586 DLXXXVI. The Pretense

After creating that stone throne complete with a backrest where to place his back, the white man slowly began to walk towards him, with a casual air. 

"Fuck it! It hurts! He created such a complex structure only with a banal movement of his fingers... his power is incredibly versatile, capable of destroying and creating... I have no hope..." Dag continued to think, who whenever he wanted to take courage to face the enemy, returned to his footsteps, knowing that any reckless gesture would probably lead him to death.

In those moments, he thought of Freydis and his sister Gridd, Reidar and Karl, his mother Asa, and his late father Stein. 

Also to Magni and his teachings, trying to imagine how would the 'Iron Spark' behave in that situation of extreme difficulty, who despite not being a perfect warrior, always had a solution to every problem and had transmitted to his student his critical and resolute mindset.

Dag thought that if he died, the people who had always believed in him, risking their lives only to allow him to go on and achieve one goal after another, would remain alone and hopeless, and the ideal of freedom and justice that had always kept them together would fade over time.

"Who... which of them was a Xis?" the young earthly warrior asked with a thread of a voice.

The Frostsinner's advance stopped and he remained in front of Dag, a few feet away, slightly turning his head to one side, as he had done a few minutes earlier during their speech.

"I've already told you that question time is over, 813666. I don't owe you any kind of explanation. Do not abuse the freedom of speech that I granted you a few seconds ago and remember the position of you human beings towards us Xis. Your submission to us is part of the process of evolution of your lower race. The weakest subject relies on the strongest one, feeding on knowledge like a parasite and obeying its laws, owing to it its life. This is the gift that we Xis have made you" the Frostsinner replied.

"You have not given us any gifts... you have only condemned us to death, pretending to be our saviors. You destroyed our Sun, interrupting biological life on the Earth's surface! Life would have continued to thrive for hundreds of thousands of years if you hadn't come! You believe yourself superior to everything and everyone, but in the universe, there will certainly be someone superior to you!" Dag exclaimed again, who tried to unleash all the courage he had accumulated during those minutes spent thinking.

Everyone present, including his allies who were listening to him from afar, after hearing those words were shocked. 

On the contrary, those who knew that story, such as Reidar and Kranus, after Dag's words remain petrified, knowing that what the young Master had just done was probably the greatest gamble of his life.

Continuing to pull continuously the bundles of dark matter that kept him anchored to the stone throne, Dag looked into his interlocutor's eyes, whose gaze remained terrifying but impassive.

"What did you just say, 813666?" the Xis asked, who for the first time since arriving on Skjold, looked slightly confused.

"What, you didn't think I knew the truth?! I've seen it all. This power, this dark matter that you can manipulate... with it you have wrapped our fragile star and turned off its light forever, reducing it to a rock mass without energy and shattering it into a thousand pieces. Then, as if by magic, you arrived on planet Earth, professing to be the saviors of the human race. I know the truth and even if you'll kill me here and now, I already had enough time to say it to other people, who in turn will have spread the verb... but you can't kill me… can't you?" Dag continued, who using sharp words at the right time, had momentarily put his interlocutor in a difficult position, while the alien did not look away from him for a second.

"You cannot be aware of these relevant details... you don't... now I will be forced to take measures, 813666" the Xis exclaimed, whose speech became less fluid and authoritative.

"You don't know everything I can do either... I know everything I should and by now it is too late to stop the words, which will fly faster than the wind ... I don't know why you decided to enslave the human race, but I'm sure of one thing... we are not friends, you're not our saviors... we are mortal enemies" Dag continued, who, knowing that those would probably be his last words, intended to vent all his anger.

"At this point, it is evident that your hybrid genes can draw on a 'general' memory of our race as if it was a Xis' archive. I'm sure this news will intrigue our scientists even more" the Frostsinner replied, who instead of worrying that Dag was aware of those life-changing facts, merely thought about the chemical reason behind that knowledge.

Before Dag could add anything, the Frostsinner came even closer to him and put one of his white hands on his forehead.

Dag's body temperature dropped further and his muscles stiffened as soon as that hand came into contact with his skin.

The Xis closed his eyes and took a deep breath, exhaling for a few seconds the air in his lungs.

Dag's back began to release grayish gas, which, through the powers of the Xis, condensed into dark matter, taking on the typical arm shape, which protruded above the young warrior's head that could not control either his body or his powers.