Page 18 of The Alien in the Archive

“The Skoll called them witches, though I believe the term was later applied to the humans who served them,” I tell her. “Many-armed and many-eyed beings who once dwelledwherever Elixir flowed. They were one of the first species my people eradicated.”

Her pen freezes mid-word.

Page stares at me, her eyes wide and glimmering at the impact of those words. She’s silent for a moment, her fidgeting grinding to a halt.

“You…eradicated them?”

“Yes,” I reply. “The witches were powerful, connected to Elixir in ways even my people couldn’t fully comprehend. They stood between the Borean Empire and control of the wellsprings. To us, their existence was inconvenient.”

“So you wiped them out,” she says flatly, fingers tightening around her pen.

I nod. “We used the Skoll. They were our instruments of war. That was always their purpose to us, and they were more than happy to do it once we’d made them believe the witches were abominations. We gave them a target, then fired.”

Her frown deepens, mind racing. I can feel her thoughts brushing faintly against mine, unintentional but undeniable, searching for a sign of regret. She doesn’t yet realize the strength of her abilities, how much she’s broadcasting to someone like me. Anger, disgust, an almost overwhelming sense of loss ripple through her…

…and there’s that curiosity. Deep, gnawing, unshakeable.

“Did you participate?” she asks.

“Hm.” I let a fang glide over my lower lip, thinking. “Not directly. I ignored it, for the most part, kept teaching and learning. But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t complicit.”

“Why didn’t you say something?”

My lips twist in a bitter smile. “For the same reason anyone doesn’t speak out when they see atrocities carried out in their name. Because I was comfortable and didn’t want to disrupt my work.”

“But you said you later became a dissident.”

“I thought you wanted to know about the Lost Expeditions.”

I can see the push and pull play out on her face, academic curiosity colliding with personal interest. Her fascination with me is disturbingly appealing, and I resist the urge to indulge it.

“Sorry,” she says. “This is all just…it’s incredible. You know so much.”

“The one and only perk of being an ancient fugitive who lives in a dusty old library.”

She lets out a soft laugh, shaking her head. “You’re funny.”

I’m caught off guard by her words, how easy it is to get comfortable with her. “Thank you,” I say.

“So…the expeditions?”

“Right…” I settle back into my chair. “Anyway…the first Skoll explorers arrived as a warrior expedition to Kshira Sagara, intent on slaying the Witch who guarded it. What they found was an entire settlement of humans—all who had ingested Elixir and become acolytes of the Witch.”

“And they had powers?” Page says. “Powers like mine.”

“Yes. The humans were clever, adaptive, dangerous. Their societies were far more advanced than any of us had imagined. We were unable to destroy the settlement around the wellspring, but they—and we—learned.”

“What were the Boreans doing this whole time?” she asks. “Like…you knew, right?”

I sigh. “We were watching. Waiting. The Skoll were useful tools, but we knew their independence would one day become a threat. The expeditions to Earth were a test, both for them and for your kind. We wanted to see what the Elixir would do to your species, and we learned that your people were capable of using Elixir the same way that we do—whichmade the destruction of your wellsprings far more important.”

“You…” she trails off, shakes her head. “You erased our history. It’s sick.”

“Empires are sick,” I shrug. “They thrive on domination, on destruction—something you should understand well, being from Earth. The Borean Empire was no different. We consumed everything in our path, because we believed it was our right, and because we truly believed if we didn’t take resources, someone else would.”

“I don’t understand,” she interjects. “If you knew about Earth all that time, then why did you wait until the twenty-first century to invade? That’s a long time to wait.”

“Because the Skoll, too, were smarter than we thought,” I tell her. “The Lost Expeditions went to war with Borean forces to protect human settlements. They fell in love with and found mates amongst the humans…and they stayed there to protect Earth.”

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