Heaven/Hell

The evacuation announcement came eventually. Five days after that, half the villages in the northwest region were abandoned. Five more days passed and the entire region was left empty and the Iridem took refuge in neighboring villages or found homes elsewhere.

Everything they ever knew was coming to an end.

The humans were the last to leave. Dr. Arrow ordered them to make sure the Iridem had evacuated and were gone from the area. Only then were they allowed to leave, once each Pioneer sent their observations to Dr. Arrow.

Demetria and Ares wandered around the villages, solemnly. For nineteen years they lived in the Spiritus village and in a month, it was going to be demolished. Even if life came back to it and they were able to move back, it wouldn't be the same. Everything would change.

"Remember when someone made a hole here and covered it up with leaves and sticks and you accidentally fell through it?" Demetria asked, laughing at the memory.

"I still hear ringing in my ears," Ares replied, jokingly.

For an hour, they did that. They pointed to simple trees or a wall or even a patch of grass and suddenly remember things about it. They had nineteen years of memories; they were bound to find something from the littlest of things.

Demetria realized that she felt more angry than sad about the ordeal. She read articles about how oil on Earth was never going to run out. And even if it did, they had alternative sources. Humans on Earth were prepared for the worst, and yet they were still going to blow up a fourth of Planet X just to take something they didn't even need.

It added another reason onto her list of why she hated Dr. Stephen Arrow.

"Wait–" Ares stopped, suddenly, darting his head in every direction. Demetria looked at him and then looked around, waiting for something to appear, but she couldn't see what Ares was seeing.

"What are you–"

"Shh!" He hissed. Then, he raised his voice. "We know you're here! We are unarmed and we won't hurt you!" he called. Demetria looked around and her eyes stopped when a bush shuffled. Behind it appeared four Iridem holding out their weapons. Both Ares and Demetria raised their arms above their heads.

"We're not here to hurt you," Demetria repeated. The Iridem did not move. There were two blue-skinned Iridem, a shade similar to Caelum's, a red-skinned, and a brown-skinned. They held their weapons ready and their eyes turned red. Demetria was counting in her head when they should run, but suddenly someone jumped out of the tree and landed in front of them.

It was Silva.

"What are you doing here, vermin?" he spat. He stood at well over six feet tall and even if Demetria was afraid of him, especially after their last encounter, she didn't show it. As apart of the Human X, they were taught to never falter and to always hold their ground. They were the species in limbo–humans but not citizens of Earth, citizens of Planet X but not Iridem. They always had to be on the lookout.

"You have to leave, Silva," Ares announced. "They will kill you."

Silva took a step forwards, but Ares didn't falter.

"Are you threatening me, human?"

Ares shook his head. "No. Dr. Arrow will kill you if you don’t evacuate with everyone else.”

Silva scoffed. "I am not afraid of him. We are Iridem. We are more powerful than humans."

"Which is why humans created technology to make us more powerful than you!" Demetria exclaimed. Silva's head snapped to her and his eyes narrowed. "Silva, listen to us. We are on your side! In fact, we can help!" She glanced at her brother because of her sudden decision, but he nodded his head in agreement.

"Humans are traitors," he spat. "You do nothing but destroy our planet. We should kill you."

He pulled out a spear from behind him and the twins took a step back. Demetria's heart began racing; she had a strong feeling that Silva was really going to use it.

"Silva." Caelum appeared from nowhere. Demetria had a sudden thought that he could also teleport, but that was actually absurd. He gave Demetria and Ares a nod and approached his friend, resting a hand on his shoulder.

Silva lowered his weapon. His nostrils flared and he crossed his light green arms.

"You are not allowed to be with us. Let us be and we will let you be,” he said, stiffly.

"Having humans on your side gives you an advantage!" Ares shouted. "We know what kind of weapons Arrow is going to use and we have the technology that will help you more than your daggers and spears!"

Silva was silent. His eyes landed on Demetria and she stared back at him, trying her hardest not to break the contact. She held her chin up and she took a breath, still keeping her eyes locked on Silva's. They were silent for what felt like hours. The four Iridem behind them relaxed their war stances, but kept their weapons out. Caelum kept muttering Silva's name and Ares even glanced between the two of them, but nothing broke their contact.

It wasn't until they heard a loud bang! that their connection was broken. Ares pulled Demetria towards him and they threw themselves behind a bush while Silva started yelling and pulled out his spear. Iridem appeared from nowhere and Demetria heard more loud bangs that she assumed to be guns. She poked her head out from behind the bush and watched her fellow Planet X citizens charge towards something that she couldn't see. She watched as Caelum threw his dagger at something and it somehow came back to him, like a boomerang.

"What the hell is happening?" Ares yelled. His head poked out from the other side of the bush. Demetria couldn't answer. She looked around, but her eyes landed on Silva, who was fighting something in big, black armor.

"Humans!" Demetria screeched. Ares looked at her, questioningly, and she pointed. "That's Arrow's armor! These are humans!"

Ares yelled, "Fuck!" just as Silva was thrown to the ground and his spear fell out of his hand and landed too far away for him to reach. The armored human was on top of him, but Silva was strong. Demetria watched, anxiously, as he gripped the human's arm and pushed it back. He managed to kick the human off of him and he hopped up on his feet as if nothing had happened. The human charged at him and Demetria suddenly found herself running towards him. Ares was yelling after her but she picked up the spear, screamed, "SILVA!" and threw it at him. He caught it and stabbed the human in the heart.

Suddenly, Demetria was picked up off the ground and she screamed and thrashed. She couldn't see what was holding her but she heard Ares yell and she could tell that something took him too. She tried screaming his name but whatever was holding her covered her mouth with a cloth and she suddenly felt drowsy and her vision blurred.

The last thing she saw was a green blur running towards her.



"Demetria." A voice echoed in her ear. She stirred and felt a sudden pain in her head. "Demetria, wake up." Her eyes opened and her vision was blurry. She saw colored blurs everywhere, but the second she opened her eyes wider, the pain in her head increased.

"Ow," she groaned, holding her head. Caelum helped her sit up and she asked, "Where's Ares?"

"Right here," Ares replied. Demetria looked to where her brother was. He was sitting with his knees to his chest and a bandage wrapped around his head. Serena Valday was standing next to him and Kensington Brich was on the other side. She looked around and noticed all the older Human X's standing around her.

"You guys are here," she said.

Benjamin nodded his head and said, "If a human hurts any of our humans, they're no friends of ours."

"So, what happened?” she asked, just as Caelum rested a hand on her head and her pain was taken away. A blue-skinned Iridem, which Demetria assumed to be Caelum's sister because of the exact shade of blue her skin was, handed him a bandage that he wrapped around her head.

"Apparently, Arrow keeps tabs on certain Iridem. Like Silva," Ares nodded his head towards the Iridem. Demetria glanced at him. She didn't even notice that he was there. He was crouched on the ground and he watched Caelum's hands hold her in the places that were hurting.

“They knew he was here, along with the rest of us. They tried taking us away, but they weren't able to,” Ares continued.

"You killed them?" Demetria asked, looking around, waiting for any of the Iridem to answer. They were all surrounding them, taking drinks from water bottles or eating berries from the bushes.

"One is killed, the other is taken. Extreme measures had to be taken," Caelum answered. "It was not our intention to take his life, but they would have taken ours had we not. The other will soon join his fate."

Demetria nodded her head. The pain was gone now and she looked around at her fellow humans. Silva would not have let them near the Iridem if he didn't agree to let them fight together. He would have protested Benjamin's words, but he sat there in silence.

"So, we're fighting?" Demetria asked, looking around again. "Altogether, I mean. Humans and Iridem?"

No one had an answer. She looked to her brother, who looked down at the ground and played with the grass. The other humans were silent–gravely silent, which could only mean one thing. She looked at Caelum.

"Caelum?" she prompted, looking up at him, curiously.

He nodded his head, which caused Demetria's heart to speed up.

"Yes. We are fighting together."