"Am I asleep or still awake?
It's a feeling I can't shake
My salvation's on the way"
Salvation - Evalyn

🪐

"I did it!"

I jumped in the air, the dust beneath me glittering in puffs when I landed.

Taehyung squinted his eyes, adjusting his hat to block out the sun. He looked at the target, which had several holes from a blaster.

None in the middle where I aimed.

"You did something."

I looked down at my boots, frustrated. Now that I was placed in a room with Stella, I got my own crate of play clothes.

For training I wore a deep blue skirt, a white lace blouse, and a suede jacket. I placed a bow in my hair because I just couldn't get used to that cowboy hat yet.

I sighed, seeing his half attempt at encouragement.

"Okay I get it, I suck."

The man shrugged, pulling a toothpick from his pocket and placing it into his mouth, adjusting it with his tongue.

It should be hot, but of course it was. Everything he did was, since I first felt his mouth on mine the other night.

And every night since.

I know, I know. It seems crazy, but the man was no longer a stranger. I knew everything about him.

We were both twenty-two. At least I think.

His best friends were Stella, Jeongguk and Yoongi. He'd been here the longest, and that was only one of the many reasons he was the leader.

He was determined, and he took no bullshit from anybody. He had more alien kills than any species on this planet combined.

His favorite flower was lilies of the valley. I reminded him of them. He misses earth only for its beauty, not the people.

After leaving foster care, he worked on a farm in the Midwest. This planet felt like another home.

He was a hard ass, but also incredibly lonely. He never felt like he entirely fit in anywhere, even on a planet where he was the apex hunter. No one, even his closest friends, understood how much pressure he felt to get everyone back safely.

Sometimes, he wondered under the pink sky, if he wanted to go back to Earth at all.

I felt so terrible at first. I told him I couldn't remember where I came from, so there was little I could tell him.

The man looked at me and said, "Who are you Eden?"

Together we learned. I told him of my deep need to go home, and we found my loyalty. He knew I cared about my friends, for I immediately bonded with everyone I met.

I was thoughtful, soft yet stubborn, kind, and witty. (His words not mine, but who am I to deny them). Both beautiful on the inside and out

He told me one of the first things he noticed about me was my courage. He'd never seen someone look so composed while trying to escape.

"I was scared." I told him.

"No one would be able to tell. In fact, the Grays should have been afraid of you."

"You're not bad at everything." He said, a smile in his eyes, pulling me out of my daydream.

My mouth lowered at his insinuation. "Not bad?" I taunted, knowing he had no complaints.

"My mistake." He tipped his hat, his smile crooked and his teeth holding fast to the pick. "You're especially good."

Stella interrupted us, seemingly appearing from nowhere. "Hey lovebirds." She turned to Taehyung, annoyed. "If you can't train her properly without becoming all googly eyed I'm going to replace you."

"You can't do that." Taehyung protested, standing closer to me.

Yeah! And I didn't want her to.

She gave us both a hard stare. "I don't want to. But you know when we go out there it isn't a joke. She needs to know what she's doing."

Taehyung's good humor faded. "I'm doing my best. Either way, I can protect Eden."

It made me feel all warm inside. That feeling shriveled when Stella glared at me for swooning.

"Eden can save her damn self." She said, before turning back on her infectious smile. "Ever ridden a horse?"

"No?" I said, unsure.

Stella groaned, while Taehyung smiled to himself. His dark eyes caught mine, making a shiver run up my spine.

"What?" I asked, confused.

Stella sighed, "It's his lucky day."

Ten minutes later I was saddled up on a silky, midnight colored horse, with my back pressed against the hottest man I'd ever had the pleasure of knowing.

I could feel why it was the man's "lucky day" pressed into my back.

"I know I'm attractive but really?" I turned, the movement making the man curse.

"Can't. Help. It." He gritted out, checking beside us to see if anyone noticed.

I laughed, "Control yourself or an alien might take out your other side."

We were surrounded by Stella, Jeongguk, and Yoongi all mounted on horses like pros.

It was my second official hunt, so the Grays were kind enough to allow one extra person to go with us for extra safety measures.

Taehyung tightened his grip on the reigns, pulling our bodies closer. My body had the same reaction when he leaned down to whisper in my ear, smoke and leather flooding my senses.

"Stop being irresistible then."

My nerves always resulted in shitty jokes. "Sorry, can't."

He nipped my ear, "Show me tonight then, star girl."

The nickname was what made me nearly jump off the horse and take him with me to a nearby building.

"Okay!" Yoongi yelled, gathering our attention. "We are heading into the 4th quadrant, the second most dangerous section of the planet. It's all open desert, no plateaus. There's lots of sand pits, so be careful where you step." he sent me a pointed look, "Don't join. Observe."

"Yes sir." Jeongguk said sarcastically, causing Stella to nearly choke.

The man ignored them with a roll of his eyes, and soon they were headed off into a new frontier.

This area of the planet was much flatter, they were not exaggerating. The sand grew softer, the horses stumbling to find their new footing.

Taehyung was finally focused, turning into the trained cowboy I met the first night. "You see anything?"

Jeongguk shook his head, "Nothing." He had a fancy green radar tracker that blooped with red lights if there were any invasive species close.

It seemed really helpful, but apparently it was old tech the Grays would have thrown out otherwise.

Stella galloped slowly, closer to us.

"Hey." I nudged her, speaking in a whisper. "I never got to ask because we room with the other girls. What's going on between you and him?"

Stella turned, her face going beat red. "Eden. No."

My face fell. "Fine."

She relented, sighing. I felt Taehyung's chuckle before I heard it. "Jeongguk has a girlfriend."

"Yes Juliette."

"She's nice."

"She's...yes. She's nice." Stella turned, her expression downcast. "That's the problem, isn't it?"

Taehyung coughed, "Not nice."

Okay so some conflicting opinions.

"Explain."

Stella didn't seem like the type to want someone's boyfriend. She clearly felt guilty about even having feelings for him.

"When I first got here he was super sweet to me. He was one of my closest friends." Stella shook her head. "I thought he liked me. When he worked in supplies, he even smuggled all of the hair stuff I gave you and much much more. A year after I arrived I swear he was going to ask me to date him but then..."

"Juliette arrived and he lost his fucking mind." Taehyung interrupted. Stella grumbled, and he apologized.

"We stopped talking as much. And now we barely say anything to each other."

"I'm confused." I said, recalling all the times I've caught the male staring at her. "I think he likes you."

Stella smirked, "And if he does? He chose another woman."

"I think—" Taehyung started before the girl interrupted.

"I don't want to hear about how you think she's an alien and used mind control on him. I've been rejected before, it's not crazy."

I looked back at Taehyung, who seemed suddenly interested in the pink sky.

Did he really think so?

I focused on Jeongguk, who seemed to possess all of his bodily function.

"There might be another reason—" I said, before our horse lifted halfway off the ground.

"Look out!"

We had little time to react. One second we were on our horse, in the next we were facedown in the ground.

"Eden?" Taehyung questioned, standing up and pulling me with him. He was covered in dirt as he felt over my torso, my face, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. You?"

"Yes." He sighed in relief, before narrowing his eyes. He went into protective mode and it was a terrible time for my thighs to ache.  "There's no time. Try to hide-"

He looked at his friends, who seemed to be dumbfounded. Jeongguk kept pressing frantically on the screen he held.

Everyone had been knocked off their horse. I ran to Stella, helping her stand and dust off her body.

"What happened?" I asked, wondering why we were all bruised up without an alien in sight.

"They evaded the radar." Taehyung said, his face paling.

I could tell that this was out of the ordinary. And extremely bad news.

Yoongi lifted his blaster, inspecting the wide open desert in a slow 360. Jeongguk threw the tablet and joined him.

Stella wrangled the horses, pulling them close. Her eyes followed the horizon like a hawk.

Taehyung pulled two blasters from the holsters at his side. He kept them pointing towards the ground.

He knelt down to his boot and pulled out a knife, slipping it slyly to me.

"But I'm not supposed to." I hissed.

Taehyung lifted a blaster to his mouth with a smile. "Shh."

"What could spook the horses so bad?" Stella probed, before falling flat on her ass.

We all rushed to her.

"Are you okay?"

She was sweating, her body frozen as she rambled.

"Subject 45. Insect. Ten legs. Three thorax's. Hir'xyns." She executed the alien word with a graceful tongue I would never master. "The most poisonous creature on this planet."

We looked down at her foot, and on it was perched what seemed to be a cat sized scorpion. That's that closest thing I could compare it too. It was more like a centipede head, several spider bodies, and a scorpion tail.

"That thing is fugly." I said, maybe a little too loud.

The boys all turned to me, with varying looks of displeasure.

The Hershey Kiss (because I'm not even going to try to pronounce that name) lifted its stinger.

"Shit sorry." I held up my hands in surrender, leaning closer to Stella. "You're actually very, very cute."

"Eden!" Stella warned, "These bugs are highly intelligent. They understand feelings, not words. We all need to be calm and quiet."

"Stella." Taehyung went to reach for his blaster. I could see how badly he was holding back from helping his friend.

I saw it then that we had the same fatal flaw. We would do anything and everything not to feel powerless.

She stopped him, "No. I need the closest one to my bag to get the anti-venom. This thing will sting me, we just need to time it right."

"And how much time is that?" I asked, unsure.

Yoongi answered, "Maybe a half second before it becomes lethal."

Holy fuck?!

"How?" I whispered, my voice cracking. I saw it then. Everyone here believed our friend was going to die.

Including her.

Jeongguk couldn't pull his eyes away from her, their depths already shiny and bloodshot. Taehyung's hands shook. Yoongi couldn't even watch.

"We can't give up." I said to myself. A plan formulating in my mind. "We can't give up."

"Jeongguk. Grab the anti-venom." Stella said through gritted teeth.

Tears started to stream down his face. "Stella."

"Not now. Not fucking mow." She said, her head falling back.

"Let me shoot it."

"I have a better shot!"

"Please Stella, I'm so sorry-"

"In your dreams."

"Shooting it won't work."

"Let's try!"

No.

No.

No.

They had all given up. I could see it. And I wasn't going to let that happen.

So I did something that was extremely, and utterly stupid.

While they all bickered over what to do, I went to Stella's bag. I grabbed the anti-dote that was labeled with the name of the bug. And I stuck the small needle into my thigh.

"Hopefully this works." I thought, as I settled myself into a crouch. "It has to."

I made up a quick prayer, before launching myself at the Hersey Kiss.

The thing squealed as we tumbled together in the desert sand.

"Eden!"

Dazed, I lifted myself upright. The ugly scorpion bug sat in the other.

It hadn't stung me.

"Hey guys! It's kinda cute, it's named Hershey!"

Four pairs of eyes looked at me like I was insane. Not a single soul moved. Taehyung's jaw was nearly on his boots.

"See guys! It's not so-"

I paused, realizing the bug lifted its stinger. Its big, pearly eyes looked positively joyful.

"You little traitor!" My blood boiled, hoping the medicine I took worked after a couple minutes. "I thought we were becoming friends."

The bug obviously felt very differently, as it lowered its stinger closer and closer to my wrist. I should have felt fear, but instead I felt...

In control.

My body burst with heat, as the tip grazed my skin. Hershey Kiss decided to torture me slowly.

"That's not very nice." I told the bug, reading to throw the thing far away before it could sting me.

I didn't get the chance.

My body swelled with heat more and more, my blood a thousand degrees. I felt the sun in my veins, and an overbearing burst of energy.

The feeling erupted from my palms, tingling and uncomfortable. Purple flames flickered out, cracking with blue strings of electricity.

I am not sure what was screaming, me or the scorpion bug. I think it was both.

Soon, the world went quiet.

There was only ash left in my palms, as the flame curled back into my skin.

I turned to my friends, my lip quivering. "What is wrong with me?" My hand closed gently in my palm, before letting go of the ashes in the desert sand.

My eyes changed colors. Now I had powers like some fucking avenger?

Taehyung approached slowly, his every movement painful. I could see blatant fear in his eyes, and that scared me more than anything.

He was never afraid.

He knelt down to me, placing his hand under my trembling chin.

"I don't know. But we'll figure it out together."

"Together." I mumbled, through swollen lips and salty tears.

"Eden." Stella said, the rest of the boys approaching with her. Her eyes were wide, uncertain. "I think you require slightly different training than the rest of us."

"You were right Stella, Eden can protect herself." Taehyung surrendered, remembering his terrible dreams. "She might be able to save us all."

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(A/N: NEW CHAPTER WHOOP WHOOP.

There is a little bit of a time jump after this chapter! Just letting yall know. It makes sense for the plot or else it would have been a bunch of filler.

Jimin is getting introduced next!

Please add my story Tantalize to your libraries! If it does well I will be able to update Eden Rising more frequently.