CHAPTER 21: CHAPTER 21: ALIEN

Jace listened to the low, warbling hum echoing through the tunnels.

It faded, then returned, like it was bouncing off unseen walls, always just a few steps ahead.

He kept walking, flashlight flickering in his hand, guided by Zin’s voice in his head.

[Another turn coming. Move slow. The floor’s uneven.]

Jace nodded instinctively and rounded the corner.

Then he stopped cold.

His heart jumped into his throat. His body froze on instinct. Right in front of him, crouched in the center of the tunnel, was the one thing he feared more than anything.

He screamed, loud, raw, unfiltered panic.

The flashlight slipped from his fingers, clattering into a shallow puddle. Its beam twisted, casting jagged shadows along the wall. Jace stumbled back, chest heaving as his vision blurred.

But before he could get his bearings, a second, piercing shriek rang out from the tunnel, not from him.

It was high-pitched and agonizing, like glass cracking in the air.

And then, the thing he thought he saw, was gone. Just the sound of his own breath and the rippling water.

Jace stood still for a moment, confused, trembling. He blinked rapidly, trying to adjust his eyes to the flickering light bouncing from the tunnel walls.

Slowly, he stepped forward, reaching for the flashlight. The water soaked his sleeve as he grabbed it.

He raised the beam cautiously.

There was someone there.

Barely visible. Curled into a corner against the wall.

He squinted.

A girl, no, not human. Slender frame, dark skin with faint, shifting patterns that almost looked like scars or fading tattoos.

Her knees were pulled to her chest, and her arms wrapped tightly around them.

She was shaking.

Jace froze, not out of fear, but confusion.

She wasn’t attacking and wasn’t moving. She was cowering.

In the dim, unsteady light, she looked... terrified.

Jace kept his voice low. "Hey..."

[Jace, be careful. I haven’t scanned her, she might be hostile.]

Jace heard Zin’s warning, but he didn’t move. Something about the girl in front of him just didn’t feel dangerous.

She was curled up, visibly trembling, her entire body tense like a trapped animal. Nothing about her posture suggested aggression.

"I don’t think she is," he whispered.

He raised his flashlight again, its beam illuminating her more clearly this time.

She didn’t have hair, instead, two thick, white tendrils flowed back from the crown of her head, pulsing faintly with soft light.

Her skin was a translucent bluish-green, almost like glass with sea-colored undertones. Beneath the surface, faint veins or markings glowed irregularly.

When she lifted her head, her eyes met his.

They weren’t fully white or black, but a glowing swirl of both, as if ink had dropped into light and never stopped shifting.

Jace slowly reached a hand toward her, not to touch, just to show he wasn’t a threat. "Hey..."

Her lips parted, and she finally spoke, but the sound made Jace freeze. It wasn’t words. It was like listening to a child babble in tones and pitches that had no pattern or structure he could grasp.

He blinked. "Zin... can you understand that?"

[One moment. I’m running a search through linguistic archives.]

Jace kept still, not taking his eyes off her. She looked at him with open confusion, like she was just as unsure of him as he was of her. There was no hate. No anger. Just fear.

[Partial match found. The language is called Narim, native to a race known as the Areni.]

"Areni?"

[Yes. Mildly aquatic, low-gravity origin. Skin adjusts in pigmentation for minor camouflage. The tendrils are sensory organs. Their eyesight and hearing are both hypersensitive to vibrations, likely why your scream overwhelmed her.]

Jace winced. "Shit... I didn’t mean to."

[Understood. I’ve processed the basic grammar. I can handle translation both ways now.]

Jace stood slowly. "Then tell her this: I have to go help someone right now. But I’ll come back for her. She’s not safe here. So if she wants to live, she needs to follow me. Can you do that?"

[Yes.]

Zin translated in a gentle, harmonic version of her language. It echoed faintly down the tunnel, and Jace watched as her expression shifted. She looked from Zin’s voice to Jace again, processing.

She didn’t respond right away.

She simply stood. Slowly. Carefully.

And nodded.

Jace exhaled. "Good."

He looked down the tunnel again, toward where the monster still waited, somewhere beyond the walls. "Let’s go. We don’t have time."

[Way forward recalculated. Route remains dangerous, but the fastest. I’ll adjust for her pace.]

Jace nodded and started walking. Behind him, soft footsteps followed. The Areni girl stayed close, eyes wide, tendrils twitching at every sound.

As they rushed through the tunnel, the flicker of Jace’s flashlight bounced along the curved walls.

Zin’s voice returned in his head, firm but cautious.

[Jace, how do you plan to take her in? She doesn’t speak English. From what I’ve gathered, her species requires regular exposure to moisture and moderate sunlight to maintain stability. That’s not exactly something you can provide in a cramped apartment. And her appearance will draw attention.]

Jace gritted his teeth. "...I don’t know. Maybe she can stay in that building eva gave us. Or hell, maybe the apartment. We’ll figure it out after Eva."

[She will not pass unnoticed in public. And keeping her hidden may be—]

"I said we’ll talk about her later."

There was no time to plan her future. Not now.

They kept running, dodging collapsed pipes and stepping over exposed cables. Water dripped from above, soaking their shoulders.

Jace pushed through the fatigue, focusing on the only thing that mattered in this moment, getting to Eva before it was too late.

But the thought lingered in his head like an itch he couldn’t ignore.

It wasn’t about where the girl would stay. It was Eva.

How was he going to explain this? A pale-skinned, glowing-eyed alien following him through the tunnels like a stray animal.

Eva didn’t even know aliens existed, and after what that monster outside had done, dropping the truth now might only terrify her more.

She wouldn’t understand. Hell, she’d probably panic.

And if she thought he was lying, or worse, on the same side as whatever had attacked the city, he wasn’t sure how she’d react.

He kept running. But the thought stuck with him.

She’s not going to trust me. Not after this.