Page 26 of Rescued By the Alien Acolyte

We sprint the final distance, debris raining down around us. I feel a sharp pain as a rock strikes my shoulder, but I ignore it. There’s only one thing that matters now: getting out alive.

With a final burst of speed, we escape the tunnel into the blinding sunlight of Aridium. But we don’t stop there. We keep running until we reach a collection of sand skimmers parked a safe distance from the mountain’s base.

“Everyone, get on!” I shout, helping Loelle onto one of the skimmers before climbing on in front of her. The others quickly follow suit, piling onto the remaining vehicles.

As the last of the escapees clambers onto a skimmer, I see Kuran pull out one of his strange devices. The one he was using to place crystals around the ritual chamber.

“Kuran!” I call out. “What are you doing?”

He grins, a manic glint in his eye. “Finishing the job,” he replies. With a few quick movements, he activates the device and hurls it back toward the temple entrance. “Now, we ride!”

I don’t need to be told twice. I start the skimmer’s engine, and we take off across the sand, the other vehicles close behind. We’ve barely made it a few hundred meters when a massive explosion rocks the air behind us.

I risk a glance back and my jaw drops. The entire mountain seems to be collapsing in on itself, great plumes of dust and debris billowing into the sky. The landscape of Aridium has been forever changed.

We don’t stop riding until the mountain is nothing more than a smudge on the horizon. Finally, we slow to a stop, the skimmers forming a loose circle.

As we slow to a stop, I notice Kuran is hunched over his skimmer, his cybernetic eye flickering erratically. Leera sits behind him, her antennae drooping with exhaustion. Zax’r, despite his earlier bravado, is cradling his injured arm, his face twisted in a grimace of pain.

“Everyone okay?” Loelle calls out, her voice hoarse from the dust and shouting.

Kuran gives a weak thumbs up. “Nothing a few replacement parts won’t fix,” he quips, though his posture is strained.

Leera nods slowly, her large eyes blinking in the harsh sunlight. “I… I can still feel the echoes of their minds,” she murmurs, shuddering. “So much fear… so much pain…”

Zax’r grunts, flexing his injured arm. “I’ve had worse bar fights,” he growls, but I can see the relief in his eyes. “Though I wouldn’t say no to a stiff drink right about now.”

For a long moment, we all just sit there, gasping for breath, our bodies aching from the ordeal we’ve just endured. Then, slowly, we begin to stir.

I dismount from the skimmer, wincing at the pain in my ribs. My gaze immediately seeks out Loelle. She’s standing too, her face streaked with dirt and blood, but very much alive. Our eyes meet, and for a moment, everything else fades away.

Then reality comes crashing back as Zax’r lets out a low whistle. “Would you look at that,” he says, his voice filled with awe.

We all turn to look at what was once Crimson Ridge. The mountain that housed the Nexus temple is… gone. In its place is a massive crater, smoke and dust still rising from its depths.

“We… we did it,” Kuran says, his voice barely above a whisper. “We actually did it.”

Leera nods, her antennae twitching weakly. “The Nexus… it’s finished.”

As if in response to Leera’s words, a shadow suddenly falls over us. We all look up, shielding our eyes against the glare of the twin suns.

“Is that…?” Kuran’s voice trails off in disbelief.

Dark, heavy clouds are gathering overhead, a sight no one on Aridium has seen in years. The air feels different, charged with an unfamiliar energy.

“Storm clouds,” I breathe, scarcely able to believe my eyes. “But how? Aridium hasn’t seen rain in…”

“Generations,” Loelle finishes, her voice filled with awe. “Not since before the Nexus took control.”

A cool breeze sweeps across the desert, carrying with it the scent of moisture; a smell so foreign it takes me a moment to recognize it.

Zax’r rumbles thoughtfully, all four arms crossed over his chest. “The old stories speak of the sun gods’ wrath leaving Aridium a wasteland. Could it be…?”

“That they’re pleased with the sacrifice?” Leera suggests, her antennae twitching excitedly.

As if to confirm her words, a single drop of water falls from the sky, landing on Loelle’s outstretched hand. She looks at me, her eyes wide with shock and hope.

“We didn’t just end the Nexus,” she says softly. “We might have just saved Aridium itself.”

---