Shadows were advancing. They hunted us, devouring one after another. I tried to save others, but I lost the most precious. Kyle sacrificed himself, and his death cry will stay in my memory forever.
The Marianans arrived only the next day. The higher beings knew what reaction they caused in people—an immediate thirst for worship. But me, their smug look irritated me, and I didn’t fail to tell their commander about it. He looked at me strangely, and then suggested I read “Ramio lissia”—a tome from which you can glean any knowledge. I wanted to understand how to help my comrades.
To my surprise, the book of the higher beings opened up to me. But they hid from me that the moment I touched its pages, I would no longer belong to myself. Now I’m Neilani, bound to the Marianans without interruption. I’ll have to leave my home planet, fly into their sector, and spend the rest of my life in deception—an assigned duty.
The book drains my energy. I can replenish it only with one of the Marianans. My soul and body are no longer mine—this is how they tried to break me, to force me to submit to their will. The higher beings didn’t know what a cornered Earth girl with unlimited access to knowledge is capable of!