Discover Top Posts Tagged with #zhikin

Remo - Night Thoughts

Words: 659

His hands got cold up on the rooftop. Funny. I still feel the cold. Matthew clenched his fists, trying to trap some warmth in his palms. The skin on his knuckles was dry, cracked in places. A small line of red began to swell to the surface. He wondered what the world would think if they saw him now. He wondered what Loretta would think. Here sits your hero, beaten by a frosty night.

It was a good thing. No one should see him like this. No one needed to know that he was still affected by the cold. That he still bled. That he still felt pain. That every night he evaded sleep and came up here to watch the city skyline. Not because he liked the way the city looked at night. Not because he was scoping it out for danger, hoping to get some late-night heroics in. He couldn’t sleep. Not inside. Not on a bed, with a pillow. How could he sleep like that after his years sleeping on the hard ground of Tzarkal’s Arena? He pulled up the sleeve of his suit. There was no mark there anymore, but he could always feel the shackles digging in to his wrists. On his neck he could always feel the sting of the shock collar. The burning soreness around his eyes whenever he fired lasers out of them. All the strength that they gave him and still, he still felt the pain.

It was cruelty. Not glory, or achievement, or reward that made him what he was. The Zhikin gave him powers but wouldn’t let him use them except on their orders. He wasn’t designed to be a hero. He was designed to hurt others. He was a weapon. An instrument of cruelty. The cruellest thing of all was why the Zhikin took him in the first place. They never told him, but he knew in his heart. It wasn’t because he was special. It wasn’t because they saw potential in him. It was simply because he was there.

I’m not a hero. I’m nothing more than an escaped lab rat. He wrapped his cape around him and hugged his knees close to his chest. How different his life might have been had he not gone for a walk on the moors that night. He could have made amends with his brother. Hugged his parents one last time. Apologised to Loretta for all the things he did. Maybe they would still be together right now. By rights, she shouldn’t even be letting him stay in her guest room. I don’t deserve her. She doesn’t deserve to be held back by me. He couldn’t forgive himself if something happened to her. Getting close to him was like a curse. Both his parents lives fell apart. Oscar turned to a life of crime. Vincent… the others in the arena. How many good people died to get me back to Earth? And now that I’m back here…

He tasted the salt on his lips and wiped away the tears. The world couldn’t see him like this. Loretta couldn’t see him like this. How damaged he’d become. The world needs a hero. Better to let them think I was fixed up there. The truth was he was broken. He didn’t even know how his body worked anymore. What did the Zhikin do to him? What did they put inside him to make him this way? Was this body even really his anymore? He shook his head. Trying to comprehend alien technology at this time was only going to give him a headache. After all, how could anyone understand a man who shot lasers out of his eyes on a regular basis? He began to warm up those lasers now; not to fire, but to evaporate the remains of his tears. He could feel it happening. That unsettling warmth around his eyes, beneath his cheeks. Funny. I still feel the heat.

Emperor Tzarkal

Leader of the Zhikin race - those who abducted Matthew Remtoll - who colonised the entire star system of Zhiku, warring on other planets, breaking a peace that his parents fought to keep, growing to be one of the most feared names in the galaxy. Remo was his favourite fighter in his arena, so when Remo escaped he was filled with great anger and hatred for him

His power(s): Strength, Speed, Durability, Telekinesis