Rae was abruptly awoken, around the middle of the morning, by the feeling of something sharp pressing against his neck, for the second time in less than 24 hours. Startled, he opened his eyes in a haze, and looked up to see a blurry face that slowly came into view. As his eyes shifted downward in their sockets, without moving his threatened neck, his pupils widened stretching apart his hazel irises. His heart began to palpitate, and his back arched in trepidation.

Rae recognized the thing against his neck as a sword, like someone might expect to see in one of Jamie's comics. The metal of the blade was embossed, with more of those strange symbols Rae had seen the night before. Looking at it flat and from the front: the blade was shaped lengthwise like a rounded-off, elongated diamond; it started a bit thinner near the hilt, grew wider near the middle, and tapered off to a pointed tip near the end. Looking at it in profile along the edge: it was like two small parabolic curves, that very slightly bowed outward from either side of the flat planar edge. Down the center of both curves ran a small groove. It was clearly metallic, but the metal had an emerald-green tint to it mixed in with the typical steel-grey. And as for the handle, there was both a grip and a guard joined in a T-Shape, with small circular counter-weights on the ends of the 'T'; this part had a dull golden color.

"What have you done with my Young Master?" Asked the tall guy standing above Rae, in a stern but calm voice.

This guy looked to also be around Rae's age, maybe a year or two older than him and the pod-boy. He did not have quite as youthful of a face as Rae or the boy from space. And although it was apparent that he was somewhere within Rae's age range, compared to Rae he was enormous. It was like looking at a hobbit cornered by a giant.

Like the black-haired pod-boy, this new sword-wielding weirdo was clothed in a similar skin-tight, vest-like, sleeveless shirt, which had the fabric consistency of something between spandex and kevlar. His chocolate-brown hair was styled in a short, slightly spiky manner. Part of it stood up and slanted over a dark-green cloth band, which was wrapped around his forehead and curved upwards just slightly through part of his hairline. His eyes were a lighter shade of caramel-brown.

This guy's rather revealing garb easily displayed his enormous musculature, even more so than the pod-boy. But the difference between the two sudden strangers, was like comparing the frame of a normal high school athlete, versus a bulging mass of diligently trained muscles one might expect from a superhero or body-builder. For all intents and purposes, this guy was what Rae's peers would colloquially refer to as a "Chad".

It was clear, this fellow could surely crush Rae into dust like an ant beneath a shoe. His voice was deep and very calm. And he did not give off the vibe of untamed aggression the pod-boy had displayed the night prior; rather, there was a more calculating comportment about his character. Nevertheless, the intimidation was present and intentional, as he looked down at the startled Rae.

Rae's ears sulked against his head as he looked up at the sword guy meekly, like a cat who had been caught knocking something off a table.

"Did you take my Master's mask off?" The spiky-haired intruder interrogated, as he glanced towards the sleeping black-haired boy behind Rae. "You vile scum! You lured him back here with your Ishtari pheromones didn't you? You tempted my Master into sleeping with you in this state? Have you no honor Ishtari?" His eyes narrowed, in a sudden show of contempt, at the crimes he thought Rae had committed.

It took a second for Rae to understand what his muscular apprehender was talking about, and his entire face flustered red as he grasped the underlying meaning of the accusations.

"What?! No I-I," Rae stammered, in his perturbation, "I-I mean we didn't. I wouldn't. He was hurt. I just... let him sleep here... with me... not in that way." The scared boy struggled to explain his innocence to the guy who looked like he wanted to chop his head off.

Rae realized he was doing a very bad job of making himself sound innocent, which only made him more nervous. What he had just been accused of, was suddenly giving him unwanted thoughts, at the most inconvenient time imaginable.

The stern looking guy with the sword suddenly gave an almost warm smile, as if he could figure something out just by observing Rae's confused face and sheepish voice.

"I see," the guy said, now fully grinning, "you certainly did nothing untoward with my Master. So you must be telling the truth, which means you must have helped him." He removed his sword from Rae's throat and sheathed it in his belt. "This is most good; it would be troublesome to have to disembowel you here. We really can not afford to be discovered in the Neutral Zone, and I am unaccustomed to your primitive body interment practices." He blurted, holding up his finger with his hand on his hip.

Rae thought this rather psychopathic sounding alternative did not match the casual manner in which the guy spoke.

"What The Fuck?! Disemboweled?!" Rae cried out, nearly jumping off the bed and scrambling back away from the guy.

"Yes, it is the traditional way to deal with disrespectful fools who shame my Master." The intrusive weirdo said, as he began tapping what appeared to be a kind of bracer he wore on his left lower arm. It lit up and began glowing in that familiar green color, and strange symbols hovered around the surface of the bracer, like a holographic projection. He continued, "But since you are clearly innocent and did not tempt him then there is no need." He emphasized the words "Clearly" and "Innocent", as if her were rubbing-in some point only the two of them were aware of.

"Holy shit!" Rae thought. "What have I gotten myself into? These guys are extremely dangerous!"

Rae decided to explain the deal he had made with this guy's 'Master'. "Listen Fella, I dunno who the fuck you are. But your 'Master', " Rae motioned with air-quotes, "and I have an agreement for me helping him. He assured me he would not be violent here so I would assume that extends to you too!" His ears began to twitch; he was beginning to get very annoyed, at the volume of violent behavior he was having to deal with lately.

"My apologies," the body-builder boy stopped what he was doing, then gave a bizarre bowing gesture to apologize. He stood back up, still slightly slumped over while looking at the ground as he spoke.

"I did not realize this was the case. My name is Fulbrik, I am Prince Dasnir's Guardian. I am sworn to protect him for life, since we were but young children, so please forgive me for overstepping the Young Master's agreement... I am just very protective of him."

Fulbrik's apology was both curiously formal and nearly child-like at the same time. His reaction was that of a little kid who had been scolded for staying up too late; even though, he was apologizing for threatening to casually disembowel Rae only a moment earlier.

"Woah, it's ok man," Rae said, scratching the back of his head. Fulbrik's bizarre apology and sudden change in demeanor had really thrown Rae off, and somehow HE now felt guilty, "no need to be so fucking weird about it... just say you're sorry."

It then dawned on Rae. "Wait did you say 'Prince'?! This guy is a Prince; Prince of what exactly?" He fervently motioned and pointed to the boy sleeping behind him. The high-strangeness of this situation continued to compound upon itself, like a never-ending carousel of serendipitous and surreal phenomenon.

"Surely as an Ishtari you recognize my Master," Fulbrik replied, as he reopened his glowy hologram," he is Prince Dasnir, heir to the Asgeeri Intergalactic Empire, the A.I.E."

"Intergalactic whuu?? What the hell is an Asgeeri?"

"Hmmm— It is most curious that you are Ishtari, yet do not recognize my Master nor Asgeeri Warriors, it seems." Fulbrik paused, and gave Rae a tiny glance out of the corner of his eye. "Perhaps, you are a Hybrid? Your reaction would suggest otherwise, but you seem like a genuine sort, so I doubt that you lie. The only possibility, I can think of, that would meet these requirements is that you are both a Hybrid and somehow unaware of it. So if that is the case, it would explain how you do not know..."

"...We Are Not of Your World..."

Fulbrik gave Rae a befuddled look. It seemed as though he had never heard of such a series of curious circumstances. Rae, on the other hand, was now less confused, but in sheer disbelief as there were so many wacky things just mentioned that he had no clue about.

"Ok... let me get this straight," Rae said, as his eyes darted along with the motion of his body language. He waved his hands as he spoke, stringing together and representing all the absurd things he just heard. "You're trying to tell me... you're from space... you're Aliens... I brought ALIENS TO MY HOUSE?!" Rae shot up like he had been electrocuted by an unexpected eureka.

"OH MY GOD... it makes sense." Rae palmed his head; he could not fathom this truth. "The strange pod... The fact that he's a boy my age... In a space pod... Doesn't have an Aeronautic suite on... Talks weird shit and calling me an 'Ishtari'."

Rae stopped his fevered day dream about actual reality, and looked at Fulbrik inquisitively. His ears perked up; his tail flicked over the bed, and his head cocked.

"By the way, what the actual fuck is an Ishtari?"

"You are of course... well to be more specific you're more likely a Hybrid." Fulbrik said stoically.

"A Hybrid? What is that?" Rae asked, hesitantly. And as if he had realized the answer to his own question he continued, "You're saying I'm an Alien..." He felt extremely dizzy, like he was about to pass out, and reclined back onto the bed.

"Well no, I think you are clearly from here, though it is quite clear at least one of your parents is from Ishtarim, the Ishtari Republic's home world. You have the fluffy ears, and tail like a feline." Fulbrik explained his reasoning, as he made an unexpected gesture with two fingers to indicate Rae's ears. "So you have 'Alien' genetics, though I must tell you we do not refer to ourselves that way. To us you are Alien. —Haha" Fulbrik gave an odd chuckle, like a statue who had just acquired human emotions.

"Although, you should probably also be aware, that breeding with lesser species," Fulbrik looked at Rae to indicate an example of a 'lesser species', "is against the Intergalactic Treaty of Realms, so that would mean your Ishtari parent is a criminal. Though it is not surprising, the Ishtari Republic is known for loosely enforcing treaty rules..." He said, sneering at the words Ishtari and Republic.

"Ok... I need a second to process this." Rae spoke rather calmly, given the circumstances. "You see I start my senior year of High School in 2 days, and you're telling me I have two aliens in my shed, and I'm a half-cat-alien-thing?" His entire understanding of life had been shattered, and yet he could not tell if that was a good or bad thing.

"Yes of course, what other explanation could there be, you nervous little Ishtari?" Fulbrik chided him. "No I am sorry, I should not call you little, just nervous. You are actually quite tall for an Ishtari." He began pondering the implications of Rae's existence.

"This is most good actually! You can be an asset to the Young Master, since we will need to hide. I am not sure how long we will be stuck here. My attempts to secure a transmission to a colleague of ours are being blocked somehow, and our ship has been completely destroyed. And it is likely my Master's Imperial Guard perished in the explosion. Unfortunately, I may be the only one remaining. As their leader, I should have been more prepared..."

The stoic Guardian looked a bit sad and frowned at the possible loss of his companions.

"Will you help us hide... Sir... Sir...?" Fulbrik began to ask, realizing he did not know Rae's name.

"My name is Rae." The newly revealed Ishtari was staring up at the ceiling from the bed lost in a meditative mix, vacillating between perplexing unease and peculiar relief.

"Will you help us, Sir Rae?" Fulbrik said, as he kneeled in a strange chivalrous gesture.

"Dude, " Rae said, "you're so weird stop that." He shook his hand at the kneeling guardian; he couldn't handle how ridiculous Fulbrik's behavior was. "Yes... yes I'll help you just stop," he sighed, "but you'll have to learn some human mannerisms, instead of whatever the hell this shit is." Rae motioned to the awkward kneeling Guardian.

"Did I behave incorrectly?" Fulbrik said, and bowed again in apology.

"No I mean... it's not wrong. It's just... weird, my dude. And definitely alien-like." Rae shook his head at the oblivious extraterrestrial. "If you want to blend in, you can't go around calling other teenagers 'Sir', bowing to people, and kneeling like some kind of Knight from 1000 years ago. Just call me Rae and stop with that... whatever you call that."

"I will have you know, I am 20 years of age!" Fulbrik snapped proudly. "I'm two years older than the Young Master. That is why it has been my duty to care for him since we were but tiny Warriors."

Rae's right eyebrow and ear lowered, as he gave a tiny grin; he thought this explanation was kind of adorable in a way.

"Are you saying I have a boy's face?" Fulbrik said, sounding slightly offended, and leaned in close to Rae to help him look again.

"No, sorry." Though he did think that it looked convincingly young enough, to easily make such a mistake. "I just assumed, and that wasn't the point. People in our age range don't go around calling each other 'Sir'. Also what you're doing right now Fuly (the nickname he spontaneously gave Fulbrik) is weird and would definitely stick out. Don't violate people's space like this..."

"No stop... don't you dare bow again." Rae gave Fulbrik a look that said: "Really, Dude?" as the giant Guardian instinctively went to bow in apology.

At some point during the last few minutes of their conversion, Prince Dasnir had sat up. And as he felt the rustling movement of his bed-mate behind him, with perhaps more trepidation than was warranted, Rae slowly turned to look behind him. He had just met two unexpected friends from the most unexpected of places —Outer Space.

PHONETIC PRONUNCIATIONS:

Rae: "RAY" | Dosri: "DAHS-ree"

Dasnir: "DAHS-nerr"

Fulbrik: "FOOL-brik" | Fuly: "FOOL-ee"

Asgeeri: "ahs-GEER-ee"

Ishtari: "ISH-tar-ee"