Chapter 14

Wren watched as the distance between her, and her brother increased. She needed to get back to the master’s planet to release more. With the four females out, she’d felt the power of the planet start to balance out.

She felt it was very important that she got more out of the Chrysalis. The males alone were very powerful, though the addition of the four females had almost doubled that.

“Stay out of range. Keep moving us to the border. You need to repair all the systems, then I can upgrade them more,” Wren said, as the portal opened before her. “I will return as soon as possible.”

“Watch your levels, Master Wren. You have a lot of power, though it is still new to you. You still don’t know if it is indeed deadly or not,” Trigon said.

Wren nodded then stepped through. Flugret was the only one there to greet her, “little Wren,” he said, then bowed.

“I am here to release more from the Chrysalis. The sooner, the better, Wren said.

“That is great news though, are you strong enough? The last two times I remember that it seriously weakened you,” A concerned Flugret said.

“I should, I feel far stronger than I did both times before. I’ll visit more when I have finished,” Wren said as she moved off through the door.

A concerned Flugret notified the others as quickly as he could. A few minutes later, all twenty males and four females walked into the Chrysalis room.

Wren had touched the Chrysalis as soon as she entered the room. All the masters knew better than to interfere, several remembered the painful lesson.

Wren felt a great deal of power flow through her, far more than she ever felt before. Then she felt further. Is it enough, she thought, we’ll soon find out she thought.

All there stood by ready to render aid if needed. Then, quite suddenly, they saw that there were not one but two glowing sections of the Chrysalis.

Rena started to yell, “Wren, you aren’t strong enough yet!” All those there could only stare at her ‘til Wren started to glow.

Several of the masters had gotten in front of the female Cetians, trying to push out the doorway. Wren kept at it ‘til two areas on the Chrysalis seemed to detach from it.

“Wren!” Rena started to yell, “you have to stop! This will drain you!”

Wren looked over to Rena and the other females, “I am fine. I have more energy than you think,” she said.

A moment later, two spheres of light separated from the Chrysalis. They then started to slowly elongate. “Come on damnit, I know you are in there!”

Rena and Lota tried again to get to Wren, only to be rebuffed. They looked at each other then raised their arms, energy flowing from them to Wren.

Wren looked back, nodding to them, then pushed harder, the elongated spheres of light starting to form more female-like shapes. A few moments later, two more Cetian females were lying on the floor gasping.

Wren nodded at the two females, “I think that should help,” then took a step and stumbled. Rena and Lota both grabbed Wren before she hit the floor.

“Well,” Wren said, “I thought I was stronger than I was. A bed?” To which Rena and Lota nodded, taking her out of the room.

As the door closed, they heard two happy male voices, “Mates!”

Rena and Lota carried an almost limp Wren to the same room she’d been in before. “Sorry,” Wren said, “I thought I was far more ready than I actually was. For some reason, I feel that it is imperative I get as many out of there as I can. The balance of Ceti-5 is so bad it is just now starting to support life outside these walls.”

“That may be true though, it won’t mean much if you die before you complete your mission,” Lota said.

“My mission?” Wren asked. “What mission is that?”

“Why to,” Lota started, then quickly quieted at the look of Rena.

“To do what?” A barely conscious Wren said.

Rena turned toward her with a smile, “why to do what you have been doing,” Rena said, then gave Lota another warning look.

Wren just nodded, then her eyes closed.

“What was that about?” Lota asked.

“She doesn’t need to know that she will sacrifice her life for all of us. Haven’t you noticed that the Chrysalis has grown far weaker in the last few years? Even with us out, it still continues to decline. Soon, if she doesn’t remove all the rest of our people, they will perish. What she did today has helped greatly, though not enough.”

Lota turned toward Rena, “You really think that she is that stupid? I heard others say that she’s already at the level of the lowest masters. Do you really think that you will have the power to force her?”

“Force her? No, never would I do that, more subterfuge than anything else,” Rena said.

“As I said, she is far smarter than you think. Also remember, her guardian, Flugret, is closer to her than you think. He might have something to say about it,” Lota said.

“I will handle him when the time comes. His loyalty to our people is deeper than you think,” Rena said.

“As true as that is, he is far more dedicated to her than you think. I’m sure that you can feel the gnawing, deep loneliness that has settled in him. The fact that he replaced his mate with her presence is paramount,” Lota said.

“What, you didn’t realize that? Flugret was closer to his mate than you thought. He might not betray his people; he won’t betray her either. Remember, she lost everything as we did, he has grown far closer to her than you think.”

A shocked expression on Rena’s face surprised Lota. Rena was staring at Lota, considering all she had imparted. “Perhaps, we should prepare for this possible betrayal,” Rena said.

“You can if you want, though you should remember, Wren is far smarter than we thought. I have already felt that she has became suspicious. You should give her a chance, she might surprise you with her ideas,” Lota said.

Rena sighed, she so wanted to do that, though the simple fact was that the future of their people was at stake. “I so wish that we had time to allow her to come up with something. We are just starting to have enough people to finally restore our race and planet.”

Again, Rena sighed, she also could feel another shift in the energy of the planet. It wasn’t that great though there was hope. They had to save others, no matter the cost. She was more than grateful to Wren, they had to save the others. The two today had significantly dropped the drain though, it was still there.

An hour later, they both watched the rest of the females as they entered the room. “How is she? Asked both the new females.

“She appears to be recovering far faster than we thought she would,” Rena said.

Wren herself was in the grip of a nightmare. She could see Rena, Tiane, Vasie and Lota as they were begging her to save them. The thing is, the harder she tried, the more they screamed. The two new females were about to speak again when Wren’s body convulsed, then arched upward.

All six of the females immediately held her down only to be thrown against the wall. They all quickly regripped Wren, thrown away again like they were nothing. Less than a minute later, they were all holding her a third time. Again, Wren’s body arched up as she screamed, then dropped back to the bed, her eyes flying open.

“You’re all alive! I thought that the higher powers, all of you perished. I thought...” Wren started looking at the two new females. “I’m sorry I don’t recognize either of you,” Wren said.

“Before you lost consciousness, you released us,” The nearest said. Wren noticed that they were both blonde, a definite difference. The tallest that had spoken slightly bowed to Wren. “I am Effie,” Effie said.

The second shorter blonde also bowed, “I am Terra, thank you so much. It was good to see my mate again, many of us were starting to lose hope.” Pointing to the first four females, she continued, “even after they escaped, hope was low.”

Wren nodded as she could only imagine what it was like. “I need to rest a bit before I try again,” Wren said, then laid back, her eyes closing.

Rena motioned all the others out of the room before she spoke. “We are indeed stronger than we were. I have to council all of you, our failed experiment is the Empress. It appears she has a stronger attraction than we thought.”

“Esmerelda is still alive? How is that possible? She should have expired hundreds of years ago,” Terra said as she went through her part of the information. “I was sure that we programmed her to do this.”

“We have been comparing all that we have, you both need to add your data, so we can formulate a plan,” Rena said.

“Yes,” the others said as they all left to enter another hidden room. After an hour, all six of their faces were wearing a grim expression.

“It is far worse than we thought, even with six, there isn’t enough. We need the last two of our group. There is too much information missing, though I can see a definite pattern,” Rena said.

The others agreed they had also seen a bad pattern starting to emerge.

Esmerelda was still shaking after she had seen two of the females that were responsible for her being as she was. Here she thought they were still within the Chrysalis. Again, she cursed herself. She knew then, as she did now, that she should have destroyed it.

A thought came to her as she reviewed all that she remembered, it had to be that weak Flugret. He was the one that had been training Wren. If all eight were out then, she had a serious problem. They knew what and who she was. They could destroy her without a second thought. If what she had seen of Wren was also true, she felt fear for the first time in a very long time.

She shook her head, the readings she had indicated that Wren was beyond level twenty. There was no way in hell she could kill the bitch now. Well, not alone, she thought.

A sigh escaped her throat. She needed her son Thomas here. If they were going to destroy that little bitch and Ceti-5. If all eight of the Ceti-5 females were out, it would take both of them to achieve her plan. She thought that they should kill her husband, the emperor. They only had three passwords after five years, too long.