Page 131 of Pets in Space 10

Tyvaron

Before

Iwoke in pieces.

The world was wrong. Too large. Too loud. Too sharp.

My body was heavy. Alien. My limbs did not respond as they once had. My hands – no, not hands. Claws. Long. Curved. My tail dragged behind me, unsteady, much bigger and heavier than it should have been.

I tried to sit up. My wings twitched, folding awkwardly against my sides, as if they had suddenly grown and changed. Bone and metal grinding together.

Panic clawed at my mind.

Where was I?

The chamber around me pulsed with faint light. Machinery hummed beneath the metal floor. Cables slithered like veins across the walls. I recognized none of it.

But I remembered myself.

My name. My people. My form.

Draquari.

I was-

The memory slipped through my fingers like water. Blurry shapes. Faces. Voices calling my name. My kin, my family. Fading.

A sharp, searing pain exploded at my throat. I roared, the sound foreign and terrible, filling the chamber with heat and smoke.

Something tightened around my scales. Cold metal. A collar.

It bit into my flesh, burning as energy pulsed through it, silencing my thoughts. My head snapped downward, chest heaving.

Comply.

The voice echoed inside my skull. Mechanical. Cold. Other.

Comply. Obey.

I writhed, trying to resist. My mind screamed.

I am not this.

I am free.

I am not –

Pain again. Blinding. Shattering.

The memories slipped further. Faces faded. Names blurred.

Another voice entered my mind. Softer. Familiar. My own voice, or something like it.

Survive.

I breathed. Forced myself still. The pain lessened. I could think again.

They left me alone for a while. The collar loosened. But it remained around my neck, a reminder that everything had changed. I was no longer myself. No longer free.

The next cycle, I saw them. The small ones. The masters.

So much smaller than me, especially now that they had transformed me into something monstrous, but so much more powerful. They could tighten the collar, make it burn with fierce pain, make me scream until blackness took me.

And they were always watching.

Judging.

Testing.

I would resist at first. Then I learned not to.

So much pain. Wounds. Scars.

Time passed. My old life faded. I could barely remember anything of what I used to be.

I was so different now. Huge wings, supported by metal. Claws so sharp they could tear through diamond. Horns on my head, curled and ugly. A face I did not want to look at. And inside me, fire, burning, smoking, waiting to pour out of me.

One cycle, the masters let me outside. I blinked at the sunshine. The air was full of scents. They didn’t let me enjoy the moment. There was a perch filled with smaller beings. Afraid. Huddled. Screaming in fear at the sight of me.

Eliminate.

The command vibrated through my skull like a hammer blow.

I staggered forward. My claws scraped the ground. My wings twitched. I tried to stop. To scream. To beg.

The collar burned again.

Obey.

I lunged. The first was small. Fragile. I tore through them with ease.

Their screams rang in my ears.

My mind recoiled. Revulsion surged through me. This is wrong. This is wrong.

But the pain eased.

The collar approved.

Good boy.

Another kill. And another. Each death pulled something out of me. Not just guilt. Not just horror. Something deeper. Pieces of who I was.

The words I once knew faded further. My name grew distant. My past dulled.

Comply. Obey. Destroy.

Time dissolved.

More kills. More missions. More pain when I resisted. Less pain when I obeyed.

The memories slipped like fog in the sun, leaving behind only the fire in my chest, the hunger in my belly, and the voices in my mind.

Until nothing remained but the chains.

***

Present

I breathed.

Fully. Deeply.

For the first time in what felt like forever, the air filled my chest without chains tightening around my mind.

The memories burned inside me. They had returned all at once, like a dam breaking. Crushing. Overwhelming.

My past. Before I became an abomination. And the rotations since everything changed. The senseless violence. The killings. The pain of who I was. The horror of what they made me.

And yet… I was awake.

Hazel sat beside me, watching carefully, her scent wrapping around my thoughts like a warm current. The little one rested against her leg, chirping softly, trusting completely. The chii stood nearby, their task complete, their wide eyes calm but wary.

I lowered my head towards Hazel, speaking slowly. Clearly.

"They made me."

Her breath caught. "Who did?"

"The same people who put you on this planet. The game makers." My voice rasped, unfamiliar with full words, but stronger now. "I was not born like this. I was… created. Built. Changed."

Her brows knit together. "But you were… someone before."

I nodded slowly. "Yes. Before. I had a name. A face. A body not unlike yours. I had wings then, but they were much smaller." My chest tightened. "I do not remember my name. Not yet. They took it."

Hazel’s voice softened. "How?"

"Each time I killed, they took more." My claws flexed against the stone. "Every mission. Every target. Every order I obeyed pulled more of me away." My wings twitched, causing sharp pain to spread through them. I had to take care of these injuries soon. "Until only the weapon remained."

Her eyes glistened, but she didn’t look away. She was not afraid of me. Not anymore. That, more than anything, gave me strength.

"The collar controlled me," I continued. "Pain when I resisted. Silence when I obeyed. The others… the other tyvarin, they still wear their chains. Still serve."

Hazel’s breath hitched. "Others like you?"

"Many. Some are still here on Kalumbu, but most were taken elsewhere.

Sent to wage war against others." My voice darkened.

"We were their greatest creation. Their army.

Built from warriors taken across worlds.

Altered. Rewritten. Some surrendered. Some fought.

I rebelled at first." My throat tightened. "But the pain… the pain always won."

Hazel whispered, almost to herself. "But not anymore."

"No." I exhaled. "Not anymore."

She looked at the chii, then back at me. "They helped you."

"Yes. I knew about the chii from the little one. She gets into places I don’t. While I was trapped in this cave, waiting for the next command from my masters, she explored the world, met the chii, told me everything she witnessed. I think she was the first step to finding myself again.”

Hazel scratched the little one’s head, who leaned into her touch. “Does she have a name?”

“Yes, but it is not in a language like the ones we speak. If I had to translate it, it would be something like shiny-ruby-in-a-glittering-cave-beneath-deep-mountains. But no, that barely touches the true meaning of her name.”

“Ruby.” She looked down at the little one. “Is it alright if I call you Ruby?”

I translated the question into dragon-speak. The little one chirped happily.

“Yes,” I said with a smile.

When had I last smiled? Or even attempted to do so?

It felt strange. Like my jaw was making movements it wasn’t supposed to.

Hazel focused back on me. “I’ve been meaning to ask, how is it you understand me? How can we talk to each other?”

“They must have given you a translator implant. I also have one, part of the many things they implanted into my body.” I shuddered in disgust. It was a miracle she didn’t despise me for what I was. An abomination created to kill. That’s all I was.

“An implant?” She grasped her head as if searching for the blasted thing. “Where?”

“I am not sure. It depends on the species. But do not worry. They are harmless.”

“Harmless,” she scoffed. “They implanted something into me without my permission. That’s not harmless.”

Her eyes widened. “I am so sorry. You must think I’m so insensitive after you’ve just told me that they did all sorts of unspeakable things to you. I shouldn’t complain about it.”

“No. You should. Any invasion of our bodies is equally wrong. Whether it’s a translator implant or artificial fire.”

Her eyes got even wider. “You were not born that way?”

I sighed. “It is my most terrible weapon. The masters delight in forcing me to burn others until there is nothing left but ash in the wind. Earlier, they gave me that same command. But I refused.”

“Who did they want you to burn?”

"There was a group. A shuttle crew. And a male serpent, with a female by his side. They were enemies of the game makers. I was ordered to destroy them." My voice darkened. "I nearly did."

Hazel blinked, frowning. "A serpent?"

My claws flexed against the stone. "I saw something familiar in him. In all of them. They were not the usual contestants in the masters’ foul games, unaware, running from monsters, dying alone. The game makers were desperate for them to die. These ones fought back. And I… stopped."

Hazel swallowed. "You let them live."

"I disobeyed." My voice softened. "For the first time. And that was when the chii saw there was still something left of me worth saving."

Something about the memory nagged at the back of my mind. Wait…

“The female who was with the serpent. She was like you. That is why I did not burn them all. I remember now. She reminded me of you. I think she may have been from your world.”