Page 2 of Rescued By the Alien Acolyte

A grim coldness takes the place of panic flooding my body. The Nexus’ crazies aren’t the only thing haunting this desert hell anymore. Now it’s bounty hunters and paid pirate vulturescombing the droughtland for any easy prey dumb enough to wander their stalking grounds.

One raider peels off in pursuit, its trails burning hotter against my runner’s radio with every passing second. Normally I’d try salvaging things and making a break for Terrax, but with this level of firepower thrown into the mix, heading into civilization is just begging for mass casualties.

Ignoring all safety overrides, I divert every ounce of power to my thrusters and veer sharply toward the distant, jagged silhouette of the Crimson Ridge’s peaks through the howling storm. With my dunerunner pushed to its limits, those hunters will outrun me if I don’t find shelter quickly. But at least the winding canyons and caves of those foreboding rocks might give me a fighting chance to hunker down or stage an ambush.

The vulture raiders are relentless behind me; volleys of disruptor blasts fizzle past me from multiple angles. Just when I think they’ve corralled me, a sharp oncoming rockface rears up out of the swirl—twin stone monoliths jutting like primordial fangs.

With my dunerunner messed up by electrical interference, my control panel goes haywire as I aim for the gap between the towering pillars. A searing plasma beam sizzles across my runner, overloading my visors as the ground rushes up fast—

I slam the brakes hard, emergency thrusters punching me forward against my safety harness. Grinding screeches of shredded hull fill the cockpit as my dunerunner plows into the rock face and punches straight through some kind of hidden entrance.

Then everything goes black.

Coming around takes longer than usual. My head is swimming, and I can smell ozone and burnt metal. As my vision clears, I recognize the cramped confines of my dunerunner’s cockpit… well, what’s left of it.

The roof is completely blown off, with shards littering the debris field surrounding me in whatever rock chamber I’ve crashed into. I can already feel fresh wind blowing in from outside, turning the wrecked cockpit into a mess.

With a grunt, I trigger the harness and roll out of the crumpled wreck. Stumbling to my feet, I spot my blaster and survival pack amid the scattered wreckage through the choking haze. I need to get my bearings and hide in this cave’s system. Then plot some escape route before those raiders—

“Move no further, heretic!” A deep rumble reverberates all around me.

My blood freezes as two towering figures emerge out of the darkness at the cavern’s entrance, backlit by garish red light from the storm outside. Their forms become clear, revealing humanoid shapes covered in black steel bristling with blastguns and electrified pikes.

“Stay down before the Nexus’ Acolytes,” another inhuman baritone drones as more robed figures step out from the shadows, their glowing red eyes fixed on me. “Surrender your meager life to the Solar Nexus… or burn eternally.”

I should have listened to Drix’s warnings about the dangers lurking in Crimson Ridge. These zealots sound worse than any stories I brushed off about deranged sun cultists ruling the desert. Now I’m cornered in their sanctum without backup or means of escape.

The light from my wreck catches on something deeper within the cave’s depths, revealing a horrific vision. Cramped cylindrical cells line the rock shaft at various levels, the closest few grated pens holding wretches, human and alien, obviously deemed to be heretics, left to rot and starve in squalor.

No… this isn’t just some crazed desert cult of madmen squatting on sacred ground. It looks like a full-blown temple and internment camp straight out of the conquests. I thoughtAridium’s punishing climate and smugglers and bounty hunters were the worst threats on this rock.

My fingers tighten around the butt of my blaster, the only defense left between me and these evil zealots. It’s worse than any tales Drix rambled on about. And I’ll be burning in their sacred fire soon enough if I don’t find a way to—

“Master Finzar,” a sinister new voice cuts through the echoing chamber. “I have grand hopes you’ll make short work of interrogating this defiled intruder who so rudely trespasses our halls.”

I tense as an imposing, muscular figure glides out of the shadows wearing ornate ceremonial garb—a sweeping purple robe with intricate violet embroidery. As he prowls closer, I get my first unobscured look at the alien called Master Finzar.

Despite the dire situation and everything I know about the brutal practices of this… cult, I can’t tear my eyes away.

Finzar is… striking. It’s not just his scarred blue skin. He is powerfully built, with broad shoulders and a chiseled physique that moves with an unsettling, predatory grace. His features are undeniably attractive in a severe, angular way—high cheekbones, a sharp jawline, full lips. But it’s his eyes that enthrall me most.

They are a pale, piercing blue that should look cold and alien. Instead, they seem to blaze with an intensity that has nothing to do with the flickering torchlight. As if he’s trying to peel back my layers and expose every secret, every hidden desire.

I meet his searing stare with narrowed eyes, refusing to be cowed. For a beat, everything else in this rock prison fades away—the guards, the prisoners withering in cells, the wreckage of my runner. It’s only Finzar and I locked in this smoldering moment. But I squash the unsettling thrill it stirs inside me. I’m no weak-willed female to be easily enthralled, no matter how distractingly handsome this zealot appears.

His full lips curve into a smile that is as beautiful as it is terrible, revealing wicked fangs. I involuntarily shiver, although it is purely from revulsion at his menacing aura. At least, that’s what I tell myself.

“Such obstinate arrogance for one so freshly fallen, wretched apostate,” Finzar rumbles, low and resonant. “You have trespassed on sacred ground. Yet…your silence reveals a defiance that I must crush before purifying your unworthy soul.”

He prowls around me in a slow circle as the other zealots draw their electrified pikes closer. Every sinuous movement somehow conveys simmering power and violence barely restrained. Like a leonus circling its prey, savoring the thrill of an impending kill.

As Finzar stalks me in a tight circle, I swivel to keep him in my sights. My gaze tracks every predatory shift, lingering on the powerful physique coiled beneath his robes. If he thinks crude intimidation will make me start babbling profane confessions in desperate hopes of avoiding whatever depravities he has planned, Finzar’s in for a rude awakening.

“You’ll have to try harder to intimidate me than playing alpha predator,” I spit out.

Rather than striking me for my insolence, Finzar seems to swell with greater intensity instead. A cruel smirk curves those lush lips, revealing his wicked fangs that really shouldn’t make my breath catch like they do.

“Such ignorant bravado shields you not from the Nexus’ purifying truth, you reckless apostate,” he rumbles, voice like gravel over smoldering coals. “Every heretic is just a fading spark, until the Solar Gods’ truth ignites their essence into a sanctified state, befitting our Eternal unity, so they rise again.”

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