“You did what?!” Sahel yelled at his son, “Our only goal was to get their blood, not kill them!”
“These beasts you want to call friends have an insurmountable power,” Sahel’s son, Neema, stated, “The fewer of them on this planet, the faster we can reach peace.”269Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5OnV1Ni08I
“I can’t believe that I actually thought you got the blood without violence,” Sahel responded with disgust.269Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ip2O37wUZ
“C’mon old man, it was you who asked for the blood in the first place,” Neema stated, “If you wanted the blood without violence, you should’ve gotten it yourself. Or were you too scared of your new friends?” Sahel and his son were just outside of Enzo’s operation room so Sahel had to calm himself to not cause a distraction for the surgeons.
Neema never took a liking to Midarans as much as his father so when he heard that Sahel wanted to befriend the Midarans, he took it upon himself to create tension. In order to create a relationship with the Midarans, Sahel made a blood offering where he would donate his blood for the Midarans to examine and vice versa. Neema volunteered to deliver Sahel’s blood and retrieve Midaran blood. The meetup point was located at the central checkpoint to enter the Human City; Neema planned to make sure that he would not step into Midaran territory, and he would keep the Midarans off Human City grounds.
The plan was for it to a one-on-one transaction, however, when Neema arrived there were two Midarans whereas he was the only human. He felt like they were going to attack him, and he was already looking for an excuse to get violent. He had come equipped with water, a box of matches and hairspray, some dirt, and a handgun to try to counter their elements. He was beyond unprepared for Midaran power. He caught them off guard and got lucky that the water countered the fire and he promptly shot him in the head and then the lightning specialist underestimated the speed of a bullet and was unable to avoid being hit in the chest. Once the last Midaran was wounded, Neema shot again to put him down for good. After he killed them both, he took them behind the building on the Human side and took their blood along with the vials of blood that were the original purpose of the meeting.
“Regardless, Neema,” Sahel finally spoke, “You have created a troublesome situation. The Midarans have overwhelming power and this boy is our only chance to quell the potential war.”
Neema responded immediately, “Speaking of that boy, why did you choose to infuse the Midaran DNA in him? The Midarans would’ve found out about the dead soldiers eventually. Or did you want to start the war first?”
“I chose to inject because I wanted to show that not much separates us,” Sahel refuted, he was getting more frustrated by the second, “I wanted them to see that we are not inferior, and we should live as equals. Besides, I notified their king already he should be receiving my message any minute now.”
Sahel sent his message through a hologram system that had been installed when humans first landed on Midara. The father and son duo went back to Sahel’s office to wait for a message back.
This was the message that Sahel sent:
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Hear me, King Silas, I did not mean for violence to take place on Midaran soil. The suspect will be persecuted as soon as possible. I asked for Midaran blood both as a peace offering and as our last hope to heal the boy that was injured at “Midway”. I never meant for the two Midarans to be murdered and as I said previously, we will punish the murderer. Let’s not resort to violence and use diplomacy to cure this discord.
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Sahel had never been this naïve in his entire life; he knew there would be violence and possibly a war. He was also torn between assembling his army or trying to use diplomacy like he had said in the message. Slowly, his righteous reputation he had built back on Earth was being covered with dirt. King Silas listened intently on every word Sahel and grew more frustrated at the end the message and responded promptly.
“Dad”, Neema said, “Silas sent a message back.” Sahel immediately opened the message to hear what King Silas had to say.
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Hear me, Sahel, and hear me well. I do not believe a single word you uttered in your message. This is why I suggested we stop the integrated school system and outlaw each other from our respective cities. It is a shame we could not get along. I will end my message with a warning: if a human enters into Midaran territory, that human may never be seen again. Good day.
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“That bastard!” Sahel shouted as he paced anxiously around his room, “We’re all fucked because you killed those Midarans you dumbass!” He berated Neema and eventually resorted to violence. He swung his fist at Neema and got a few good punches in to draw blood. The whole time Neema didn’t try to escape or fight back; he took his punishment. While Sahel swung his fist, he realized how much Neema looked like him. Sahel finally stopped and remembered everything he had been through back on Earth. Both of them took time to catch their breaths.
“We will have to fight then. Enzo will be our super soldier and our army will back him up,” Sahel declared, “I hope your happy Neema, we will be going to war soon.”
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Meanwhile King Silas was already preparing his own army, even though he didn’t take the threat of humans that serious. The Midaran army was 2,000 strong compared to the humans, who had only about 500 troops. He told his army to set up defense around the perimeter of their city to make sure no humans entered. King Silas built walls around the city using his nature powers and the army set up scouts on top to provide defense.
Both parties were at a stalemate. King Silas knew he could swoop in with his army and eradicate the humans, but he was not the kind of ruler to strike first. During this time, Sahel had lost track of Neema and was worried that he might reappear as a lifeless corpse if no one found him soon. There wasn’t enough time to think about Neema, so Sahel assembled his troops but without urgency; he did not want a war either. Difficult circumstances had brought these two races to the brink of chaos and mountains of bodies, however, for two children this meant nothing to them.
After a week both Dante and Enzo had more or less recovered. Both of them had heard the adults speaking about war yet all they thought about was each other. Like father like son, Dante was able to disguise himself and easily sneak out of the Midaran City to apologize to Enzo. Soon after, King Silas wanted to take Dante outside to help him train.
“Hey, Dante,” King Silas knocked on the door to his room, “Dante, I’m coming in.”
Once King Silas entered the room, he saw that Dante was nowhere to be seen. He called Frida and Duval to notify all soldiers to keep a look out for Dante and when once he is found bring him back to the tower at once.
After an hour of sneaking, Dante had found Enzo. Enzo was relearning how to walk just outside of the hospital which was the same building that his DNA operation took place. Without thinking, Dante revealed his real body and ran out into the open and yelled at Enzo.
“Hey, can you hear me!” he shouted with excitement, “I wanted to say—” He was cut off by a mysterious person who covered his mouth and dragged him back into cover.
“You idiot,” the mysterious person turned out to be Neema and he said, “I see that we were both sneaking around, but being stealthy isn’t for little kids. Once I kill you, your king might finally grow a pair and send his troops. Then our foolish leader will show what we have been hiding.”
Neema grabbed a knife from his pocket and aimed for Dante’s neck however, once he attacked, he felt a cool chill on his hands. The chill turned into a sharp arctic freeze, and he could no longer move his hand. This caused him to drop the knife, but Neema did not surrender. He started kicking but the same ice fury conquered his legs until he was immobile. Dante was now standing over him with violence in his eyes and begin to freeze the rest of his body. Not even a second of cold air spawned when a flame came rushing through the terrain to find Neema and Dante. The fire was not as blistering hot as it looked, it felt warm and melted the ice on Neema. Dante paused for a second and looked back at Neema with fear. Neema was worn out and went unconscious. Dante panicked and cried out for help. Enzo arrived immediately after and asked Dante what he was doing here.
Dante being pleasantly surprised answered with, “I wanted to apologize for what I did to you but then he grabbed me, and I don’t remember much after that. I think there was a fire, but nothing is burned.”
“Sorry, that was me,” Enzo said sheepishly, “They did something to me and now I have these powers. I can’t control them at all.”
“No, you’re wrong,” Dante responded, “You control them better than me. You used the fire to treat his wounds before they got serious. You didn’t even burn anything or me.”
“Heh,” Enzo was flattered and simply said, “well I guess I did do that.”
The next moment an old man appeared and asked the boys if they were lost.
"Not me sir,” Enzo answered, “I’m staying her while I recover.”
“How about you little boy,” the old man pointed at Dante and asked, “Shouldn’t you go home. I’m sure your parents are worried sick.”
Dante started to get nervous and ran back the way he came to return the Midaran city. At the same time the old man disappeared into the ground which scared Enzo enough to run back to the hospital.
“Where have you been Enzo,” Sahel yelled at him, “Why were you back there?”
“Neema is hurt over there,” Enzo said, and Sahel put aside his relief that his son was still alive and called some medics that went to retrieve Neema. He was promptly put into a hospital room and treated for his minor burns and frostbite. Sahel recognized the frostbite immediately and questioned Enzo.
“Was that boy here?” Sahel asked in a serious tone.
“Who are you talking about?” Enzo tried to dodge the question.
"Dante,” Sahel had no time for games and asked his questions directly, “Was Dante here? Did you meet up with him?”
Enzo gave up his charade easily and responded, “Yes, he was here. Yes, I met him.”
“Don’t talk to him,” Sahel got down to Enzo’s eye level and told him, “His father is the King. If there are any misunderstandings between you and him, you will be killed almost immediately.” Enzo was sad and walked back to his hospital room where he stayed for the rest of the day.
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Finally, Dante reached the Midaran city and there he saw the old man again which made stop in his tracks. He couldn’t tell what made him so nervous around the old man until the old man began to move strangely. Bit by bit the hunchback old man turned into a broad shouldered tall middle-aged man. That’s when Dante realized that it was his own father that disguised himself as the old man. Without saying a word, King Silas dragged Dante back to the tower to reprimand him.
“This is not the time to go off into human territory!” King Silas shouted, “You could’ve been killed. Do you understand that?”
“Yes, Dad,” Dante could barely look his father in the eyes, but he still had the courage to ask, “When we fight the humans, does that we will also kill Enzo?”King Silas took a while to gather his words before he finally found answered, “Yes."
