Pet: Revelations - Chapter Five (Patreon)

Remus

I was my father’s greatest accomplishment. That much, I remember very clearly. As a child, I adored him. He was the only person other than my caretaker to show me genuine affection. Looking back, I can now see each and every moment of the disgust my mother felt seeing me. It makes me nauseous to think of the ways I admired her over the years. After each conquest, she would fine-tune her manipulations, taking more and more of who I am away from me.

“When you were a child, you would spend hours studying our technology for travel,” Kuron says as he enters the control room. “I thought you might be the one capable of creating instant travel across planes,” he laughs.

I ignore him as he enters, my attention remaining on the instruments that I remember clearly being fascinated with as a child.

“I had a smaller model I was working on. I was just beginning to understand controlling and manipulating that kind of energy,” I say as the memory slips across my mind. In it, I am a child, and I am in a room inside the palace. The plans surround me in what appear to be golden lights and a language I remember. The model is small, and I was planning to control it remotely.

I laugh at the thought. I was an ambitious child.

“Yes,” Kuron says, coming up next to me. I can see that he is hesitant in what he tells me, and how he interacts with me. I do not know the Celestivine he is now; I only know the one in my memories. But those memories are through the eyes of a child who thought his parents could do no wrong—a child who willingly walked right out of the palace in his mother’s arms, never to return.

“But you did not come here to reminisce,” Kuron says.

I look away from the instruments, giving him my full attention. He doesn’t seem threatening in this moment. He doesn’t even have a protective field surrounding him. I don’t know if it’s because he is trying to gain my trust or not, but I don’t care to speculate as I think of Xion and Ezra.

“We’ve been traveling for weeks, and my brother is no further from death,” I say.

Kuron laughs, shaking his head.

“It is not my fault that your mother bred with an inferior being,” he says.

I narrow my gaze. “But it is your doing that he is in that state,” I say.

Kuron watches me carefully, gauging my reaction.

“I’ve done as you asked, Remus. I’ve given him medical attention, and if his body decides it cannot take the strain, then maybe that is what’s best,” Kuron says, moving past me.

“Is that what you came here for? To pester me about the child your mother created?” he asks. I can see that he's getting irritated, but trying to control himself.

“No,” I say, looking in the direction of the window. Nothing reflects back at me. We are in the deepest, blackest parts of space. And have been for some time.

“I came to learn more about the world we are headed to. But on the way, I stopped to check on Ezra. And he is not getting better,” I say.

“I know you can heal him. It was your weapon, forged using your energy. I haven’t pressed you because I know what it would mean to expect this of you. But I thought the medical care you had would at least help him in some ways, and it hasn’t,” I say.

Kuron is quiet, and I know he is considering his options. He is very calculating, especially after what has transpired over centuries. He knows he must be very careful with how he responds and what he indulges. And his indulgence of my requests thus far has proven my theory. He needs me for something, though I do not know if he will come outright and tell me, or try to manipulate me into doing it like my mother. Only time will tell, and I must use the time in between to get what I need from him.

“Is this you talking? Or is your mother’s mind tricks? How can you stand to be in the same room as him when he is the physical proof of what has happened to you? When his very existence teeters on the edge of collapse because he is too weak,” Kuron says.

He strikes a nerve with those words. It is what I have been secretly struggling with, trying to understand if what I want for Ezra is my desires or my mother’s manipulations. But then I think of the one woman who hasn’t lied to me or tried to manipulate me. And I think of the tears in her eyes as she begged me to help him—as she called him her ally and protector while I was a danger to her life thanks to my mother’s manipulations.

“It doesn’t matter. I want him alive, Kuron,” I say, facing him.

His expression is blank, his ethereal gaze mimicking mine as he glares at me. I can see his rage manifesting itself, and it is only because I recently learned to detect it. He is very good at hiding his true emotions, but Ezra is an extremely sore spot for him. He wants nothing to do with him.

“You do not know what you are asking of me,” Kuron says.

I laugh softly. 

“I do. And I know that you will do as I ask, because you need me for something on our homeworld. Something you either cannot do alone, or need me specifically for,” I say.

Kuron’s gaze is intense as he studies me. His aura has shifted.

“I cannot heal him. He needs the doctors of our world. But I can remove the energy disrupting him. And that is all I will do. It is on him whether or not he wants to live,” Kuron says. “In return. When we do arrive, you will do as I say, Remus. I will have no pushback from you.”

There it is.

Once again, I laugh. “You sound like my mother.”

Kuron shakes his head.

“The world we are returning to is broken and fractured. I need your full cooperation if I am to save it,” Kuron says, confirming my theories.

“Now you really sound like her,” I say. “You traveled across galaxies not because you cared about your children, but because you need me to save your world.”

“It is your world too, Remus. Do not forget that. This was your birthright before your mother took it from you,” he snaps.

I fight the urge to roll my eyes. Birthright. I am once again propelled to a moment with Iris. When she asked me if I had ever chosen anything for myself. If I had ever imagined a different life for myself. At the time, I thought it was ridiculous of her to ask, but as I am thrust into another “birthright,” I feel a bit of myself drifting.

“I didn’t make a bargain for his life in the first place for nothing. I know what my duty is, even if it is new to me. But I will not enter this new world with a dead brother and a broken sister,” I say.

Kuron narrows his gaze.

“Any other demands?” he asks.

I laugh, shaking my head.

“Of course not. I’m sure you will reveal everything to me when you feel the timing is right. There’s no need to rush things,” I say, moving away from him. I pause in the doorway as I think of Iris.

“However, if you continue to keep things from me that endanger the lives of those I care about, it will be very difficult for me to trust you. And that won’t do either of us any good,” I say.

I make sure to keep my threat level, not wanting to set him off. I don’t see him as an enemy yet. But I do not see him as an ally either. He is a different kind of being with a different experience of life. He sees the world differently, and if it is anything similar to how I am seeing it in this moment with my newly awakened power, then I understand him partially, which concerns me.

Kuron laughs, pulling my attention.

“You’ve really attached yourself to these creatures,” he says.

“Your mother has failed you. And if that is what you choose, then I will not stand in the way, but let me offer you this advice. The lives of weaker beings are fickle. And our world was not created for them. If you choose to keep them close, instead of allowing them a life outside of this, you need to understand what that means for them,” he says.

“Ezra is half-Celestivine—”

“I am not speaking of the bastard Me’Rite brought into this world. I am speaking of the physical beings you’ve brought aboard my ship. I assume they fall into the category of the ones you care about, especially since you almost devoured a planet for one,” he says, smirking.

I remain silent.

“Their lives are much too fragile for our world, Remus. You will have to make some choices very soon if you want them to survive.”