiny, draped over the back of the huge Greek god of a warrior. He has red blotches on his left shoulder, from Bullfrog blood, and I know he must be hurting, but he doesn’t even grunt in pain. He has a long white scar down his back.

These two have spent the last year and a half at war.

His jet-black hair contrasts against his marble flesh. His neck is thick and powerful, and he exudes dominance and strength.

All those scars, but it doesn’t mar him like the perfect twin half-circles on his chest. I can remember them from when he first burst into the banquet hall, and they are etched in my memory for eternity, the moment when I knew my dreams of being saved by a force for good were naïve.

It is the mark of Obsidian.

It is the mark of the War-God and his horrible followers who view humans as theirpossessions.

In the mirror, I can see the women running. A Toad ship, big as an elephant and bulging out with gun turrets, fires into the street, smashing carts. Some of the women pause, others run forward towards the mirror.

“Please, please wait for them,” I beg, but the Aurelian holding me turns and steps through the portal.

It’s cold, icy water, which I haven’t felt since I was on a space station. Time freezes for an instant, and my body seems to grow longer and longer, like I’m a piece of dough stretched to the limit, and then I’m on the other side.

He sets me down in the black sand and screams greet me, yells of victory and triumph.

I can barely stand on my shaking legs as I walk to the side, because directly in front of me is a monster.

It’s an Aurelian, maybe, if Aurelians were over eight foot tall, with oil in their blood. He doesn’t have a tattoo on his chest. He has a birthmark. His black, scraggly hair goes down past his shoulders, and his eyes are pure darkness, but as I’m drawn into them, I see a trillion stars.

The Aurelian who grabbed me grips my wrist and pulls me aside, when I see the two wolves.

Wolves. These are bigger than any wolf I’ve seen in a holo-vid. They’re bigger than warhorses, huge, hulking animals with long black fangs. I’m terrified, and despite my revulsion for the Fanatic, I pull myself against his broad body. He wraps an arm around me, pulling me tight against his waist as I stare around me, trying to make sense of my surroundings.

It’s almost like the Arena of the Gods, the pure white Coliseum on Colossus.

No—it’s a perversion of it, a blasphemy. It’s sliced in half, a half-circle like the brands all Fanatics wear, and instead of pure white marble stone, it’s built of black granite.

The stands are packed with warriors, and they bray in triumph. They watched the two Aurelians went through a portal and came back with the one thing they care about more than their evil religion…

Their promised Mate.

I used to dream of living on Colossus. I used to dream of looking up at the palace of Queen Jasmine on the hills above the city, imagining working for her. She is the reason Aurelians became more civilized, more caring towards humanity.

Then a third of the species broke off because they didn’t want to protect.

They wanted to claim and conquer.

Now I am surrounded by them.

“I cannot hold it much longer,” comes the deep, booming voice of Obsidian. He never takes his eyes off the portal. His hands are spread out wide. He’s nude, and I look away, not wanting to see his violent manhood.

“Please, don’t let me lose another brother,” whispers the refined Aurelian who grabbed me. His voice splinters with pain as he speaks. His hand on my ribs is so big it covers my entire midriff, and it pulls me almost painfully towards him, pressing me against his powerful body. He’s taut, stressed that his battle-brother hasn’t returned.

Aurelians share a special Bond. They can feel each other’s emotions, and these two must have fought together for hundreds of years. He lost one brother and became savage from it.

If he loses another, I’m terrified what he will become.

Obsidian’s eyes go wider. He roars out, when a woman stumbles through the portal, two more rushing through and landing on her in a heap. I recognize Joel and Lelita.

Sweat drips down Obsidian’s brow as his arms shake. On this side, I can see the portal in its true form. It is a huge square mirror ringed by blackness, with Orbs bigger than my head ensconced in wrought black metal.

The edges of the mirror grow darker, blackness seeping in, tendrils of darkness slowly spreading towards the center and closing in like a fast-approaching tunnel. A vein in Obsidian’s forearm bursts, and he roars in pain, as the leader of the Aurelians jumps through, roughly grabbing two more servants with him.

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