Destiny, and the Red Orb (The Destiny Series Book 1)

by J Deleon

  Everything started to make sense. All of the time she had spent wondering what was happening and why she kept having visions about the Red Orb. She understood why she was somehow still alive.

  “I have to stop the Red Orb?”

  “You will not be alone in this task.”

  “Wh—what do you mean?”

  “You will come to know in time. As for now, seek your bow.”

  “My what?”

  “With it, you will stop the Red Orb and save your planet.”

  Gwen looked towards the ground as she thought about the fate of the earth. But what was the point of saving earth if she was the only person left?

  “You mean; my bow can stop it?” Gwen reached for her bow on her back.

  “This one, you do not possess.”

  “Well, okay. Where is it?”

  “I’m afraid, destiny has not written the answer to do that question just yet.”

  “Great. So I literally have to find it.”

  “The Red Orb will consume your planet in one year.”

  “Wait, what?” Gwen was shocked.

  “Find your bow and join the others. Only then will you be able to stop the Red Orb.”

  Gwen tried to put together what the voice had just told her. “Others? You mean, there are other people still alive? Is Ian alive?”

  “Go now. Your time is short. Destiny will guide you.”

  “Wait, I need to know. Please! I need to know if others are out there.”

  Before Gwen could say another word, her vision turned to black and she was spiraling in the air again. She was falling back down the vortex she had entered. The wind howling as she descended.

  The moment she hit the ground, the vortex vanished, the wind slowed down, and the sky was once again a dark gray. Her body landed softly onto the wet, dead grass. She leaned on her right elbow and looked at her left palm. The Judiceen was still inside of her, it appeared to be slowly spreading to her wrists and fingers.

  “Ow!” Gwen’s forehead started to burn again. She placed her hand on it before blacking out into another vision. This time, she saw people. Lots of people fighting. There were creatures she had never seen before attacking a city. Unfamiliar faces came into focus. A man stood above a few others, wielding a gun. At a moment’s notice, he shot them all dead. And just behind the man, was Ian. Scared and alone.

  The vision faded away, and Gwen was back to normal. She laid on the ground and stared into the gray sky. Nothing was going to be okay.

  Adam

  Lescion had led Adam to a small hut made out of the hide of the monsters. It had been crafted to form a small home where Lescion lived. Adam was guided inside, being greeted by a young alien. It took the same appearance as Lescion, only with light purple pupils. Other than the strange eye and skin colors, the young alien looked identical to a human. Another alien around the same age as Lescion, Adam couldn’t make out what gender it was, walked in. It looked at Adam strangely and somewhat frightened.

  “His skin.” The alien pointed out to Lescion.

  “I will explain.” Lescion guided Adam and the other alien to another part of the hut. The inside of it was large enough to only fit three separate rooms. Lescion told the young alien to go to the second room while the three of them walked to the third.

  “Who is this? Why does he look like that?” The alien asked.

  “He can understand you.” Lescion said.

  The alien turned to Adam, embarrassed.

  “I’m Adam. A human.”

  “What? Human?” The alien turned to Lescion.

  “There are some things I need to explain, to both of you.” Lescion sat on the floor crisscrossed. Adam and the alien sat as well, ready to listen. “Adam, this is Marenio.” Adam waved subtly. “This is our world. My family lives here.” Lescion turned to Marenio. “Marenio, Adam is a human. From the world in which the Usepa sent us too.” Lescion sighed. “I believe that he has something to do with the Red Orb.”

  Marenio leaned back, shocked. “What makes you think that? Does he have the sword?”

  “No, but I think he can find it. He is able to speak and understand our language without ever being in contact with any of us before. It is a gift from the gods.”

  “Please, can you just tell me what it is I need to do already?” Adam interrupted.

  Lescion studied Adam for a moment. “It is time I explained to you what is going on. The Red Orb is an old comet, larger than any star in all the universes. It is spoken that it had appeared only once before now. The orb has now returned to wipe out every atom in its path. Nobody knows why it happens, but it does. I have spent my whole life researching the orb, and it became clear to me that the Red Orb was going to come in our lifetime.

  “I tried to worn our Usepa, but he never listened. So, instead of trying to make them understand, I decided to try to fight it myself. That was when it came to me. For centuries, our planet has been home to one of the greatest treasures throughout time and space. It was a sword, formed out of Ludian and Cressals. It had the power to manipulate space. With life, it can transport you anywhere in existence. We kept it locked away from all.

  “It wasn’t until recently when our people started to notice changes. Small changes, but they were what I foresaw. Abnormal changes in our weather, disasters occurring almost daily, diseases spreading all over the planet. Then, the sky began to turn purple…and soon Red. This was when they started to believe in me. The Red Orb was indeed coming.

  “Our king started to panic. Everything started to fall apart once we knew the end was near. They ignored my preaching’s about the sword, until someone used it. Somebody had stolen the sword, slain one of their own, and vanished from our world. The sword hadn’t been touched for centuries. Now it is gone. The Lunes, the creatures we ride and fight with, had led us to your home world once we set out to find the sword. Lunes have been trained to seek out the sword incase anything like this were to happen. They have a gift that can sense things, no matter the distance between them. Once Usepa got word that the sword must have been somewhere on your planet, he sent all of us warriors there to retrieve it.”

  “So, you were just searching for a sword?” Adam stopped Lescion. “You wiped out my entire race.”

  “That was not our doing. The Lunes aren’t known to have such powers. We didn’t know. It happened before me and the other warriors arrived. Only a few of our kind were sent first. We have yet to see them as well.”

  Adam stayed silent for a moment. “So what, the Red Orb is going to hit both of our planets, wiping them both out? You’ve already done that to me. What’s the point of trying to save something that is already gone?”

  “Understand that it is not my fault that your kind is gone. I can’t imagine how it would be if I lost my family. I would give my life to bring back yours. But I can’t.”

  Adam settled down. It was now him who felt guilty. He knew Lescion meant no harm. Adam was only heart broken, knowing that his family was indeed gone.

  “But we still need you.” Lescion continued. “You are the only one I know who has some significance with the Red Orb. You may be able to stop it. To save my family.”

  Adam saw the young alien peeking inside the room, staring at him.

  “I know you mean no harm, but I just can’t help you. I need to get back to Earth.”

  Lescion’s eyes lowered. “As you wish.” Lescion stood up.

  “Thank you.” Adam replied sadly.

  Cecily

  “Jennifer!” Cecily shouted, looking down the neighboring streets. Jennifer had run off. Cecily turned back around to look down the alley. The man that had helped her up was pulling out one of the alien weapons out of a monster’s eye. The eye shattered into pieces once he ripped it out. The man stood there for a moment, examining the foreign weapon.

  Cecily pulled out her gun and ran back to the battlefield. She looked around to see people from both groups frantically trying to fight and get to safety. Cecily ran towards the man, he
looked ready to use the strange weapon again.

  “We need your help.” Cecily panted at the man. “We can’t take them all. You know what to do.”

  “Just aim for the aliens, and try to get their weapons. They seem to be able to kill the monsters.” The man instructed her.

  The man suddenly ran towards safety.

  “Where are you going?” Cecily shouted at him.

  “I need to help a friend!” The man replied, going behind a turned over car.

  Cecily tried to focus her attention on the aliens riding on the monsters. The many on the pavement were moving too much for Cecily to aim properly. Instead, she took a deep breath, aimed at an alien atop a monster just a few feet away, and fired. She shot the alien in its back, propelling it off of the monster. Cecily ran towards it and shot once again at its head. Pieces of the aliens head covered Cecily; she was mortified.

  Vomit started pouring out of Cecily’s mouth. Nonetheless, she wiped her mouth off and picked up the alien weapon. It felt as if she was wielding an old sword made out of bones. The handle was cold and rough, the blade was sharp and edgy, and the length of it all was over half her size.

  The monster that the now dead alien was riding on came bellowing next to her. The screech forced her to cringe, but she fought back the urge to fall to her knees and cover her ears. The blinding light burned her eyes, but she refused to shut them. Cecily fought her way through the light and the sound, down underneath the belly of the monster, and slashed the sword horizontally above her, all while running to get out from underneath. The sword cut right through the armored skin as she ran, releasing blood as dark as the new sky all over her.

  Cecily fell down to the pavement, slipping over the blood, just before the monster completely fell over. The sword slid just out of reach from her. The vomit wouldn’t stop coming. Cecily remained on her hands and knees, puking more and more every time she opened her eyes and saw the monster’s fluids all over her.

  Once there was only gagging left, Cecily feebly crawled towards the sword, picking it up once more.

  “Cecily, watch out!” Sean shouted behind her.

  Cecily turned around instantly. Plummeting towards her was a large vehicle thrown by a monster. Instinctively, Cecily rolled to the side, nary a second to spare. The vehicle collided with the road, flipping over and over again.

  “I can’t do this.” Cecily repeated to herself as she watched the vehicle stop on its roof.

  “Hey!” A voice shouted near her.

  Cecily looked around for the voice. Still behind the car he had ran behind, the man who had helped her was holding a young man, no more than a few years younger than herself. Breanne was crouched next to the two as well, trying to help to the best of her abilities. The young man was injured, blood covered his shoulder. This was when Cecily noticed that the man was injured as well. There was blood all around his waist, tied with a piece of clothing.

  “Oh my God, your stomach.” Cecily crawled towards the three.

  “Forget about that! Help me with Ian!” The man told her.

  Ian was staring at Cecily, as if she was a monster herself. There was fear in his eyes that wouldn’t go away.

  “Please! Give me something! His wound is starting to get worse!” The man shouted, cradling Ian.

  “Oh—okay.” Cecily looked around her—nothing would be of use. She checked in her pockets and felt something folded. She pulled it out and handed it to the young man.

  “A piece of paper?” The man questioned.

  “It’s all I have!” Cecily put the paper back in her pocket.

  “We need something!” Breanne reminded.

  “I don’t know what to do!” Cecily cried out.

  “Just find something!” The lady replied.

  “Here, watch out for him!” The man let the lady take Ian. “I’ll help you—”

  The sound of an arrow piercing the metal roof of the car was heard, startling the four of them. Before Cecily could process what was happening, a second piercing was heard.

  “Fuck it! Run!” The man picked up Ian and carried him away. Breanne ran as well, leaving Cecily to follow or stay.

  The sound of an arrow piercing through the metal frame of the car was enough for Cecily to start running.

  Out on the battlefield, several of both human’s and aliens were dead. People Cecily had grown to know over the past month, now laying lifeless along with others she had never seen before. Sean continued to fight along with the others, but there was still no sign of Jennifer. Ian and the man were making their way through it all and to a safe place. Cecily wondered if she should help the man or fight with Sean. Once she started off again, she knew she had chosen the best path.

  “You have to shoot them Sean!” Cecily pulled out her gun.

  “I’m trying!” Sean continuously pulled his trigger until he had run out of bullets.

  Cecily took a deep breath and remembered when she would practice alongside Jennifer, now her closest friend. She remembered how they would compete with each other and how much they had improved by doing so. She wanted to go back to those moments. Even though the world was gone, she really missed being around Jennifer.

  The bullet flew through the air, piercing the skull of an alien charging for the two. The alien fell over, dropping its bow and letting the arrows slide out of the quiver.

  “Go! Get the bow and arrows!” Cecily commanded.

  Sean bolted down the road and retrieved the alien’s weapon.

  The monster stomped as Sean looked up at it, preparing to pounce.

  “RUN!” Cecily shouted at Sean who was frozen still.

  The monster grabbed Sean and lifted him up high in the air.

  “NO!” Cecily ran to his aid.

  Sean fought as hard as he could, trying to get out of the monster’s grip, but it was too strong. The monster brought Sean as close to its eye as possible, forcing Sean to stare right in it. The eye was larger than half of his body—the reflection in it showed Sean fighting to get out. The monster screeched and shot out the blinding light from its eye. Facing straight at it, Cecily closed her eyes, but continued to run. Sean, however, was just inches away from the source. The light melted his eyes and skin, blinding him forever. The screech shattered his eardrums, not even leaving a ring.

  Cecily slashed the monsters left hand, causing the monster to fall on its face. It let go of Sean and picked itself up with its right hand. With another slash, Cecily sliced off its right hand, leaving only the hind legs. It fell on its face, unable to look up. Seizing the opportunity, she swung the sword into the eye, killing it.

  Sean laid on the floor, covering his eyes, screaming. Cecily couldn’t aid him, however. There now seemed to be more aliens than humans.

  There was no use. They were fighting against an alien race with monsters as pets. Cecily, just around a month ago, was only a student in college. These people had no idea how to fight. Save for a few, most of them were just ordinary people trying to find a good paying job, start a family, and die at an old age. None of them ever even thought about fighting in a war against aliens. So much had changed for them all, it was too much for Cecily.

  “Where are the Winchester’s when I need them?” Cecily fell to her knees, defeated.

  The pavement began to heat up. Cecily’s skin started to burn. The sky started to turn red.

  Cecily looked up. The dark gray sky, she had grown used to, was now changing slowly from a light orange to a bright red. It was still faint, but noticeable. It felt like the sun was falling.

  The monsters stopped and the aliens looked at the sky. For a small moment, every living thing left on earth was in silence.

  The burning sensation on her skin was irritating at the most, but it didn’t feel like it was doing any major damage yet. Cecily came to the conclusion that this wasn’t going to end anytime soon.

  Breaking her focus, the monsters began to run. All of the aliens, still left on the street, followed—scared.

  Cecily looked a
round. The survivors were all just as confused. She stopped her searching once she saw the man holding up Ian. The two were staring at her. Ian still had the scared look on his face, but he was now pointing directly at her.

  Ian

  Ian didn’t want to believe it. He stared at the lady, trying to find a reason not to believe. All of his hopes were lost, however. There was no denying that she was the lady from his vision. She had led the strange group, fought against the monsters, and now was standing next to the blind man.

  The lady noticed his staring, but Ian couldn’t turn away.

  “It’s her.” Ian uttered.

  “What?” Scott held him up to the best of his abilities.

  “That lady. The one who was helping us. She’s the one I saw in my vision. She has something to do with the Red Orb. She and that…guy.” Ian pointed at the two.

  Scott faced the lady and the man on the ground. Ian didn’t know what was going on in his mind, but he hoped Scott was figuring out a way out of this mess.

  Ian’s skin burned. The sky was a feint red now; Ian knew it was the Red Orb approaching.

  “What happened next?” Scott kept his eyes on the two.

  “What?”

  “In your vision. What happened next?”

  Ian tried to think back on his vision. He tried to find any other memories from it, but the only thing that was on his mind was Scott shooting the man dead.

  “It’s you.” Ian looked to Scott.

  There was no mistaking what Scott was thinking. He remembered what Ian had told him. That time had come.

  “It’s just a vision, Ian.” Scott continued to stare at the two. “No more.”

  Ian felt relieved. He had come to know Scott better than anybody the past month. Spending every moment with each other made the two closer than anyone Ian had ever known before. Scott was a hero, doing his best to save every life he could. Ian needed Scott.

  “Is he okay?” Scott started towards the two.

  “Y—yeah.” The girl said, kneeling down to help the man.

  Scott helped Ian down and went to examine the man. All the others around them gathered around.