"'ey, s'e is alive," Ivelisse says with a smile as they all notice that I've returned, "'ow was it?"

The nerve of you saying that.

"It's a trial, Ive," I flatly say while rolling my eyes.

"Suprise 'e didn't kill you," she adds insult to injury. She really doesn't think too much before saying something. She's not purposefully trying to piss me off though.

"I can't die," I deadpan while rolling my eyes. I am clearly giving her the look to knock it off right now.

She ignores it. "W'at do you get?"

"I don't have to tell you anything," I snap, folding my arms, "I am not in the mood to talk about it, so leave me alone. You'll figure it out sooner or later."

I walk off to my room and slam the door, ignoring the sneers about me. I want to bang my head against the wall and scream, hard enough to cause head trauma, but Bracus will add more knives to my punishment. Why am I saying punishment? I am a criminal now and my friends will no longer see me the same way. I earn myself no respect, especially how I told Ivelisse off.

I slam my face against my pillow as I dig my nails against my mattress, stabbing into it, just yelling out only a fraction of my stress.

Day 36

My world spins and collides as I want to throw up, dressing up as the enemy is the worst thing ever. The gag comes in when I have to bare it as a disguise to spy on Teketa. Bracus didn't want to use the armour from the dead spies because of the high voltage still remaining. Bracus used his abilities to make me look like a creature that is covered in black sheets like a kid wanting to be a dark spirit on Halloween. No kid wants to be that. Even then, they have to risk getting hit during the night.

Bracus tells me everything he knows about this kind, Reveta. They are the same ones that rely on heavy sorcery and can craft weapons that can sever my body into two. Most Revetas are not bothered due to the fact that they are lowkey the blame for killing Queenetas after birth. He draconically trains me on how to act like a Reveta and a warrior. He trained me all night and day, never giving me rest until it's imprinted in my mind that my own self is being replaced by a fake identity. He must have spied on their kind so many times to get so much information about them. He placed invisible components upon me, so he can hear and see everything that goes on. He warns me, more like a vigorous threat, to not back down, nor cut corners. He will either find a much harsher punishment or extend my sentence. Something I don't want to do. I also don't want to do this, but I have my choice. Markus says it's my punishment and I need to take it. It was not smooth for him, but he got through it.

After everything was set, I teleported near Teketa territory and walked into the empire. Out of all the empires, this one is the smallest. I did what Bracus ordered me to do: Sign up for his military and get my ass some ranks.

Hot damn, I don't enjoy the energy of his castle already. Dark walls, intense lamps, and feeling a demonic force bearing down upon you that is going to attack you at any second. It has the same eeriness with walking into a building where a mass homicide has occurred and the killer hasn't been caught. I am surprised that I don't see a murder set of crows flying the castle or bats.

I walk around the halls, familiarising myself with this castle. I hate every bit of it. I prefer Bracus's palace any time of day. I walk around outside. Teketa is like a hive city that hides advanced technologies. They are humanoid in size compared to the bees at home. They make bees, wasps, and hornets much less hostile. Slimy and muck around these homes. The only thing great about this empire is that it's heavily smaller. It only took me less than eighteen hours to explore most of it while running around at great speeds. Bracus did say that the Teketa territory has shortened over the years of tense battles and arguments.

"All Teketa to Warzai now!" An announcement booms from the castle. Great, this empire is like military school times five. Bracus warned me that Teketa is a heavily militarised area and they are crueller than he is. I see Teketa rush inside the castle, so I follow them. I can't comprehend how massive Netedinark's palace is. The running Teketa leads me to an auditorium that is enormous. It can fit ten Olympic gyms and still have enough room. It is also crowded. I take my place on the closest front row to me.

"Fuckin-A, get away from me, Reveta!" A Kateta yells at me, "You blanket-bastards killed my mother."

" I didn't," I remark.

"You all look the same! Get out my damn face before I kick your ass!" He threatened.

"Listen to him, Reveta!" Another Kateta intervened.

I can see why we don't get bothered or we don't want to bother.

I get up and go to another bleacher section that is far less crowded. Mostly with Revetas sitting from a distance from one and another with their heads down. I sit in the row closest to the floor.

Netedinark drops himself from the ceiling. I stifle a jump. He makes me want to run away. The last battle with him still haunts my memory. I push my hands down against my legs to prevent my legs involuntarily fleeing. I don't have the strength to defeat him now, nor take on thousands of Teketa.

"The ambush on Gaeriscelleh on Ourdera's Festival was a complete fail," he announces with great disappointment, "A ferocious Morphan was left behind, killing most of them. We are capable of annihilating Morphans, Fai, Archen, and Elfas! Our failure is unacceptable. Does anyone want to truthfully answer why we failed the ambush?"

I smile. Your ambush was foiled because Dominique was still in a ravenous phase in her transformation. This veil does have its perks. No one raises their hand, but a Kateta steps forward.

"They possibly knew about the ambush," he says without any nervousness in his voice. His voice sounds like an itchy infected wound. It's irritating and painful, making me want to cover my ears. I am kind of hoping that it is the Kateta that yelled at me earlier.

Netedinark shakes his head with a growl. "Bracus and his people were distracted at the festival even those wretched felons from Earth were with him!"

"He could've left one to guard?" He suggests.

"How?!" He barks at the Kateta. Kateta forces himself to stand firm. "How could one Morphan powerful enough to take the ambush on?!" He is getting louder by the minute.

I pity that poor Kateta.

"Experimentation?" Ketata assumes, starting to sound unsure.

"We had spies at Gaeriscelleh the day they left for the festival. They saw no experimentation going inside Bracus's palace. They also failed to report back! You were there too. What did you see?!"

"The Morphan was as powerful as Bracus himself..." He utters, starting to regret stepping up to the plate.

Netedinark is about to erupt at him, but he forces himself to settle down. "Very well, then..." He says raspily. "Get back to your spot."

Kateta obeys his orders immediately.

"It also announced that Ilit has fallen critically ill. No reproduction will happen soon. Please put in your thoughts that the last Queeneta will be safe."

Netedinark eventually dismisses us. I continue to wander around, avoiding trouble as much as I can.

Three weeks have gone by and I am still alive. I am attending training rounds for my kind I am masquerading as. They are not as training for the army, but rather as a refreshment. How smoothly you do combat, the better off you'll be. It feels very weird and very wrong to train with the enemy, but I have to get by. I am not high in the ranks, just a warrior following orders. I didn't try to make myself stand out. It feels fine not to be the freak of nature for once. No generals yelling at me for doing it wrong. Finally, I am doing something right.

My dormitory is half a mile away from the palace. I share it with five Reveta. We have our own rooms and share a living space. Four of them have their corpse-face showing through the veil while the last one has a purple-greyish veil. I can't see their faces. The furniture isn't what I expect for a hive-like species. Furniture is made out of moulding slime. When sitting on it, I feel my body sinking in more than the normal couches and beds. It feels comfortable but weird. They can eat any kind of fruit on Verantuvia, but they mainly drink a cherry red drink called Uta. Thank God, it isn't blood. I refuse to drink it just in case my digestive tract is still human. I bet not, but not going to risk throwing up and making them think that something is wrong with me.

If I were a general, I would collect more information about future plans and attacks. Generals are the ones that conspire with Netedinark the most. The more time I spend here, the more I realise just as much as home I can be. Kateta shares privileges with better dorms, is more likely for promotions, and are treated nicely. The ones that are treated the worst are the Revetas. We are treated harshly and left alone unless they want something. I think Bracus assigned me to this as a disguise just so I can get bullied more; he may not be cruel as Netedinark, but cruel in other ways.

Day 59

Another night after refreshment training. The star is setting. As for the blue star that caressed the Verantuvia's surface for weeks, it is about the size of our Sun. It's still visible at any time of day, but that will soon be gone. I am about to walk back to the hive, leaving the castle tired. The next day on the agenda is patrolling the palace. Can I do something different now?

"I am starting to lose our Lord." The words swipe me off guard. Lose our what? It came from inside the back of the small houses a quarter mile away from Netedinark's castle.

"I lost long ago after he slaughtered Iza," the other one states, "Our species is already set for extinction. If Queenetas are so special, why did he kill the ones outside the empire?"

"The ones outside the empire are considered traitors."

"Aren't we all traitors because we've lived outside Teketa's borders?"

Curious, I sneak to the side of the house to get a better hearing.

"I wished my family stayed in Titane, risked getting killed rather than being forced into military life. I am not a comrade; I am a painter. I love to turn Uta into a thick and blue, yellow, green, orange, and plaster all over my wall. My roommates think I'm crazy though."

"We will soon be free, Ozca, the union is meeting up in the tallest tree in the Forest of Nindera. It will commence when the lens flare is at the highest of the sky."

Lens flare? There are many forests surrounding Teketa. West forest of Gaeriscelleh's empire, north and north east is Ferilocks. The east is Evanity while the south is Titane and Jersome. Bracus's men are now more alert than ever. Are they talking about the eastern forest that is before Evanity? Evanity is like Tenochtitlan, but larger.

The conversation ended soon after. Shall I go? It can show Bracus that not everyone is not on Netedinark's side. Some are being forced to be soldiers against their will... I guess Teketa and I are not different after all. Apparently, we hate the Lord himself.

I refuse to fall asleep tonight, looking out my window, trying to find the lens flare. What the Teketa meant by lens flare is a void sphere of space that bends light around it. A black hole is what they are talking about. To avoid confrontation, I teleport into the forest. Making sure no is around, I levitate above the tree line. A couple of miles west, there is a large and thick tree, much more extensive and taller than all the rest. Bingo! I levitate back down and begin sprinting towards it.

I slow down when I finally reach the tree site. The same torches lighting up at the base of the trees gives it away. There are Etoukas guarding the doors. One of them stops me and squeals at me, showing its teeth. Bracus did tell me that Etoukas do that, but if they are screaming at me, run.

A good chunk of the tree opens up inside it. A Kateta steps forward. He stares at me blankly.

"A Revata?" He says slowly.

Shit, am I not invited?

"Greetings," I say.

"Name?"

My new identity: "Kursa."

"Very well, Kursa, I am Elieege. Please enter, but don't speak of this outside the very walls."

My head bobbles up and down.

He leads me inside the tree. There's a ladder that stretches several feet below the ground, enough to be unscathed by bombs and nukes. It's one large bunker area with a meeting table, bunk beds, and snacks that can last for years.

The majority of the Teketa are the Kateta and Etouka down here. They stop and stare at me. Why is my kind rare for this union? I suspect the Kateta are the opposite because they are hated in the territory. Another mind-twisting part is that their separate kind all look the same. There is no difference between another Kateta and the other, besides ones that are buffier freaks of nature. If I have to learn all of their names, it's going to be a pain in the ass.

I sit down and wait quietly as the rest of them resume talking. Soon, hundreds begin piling up. The chatter becomes loud.

Ding! Ding! Ding! A Kateta misses with the attention bell, calling all our heed to them. "Quiet!" He commands. At least, his voice is not scratchy, but the sound of an Earth sergeant. Everyone immediately falls into silence. Gosh! Not even British schools fall quiet that quickly.

"The time has come. I am Aephris! We all knew about the wrongdoings that Netedinark had committed. He killed our families and our mothers just because we want to live of our own accord! His deep devotion as an idol to himself has gotten to his head. The way he runs our long home needs to change! There are excessive numbers of folks in the military as the guards, as the border patrol, as sacrificial combatants! It's the cause of thousands of lives. Netedinark needs to have our secularity, our freedom! What would it be like if we were all free?"

I smile beneath the veil. Netedinark's rule is not totally to his perfection. So Aephris has an idea for the next revolution, but will he push it through? Everyone nods to him.

"Raise your hand if you want Netedinark to step down as Lord of Teketa?"

There is insecurity in the crowd. Some do slowly raise their hands while others go into thought. They have been under his rule all the time. They probably still have hope that Netedinark will change his ways. Perhaps, Netedinark was once a civil ruler like the rest of the Gods. What caused him to become like this?

"I have been Netedinark's Elder Admiral, his chosen men, for decades. I have battle experience along with all of you. I also have leadership skills."

Elder Admiral is the highest rank you can get if you served Netedinark for a long time. Everyone looks up to you like with Aephris. I don't know if I should trust him or not come back because he can be set up and rat all of us out.

"So we are gonna fight against Netedinark and his loyal subjects?" Another asks from the crowd, "They are our people too." They take the words out of my head.

Aephris agrees. His loyal subjects should not be harmed because there is a possibility that they're afraid to stand up and unionise. Aephris does hold traits that were nailed into his mind after years of working with Netedinark. He also reckons that the loyal men are cowards, too scared to express themselves. They should pay the price. Sounds contradicting in some way. Should we encourage them to turn against their lord?

Even though I am working as a spy for Bracus, I can still contribute to Teketa. I mean to bring more Teketa on Bracus's side. I raise my hand.

"The Reveta," he points to me.

"How about planning peaceful protests to get more Teketa on our side?" I suggest, "News can travel fast and we can gather worldly attention. There's no way in someone's blood right minds will take up Netedinark's army alone."

There are some whispers among the crowds. Aephris seems to go into thought.

Welcome to Earth's Ideology!

There are some agreements in the crowd.

"What are peaceful protests?" Aephris asks.

"A march outside Teketa's borders, skipping a work day, or expressing your crafts that you always wanted to be like an artist. Those are a few examples. I am just giving you ideas. It doesn't feel right to ambush right off the bat. Besides, Ilit is ill. If we all fight and die, there will be none of us left in the end."

Unless you want Netedinark to die alone, that's fine by me.

The rest of the meeting debated on what to do. They decide to plan peaceful projects in future meetings. Aephris wants us to be dismissed before the Erda rises, so we won't be caught in daylight.

"Who are you?" Aephris asks me, making me halt from leaving the tree.

I turn, "I'm Kursa."

I almost said Naomi.

"You're doing a bold move for the Reveta kind, just be safe," he tells me.

"Thanks, I will take note of that."

Then, we parted ways.