10. Vai

Iwas surprised but pleased when Emma came to the main bridge, her hair still a little wet from the shower she must have taken.

I didn't expect her to leave her room for at least a few hours.

The clothes I'd ordered for her had been scanned in local shops and built to her size using our advanced 3D printers.

I couldn't help but fidget and glance at her every few minutes.

Even in her plain t-shirt and faded blue pants she looked good.

Her hand hung by her side and I wanted to take it and feel it in mine.

I wanted to feel her soft skin pressed against mine, preferably while I was inside her…

I snapped out of wayward thoughts and focused on the floors as they zipped past.

The elevator felt small and pressed in on every side.

The space between us shrank smaller and smaller.

"How big is this ship?" Emma said.

"Huh?" I said, a million miles away.

"This ship. It must be huge. We're passing a floor every few seconds and we've already been traveling for a few minutes."

"Oh. Yes. It's quite big. But it's built more for speed than battle. Weight doesn't matter much in space but it does when you enter the atmospheres of alien planets. That's why this ship has to be smaller than the war frigates."

"This is a small ship?" Emma let out an impressed whistle. "I'd love to see one of the larger ones."

I smiled over at her.

With my father as an admiral, I could show her as many ships as she wanted.

If she acted on our status as fated mates, we would have the rest of our lives to explore them.

But only if she decided to mate with me.

The truth was, not every fated mate ended up choosing their destiny.

Some were too afraid and hated the idea that their destiny had already been decided for them.

They fought against it every moment of every day during the mating cycle until the time ran out and it was over.

It was just the way it was.

I considered telling her about the truth of the situation, how it was also my intention to sleep with her and prove we were fated mates.

I wanted nothing more than to be honest with her but couldn't bring myself to do it.

Not after everything she'd been through.

But I would, I promised myself.

I would—when the time was right.

But not now.

The flashing lights of each passing floor slowed to a stop and the doors hissed open.

I motioned for her to go first.

She smiled and stepped off the elevator.

"This way," I said, leading her down the corridor to a door that hissed open at our approach.

The room was plain with a latticework of lines drawn over its surface.

Beneath us, the floor moved like a giant conveyor belt.

Either of us could move in any direction we wanted without affecting each other's ability to move independently.

When we stepped inside, Computer scanned us.

Emma clutched her hands over herself as the light passed over her.

"What's going on?"

"The machine needs to scan us so it can put us inside the programs."

"Scan us?"

"It will make sense when the program boots up. Computer, begin the training program."

Computer beeped to the affirmative and the latticework faded and morphed into a room with black walls.

"Wow," Emma said. "Don't we need to wear goggles or something?"

"No goggles. Treat this room like it was real. This is going to be your training."

"My training? For what?"

"For your protection."

Emma frowned.

"I thought you were going to protect me?"

"I will. But if things go south, I might not always be there. At some point, you might find yourself alone and there will be no way for me to help you."

"I thought Iav couldn't get through the minefield?"

"No Shadow has before. But that doesn't mean he won't."

Emma frowned at me, a dimple of concern on her brow.

"It's best to be prepared in case he does manage to get through," I said.

"Okay," Emma said, still unsure.

I formed the image of a weapon in my mind and in an instant, it snapped into reality.

I handed it to Emma.

"An ax?" she said. "It's too heavy for me."

"Then make it lighter."

She just looked at me.

"Make it lighter how?"

"Think it and it will be so."

Emma's frown deepened.

She struggled to raise the ax in front of her face with both hands.

She stared at it and turned cross-eyed.

She shook her head.

"I don't think I can do it."

I imagined the ax looking the same but made from a lighter metal.

I didn't know the name of it and in all likelihood it didn't even exist, but that didn't matter so long as it existed in my imagination.

Emma noticed the weight reduction immediately.

The ax flew up and almost struck her in the head.

She removed one hand from the handle and hefted it, marveling as she waved it around.

"How did you do that?"

"I imagined it was made from a lighter material."

"You can do things like this on your planet?"

"No. But we can do them in the Shadow Realm."

Up until now, Emma had been swinging the ax through the air so it made a deep "whoomph" noise.

She paused and peered at the room.

"This is what the Shadow Realm looks like?"

"Yes. And the rules there are a little different. The rules of physics in our galaxy are bent and twisted in theirs."

"They can imagine things into existence?"

"In the Shadow Realm, we can pull upon our surroundings and use the shadows as if they were a physical thing. We can turn them into weapons or defense or any number of things. It's easier to think of the Shadow Realm as a nightmare, one you're fully awake inside."

"I don't think I want to go to this Shadow Realm much."

"And you probably won't, but there's no telling what might happen over the next two days. If you get taken, your knowledge of the Shadow Realm might be what saves you. I'm going to teach you the basics so you can escape and defend yourself."

That confident look of hers that I'd fallen in love with came over Emma's face.

I was growing used to how ferocious these little Earthlings were when it came to battle and war.

If Emma was any indication, they would be worthy allies one day.

"First, we're going to work on self-defense. I'm going to throw something at you and I want you to deflect it away."

I imagined a dirty snowball and by the time I pulled my arm back, it was in my hand.

"Ready?"

"Wait. Let me figure this out first."

"Here it comes."

I hurled the dirty snowball at her, tossing it underarm so it wouldn't hurt her.

She ducked and raised her arms but it struck her on the leg.

She lowered her arms and peered over at me.

"The Shadow got you," I said.

"It's not fair. I wasn't ready!"

"When Iav attacks, he won't wait for you to be ready. He'll attack when you're not ready. That's how the Shadow win at anything. They cheat and lie and steal. It's a lesson we learned long ago. Never underestimate the Shadow or their desire to win. They will do anything to get what they want. There's no way to beat them but to be as merciless as they are."

"I understand."

"Let's try again," I said, turning my back on her and filling my hands with a pair of dirty snowballs.

The Shadow didn't hurl snowballs.

They threw writhing shadows that, if they successfully struck, would slither up their victims' bodies and enter any orifice it could reach.

Then it would tear you apart from the inside.

But I didn't tell Emma that.

She was likely terrified as it was.

"Are you ready?" I said.

Thump!

Something struck me on the shoulder, slithered down my arm, and splattered to the floor.

It was wet and ill-formed but the attempt to create a dirty snowball was a reasonable one.

I looked over at Emma, who stood coyly with her muddy hands at her sides, gnawing at her bottom lip.

"Sorry," she said. "I couldn't help it. Your back was turned and I thought…"

A smile curled my lips and I grinned at her effort.

"Very good. You're a fast learner. Never apologize for taking advantage of every opportunity you can put your hands on. The Shadow will not hesitate to use theirs."

A pair of dirty snowballs formed in Emma's hands and I felt a shiver up my spine.

Emma was exciting.

I grew aroused as she pulled her arms back and threw her weapons at me.

I summoned a shield of black to block them, then inserted a slit in the front so I could see Emma on the other side.

The snowballs struck my shield.

Emma already had another pair of Shadow snowballs in her hands—these already a marked improvement over the ones she had thrown earlier, each iteration becoming stronger than the last.

I grinned despite myself.

This was going to be fun.

And it was.

I lowered my shield and came out with a plasma rifle—loaded with a canister of not plasma energy but Shadows.

Emma's eyes boggled.

"No fair!"

She dropped her snowballs, turned, and ran.

I pulled the trigger and miniature snowballs streamed toward her, nipping at her heels but failing to hit her.

She ran toward the wall and, the moment she reached it, pulled her arm back, yanking a sheer wall from it.

My snowballs struck it ineffectively but I kept on firing, keeping up the pressure.

"You can't stay behind there forever," I said. "Now what are you going to do?"

Thump thump thump thump thump.

I maintained the rate of fire but didn't move around the wall to confront her.

This was a new world for her, a new reality.

She needed a little time to grow accustomed to it.

She would—

One of my own snowballs bounced off the wall and reflected back at me.

It lost its strength and skidded along the floor.

Clever girl.

She'd turned her wall into a deflector shield.

I leaped to one side as the snowballs slapped at my feet.

I stopped firing, causing the snowballs to cease.

I created a large hammer carved from the shadows and hurled it at the wall.

It cracked and smashed like it was made of glass.

The shards clattered to the ground.

"Haha!" I said.

I raised my other hand and had a snowball cocked and ready to be launched.

My grin faltered as Emma held a raised pistol and pulled the trigger.

It smacked me in the chest and knocked me backward.

She'd struck me fair and square.

She hopped on the spot, her arms over her head, squealing with delight.

"I got you! I got you! I got you!"

I saw an opportunity to teach her a lesson.

Without waving my arms or removing my eyes from hers, I summoned a black wave up behind her.

It started some way back to gain in momentum and size.

Emma wasn't aware of it as she continued celebrating.

She noticed my mask of heavy concentration and knew something was up.

She must have sensed something behind her.

She turned to witness the wave as it washed over her, knocking her to the ground.

"Well done on hitting me," I said, "but you can't let one victory rob you of your focus—"

Emma threw out a hand.

It wasn't long enough to reach me and I wasn't concerned.

I sighed.

"Emma—"

A hook followed in her arm's wake and wrapped around my ankle.

She tugged on it with all her weight.

The cord tightened and yanked my foot forward.

She used the wave's momentum to knock me on my ass.

She slammed into me and I grasped for her.

She struggled against me but I pulled her toward me.

I summoned a snowball and pressed it toward her, but she blocked it with her elbow and slammed my own snowball against me.

She was a natural.

I lay there, gasping, clutching her in my arms, the two of us smothered with thick mud head to toe.

Her hair was matted and dirty and she had smudges of dirt on her cheeks.

She grinned and looked up at me, her hand pressed against my arm.

She looked at my muscles and her eyes slowly slid along my chest, visible through my shirt, and up into my eyes.

I was as hard as a rock and, luckily, though my leg lay against her, my cock was pressed into the hard surface of the floor.

I didn't want to scare her with how hard she made me, how much she turned me on.

Being fated mates was more than just about being destined to be together.

It meant we were compatible—both spiritually and physically.

I ran my fingers through her matted blonde hair and smiled down at her.

She pressed her hand to my arm and her lips begged to be kissed.

I wanted to kiss them.

And unless I missed my guess, I thought she wanted me to kiss her.

Then she blinked and looked away.

"We should get up," she said.

"Yeah," I said. "Yeah. Right."

With my heart in my throat, I got up and helped her onto her feet.

"You did great today. Really great."

"I have a great teacher."

She smiled at me.

The moment lasted a little longer than it should have.

"I guess we should get cleaned up," she said.

"No need. Computer. Deactivate program."

The white walls vanished, leaving just the grid lines.

The smooth black walls faded along with the mud on our hands, bodies, and clothes.

The Shadow Realm was gone and we were back on the ship.

None of it was real.

It was all a hologram and a product of our imaginations.

I couldn't help but feel a little sad the training session was over.

"Are you hungry?" I said. "I know I am."

"Sure," Emma said. "I'd like to see what a traditional M'rora lunch looks like."

I wasn't sure about a traditional lunch but looking at Emma now, I knew what I wanted to eat.