Bab 62: 61: Star Child: Dunes of Tolapo XXII
"What do you mean don't over react?" Astrid asked now highly suspicious. I sheepishly scratched my cheek and avoided her gaze.
"I tried to heal the ascended and found out that some of his genes are corrupted because of the ritual that Tarrika and Raziri performed on him and tried to fix it. I did fix it but I accidently changed it a little…" I explained. Astrid narrowed her eyes at me.
"Define a little…"
"Let me just show you…" I said then held my right hand up. "Come one Ascen…."
I froze mid sentence and looked at my farm crystal. I wanted to summon through ascended but just calling it by its classification seemed too impersonal. I thought a moment on what to call him. Tarrika had originally named him Alpa which meant treasure in Universal standard. While the innocent and bashfully boy that Tarrika once was is now gone the ascended did still represent some part of the boy he once was. It then dawn on me what his new name should be.
"ALPA'NAGIA!" I roared. A crystalline structure shot out of my crystal and landed a few feet away in the sand past the boulders. It shattered and Apla'nagia burst from the crystal all four wings opened to full span and its four arms stretched to the stars. It let out a deafening roar then looked down at both Astrid and I.
"You ssssssummoned me Ssssstar Ssssshaper?" Alpa'nagia asked. The fact he could talk surprised me, I thought the reason we were able to communicate was because we were both in a space in my crystal.
'I guess my DNA changed a lot more than just his looks….' I thought.
Astrid had a stoic look on her face as she looked up at Alpa'nagia then back over at me. She held a finger up and pointed at Alpa'nagia..
"Is that the ascended sonic viper?" She asked calmly.
"Yes. His name is Alpa'nagia now." I replied. Astrid nodded slowly.
"Excuse me…" She said politely then walked past me to the other side of the twin boulders out of sight. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME! HOW THE HELL DOES THAT COUNT AS A SMALL CHANGE! IT HAS ARMS NOW! FOUR! ARMS! AND IT CAN TALK! THAT'S NOT EVEN THE SAME TYPE ANYMORE! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Alpa'nagia and I shared a concerned look then watched as Astrid walked back into view looking calm and composed again. She stood next to me as if nothing had happened.
"You okay Astrid?" I asked cautiously.
"Never better. Now, about dealing with the other sonic vipers and getting back to the village." Astrid said.
"That's right. Alpa'nagia can you still control all the Sonic Vipers?" I asked.
Alpa'nagia closed his eyes for a second and I felt a wave of nausea wash over me as hundreds of thousands of voice echoed in my head. They were silenced almost instantly with a word from Alpa'nagia.
[Sssssilence.] It was barely a whisper but it held so much weight and authority. I felt the attention of every sonic viper on the continent on me, well Alpa'nagia to be specific, waiting for his next command.
"That's a yes." I said to Astrid then shook my head. "I can feel them all in my head, like a swarm of bees."
"I don't envy you that feeling…" Astrid said with a wince.
"What issssss your command Sssssstar Ssssssshaper?" Alpa'nagia asked his eyes once again open. I thought about it for a second then smirked.
"We'll need to find Dakarai if he's still in the tunnels. Have about a few thousand of the sonic vipers look for him then have the rest standing by. If they find him have then report to you." I ordered.
Alpa'nagia nodded. "Assssss you command."
He once again owed his eyes and I felt my instructions being relayed to the others. Once that was done the presence of all the Sonic Vipers suddenly vanished.
"Now how about getting us back to the village?" I asked
"Of courssssssse Ssssstar Ssssshaper." Alpa'nagia replied.
He reached out and lifted both Astrid and I with two hands. He then brought us close to his chest and snapped open his wings. He slithered quickly along the sand before flapping his wings and soaring high into the night sky.
"Oh my gods!" Astrid screamed as her feet dangled in the air. Alpa'nagia moved his other hand so her feet were secured and did the same for me. Alpa'nagia flew south and seemed confident in his direction. I quickly realized I could see the village in the distance, we were a little farther away than I would have guessed.
I instructed Alpa'nagia to fly low to thd ground and head towards the main gate. He no longer looked like a sonic viper so I was hoping that the warriors posted at the gate wouldn't shoot at him when they saw it.
We passed through the barrier that surrounded the village with no problems. As we approached the gate I had Alpa'nagia land and set both Astrid and I on the ground. I expected to hear warriors demanding to know who we were or some type of response but there was nothing.
"Hello?!" I yelled at the gates but there was no reply. Astrid looked at me with worry.
"Something is not right." Astrid said. I nodded then looked up at Alpa'nagia..
"Can you get us over the gate?" I asked. Alpa'nagia nodded and grabbed both Astrid and I then flew over the gate. I glanced down as we passed over and saw that there were three warriors slumped over in the tower next to the gate. Alpa'nagia landed on the other side and I saw hundreds of women, men, and children just lying in the streets, against doorways, over boxes.
"What in the…" Astrid gasped.
I rushed over to the nearest person, a young Tolapo girl, and checked to see if they were hurt. There wasn't a scratch on the child she was still breathing. Frowning I checked a young boy laying next to her and he was the same.
"I think they are all asleep." Astrid said. I looked over and saw her checking a warrior that was unconscious.
"Yeah, but what caused this…?" I asked.
"Raziri…" Alpa'nagia hissed. Astrid and I both turned to Alpa'nagia,, who was looking towards the tower in the center of the village. His forked tongue jutted out as he smelled the air. "Her plan ssssssucceedssssss!"
"Plan? What plan?" Astrid asked.
"Revenge on the village. Vengeance againsssssst her father. Ssssshe tricked him into preforming the ritual and attacking the village. Ssssshe planned to have him executed and then attack the village again once their guard wassss down. Using magic inssssstead of my brethren." Alpa'nagia replied.
"Why didn't you tell us this before?!" Astrid yelled.
"He hasn't been on our side long Astrid, so give him a break." I said much to Alpa'nagia's relief. "Though I am curious how you know about all this and why I didn't see it when I saw your memories."
Alpa'nagia opened his mouth and pointed at a scar at the roof of his mouth, it looked to be shaped like a sigil.
"She carved a sigil into you to silence you." I said. "That's why she felt safe to talk around you…do you know what the spell she wanted to use on the village was?"
Alpa'nagia shook his head but turned back to the tower and hissed.
"The tower issss the key. Sssssshe alwayssss ssssssaid." Alpa'nagia said.
Astrid and I looked to the tower as well. It didn't look any different but it had a ominous aura around it.
"Bone-lasher!" I yelled as Bone-lasher's structure shot out of my farm crystal. He landed next to me and scanned the area until he saw Alpa'nagia. Bone-lasher growled at the evo and positioned itself between me and it. "Bone-lasher he's on our side! That's the sonic viper who's memories we were walking through earlier."
[Smells weird.] Bone-lasher growled in my mind.
[Sssssssilly creature. At leasssssst I don't look weird.] Alpa'nagia hissed in my mind. Bone-lasher growled and stalked towards Alpa'nagia..
"Gods! Argue later! We got bigger problems now!" I snapped. Bone-lasher and Alpa'nagia both looked at me surprised then glared at each other and turned away.
'Gods above can Bone-lasher not automatically dislike every evo he meets?' I thought grimly.
That thought however was silenced quickly by a loud and familiar popping noise in the distance. Astrid, Bone-lasher, Alpa'nagia, and I all turned and looked toward the direction of the sound which seemed to come from the tower.
"Was that a gunshot?" Astrid asked then shook her head dismissively. "No it can't be. I haven't seen any of the warriors or villagers hold a…."
Astrid's sentence was cut off by three more loud pops ringing off in the distance. This time if was unmistakable, those were defiantly gunshots.
"Bone, take the alley to the right and head towards that sound! Alpa, you take the one on the left. Astrid on me!" I yelled and pointed as I ran down the main street towards the tower. I could here Astrid's rapid footsteps behind me as I tried to push down the panic I was feeling.
'Iris, Jane, Auntie Luna, please be safe!' I thought.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
Hutexa_The_Djinn
Hutexa_The_Djinn Evo Fact: While there are several evos that have human DNA worked into them there has never been a evo that had human DNA added after creation. The effects of such a change are unknown but highly theorized. The greater splicer community has attempted such a fusion hundres of thousands of times all ending in failures.
[HUTEXA_THE_DJINN here! Another chapter coming at you! The stunning conclusion to the Dunes of Tolapo sub-saga us not far off!]
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone