Page 19 of Selected By the Dragon Alien
“Yes, if I can.” He placed the journal beside him with distaste. “I honestly don’t recall writing this journal, although it is clearly mine.”
She crossed her arms. “Is it true that the Terians are prisoners and this planet is a penal colony?”
He nodded. “The Terians are prisoners, but only the settlements are the penal colony. The Axis seized the land your people farm as their location to incarcerate you, which infuriated the Hecrons. That land was once theirs.”
She let out a little cry. “Prisoners…”
“Unfortunately, yes. Your people are prisoners.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I hope you see why I was hesitant to tell you right away.”
She held up a hand. “We were taken from our planet by the Axis. And you just…took the job of keeping us in line.”
“No, I—I don’t remember that.” Pain pulsed in his skull, radiating from the metal implant. He gestured to the space beside him on the bed. “Please, sit down. Let’s talk this through.”
Turi hesitated for a moment before relenting and taking a seat next to him. The anger that had fueled her appeared as if it were beginning to ebb away. She glanced at the journal that lay between them. It was a tangible reminder of the secrets and lies that had come to light.
“I don’t understand, Ellion.” Her voice was softer. “This journal is clearly yours, but that would make you…nearly six hundred years old?”
Ellion picked up the journal and flipped through the pages again, his gaze lingering on the dates and entries that chronicled centuries of Terian history. “It appears this journal was written by me,” he admitted, “but I can’t fathom how I could have lived for so long without any memory of it. The Axis… They have ways of manipulating time, of altering memories. It’s possible that they did something to me, that they made me forget.”
Turi’s eyes widened at the implications of his words. “The Axis can do that? But why? Why would they make you forget your own past?”
Ellion shook his head, his expression grim. “I don’t know, Turi. But I intend to find out. The Axis have controlled us for far too long. It’s time we started asking questions and demanding answers.”
Ara, who had been silent up until now, moved closer to the bed. “Ellion, there’s something you need to know. The Skrac have known about the Axis’ true nature and the source of their power for a long time.”
Both Ellion and Turi turned to look at her. “What do you know?” Ellion asked, his voice rough-edged.
Ara’s form flickered as she gathered her thoughts. “The Axis are not just a group of powerful beings. They are embodimentsof an ancient force that predates the Skrac and many other species in the galaxy. They have been the oppressors of the galaxy for eons, creating a massive syndicate that controls the incarceration of entire species…for profit, I might add. They are feared by all, including the Skrac. The Axis have learned to manipulate time, space, and the minds of others.”
Ellion’s gaze sharpened on Ara as the horror of her words sank in. “Why have you never told me this before?”
Ara’s form wavered as she looked away. “How? Twice they erased your memories. Each time you were returned to this fortress a shell of yourself—I saw it for myself. Skrac live impossibly long lives.” She straightened her shadowy Terian-like form. “I’m over a thousand years old myself, and I remember what it was like before the Axis took huge swaths of land and turned it into a penal colony. I rememberyou, Ellion, when you were first put here.”
“Put here?” He could barely get the words out.
“Yes.Puthere. Ellion, you are not just a Zaruxian. You were raised by the Axis—and before you ask,no. I don’t know how you came to be in the custody of the Axis. All I know is that they did indeed put you here as the overseer. You didn’t question your role at first, but over time you did. After your first rebellion against them, they took you away and you returned with that metal plate in your head and no memories. You sat in a corner and drooled for two years.” Her voice went hard. “It took over a century for you to begin to resemble the Ellion I knew, and then, they did it again. I thought I’d never get you back this time. It was only when you put a mark of protection on the door of a female who showed mercy to acibratthat I knew the true you was reemerging.” If Ara was capable of showing a smile, she’d be doing that now. “The Axis have spies everywhere, probably even among my own kind. But now that you’ve found this journal, it’stime you learned the truth about yourself and your role in their grand design.”
“The truth…” Ellion choked on the words. This was not the “truth” he’d expected to hear. It was not the history he’d ever imagined for himself. “There is no way I’m six hundred years old.”
“Zaruxians can live for millennia,” Ara said, turning to Turi. “Terians used to have significantly longer life spans, too, before the Axis took them from their native land and the healing plants that allowed them to thrive. This is why it takes you decades to reach maturity.”
Turi let out a half gasp, half strangle. “All this time, I thought this was our home planet.Fek, I can’t believe we were taught—or forced—to worship the very entity that imprisoned and tortured us…”
“That is how the Axis work,” Ara said. “Someone paid a great sum of credits to have this done to your people, and the Axis always hold up their end of a contract.”
Ellion dropped his head into his hands. “I am no different from the Terians, then. My origin story is likely no less bleak and filled with pain.”
“It explains why they have been so careful to keep you under their thumb,” Ara said gently. “Uncovering your past will not be easy. Or without a cost.”
But what cost,Ellion wondered? Would he lose his mind once again in this quest, or worse, lose Turi? He rapped a fist on the journal. “This only covers about two hundred years. There must be more.”
“There is another one,” Ara said. “It documents the time between the last entry in that journal and the beginning of the one you currently write in. That journal may help show what led up to causing your memories to be suppressed, and how the Axis have maintained control over the Terians for so long.”
Ellion rose to his feet, his wings unfurling with a snap, despite the pain of his wound. “Where is this other journal? I need to see it.”
Ara shook her head. “Youhid it, Ellion. I don’t know where it is.”
Ellion sat back down on the bed, the weight of this revelation pressing down on him. “All these years, I believed I was serving a just cause, maintaining order among the Terians. But it was all a lie. I was nothing more than a puppet, dancing to the Axis’ tune.”