“Ravok?” she gasps out, her voice barely a whisper.
CHAPTER 48
Lily
Ravok loves me.
This is simultaneously the best and worst moment of my life. Ravok loves me but he has to leave. The only sound is our heavy breaths and the low hum of his ship. I open my mouth to tell him that I love him too. However, an ear-splitting blast of noise drowns my voice out. Before I even have time to react searing pain tears through me. For a confused instant, I’m certain someone has struck me in the back with a sledgehammer, knocking the wind from my chest.
Following Ravok’s horrified gaze, I glance down in a daze. Blood. Dark and crimson, soaking through my shirt at an alarming speed.
A gasp chokes my throat, freezing in the air as my world begins to sway dangerously. “R-Ravok…” His name comes as a whisper, a desperate plea. His eyes widen, filled with raw fear. He bellows my name, “Leelee!” It is a raw sound of fear and desperation.
“Step away from the woman, alien!” a man’s voice screams. “Freeze! Put your hands in the air!”
It is all a swirling, chaotic cacophony, but all I can see is Ravok. My alien has never shone an ounce of fear but now his face is a mask of terror as he stares at me, ignoring the chaos around us.
I try to tell him to leave me, to escape, but when I open my mouth, blood bubbles on my lips and I can’t get the words to form.
“Nope. This is not happening in my town.” A calm feminine voice slices through the din.
Everything stops. The shouting halts mid-sentence, the screaming cut off and frozen mid-air. The rustling leaves pause, the birds cease their songs, even the gentle roll of the clouds above us seems to hang in suspense.
Only Ravok seems unaffected. He slowly lowers me to the ground as my limbs begin to feel tingly and heavy. It takes great effort, but I manage to turn my head and see Koko float down from the sky, like an angel descending from heaven, her feet landing and touching the ground as lightly as a leaf on a still pond.
As Koko approaches, Ravok hunches over me, growling at her like a crazed wolf. I want to soothe him, but pain is swamping my senses. I don’t know if it is shock or a delayed reaction, but only now does the pain of being shot start to overwhelm me. I try to muffle my cries but the searing pain radiating out from my back and stomach becomes too much to bear. It feels as though someone is twisting a fiery dagger deep within my flesh, making it nearly impossible to breathe. I can taste blood on my lips and my lungs rattle with each gasping breath. I look up at Ravok’s devastated face and it occurs to me that I might be dying.
“Ravok, I can help you save her,” Koko offers.
“Yes, anything. Please help.” The desperation in his voice makes my fear ratchet even higher. I must be in horrible shape for him to show anyone else such despair and terror. My Ravok never begs. “She’s bleeding so much.”
I watch as Koko who almost seems to be glowing from the inside out, kneels at Ravok’s side and looks me over.
“Lublin Harbor is my town. I founded it, nurtured it, and filled it with love. The word Lublin even roughly translates to the word love in my original language.” She chuckles, patting Ravok’s shoulder and giving me an enigmatic stare. I never noticed how ancient and wise her eyes are until now. “I am Mokosh, an ancient goddess of love and fertility. And sweetie, here in my domain, I am as powerful as they come. Rest assured, I certainly have the power to save one human life, especially hers.”
My logical brain says that it can’t be true. There is no such thing as a goddess. None of this should be real, but Koko is looking more and more divine, radiant as if she is glowing from the inside, and here I lie, feeling insignificant in the strength of her ethereal aura.
“The wounds are severe,” she murmurs to Ravok, her eyes focused on the fresh bullet wound. “However, your nanites can heal Lily… with my assistance, of course.” Koko’s eyes twinkle with an age-old wisdom and a mischievous spark that almost seems out of place at this moment.
When Ravok nods his consent, not even hesitating, my heart flutters. His luminous eyes hold a firm resolve as Koko holds out her empty hand, palm up. An obsidian knife appears in her hand from thin air. Ravok startles at the sight but doesn’t move from my side. The only way I can sense his alarm is the tightening of his hold on me.
“You will need to get your blood in the wound. Instruct your nanites to heal her injuries. I also want you to instruct them to learn to interact with her like they do with you. They need to become intertwined with Lily, to align their programming to her nervous system,” Koko instructs, her voice a soothing balm. “Lily, are you okay with this?”
I’m having trouble focusing, but I nod, giving my consent. I don’t want to die.
“Hold out your hand, Ravok.” Belatedly, my brain catches up to the fact that Koko knows Ravok’s name. The fact that she knows his name cements my faith in her. No one on this planet except me knows his name.
Ravok holds his hand over my wound, his glowing eyes shining with determination. Koko slices his wrist with a quick motion and the smell of metallic blood fills the air, layering over the scent of my own blood. Koko peels up my shirt to reveal the exit wound on my stomach. I watch, mesmerized, as a thin stream of blood drips from Ravok’s wrist onto the raw wound. With a look of intense concentration, Ravok holds his wounded wrist over the bullet hole and lets his blood drip into it.
“Faster now… I can hold time for only so long,” Koko warns. At her words, Ravok holds out his other arm, silently offering it. The goddess gives him a beatific smile as she flicks her wrist and opens another wound across his other wrist.
“You have commanded your nanites to heal and bond with Lily, yes?” Koko says.
When Ravok nods, never looking away from his blood dripping into my wound. I start to feel a strange buzzing in my veins then. The weirdest sensation begins to creep through my body, like a soft but persistent tingle. It starts in my fingers and works its way up my arms before slowly meandering down to my legs, sending soft spikes of warmth into my torso where the worst of my wounds are. I close my eyes, acutely aware of every buzz and prick infiltrating me.
With a sharp intake of breath, I open my eyes to see Ravok at my side, his beautiful alien face creased with concern. His gaze meets mine. He explains, “You must feel them. The nanites. They’re working to heal you, Leelee. Just relax and don’t fight them.”
“It kinda feels like pins and needles,” I mumble.
I don’t know how else to describe what I’m feeling but there’s an undeniably new presence in my body – a strange connection to my brain that I can’t quite comprehend. It’s like a hovering buzz bumping against the barrier of my mind. It’s trying to tunnel its way into my consciousness. It doesn’t have words but there is an awareness. I don’t know how to connect to it or open the paths into my consciousness for it. I have to force myself to relax and not try to push it out. I clench my jaw, and my muscles start shaking with the effort to keep my mind relaxed and open.
“That’s good, Lily, keep trying to let the nanites connect with you. Learning to communicate and command them will take time but it will eventually come with patience and practice. Now, scoot over, Ravok; I need to finish the healing. Then you both have some decisions to make.”
I don’t realize my eyes have slid closed, exhaustion making everything fuzzy and hard to follow until a bright, shining glow filters through my closed eyelids. I force my eyes open just in time to see Koko start to glow like a beacon on a stormy night. In awe, I watch her as she hovers glowing hands over my slowly healing wounds. Her hands begin to pulse in bright flashes. My heart thumps in sync with the pulsating light.
The brilliant light grows intense, a celestial radiance that engulfs me. I feel like I’m glowing from the inside out – even the back of my eyelids are bright when I clamp my eyes shut at the brightness.
Everything fades into insignificance, and I am lost, floating in the vastness of Koko’s power. Every cell in my body is awake. My mind is alight, burning with divine fire. My consciousness brushes against the goddess’s, and I am drawn out of my body. My essence rises, expanding, unraveling at light speed.
Only Ravok’s hold on the shell of my body keeps me anchored to the planet’s surface. Otherwise, I would float away like a golden gossamer thread on the wind.
My consciousness expands, touching every corner of the universe. I feel… everything. I have a moment of true understanding. I reach out, needing to—
It’s gone and I find myself back in my body. I try to hold onto it, to cling to the moment, but all I have left is a feeling of the vastness of life and an all-encompassing awe. And love. There is so much love to give. And receive. The boundless pool of love is so vast and deep as to defy explanation.
“Leelee,” Ravok gasps brokenly, pulling me away from the last vestiges of the moment. I want to hold onto the feeling, but it’s gone. However, when I see his exultant face, I don’t mind. It was too big for me to hold onto anyway. I am not meant to know or understand. Besides, it’s there when I look at Ravok.
