As evening falls, they call for departure. They want to leave the car. My parents believe that a car stands out more than three fleeing people making their way through the forest.

"Mom, why are they after you?" I ask as we reach the forest. I drag a suitcase behind me, stumbling now and then over a branch, hill, or stone. It's not pleasant to walk through the forest without a shred of light.

I sit down on a fallen tree. "Such an operation isn't staged for a few insignificant people." My mother sits next to me. "So why are you being hunted?"

She looks up at the round moon. A tear rolls down her cheek.

"I think he's hoping to find my deceased husband and your brother here," my mother replies.

"Brother?" I look at her questioningly.

"You had an older brother a long time ago," she begins to explain. It seems like there's pride in her voice. "My son was once supposed to be the savior of the universe, but he sacrificed himself for our small group."

At the moment, it's all quite a lot for me and very confusing. I can't even believe her old story now, then there's my father, and now a brother too. Still, I listen intently to her tale.

"My husband was a great warrior who only made the mistake of trying to kill Makko's youngest son. He tampered with the boy's spaceship, which the boy liked to use for small ventures. Unfortunately, the boy managed to make an emergency landing on a planet where he befriended two creatures of a species that could kill a person with their thoughts alone."

Some of what she's telling sounds more fantastical to me than it could possibly be true. But I trust my mother to tell me the truth, even if it sounds incredible.

"No one ever found out who committed the attack. Who wouldn't have been fascinated by the idea of killing the boy back then?" A smile crosses her lips at the thought. I can't imagine it amuses her, perhaps only out of nostalgia.

"After that, he never tried again, but I did," my mother continues after a short pause. "Schalia was a slave, but as Makko's mistress, she had dozens of servants. I was one of them and enjoyed her full trust. While she met her servants' mistakes with the harshness of a true ruler, she was blind to my actions, and I took advantage of that." She pauses again, looking down.

As she speaks, I can see a play of different emotions on her face. Deep shadows of sorrow and despair, which are dismissed by an amused laugh the next moment.

"I remember it was the 13th birthday of that fury Kaia. This little monster was constantly jumping around me. The girl never missed a chance to try out her newly discovered abilities on me, and she learned from my thoughts that I had poisoned the food of the entire ruling family. Makko and his sons could still be treated with an antidote. Schalia died."

My mother laughs.

"I could easily intimidate Kaia. Makko had threatened the girl with death if she tried to read anyone's thoughts or play with her power. So she remained silent. It might have been a way to get rid of her, but I valued my life. Maybe she told her friend about it, and that's why he's trying to find me. No idea."

Suddenly, we hear an explosion behind us. My father runs off to see what it was. My mother knows what he'll find there. Merciless flames consuming the houses. The end of our home.

"I told you so." A disturbed smile lies on her lips as she says it. "The only thing we can do is flee."

My father returns.

"The whole village is burning," he tells us, panic in his voice. Behind him, the sky is bathed in the red of many blazing fires.

I don't like any of this!

"I still think it was a mistake to leave the village," I mention. Fear rises in me. "It all seems like the sole goal is to capture us alive. Why else would the entire village be destroyed?" My panicked gaze sweeps through the darkness of the night, as if searching for signs of a trap. "I don't understand any of this."

My mother strokes my black hair, gently freeing my neck. Then I feel a slight prick.

My father rushes to catch me, looking questioningly at my mother.

"A sedative," she explains. "It's better if she sleeps for now. Anton said he would send someone to bring us to safety. We just need to reach the edge of the forest and find the car."

My eyes close, my whole body goes limp, but I don't fall asleep. Apparently, the drug doesn't work as it should.

I feel paralyzed and remain aware of everything happening around me.

"We need to get out of here quickly," my mother calls out in panic. "The suitcases are unimportant, but we need to get to the car."

My father starts running. His steps are hectic.

"If we get away from here, then he can't do anything to you anymore?" my father asks. Suddenly he stops, his grip on me tightens.

My mother doesn't answer his question; someone else does.

"If you could get away, I wouldn't have bothered to look for you again."

I recognize the voice of one of the men from the radio transmission.

"Oh Janera," he sighs. "Look behind you."

I feel my father turn around and suddenly tense up. He falls to his knees.

"Bastard!" my mother snarls at the man.

I hear the crunch of branches under approaching steps.

"Your little girl is smart," the man calls out. He stops just in front of us. "You should have listened to her and stayed in your house. You would have been safe there all this time. Nothing would have happened." The man pauses briefly, then asks mockingly, "How did you like that projection?"

"Damn bastard!" my mother yells at him. My father pulls himself together. He takes a few steps and then leans my limp body against a tree.

"I didn't intend to greet you personally," the stranger explains. His voice sounds arrogant. "But as I took a closer look at the area, I noticed three people. Well, you can imagine I expected more, dearest Janera."

Janera. Is that my mother's real name?

"Your story was quite nice," the man says. "Wait a moment." He pauses before clearing his throat. "Sweetest of all women," he coos. "It was said earlier that someone familiar to you and me was responsible for Schalia's death, and you, my dearest friend, knew about it." He pauses again. "Aha, and why didn't you tell me about it later?" Another pause.

Is he alone, or is there someone else here? I suspect he's alone. He seems to be communicating with this friend through a device.

"What do you mean: thought it wasn't important to you!" Now he sounds shaken. "You better move your sweet ass here so I can lecture you on what's important to me and what's not. Otherwise, you'll have too much time to think up something for me to forget everything."

The man sighs.

"Okay, what's new to me?" He starts listing. "Your son is dead, so I can forget the hoped-for fight with him. I knew the prophecy would never come true. Superstitious people! You want to show them personally that it's all nonsense, but then the hope-bearer is already dead."

He sounds disappointed by my brother's death, yet there's a lot of scorn in his voice.

"That I have Malgard to thank for my dear friends is also news to me. Unfortunately, I can't thank him anymore. This little girl seems to have inherited only your beauty. Nothing else."

Under normal circumstances, such a thing would flatter me. But this moment is not normal.

"The lucky one! She must have inherited her intelligence from her father. I wouldn't have thought Kaia's plan would work. It wouldn't have either if Malgard were still alive."

This Malgard must have been my father.

"Well, I had hoped that my warriors would find your little daughter." He laughs loudly. "I'm not one for waiting around. At least you were smart enough to protect her."

"Please, Torsos, don't harm my daughter," my mother pleads. "She has nothing to do with all of this, nor does my husband."

"Husband?" He seems genuinely surprised. "So you've fallen in love with this Earthling, dear Janera." He pauses briefly. "I can't really do much with the man," Torsos admits. "But I am interested in what Malgard and your son died from. I hope this isn't a trap."

"No!" my mother answers, her voice filled with pain. "My husband died less than a year after we arrived on this planet from some disease. Our son died because his capsule was defective. Any of us would have traded places with him, but he chose to kill himself rather than decide which one of us he would kill."

"He doesn't take after either of his parents," Torsos states with contempt.

My mother slaps the ground with her hand. "Let's go," she begs him. "My son died a long time ago, and we are not important to you." I hear my mother sobbing. How I wish I could comfort her and scream at him. But in my current situation, that's simply not possible.

"The man is indeed uninteresting to me," Torsos partly agrees with her. "I am kind and will let him go, but as for you, my dear, you won't get away so easily."

"But Janine, please let her go," my father now pleads. "She is still so young."

Torsos laughs amusedly. "I must admit, I have retained some aspects of my father's regime. Including a planet called Tormahs. I'm sure you remember it."

My mother has told me that Tormahs is a slave planet where she once lived.

I suddenly feel uneasy. A future as a slave is not exactly what I wish for.

Then Torsos continues, sounding very amused. "Its function has largely remained the same, for the sake of my subordinates. I also find it quite relaxing there." He pauses briefly to observe my mother's reaction.

She repeats the word "No" over and over.

"As a slave, you should still be accustomed to fulfilling men's needs without objection."

She breaks into tears again.

"But I am so kind and will spare your pretty little daughter such a fate."

Torsos sounds to me like he wants to torment my mother. I can understand him. After all, she is to blame for the death of someone who meant a lot to him.

"You've probably already noticed that it's difficult for our race to reproduce with another species," he explains briefly.

I feel myself blush at the thought that follows.

"Either our race is almost completely wiped out, or everyone has fled far, far away," he says with a sigh. "In any case, no one of our species can be found. Neither in my territory nor in my brother's." Suddenly, a hand gently strokes my cheek. "This girl comes in handy. If she behaves and bears me a son, I will give her a good life."

I would have screamed loudly if I could, "Does this guy want to use me as a breeding machine?"

Whether ruler or not, he can't possibly believe he owns my body.

"Don't you dare touch her," my father shouts.

"I'll put this guy to sleep first," Torsos says. I only hear my father groan and something large fall to the ground.

"Janera, believe me, after what I've heard from your mouth, it would give me great pleasure to slowly and painfully kill both of them in front of your eyes," Torsos confesses to my mother. I hear nothing but endless hatred in his voice. "But I think it will torment you more if I take your little daughter and make you a less fortunate grandmother. Maybe it'll be just as fun with her in bed as it was with you back then. Then I'll keep her a little longer."

I can't see it, but I can imagine him grinning at my mother.

Suddenly, I hear my mother groan.

And what's next? I wonder. Everything around me is quiet.