CHAPTER 6: WHAT BLADE THINKS
My troops have finally landed. I am back in this planet again. But this time, we're here to do a final battle with those wretched Xenomorphs, Aliens as the Ooumans called them. I have made a miscalculation. I thought the bomb was enough to destroy all the Xenomorphs in there, including the Queen, but I was wrong. They survived. Somehow, they figured a secret way out and now they are free to terrorize the whole city on this planet. There's no way we can continue our ritual of manhood in this planet ever again. We shall have to destroy all of those Zaigars here and find another planet to continue our sacred ritual.
Makayla was right: I did miss a few of those creatures.
Makayla, how lovely the name. It never dawned to me that she would be my mate. I had no intention to do so at first. It was an absurd custom to make in our clan: the first female to touch my blood and see me naked will be the one I have to keep forever in my life. I never thought it would be her. I thought that once I've proven myself a warrior and a man, I will be honoured by my clan in my ship and by the time I've returned to my planet Geiquer-Ta, there will be plenty of females waiting to want to be a warrior's wife. A female is never complete without a warrior as a husband to fit her war-like lifestyle. That has always been that way among our people.
But she, Makayla, is the one to find me, all bloody and bruised after I've failed to complete my test and left my comrades to die. She is the one who took me to her lair and nurse me back to health. She is the one who touched my blood and removed my clothing and saw me as I am: a coward who ran away from his troubles and failed to become a man. She had fed me, clothed me and healed me both from my wounds and my broken pride. She is the one who saw past everything I am and regarded me just as a normal person who didn't need to prove himself to be a warrior to be a man. She is the one who led me to the truth about life.
Why do I insist on calling her 'Makayla' anyway? She isn't all that beautiful with her hair as dark as the night sky in Geiquer-Ta and her eyes the colour of the Muyq weeds. She doesn't have those pretty dents on her temples or those sharp hinges we pride very much. She has no body of a warrior, and least likely be one, judging by her built and character. She is nowhere near the name 'Makayla' at all! Beautiful, that's what 'Makayla' meant. Beautiful.
Maybe it was the beauty of her heart. The kindness and lovingness that I've long since forgotten when I joined the training to manhood was inside her. It was something I haven't experience for a long, long time. And that was how beautiful she is. Her heart. And that's what I decided to name her. I wonder what 'Blade' means to her though.
I loathed her the first day I opened my eyes and saw her. I was angry at her. I was furious at her touching me and seeing me bare. I was really mad: How dare she touch me and ruined me of a chance to get a real mate? She had ruined everything, I thought, like it wasn't enough that I've lost my pride in failing the test, now this! At first, I thought maybe the clan doesn't have to know this. Maybe I can just kill her and pretend that nothing had happened between me and this wretched Oouman and everything will be alright. I'll return home, take the manhood test again and everything will go as planned. But as the days went by, despite my efforts to make her hate me and have nothing to do with me, she pulled through. She put up with my tantrums and continued nursing back to health. She took in every cursing and swearing I threw at her and she never once utter a word of complaint.
She actually smiled and melted my cold heart.
Since then I promised to myself that she would never leave my sight again. I will never let her beautiful heart be taken away from anyone. I made her fall into a deep sleep and implanted the spy camera into her neck so that I could watch her every move. I was angry when I saw her with this male Oouman so close together, and surprised myself to know that I was actually jealous. When the Xenomorphs attacked, I was fearful for her life. I didn't care if her other Oouman friends who shared the same roof with her was shocked to see me; I quickly made a dash to rescue her, and had my chance to kill that male Oouman. But Makayla liked him, and didn't want me to kill him. I was heartbroken. I didn't want to hurt her beautiful heart, so I spared him, but I was hurt inside to see her care more for that Oouman than me. I have decided to leave her and spare her being harmed by the rest of my clan as soon as I was able to contact them to get me, and at the same time rid myself of all feelings for her, but she chose to be with me. She was willing to leave her planet and follow me.
She still cares for me, I thought, there was still hope.
Captain Megai, as I expected, wasn't happy for me to have Makayla—an Oouman—as a mate. He was furious when I failed my test and brought home an alien in the process. He said that she was just cattle, an animal not fit to be part of the clan, let alone be my mate. But to me, Makayla isn't an alien. She's neither cattle nor an animal like the olden day Oouman that bred those wretched Xenomorphs. She's beautiful and she's my mate. I was determined to keep her, even if it means certain death. I told them how she was able to survive the Xenomorphs' attacks before my help came and how she fought with effort for survival, and they were interested. I can bet that Captain Megai and his henchmen were talking about keeping Makayla to learn more in detail about their custom and their will to fight even though they're not born warriors. And I was relieved that Captain Megai approved our union. I knew it hurt Makayla to be marked my mate with that really hot marker, and it hurts me to see her cry, but I didn't know how to make her feel better. All I could do was touch her head. That's the only affection I've ever learnt from spying at other Ooumans.
It's best to not let her know what this marking was about. Ooumans have a tendency to panic at something new to them. I don't want Makayla to panic. But I didn't like it when people stare at my Makayla. News had spread around in the ship talking about 'The Oouman Bride' and they were not making Makayla feel welcomed. I felt sorry for her actually to have to endure all this without able to understand what was really going on around her and why the weird, harsh treatment on her. I wanted to help her in any way I can but we still had a language barrier. It wasn't hard for me to understand and comprehend Oouman language, though it was a little hard to pronounce it, but for her who doesn't have the verbal capacity to learn and speak our language, it will be a hard toll on her. She still couldn't understand me and custom has it that we shouldn't be too intimate with our mates less it gets harder to separate when it comes to us fighting another war that might be the death of us.
Curse those customs!
The best thing I could do for her without betraying our custom was to make her painful mark feel a little better. I had to say, despite the treatment she's been getting from my people and her being in a place far away from home, she never once complained. She never once pestered me to take her back to her planet. She just sat there without any bad thought in her mind and no intention of leaving the union and me. I had to admire her courage and adaptability. I even felt moved when she thanked me for nursing her hand, but I was still too proud to admit that I cared for her.
This made her the more beautiful. My precious Makayla…
To be able to be close to her, letting her feel my body and my heart beat as I did her was the most blissful thing that can ever happen to me. I didn't dare to do anything else out of the norm that night so as not to scare her. Everything was still new to her. It was enough for me for now to hold her close to me and feel her tiny body near mine.
I love her. I really love her.
"Come, Hadurakh," my comrade called me. "We must make haste before the Queen breaks free from her prison into the Oouman world."
Wait for me, Beautiful.
Wait for me to return, my little Makayla.
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