I gaze off into the distance, thoughts running across my mind at a million miles per minute.

Everything I’ve ever believed has been a lie. I feel like such a fool. There’s a whole world out there with people like me — and I have no idea how to act around them. I don’t know their customs, their ways. Even if I were to find them, I’d always be an outsider. The only thing I know how to do is hunt.

I feel so angry and hopeless. However, it’s not Ava’s fault. I see that now. To take my anger out on her was wrong of me.

The mysterious Tyk’ix, this invisible enemy, this ghost of my past is to blame. It’s an enemy I can never fight, never face, never defeat to re-claim my honor.

I kick a pebble. It rolls down the hill, and I follow it all the way down towards the lake. My eyes drift upwards, right to the stars. Night has now fallen, and the sky is lit up by countless tiny lights.

Somewhere out there is my former homeworld, and perhaps, my parents. Koryn. Kelly.

Will they even want to see me after all this time? I can’t imagine I’m anything like they expected their son to be. From my father’s outfit I gather he was some big-shot, and what am I? A savage.

It doesn’t matter — they might not be alive, and I’m stuck on this rock.

All my life I’ve wondered about my past, my origins, and now that I know, I wish I didn’t. Funny how those things go.

A star catches my eye. It’s moving fast, faster than I’ve ever seen any star move. It’s growing in size by the second, and it’s heading right for me.

Is it a falling star?

An asteroid come to take me out of my misery?

No — it’s not a star, nor a rock. It’s a ship! It’s shaped like a spear with three heads, and it rockets towards me with dazzling speed.

The spear rockets by overhead and several smaller ships suddenly drop out and land in the crater behind me, like little birds leaving her mother’s feathers.

Before I have time to react, tall pale aliens storm out en masse. They are coated in golden armor, carrying axes on sticks. These aliens don’t resemble Ava in any way, shape or form. Where Ava is soft and curvy, these aliens are skin-over-bone, with ghostly eyes and white hair.

These must be the ones who tried to hurt her — the Nezdek, she called them.

My eyes narrow as I reach for my knife. Time seems to slow down to a crawl as adrenaline courses through my veins. Dozen of them head towards the Maker — towards Ava, while another dozen wait by their ships.

I may not know how to fly a starship, but if there’s one thing I can do it’s protect my mate.

I belt out a deafening roar as I charge at the alien warriors with their strange weapons and clothes. I dash down the crater, picking up speed with every step I take. The aliens raise their axes at me, and I jump up in the air, flying over them as I slash downwards with my knife.

When I land, one of them falls down dead. The others look at me with fear in their ghostly eyes, shivering at the sight of me.

Good. They ought to fear me.

“Zoran! Wakzam!”

“Pjak hem!”

One of them lunges at me with his axe-stick, and I dodge it, grab it with one hand and yank the weapon towards me. He tumbles forwards, and I slip my knife right into his neck. The Nezdek falls to the ground, gurgling. Dying.

“Whose next?” I growl.

“Spreiden!”

The remaining aliens fan out into a circle, surrounding me, trying to keep me a distance with their long weapons. They try to stab me with their axe-spears, but I block their pathetic attempts with my forearms.

“Turnon!”

Ava’s voice cuts right through the sounds of battle. I whirl around, all of my heightened senses focused on my mate.

The aliens are leaving the Maker — and taking Ava with them. A Nezdek with an eyepatch is carrying my mate, who is resisting with everything she has. She claws, she punches, she kicks, but it’s not enough.

I have to save her.

With a hefty roar I push my way through the crowd of aliens surrounding me. Their axes cut into my arms and shoulders as I push past, blood trickling down my body, but I barely notice it.

I’m hyper-focused on my mate. Ava is now being dragged aboard one of their alien shuttles — I’m too far away.

I might not make it. No, I have to make it!

Time seems to stand still. All I hear is my own breathing, all I feel is every muscle in my legs crying out as I pump out one major step after another.

Ava turns to me, and when she sees me, she smiles.

And then the hatch of the shuttle closes with a snap when I’m only two steps away.

“No!” I roar so hard it makes my own ears pop.

I fling myself against the ship so hard I leave a Zoran-sized dent, and every bone in my body cracks. A searing pain passes through every fiber of my being, my body begging for a moment of rest, eager for a single breath, but I can’t.

I need to save my mate.

I lose myself in a primal rage, a fury unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. My vision turns red as I pummel the ship with my bare fists. My knuckles are bleeding, my skin cracked, blood dripping down my fingers, red marks all smeared over the metal ship.

The dented shuttle door opens with a whir — and I find myself looking down the barrel of a gun.

“A Zoran, here?”

The Nezdek with the eye-patch is shaking his head in disbelief, the gun pointed right at my chest.

“Sleep tight.”

The last thing I hear before the red blast of concentrated light hits my chest is Ava crying out my name — and then everything turns to black. I’m vaguely aware of my body dropping towards the ground, the Nezdek grinning to himself, and Ava’s terrified screams.

And then there’s nothing.