Chapter One

The world fell strangely silent around him as Azra ran across the deep desert sand toward the clash that he saw ahead. He felt the battle yell coming from his throat, but he couldn’t hear it. It was as if there was so much happening around him that his senses had shut down to prevent his mind from becoming overwhelmed. The lack of sound allowed him to focus intently on the people around him and the weight of the weapon that he had taken into his hand. As soon as his feet brought him into the center of the battle, though, all of the sound rushed back. Azra could suddenly hear the roar of voices, punctuated by the metallic sound of blades hitting. Pyra’s voice rose above all the others, and Azra felt galvanized.

Ahead of him he could see a hooded man that appeared nearly as tall as the Denynso warriors but more slender. The man had one hand outstretched in front of him and George was lying on the sand, struggling against an unseen force that appeared to be holding him down in the burning grains. The human scientist clawed at his neck and chest, his heels digging down into the ground beneath him as if he was trying to pull hands away. Azra knew that meant that this particular hybrid had Valdician blood. He ran forward and dug his blade into the back of the man’s shoulder. He didn’t intend to kill him, but rather force him to lose the concentration that was necessary for him to maintain his hold on George.

The hybrid reared back with the pain of the stab and almost instantly George scrambled to his feet. Azra lifted his blade above his head and brought it down again, slashing at the hood so that it fell away from the creature’s head. He wanted to see its face. He needed to break through the ambiguity, to see this being for itself rather than allowing it to remain an abstract thought in his mind. Abstracts enabled him to fight indiscriminately, to simply put the inborn compulsion for war in control and lash out at whatever was near him without thought. That was no longer an option. Surrounded by more species than he had ever known existed, Azra knew that the battle lines were no longer like they used to be. Before the Denynso warriors left the compound, things had been straightforward and easy to understand. There had been the Denynso and everyone else. There was a vague understanding that there were species in other places throughout the galaxy, and even the entirety of the Universe, that respected the Denynso and considered themselves neutral with them, never interested in fighting and always happy for the warriors to handle the enemies that they did have if they happened to venture on to Uoria. For the most part, however, there was only the warriors and the enemies that came onto the planet in an effort to destroy his kind or to take over his planet.

During those days, when they stood on a battlefield, it was easy to recognize who was the enemy. This was no longer the case. Now he could look to either side and see people of all kinds embroiled in the battle that raged hotter with every passing second. Though most of the hybrid army soldiers wore hooded cloaks, it wasn’t enough to delineate clearly which people were fighting for the same convictions and which were pushing back against them. He couldn’t help but remember what the hybrid that Rilex had left with, the one that the women now called Severine, had told them about the hybrids. Not all of them had the violent compulsions within them or had any belief in what Ryan wanted them to do. They were slaves forced to follow through with the scientist’s grisly ideals, and that made the delicate delineation between those who were on his side and those who he was meant to be fighting against much more difficult to discern. He had to pay close attention to each person, hoping that this time, this fight, would be different. This time maybe he would have the chance to change the outcome.

Ahead of him Azra saw one of the hooded figures run past with incredible speed that reminded him of Ero. He knew this meant that that hybrid was part Mikana, like the Denynso warrior that descended from a Denynso and Mikana pairing many generations before. Soon he was aware of others, of the people in both his group and the hybrid army moving at the same blazing speed while others moved people and objects around them without ever placing their hands on them, and still others grabbed those around them with massive hands and tossed them with overpowering strength. It was as if his mind had isolated each of the different species and separated them, allowing the most prevalent abilities in each of the people, both hybrid and not, to show through the strongest. Suddenly they seemed at once indescribably different and yet more alike than ever before.

As the battle raged on around him, Azra became aware of a gnawing feeling in his stomach. No matter what he did or how hard he tried to push the thoughts away, he couldn’t get the image of Elise out of his mind. He was deeply concerned about her, even more so now that they had actually arrived on Penthos and were facing the battle that had been building up in their minds for so long. He was conflicted by her not being there with him. He was thankful that she wasn’t on the battlefield in danger and witnessing the carnage that was quickly escalating around him, but not being able to see her made him wonder where she was and if she was safe. His eyes fell on Lynx and he ran toward his brother, ducking out of the way of a blow from a hybrid soldier wearing tattered and bloody robes.

“Lynx!” he shouted. “Where is Elise?”

Lynx turned toward him.

“She stayed behind,” Lynx said. “She’s safe. She and Lila are preparing the compound for everyone to come back.”

Azra nodded. Reassured by knowing that his mate was safe and secure, he turned back to the battle and began to slash his way through the wall of soldiers approaching him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a warrior double over as a blade went into his belly. He started toward him, immediately realizing that it was Ero. The young warrior lay on the ground, curled over onto his hip as he dug his fingers into the ground as if trying to pull himself away from the hooded creature that was lifting his weapon again. He dropped to his knees beside Ero and blocked him with his body as he forced his own blade forward into the man’s gut, reciprocating the injury that he had caused Ero. As the soldier stumbled back, he grasped Ero’s shirt and started to drag him back toward Pyra and Gyyx several feet away. He shouted their names and they rushed toward him. Pyra leaned down and scooped Ero up off of the ground as Azra continued to support his legs.

They rushed out of the center of the fray toward an empty expanse of the desert sand.