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Every passing second, every beat of my heart drummed in rhythm with my eager footsteps.
It was an oasis of safety and, more importantly, a place where we could once again merge our souls without the prying eyes of the monsters that pursued us.
But as we emerged from a particularly dense thicket, our eager pace ground to a halt.
“No…” I gasped. “This… this can’t be right.”
The familiar entrance to our sanctuary was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, a vast, unyielding mountain face stood before us, mocking our search for solace.
A feeling of unease began to gnaw at me.
We’d followed the same path, and retraced our steps meticulously.
And yet, the cave was gone.
I watched as Jayas’s hands deftly moved over the rocky surface, searching for any hidden entrance or crevice.
His fingers moved with a sense of urgency, tracing patterns and probing for openings.
But the stone was unforgiving, providing no hint of a way in.
“What’s happening?” I asked, my voice laced with a growing sense of panic.
The noises of our pursuers grew louder, their roars echoing menacingly through the trees.
Jayas pulled away from the mountain, his eyes reflecting a combination of frustration and resignation. “The Malquarans,” he said, looking directly into my eyes, “sometimes they like to… change things.”
My brows furrowed in confusion. “Change? But why? We knew the way; we had an advantage!”
He sighed. “Exactly. If we have an advantage, it becomes predictable. They want to keep us on our toes, and make sure we never truly have the upper hand. By changing the environment, they ensure that our one true asset — memory — is rendered useless. It keeps the game… interesting for their viewers.”
A shiver of realization coursed through me.
The Mating Games weren’t just about survival, they were aboutentertainment.
We were but pawns in a cruel play, our emotions, and memories mere playthings for some unseen audience.
A sudden roar, closer than before, jolted us from our discussion.
The alien males were approaching, and our brief moment of respite had cost us precious time.
We needed to move,and fast.
I glanced around, searching for any form of shelter or escape route.
The dense jungle behind us offered some cover, but the aliens knew this terrain as well as we did.
They would find us.
Jayas seemed to read my mind. “We have to find somewhere else. We can’t stay here.”
He took me by the hand and led me into the jungle.
Behind us, the roars grew louder, the alien males drawing ever closer.
But for now, we had a plan, and each other.
