The story so far:

---- Aija is a Volunteer at the Pristine School at Innermost. She works along with Zuri and Ze, who are her friends. Aija witnesses a strange event one night – light emanating from Rez's body. The kidnapper is after her soul, next, but he leaves her alive and goes away. Another man finds her, he wants to take her somewhere else - Aija though wary of him agrees. Aija learns of the existence of the aliens – the Ytai. Also, about the R'ies and H'eon, Harvesting and Àvo from Etrie. Etrie tells her that the man, who Harvested Rez (Thieron), will now go after her. He tells her that the spy/kidnapper's name is Luka. Etrie asks her to work along with him. Aija agrees to work along with Etrie on Harvest Stopping Missions.

---- Thieron kidnaps Aija. She finds out that Nala works for Thieron. Ze, who was following her to rescue her, gets captured along with her. Thieron binds Aija to himself.

---- Zuri is worried about Aija and Ze, who were taken by Thieron. Etrie kisses Zuri; she slaps him. Ahi and Zuri patch up and agree to remain friends. Zuri is asked to go to the Secure Headquarters for questioning. She goes to Innermost for it. Zuri is questioned by Secure Ivan who presumes that Ze and Aijs ran from home together. She meets the Oshiros and Iyler. Kuna tells her that Iyler is actually from the Gale.

---- Gold gets information that Aija Rao-Oshiro and Ze Roan are missing - kidnapped by Thieron. Gold tries to get to Pristine City One for the case. Gold finds someone unexpected waiting for him at his apartment. Vincent has been assigned to Pristine City Four too. Goldstar finds it a little uncomfortable because he is affected by the man. Vincent finds out that Goldstar's name is Veer from their roommate Avery.

---- Luka tries to coax Aija to eat. She agrees to it only if she is allowed to see Ze; he agrees. 

---- Luka finds that her soul is a strong deep-purple.

---- Thieron wants Luka to scout for new souls. Luka finds Nala sulking in her room and asks her to go down before Thieron finds something suspicious.  

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****22.2 - Luka****

*Luka went to his room. It was almost afternoon. He sat on his bed next to Mr. White Tail, who was curled up on the blanket.

"Where's the new kitten?" he asked Mr. White Tail, who gave him a soft mew in response. Mr. White Tail purred as Luka stroked his head.

The new kitten had spent a day by *Ze's side until he had chased it away one night. And, since then, it had spent its time curled up next to Aija. But, Luka hadn't seen it since that morning. It hadn't been in Aija's room when he had been there.

Luka took a long shower letting the hot water distract him and calm his mind. He was feeling hungry, and he wondered if Thieron had meant for him to go scouting right away. Luka had no mood to. He was apprehensive of sending Aija with Thieron all the way to the *Open, by themselves. He would be spending the entire time anxious.

He washed his hair, lost in thought. After washing up, he tied the towel around his waist, took another small one to dry his hair, and stepped out. Mr. White Tail was staring at the door.

"What's it?" he asked, going to the cat.

He stood still as he saw what had caught Mr. White Tail's attention. Aija was in the room near the door, holding the kitten. She looked at him flustered, and he was overly aware of the fact that he only had a towel around his waist.

"Sorry," she said. "He came in here, so I followed him."

And suddenly she looked confused. Confused as to why she was apologizing to him, to her captor.

Luka slowly closed the distance between them and stood in front of her. She was beautiful. Was Aija aware of how she affected him? He placed his palm on her cheek and lifted her chin up so that she would look at him. And she did. It seemed like she was staring at his bare soul. There was something regal about her.

The new kitten climbed up her arm and settled on her shoulder.

"If you're in trouble here, come to me. I promise to protect you. No one else – go to no one else." Luka whispered.

She stared at him, a frown across her face, probably thinking she was in trouble here already. But that isn't what Luka meant.

"I need a favor," he said.

"Why would I do it for you?" she asked instantly.

"Because it involves *Zuri."

Worry held her eyes.

"Please don't mention anything about Nala and Zuri's relationship to Thieron."

"Relationship?" she scoffed, swatting his hand away from her face; he was amazed that she'd even let him touch her for that long.

"For whatever it's worth, Nala truly loves Zuri. If Thieron gets to know anything, he'll kill Zuri."

"And why would you care about a human?"

"*Harvests are a different matter. Zuri has nothing to do with this. She shouldn't die just because she dared to love."

Aija looked at him intently. Did she believe him? Didn't she?

He felt like his soul crumbled into sand under her gaze. There was something so powerful in her eyes, and it tore at his resolve to not touch her.

He heard Thieron clearing his throat. Aija turned around too.

Thieron was standing at the door, one ankle against the other, arms across his chest, his gaze fiery. Had he been there long? No, Luka would have known. He was sure Thieron hadn't heard their conversation, but he couldn't be too sure. Ytai hearing was excellent.

"To your room, now...." he commanded her.

"No.," she said.

She was strong-willed. But Thieron never accepted anyone going against him. There was a different, softer way of dealing with Aija. But, Thieron wasn't the one to do that. He commanded and expected everyone to follow it.

Thieron sighed. "You don't get your way around here," he told her and dragged her out of the room. Aija kicked at him, but in vain.

Luka almost followed them, and then stayed back. He stood still as he heard Thieron ask her to stay in the room and her talking back. He had never seen anyone talk back to Thieron. Luka hadn't nor had Nala. No one he had seen had. Thieron was a powerful Ytai, and most people figured it out after a few moments with him, that he was the unspoken leader – no matter who it was, of course, unless it was *Alton Ivar and to an extent *Dhor-Wo. But, Dhor-Wo had received the punishment recently of trying to taunt Thieron.

Luka put on clothes and headed down for lunch. Thieron came down a minute later, fuming; Aija must be testing his patience.

"You," he said to Luka, "You go scouting right after you eat."

"Sure."

After lunch, Luka went upstairs to his room to take his blades. He peeped into Thieron's room. Aija was standing at the window, looking at the black line around her wrist. He looked at her for a few moments before leaving.

****

Luka remembered the first time he had seen her in class at the school. He remembered her smile; how happy she had been.

It was a sad fate she was caught in. Like him.

He made his way through the narrow streets of Town Etemir. It was on the western border of Pristine One and majorly ignored by the Leadership. Luka had never scouted in Etemir before. He had chosen to go there since it was a small town, but something about the name of the town kept nagging at him.

The air wasn't purified like at *Innermost, and no human from Innermost could survive the impure air here. There were also a few cases on the Green Plague.

Luka crossed the narrow streets onto a wider one, which led to a small market place. Slightly crowded places were better to find an *Àvo soul. With so many people present, at least one of them was bound to have a strong soul. They were so close to getting the Àvo, so close to using it to take over the earth. In fact, Luka was sure that the right number of Àvo souls already was in the possession of Alton Ivar. He had heard that the Ytai was collecting more souls. Had he found a second Àvo? What did he need two of them for?

Luka sat on a bench next to an old man reading something on his DigiBook and took out his own Scroll. He lengthened it and opened the news channel. It was nicer to do this at Innermost Market, where the lights made the whole place prettier, and Luka could actually get good fresh food to eat as he waited. He looked around the small market, sensing for a strong soul. About an hour passed as he kept looking up from his Scroll every now and then.

A deep shade of night was bleeding into the blue sky. Luka yawned, wondering if it was right to have come to Etemir. He sighed, thinking back to the day he had willingly joined Thieron. He had known what it would entail working for him, but....

Luka straightened. He felt intense energy coming from the market. He followed his instincts and found the Àvo soul – a young woman in her early twenties. He felt a pang of guilt; she had so much life ahead of her. But, Luka had no choice in the matter. For if he did, he would be back in Ytèan doing anything else but Harvesting.

He whispered, "In-Kwan." The girl's soul was a strong iridescent red color. It was a strong soul. The brown-haired girl was walking away from the market; he followed her all the way to her home. It was a pretty secluded area. He watched as the girl entered the small house and felt movement behind him.

Luka turned around and blocked a blade, which a second later would have pierced his back.

"You have guts to come here."

It was *Etrie Ay'tir. What was he doing here?

"You dare come to Etemir. The place is packed with *R'ies members."

That's when it flashed to him about why the name had kept nagging at him. Etemir housed the Headquarters of R'ies just like the Open housed that of *H'eon.

Luka stepped back. Should he take down Etrie or escape? Killing Etrie would be an immense blow to the R'ies, but Luka wouldn't kill Etrie. That wasn't Luka.

"Where is she?" Etrie asked.

"Who?" he asked nonchalantly, looking at ways to escape. Luka knew who exactly Etrie was talking about. But he wanted to annoy him. What fun was it otherwise?

"You very well know who!" Etrie was outraged.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about." he continued feigning innocence as he took a few steps back from the man. Etrie seemed to be alone.

"Where is Aija? Where is Ze?" Etrie demanded unaware of Luka's slow retreat consumed by his anger.

"Oh!" Luka exclaimed softly as if he just realized what was going on.

"Oh?" Etrie echoed, furious. "I really don't like you, Eamon Luka. I won't hesitate to kill you. You're just like Thieron, staying for years with him doing his bidding."

"Really?" Luka asked and ran.

It took half a moment for Etrie to notice what had happened, but it was enough head start for Luka. He ran in the direction of the *Terra Turbo Station.

Why had he taken the train?

He managed to outrun Etrie, who was shouting at him. He ran past startled humans who stared at them. Luka entered the station, scanned his ID chip at the Pay Gate, and got into the train. The doors didn't close for a while, but Etrie was caught in a line at the Pay Gate. There was no other way in.

Luka watched as Etrie finally managed to enter the platform, just as the train doors closed. He saw Etrie cursing loudly at him as the humans looked on.

Luka smiled at him, relieved. He didn't want a fight, and Etrie was in the mood for it.

Etrie looked on as the train sped by, and Luka waved goodbye at him solely to infuriate the Ytai. It worked, as Etrie showed him a rude Ytèan gesture.

Luka found a seat and sunk into it. He closed his eyes, catching his breath, thinking of Aija.

✽✽✽

Character/Terminology Reference

Luka Chr/In 1.f

Ze Chr/In 1.c

Open Ter/4

Zuri Chr/In 1.b

Harvests Ter/8

Alton Ivar Ot/Chr3.j

Dhor-Wo Ot/Chr3.j

Àvo  Ter/10

Etrie Ot/Chr3.a

Innermost Ter/2

R'ies Ter/14

H'eon Ter/15

Terr Turbo-Train Ter/21