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. Luka asks Aija not to talk of Zuri to Nala, especially in front of Thieron. She agrees for Zuri's sake. Luka goes to Etemir to scout for souls. He is caught by Etrie but manages to escape. Etrie is furious about Aija and Ze. Thieron is planning the Harvest of the soul that Luka scouted. Aija and Ze try to escape, but Thieron stops them. Thieron and Aija go to the Open. They meet Alton Ivar. Thieron finds Aija is out of the room and when he goes to find her, he sees that Dhor-Wo has found her. He gets her back to the room, furious. When they go to see Var-Inu, the Ytai man asks to see her. And, then, he tells Thieron to take her to get the Avo. They are attacked by a Savage. He manages to stop it. Var-Inu burns it. Aija asks if he is really Ah'n. He tells that he is Ah'n.

---- Xan speaks to Aija. He tells her what happened to him.

---- Zuri is having a hard time with both Aija and Ze missing. She finds Iyler at Aija's apartment and confronts her about not being form the Secures. Etrie informs them about the bond                  Thieron has with Aija. It makes getting them back all the more complicated. 

---- Zuri is invited to Aija's parents' home. She accepts the offer and goes. 

---- Zuri sees that Aija's family is ostentatiously rich. She and her brother Rei talk and he asks Zuri if Aija really was happy. She says yes.  

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****25.1 - Aija****

The sound of the pouring rain made her feel like she was in a trance. It was calming. 

She looked out the window at the rain. It made the air cool, and she wasn't used to it. She bundled herself with a warm blanket. 

Aija's routine was kind of set. If Thieron went out anywhere so did she. She tried to see where they were, but there were no signboards or DigiScreens around, and Thieron was extremely cautious about where he went. He never left her side, so she couldn't really ask anyone – the people around were few. Thieron mostly stayed home, so did she unless they went out sometimes to get food. 

Aija realized it must be difficult for him to stay home most of the time, but he had brought it upon himself. And, she made sure she made a fuss if they needed to go somewhere and sometimes had succeeded in staying home, driving Thieron crazy. 

She had expected to be treated poorly, but the three Ytai were taking care of her and Ze really well. And it made her anxious. What were they really planning? Aija and Ze had comfortable beds, and the Ytai made good food. She wasn't able to gauge their intentions. Why was Thieron keeping them? Would he keep them just to annoy Etrie? No, he intended to use them. She just didn't know for what yet. Perhaps he would take their souls when he felt the time was right. 

Aija had thought of her family and Zuri several times. She knew Etrie would protect Zuri, but she hoped her best friend was fine. She was sure Zuri had seen Nala get into the car with Thieron. 

And, her family must surely know by now that she had been kidnapped or at least missing. What was going on? What had Zuri told them? Had her family informed the Erscos that she was missing? Had Etrie spoken to her family? Or had he not involved himself in the matter, wanting to leave her family out of this? 

What did Quinn think? What would he do? Would she even escape from here? Would Quinn wait? Knowing him, he might. 

Aija sighed. She wanted to know what was going on at Innermost. She wanted to know how her family was doing. She wanted to know if Zuri was okay. What was she doing? 

****

Aija's first Open experience had been scary. The Ytai had looked at her like she was prey. She knew they all were itching for a chance to get their hands on her. And, it wasn't the scariest thing she had come across. 

It was those things called Savages. When Aija had heard the high pitch inhuman scream, she wasn't sure what to expect – but it hadn't been that sickly black creature. It looked human in form – and form only. It looked like it was made from black twisted muscles. It also had eyes that glowed eerily. 

She had never known such creatures existed on her planet. At first, she thought it was an alien. But, Thieron had explained to her what it really was – a human affected by the radiation and biochemical war-fares. The Green Plague was nothing in comparison to the Radio-Chemical Plague. She felt sad for the human it had once been. 

The Leadership hid all information on these creatures. No one knew of their existence, and those who knew of it couldn't afford to live inside the Cities. It was unfair – to the Creatures and Savages who suffered from the after-effects of War even seven hundred years later and also to the humans who lived in the Open. 

****

Thunder rumbled distracting her, and it almost felt like the lightning called to her. She had the urge to go stand out in the rain; despite the lightning – it only seemed to invite her more. She stood and stretched the desire out of her. Sitting alone in the room was driving her crazy. The Ytai let them walk around the house freely; strange as it seemed, Aija appreciated it, though she often preferred to stay clear of them. She had no idea why they were kind to them. 

Did Thieron think if they were nice to them, they would do as he asked? Of course, he knew better than that. So, what were his intentions? 

Aija went downstairs to find Thieron in the kitchen, preparing dinner. She paused at the bottom of the stairs and looked at him. He was dangerous; she felt it. It added to his alluring beauty. 

Aija found him handsome, and she hated it. He was the enemy, but she had to acknowledge that the man was gorgeous. She couldn't get his face out of her head – the moment she had seen his true eye colors. She didn't understand why he hid them. They were stunning. Why did he call them hideous? 

His left eye was like the Earth, blue near the pupil, which radiated out into the green. His right eye was a fragment of the Universe, pink near the pupil radiating out into purple. He was made of the Earth and the stars. 

Thieron also had a mole near his right eye, and the nose-ring was a thin gold ring. He also had his left eyebrow pierced with a small thin gold ring. All of it just added to his attractiveness, and she had found herself staring at him when he'd come to take her back from Dhor-Wo. 

She knew she was supposed to fear him; hate him. She was scared of him only to a certain extent, and she enjoyed getting on his nerves. 

How had he created a whole different identity for himself all these years? Aija had only gone to Alton's office to take the two In'ealk that had been on his desk and release the souls. She hadn't expected to find Dhor-Wo, to have a conversation with him, for him to tell her Thieron's real name, and also for Thieron to find her so easily. 

Thieron had agreed that he was Ah'n. How had he made a separate entity from Ah'n? Everyone feared Ah'n – even Etrie. Etrie had told her that Ah'n had killed his new bride because she wouldn't spend their wedding night with him; that Ah'n was merciless and extremely powerful. Was Thieron really the same Ah'n who had killed his wife? 

Thieron had sat in the car after killing the Savage, and he hadn't spoken to her for half the way. Then later, he had 'educated' her of the 'evils of humans' by telling her of the Savages and Creatures, and the Radio-chemical Plague. But he hadn't said anything more of him being Ah'n.

It had Aija asking more questions to herself. Why was the merciless Ah'n keeping them alive? Why had he forged a bond between them? If he put in so much effort in keeping her and Ze, he surely had something more elaborate planned. He could have left her and Ze at the Open, but he hadn't. 

After her experience with Dhor-Wo and the Savage, she had realized how dangerous the Open was. Dhor-Wo had come to her to instigate her, she was fairly certain of it. It didn't look like Dhor-Wo and Thieron – Ah'n – even tolerated each other. 

The Open was a strange place, even the man Thieron had gone to see. He looked young but felt ancient. Also, she had seen Alton Ivar, the Alton Ivar, the leader of H'eon on Earth. He was a rather strong personality. One had to be intimidating if they wanted to control a huge organization to take over an entire planet. She felt... 

"How long are you going to stand there?" Thieron questioned, breaking the flow of her thoughts. 

He was cutting onions and hadn't looked up at her. His long hair was tied up in a bun atop his head. His hair rivaled her own; she'd seen how long it was when he'd occasionally let it down only to tie it back up neatly. 

She slowly made her way to Ze's room; Thieron stopped what he was doing and looked at her. "Come here." 

Even if they were allowed to walk freely about the house, Aija and Ze were made sure to be apart from each other as much as possible. Aija wanted to protest, wanted to walk to Ze's room anyway, wanted to annoy Thieron – Ah'n. But, she saw the expression in his eyes and thought best not to annoy him that day. She wasn't in the mood to be dragged back to her room by him. 

She walked up to Thieron, looking around for Xan. She had been surprised when he had spoken to her. But, nothing was unbelievable in her current situation. She had been kidnapped by aliens, who killed humans and Harvested their souls to destroy the humans and take over the Earth. How more weird was a talking cat? Not much. "Pick up a knife," Thieron told her with his mismatched eyes on her. He wasn't wearing the lenses that turned his eyes blue. She stared at him, confused. 

"Pick up a knife," he repeated. "You're going to help." 

"Help?" 

"Cook." he pointed the knife he was holding to the onions he was chopping, and for the very first time, she noticed that he was left-handed. Why hadn't she observed that before? 

"You kidnap me. Now you make me cook?" 

"Yes," he stated simply. "Come." 

"I'm not doing anything." she declared and turned back to go to Ze's room. She had taken all of two steps when Thieron caught her hand and turned her around to face him. 

"You realize I could kill you in an instant?" 

"Yes," she said, looking at him calmly, "What I don't understand is why you haven't done it yet." 

A sliver of a smile touched his lips, and he seemed impressed by her. It was like he was expecting her to say something like that. She didn't understand him. 

"You catch onto things easily," he told her his voice lilting; his Ytèan accent prominent. 

She had heard the three Ytai speak in Ytèan often - it sounded mellifluous, like a song. It was a beautiful language. And, when they spoke in CommLang, the same lilting accent pulled through, and it seemed appealing. Thieron and Luka's accents were more prominent than Nala's. There was something slightly different about Nala's, and it made her CommLang sound faintly different. 

Thieron held her hand tightly and led her to the kitchen counter. He placed a knife in her hand and gave her seven tomatoes to cut; Aija stared at it. The Ytai loved to cook their food. She hadn't seen a packaged food. She hadn't even known that vegetables and fruits and other ingredients were available to buy for cooking. 

She had learnt that the food they made tasted much better. It was fresher than packaged food. She had come to enjoy it. 

"I don't know how to," she admitted. "Well, I guess I can't help with cooking." she placed the knife down. 

"Not so fast," Thieron said. He put the knife back in her hand, much to her chagrin, and picked up one of the tomatoes. "You will learn today," he told her and demonstrated how to cut the tomato. 

He first sliced it in half and then cubed each half into smaller pieces. He then raised his brows at Aija. He had stubble, and she wondered how he would look without it. 

"I'll try," she said, clearing her thoughts. 

What would happen if she flung the knife at Thieron instead? Would it even be possible? Could she manage to hurt him? And she and Ze could run. But, they wouldn't get far. It was Ah'n she had to hurt. If someone could have done it, they'd already have tried. Etrie had told her he had gone after Thieron once, long ago, and had instead gotten hurt himself. Thieron had spared Etrie's life, which was the only reason Etrie still breathed. 

Why? She wondered. 

Slowly and carefully, she diced the tomatoes as Thieron had shown her. He wouldn't let her go unless she did it. Never in her life had Aija cooked before. 

"How did you separate Ah'n and Thieron?" she asked, picking up a second tomato. She wasn't sure he would answer her. "Why did you do it?" 

There was a second's gap when the knife didn't cut through an onion as he considered her question. 

"Simply," he said a moment later. 

"You don't do anything without reason," she told him. She had come to understand that his every action had an intention. 

He smiled. Aija stopped cutting the tomatoes. 

"I created a visual for Ah'n. Long hair, each eye a different color, hair always tied back in a band or plaited. I always tie mine in a bun. I wear lenses to make my eyes the same color. I made Ah'n up for the R'ies and Gale to chase after. I made myself as just someone who worked for Ah'n. In that way, they'd always have their eyes on Ah'n, not me." 

"But, to get to Ah'n, they will definitely try to get to Thieron." 

"Yes, but you have someone who matches my description of Ah'n. Someone with so much arrogance, he wouldn't deny being Ah'n just to have a reputation." 

Aija frowned thinking, "Dhor-Wo?" 

Dhor-Wo had two different colored eyes too. He surely seemed arrogant as well. His hair was mostly plaited all the time. At least, in the time she had seen him. 

"You're building up Ah'n to lead to Dhor-Wo." 

"Clever girl," Thieron said. "Just in case things go wrong, I won't be caught. They think Ah'n's the key to Alton Ivar and Dhor-Wo is so arrogant he wouldn't hesitate to take on Ah'n's reputation to satisfy his ego. Good for me." 

Thieron was something else entirely. He thought so differently. She realized he made up contingencies for himself as well. 

"I don't know whether to be awed or disgusted," she whispered, overwhelmed by him. 

Thieron smirked. Clearly, he took it as a compliment. 

"What makes you think I won't tell all this to Etrie? He'll be after you then." 

Thieron grinned. "You're not getting out of here; you can't go far from me. So, why would I worry about you saying anything to anyone?"

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