Page 6 of Alien Guardian's Vow
The moment my fingertips brushed the panel's surface, I knew I'd made a terrible mistake.
My markings didn't just connect—theylatched on, silver light flaring with painful, blinding intensity as energy surged through the connection. It felt like grabbing a live high-voltage line. My entire arm went rigid, muscles locked as blue-white electricity arced visibly between my skin and the ancient technology.
The panel erupted with chaotic light, symbols spinning and shifting faster than my eyes could track. Alarms shrieked—not just audible sound but high-frequency sonic pulses that resonated directly with my markings, sending spikes of agony through my skull, making me nauseous.
I cried out, trying to pull away, but couldn't break the connection. My markings felt fused somehow with the panel's systems, creating a feedback loop that grew stronger, hotter, more painful by the second.
"Stop!" I gasped, the word lost in the cacophony of alarms.
The panel flashed crimson across its entire surface, and with a loudcrack, a shimmering energy field snapped into existence across the alcove entrance, sealing me in. Trapped. The field crackled violently, its color shifting rapidly—blue, purple, amber, red—clearly unstable.
With a final, brutal surge of energy that left me gasping and flung me backward against the alcove wall, the connection broke. I stumbled, cradling my throbbing, tingling arm against my chest as the panel continued its frantic, alarming display.
"What did I DO?" The words escaped in a panicked whisper.
I spun toward the alcove entrance, only to pull up short before touching the shimmering, unstable energy field. It pulsed and wavered, spitting sparks. The air around it shimmered with heat distortion.
My heart hammered against my ribs. I spotted a loose piece of rock on the floor, picked it up with my good hand, and tossed it at the field. The material didn't bounce back—it hit the barrier and instantly disintegrated, turning to fine ash that drifted silently to the floor.
Trapped. In a tiny alcove, surrounded by failing ancient technology I didn't understand, with a lethal, unstable energy field as my only exit.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" I slammed my uninjured fist against the alcove wall, ignoring the jolt of pain. "You know better than this! Youknewit was unstable!"
The markings on my arm still pulsed with residual energy, sending uncomfortable tingles through my nerves. I'd underestimated everything—the sensitivity of the damaged systems, the strength of my markings' interface capability, the sheer, overwhelming danger of this place.
I turned back to the panel, desperately hoping to reverse whatever I'd triggered, but the symbols now scrolled too fast to read, meaningless chaos. The system had entered some kind of emergency protocol, maybe a purge cycle, and I had no idea how to stop it.
The walls around me vibrated more intensely. Another structural groan, longer and deeper than before, reverberated through the stone, felt in the bottom of my boots. Whatever stability this place had maintained for centuries, I'd just compromised it. Badly.
I pressed my back against the wall furthest from the lethal energy field, sliding down until I sat on the dusty floor, pulling my knees to my chest. The reality of my situation crashed down on me. No one knew exactly where I was. Mirelle had asked me to investigate the ruins, yes, but I'd gone deeper than planned, drawn by my markings and my own damnable curiosity.
The field crackled again, its color shifting through the spectrum like a corrupted rainbow. Behind it, the dim corridor lights flickered, then dimmed further. Power being redirected? To more critical systems?
Or to whatever catastrophic failure I'd just initiated.
My breath came in short, sharp gasps. I forced myself to slow down, to think.Panic won't help. Assess. Options.What options? I didn't know exactly what I'd triggered, but the increased vibrations and alarms suggested nothing good.
I stared at my silver markings, still pulsing with absorbed energy, hot against my skin. They'd gotten me into this mess. Could they possibly get me out?
A distant sound caught my attention—faint, muffled by the field and the alarms, but distinct. Not the mechanical groans of the structure or the electronic wail of the panel, but something else. Footsteps? Heavy, purposeful footsteps, growing closer down the corridor outside. Impossible. No one else would be crazy enough to enter these ruins.
Unless...Varek?Had he followed me?
I pressed my ear against the cool stone wall, listening intently. Definitely footsteps, growing closer, echoing slightly.
"Hey!" I shouted, my voice bouncing off the alcove walls, sounding thin against the alarms. "Help! I'm trapped in here!"
The footsteps paused outside the alcove, then quickened. A large shadow appeared beyond the crackling, distorting energy field, backlit by the dim emergency lights of the corridor.
The figure stepped fully into view, and my momentary surge of relief evaporated, replaced by a cold dread that wasn’t because of the failing technology.
A Nyxari warrior stood on the other side of the deadly barrier, tall and imposing, golden lifelines bright against his midnight-blue skin even in the poor light. His expression shifted from wary assessment to something darker, harder, as he took in my situation—trapped inside the alcove, the diagnostic panel flashing critical warnings behind me.
I recognized him immediately—Varek, second-in-command to Lazrin. Unlike Lazrin, Varek had made no secret of his deep distrust of humans, especially those of us with markings. And I had just confirmed his worst assumptions.
"What have you done?" His deep voice cut through the alarm sounds, heavy with accusation, resonating with controlled fury.
I stared back at him through the lethal energy field, trapped between it and a failing ancient system, with my only potential rescuer being someone who probably wanted nothing more than to throttle me.
