The Dawning of Fate
Chapter 5

The wind howls, thunder booms, and lightning cracks across the sky. I stand in the middle of a meadow as heavy rain pounds the earth.

“Where am I?” I ask out loud but as I speak my voice doesn’t sound like my own.

A large shadow passes overhead. I look up and see a monstrous dragon circling the sky. My knees buckle at the sight. Earth-shattering fear sinks its claws into my heart. That’s really a fucking dragon! Suddenly, the beast looks down at me and begins to dive. I scream in terror and take off running.

“You can not run from fate.” An ethereal female voice says in my head.

If my fate is to be eaten, I will run as long as it takes. The beast lets out an ear-piercing roar. I trip in fear and go tumbling down a hill. I land on my back with a clear view of the beast soaring towards me.

“He is your fate.” The voice says.

I jerk awake, sweat coating my forehead. What the hell? Groggy, I drag myself from the warm fur blankets and proceed to shower. The steaming out water pelting again my skin feels like absolute heaven. My mind travels to the strange dream I had but ultimately I just chalk it up to nothing.

The showers here are much more advanced than the ones back home. Warm water streams down with the perfect amount of pressure. There’s a wall panel in place so you can change the settings. There’s even a setting for sensuality. I’m definitely trying that out at some point.

After using the drying furs, I make my way to the silver, coat rack-looking clothing fabricator. Picking up the tablet, I begin swiping through the different selections of clothes. It’s like online shopping but for free! I attempt to get the device to make some jeans but the closest I get to that is leather pants. Shrugging, I quickly fabricate some panties then pull on the pants and a shirt.

To my surprise, the kitchen isn’t empty this morning when I go for breakfast.

“Goodmorning,” I greet Zan as I move to fix a bowl of the fruits I like. When I don’t get a response, I glance in his direction and see a confused expression on his face. “Something wrong?”

“What is that thing in your shirt?” He asks instead. I glance down at my shirt and see that I’m wearing my ‘I love aliens!’ shirt I had on when I got abducted. It has the gray emoji alien with the big black eyes printed largely in the center. My face instantly heats up in embarrassment because aliens look nothing like it.

“Well, it’s an alien,” I reply. A loud guffaw of laughter bumbles from Zan’s mouth.

“It most certainly is not. Is that what humans believe us ‘aliens’ look like?” He asks with mirth.

I grab the bowl of fruit and sit down on the seat in front of him. “We’ve never seen you guys before so I guess someone just imagined what you guys would look like and drew it.”

“It makes sense that you would imagine a species other than yourself puny and weak.” He responds while eating a piece of raw meat. Weirdly, I’ve gotten used to seeing it.

“And why is that?” I bite into a piece of fruit that tastes sort of like dragon fruit and oranges mixed.

“Because every species believes they are superior to the next until someone proves them otherwise,” He shrugs.

“To be fair, this isn’t the only image people have imagined extraterrestrials to look like. You should read some of the descriptions certain authors come up with.”

“Oh? You seem to know a lot about this.” With a raised eyebrow, Zan steals a piece of fruit off my place. I frown.

“Well, my shirt does say ‘I love aliens’. Though, I may need to amend that because you guys suck.”

Zan narrows his eyes into slits.

“Okay, not all of you suck. Just a few.” I amend with laughter. This pulls a smile to his lips and it’s beautiful; he’s beautiful. For a moment we’re just staring at each other until Zan clears his throat and the moment’s over.

“I need to investigate the site of your crash today.”

“Okay, when do we leave?” I ask, gathering both of our plates and taking them to the dishwashing nanites. After I’ve put them away, I’m suddenly aware of how domestic and natural that felt. I assume Zan noticed it too because he doesn’t respond to my question.

“Right, so I’ll be in the room when you’re ready.” Deciding to save me the embarrassing confrontation, I quickly turn and head back. Once safely behind closed doors, I throw myself face-first into the covers.

Why did I do that? He was perfectly capable of cleaning his own plate. I was already taking mine there and I saw that he was finished, so I just decided to take his plate too. It was the more efficient option, I tried to convince myself. I groan in failure. I hear a knock at the door and my heart immediately picks up pace.

“It’s open,” I call out as I sit up on the bed. Of course, it’s open, it’s his house. The door opens and Zan tosses a backpack at me. I catch it and follow him out. The awkward silence stretches between us as we trudge towards the forest. Despite it, I’m kind of excited to go back into the forest. I don’t want to see that bear again, but maybe Zan can tell me more about the plants and wildlife in here.

“Zan?” He acknowledges me with a grunt. “Why don’t you just fly there?”

He chuckles. “I would but you don’t have wings, little Terran.”

Oh. I suddenly feel like a hindrance. “Never you mind that though. I could use the walk,” he adds as if reading my mind. I glance at his large wings and upon closer inspection, I see that they’re made up of tiny scales that reflect as the sunlight bounces off of them. Beautiful. I can’t help but want to touch them.

You can not run from fate.

I realize that my hand started to move towards them unconsciously when Azandum turns suddenly and stares at me.

“I’m so sorry! I wasn’t- I didn’t mean to try to touch them! I was just looking and they’re so beautiful! My hand just starting moving and-

I realize that I’m rambling when Zan touches my shoulder. “It is okay Echo.”

I exhale deeply. That was weird like I was in a trance or something.

“Let’s just keep going.” I turn away from him and his hand falls from my shoulder. His footsteps are quickly in line with mine and we walk side by side into the dense forest.

Zan directs me on a different path than the one I took getting here so that we avoid other creatures’ territory. On this path, there is more space between the trees giving us plenty of uninterrupted ground to walk on. Zan still has to help me over a few of the fallen branches that are scattered here and there.

“What was your life like on Terra?”

I shrug and glance around at the trees. “Nothing special really. I spent most of my time in places like this, forests, or a lab. My job required me to study, analyze, and protect the environment.”

“What about friends and family?” He asks, pushing aside a particularly large bush.

“I didn’t have any friends unless you count my colleagues, which I don’t. And my parents and I don’t exactly get along because I didn’t agree with their religious beliefs. I have a brother. We talk some, but most of the time it’s just me and my plants.” I laugh sadly.

Zan doesn’t respond. I don’t hear him behind me at all. I turn and I am suddenly grabbed and lifted into the air. I try to scream but before the sound can get past my lips, a large clawed hand covers my mouth. My struggling stops once I inhale and the smokey pine scent fills my nose. My feet connect with a branch as Zan settles us in the tree. His arms remain wrapped tight around me, holding me in place.

“Azandum, what the hell?!” I whisper-yell at him. He places his clawed finger over my lips, effectively shutting me up. The snap of a stick draws our attention. Oh god, I hope it’s not another demon animal.

“That was on purpose,” Zan whispers in my ear causing goosebumps to spot my skin. “He knows we are here.” At that, I still, fear coursing through my veins. Abruptly, Zan abandons me and dives towards the bushes. I wrap my arms around the tree and hold on for dear life. The branch I am on is large enough for me to sit without falling if I am careful, but I won’t take any chances.

In my mind, when Zan said “he”, I assumed he was referring to a person. That notion is quickly eradicated when he and a large grey animal come tumbling out of the bush. It’s a dog, an actual dog! The dog growls and snaps while Zan flashes his fangs. Zan extends his claws, preparing to attack. I suck in a breath and the dog’s gaze turns to me. Quartz crystal eyes stare back into my grey pair. Zan lunges for the animal.

“Azandum, no!” I yell and in the process, my foot slips off the branch. My scream abruptly turns into a gasp as I am caught mid-air. With me held secure in his arms, Zan floats us back down to the ground and gently places me on my feet. I look up into his eyes.

“Thank you,” I breathe.

“As long as you’re with me, nothing will ever happen to you,” He promises earnestly. My heart does a backflip inside my chest. Growling continues behind us, ruining the moment. Zan tries to push me behind him but this time I fight him and put my hand on his chest.

“No, don’t kill it.” He flashes me a confused expression. I turn and try to walk towards the dog but Zan’s grip is iron tight.

“That thing will kill you.” He growls.

“It won’t,” I assure him. I scoff inside my head because it is entirely possible that the thing will kill me but I just feel like it won’t. Seeing that Zan isn’t going to let me out of his reach, I stand in front of him and squat down holding my hand out towards the dog. It growls loudly.

“Hey,” I coax. “It’s okay. He won’t hurt you.” Crystal-colored eyes dart back and forth between me and Zan. I keep my hand pushed out.

“Human, what are you doing?!” Zan hisses. I ignore him in favor of watching the dog. The animal is huge. It's easily twice the size of an English mastiff. Slowly, I reach into my pack and pull out a piece of the dried meat Zan stuffed in there. Holding it out to the dog, I continue to calmly coax it towards me. It sniffs the air and its eyes land on the food in my hand.

“Hey there, are you hungry? Come on. It’s okay.”

It makes a step to come forward, still sniffing. Zan growls making the dog bear his teeth. I elbow him in the leg. “It’s okay. I promise he won’t hurt you,” I tell the dog. It takes another step forward and this time Zan doesn’t growl but I can feel the tension radiating off him. The dog lays his ears back and slowly creeps forward.

“That’s it. Come and get it,” I persuade gently. Once it’s in range, I extend my arm a little more and it sniffs my hand before tentatively eating the piece of meat.

“Good boy,” I cheer softly. It then rubs its snout against my hand. I bring my hand up and scratch it behind the ear.

“Who’s a good boy? Huh? You’re a good boy. Yes, you are!” The dog starts wiggling its body and thumping its heavy tail against the ground. I laugh happily. Suddenly, it takes its long, wide tongue and licks my face. “Ew.”

Looking behind me, I see Zan staring at me in utter shock. I flash him a smile as I continue petting the dog. “We have animals similar to these on Earth. They usually only attack when they feel threatened.” I glance back at the dog who’s now sniffing my backpack, likely looking for more food. He’s so adorable with his fluffy fur. I’ve never seen a dog with his eyes though.

“I don’t trust it,” Zan huffs. The dog growls at him and Zan growls back making him flatten his ears.

“You’re scaring him,” I tell Zan and rub the dog’s head in comfort. Zan scoffs. “Can I keep him?” I ask excitedly.

“Excuse me? What do you mean “keep him”?”

“Like as a pet. Please Zan?” I beg. He grumbles something about infernal humans and continues walking in the direction we were before. Taking that as a yes, I shriek excitedly and follow him with my new doggo behind me.

“How about Thunder?” I ask Zan once I’ve caught up with him.

“What?”

“I was thinking of naming him Thunder. What do you think?” Zan glances at the dog trotting alongside me then looks away and shrugs.

“Seems fitting I guess.”

“I thought so too. Thunder it is.” I reach down and ruffle the animal’s head. “You hear that buddy? Your new name is Thunder.” It barks once and runs around me happy. “I think he likes it,” I tell Azandum and he groans in disapproval.

When we arrive at the crash site, we replace it empty thankfully. Zan spends some time looking around inside but ultimately nothing inside was useful. According to him, most of the important things such as flight and communication logs are accessed through the command center which was in the other half of the ship. So, we return to his estate and he lets me help him prepare dinner.

“Here, try it.”

“Absolutely not, it looks utterly disgusting,” Zan denies turning his head away from the cooked meat I am holding out for him.

“Just a tiny bit?” I break off a reasonable size between my fingers and show it to him.

“Fine,” but instead of taking it from me like I thought he would, he allows me to feed it to him. His lips graze the pad of my thumb and I shiver. We stare into each other’s eyes until all at once my back is pressed against the wall and Zan’s hot body is covering my front.

Breathing heavily, I stare into his molten eyes. Without haste, thick full lips seize mine kissing me deeply. I don’t even try to fight it because I want this, I really want this. It just feels...right. My hands replace their way into his long black tresses. The silk strands feel like heaven between my fingers. Zan pushes his textured tongue into my mouth and I moan softly at the smoke wine taste of him. It has little papillae on it like that of a cat. He growls in response. Our tongues dance deliciously.

I’ve never been kissed like this before. It’s like Zan is claiming me, owning me, and seducing me all in one kiss. My head starts to swim with the need to breathe but I don’t pull back, fearing that if I do, I’ll never get this feeling again. Zan pulls back though and I suck in a deep breath. Endorphins rush in, leaving my body thrumming with excitement. I look up at Zan with hooded eyes and replace him staring at me with such intensity it makes my chest tighten.

“What are you doing to me little Echo?”

“Anything you want, if you let me,” I hear myself reply. He chuckles softly and rests his hand on the side of my face. His thumb caresses my cheek and I lean into the warmth.

“So beautiful,” he whispers. A yawn crawls up my throat and escapes. Zan scoops me up and begins walking toward my room. I rest my head on his chest and seep into the comfort of being in his arms.

“Stay with me?” I ask as he lays me in bed, hating how desperate it sounded. Zan leans down and presses his lips to my forehead.

“In due time,” he answers before walking out of the room. Thunder’s big body rattles the bed as he climbs on and snuggles up at my feet.

Blankets and fur surround me but I still replace myself cold, craving an entirely different kind of warmth.