Ragash, the Raging E-Book

Nova Edwins

• Herausgeber: Black Umbrella Publishing
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: Horgerians
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 105

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Just a moment ago I was on Earth with one foot in the grave—and all of a sudden I'm on a planet called Horgerion. I should probably be happy about it. Even though I didn't expect nor plan to be abducted by aliens and freed by the Horgerians, at least I'm no longer dying. Ragash, the village's healer, saved my life. Maybe a quick death would've been better, though, because I can already imagine what Ragash expects in return for his help …   A slightly dark alien romance with a happy ending.

Leseprobe

RAGASH, THE RAGING

HORGERIANS

BOOK 3

NOVA EDWINS

A DARK SCI-FI ROMANCE

CONTENTS

Free Prequel

Ragash, the Raging

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Epilogue

About Nova Edwins

FREE PREQUEL

Planet Earth as I knew it no longer exists, and I have no choice but to leave. However, I have only one chance of starting over: convincing someone with a spaceship that it's worth taking me with them.

When I hear the rumor that a Horgerian man will be leaving for his home planet Horgerion fairly soon, I decide to throw myself at him—shamelessly.

There are a few minor obstacles, though:

I'm not the only woman with this idea.

I know nothing about Horgerians or the planet Horgerion.

And when I find out that Horgerians like to eat human flesh, it's already too late ...

This short story contains a touch of the apocalypse, an unexpected savior, and a desperate heroine who is prepared to do (almost) anything.

click here to download for free

RAGASH, THE RAGING

Just a moment ago I was on Earth with one foot in the grave—and all of a sudden I'm on a planet called Horgerion. I should probably be happy about it. Even though I didn't expect nor plan to be abducted by aliens and freed by the Horgerians, at least I'm no longer dying. Ragash, the village's healer, saved my life.

Maybe a quick death would've been better, though, because I can already imagine what Ragash expects in return for his help …

A slightly dark sci-fi romance with a happy ending.

PROLOGUE

NORMA

Every breath rattled loudly and burned like fire in my chest. Thinking I had gotten used to the pain by now had obviously been a massive misjudgment.

Despite hardly having any strength left, I coughed and wheezed. My whole body tensed up, and for one precious moment I thought it was finally over.

The pain and exertion were to be expected with cancer, especially at such an advanced stage, but no one had warned me about the hallucinations. About the nightmares that felt incredibly real. One night I dreamed about being abducted by aliens. The next night, another alien—this time one with four arms—held me down and pressed me against a cold stone floor. I felt its breath on my neck and a huge erection on my leg, and then the darkness mercifully swallowed me whole again.

My fingertips tingled as I came to. I was dazzled by the bright sun and felt sand under my feet. Tired, I raised my hand to shield myself from the light. Except for a few silky scarves I was naked, and I could hear voices. So many voices.

I coughed, blood dripping onto the sand in front of me, and even though my field of vision was severely blurry, for a moment I was sure that I was standing in some sort of arena.

How could I even be standing? I didn't have enough strength for that—and hadn't for days. My legs gave way, but someone was there to catch me, probably one of the nurses at the hospice. Maybe I had fallen out of bed.

Then it got dark once more. I would hear voices from time to time, but I was floating on a warm black cloud, and it didn't feel too bad—it was even a little pleasant. No reason to wake up. Even the burning in my lungs had subsided. Maybe this was the infamous quiet phase before it finally ended.

I wanted it to be over. At this point, dying would be a relief.

Drifting on the cloud, I kept waiting for the white light that I had seen before but had somehow never reached.

Instead, something touched my lips.

"Drink," a dark voice murmured.

A foul stench crept up my nose and I felt the rim of a cup on my lips. I wanted to turn my head away, but a strong hand on the back of my neck didn't let me.

"Drink, my little human," the voice insisted.

I didn't have anything left in me to fight back. My lips opened of their own accord and I gagged because the liquid tasted as horrible as it smelled.

"Shh," the voice said. Someone was stroking my hair and massaging my arms and legs. It felt good.

Water followed the juice until the taste was just a fleeting memory.

Someone rubbed a warm ointment on my chest and the burning in my lungs disappeared almost entirely. No more pain. For the first time since ...

I couldn't remember when I hadn't been unwell.

"Rest, little human."

My eyelids fluttered, but it didn't seem worth the effort to actually open them.

I sank into the blackness, drifting between waking and sleeping—entirely pain-free. It was such an unfamiliar sensation, or a lack thereof, that it felt strange.

The next time the cup touched my lips, I was able to lift my hand, and I tried to push the cup away because the smell was horrible, but I still wasn't strong enough.

Annoyed, I opened my eyes and stared into ... an alien face.

My scream was hardly more than a gasp because I hadn't spoken in so long. I straightened up, wanting to slip away, but I wasn't lying in my bed in the hospice. This was some kind cot made of wooden planks.

I felt dizzy because I had sat up too quickly. I retched yet still wanted to get up.

The alien backed away, showing me its huge palms. "Calm down. It's all right," he claimed, revealing what must've easily been 800 razor-sharp teeth.

What did he even look like?

He was tall, built like an armored barrel and didn't even have hair. There was a long scar on his face that ran right across one milky eye. The other eye was black, and he was clearly staring at me, his wide mouth twisted in displeasure, as I hadn’t done what he had ordered.

I felt a straining sensation behind my ear and ran my fingers along it. Why was there a bump? And why was I as good as naked?

My breathing quickened. Panting, I looked around frantically. Where the hell was I?

Wait a minute. Why could I breathe at all? My lungs weren't burning. I felt worn-out, exhausted, and strangely bleary-eyed, but I could breathe almost freely.

"You need to take your medicine, human." The alien came closer, holding a wooden cup out to me.

"Stay away from me!" I yelled.

He mumbled something and—with a loud clatter—set the cup down on the heavy wooden table in the middle of the room. Then he stomped out of the ... hut. It was the only word I could think of to describe the structure around me.

I climbed off the cot, immediately feeling dizzy again. Bracing myself by pressing my hand against the wall, I took a step forward. The floor was cold under my bare feet. I looked down, confused at the strange, silky-feeling dress I was wearing, which, to make matters worse, was ripped open and had my breasts hanging out.

Gathering up what was left of the fabric, I stumbled toward the door. None of this made sense. Was I on a movie set? What other explanation was there?

But even a movie set didn't make sense to me. I had to be hallucinating. I was dying and this was just ... a weird dream. That's why I was no longer in pain. Yes, that sounded plausible—at least more plausible than anything else I could think of.

I stopped in the doorway and leaned against the frame. Every step took so much effort. I was in no shape to run away. When I looked up, I realized that even if I had been, I wouldn't know where to run.

The rustic hut I was standing in clearly hadn't been built for someone my size, but for someone much larger than me. Even in human terms of size that wasn't particularly hard considering I was on the shorter side, but this doorway was something else entirely and was definitely not made for humans.

The outside was just a medieval-looking village full of actors in alien costumes. It had to be costumes. There were no aliens.

My stomach rebelled and I took a few steps backward. Maybe I had a fever. Or had they given me more morphine and these were side effects?

I turned around with a whimper. I felt the urgent need to hide, but there wasn't even a closet in this hut—just a wooden box, the bed, the cot, countless shelves with bottles on them, and the heavy table.

I heard voices, and one of them definitely belonged to the guy who had tried to give me the liquid. In my panic, I ducked under the table, making myself as small as possible.

"Hello?" The voice sounded bright, like a woman's, yet I didn't move. How was I supposed to know if I could trust her?

Then her face appeared because she had knelt down. "Hey, I'm Lilly."

Lilly had unusually light hair, lots of freckles, and the greenest eyes I'd ever seen in my life—or she was an actress wearing a wig, make-up, and contact lenses.

Why did I have the feeling that I'd seen Lilly before? I blinked. She had been in the arena when I had coughed up the blood. But that had only been a dream. It had to have been a dream. My mind refused to accept anything else.

"You were in the arena," I whispered. Maybe I would wake up if I said it out loud.

"Yes," she replied. "We were rescued by the ... Horgerians."

"Aliens," I faintly said.

Lilly nodded. "Where are you from?"

I noticed that she spoke slowly and clearly and made an incredible effort not to make any hectic movements.

"From Earth. Where else?" What kind of answer was that? And what answer did she expect if there was only one?

Lilly sat down. "I'm asking because I was born on New Terran."

"New Terran? What is all of this here? Some kind of sick joke?" I had to cough and felt the familiar burning in my lungs, although not nearly as strong as before.

"She needs to take the medicine, but she refuses," a dark voice rumbled.

It was the alien. I recognized his voice and immediately began to tremble. The woman would tell me the truth, wouldn't she? "Is that the guy again? The one in the mask?"

Her silence spoke volumes before she cleared her throat. "That's not a mask. He's a Horgerian, and his name is Ragash. He's nice. He helped you."

No. Nonsense. There were no aliens. No ... Horgerians.

"As far as I know, I died and this is hell," I replied.

She shook her head. "You didn't die. Do you know how you ended up on Phelgos?"

"Phelgos?" I could barely follow the conversation. Not only because it was all so absurd, but also because I was getting more exhausted with every breath I took.

"Where the arena was. The planet with all the big insects."

Why did what she was saying make sense? Why did I suddenly remember insect-like creatures sitting on ranks around the arena, cheering and roaring?

"No. I thought I was dead. I mean, I was actually supposed to be dead. I ... I was in a hospice care, and then I saw the famous white light. Leukemia. Metastases throughout my whole body. I thought it was finally over—not that the little gray men had come to get me. This ... is absurd. It simply can't be!"

"What's your name?" Lilly asked.

"Norma." I sighed. "My name is Norma."

Lilly came a little closer and smiled gently. "Hello, Norma. I can assure you that you're not dead. We were both chosen as rewards for the aliens who were to fight in the arena. Before it got that far, Grommok's friends saved us. Grommok is my alien, so to speak."

It rattled as I exhaled. Squinting up from under the table, I came to the realization that Ragash only had two arms and clearly wasn't the guy with four arms from my nightmare. Yet I held on to the fact that it had only been a dream. "That's not the guy from the arena."

"No, the Faenn from the arena is dead. Ragash is our healer. He's been nursing you for the last few days. We thought we had lost you, but he didn't give up."

My heart beat faster and an uneasy feeling spread through my stomach. "And I suppose he wants something in return now?" Laughing bitterly, I remembered the dream with the four-armed alien and how helpless I'd felt before I had lost consciousness. "Like the alien in the cell I woke up in?" Involuntarily, I slid further back under the table, as if that could stop him. A ridiculous idea. The guy was just as tall as he was wide.

"No," he claimed and sounded biting. "I would never ..."

Before he could spread his lies, another person came into the hut. "The women," he boomed. "The women are here!"

"What?" Ragash replied, clearly confused.