by Ross Buzzell
“You won’t be able to save him.”
A cold, steely, voice rings through the lab which sends chills down Xero’s spine. Xero stiffens up and looks into the only dark corner. Out of the saturated blackness emerges the Dark Titan, hands behind his back and a wicked smile on his lips. Xero draws his weapon and puts himself between the boy and the Dark Titan.
“This is the future Xero. A plague will ravage your planet, one that you will not be able to stop.”
The Dark Titan takes a few more steps forward. He places his hand on Xero’s blade and moves it to the side.
“Vengeance will be mine. And ending with you, your people will die!”
The Dark Titan touches Xero’s forehead. A loud screech echoes through Xero’s mind like a banshee screaming down a hallway. Xero shoves the Dark Titan as hard as he can and begins to swing his sword with all his fury at the Dark Titan to no avail. The blade passes through the monster as he slowly fades into the air like an apparition accompanied with an evil laugh. Immediately Xero turns around and begins to look at the scan. He zooms in on a red spot, then zooms in again. Xero repeats this process until he is able to see the atomic structure of the boy; he sees the protons of the child’s body disintegrating as the child’s cellular structure slowly collapses at an atomic level. Xero tries to tell the boy to be brave but to no avail. Frantically Xero goes to the lab cooler and takes a blood sample from a healthy Boronian and inserts it into an injection dispenser.
Xero approaches the boy and injects the boy’s arm; he looks at the scan and temporarily, at the sight of the injection, the red pings dissipate only to return a moment later. Xero sits down. He begins to think and rack his brain about everything he had learned throughout his schooling. After what seems like an eternity of wracking his brain an idea strikes Xero like a ton of bricks. He is part of the high royal family, their blood was different somehow. Maybe it could cure the illness. Xero quickly grabs a syringe and jabs it into his arm, through a weak point on his armor. He extracts blood into a clear container. Xero’s blood is red but with an azure blue hue to it. Xero approaches the boy and jabs the syringe into the boy’s neck injecting the blood straight into him. Xero turns and looks at the scan. The red pings gradually dissipate like a wave throughout the boy’s body.
The boy gradually stops coughing. The color slowly returns to his skin as he regains his strength. Slowly the boy sits up and smiles at Xero. He takes the prince’s hand; both he and the boy walk out of the lab and back up the spiral stair well. The light illuminating the lab slowly fades as it lowers itself back onto the central table. Xero and the boy walk down the hallway and approach the throne room once again. Xero pushes the doors open and stops in horror. Xero scans what once was the ball room but is now a pile of rubble, all of Boron was dead. Plants had overgrown and retaken the planet and Ro sits on a crumbled pillar and looks up at Xero. Xero falls to his knees as his gaze falls upon his brother, once a young man Ro had appeared to age a hundred years. Slowly Ro stands and walks to his brother. The planet fades away around them. The boy disappears behind Xero and yet the elderly Ro remains. Xero bows his head and lets out a primal roar of pain yet not a decibel rings out. Ro kneels before his brother and lifts Xero’s eyes to his cataract filled own. Gradually the wrinkles begin to fade, the hair grows shorter and his eyes become clear as youth is restored to the young prince. Xero climbs to his feet with the aid of his brother as the Emissary appears once more.
“Xero, you have completed your final trial. Ro, yours is to initiate immediately.”
she fades away once more and the throne room reappears. This time it is vastly damaged, soldiers, fully armed, fill the room. A loud explosion rings through the throne room followed closely by a tremor that rips through the building. A soldier, whose armor is tattered, weary from battle approaches Ro. Another explosion rings out. He flinches.
“We are all that is left my king; the Draronians have overrun the planet. What are your orders?”
Ro looks at Xero who puts his hands up and takes a step back as if to say ‘this is your trial.’ Ro nods and begins to walk to the throne room doors. Ro pushes his way past soldiers as they scurry from one place to another in sheer panic. Ro kneels down and picks up a spear with his right hand and a shield with his left. Approaching the massive doors, Ro pushes on them to open them but to no avail. He tries once more but the massive doors do not budge. Xero sits back and crosses his arms with a smile on his face as he watches his brother work.
Ro takes a step back, centering himself and throws up his right leg. Leaning forward he delivers a chest high kick to the doors as hard as he can. The doors explode into a barrage of splinters revealing a war ravaged Boron. Countless Drarononian’s lay siege to the planet with the accompaniment of massive monsters to a scale not even Xero had seen before. This peeks his interest. Shoving off the wall Xero walks over behind his brother and peeks out to take a look. At that moment Jesua lands at the entrance, hard. Ro runs out to his mortally wounded pet. A deafening roar echoes down and Ro looks up to see a massive four-legged, winged beast flying above him. Its snakelike neck craned down toward its prey. On its back sits the Draronian battle master.
The massive monster swoops down at Ro who dodges the attack; he looks at his soldiers and indicates for them to charge. The brave soldiers storm from the shelter of the throne room, weapons drawn and shields up. The Draronian and its mount land on top of the soldiers. The monster swings its massively strong head and tail biting as it went causing each soldier to fight bravely but die quickly. Ro looks in terror as the last of his soldiers perish at the hands of the Draronian. Xero reaches for his weapon and pauses. His father’s voice echoes in his ears.
“It is expressly forbidden for one to intervene in another’s trial.”
Xero closes his eyes and forces himself to stand back and watch. The mount sets its sights on Ro; the young prince takes a deep breath. The mount begins to charge at him. Ro rushes at his opponent too. Drawing back Ro launches the spear into the mounts neck, which slows it down but does not stop it. The younger brother picks up speed. He holds his left arm out, and the edge of the shield collides with the wall. Sparks dance from the shield’s edge as the two enemies grow closer.
The mount lurches forward as the gap closes and bites at Ro who, having watched his brother train for years, mimics one of his moves and skillfully slides under the monster. Ro holds up the shield whose edge he had just sharpened on the wall. Ro skids to a stop on the far end of the mount; slowly he stands up and looks at the edge of his shield which is bathed in green blood. The massive mount sways for a moment before all of its insides fall to the ground with an enormous splash of its blood and gore, followed shortly by the mount itself as life leaves it. The pink alien riding the flying serpent dismounts. Wearing no armor and holding no weapon, the Draronian faces Ro. Keeping its eyes on Ro it slowly kneels down. Placing its hands on the ground, a bright light flashes as the Draronian summons a stone blade from the war ravaged stone surface.
Ro stops for a moment. He looks around. A sinking feeling weighs in on the young man as he realizes that his planet has fallen, Ro takes a deep breath and drops his shield. Xero pushes off the wall. His eyes widen in intrigue at what his brother is about to do. Ro drops to his knees and closes his eyes; the Draronian begins to charge the defenseless prince. A blue light begins to radiate from Ro’s body, a crack forms up Ro’s thigh. Xero sees the crack. He begins to take a step forward but is unable to leave the throne room. From the crack emits the blue light of Boron’s day sun. The Draronian sees it. Its eyes widen and jaw lowers as if yelling but no sound leaves its mouth because there is no mouth on their species. The crack begins to travel up Ro’s body as the ground begins to shake around them. Xero stumbles back and catches himself on the doorway, He holds on tightly as the quake grows more intense. The palace begins to collapse. Xero throws his hand up and forms a shield around himself as massive chunks of the roof collapse on the shield. The stones shatter and fall to the grou
nd as Xero looks up to see the Draronian leap into the air, weapon ready to strike. He begins to descend on Ro.
Ro looks up at the Draronian with peace on his face; the quakes intensify to the point where even the mountain begins to fall apart as the blue energy bursts through a crack on Ro’s face. There is a blinding blue light. Xero puts an arm up to cover his eyes. As he puts his arm down, Xero finds himself floating in space. He looks up to see both the day star and the night star being pulled into Ro on the surface of Boron before a wave of energy is released consuming the planet like a title wave. As the light fades Xero sees that his planet is nothing but ash. What is left of both stars in the system? Without Boron there to keep them in place, they gradually collapse in on each other creating a supernova explosion. The explosion consumes Xero. He closes his eyes as he is thrown back. The cold of space is replaced by another sensation, gravity. Before Xero can open his eyes he slams into a wall, knocking the wind from him, and falls face first onto the ground. He hears a voice, no echo, just a voice.
“Are you ok brother?”
Xero looks up slowly to see his brother as he gradually catches his breath. They are both in the throne room. Ro is standing over him with a hand outstretched and a smile on his face. Xero reaches up and grasps his little brother’s hand as he is pulled to his feet. Patting Xero’s shoulder he nods, a look on his face as if he understands now why Xero fights.
“Thank you Xero. You have taught me much and know that no matter what becomes of this trial, I am proud to be your brother.”
Ro glances over to the entrance of the throne room, nodding to bring Xero’s attention to Ja’Sanfur who stands, leaning against the door way. Her armor is nowhere to be found but instead a day to day robe drapes over her body gently clinging to her curves.
“I believe you have business to attend to brother. I will see you at the ceremony.”
As Ro exits he greets Ja who nods back to him. Pushing off of the wall, Ja begins to make her way to Xero. A secretive smile covers her face. She gently places her hands on Xero’s hips. Pushing herself up on her tiptoes she gives Xero a soft kiss.
“I am proud of you Xero. Ro says that you did very well.”
The prince smiles at his love, returning her soft kiss before speaking.
“Thank you, I only did what you would have done… what brings you to the palace so late?”
A sly smile forms over her lips as one of her hands slowly slides down to her stomach, cradling her toned core as if to protect it. She did not have to verbally say anything, which was enough for Xero to understand. A wave of joy nearly overtakes him as he quickly wraps his arms around Ja and holds her tightly resisting the urge to pick her up and spin her around. He leans back and glances down at her belly before looking back into her eyes.
“Are you sure?”
With a wide smile she nods.
“Doctors just confirmed!”
“What can I do to help?”
Xero asks, his voice brimming with excitement. At this point Ja’s smile fades a little. She gently places her hand on Xero’s and gives it a gentle squeeze. This causes a pit to slowly form in his gut.
“That is why I am here my love. I am putting in a leave of absence to tend to the birthing rituals… they are going to take place in the second kingdom.”
The second kingdom was literally on the far side of the planet, the furthest possible spot from the capital city. With teleportation it was never more than a footstep away but the thought of being this far from the one he loves is mildly disheartening.
“Of course, you are approved leave… the second kingdom is a good choice. They have the best doctors and technology to go through the birthing rituals with. If I may ask, why not here?”
Ja gently places a hand on his cheek, a sympathetic smile forms on her lips.
“My love, you are going through something life changing right now, the last thing you need, or your people is to be distracted by me and my needs. I will be well taken care of by the best in the alliance and if I ever need you I will call for you. But you my darling do not need anything more on your plate.”
A soft smile forms on Xero’s lips. She was being considerate, thinking about his needs even while carrying his child. She truly has no equal. Xero gives her a gentle hug and a kiss farewell.
“I will be here if ever you need me my love. And thank you, one could not ask for a better mate.”
she gives Xero a gentle kiss as well, giving his chest a soft pat before she turns and exits the throne room too, leaving the warrior prince alone with his thoughts.
Chapter:13
Xero and Ro kneel before the throne in an empty throne room, only the High King present. Xero’s heart races in the pensive silence, his nerves on edge. The worry that his father and brother would hear his heart racing fills his head with raw emotion. Xero keeps his eyes locked on the ground as he tries to get hold of himself. After a few long moments, his father’s voice breaks the silence.
“You both have completed the trials. I congratulate you.”
The king slowly stands and approaches his two sons, standing between them. Both Xero and Ro keep their eyes down. The High King places a hand on each boy’s shoulder.
“But only one of you can become High King, so after much deliberation, and the council from the coven of Emissaries’.”
The king’s momentary pause only lasted a few seconds in reality, but to Xero for those few seconds all time stopped. It seemed like an eternity before his father’s voice rang out once again bringing Xero’s concentration back to the room.
“Xero, please leave Ro and I.”
Xero’s heartbeat steadily slows back to its resting rate as a sea of relief washes over him, Xero smiles and nods his head slowly.
“Yes father.”
Xero slowly stands. He and his father share a long joyous/sorrowful look. The High King gives his son a tight hug.
“I love you Xero. You are a good son and a better soldier. Continue to serve Boron with dignity and honor, goodbye.”
Xero nods at his father’s words as he hugs his father tightly as well before turning to leave the throne room. As the doors close behind him the smile that he had been holding back finally shows. Xero places his hands on his face and runs them upwards through his dark locks as he lets out a sigh of relieve. The sigh evolves into stress filled laugh that gradually builds into joy. Holding the back of his head Xero allows the stress of being High King to leave his body. A stress that had been building his entire life.
After a few moments Xero gradually regains his composure when a woman’s voice catches his attention.
“So, you were not the one that was chosen. I am assuming that is what you wanted?
Xero turns to see Shey standing behind him, beside the doors. Xero quickly regains what was left of his composure and dignity.
“Shey… yes, your husband is becoming High King as we speak.”
Xero bows to her.
“Which would make you my queen. Congratulations m’lady.”
Shey smiles and approaches her brother-in-law. Gently she pulls him to his feet. Making eye contact, she smiles up at him.
“You do not bow before me Xero, me or your brother. We are family.I have spoken with Ro. We have decided if he becomes High King then we wish to have you as our chief advisor.”
Xero is unable to help but smile at the request. He nods gratefully.
“It would be my honor to serve the new High King and Queen of Boron.”
A flash of light beams from under the throne room doors. Xero pensively bites his lower lip and looks down. He nods with a forced smile as a look of sorrow strikes Shey’s face. Silence falls between them. After a few moments only footsteps muffled from the sound of the door break the silence. Both Xero and Shey look up at the doors. As they slowly open Ro stands in front of them wearing his father’s robe and a crown which sits perfectly on his head.
“Father is gone. I have been selected to rule as the next High King.”
> Both individuals bow before Ro. Xero speaks out softly.
“Long live Ro Lorian, High King of Boron!”
“Long live the king.”
Shey adds right behind. Ro approaches his wife and brother.
“I will do my best to fill his shoes but I will need you both to do so.”
Xero and Shey rise to their feet. Ro offers a hand to Xero who grasps his brother’s forearm. They give each other a sturdy shake.
“I am with you my brother, to the end.”
Ro gives Xero a hug. Shey places her hand on Ro’s back as Xero releases his brother.
“As am I my love.”
she adds giving her husband a kiss. Ro breaks their kiss and looks out toward the patio overlooking the city. Shey and Xero both pat Ro on the back. He takes a few deep breaths and begins to walk forward, exiting onto the patio, he looks over the edge down at the city. Ro raises his hands, a massive roar of joy rises from the city far below as the planet welcomes their new High King.