VENUS

The light eats my very existence, and it pulls me to its belly where acid burns my skin. I'm so hot that I'm screaming, but I don't know if my voice can be heard on Xelor anymore.

I've been robbed by the unknown.

I throw my arms and legs out, but I hit nothing. I'm blind and falling. Seconds ago, I fell from the peak of my orgasm and into bliss. This is nothing like that.

I land in water with a violent splash. No, this isn't water. It's a thick, suffocating, burning slush. It's melting me alive. I struggle to swim to the top, and grab a vine to pull myself up.

I gasp when I break the surface and blink hard to clear my vision. I look to my left, and then I realize that what I had taken wasn't a vine, but an arm. A dead woman floats next to me. No, dozens do. Adults, children, elderly in various stages of decomposition. I'm swimming in their coffin.

I scream, and then I realize other women are screaming with me. It's the slush. It's melting us.

I scramble over the bodies, grabbing bones and flesh. Few women squirm as well, but their upper body strength is not as good as mine.

Above me, there are floating plates connected to white portals. They are pools containing more women. I seemed to have landed in the bottom pool. This place is not natural. There's metal everywhere, and the only organic substances are the slush and bodies.

I climb out of the pool and slip onto the floor. It's a pitch-black metal that I've never seen on Xelor.

As I get back on my feet, I realize a figure is approaching me. It's enormous, thin, faceless, bright, and its only features are two humanistic arms and legs.

"You son of a bitch!" I swing and hit what feels like glass.

The figure extends an arm and generates a long, sharp stick that crackles with electricity at the end. Already seeing that he wants to prod me back into the pool, I kick the base of the stick and drill it to his chin. He shudders noiselessly, and I use that chance to grab the stick and kick him into the pool.

Two more figures appear, and I make a run for it. I use the stick as a cane to support myself. I can't think straight. The screaming is so loud that I don't understand how these things don't shatter.

Why are they doing this?

What are they?

There's no ladder here, but I need to reach the portal on the plate above us. The one behind me is too far away. I must climb.

I turn, and I toss the shock stick with all my upper body strength. The precision is spot-on and rams into one of them. Instead of impaling them, it pushes them down. These things are hard to kill. That throw should have sent the shock stick right through them.

I reach the wall, but it's so smooth that there's nothing to cling to. Desperate, I look at the pool and gag when I see all the bones. I force myself to pick up a femur and throw it up at the wires connected to the pool above me. My heart shrinks as I throw a skull, and one wire gives out.

I begin to climb. My legs are useless, but my adrenaline and upper body strength keep me going. I don't look down as I climb twenty feet and swing onto the platform.

There's more squirming and screaming in this level. Knowing that time is running out, I blindly kneel and reach my hands to capture two hands. I drag the women out with a groan. There are dozens of more women here, but I don't have the time to save them all.

A ship dispatches from the wall. It's a small pod containing one of those evil figures. They're coming for me.

"Run!"

I lap around the slimy edge of the pool, nearly falling off the platform.

"Help me, please!" someone screams.

I look back and burst into tears because I know I can't save her. There's too many of them.

We reach the white portal, and I do what seems natural. I dive into it without knowing if the two women I pulled out made it.

The burning has not stopped. It's still killing me, but I'd rather draw my last breath on Xelor than on that slaughterhouse.

I thud on moist grass. It's daytime here, but I can tell this isn't Xelor. I sit up, and I don't spot the women. What I do see, however, are two shocked males with scales on different parts of their bodies, and one female. They're a race I've never seen before.

I scramble up and look for the portal. It's shrinking a few feet from me. With my bad leg, I struggle to sprint and jump in before it closes.

This time, I land on sand. Above me is a Cloud of Rehyr that snows. I smile my relief, because I know I made it home.

"Hey, hey! It's you!" a woman calls for me.

I sit up and recognize her as one women I pulled from the pools. She's still caked in the slush. I am too, but it no longer burns.

The other woman is nowhere to be found.

"I've been waiting all day for you," she cries. "I can't stop hearing their screams and begs."

I shudder and force myself to focus on something other than my trauma. I need to get this situation under control, and I need to find Dramon.

"What do you mean all day? I've only been away for seconds."

"No! This is all messed up. This has to be a dream. We have to go back for the other women."

I look around but find no other portal. It's gone. There is no way to reach the other women. Based on what I'm seeing in the distance, the old Xelor is gone, too.

The Palace is painted in gold and surrounded by flying beasts.

"How much time has passed?" I ask.

"Those women. Those poor women..." she rants.

The only thing I know is that we're the only women on Xelor. War is coming, and the prize is us.

"We need shelter," I blurt. "Clothes to hide. We can't be discovered."

I need Dramon. He'll help me.

Where could he be? I doubt he is in The Capital. It's not in his nature to stay on one spot for too long, specially one that's surrounded by walls.

Is he in the mountains?

"I know you're scared, but we need to get going. I'll talk to King Centres, and then my... my husband will help us."

"They'll rape you," she shakes. "Both of us."

"I'll hide under rags."

"Don't be stupid. You're a human. Your skin makes you stand out."

It's true, but I can't let her do the sneaking around for me. She can barely stand straight.

"We have no option. Let's go and stay close."

"Who are you?"

"Venus, and you?"

"Beysha."

"We will be alright," I promise her.

I survive for a living.

We were lucky in landing close to The Palace, although this terrain is bad for my leg. Beysha has to support my weight as we make it through the sand. When we get close, I leave her in an abandoned shack and promise to return by night.

I shake off the dust of sacks, and I rip them to create a covering. Bending over, I grab a board and hope to create the illusion of an old man.

I make it into The Capital and weave through men. I'm struggling to breathe under the curtains of cloth I have on.

Something is happening in The Capital. There are streamers, crowds, flowers, and a buzz in the air.

"She's beautiful."

I freeze when I hear that pronoun.

"King Dramon is lucky."

"He is. Imagine getting to marry the only woman left."

I strain my hearing. Marrying? Dramon is marrying a woman?

"When do you think they'll start having children?"

"Soon, I hope."

I scramble away and nearly knock into a merchant.

"Watch it, old man," he warns me.

I bow my head and scatter off.

a/n: only Xelor had a vanishing, and time processed differently while Venus was gone