The footsteps were silent as the figure drifted like a shadow down the hallway. He overhead fluorescent lights flickered to darkness, concealing its approach. A door slid silently open and the shadow disappeared inside.
There was a consistent semi-silent humming that filled the darkness. Barely visible lights blinked steadily in a soft amber glow on one side of the room. The other side was black. A lumpy mass of blankets could be outlined in the obscurity, laying atop a bed built into the wall.
The shadow glided to the bedside, pulling out a long blade from beneath it’s dark cloak. The orange light faintly glimmered off of the polished weapon. The sword raised in the darkness, positioning over the lumpy bed mass.
The shadow went to strike but hesitated. There was a soft clinking of metal on plastic. A pressure could be felt pushing against the coiled gear resting on the shadow’s throat. Behind the figure, two bright red orbs laid across its right shoulder, glaring ominously in the darkness. In a hot, whispered tone, the words, “Assassin,” breathed past the shadow.
Nephadius jumped backwards as the shadowy figure’s leg swiped underneath him. He pulled his blade back, severing the oxygen line it was pressed against, flipping the knife in his hand into a defensive position. Air hissed noisily out of the hose as the oxygen rushed into the room. The black cloak fluttered in the air, through it pushed the sword. The two blades met in a shower of sparks.
The cloak floated gently to the ground, sliced in two from the sharp contact. On one side the Wolvrun ship captain stood on the defensive. On the other was the tall, mysterious Aietos, holding the Katana blade in an offensive stance. The oxygen system continued to hiss as the air whined out of it. The two figures stared intensely at each other until the tall, dark one lunged forward again.
The blade sliced through the air, nicking the Wolvrun’s cheek as he dodged. Aietos was quick. The wolf’s fist glided up the length of the katana, past the arms, and into the mask of the black clad figure. The glass apparatus crunched loudly, shattering at the point of contact.
Aietos stumbled backwards, slicing towards Nephadius vertically. He flipped over the blade, narrowly missing the strike. Again, the two stood across from each other, staring intensely. The wolf’s eyes met with a piercing yellow glow through the shattered mask. This time Aietos stood in a defensive stance.
“You aren’t the first person to try to kill me in my sleep,” Nephadius said, keeping his eyes locked with the assassin.
“Vu nar drukar, Hachkeiser!” Aietos screeched, lunging forward again. Nephadius was almost caught off guard by hearing the ancient language. ‘I will be the last, demon.’ The blade skimmed through the wolf’s fur as he ducked below the slice. A locke of the white hairs wafted to the floor.
“Vi dos narru Wollvrune, Noctezzer?” Nephadius spoke, pointing his daggar at the sword wielder. Aietos kept the sword raised at the words. ‘Who are you to speak ancient Wolvrun, Assassin?’ The wolf smiled as the nick on his cheek dripped blood. The ancient dialect quickly reached the nerves of the assassin. The sword flickered in the pale light as it was thrust forward once more.
The dagger that Nephadius held sparked up the long blade as the Wolvrun deflected the attack. When his blade hit the Katana’s hilt, Nephadius twisted his knife in a way that caught his blade with the sword. He used the leverage from the new hold to shift his weight, twisting into an upward kick. The thick rubber of his boot connected with the underside of the assassin’s helmet, causing it to forcefully come disconnected. The figure flew backwards from the blow, floating parallel with the deck below for more than a split second. The sword clanged loudly as it fell across the small room. The facial apparatus snapped into multiple pieces as it hit the wall, then subsequently hit the floor and shattered further. Aietos slammed into the ground, choking out a breath as the air forcefully left the assassin’s lungs.
The black clad assassin quickly flipped backwards and onto its feet. The black cowl it wore fell over its face, keeping the true identity of the attacker concealed. Nephadius grinned. He hadn’t had a fight this good in years.
The Wolvrun sheathed his blade in the holster on his hip, raising his fists to Aietos. To him, a fight this good needed to be even. The wolf taunted the black assassin with the Terran “bring it” hand signal, beckoning for the winded assailant to make the first move.
Aietos raised its left fist. A pale red light showed through the cracks of the black, gloved hand. Nephadius’s eyes narrowed, then his ears perked up.
Bleep, he heard.
Bleep… Bleep… Bleep, bleep, bleep. Bleep bleep bleep bleep.
“Son of a bit--.”
****************************************************************
Talrean heard a muffled explosion come from somewhere within the ship. The noise startled the young Wolvrun, causing the fur on the back of his neck to stand up in surprise. He had been wandering the ship for a couple of hours and hadn’t encountered anything but endless hallways. Three times he had somehow lopped back into the cargo bay, and with every loop he grew even more confused and lost than the last.
He looked around the hallway he was in. It was infinite on both sides. He couldn’t discern which direction the explosion came from. Talrean continued in the direction he was heading, hoping to find someone, or something, on the ship.
***************************************************************
The Wolvrun coughed deeply as he followed the cloud of dark black smoke into the hallway. Smoke plumed out of his room into the corridor. As soon as he exited the room the door slammed behind him. Loud exhaust fans could be heard cycling above. Thankfully the smoke grenade hadn’t tripped the fire suppression system fully. Nephadius didn’t enjoy the idea of spending any amount of time in a vacuum sealed room.
He wheezed intensely as he tried to rid the burning sensation in his lungs. After a minute the wolf recovered. His fur was tinted lightly black around his face and ears. Hit clothing was covered in a layer of the synthetic soot produced by the explosion. Nephadius yelled angrily into the hallway.
“Inoya!”
“Yes captain?” a feminine electronic voice buzzed through a nearby intercom.
“Where did that bastard slip off to?”
“Which ‘bastard’ are you referring to, Captain?”
The Wolvrun stared into the hallway with confusion, “Which… Inoya, including myself, how many people are on this ship?”
“Three, Captain,” the computerized voice responded. Nephadius kicked the nearby wall and cursed loudly.
“Why didn’t you tell me that one of the slaves stowed away on my ship you stupid computer?!”
“You didn’t ask, Captain.”
The wolf knew that there would be no arguing with the ships artificial intelligence system. He was painfully aware that the sassy bitch ran the ship, her ship, how she wanted to. Arguments and complaints would get him nowhere.
“Inoya, can you route both of our guests to the cargo bay and kindly jettison them into space?”
“No.”
“No…No? What do you mean ‘No’?”
“The answers will come to you in time, Captain.”
Nephadius clenched his jaw angrily. The one thing that the Wolvrun hated about the A.I. the most was when she spoke like a Terran fortune cookie. If he had any idea of how to reach her central mainframe he would have replaced the bitch decades ago.
“Can you at least route them both somewhere?”
“I can route them to the cargo bay,” the computer replied.
“Oh, I see how it is. You’ve grown a conscience. Where was that kindness when you jettisoned me into space?”
The computer didn’t respond to the angry Wolvrun. He padded down the hallway towards the cargo bay. If the Inoya wasn’t going to let him kill the two unwanted visitors easily, he was going to have to come up with an alternative method to handle them.
Nephadius arrived at the cargo bay a minute later. As he entered he looked down over the bay from the railing of the second story. There in the middle of the empty room stood Aietos, blade drawn, and firmly placed against the neck of a sand colored Wolvrun.
The dark cowled figured called out at the Wolvrun captain’s arrival.
“Vol Wollvrune zo Ilos,” the assassin yelled across the bay. Nephadius jumped the railing, falling the fifty foot drop to the floor below.
He yelled back to the tall black figure as he slowly approached, “Vu no Wollvrune zo Ilos.” ‘I don’t care if you kill that Wolvrun.’
The two yelled back and forth in the ancient language while Talrean, the young, sand-colored Wolvrun with the blade pushed against his neck, began to panic, began to panic.
He didn’t understand a single word that either of the two persons yelled between each other, and he could feel the cold steel blade pushing into his flesh more and more with every passing second. He shivered nervously in a cold sweat. The young Wolvrun didn’t understand how he kept finding himself in these life or death situations. All he knew was that if a miracle didn’t occur, he would likely be dead within the next two minutes.
“Iato vu e vi no Wollvrune,” the while Wolvrun said, unsheathing the knife from his belt. The wolf took up a combat stand and beckoned for the assassins participation in their personal dual.
Aietos removed the blade from Talrean’s neck, pushing him to the side of the bay. “Iato,” the tall black figure repeated. ‘Warriors.’
Talrean scrambled away from the two individuals. He didn’t know what was happening, but he knew that it was about to be a fight, and he didn’t want to be in the middle of it. The young Wolvrun hid being a cargo pallet and watched as the two squared up on each other. What he witnessed next he couldn’t believe.
It happened almost instantly, but as it occurred the world around the two duelists slowed to a crawl. The tall, black clad assassin lunged forward first. The long blade of the Katana cutting through the air. The thrust was fast as the figure pushed off the ground, closing the gap between the two.
The white wolf bounced in place like a professional boxer, watching his opponent for the starting move. His heart beat thumping steadily in his chest.
Thu-thump. Thu-thump.
His blue-green eyes focused intently on the chrome blade.
Thu-thump.
His breath hot as it flowed past his odd colored purple tongue.
Thu-.
The Wolvrun’s eyes slowly closed.
Thump.
Two red eyes opened, a blade mere inches from their sight. That was the last of what Talrean had seen. Impossibly, the white Wolvrun dodged the thrust. In a blur, the two red orbs streaked past the blade. In the blink of an eye the wolf was on top of the black figure. Knife pressed against the neck.
Aietos laid flat on the ground. The cowl that the assassin wore was pushed back. Nephadius panted heavily over the figure. His tongue hung from his muzzle and his eyes still glowing red.
“Zo Ilos, Wollvrune!” She squawked, her piercing yellow eyes connected with the blood red orbs of the wolf.
Nothing happened.
The white Wolvrun laid atop the black dressed figure. His knees firmly pinning her arms. His weight pressing down on her chest. The blade held in his grasp pushing into the white feathers at her neck line.
He stared, motionlessly, into the face of the assassin.
Thu-thump.
Nephadius’s eyes changed back to their normal mixture of changing blues and greens as he continues to stare into the sharp yellow eyes beneath him.
“Mother of Eos,” he breathed almost silently.
“Zo Ilos, Wollvrune!” Aietos yelled again.
The Wolvrun removed his blade, and himself, from the woman, leaving her on the ground in confusion. He turned his back to Aietos and made his way to the door, grabbing her sword in the process.
“Finish it you mangy dog!” She yelled across the bay towards him. Nephadius continued his exit, ignoring her.
“Nothing stopped you back then! What’s stopping you now?” The bird woman screamed, her beak wide with her panting of exasperation and anger.
Nephadius stopped. His ears folding back on top of his head as he heard the words. They cut deeper than any blade ever could have.
Without a word, the Wolvrun left the cargo bay, leaving the angry Aietos behind him.
Aietos sat in a daze on the cargo hold floor.
Talrean remained hidden behind the cargo containers, unable to comprehend what he just witnessed.
The three of them were confined to the same ship, mere footsteps away from each other, but somehow, they were left universes apart.
