I hereby claim no right to his works, nor any intimate knowledge to the story of Outsider.
Reforged is the first sequel of Looking forward to the mirror, taking place about 50 years after the end of the Great War. It serves as a bridge to the next story I have planned out in expanding the setting that has been put in place at the epilogue.
http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... f=4&t=1036
The prologue of Reforged is the Omake I posted as a treat here
http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 480#p24480
I can't promise timely updates since I am working as a full time accountant but I can say that the manuscript has already progressed well enough and I have been working on it for a few months already.
INDEX
Code: Select all
Chapter 1, part 1: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=28926#p28926
Chapter 1, part 2: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=28998#p28998
Chapter 2, Part 1: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=29159#p29159
Chapter 2, part 2: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=29325#p29325
Chapter 2, part 3: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=30636#p30636
Chapter 3, part 1: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=30766#p30766
Chapter 3, part 2: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=30915#p30915
Chapter 3, part 3: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=31081#p31081
Chapter 3, part 4: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=31346#p31346
Chapter 4, part 1: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=31745#p31745
Chapter 4, part 2: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=31995#p31995
Chapter 4, Part 3: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=32803#p32803
Chapter 5, Part 1: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=32852#p32852
Chapter 5, part 2: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=33375#p33375
Chapter 6, part 1: https://well-of-souls.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=39682#p39682
Chapter 6, part 2: https://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=40163#p40163
Chapter 6, part 3: https://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=41683#p41683
Prologue
She took her time reading the report she was given right before she entered the spartan interrogation room, the Mizol Sanzet wasn’t going anywhere the way she was tied up on the interrogation chair and with the drugs having already taken effect. She smiled and nodded to the one way mirror when she finished reading and turned her attention to the prisoner.
“Reading all this I have to conclude that either your superiors are just idiots or that your caste sends the undesirables our way in order to teach them a lesson.” She said to the dazed Mizol who just groaned as she tried to keep herself focused.
“How did you even pass your trials if this is all it takes for you to lose focus?” She sent and the Mizol looked at her groggily with anger flaring at the back of her mind as she took that as a personal insult. “I take it then that you were the irredeemable weakling of the band? You are wearing your caste’s armor so that means that you did go through the trials somehow… So what did you do to redeem yourself to the others and your elders?” The Mizol remembered something painful at that point but pushed the sentiment back.
“On Deinar the band usually agrees to feed the irredeemable weakling to a wild miros pack if she doesn’t resign on her own; that was the choice I was given by my diral leader before I resigned.” She continued and smiled. “But they don’t have wild miros on Perrein, they have sori.” The Mizol tensed up at that and tried to lash out telepathically at her, she easily deflected the attack and chuckled at the implication.
“So they did try out the Sori approach. Was it just a poisonous one or they went the extra step to find out a pregnant one to inject you with its eggs?” She asked and the Mizol didn’t have to send the reply as the answer immediately flashed at the fore front of her mind.
Eggs
“Where did it put them in? Your breasts or your ass?” She asked again and the answer again came out on its own.
Breasts
“Nasty…” She sent mockingly and smiled as she sensed the warrior’s inner conflict. “So that means that you had an emergency field mastectomy and the diral band being what it is you had the choice of a sharp rock or somehow getting the knife from your diral leader since she certainly wouldn’t willingly risk it with you. So which was it?”
Rock and Fire
“And since you are here, still alive and still incompetent it means that the rest of the band was impressed by your will to survive and called for help despite the possibility of the entire band being punished for that!” She couldn’t help but laugh at that. “It’s a real pity that your stubbornness and will to survive won’t help you now Mizol.”
“I won’t divulge anything so just kill me already...” The Mizol finally sent, somehow managing to find the mental resolve to accept death.
“Kill you? No, the paperwork alone isn’t worth your life and they really don’t like it when we kill fools like you. No, I am just going to stay here with you, keep you some company, have a chat; that kind of thing. Of course you can save everyone some time by just telling us what we want to know here and now.”
“Do you really think that I will say anything to you traitor even with the drugs you pumped into me?” The Mizol replied.
“Traitor? I wasn’t the one who did the betraying.” She replied calmly knowing where this was going.
“You are wearing an alien uniform and you serve alien masters!” The Mizol pointed out.
“And long before I chose to wear this uniform I was frog marched onto a transport to be exiled by your caste because I wanted something better for me and my friends. Acting while watching the spoils of war that we helped attain be distributed almost exclusively to aliens isn’t treason; disregarding our efforts is.”
“You civilians did nothing of worth!” The Mizol snapped back and received a downwards left straight to her right eye in response.
“Who do you think worked the mines and factories with barely any sleep between shifts? Who toiled in the fields to grow the food that were your rations? Who raised your young at the crèches? What did we get for all this effort that kept you fed, armed and reinforced? We only ended up abandoned when you failed to protect our colony worlds and further marginalized when you fools gave everything of worth to aliens!” The Mizol elected not to reply and closed her mind as best as she could but her anger and disgust were still easily felt. “Nothing to say? You warriors may have fought and died fighting when we broke our bodies and minds to supply everything that you needed so you fools could keep fighting a war that you would have lost if not for our template species!”
“The humans are animals!” Another punch straight down to the Mizol’s nose which let out a gratifying crack as it broke.
“Piece of advice young fool: Keep that to yourself around us if you want to remain intact!” The tied up Mizol just stared back angrily at her as blood flowed freely from her now broken nose.
“Let me tell you how these ‘animals’ treated us when we ‘migrated’ to their new colony worlds” She begun after recollecting her thoughts. “There were plenty who didn’t want us there. You warriors attacking their freighters and transports for the actions of criminals made sure of that. Your actions were more than enough for them to be terrified of the telepathic monsters who knew only genocide and destruction. We were rightfully seen as threats and a forcibly implanted fifth column by the Union who regretted giving them the worlds they had just settled on. With such an outlook we expected that our lives would at best be eternal confinement and slave labor at the camps and at worse subjected to the rightful scorn and hatred from aliens that would hate us because of you.” She shook her head and smiled before continuing.
“But human males and ours have a lot of things in common; one of those common traits being their desire for females. Some of them were curious from the first day; they approached us on their own and tried to communicate with us despite the fact that most of us didn’t know how to speak even Trade! You can imagine how awkward those first meetings were with most of us unable to speak and them being tall alien males. The second day more of them came but those who came the first day brought various gifts; clothes and food mostly since we weren’t allowed to take much with us and the human government was unable to provide much for the large influx of exiles. The third day there were even more males who showed up on their own throughout the day and they had already started organizing themselves on their own to help us.” She let out an involuntary sigh at that memory. “Males organizing themselves to help us with what we needed and lacked… It was then that we learned firsthand how different the two kinds of males are with one another. We couldn’t believe at first and we had to repeatedly witness the fact that they are the warriors and the natural providers of their kind to believe it; they are the same as us in that regard but we are the direct copies of their females and we were in need of everything imaginable those days, they provided everything and more. It was infuriating and amazing in equal measure to witness dozens if not hundreds of their males to aid us as best as they could in the limited free time they had available. If we needed food and clothing we would get it almost immediately, they saw that we lived in tents and they started building communal houses for us, they knew that we couldn’t speak their language and they started teaching us how to communicate with them. Of course we protested them helping us when we did almost nothing, it took some convincing but in the end they reluctantly agreed to let us help them with the heavier work and they agreed solely because human males are almost unable to say no to an attractive female, in the exact same way that we are unable to say no to an attractive male.” She laughed at that and turned her attention back to the Mizol whose nose had already stopped bleeding.
“The irony of ironies was the fact that the vast majority of the males who helped us were the very same individuals who initially opposed us settling near them. My mate admitted later that he vehemently opposed to us being there. Like a fool I asked him why he and the others helped us so much then; he replied that he couldn’t just let us women be in those damn tents with barely any clothing and food. Human males are biologically hardwired to pursue, savor and protect females in much the same way we do males. We faced no meaningful hardship because these ‘animals’ who were afraid and terrified of us couldn’t bring themselves not to help us. Their females of course didn’t like this volunteering from their males, especially when we started partnering with them when they proposed it but who cares what their females think? Their inability to figure out and attract their own males is their own problem; a failure of theirs that is magnified by the fact that we cannot even bear their children and that their males have a Lotai; in the end the competition did them some good in finding out how to become even more alluring to their males but the fact is that we are still called the superior females!” She sensed that the Mizol still had her mental defenses up as she expected and she continued as planned.
“The most amusing thing of all is that we ended up having unlimited and exclusive access to our human mates when you warriors have again been reduced to the pre-war access scheme by this point. Of course there are the exceptions of the warriors that man the various embassies and consulates at this side of the Wasteland.” She didn’t need to sense the mental recoil from the Mizol, her physical reaction was proof enough on its own.
“Admit it, you all choose to sample the goods whenever the opportunity presents itself, especially Mizols who have learned how talkative human males are when mating with a proper female.” She sensed apprehension in her captive's mind and pressed on. “How many times have you laid with an animal, Mizol?” The Mizol tried to telepathically attack her again at that but she brushed it aside with a chuckle.
“How many times Mizol?”
“I WAS FOLLOWING ORDERS!” The Mizol shouted.
“Orders that had you mounting males! How many times?” She repeated while laughing.
“96 times.” The Mizol finally answered.
“With how many animals?”
“One.” The answer surprised her and she first took a look the notes she was holding and then looked at the one way mirror in disbelief before realizing that she could use this.
“One at a time? Or just one partner?”
“Just the one.”
“Let me guess, Evan Jacobs a mid tier defense and intelligence analyst for the department of defense and various think tanks.” The Mizol stiffened at that, both physically and mentally.
“We keep you Mizols under close watch from the moment you step in Confederation space; in fact we have been screening all you warriors from the moment we decided to protect these males from you.” The Mizol realized something at that moment and her mind seethed with anger.
“Yes, we were the ones who informed him that you had bugged his computers in order to leech information off of him. He didn’t take it lightly did he?” The Mizol didn’t reply but she stared back at her furiously. “It’s obvious from the report that he is very much like mine, a man that closely resembles our own in personality; someone who prefers mental and philosophical pursuits. The kind who wishes for you to be close to him at all times, to embrace you with a gentle intensity that makes you think that just the act of pushing him away is tantamount to torture for him. How was it lying to him while he whispered words of love and compassion to you? How did you feel when you felt his warmth after taking advantage of him?” The Mizol was still angry but she just stared at the floor in defeat.
“Is he an animal?”
“He is a lying alien with a Lotai.” The Mizol recited in a way that made it obvious that she didn’t wholeheartedly believe it.
“At least he is not an animal anymore…” She teased the hapless Mizol. “Now lets see if you can admit that you lied more to him than he did to you.”
“The Lotai is proof enough of their lies.”
“I usually hear that from Soroins not Mizols.” She joked before pressing forth.
“You lied to him from the beginning; you took advantage of his trust and placed him in a perilous position. Personally I am surprised that you didn’t fuck around like some others do and kept yourself focused and loyal to the single one.”
“I only did what my orders required.”
“And how did it feel to be the exclusive female with him?” The Mizol tried to close her mind as best as she could but her self-loathing and regret was easy to sense.
“Their monogamous tendencies are what make the truth obvious, only a fool is blind enough not to understand their love and commitment to their chosen mate. You realized it at some point, perhaps not at first but certainly when you were embracing each other. It was after this realization that you faced the choice between him and those who deny the truth and wish them harm.” The Mizol teared up at that, her mind becoming increasingly unstable. “And between the one who loved you and the ones who almost murdered you in the diral you chose the latter like the weak willed cowardly fool that you are. How does it feel choosing those who fed you to a Sori?” She smiled crookedly at the increased self loathing and apprehension she sensed.
“In the end you decided to act like a human and started lying to yourself in order to rid yourself of the uncomfortable truth ‘It’s just that my hormones are out of control, he is not a true male, I am becoming weak because of him’. I have heard all this and more from dozens of stupid warriors who deny the truth after realizing it but this tends to break you foolish warriors if you keep at it. That’s why they rotate you rather quickly from the embassies. You Mizols however have it far worse since you lying scum have the benefit of realizing the truth almost immediately yet most young fools like yourself still choose to perpetuate the lie and still seek out ways to harm them with the aim of exterminating them and what they represent to the Union.” She sensed the opportunity and immediately reached and put her palm to the Mizol’s forehead.
“DID…YOU…THINK…THAT…WE…WOULDN’T…BE…PREPARED…TO …PROTECT…THESE…MALES…FROM…LIARS…SUCH…AS…YOU?” She lashed out telepathically, the mental defenses of the hapless Mizol crumbling almost immediately.
“Did you think that we stood idle all these Tozons? That we didn’t prepare ourselves for when you scum would decide to act on your lies? Did you think that we forgot what it means to protect the males?” She ranted as the Mizol failed to offer any resistance. “Our mothers were weak and resigned, we were weak and resigned…” She sighed and recollected herself when the memory of her resignation from her Soroi Diral band came back to her.
“DID…YOU…THINK…THAT…WE…WOULDN’T…REFORGE…OURSELVES…TO…PROTECT…THESE…MALES?” The Mizol’s mind finally buckled and collapsed at that, she probed her mind and mentally reached out to call for the others.
“She is ready, extract what she knows, heal her and cut her hair off before dropping her off at the usual place.”
“Yes, Lieutenant.” She took off her amplifier and made to leave but hesitated for a moment and turned to face the broken Mizol.
“Had you resigned back then you would have no problem in accepting the truth and him.” She said, knowing that the Mizol was too disoriented to understand what she was saying now but perhaps she would remember later. “Who knows, perhaps you would have ended up choosing Alexandra for your spoken name as well.”