Star Rising:
Heartless
Star Rising: Heartless
Copyright 2015 by Cesar Gonzalez
Cover Art- Dennis Frohlich
Editor- Jessica Morrison
All RIGHTS RESERVED. Except for brief quotes for reviews, this book may not be reproduced in part or in whole without the express written permission of the copyright holder. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this work is illegal.
Feel free to check out the author website. There you’ll be able to find character pictures, artwork, lore about the world, and more.
http://cesarbak99.wix.com/element-wielder
StarCycle 2,321
Prologue
Reave gazed out the window, taking in the sight of the blue sphere hanging in the darkness of space. It was bigger then he remembered. He’d heard many stories of K’strala, a planet so far in the outer border of the galactic jurisdiction that some even claimed it didn’t exist. Those who did believe of its existence often regarded the jungle planet with dread and mysticism, claiming a race of half-lizard men had claimed it as their own.
Reave smiled inwardly at the gullibility of the simple planetary folk as he took another sip straight out of the bottle. Over the past twenty star cycles, he had scoured space in over a hundred missions. Never had he encountered anything that remotely resembled such a creature.
“Five minutes until touchdown!” yelled the pilot from the cockpit. The small ship shook violently. Empty tin cans and bullet shells tumbled noisily on the metal floor. A simple light dangled above his head, filling the room with a faint orange-tinted glow.
From the edge of his vision, Reave made out Tory and Lester by his side. Both rookie Alioth warriors tumbled from side to side, their weapons almost falling from their hands.
“Keep those snipers under control,” ordered Reave. Inside he cursed. Why couldn’t the Bastion have sent him alone? It was bad enough he was being sent on a useless mission to some long-abandoned planet. Did he really need two green soldiers, barely out of Alioth Academy, to babysit as well?
Tory, a long-faced tall girl who couldn’t be a day over twenty struggled to her feet. “I’m sorry, sir. This old ship is shaking so much. I think it’s going to crash.”
Lester, who looked to be the same age, saw it fit to add to the ridiculous claims. “I think Tory is right.” His green eyes glanced around the ship nervously. “These old Stormcaller class ships crash all the time. Father always said they would be the death of me.”
“Quiet, both of you,” ordered Reave. “We’re entering the planet’s atmosphere. That is all this is.”
Despite his reassurance that everything would be fine, the rookies continued to cast nervous glances out the window. They took a seat on the bench that had long ago lost any soft padding.
“I didn’t sign up for this,” whimpered Lester under his breath. “This is too dangerous.”
Reave gazed down at the boy, his stomach tightening in frustration. The lenses of his dark-rimmed glasses made his eyes look three times the size of a regular eye. “If you wanted to be safe, you should have taken a job at a desk over at the Bastion.”
“No, n..no…” Lester whined. “My grandpa and father were both Alioths. I need to follow in their footsteps.”
Tory sighed. “I didn’t think we would be sent so far out into the border of the galaxy. I thought we were going to be stationed at the Bastion. Patrolling traffic, maybe catching a few looters. A far-range expedition, though? This is too much.”
“Don’t worry,” said Reave. “The reading that the Bastion caught emanating from K’strala was probably nothing more than a raptured underground pipe. K’strala used to be a mining planet. It’s been abandoned for hundreds of years, but the lines underneath are probably still intact.”
The rookies looked up at him with a look of apprehension. Reave couldn’t blame them. He had to admit, the entire situation was strange to say the least. In the past century, those lazy bureaucrats of the Bastion had never approved a mission into any of the outskirt planets. Not officially, at least. What had changed that would lead those law-writing cowards to suddenly order Alioths to investigate? The whole situation had a bad aura clinging around it.
“Five seconds until touchdown!” called the pilot from the front.
Reave tossed the bottle of rum against the hull. It shattered on contact.
There was a loud click, followed by the creaking whine as the old hatch opened.
The three Alioth warriors marched out. Reave’s boots stepped off the rusted ramp and on the soggy mud. Heavy raindrops splashed his leather jacket, and he frowned. It had been a present from his sister. What would she say when she noticed he had ruined yet another one of her expensive gifts?
The scenery before him was exactly what he had expected. Light fog hung around them like a curtain. The green plants were drenched in moonlight. The air smelled earthy, with the scent of fresh water intermingled. They were surrounded by so many trees that the veteran Alioth found himself wondering as to how the pilot had located an open patch of dirt to land the ship.
“What is that?” whimpered Lester.
Reave followed Lester’s line of sight, and his gaze landed at what Lester had been looking at. A small tower of mist protruded from a hole on the ground about twenty feet in front of them. It was red in color. Reave’s hand subconsciously turned into a fist.
Red smoke only meant one thing. Fire. And fire meant that a Cinder had been here.
The red smoke did not go unnoticed by the rookies.
“Someone from the Black Sanction was here,” mumbled Tory. Her lower lip quivered.
“Don’t you worry about that,” said Reave. Our job is to locate the source of the energy spike, not let ourselves be scared by someone who may or may have not been here.”
Lester played with his hands. His face had grown ghostly pale. “The Black Sanction are no men. They’re demons. Demons who abandoned their humanity for the power of fire, lighting, psychokinesis and—”
“I’m well aware of their abilities,” said Reave irritably. He caressed the burn mark that covered part of his right cheek and a quarter of his head where no hair had grown in years. Images of that long ago night filled his mind. He saw the dark silhouette of a man shooting fireballs into the cabin, the same cabin Reave had grown up in. He heard his sisters cry out to him, begging for his help. He felt the weight on his shoulders as he carried Miranda out of the scorching heat. He was the youngest of his siblings, but somehow he’d managed to carry a girl who was twice his weight.
“Sir,” called Tory. “Are you okay?
Reave returned his mind back to the humid jungle. “Of course I’m okay!” He gazed down into the hole. It looked to be an opening into an underground building. “You two stay up here and guard the pilot. I’m going down to investigate.”
There was no arguing from the rookies. Not that he had expected any. They were just glad to have their necks out of any danger.
His boots clattered softly as Reave slipped into the hole and landed on the hard floor. He was standing at the center of a large hall. The walls were a depressing gray. A few flickering lights were lined atop the ceiling, providing a dismal source of light. The sensor around his wrist signaled that the abnormal readings were a little up ahead.
He treaded forward, well aware that he was walking in a place that should not exist. This planet was supposed to have been abandoned long ago. Yet, here he was, moving through a building that was obviously functional mere days ago. What would the Bastion say once he reported what he’d found? Something inside him told him that they already knew.
Reave turned the corner and his eyes widened. He was standing in what appeared to be some s
ort of cafeteria. It was massive, with hundreds of wooded fold-and-roll tables filling the crowded space. Trays still filled with food littered the tables. Some of it looked good enough to eat. A half-eaten apple lay on the ground. He saw slabs of roasted ham glazed with a coating of honey. Beef strips emitted a salted aroma. This food had been served less than a day ago. The Alioth’s stomach growled.
So where is everyone? he mused. Did they just pack up and evacuate? Impossible. This place is too large. The manpower here would have taken days to evacuate. There is simply no way … unless …
Deep in thought, he brought his hand to his chin. Could it be that he was dealing with a binary member of the Black Sanction? Usually, their members could only use one ability, but a few of them had been known to use two. It still made no sense. Even if he were dealing with a practitioner of psychokinesis, there is no way they could have dissolved all the bodies. It would have taken an army to accomplish such a feat. Or an extremely powerful being? For a fraction of a second he thought of him. That being who had terrorized space and almost wiped life from the galaxy, but he quickly abandoned the thought. That monster was gone. He would never return. Reave himself had made sure of that.
Slowly, he made his way through the cafeteria and into another hallway. Reave passed countless office-like rooms. Each was like the one before it: full of furniture and desks but devoid of any people.
He reached the end of the corridor and made his way into a large hall. What he saw there froze him to his very core.
Unlike most, Reave was not a man who could be easily stunned. In the short twenty star cycles he’d been alive, he had seen more than most soldiers witnessed in a lifetime. When he was seven, he took his first life. He had marched into battle at the young age of twelve. With the exception of Junia, he had eradicated more Black Sanction members than any other Alioth currently active. He had single-handedly vanquished dozens of Deargs. There was no part of his body that had not been injured in some way or another. When he was only sixteen cycles old, he’d been directly responsible for the eradication of the monster that almost brought the universe to its knees. Yashvir.
Now, Reave stood atop a grand staircase, and at the end of the stairs lay the tiny corpses of hundreds of children. They lay atop of each other in horrible, mangled heaps.
His insides went icy as he took in the sight, not believing what his eyes were showing him. Who could have done this?
A soft wail echoed through the air.
The Alioth’s expression turned to that of hope. Not thinking his actions through, Reave dashed down the stairs.
In silence, he waited for the cry to come again.
A minute passed.
Two minutes passed.
Three.
Four.
Five.
The trickle of hope was fading, when a sharp cry rekindled it.
He moved with the speed of a madman, following the cries like a hound dog. He stepped over countless bodies. He avoided looking at the eyes. Seeing the emptiness in them brought back painful memories that he had spent a lifetime running away from.
In the corner of the room he located the source of the bawls. A baby boy who was barely alive. His crying had been replaced by slow, shallow breaths. There was a deep, vertical scar on his chest, directly above the spot his heart should have been at. He had a few strands of silver hair, and a deep blue eyes.
Without wasting another moment, Reave took the baby in his arms. He heard his own voice speak to it. “There, there. It’s going to be fine.” He pounded the button on his wrist sensor. “Lester, get the medipack ready. I’m headed up with a survivor.”
Silence.
“Tory, can you read me?”
Static buzzed through.
Reave cursed under his breath. Even rookie Alioth’s like the duo he’d left atop knew better than to not answer their communicator. A sick sensation settled at the pit of his stomach. Something was wrong.
Clutching the baby, he dashed back to the ship. He ran up the stairs, down the corridor, through the cafeteria, and back through the hall.
He looked up through the hole. A gray sky with lingering dark clouds loomed above. “Tory. Lester!”
Left with little choice, he took of his jacket and wrapped it around the baby. He tucked him under one arm. With his free hand, Reave gripped the rim of the hole. He grunted as he pulled his weight up with one hand. He reached up and set the baby at the top. Now with both hands free, he pulled himself up into the jungle grounds.
It was quick, and any other person might have missed it. But Reave wasn’t any other person. He heard the bow shoot from above. The speed he had honed during years of training came to him as he unsheathed his sword. He arched it upward, cutting the arrow in half. Two metal pieces fell to the ground by his side.
Reave stood straight, scanning the branches above for the attacker.
His search proved useless. The culprit landed with a loud splash a few feet before him.
“Bravo,” said the attacker. He wore loose shirt and pants. A metal arm protruded from his right sleeve. He had a long nose highlighting a ridiculously long face. “It had been so easy killing your friends, that I was beginning to think that this job was not worth taking.” He eyed the sword. “Such a crude tool. In this time of science, where the body’s energy can be used as a weapon, why would someone waste their time with a sword?”
The Alioth ignored the remarks and dared a quick glance at the ship. The pilot lay sprawled on the ground. An arrow stuck out of his temple. The two rookies were stacked over each other in an unrecognizable pile of burnt flesh.
“I’ll be taking that baby now,” said the attacker, grinning widely.
“What use do you have for a baby?” The rain was pouring harder now, and Reave’s thoughts lingered on the small human wrapped in his leather jacket. Was he still alive?
“That’s none of your concern. I was paid to deliver a specimen from the lab. And that’s what I intend to do.”
“Lab? Specimen?”
The stranger cackled. “You truly are lost, aren’t you? Don’t your Bastion leaders tell you anything before they sent you out on a mission?” Another fit of laughter followed. “You’re just a dog of the Bastion. Obeying any order blindly. Truly pathetic.”
Reave didn’t respond to his accusations. “Tell me, bounty hunter. Who sent you? What use do you with this baby?”
The man looked offended. “I’m not just any bounty hunter. I’m the most legendary of all bounty hunters: The Black Centipede.”
“The Black Centipede?” Now, it was Reave’s turn to laugh. “Never heard of you. Which is surprising. With a stupid name like that, you should be the talk of every comedian in the galaxy.” He added a hint of mockery into his next words. “Black Centipede. Phew.”
It had the desired effect. The man gritted his teeth and balled his fist.
Good, thought Reave. People with no control of their emotions are always more likely to open their mouths.
The Black Centipede did not spew out the information Reave wanted though. Instead he eyed the leather jacket laying on the ground with hungry eyes.
Reave took two steps back, putting himself between the bounty hunter and the infant. “You’re not taking this baby without getting through me.”
“That can be arranged.” The bounty hunter’s metal hand turned crimson red, and Reave knew that his opponent was readying the flames.
The two fighters squared up. There were no more words. This was a battle to the end. They both knew it.
Reave spared no time moving against his foe. His long sword cut swift arches before the bounty hunter, who parried with this metal arm.
The man bobbed his head between the attacks, his eyes clearly showing surprise at the ferocity of Reave’s sword work. Once in a while he would throw a kick or punch.
They battled across the jungle planes, moving around the corpses and through the heavy vines that dangled from the tall trees. Reave did not commit to any lethal moves. In
stead he analyzed his opponent. Every poke, every feint, and combination tested the reactions of the bounty hunter. Once he felt he had enough information, he pressed his attack.
The Black Centipede brought his metal hand up, barely blocking the blade that was inches away from penetrating his chest. The sword instead dug into the metal, almost cleaving the makeshift arm in two.
The bounty hunter staggered back. “What the…?”
With a sweep to his legs, the Alioth knocked his opponent to the ground.
The man was more agile than Reave had expected. He flipped back to his feet. Swiftly, he threw the dangling piece of his arm to the floor. “That sword of your is quite sharp if it can cut through metal like this. Acolyte steel I assume?” He pointed his now-damaged arm forward, not waiting for an answer. “You’re not the only one with special weapons, though. Even in this state, this little baby is fully functional.”
A wild burst of flames burned the air.
The Alioth swallowed, taking in the warm air.
The fire moved in a straight line. A sidestep proved enough to dodge it. Another burst of flame burst from the man’s weaponized arm. Once again, the Alioth sidestepped.
Reave grinned. The bounty hunter had more than enough fire power, of that there was no doubt. He had, however, no control over it. He couldn’t arch it or guided it the way experienced Cinder could. There was also no shape to the attacks. They came in predictable, straight lines. This was already over, and his foe didn’t even know it yet.
The next barrage of flames came in the same line, albeit a bit wider than the ones before it. Reave didn’t dodge. He clicked the button on the hilt of his sword and the shield around the blade extended. With untamed ferocity, he rushed at his opponent. The hilt grew hotter by the second, sending flares of pain coursing through his hand. Reave ignored it. This was nothing compared to the pain he’d felt that fateful night.
The shield made contact, and the Black Centipede splashed into the mud. A click later and the shield had retraced back, leaving only the long blade. He brought it down on his opponent’s neck.
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