Extinction Read Online Free PDF

enough, a concrete wall with
watchtowers and searchlights surrounded the whole of the city. There was no
escape for the slaves.
    My shoes crunched on the brick sidewalk. Slaves,
escorted to work, passed me and I flinched at the openly hostile stares of some
of them. I knew what some of them called me behind my back – the princess in
the ivory castle. I couldn’t blame them for instinctively distrusting me. In a
way I represented all the suffering and hardship they endured under my father’s
rule. I tried hard not to let it get to me. The more resentment they had toward
me, the harder I tried to help them in any way I could. My father’s blood ran
through my veins but I was not like him and I would fight until my very last
breath not to become him.
     The kitchen for the slaves was inside the quarters,
more of a space cordoned off by sheets hanging on a rope. There I received the
bottles of water and meager rations of soup to distribute among the slaves
working in the fields. I passed through the gate without a hassle, most of the soldiers
of the Guard were used to seeing me come and go from the slave quarters. They
didn’t stop me anymore. By now they knew I would find my way in, no matter
what.
    The laughter of children drifted down the street. It
seemed so normal, except that in the whole of Palasium there wasn’t a child
younger than six years of age. Not one baby was born in the past six years. When
the Vandelrizi arrived, they released a toxic substance in our air and we unknowingly
inhaled the poison with every breath we took. Millions of people died – many
were lucky enough to survive, including my family, but it rendered all the
remaining humans sterile, not being able to conceive. It was the sad reality
that if the Vandelrizi didn’t kill us all first, we would eventually become
extinct on our own. There wouldn’t be a next generation. We were screwed one
way or the other.
     “Good morning, Miss Miller.” I nearly jumped out of
my own skin. The blood in my veins turned to ice. 
    “Good morning, Master Nuevo
Y'shol,” I answered and gave a bow. I avoided the Vandelrizi as much as I
could, but they always found a way to creep up on you when you least expect it.
Especially Nuevo, some days I was sure he was stalking me.
    “Where are you off to, Miss Millar,” he
asked putting emphasis on the ‘s’ and pronouncing every word perfectly. I more
than once had the desire to ask him to say ‘slithering’, probably because he
reminded me of a snake, when he spoke in that weird way. He blinked and it
couldn’t be any creepier. I couldn’t get used to the way they looked - huge
eyes with red irises and black slits for pupils. Green scales covered the skin
around his eyes fading into pale greyish skin. He looked like a cross between a
human and a salamander.  
    “It’s such a lovely morning I decided to
take a walk,” I could tell by the downward slant of his mouth, he knew I was
lying. His pale skin was drawn so taught over his high cheekbones that it was
nearly translucent and I saw thin black veins beneath the surface. I never saw
them smile.
    “Will you be honoring us with your
presence tonight?” he asked and blinked a few times. Yeah, if you wanted me to
vomit all over your black robes. Robert knew better than to make me go to these
dinners, I always ended up embarrassing him by saying exactly what was on my
mind.
    “Unfortunately, I can’t attend.” 
    “What a pity. You are always
so…entertaining,” he replied. I was positive it wasn’t the word he was looking
for – nuisance would be a better choice. He knew how intensely I despised them.
“I will leave you to your walk.” 
    I gave another bow and he turned and
floated away. The Vandelrizi didn’t walk, they floated across the ground. His
black robe covered his feet and I wondered if he even had any. He was sinewy
but I knew they were deceivingly strong. I have seen him snap a man’s neck with
one hand without breaking a sweat