by Ross Buzzell
“I never thought I would see you again my love.”
“I did not think I would see you either.”
Xero whispers as he holds Ja tightly. After a few moments she pulls away. It was clear she had been crying, something very unusual for Boronians as they would mourn their losses at the beginning of a relationship since this kind of emotional frailty could easily ruin serious missions or decisions. Ja wipes her face, pulling the hair out of her face, she shakes her head.
“I looked for E on the scanners while I was descending. There was no sign of her, even the ship links were severed. Had you not jumped in front of me that explosion would have been my end. I do not think she made it.”
Xero shakes his head as he hears about the scanning. It was a risk that was necessary and he would miss her. But he had already mourned her loss in his heart long ago.
“I could not see or feel her when I was out of the ship. I fear the supernova overtook her. We should have brought the entire armada out here, not just three ships. Let’s finish this mission so we can go home.”
Slowly and reluctantly the two release each other before Xero gives Ja a soft kiss. As their lips free themselves from one another, Ja slowly goes and arms herself with a rifle from the weapons rack. Xero grabs his sword and a sheath; he fastens the sheath to his back sliding the blade inside of it and donning the traditional Boronian royal garb. Ja’Sanfur and the prince of Boron open the back of the ship. The two stop as they see four aliens of the same species, none of which either had seen before.
The four before them stood nearly the same height as Xero. Their frames are hidden behind royal cloth not that dissimilar to Xero’s but their physical frame is something far smaller. They were thin beings with long powerful arms and legs, each containing only three toes and fingers at the ends. Their dark pink skin merges seamlessly with their clothing as their solid black eyes stare at Xero and Ja expressionlessly. The skulls of the creatures were elongated and flattened out near the back leaving their heads three times wider than Xero’s at their farthest point. The last thing Xero notices is that they have no mouths, no jaw, just a flap of skin where it should be. Slowly and cautiously Xero and Ja exit the ship. The prince looks the group up and down. They did not appear hostile as he remembers that there had been no real sign of violence planet wide for some time.
Figuring the group was friendly, Xero places a closed fist on his chest; slowly he bows to show that he was friends with the beings before him. It is then that something hits Xero even harder than the supernova. A loud scream fills his head from the inside, like a mix of white noise and fingernails being ripped across a chalk board. Instantly his nose begins to bleed as he falls to his knees. He looks up as his vision begins to blur to see that the leader of the delegation was clearly in just as much pain as he was. Gradually the sensation of having sandpaper dragged over his brain gives way. Slowly he stands up. Walking over to the king he offers him a hand. The king flinches for a moment before placing one of his hands in Xero’s gently gripping the prince’s palm with his three fingers. Xero helps him to his feet.
The delegation begins to look at each other, clearly having some form of conversation; Xero takes a few steps back and leans over to Ja who has her finger on the trigger of her gun.
“What just happened?”
she asks her voice tense with concern.
“He just tried to establish contact… they are a psionic race.”
“Then how did he just almost kill you?”
“I am unsure, but he nearly died as well. Go get E’mellor’s translator with a neural link from the ship. That way we can bypass telepathic communication.”
Without a moment’s hesitation Ja returns into the ship to obtain the translation device.
“Computer, what just happened?”
Xero asks as he stands smiling for the delegation.
“The electron deficiency of your cells leaves you highly susceptible to telepathy. By getting inside your head the very atoms that make up your mind begin to fall apart. My estimations show that prolonged exposure will kill you. It can only be assumed that when they enter your mind, your minds link together meaning if you died because of him, he would have died too.”
With this information the hidden conversation before them begins to make sense. They were trying to figure out a way to establish contact without harming either party.
Within moments Ja had returned, glancing at the washed out color of her hair for a moment as she hands the two devices to Xero. Taking them from her he smiles and nods before walking to the delegation and holding them out before the king; cautiously the leader reaches out and takes the two cold metallic devices and examines them. Xero slowly pulls up a hologram of the king’s head and the two devices. The image of the devices moves to the king’s temple and the other to his throat where they blink green. Cautiously the king looks at the devices before slowly attaching them. A blue light begins to blink on either side as a robotic voice echoes from the box on his throat.
“He is a summoner as well.”
The sound of his own robotic voice causes him to jump and the entire delegation to look at the objects in awe. Xero bows once again to the man as he introduces himself officially this time.
“I am Xero Lorian of the planet Boron; I have come to learn of the planets and people in this star system. If I may ask, who are you?”
The king slowly moves forward. He gently lifts Xero so he is no longer bowing, but instead the entire delegation is on their faces before him, nearly worshipping him. A pit forms in his stomach as he looks over at Ja who shrugs at the sight.
“We are the Draronian. I am their king… The prophecy said you would come and show our people the rewards for our sacrifices all those eons ago. Tell me foretold one, does Boron live? Is she free?”
Xero glances back at Ja who appears just as confused as he is. She places the rifle on her back, clearly this race is no threat to them. Xero turns and faces the king once more as he gathers his thoughts and attempts to think about what to say.
“Boron thrives. It has for thousands of years. She is a free world who brings other star systems under her wing and trades with them and protects them as if they were one of her own. We have created alliances and made many friends.”
The Draronian claps in excitement as he hears that Boron is thriving.
“Good, we feared when the Seraphs had their weapon stolen that the Darkness might have been able to achieve their goal of turning your planet to their side.”
Xero had never heard of the Seraphs before, none of his people had, but all too recently he had been hearing about this Darkness. It had many names but all of them similar. The king begins to walk to the edge of the landing pad. Xero follows suit more out of curiosity than anything.
“What is a Seraph? I have never heard of that species before.”
The king points out across a beautiful, lush, green ravine before them as he speaks.
“Seraphs are the physical embodiment of angels in this universe. They were sent to stem the tide of Darkness that seeks to encompass and corrupt all that has been created.”
Xero’s gaze follows the long bony finger of the king. Looking across the massive canyon his heart nearly stops as the sight is familiar. Pinned to the opposing side of the ravine is a massive skeleton, one that stands hundreds of feet tall, its skull resembled that of the one on the marsh world they had just left. Scorch marks in the shape of wings have fried the rock face so completely that not a single piece of greenery had grown in their path. And shoved between its massive rib cage, a blade larger than anything he had seen before with a hint of a sickeningly familiar purple.
Chapter: 9
Bewildered by the sight before him, Xero moves closer to the landing platform’s edge. The still, warm air cradles him as he approaches the sheer drop off to the lush forest below; his eyes scan the massive charred wingspan of the fallen being before resting on its enormous skeleton. He could still sense a massive amount of energy dwel
ling within the skeleton, a pure energy unlike anything he had ever felt before. Such power he dared not even attempt to take into his body as it made the supernova he had hardly contained seem like the measly lick of a candle’s flame next to the burning fury of a raging star. How he wished he could see one of these Seraphs in person, not to take its power, but just to be in its presence. Gradually Xero turns to face the Draronian king. Ja stands in the back ground, mouth gaping and eyes wide as she had never seen anything nor felt anything like it before either.
“How could anything overcome such power?”
His words almost losing their strength in his throat in a mix of awe and horror; the king slowly makes his way to Xero. Gently he places his hand on the prince’s shoulder as the voice-box crackles to life once again.
“The one behind the Darkness is nearly the most powerful being in existence… even powerful enough for his forces to fell his own kin.”
Xero glances up at Ja who just shakes her head in bewilderment at Xero before the warrior begins to be led by the king back toward bulbous domes of smooth stone that protrude from the rolling hills and mountains before them. As the delegation follows behind Xero, the king and Ja’Sanfur, Xero can hardly help but notice that the species is subterranean. The mountain before them was hollowed out. He could feel it in the vibrations of the platform beneath his feet. He peers up into the brilliant blue sky, which is painted with white fluffy clouds unlike anything on Boron. From the clouds a number of the Draronian species ride an assortment of creatures; some he recognized, others were beings that he could not dream of in his wildest imaginations.
Xero feels a set of familiar fingers slide between his own. Instinctively Xero closes his around Ja’Sanfur’s as a Draronian lands near their ship riding what appeared to be a wide flat fish-like creature with a massive rounded wingspan that would lazily flap in the air gently gliding both it and rider around. The animal has a long tail with nasty barbs on the end; the enormity of the beast would have overshadowed all three pods of the ship they had originally left Boron with. As the creature lands and the rider dismounts from the massive beast. Xero asks:
“What is that?”
Xero has the wonderment of a child. The soft cackle of the king echoes in Xero’s ears before speaking to Xero as a parent would a child.
“That is a Day-ray in our tongue, something that does not live on this world.”
Xero glances down at the king. So many questions flood his mind: where did they come from; how is that one here; were they used for transport? Suddenly, as the Draronian begins to walk away, the massive creature gives off a low, almost happy sounding bellow before slowly disappearing in flickers of light reminiscent of paper succumbing to flames.
“We have encountered them on other worlds and have discovered that their summons, here, proves for excellent transportation.”
“Wait summons?”
Ja interjects as they approach a massive hanger door that leads into the mountain side. At the base of the massive door stand two massive animals. Standing nearly three times taller than Xero himself, having grayed, wrinkled skin and tusks that protrude from their lower jaws; small beady eyes peer around from under a strong, over-developed brow and their muscular arms come to an end with three massive fingers. Two Draronians stand behind them. As they see the king they stand at attention. A loud, low growl leaves the two massive creatures as they grab a crease on the door and begin to push it open.
The ground begins to rumble beneath their feet as the massive door slides open revealing an enormous cavern with Draronians flying back and forth, almost like a highway. They are flying on everything from small creatures to advanced mechanics and others opting for something simpler, like a disk. As the monolithic doors slide fully open the two massive creatures dissipate in the same manner that the Day-ray had. In rapture of the magnitude of the world around them this is the first time in his life that Xero actually feels small. Ja leans over and whispers to him.
“I think we found out why there were such dramatic population fluctuations.”
The king nods at Ja’Sanfur, pointing at her with one of his three long, bony fingers as if to say that she was on the right track.
“Precisely young lady. We are a species of one mind, with that comes great power. We can bring anything we can imagine into existence, they cannot copy powers, like yours young prince, but they are tied to our will as an extension of ourselves.”
Xero looks over at the king, astounded and in awe of the beauty around him. The king puts his hands out, closing his eyes a smaller Day-ray forms at the edge of the platform before them, floating peacefully in the air. Slowly Xero takes a step on the being; its flesh gave way under his foot like a real animal would. He quickly takes a few more steps, standing in the middle of the Day-ray, rapidly followed by both Ja’Sanfur and the king. Each member of the delegation forms a summons of their own design before mounting up. Slowly the ray begins to glide through the air, slanting forwards it begins to dive into the bowels of the mountain.
Xero leans back. Ja grabs onto his forearm to help stabilize herself, as the ray begins to plummet into the darkness below. There is a flicker of pink light that catches Xero’s eye. He glances to the source, nervous to take his eyes off of the hidden path before them. The bright pink light flairs once more before eventually overtaking the entire Day-ray, emanating a luminescent light to make the path before them visible; eventually the ray levels out, flying straight down a massive tunnel with the light it emanates illuminating their path. As Xero and Ja relax some the warrior prince notices that the Draronian king has sat down on the summoned creature with his legs crossed before him. Ever so slowly Xero follows the king’s lead, followed by Ja soon after. Leaning over Xero speaks over the low ‘whoosh’ of the damp, cold air around them.
“Are you saying that your people are really just one organism?”
The king lets off a laugh, his thin shoulders heaving with each electric haw that leaves the device. Had he not known better Xero would have thought that the king found this to be one of the funniest things he had ever heard and he did not know better. After a few moments the king shakes his head.
“We are not; we are individuals, just like you. Unlike you, however, we have what you would call a hive mind. Our consciousness’ can communicate instantaneously with one another no matter the distance. We have our private thoughts but should we wish to share we do.”
Ja leans forward. Xero notices a look of intrigue and excitement on her face.
“With the combined brain power, that is how you create the summons which, for all intents and purposed are their own living beings, so long as you will them to exist!”
The king snaps his fingers, pointing at Ja. Through the luminescent light Xero sees the skin around where the kings mouth would be tighten as if he were smiling.
“You are a sharp one young warrior; it is truly an honor to be in your presence.”
In the distance a low light can be seen reflecting around the corner. The tunnel gradually comes to an end and the ray turns. The sight causes Xero’s heart to stop. Before them is a massive cavern hune from the mountain. Before them are torches ablaze with orange and blue light illuminating a massive banquet hall with tables stretching dozens of meters in all directions, all filled with food to the point that Xero is concerned the tables will buckle under the weight. The king stands and begins to walk toward the banquet hall; Xero and Ja follow the king as their eyes scan the glittering stalactites, stalagmites and pillars which have formed naturally over thousands of years.
“This is to celebrate you.”
The king says as he bows before Xero and Ja, the rest of the Draronians in the cavern do the same. This is the point where Xero would stand them up and tell them not to bow but the indescribable sight before him makes him pause.
“How did you manage all of this highness?”
“Hive mind.”
Ja interjects in an almost whisper as she continues to try to wrap her head aro
und everything. Slowly the king stands as does everyone else before he leads the two down a gradual incline and to two huge thrown-like chairs on one side of a stuffed table. Xero holds the seat out for Ja who sits down, both still in a little bit of shock as they sit. The king takes his seat across the table from Ja and Xero. The prince looks back at the king, placing a hand on his chest. He was touched that they were willing to be so generous to those who they had just met.
“We do not deserve this; you are far too kind sire.”
Xero glances around. Hundreds, no thousands of Draronians had all come to feast with Xero and Ja. None of them swarm as most other species would, as by being in the king’s presence they were in the presence of every Draronian. The king picks up a small red fruit with shiny skin. As he holds it a small wave of electrical impulses under his skin light up and climb up his arm as the fruit withers before him. Xero tilts his head slightly. This explained how they ate. They fed by pulling the nutrients of their food directly into their skins. The king waves his hand as he places down the fruit, indicating to the cavern around them.