Chapter 2
TRUO SEEDUON, SECOND COMMAND
I was the second Corillion alien warrior to spawn on the asteroid Seeduon. Cyro, was the first, and because of that he was our leader, and I was second. I did not agree with the way he ruled, but I could do nothing about it. It was not my place. But he did not rule Seeduon in an honorable Corillion way. My disagreement with him increased when he arrived back from his mission to secure himself a human female wife. He brought something back with him that took my breath away, and her name was Vera.
I had seen human females before, but I had never seen any that looked like her. She had long brown hair, green eyes, and was very delicate and petite. She made me want to protect her. She had a fire to her, and it was very enticing. But she belonged to another; she belonged to my leader, and going against him was treachery and would result in death. But then I discovered that she belonged to yet another, a human male who was her husband. Cyro held this fact over her head and used it against her. He was forcing her to mate with him, or he would kill her husband. I kept the real secret that Cyro was keeping from her for a month, but it was growing harder to do so. I would look at Vera and see the pain in her eyes every time I saw her. She was very unhappy. She was very frightened. She wanted her husband, but if only she knew.
So when Cyro pulled me aside to secretly tell me to secure him another second wife, I had had enough. I had to tell the human female what was really going on. I risked a lot to do so, and I had no idea why I was willing to risk that much for her. She was not mine. She could never be mine. Yet, there I was, risking everything.
I waited for her in the dark shadows of the underground passages. This structure was below the stone fortress on the asteroid Seeduon. It was put there in case of emergency situations, such as if the fortress were ever under siege, but it was not used otherwise. It was the perfect place to meet someone and tell secret information, like what I was about to tell the human female Vera. I heard light footsteps on the stairs coming down, and I knew it was her.
"Hello? Are you there?” Her voice was delicate and soft.
"I am here. It is Truo. Do not be afraid,” I said stepping into the light.
"I did not know this existed,” she said as she took more confident steps into the passage.
"Many do not know of its existence. It is for emergency escapes only. It is not used otherwise,” I said to her.
As she came into the light, her beauty startled me. She was wearing a blue dress that fit snugly to her curvy body. Her long brown hair was down spreading out over her shoulders and down her chest. She was breathing heavily in her frightened state.
"We must be quick before someone catches us,” she said.
"This way,” I said as a grabbed her hand and pulled her deeper into the underground passage.
"What is it? I'm very nervous down here,” she whispered to me.
"Vera, my name is Truo, and I must tell you something that should have been said to you long ago," I said as I stopped walking once we were in a wider area of the passageway.
"What is it? Is it my husband? Is he down here? Are you taking me to see him?” she said in a quiet panic.
"N,1 Vera. I am sorry to tell you that your husband is not down here. He has never been down here. He has never been in the dungeon cells. There are no prisoners here,” I said to her.
"What do you mean? My husband is a prisoner here. Cyro is keeping him captive. He has told me so himself,” she said loudly.
"He has lied to you. Cyro lied in order to get what he wanted from you,” I said to her.
"No, my husband is here. If he is not in the prison cells, then he is being held somewhere else,” she said panicking.
"Vera, I have to tell you the truth. Your husband is dead.”
She gasped, “How can you say such a thing? It is a lie,” she said to me.
"It is not a lie. I would not lie to you about this. I thought that you should know. Your husband never made it here to Seeduon. He was eliminated on the spaceship. It is the truth,” I said to her.
She began to cry hysterically and scream at me, “You lie! You are a liar! Why would you say that?!” She pounded her fists against my chest, hitting my scales.
I captured her wrists in my hands and stopped her, “I am sorry, Vera. It is wrong. It is very wrong. You should've never been taken. It was wrong to take a human female with a husband. I am very sorry for telling you the truth; I know that it must hurt.”
"No! No! No!” she cried and crumbled to the ground. I had never seen such emotion. This was not what I was expecting. Clearly I knew very little about humans. The Corillion were not so emotional; it was a sign of weakness. We were warriors.
"Marcus…” she cried.
I was in shock and unsure how to deal with this. I planned on telling her the truth so that she could know once and for all. But I had not planned on what to do when she crumpled and broke into two.
I stared at her, the delicate heap on the floor shaking uncontrollably as she cried. I moved down to my knees beside her and wrapped my arms around her for comfort. She pushed her face into my chest and cried. She cried for a long time. We said nothing. I just let her cry.
It was unlike any experience I had ever had up to that point. I did not know how this helped the human female, but it seemed too. She started to calm down, and before I knew it, she fell asleep in my arms quietly sobbing. I let her rest. It was obvious that the news was a shock to her; it was too much for her. Had I known this was the way a human would react, I would've been more delicate with the matter. I was only concerned with telling her the truth because it was not honorable what Cyro was doing to her.
An hour passed and she slept in my arms, and I knew that we could not stay in the underground passage for long. It was not safe, and in a couple of hours, the light of the sun would reach this side of the asteroid surface.
"Vera… Vera, please awaken,” I said nudging her. She woke up startled and confused about where she was for a brief second and why she was in my arms. Then I saw the look on her face as she remembered what I had told her and why she was crying. Anguish came over her.
"I should get back before I am missed. I do not to feel so good,” she said as she tried to stand.
"Here, let me help you," I said, helping her to her feet.
"Thank you, Truo, for your honesty. I must go,” she said, walking away from me towards the staircase.
"Vera, I urge you not to change your behavior with Cyro. He will know that you know and that can be very dangerous for you,” I said to her.
She turned to me and looked up at me with her green eyes that were bloodshot from crying. “I understand.” She said it so weakly that I could barely hear her.
"It is for your own protection,” I said as I walked her to the bottom of the stairs. “Promise that you will say nothing, that you will act the same.”
"I promise to act the same, as much as I can. I have my own bedchamber away from Cyro; he only comes to me to use me. I hate him now more than ever. I don't know how I can go on living like this. Goodbye, Truo; thank you for the truth,” she said as she ran up the stairs.
Then she was gone. All that had happened with this human female astonished me. I was shocked that she had such a reaction to what I told her. I was only telling her the truth because it was the honorable thing to do, but her reaction stung me. In consoling her, I wanted to help her. She seemed so fragile and delicate at that moment. I wanted to take away all of her pain. Holding her in my arms made me feel something I had never felt before, and I did not know what that was or why I felt that way.
I wished that there was more that I could do for her, but she belonged to the leader. There was nothing that I could do. Telling her the truth was the only thing that I could do at this moment, yet after holding her in my arms while she cried made me want to do more for her. I yearned to help her, but I knew that I could not.