The Silver Alien

I stepped through the fortress walls onto shattered glass as smoke rose to the sky. Buildings were burnt to the ground from the aftermath of the war and dead soldiers lay around me. The battle had ended and we were victorious. My soldiers followed in disciplined silence, their shadows stretching along the scorched stone as we moved through the ruined corridors that had once belonged to our enemies.

Ryk my second in command, approached with a smear of blood along his jaw. "Lower levels are secure, Warlord. There are prisoners, but no one else survived. One cell in particular should be inspected by you."

He rarely spoke so carefully. He was usually the biggest pain in my ass, and had been this whole trip. The flicker in his eyes told me something about this prisoner bothered him more than he wanted to admit.

"Take me there," I said, my voice coming out sharp.

We descended into the lower depths of the fortress, where light struggled to reach and the air turned cold. The scent changed and my eyes widened immediately. Something I had not smelled in a century.

Fear. Human fear. But that's impossible.

It was faint at first, I thought I might have imagined it, but it grew stronger the closer we walked.

Ryk finally stopped before one of the deeper cells. The metal door hung crookedly from a single hinge, half melted from our assault. He motioned towards the cell and stepped back as his eyes shot to mine. My instincts tightened all at once. I stepped inside.

At first all I saw was a small figure curled against the wall, wrists chained above her, knees drawn toward her chest. A human. Her hair fell in tangled waves across her face, hiding her expression until the weak overhead light flickered and revealed her features as she looked up.

Everything inside me stilled and my breath caught. Her eyes were unmistakably human, wide with fear and exhaustion.

What the fuck.

I heard the quiet intake of air from the soldiers behind me, the disbelief rippling through them. No one spoke for several seconds, myself included. Humans were not meant to exist anymore, let alone found in a cell on a dying world. Yet, a living breathing human was right here.

And she was beautiful.

I should have questioned how she survived or demanded answers from the guards, but I killed them all. Great. I found myself stepping closer, drawn toward her in a steady, unbroken pull I could not fully explain.

Her gaze caught mine, and something in her expression shifted from fear to a tense, cautious curiosity. Her breathing quickened when I approached, a soft tremor running through her body.

A faint pulse began beneath my skin, and at first I thought it was the aftershock of battle, but it grew stronger with every moment I spent near her. My limbs felt heavier and my body felt warmer. The heat coiled low in my spine and spread outward in a slow, rising wave.

Ryk's voice broke the silence. "Warlord... your skin—."

I looked down.

Gold shimmered faintly beneath the surface of my arms, a subtle glow tracing the lines of my veins my people had not seen in decades. My chest tightened.

That should not have been possible.

I crouched in front of her, moving slowly so I wouldn't startle her further. She pressed her back against the wall but she didn't turn her face away from me. Those green eyes stayed locked with mine, searching me with a kind of frightened clarity that made something unfamiliar twist inside me.

"You're human," I said quietly in her tongue.

She swallowed, her voice barely stronger than a whisper. "Yes."

The sound of her words slipped into the heat already coiling in my body and made it deepen. Behind me, my soldiers stood in tense silence, uncertain if they were witnessing a miracle or a threat. We had heard stories about the humans but never seen one with our own eyes. I was too young to remember before the Great War.

"Leave us," I said without raising my voice.

Ryk hesitated, but only for a breath. Then he bowed his head and escorted the others out, leaving only the two of us in the quiet cell.

I lifted one hand and placed it on the wall beside her head, leaning in just enough that I could feel the faint tremor of her breath against my skin. She stared at me like she didn't know if she should fear me, fight me, or beg for my help.

The glow beneath my skin intensified.

I lowered my voice, "You have triggered something in me that should have stayed dormant forever."

•••••

Welcome to my book little aliens 👽

I'll be posting every week and as much as possible.

What do you think happened to the humans?

Can you guess the plot? I'm always interested to see who can guess the story from the first chapter!

Love 💕