Raex

Vae peeked out the window, watching the battle. The Humans were getting closer and closer to the Raex’s hidden base with every battle – eventually, the Raex would have to evacuate.  

The Humans scared her. They were always fighting, and the Raex warriors fought back. They had to, to protect their race. If they let the Humans through, the Humans would slaughter the Raex, leaving no one behind. The Raex would go extinct. Vae turned away from the battle, biting back the tears that threatened to emerge. Children cried for no reason, not Vae. Vae was ten! Her skin had already faded from baby blue to a fierce dark purple. 

Vae turned back to the battle, watching the Humans. They fought hard, their strange weapons glinting in the red sunlight. They fought with metal things that Vae had heard were called swords – she still struggled to pronounce the foreign word – and other weapons that Vae didn’t recognise from her father’s stories.  

The Raex, however, fought with their excrae’shdki - so much easier to pronounce than sword – which were long, straight cylinders molded out of the ground by Stonesingers. The beige ground was the only resource readily available on their barren wasteland since the Humans had taken over the only habitable place on their dying planet, Azza, killing millions of the Raex in the battle. The war had been constant ever since that tragic day.  

Vae had been five when the entire Raex population was forced to pack and run, abandoning everything that they couldn’t hold.  

Vae remembered vividly the Humans that chased them away, yearning to spill Raex blood. Ever since then, Vae had known that she would be a warrior. She would help free the Raex from the fear lurking in the back of everyone’s minds that maybe this time the Humans would finally beat the Raex warriors.  

Maybe this time was when they would all die.  

Running was pointless. If the Humans got through, then the warriors were all dead. If the warriors were all dead, the Raex had no one to protect them. Every Raex of age willing to fight was thrown into battle.  

Vae was going to join them.  

She scanned the Raex army, and eventually spotted her father, fighting hard. Vae smiled as she watched him – eventually, she would fight by his side. Vae imagined herself standing beside him, and her vision played out in front of her, her wild imagination placing her beside her father, deep purple layered carapace sprouting from her shoulders, then cascading down her chest and back, giving her built-in armor underneath her skin.  

Then her father died, his body collapsing onto the dusty ground.  

“NO!!” Vae screamed, pounding the window with her fists, wishing she could run out to her father. Rebellious tears streamed down her cheeks, and for once she didn’t care that warriors didn’t cry.  

He was dead. 

She slumped to the ground as the world started to spin, her eyes focusing on nothing. He can’t be dead... he can’t be... She thought, the words forming as if from far away. Her mind spun through millions of scenes in seconds, picturing his caring smile, his powerful laugh, his commanding voice. It had always been just them – her mother had died in the battle for Azza, and Vae had no siblings. Her body tingled as her mind flashed through the hundreds of times that he had come back from a battle and immediately engulfed Vae in a suffocating hug. He did that every time.  

Well.  

Not this time. 

She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, the terrible moment when he died replaying over and over in her mind. A gaping hole opened in her chest, an endless void that sucked in all the remains of her former happiness. Her chest became incredibly tight, and the sudden longing for her father’s embrace was so intense that it hurt.  

*** 

“It’s just a child...” 

“What do you want us to do? Help a Raex? You've gone mad...” 

“Please! don’t hurt it...” 

Vae lifted her head, lonely thoughts receding to the darkest corner of her mind. Humans! She thought, a small squeak escaping, as she spotted the strange, dull-coloured figures. “It’s okay, we don’t want to hurt you.” one of the Humans said, sitting on the ground so it was level with Vae. The other Human stood by the door, scowling. They were smaller than Vae had pictured.  

“What’s your name?” the close Human asked in its strange accent.  

“Vae.” she whispered, her voice barely audible. The Human reached forward, almost touching her, but Vae scrambled away, whimpering. “She’s terrified of us.” the Human breathed. “I’m sorry if I scared you.” it said, louder this time. “I won’t touch you if you don’t want me to.” it smiled, briefly reminding Vae of her father.  

Her father. 

Vae whimpered louder, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks. “Oh no, you’ve made her cry. Come on, let’s go already!” the door Human said. “Why do you care so much about this one?” 

The other Human ignored door Human, instead turning to Vae. “What’s wrong?” it asked, its soft voice filled with concern.  

“You killed my father.” Vae mumbled.  

“...What did she say?” door Human asked, clearly bored. 

“You killed my father!” Vae yelled.  

“Oh. He was one of the Warriors, right?” door human asked, only half interested. Vae snarled, hate a raging fire inside her.  

Her father was amazing.  

He didn’t deserve to die.  

The Humans did. 

Instinct took over. Vae crawled closer to the nice Human, then brushed her hand against its soft hand. She closed her eyes and sent something down her arm, pushing it into nice Human’s hand. Nice Human was opening its mouth to scream when her strange thing was finished.

Thoughts ran down her arm into nice Human's hand.

Hate for the Humans that forced the Raex out of their homes in Azza.

A wish for revenge on the Humans that had left her alone.

Hate.

Revenge.

Then, a third thought, unbidden.

No survivors.

Nice Human stood up on shaky legs, then turned to door Human, growled, and attacked.  

*** 

Nice Human sauntered outside, walking over to a group of Humans. A group of Human warriors, with swords strapped to their belt. Nice Human walked over to them, smiling, then unsheathed its sword blindingly fast and killed three of the five before they noticed what was happening.  

Vae watched through her window as the remaining two ran, yelling at the top of their lungs. Nice Human ran faster, killing one of them, then turning to the other and approached it, walking with a deadly grace.  

“What are you doing?” the warrior Human asked, fighting nice Human desperately. The clang of metal striking metal rang out time and time again as warrior Human blocked nice Human’s attacks. “We’ve been friends for years! Why? What has gotten into you?”  

Why? 

Vae watched the battle, finally shoving the anger that had suffocated her away. Why? Why am I doing this?  

What if nice Human had a family? What would the Human’s children think when they found out that nice Human had gone crazy? It had never been mean to Vae – it had been patient, caring and understanding.  

Then why? 

Vae turned from the fight and left her small house, then walked over to where nice Human was fighting warrior Human. She watched as nice Human won with a sword through his heart.  

Why? 

Why do they all need to die? 

Nice Human dashed into the Human’s camp, its sword dripping with scarlet blood.  

I am a warrior. 

They killed my father. 

They will pay.

Vae left, screams of betrayed comrades fading away behind her. 

No Survivors.