Chapter Eighteen

"I don't want to meet the Regency," I said, narrowing my eyes as I looked back at Erik.

"You don't have a choice. They have requested a meeting with you."

"Who are they?" I rolled my shoulders backwards trying to ease the tension that was starting to develop in my neck.

"Your family Esadore. That is why they want to meet with you."

"I don't think I should meet with them just yet. I still don't know much about myself."

"They still want to talk with you."

"Fine. Where is the rest of the team?"

"They are not like you Esadore, they are not a part of the Regency."

My hands flew up in a defensive posture. "I'm also not a part of this Regency thing?"

"That is incorrect. You are a big part."

"Fine. Let's go meet them and I will show all of you that I have no clue what you are talking about." I reluctantly followed, not sure it was the best decision, but really the only one that I could make right now.

We entered a large room. Four women suddenly appeared. They were all beautiful with long white hair, a white gowns.

"Welcome," they all sung back almost robotically as their bodies changed colors right before my eyes.

I swallowed down the big lump that had developed in the back of my throat. I didn't want them to be able to see that I was nervous. "You all look human."

The women disappeared in front of my eyes and returned looking like they were made out of water. Their bodies seemed to flow into various different images.

"We can be anything you want. We just thought a human form would be the most comforting for you. We can also speak multiple languages, but we will speak to you so that you can understand."

"Where are we?" I looked around the room. It appeared just as all of the other spaces looked on Merak. There was nothing that really stood out.

"You are in our home."

"How many of your type live on Merak?"

"There were millions a few years ago, but then the evil came and killed most of our planet. We sent explorers out. We knew there were different worlds waiting for us in different time dimensions. One of those ships had one of our sisters. It should have stayed on Merak to help protect us, but instead it left, abandoning all of us. I believe she now goes by Dr. Marie James, a rather boring name."

"If you don't want her back, then why are we here?"

"We sent word years ago that we had all died. We believe she thinks we are truly dead. We have no doubt that she is back to steal from us. She knows the RaCO is very valuable. We think she is also going to try and kidnap more of us and take them to that awful planet Earth."

"Would you be able to survive on Earth?"

"Not in our current form. We would need human bodies."

Marie James brought human bodies to Merak, "That's exactly what she plans to do, but you don't want to go."

The sound of laughter cut through the quiet.

"No. This is our home. We will live and die here on Merak. We will fight to protect it."

"Marie travelled back with Paul and Samuel. Are they both from here too?"

"Yes. They were part of the original crew. I'm sure Mahaia made some promise for their assistance. They seem to have been very loyal to her, which is a shame."

"Thank you for visiting us," another one of the women said to me. "We will talk with you more at a later time. Erik has been sent by us to protect you Esadore. It is wonderful to see you alive again. You look beautiful in this form."

I clenched my fists, but held my tongue. I didn't want them to know just yet that I didn't understand the Esadore connection. Instead, I said. "We don't need protection."

"Yes you do. You are in a very powerful world. One that a normal being like yourself cannot navigate. Besides, you are a part of the Regency and we protect our own. You will not die again. That is a promise and one we intend to keep."

There was a brief moment of silence as one of them turned into a puddle and then popped back up right next to me, tentacles of water wrapped around my torso and then quickly disappeared as the being turned back into her previous form.

"It is amazing. I can feel the Rashandid Colintum coursing through this body thing, but there are many more things inside. They all beat. It's confusing," the woman cocked her head to the side. "We must do more research on this planet Earth and its beings."

"I agree," another said. "But it's good to see that it has worked."

"What has worked?" I asked.

"You are alive again Esadore. We welcome you home."

"Thank you. I guess. I'm not really sure how to respond."

The sound of some sort of harp cut through the silence in the room. "It is beautiful," one of the Regency members said. "Erik, you have done good."

"Thank you," he bowed.

"Wait. I don't understand. Why are you meeting with me without Marie present?"

One of the Regency members jutted forward and got within centimeters of my face, before pulling back. "She is our sister. You are the only offspring. You are the future of Merak, but we don't trust her. She has left us once before and I'm certain she is planning on leaving again."

Another of the Regency members stepped forward, "She has come here to get several volunteers to put in nasty human bodies and then she will leave, once again taking from our planet. We will die. If we lose more fighters then we will never be able to fight off the evil. We will have no way to protect ourselves. It is all her fault."

"I don't think she is planning on leaving," I cleared my throat. "She intended to come back to stay and build."

"No. She's not that big of a fool. We are certain she is not, but she is a coward and left us because she knew she could go and find power elsewhere. Here there are five of us on the council. Well, now there are four. She was the fifth. We don't always agree, but that's why it's important that we have an odd number of voices. She ruined everything. We all knew she was growing frustrated with having to ask our permission, but it's been like this for centuries. Our parents were the former leaders. We inherited this duty two hundred solars ago. We are all Merak has and we must fight."

"If I help you, will you help us leave?"

"No. This is your home. Why would you leave?"

"Because my real home is also dying. We must go back and reverse some of the things that have happened. We were following stupid rules and could have changed things years ago, but Mahaia, as you call her, wouldn't allow us to do so for her own benefit. The entire planet is in shambles."

This caused the four members of the Regency to let out an audible gasp. "She has killed another planet. We knew she struggled, but we didn't think she was capable of being that foolish."

"I don't know all that she had done, but I do know that I can fix it. There is time for us to go back and correct all of things that have happened..." Just as the last words left my mouth it dawned on me. My head snapped back up to look at the four beings in front of me. "Wait a minute. Not too long ago, my body began to change. Parts of it became invisible. I thought she had done something to me, but I was wrong...wasn't I? The blood and RaCO inside of me is growing stronger and I'm becoming less human."

"It could be possible. That would be very interesting. When were you created?"

"Five years ago, I think."

It grew quiet. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but obviously they were somehow communicating with one another.

"She is testing all of you to see how long you will keep your human qualities. We should find out more. It may be time to go and pay our sister a visit."

"Wait! Don't do it yet. I don't want her to know that I spoke with you. She has to believe that we still don't understand what is going on. I want her to believe that we are still in the dark."

"We agree. We will visit her just as the first moon begins to hide."

I didn't know how they could see any sort of moon from the room where we were standing. Everything was white.

"Erik, take her back and make sure you cover any indications that you paid us a visit. Our sister must not know that we are alive."

He responded in some weird language that sounded like dolphins communicating with one another and then grabbed my hand. Almost instantly, we were standing back outside my door.

"Esadore, I will be back soon."

"Okay," I waved back to him with a fake smile on my face, knowing that she was watching. I had to tell the others, but I wasn't entirely sure that was possible. She would know. I had to figure out a way to let them know about my conversation with Dr. James, or Mahaia's, sisters.