Dark's Savior (Dark World Mates Book 2) Read online

  Dark's Savior

  Olivia Riley

  Copyright © 2020 Olivia Riley

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including, but not limited to, photocopying or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing by the author. This book is a work of fiction. Names, places, locales and events are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, places or events are purely coincidental.

  Cover by Olivia Riley

  Stock Photos: Depositphotos

  Dark’s Savior

  Before

  The slate of cold metal stung in Aly’s hands. The tablet—as best as she could call it— flashed on its screen a torrent of words, some big, some small, all readable in her language; comprehensible. But only sixteen words, one sentence, got Aly’s full attention:

  ASSIGNED LOCATION FOR REFUGEE ALY SMITH: LETHE MAWS: MINING CITY SECURED ON SYSTEM SARITIUS, ORBITAL UNDEREM.

  Her hands didn’t shake. She didn’t feel the sting of tears. She was numb, in fact. Completely numb. Just as she had been since the beginning.

  Three months since she had been abducted and she had no use for crying. For anger. The universe didn't answer her desperate prayers. At least not in this dimensional plane.

  She sat quietly, thinking. Then, after a long pause, she set the tablet carefully down beside her. She looked up at the oracle that had been watching her patiently nearby.

  “Do you understand the terms, Smith, Aly?” It spoke in an oddly realistic tone. Its expressionless eyes somehow regarded her, even under its white shroud.

  Aly licked her dry lips. “How long?” Her voice cracked.

  “The length of time is unknown. Tests and examinations are still being performed. Once they are complete and we have a better understanding of your kind, and of your unique situation, we can proceed forward to—”

  “To take us...home?” Aly blurted.

  The oracle paused, gazing at her. “Perhaps. We will try.”

  That’s what they always said. She was beginning to theorize that one of the silions programmed them to say that and nothing more.

  Somehow, Aly still managed to nod her head. “And the others?” she asked.

  “Your group will be joining you. You will be given your own units as well as all necessary supplies.”

  Aly nodded again, only, this time, she frowned as well. “I don’t suppose a nice, cushy office job was available, huh?”

  The bot only looked at her, saying nothing. Aly couldn’t help but smirk. For all their intelligence, they couldn’t comprehend sarcasm. Then again, the silion scientists didn’t understand it either. Maybe it was a trait they lacked.

  Still, the frown returned, but Aly couldn’t bring herself to open her mouth and argue. What good would it do? She was helpless. She had been helpless ever since she had been taken. They were going to send her where they liked, even if it was to the very pits of hell.

  Because that’s really what the Lethe Maws were. Like hell in the real world. Only not hot but cold. Just as dark, just as full of horrors. The silions didn’t get it. Or, likely, they didn’t care. Maybe they thought humans were pests that they had been forced to deal with. The enforcers had dropped the humans in their laps, forced the silions to complete experiments (which they didn’t seem to mind as much), and then ordered them to house the humans where necessary.

  The Xolis Emperiom had an obligation to keep order and balance on this side of the universe, or at least in this galaxy—this realm—that they ruled within. All outsiders had to be assessed and placed accordingly. Many went to prisons, and most were forced into slave labor. If you weren’t a silion or a nillium, you weren’t considered a citizen. You had to earn that right.

  The Xolis—the so-called Galactic Council—had been “generous” enough the last three months, but that generosity only went so far. It was a miraculous wonder that Aly and the others were even being given their own housing units and supplies. They had tried to talk to them—to reason with them—and the Council had listened. But the humans were in their territory now, in their world. What hope they had of returning to human territory was slowly diminishing.

  And now, with the final blow of being sent to the mines, Aly truly began to think it was time she let that hope die. She could ask the oracles (or even the silion scientists) a dozen times, but the answer would always be the same.

  ‘Time you let it go, Aly,’ she thought. ‘This is your life now. Home is far away.’

  An image of the night sky through a hole in a cave shot through Aly’s brain. She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath that turned into a quiet, shaky laugh.

  “Are you in distress?” asked the oracle.

  Aly opened her eyes. “No.”

  “Then your examination is complete,” the bot said in a lifeless tone. It took the tablet from beside Aly then walked over to the door. The door opened. “You may proceed down to the waiting dock for further instruction. All your necessary supplies will be transferred over and arrive in a timely manner. Safe travels, and may you be in Nihl's sight.”

  Aly rose. She passed the bot without a glance and left the room.

  ***

  The blast was impressive, to say the least. Dust and bits of rock sprayed in all directions, hitting the sides of the cave wall then scattering over the floor. A light tremor shook the earth, and Ryziel was certain it would be felt all the way to the top, but, for that, he didn't worry. What he cared about now was what lay hidden on the other side of the wall they had just blown through.

  As the dust settled, he looked to Nar, who still gripped the detonator tight. When Nar nodded his head, Ryziel stepped through the thick wall and came out the other side. He held up a metallic sphere in his hand and twisted it soundly then flung it into the darkness. The orb flew up and flared into a brilliant blue light, swallowing the dark as it hung effortlessly in the air.

  Beyond lay a large cavern, about a hundred and fifty spans across, as large as the training field back home but not as large as the First House. Ryziel stepped forward cautiously as a wind picked up the dust and rock and blew it back into the chamber, picking up in a whirlwind at the very center. There, it flew upward into an opening in the ceiling, an opening that Ryziel was absolutely certain reached the very surface above.

  He was certain because the ship that lay before him now couldn't have gotten there otherwise.

  Ryziel stepped inside the chamber, with Nar following close behind. It was more of a shell than a working ship, actually. By the light that fell on it, Ryziel could see that some parts were indeed missing, some fallen away, and others possibly taken by scavengers for some unknown reason.

  Carefully, he and Nar examined in and around its hull. The urk scurried up one side, and Ryziel could hear him squeezing himself through a tear at the top.

  "Definitely a tradership, by the looks of it," Nar said. "The inside is surprisingly well intact, save for the holes in the walls. Some of the console is fried but probably fixable, definitely out of fuel." There was a light banging then. "Engine is intact, but some parts will need to be replaced in the engine bank, and the firing mechanism is shot."

  The ship was indeed in bad shape, judging by the look of it from the outside, with one wing torn to shreds on one side and several panels missing under its belly. The traders must have snuck onto the planet looking for precious minerals, only for the ship to malfunction possibly. Or something grabbed ahold of it from below, only for it to come falling down and landing in the deep dark. Landing, not crashing, he noted because otherwise, it
would have been in pieces. The traders, with their ship damaged, had flown it down in hopes of hiding it and fixing it. But clearly, something had gotten to them before they could. They were long gone, but their ship remained. Yes, it was in more disrepair than he had hoped, but one thing was certain: it could be fixed. It would fly.

  Ryziel placed a gentle hand on its metal siding and closed his eyes. This discovery couldn't have come at a better time, and he breathed a sigh of relief, though he didn't smile.

  Only a few days ago, he had come to find out of his father's death and of his uncle taking guardianship over First House. No one had come to tell him. He had found out through gossip from the enforcers above. But that didn't matter to him. All that mattered was that his father was gone, and he could now return home. Return to challenge his uncle. And be by his brother's side.

  Ryziel could see his brother now, a light in the darkness, smiling, with arms spread to welcome him. Ryziel opened his eyes slowly and dropped his hand. So long he had been waiting for this moment. For the chance to escape.

  And his father was finally dead.

  "I am coming, brother. And everything will be as it should." He backed away and tilted his head upward to look past the ship to the tunnel above and the light.

  Chapter One

  Lethe Maws

  It had been raining for days. Only now did it begin to slow, the last remnants falling down into the earth, sliding over rock in waterfalls, and disappearing into the darkness below.

  Aly pushed back the hood of her suit and wiped her brow, trying and failing to wipe away damp tendrils of hair from her face. She took up her mender once again and touched the tip of the tool gun to the bot, white sparks flying. The bot beeped and groaned to life, small blinking lights flashing sporadically.

  "Come on," she whispered softly, placing her mender to another pinpoint on the bot's chest.

  The bot jerked slightly then its lights beamed on, and it turned up its head. It clicked and beeped at her, and Aly gently placed it back on its feet. It wobbled on twig legs, looked at her with its bright eye, then went back to work as usual, as if it hadn't just fallen thirty feet off the side of the cave wall. Aly watched it go, still crouched on the metal grate platform, a chill taking hold of her as the bot climbed onward up the steep rocky incline. A soft light hit her from above, and she bent her head upward to see for the first time in days the moon peeking out from the angry clouds. Its light was dim but, being in the dark for so long, Aly could make out the beams of light just barely falling against metal and rock around her.

  Aly stared at it for some time as if in a trance, her mouth falling open slightly, then closing and morphing into a little smile as bits of rainwater splashed her face.

  Tonight, she'd go up to the cross bridge. Before the meeting.

  She placed her mender back onto her belt and turned for the elevator car when her techband went off. Her smile faded and a small pang hit her chest as she let out a groan. She knew who it was before she even took the call.

  "Smith, where are you?"

  Aly raised up her techband so the hologram of a beastly face was eye level with her own. "Hello, Braxin. I was just leaving Level thirty-four, Section B—"

  "I need to see you. Now." The hologram disappeared and the call ended.

  Aly sighed. She didn't need to imagine why her so-called "boss" needed to see her. She had a damn good feeling she already knew. Returning to the elevator car, she waved her hand over the sensor and the door slid open. Water dribbled and sprayed down over the metal cage as she entered and pressed the button for level fifteen. The door closed, and the elevator started, moving upward with a whoosh.

  Aly watched the landing she had just left fade away and looked around at the vast cavern before her. A big (really big) hole filled with twinkling orange, blue, and green lights scraping the edges of the surface and trickling down. Down into an unfathomably deep chasm.

  There were other holes stretching for miles and caverns leading into deeper sections; a network of cave systems and tunnels leading into chambers and rooms, some as small as her unit back on her old ship, others as large as a small city. Vast, fathomless, dark.

  Lethe Maws, her... troubling home away from home.

  A wind picked up as she got closer to the surface, shaking the car slightly and pelting her with a mist of water and cold air. Her face felt the icy touch, but her body did not. If there was one thing that made working in the mines tolerable, it was the slipsuits; skin-tight and warm, like having an extra-thick layer of skin in the form of small, durable gray-blue scales. Her body stayed dry and warm but not uncomfortable.

  She clicked on a light on the collar of her suit and checked her waistbelt, making sure everything was in place. The last thing she needed was to lose another tool given to her and have another reason for Braxin to scold her.

  The belt was cinched tight and all tools accounted for. She checked her techband, and it, too, was secured tightly on her wrist. She definitely didn't want to lose one of those again.

  The elevator came to a smooth stop, entering one of the many hubs. As the door opened, Aly stepped out and turned left, making her way down a narrow passage. She passed by a few grex. They eyed her with their reptilian gazes, their nostrils flaring, but Aly only nodded her head and gave a small smile, keeping her eyes down, to acknowledge she was no threat. She slipped by and quickly made her way to the central base of the hub.

  There were more people as she got closer. She refused to call them aliens like some of her team. They were people. Just not human. According to the Xolis, in fact, some were silion. But not all.

  Aly made her way down the passage until she came to a large opening where, inside, metal crates were being organized by various armbots.

  "Smith, over here."

  Aly glanced around and saw Braxin gesturing for her to come. She followed the burly, beast-like man into his work unit, where he sat down at his console and pointed to the chair beside him. "Sit."

  Aly did as told. She sat quietly, with hands clasped on her thighs, waiting patiently. Braxin watched her with his yellow eyes. The "miserable lion," as Aly liked to call him, was looking more put out than usual.

  "I received another report that you got in the way of an abbiot's work," he said with a slight growl in his throat.

  Aly bit the inside of her cheek and pushed back the strawberry-blonde locks of hair that were getting in her eyes. "I wouldn't call it getting in the way exactly, sir," she said as quietly as possible.

  Braxin tapped a dark, taloned finger on his tableboard. "What would you call it, then? And don't say you were trying to help."

  Aly's face heated, water dripping down the side of her face to her neck, making her shiver. She had no response, and with that, Braxin let out a bellow of breath.

  "Did they not teach you humans anything at the facility?" Braxin showed his teeth. "Or are you just looking to start something?"

  Aly opened her mouth. "No—no, I just happened to be by and was trying to aid—"

  "First mistake," Braxin said.

  "—And I didn't realize that was seen as very rude to them," Aly finished softly.

  "I'll say it again. No one here needs your help. The other humans have learned, why can't you, hm? You have one job. Stick to it. If I catch you trying to aid another group again, I’ll send you to the warehouses. Learn your place. No one is looking to make friends. Just credits."

  Aly nodded. "I understand." She got up to go when he stopped her once more.

  "And stay in your designated area. I heard you were caught sneaking around past level fifty again. This is your final warning. It's your hide if you want to get eaten or killed. You know the rules." Braxin turned back to his console. "You're off-shift, so I expect you to go straight to your unit."

  "Actually, we are having a meeting...my team. In the old station."

  Braxin side-eyed her, his nose scrunching slightly. "Go to the meeting then go home. That's an order."

  Aly nodded and gav
e a little smile, then left quietly. When Braxin's door closed behind her, she let out a breath and took her time leaving the hub. She would stick to his orders, but the meeting wasn't for another hour. She would take the long way over.

  She thought of the cross bridge and of the moon overhead. A little detour, that was all. And likely, no one would be up there with the shift change.

  She had only encountered the bridge a week ago, and only after noticing it while looking up from the platform of level twelve in section C, where the cavern was wider and had an opening above the platform where a long bridge could be seen. It was more like a set of bridges, actually, that intersected one another like a web. And it was set at one of the highest points, close to the surface. Close enough where light actually touched.

  No one seemed to use it anymore as it had once been used to get across to other sections but now, with the elevator cars and other transports, the bridge (and many of the stairways) were seldom used. Only Aly cared to ever use them to sneak to various points outside her designated area.

  As she exited the hub and made for an elevator once more, her pace quickened.

  Just a little detour.

  ***

  The sluth did not see him at first, but it certainly must have sensed him, for it shrieked loudly and shot away into a narrow hole as he passed by its hiding place. It must have caught his scent, but Ryziel didn't much care. It was funny how the sluth could be such nasty, vile creatures and cause even the toughest miner to go running for the surface, but they turned into simpering cowards the moment he made his presence known. They were at least smart enough to know what was prey and what was not.

  It had been weeks since he had seen a sluth because it had been weeks since he had left his home. He had been so obsessed with fixing the ship and getting the necessary materials for the fix that he had lost track of time.

  It wasn't until Nar told him the second mender had broken and that their drill was slowing that he had any thought to leaving and only because the tools were vital for the ship. Xilya could have gotten them, but she was on a personal mission already and wouldn't be back for another mooncycle. And Nar didn't leave the underground ever.