Chapter 7 ~ Adrezo and Evana
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~ Planet Iredescent's Atmosphere ~
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The Supremacy began to slowly descend, its passenger eagerly taking in the view. There were gold sparkles in the air similar to the gold sparkles found on the planet's rings, a kind of glimmer element that intrigued Tori. It's like the planet's rings are made of real gold, she thought, admiring it.
She gasped when the ship suddenly immobilized, becoming stagnant as something, a strange magnetic force of some sort, made it freeze in place. She heard a male voice come over the comm speakers and say in a strong authoritative voice, "Human from planet Earth, state your name and business. We've already scanned your ship and need to know your intentions of approaching our atmosphere."
Tori just stared at the comms speaker, stunned to hear an actual alien voice for the first time. He sounds so human, she thought, amazed. Well, they do look like humans, so I suppose they sound like humans too. She pressed on her speaker and communicated with him for the first time, her amazement reflecting in her voice, "I am Tori Nichok of planet Earth. I have come to see planet Iredescent for the first time."
A few seconds passed before the Iredescent spoke again, saying, "Dishonest intentions detected. This ship was stolen prior to your arrival. You have weapons aboard, weapons capable of severe damage and intended for war purposes, stolen as well, and your curiosity is too great to be trusted. Turn the ship around, Tori Nichok of planet Earth, and never return."
"But I just got here," Tori said back, getting defensive. "I'm the first human to ever see an alien planet for the first time in history. I request permission to land on your planet, to at least set foot on it."
"Permission denied," the Iredescent responded, his voice stern but not aggressive. The Iredescent had ink black hair with gold sparkles throughout, his hair long and shoulder length. He had ocean blue eyes that seemed to search and pierce through any piece of information, a clean white and deep blue ombre outfit with multicolor accents, and a gold skin shimmer that went well with his Caucasian skin tone. His name was Drayce Arden. He was a finned one.
He pressed several buttons on the holo-screen in front of him. A live feed of Tori showed up on his screen, instantly on record. He saw the human for the first time, taking in her physical appearance. Tori's blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail, her inquisitive brown eyes open yet containing an almost gleeful look in them, as if she were excited but holding back. She was wearing a cozy light neutral pink sweatshirt, dark grey pants, grey socks, and light brown booties. A stylish rose gold watch adorned her wrist, and she wore light neutral shade makeup and shimmer peachy pink lip gloss.
"She wants to be one of us," one of Drayce's coworkers, Soren Kezeutche, said to him. Soren had metallic silvery lavender hair set in beach waves, glittering deep indigo eyes, and wore an outfit of mostly dark metallic grey and royal purple. He was valued among the crew for his mind reading ability. He could read anyone's mind no matter how far away; distance held no boundaries for him.
"Touching, but not without consequence," Drayce responded. "Humans are not allowed on Iredescent under any circumstance. They are not lifeforms we can trust."
"Would be nice if we could trust them," a female coworker named Maven Vale said in sentiment. She had long shimmery golden yellow waves that cascaded down over her shoulders. It fit well with her peony pink dress glistening in gold sheen. She was a finned one.
"Unfortunately they've proven themselves unworthy of trust," Soren said grimly. "Over the past years, every few decades, we've sent out one of our kind to gather information about the humans and their planet, to see what they've been up to and such. The accounts of Tereza Rejkavik and Raistin Fenice were enough to make the previous Ruler of Iredescent, Irina Acai, decide that planet Iredescent should remain distant from planet Earth. Our current Ruler of Iredescent, Peridot Shodi, is seeing to it that humans are still not allowed no matter how kind they may seem, for they are a deceitful lot."
"Hey," Tori's voice suddenly piped up, interrupting their conversation she couldn't hear. "Let go of my ship, please."
"It's not your ship; it is a stolen ship," Drayce corrected her, rolling his eyes. "And you are not granted any permission whatsoever."
"Fuck this permission shit," Tori muttered, getting frustrated. "I finally reach an alien planet, the very first human in history to ever do so, and this is how you treat me?"
"The correct term is glam," Drayce informed Tori. "Our choice words include stars, zirki, swirling galaxies, and planets."
Tori was surprised he cared to inform her of Iredescent swear words. She silently filed them to her memory, making sure to remember them for future reference.
A sudden thought prompted her to read her screen, making her realize something. Oh good, the air is breathable and safe for humans, Tori thought in relief. If all else fails, I can jump out. See what they'd think of that. Knowing there was some kind of unknown magnetic force keeping her ship in place, Tori searched for some way to break free of it, or at least override it somehow. Her search proved to be futile.
Up in the air control center, Drayce, Soren, Maven, and a few other Iredescents watched her with incredulous looks on their faces. "Determined, isn't she?" Drayce remarked, chuckling as he watched her. "She doesn't know that it's Iancu's force field keeping her in place."
Iancu, an Iredescent with the telekinetic ability, was a ground level employee who was in charge of making ships go as needed. In this case, Tori's ship was frozen in order to properly investigate it. As Tori tried various methods to try to free herself from his hold, Iancu stood calmly with his arms crossed, a small smug smile on his face as he kept the ship firmly in his grasp, only using his mind to do so.
Tori kept trying everything, her futile attempts making Iancu chuckle and shake his head. He began to turn her ship around, making it head back towards Earth. Tori glanced out the window and saw Iancu on the ground, seeing an Iredescent for the first time with her own eyes.
Iancu had short light brown hair and brown eyes streaked with coral red. He wore a hooded plaid flannel sweatshirt and vibrant royal blue jogger type pants of what seemed to be made of sweatpant material. He looked so human-like that Tori was stunned at first, then she noticed his shimmery skin that softly shone in the sun.
Other Iredescent ground employees came out as well, looking up and some even flying up to the Supremacy. Tori felt like she was in some weird kind of paradise, watching glittery winged people in action. She wished she was like them: to be able to fly anywhere and have magnificent wings just like they did. She wanted to sparkle, to glitter brilliantly like they did.
A dark skinned Iredescent man in his late sixties emerged from the port of entry center, looking up at the Supremacy with watchful eyes. He was Estrello Draumur, the previous assignee sent to Earth as a spy before Tereza was sent. He had recorded his trip to Iceland and surrounding Nordic countries while Tereza had recorded those of England and Germany.
Now Estrello was in charge of the port of entry, the same one that was investigating Tori's stolen ship. He looked up at the ship, seeing Tori with his super vision ability that enabled him to see through walls and surfaces. He saw her as clearly as day, even seeing the amazed look in her eyes as she was looking out the window.
A woman stood beside him, dressed in official clothing, though her rank was obviously lower than Estrello's rank. While Estrello's clothing showed his rank clearly, a black official outfit with red and gold trim, the woman's outfit was navy blue with silver rim. She was in her mid-thirties, had a narrow face, straight long black hair that went halfway down her back, and piercing blue eyes. Her eyes had an icy look in them as she viewed the human intruding her planet.
She held a long black Iredescent weapon called the enere. It shot digitalized bullets that instantly vaporized the lifeform upon contact. She had a Meh in a black sheath at her hip. A Meh was an Iredescent device used to scan lifeforms and ships. The woman's name was Evana Pershiy. She was port of entry security.
Two ships already in Iredescent's atmosphere were alerted to the Supremacy's presence. The crews of both the Yellow Explosion and the Glowing Radar turned to look, wondering what an Earth ship was doing in the Iredescent atmosphere.
The Yellow Explosion contained a substantial amount of people, mostly travelers heading for planet Torra. Now their trip was put on pause, at least until they sorted out the intruder. Because there were more people on that ship than in the other, the Yellow Explosion headed further away from the Supremacy.
There were only three people in the Glowing Radar: the pilot and two groundsmen. The pilot was Fanarik Svitsa. The two groundsmen were Adrezo Voni and Riello Griselau.
Fanarik was in the process of moving the ship over to a new landing spot when Tori came through Iredescent's atmosphere. The human threat was palpable in the air as the urgency arose to get the human out as soon as possible. The two most available ships were asked to intercede. Glowing Radar readily responded, Yellow Explosions backing out since there were too many people at risk.
Fanarik was a thin, skinny lean man with surprising whipcord strength in his arms, for he had spent many years at the wheel. He had dark umber skin, was in his early fifties, and had a calm casual demeanor. He never yelled or raised his voice; he always spoke in a mild manner. He was wearing a beige tan vest and purple and navy pants, one wrist decked with simple light brown cord wristlets that looked like they were made from a fishing net.
Adrezo looked like golden summer in Iredescent form. His light manipulation ability reflected his golden appearance, making his golden hair shine like the sun. He was perfectly tanned, his Adonis body the envy of men. He wore a dark brown jacket over his simple dark brown and crimson red outfit, making him look like a woodsman.
Riello didn't look as approachable as Fanarik and Adrezo. The sarcastic one of the three, he wore a dark shimmering blue outfit with shocks of pinkish red occasionally materializing and dematerializing like a hologram. His dark brown hair was in an edgy spiked-up look and streaked with dark blue, his eyes golden yellow like neon lights shining at the viewer. His shoes were the same pinkish red that showed up intermittently, drowning in a sea of black and orange.
Their comm speakers produced static noise for a few seconds before Estrello's voice came on, saying, "It's a lone human. A curious one, at that. But she's not one we can trust."
"Copy that. We'll intercede," Fanarik responded via his communication device, setting it back down. The groundsmen gathered around him as the live feed of Tori transferred over to their screen, showing them the human and what she was doing.
As Iancu continued to move the Supremacy higher in the air, sending it back towards Earth, Tori grabbed her tote bag and desperately looked out the window, seeing the ship was about to become parallel with the Glowing Radar. She walked towards the entrance/exit, sliding the tote bag over her shoulder while pulling out her Heckler & Koch.
At the same time Tori pulled out her Heckler & Koch, Adrezo's hands lit up with bright yellow light and Evana pulled out her enere. Both Iredescents were facing the human at different distances, all three with a determined set to their faces as Tori attempted to stay and the Iredescents attempted to make her leave.
Tori made the first move by suddenly opening the entrance/exit and leaping out, landing right on top of the Glowing Radar. Adrezo's surprised face stared at the screen as he saw Tori via the ship screen. Evana's stunned face quickly turned into a scowl, seeing Tori as a viable threat.
Evana's shimmering deep purple and silver wings materialized in a glimmer of dust, her enere lighting up with red within the black as she pressed activate. She hurried towards the Glowing Radar, ready to stop Tori at all costs. Tori evaded her, disappearing somewhere in the ship. Evana cautiously flew around, trying to locate Tori.
Estrello spoke to Evana, saying, "The human named Tori Nichok has refused to listen to our request to leave. Use your enere if necessary."
"Full permission to fire," Drayce added from the command center.
Fanarik turned to Adrezo, saying, "Use your light manipulation ability to stop her. Don't underestimate humans just because they're not as powerful as we are."
"She's still one human," said Riello.
"One human can change the world and possibly the outcome of an entire planet," Fanarik said in warning. "For example, the man who invented the internet."
"I still think the man who invented toilet paper was more important," Riello said in response.
The sound of the door opening made all three men freeze in astonishment. All conversation was instantly abandoned.
"She's here," said Adrezo. He brightly illuminated the part of the ship Tori was in. The other two Iredescents had already put on special sunglasses to protect their eyes from the bright light. It didn't blind people, but it disoriented them and made unable to see anything but bright light. If looked at for too long, it could potentially blind people the same way looking at the sun for too long could blind people.
Tori dropped to the floor soon as she saw the sudden light, her eyes barely slits as she felt her way along the wall. She knew where the Iredescents were from looking at their shoes. She focused on one set of shoes, the ones that glittered dark red. It reminded her of a lipstick shade she had seen in a store once called Undying Love. The shimmery red stuck out from the enveloping bright light. The other two shoes were hard to determine: one was a sparkly blur and the other looked really tan.
Adrezo stepped into the hall at the same time Tori shot upward, hitting him on the chest. Adrezo died instantly, falling to the floor as all light disappeared except for the ship's interior lighting. Tori barely had the chance to glimpse at the Iredescent when the other two were on her.
Tori fought and struggled, beating at the wall with her fist as her other hand tried furiously to keep her gun in her grasp. She pressed a button on the wall that suddenly flung open the wall. Tori grabbed at the metal hinge as the two surprised Iredescents were whisked out of the ship by heavy air. Tori slammed the button again to close it. She dropped down, relieved.
Adrezo's body was still in the hallway directly across from her, a short distance away. Tori kept her gun close as she stared at him, amazed by the sight of an Iredescent so near. Even in death, he still looked god-like to her. Tori looked down at her own light skin, comparing it to Adrezo's sunlit skin. She was surprised to see him bleeding shimmery red blood, the exact same red as his shoes. Even their blood sparkles, she thought.
A surge of jealousy ran through her at the sight of Adrezo's golden wings. They looked like the sun, shimmering gold outer feathers with gorgeous cream white inner feathers. One wing was streaked with his shimmery red blood, its beauty mesmerizing Tori.
She was about to slowly reach for him when she heard the entrance door open from another part of the ship. Leaving Adrezo, Tori got up and ran around the hallway. She heard a flutter of wings and hid behind a wall, reloading her gun as quietly as possible.
Evana was searching for Adrezo. She knew he was somewhere on the ship and was worried for him. Her black enere had rays of red appearing and disappearing from within, the effect like shark fins appearing in and out of the water.
She felt a cold hand seize her heart when she saw Adrezo on the ground. Evana immediately came over to Adrezo's side, covering the distance within seconds. "Adrezo!" she shouted, tears starting to fall as she realized he was dead. She kissed him furiously, as if hoping that would somehow revive him.
A bullet came out of nowhere and rammed into her abdomen, right underneath her heart chamber. Evana grasped her side as searing pain caused her to scream. She looked up to see Tori from the other side of the room, still holding her Heckler & Koch.
Mortally wounded, Evana still attempted to use her enere, but Tori came over and jerked it out of her hand. Surprised by Evana's reaction towards Adrezo, Tori disregarded it a moment later when she saw Evana's pearlescent skin. It was pale and white, shimmering like diamonds, gleaming like moonlight. Her eyes were full of pain and shock, mingled with tears. Her wings were glittery dark purple, lined with silver glitter.
Evana groaned as she continued to clutch her abdomen, sinking to her knees. I'm going to die here with Adrezo, she realized as she continued bleeding, the pain almost unbearable.
Tori stood over her, her eyes coldly staring at her. Evana was surprised to see jealousy in them. Her eyes met Tori's, contrasting between the two.
"How could you?" Evana asked Tori, her voice portraying the shock and loss she was feeling, her body rapidly succumbing to the deadly wound. "How could you do this to us?"
"Because I want to become an Iredescent like you," Tori answered just before Evana closed her eyes and died beside Adrezo.
Tori looked down at them, her stance straight and her body rigid. After a moment of contemplative pondering, she turned on her heel and headed for the cockpit.
Estrello had seen what had happened and just stood there, absolutely stunned to see both of his coworkers killed by a human. Even Drayce, Soren, Maven, and Iancu stood horrified as Soren allowed everyone to see what Estrello had seen. More Iredescent port of entry security officers rushed towards the hijacked ship, but the Glowing Radar evaded them, flying out of Iredescent's atmosphere like a rocket with no intentions of stopping.
At the cockpit, Tori was pushing forward on the wheel, making the ship fly forward in haste. She pressed on the button symbol that meant faster-than-light travel, a.k.a. lightspeed. Immediately the ship sped forward like a racehorse, soaring out of Iredescent's atmosphere at ultimate speed. Tori was pressed to her seat, her eyes wide as she gripped the steering wheel tightly, her knuckles white. Thankful she had a seatbelt restraining her, keeping her from falling out of her seat, though inertia kept her in, Tori thought in amazement, Hyperspeed in reality is definitely not like it is in the movies.
Bright colors and a kaleidoscope of shimmer flashed and beamed, saying goodbye to Tori as she left the dimension Iredescent was located in. Tori blinked, watching the flashes of light disappear. The massive floating trash appeared in her view, startling Tori. She kept the ship on hyperspeed as it continued on like a cannonball. She sighed in relief when the ship zipped right past, flying through space in the blink of an eye.
Tori glanced at the screen. Readings showed she had plenty of fuel reserves left. Even if she kept going at hyperspeed, there would still be enough fuel to last twenty years. It took two days to travel from planet Iredescent to planet Earth on normal speed, but with hyperspeed, the distance would be shortened. Tori decided to keep it going on hyperspeed. She set the controls back to auto, directing the flight path to Earth. She set a timer to let her know when the ship was to be an hour away from Earth.
When she was sure she was a safe distance away from Iredescent, Tori finally went to check on the two dead Iredescents she killed. She had placed them side-by-side on the bed in one of the ship's sleeping areas, amazed their bodies were so light in weight compared to human bodies.
Glittery red blood soaked the covers and sheets from their gunshot wounds. Tori sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to get any of the blood on her. She noticed Iredescent blood was very shimmery red like Viniq liqueur. She touched some of it, surprised when it started corroding her human skin. Tori immediately wiped it off on the bed, looking at her fingertips where her flesh was eaten away and replaced with firm, shimmery tissue. Her Caucasian skin now had light champagne sparkles where the blood had been, making that part of her skin look radiant and new.
Remarkable, Tori thought. Iredescent blood dominates human cells and tissue, completely changing them. The shimmery tissue fascinated Tori the way a kid was fascinated by a new toy. She turned to the two dead Iredescents and studied them closely, wincing when her fingers lightly brushed against the bed.
The Iredescent man was gorgeous, very handsome. He had blond hair and a sexy tan. He looked like summer. His eyes were closed, but Tori knew they were light brown like walnuts. His clothing was a simple dark brown and crimson red outfit, stylish and comfortable at the same time. He had worn a dark brown jacket, but Tori had used it to press on his wound as she carried him.
The Iredescent woman's outfit was official in appearance. She had a Meh in a black sheath at her hip. Her face was narrow, her hair straight, long and black. It was super shiny and reminded Tori of the beautiful shiny thick dark hair Indian women were known to have. She did vaguely smell of amla oil, with a pleasant touch of sweet almond oil. Unlike the tan Iredescent man, the Iredescent woman's skin was ivory white. Her eyes were blue, forever closed.
Tori remembered the last few moments of the Iredescent woman's life before it ended. A shame I had to kill such beautiful people, she thought, getting off the bed. She put a sheet over them, deciding she would clean and wash their wounds once she was back on her planet.
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Meanwhile Fanarik and Riello had taken flight shortly after being suddenly thrown out of the ship. Their wings held them steady as both men recovered from the shock of Adrezo's death and Tori's willfulness in doing what she did. They quickly flew for Estrello, reaching him at the same time Drayce, Soren, Maven, and Iancu came up to him.
Soren's face was white as he saw what they had just been through in their minds. He relayed it to the others at the same time Riello said, wide-eyed, "She killed him. That human killed one of our own."
"Two of our own," Estrello said quietly as Soren allowed Fanarik and Riello to see Evana's death.
Both men stood stunned for a moment, sharing in the others' grief and dismay. After a while, Fanarik said quietly, "You know....they were going to get married in a few weeks."
After a long shocked silence, Drayce's eyes narrowed in anger and he said, "I'll ready my ship to go after the human, kill her, and bring Adrezo and Evana back."
He started to leave, but Estrello put a hand on his shoulder and said, "No, we won't. We'll have nothing further to do with humans." He turned to Iancu, saying, "Close the portal. No one is to enter nor leave Iredescent for several months' time, in mourning for Adrezo and Evana, and for the safety of our planet."
Turning back to Drayce, Estrello said, "No longer will Iredescent assignees be sent to Earth for any reason. This permanently concludes our study of humans. The next human that dares enter through the portal again will be incinerated by the Phoenix."
"Should I inform him, sir?" Soren asked. The Phoenix was currently in the region of Mitop where the Crow Forest was. The port of entry Tori had interacted with was in the region of Kajewa, near Comet Valley. It was on the southeastern part of the planet, while the Phoenix lived in the northwestern side of the planet. Ever since the Phoenix came to live on Iredescent with his wife Tereza, he became known as the Protector of Iredescent. A need to protect the planet didn't arise until Tori's arrival.
Estrello nodded. "Inform the Phoenix and the Ruler of Iredescent. Ask the Phoenix to have his flames shield the portal and prevent anyone from coming to our dimension until further notice."
"Yes, sir," Soren said in response, leaving in haste.
Both the Phoenix and the Ruler of Iredescent were dismayed and heartbroken by the news. The Phoenix immediately set out into space and shut the portal off, sealing it with his flames so that no other lifeform would be able to enter Iredescent's dimension. It blocked off the entire dimension, keeping those who were in that dimension trapped within their own dimension.
The entire planet mourned. Other planets, hearing of Tori did, became prejudiced against humans, believing the entire race was like that. Some wanted to rise against Tori, the Phoenix agreeing with them and wanting to set fire to Tori with his own flames, but Peridot Shodi, the Ruler of Iredescent, said no and forbade anyone from attempting to go near Earth.
"Don't waste your time with the humans; there is no hope for humanity," he told them, aggrieved by the mere thought of a human willfully killing two innocent Iredescents. He stood facing the darkened sky, the bright lights of the city having turned off in mourning, his own robes changed from his usual bright colors to the darkest shade of purple, an almost black purple that symbolized grief. It was the color Iredescents wore when mourning someone.
His back faced the Phoenix, who approached him in his human-like form, saying, "But shouldn't justice be done for what that human did? She took their bodies for whatever reason. Allow me to torch her."
Peridot Shodi shook his head. "Revenge will not suffice. We should just entirely cut off from Earth and never hear from them again. They will be as forbidden as planet Verdamnt."
The Phoenix scoffed. "All the horrors those vampires had done for that planet hold no candle to what this human has done and will continue to do. Soren and I fear she will do much worse than kill Iredescents, especially since she told Evana she wanted to become an Iredescent. Personally, I think she killed them for a sick reason to study and learn how to become an Iredescent."
"Humans don't have the knowledge Haerreopeans do about turning oneself into another lifeform," Peridot Shodi told him. "I don't think humans will ever gain the knowledge and capability of turning themselves into another lifeform. I do believe the bodies of Adrezo and Evana will be recovered someday. For now, we maintain our distance from Earth and allow the humans to do their worst, for humans have proven that they can be worse than the vampires that plagued planets Verdamnt, Monshalow, and Natvolo, and wiped them out to extinction."
"If we're not careful, it might be the humans who would destroy Iredescent," said the Phoenix.
"Or destroy themselves," Peridot Shodi said quietly.
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Fun fact:
Fanarik means flashlight in Russian
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