-BEN-

  After eating, Ben decided to take Amara's advice and went to take a bath. He was content to simply splash his body with water and rub off the grime he had accumulated; however, their chintari hosts insisted on preparing the bath for him. They heated water, provided him with some sweet-smelling soaps and lent him a soft sponge.

  Ben was glad they did. He spent a long time soaking in the bath, and left the bathhouse feeling very relaxed and free from tension he hadn't known he was holding.

  The Chintari family also laid out new clothing for him; a pair of colorful loose pantaloons, a baggy shirt and sandals. They washed and hung his old clothes.

  Ben couldn't remember the last time he had worn something not issued by the Stellar Authority.

  He felt odd walking into the living room in his new threads. The clothes were far too airy, but the material felt comfortable on his skin.

  He found the little girl, Kalo, sitting at the living room table. She looked up at him and smiled.

  "You look nice," she declared.

  Ben returned the smile. Amara was nowhere to be seen. She had been in the living room when he left for the bath. Ben assumed she had gone to check on Saya. He began to walk towards the bedroom Saya was in, but Kalo interrupted him.

  "Do you want to play?" she asked.

  Ben looked back and saw that she was playing with some figurines. He hesitated.

  ‘Well,’ he thought. There was no harm in it. He would check on Saya later.

  "Sure," he said.

  Kalo squealed with joy, and the sound that warmed Ben's heart. She handed him a figurine as he sat down opposite her.

  "This is Ben," she said.

  "Oh..." Ben replied. "Ben?"

  "Yeah. Because he's like you, really strong and cool."

  Ben smiled. "How do you know I'm strong?"

  "Amara told me."

  "Did she now?"

  "Yeah. She said you're a mage. And that means you're super strong. She said you can do all sorts of magic."

  "Amara said a lot of things."

  "Yeah. She also said she thinks you're really kind." Kalo frowned. "But she said she's not sure about that one. She only thinks you are. Or you used to be. Or...eh...something like that. I didn't really understand."

  Ben didn't respond. Instead, he fiddled with the figurine Kalo had given him. It was a homemade doll, carved from wood, and formed in the image of a chintari man holding a sword.

  ‘Ben the kind,’ he thought. ‘If only.’

  A whining sound cut through the air. Ben leapt to his feet. Kalo put her hand to her ears and winced.

  "What is that?" she cried.

  Footsteps echoed in the house and Kalo’s mother, her sister, and Amara appeared in the living room. They all looked confused.

  The mother scooped Kalo up and pointed an accusatory finger at Ben and Amara.

  "Is this you?" she demanded. "Are you doing this?"

  Ben shook his head, and Amara raised her hands into the air, in what looked like an attempt to look nonthreatening.

  "It's not us," Amara said.

  "Then what is it?" Lalo asked. She shared a fearful look with her mother. Kalo was beginning to tremble in her mother's arms.

  "Mommy, I'm scared," the little girl said. She hugged her mother tightly.

  "It's okay," her mother said. She rocked Kalo in her arms. "It's okay. We'll be fine."

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  The whining sound was increasing in intensity.

  "We should get out of the house," Ben said. "Now. At least until we know what is going on."

  The others glanced at each other and seemed to come to a mutual understanding. The Chintari women headed for the door, but Amara stayed.

  "Saya is still unconscious," she said to Ben.

  "I'll get her," Ben said. "You go."

  Amara nodded and took off after the Chintari. They had just reached the door when they heard a loud boom. The house heaved, its wooden framework creaking in protest against the shockwave that flowed through it.

  Ben steadied himself. The others fell.

  Ben changed his mind. He needed to see what was happening outside. He stalked towards the front door and pushed it open. The plains outside had been shattered by a large explosion. The ground was laced with fissures that all led out of one large crater.

  At the center of the crater sat a large silvery metallic sphere. As Ben watched, a doorframe appeared on its surface. The door swung open and a fearsome Chintari man in bone armour stepped out.

  Ben heard someone behind him gasp. He turned to see Lalo standing on tiptoes, peeking over his shoulder.

  She stumbled backwards and her hands began to tremble. Her eyes filled with tears, then she fell to her knees.

  "We're dead," she said. "It's a dawn trooper. We're all dead."

  Ben looked behind her and saw that her mother was having a similar reaction, though the mother’s main focus seemed to be on making sure Kalo did not see the intruder.

  ‘Okay.’ Ben thought. This was an enemy. That simplified things for him. He stepped out from the door frame and onto the patio.

  The dawn trooper stood perfectly still, but there was a tension in his figure, as if he longed to leap forward, but something was holding him back.

  Ben’s mana sensing skills were not the greatest, but he was able to at least do a cursory scan. The dawn trooper wasn’t alone. There was another person in the spaceship, someone far stronger than this dawn trooper.

  The trooper stepped aside and a female figure exited the spaceship. She was dressed in similar bone armour as the first man, but hers was more sleek with few spiked edges.

  She had on a half-mask resembling the lower half of a skull. Her eyes were piercing red, her hair flowing white locks, and two horns jutted out from her forehead. The male trooper looked similar.

  From the way the female cocked her head, Ben could tell she was studying him, deciding on what the best course of action was.

  She turned and whispered something to her colleague. The man frowned at her statement, but she spoke again, more sharply this time, and he turned around and reached into the spherical ship.

  When he returned, he was holding a large diamond-shaped mana crystal. He hesitated for a moment then handed it over to the female. She cupped both her hands around the crystal, forming an O, then she pushed her hands towards the house. The crystal started to glow brighter and a buzzing sound filled the air.

  ‘Cannon,’ Ben realized.

  He turned to shout for the others to run, but it was too late. The light from the crystal coalesced into one giant ball of mana then shot out at them.

  It sped across the planes, burning the grass it flew. Ben caught Lalo by the waist and dragged her away from the door. The Priestess threw up her hands, a faint bluish lighting her fingertips.

  The ball of mana struck the house with a loud bang. Ben found himself caught in a swirl of mana. Something struck him in the head and dazed him.

  He blinked in and out of consciousness, and when his vision fully returned, he realised he was lying on the ground covered by a mountain of debris. He fought his natural instinct to moan and cough out some of the dust that had entered his nostrils and mouth. Instead, he lay still and listened.

  They were in the house.

  Ben heard their footsteps as they walked along the creaking remains. The male dawn trooper was speaking.

  "Was that really necessary?" he said. He sounded bored. "There are two of us," he added. "We could have defeated them easily. How many times do you get to face a foreigner in battle?"

  The female replied in a clipped tone. "Shut up Zeraku. I told you to work on your sensory magic. That man was dangerous. I could feel it. We have no idea what magic he may have had. Now do your job and retrieve their bodies."

  Zeraku grunted in annoyance, but he didn't retort.

  When they fell silent, Ben realised that there was another voice in the chaos, a high pitched sobbing voice.

  "Mommy, please wake up. Mommy, I'm scared."

  Ben's blood ran cold. ‘Kalo.’

  The dawn troopers heard it too. The female spoke. "Eliminate the annoyance Zeraku."

  Again, Zeraku grunted. The floorboards creaked as Zeraku changed direction and walked towards Kalo's voice.

  Ben readied himself He had not yet fully recovered from using Brawler Mode against Nale Vitham. He would not be able to fight at full strength, but if he waited for a well-timed moment…

  The boards next to him creaked as Zeraku walked by.

  ‘Now!’

  Ben burst through the wreckage and smashed his mana-reinforced fist into the side of the dawn trooper's head.

  The Chintari man's head snapped sideways then the rest of his body followed it. He flew, hit the ground, rolled multiple times, then stopped. His body twitched a few times, then he stopped moving.

  Ben sighed. He had put all the power he could into that one punch. His hand hurt and his body complained. He wanted to lie down, but he fought to remain standing. He scanned his surroundings.

  The house was in shambles. The roof was torn off, and only a few of the walls remained intact. That allowed the rays of the midday sun to stream in.

  Ben did a quick scan. He could sense the others, including Saya. Thankfully, they were all alive.

  He breathed a sigh of relief. Amara’s barrier must have helped. Now it was time for him to do his part.

  He turned to face the female dawn trooper. She was glaring daggers at him, her red eyes transfixed on his face, but she hadn't attacked him, yet.

  ‘She’s being cautious,’ he thought. He had just killed her companion with one punch. She was being extra careful. That could work to Ben's advantage, or it could work against him.

  The Chintari woman held her hand to the side, and the bone armour on her forearm contorted and elongated.

  It flowed into her hand and fused into the shape of a spiked mace. She pointed the newly formed weapon at Ben. "I knew I was right to be wary of you," she said. "You are a threat. I'm going to kill you. Right now."