Chapter Text
Aylin woke up shaking. Sweat covered his entire body. His parents, again. The temples of his head twitched in pain as the memories surged inside his brain, like they always do.
After what felt like an eternity, he got out of the bed. His eyes struggled to pierce the darkness of his room. Seeing a futile effort, he arose and clumsily walked towards where he knew the light switch was. In a mere moment, the lights turned on and the room was now visible in all its glory.
The room was a mess of trash upon clothes and unwashed baking tools. Just as it was supposed to be. Aylin couldn’t help but feel his eyes twitch when he saw it. How did things go so wrong?
After so many years of trying, he escaped, became independent at long last, opened a bakery, just for it to fail so miserably. Maybe his suffering was destined, or life’s just a tragic performance.
His hands brushed against his nape. He couldn’t feel anything except for his hair. Good. That meant that the Affini who came a few days ago didn’t come for him just yet. Hope of them never coming filled his core. Aylin did not escape just to be turned into a slave. Once was enough.
Once he finished pondering, he stared at the clock. It was already night. He ought to lie back down. There was nothing else to do, after all. Everything he touched failed.
Monetary, emotionally, societally, in all shapes and forms.
Aylin laid back down on the mattress, stretched over his dirty floor. As sleep slowly took his being, he wondered whenever what he heard about the aliens was real. Were they really eating people and enslaving them? Such an idea was senseless to him.
The Accord in one sentence spoke of these crimes and in the other about how the odd plant beings are socialist scum.
These two truths made no sense to Aylin’s brain. If they were eating people, why at the same time provide for all? And if you are providing for all, why keep other beings enslaved? If slavery gives no value of the monetary kind, why keep it other than cruelty? And if cruelty is the driving factor, why provide care for all?
The Accord never had an exemplary track record with truths, a fact known to all who read the classical literature that got banned decades ago for promoting ideas of rebellion, yet had been about nothing but corruption that power creates.
‘‘Ultimate power corrupts ultimately’’ sentence which Aylin couldn’t help but remember each time he thought of this before sleep.
The Accord had nothing to lose by lying about the aliens who they had been in war with for several years now, losing more territory with each day.
Once his thoughts calmed at last, sleep took over his being. Hours passed by as time became irrelevant to him. Then came a gentle knocking upon his door. An oddity considering him living above his former, now abandoned bakery.
Half asleep, he stood up and clumsily made his way towards his door. The door creaked open, light from the hallway danced on his skin. In front of him was the thing he feared.
Flowers upon leaves, bark and vines all compacted into a shell of humanoid. The creature moved in a manner resembling that of a squid as it raised its vine like appendages and waved. Clearly a gesture of war, or some type of threat. The creature then spoke in a melody reminiscent of a lullaby.
“Hello petal, my name is Xenilium Candidum, 9th bloom. Please refer to me as she/her. It came to the Compacts’ attention that you are still upon this planet, unlike other Terrans. Therefore, I am here in order to evacuate you, as this planet is unfortunately highly polluted and toxic to your being. It would be terrible if harm came to a petal like you. May I please come in?”
Aylin’s body twisted as an anxious wave hit it all at once. An Affini in front of him? This could not be the reality! This must be a dream.
His brain exploded with thoughts as they subdued it and made it release all emotions at once.
Aylin crumbled to the ground. Darkness greeted him like a dear friend.