Kingdoms Fall: Book One

by Joseph Pryce

  The only thing that she remembered from that awful night is leaving The Platinum House after her shift was done and waking up unconscious in an alleyway bleeding from every orifice on her body. Somehow she had managed to drag her broken body home to her small abode and contacted the owner of The Platinum House. A gentle old man named, Fury Nightshade who had established the business one hundred years ago when he was just seventeen years old. It had been intended to be just a clubhouse for he and his schoolmates to hang out in but grew almost by accident from that original idea into a multimillion credit business. Fury had brought an anti-rape kit with him to Belta’s tiny residence, which she had used to clean out the discharged semen from her vagina, mouth and anus. The powerful disinfectant contained within the kit’s fluid killed any bacteria that may have led to venereal or autoimmune diseases that her rapists may have been carrying. Belta saved the sperm in the specimen tubes that came with the kit and had the DNA tested by an officer at The Central Law Enforcement Division that was also a regular client of hers.

  One of these days before I die. I am going to cut that rich bastard’s dick off and stuff it in his mouth for what he did to me! She thought angrily to herself.

  Belta never revealed to Trane, Fury or any of her co-workers just who had attacked her that night. Nor did she have any plans to ever do so. She would take care of him one of these days. But the awful thoughts of that evening and everything else drifted away as waves of organismic pleasure suddenly swept through her.

  Heiro’s face was buried between the older woman’s legs and he was using his tongue to bring her to climax. “Don’t stop, my young sweet”, Belta moaned between panted breaths. “I am almost there”.

  Heiro’s tongue darted in and out of her until Belta could no longer contain herself. She screamed in pleasure and her legs shuddered in exhaustion. Heiro lifted his head and smiled at her with triumph. “My lady enjoyed that, yes?”

  Belta pulled him close and kissed her juices from his lips. “The lady very much enjoyed that”. Heiro made love to her just the way she had trained him to from the very first time she gave him his manhood at the tender age of thirteen. Since that time he had been the only man capable of bring her to orgasm.

  Because he touches me the way I want him to touch me.

  Belta rolled over in the bed and pulled out a thin black gasper from her night table. She inhaled the smoke deeply toward the bedroom ceiling. When Fury passed away ownership of The Platinum House had passed to her control. The day after the old man’s funeral she took possession of his old bedroom and converted it into a two room boudoir and office space for herself. There were half a dozen silver plated full mirrors about the room and a fancy crystal chandelier that hung glamorously from the ceiling. Next to the full-sized bathroom was a spare room that Fury had once used to store his vast collection of handmade luxury footwear. After his death, Belta had donated all five thousand pairs of Fury’s shoes to a local charity and converted the spare room into a security station complete with digi-cams, bio-scanners and hidden Stun Nozzles that could render any unruly client unconscious within seconds.

  Heiro glanced up at Belta’s gold plated circular chronometer that hung above here bed upon a crystal shelf. “I guess we should get up. Trane linked me on the way over here. He should be arriving any minute now”.

  Belta kissed Heiro deeply on his thick brown lips and rubbed her well-manicured hand seductively across his muscular chest. “You just make sure that you come back tomorrow, young man”, she purred.

  Belta and Heiro never revealed to Trane that they had been lovers for years. It is better that he does not know. It would ruin their friendship. She thought and rose from the bed to stretch cat-like. Her body was long and lean without an ounce of fat which she owed more to her exercise regimen than the nano-machines that coursed through her bloodstream. By the time Trane had entered the brothel both Belta and Heiro were already downstairs seated comfortably at the chic complimentary bar that was open for all incoming clients to partake of. A very appealing young Rogen women served Heiro a tall glass of dark ale and gave him a playful wink.

  Belta shoot her a disapproving grin. “Stop trying, Kiat. Heiro will never take the bait”.

  Kiat dangled her fingers along Heiro’s left bicep. “You never know, Madame Bel. He may one day”, she laughed salaciously and sauntered away to serve a fat sweaty balding Hannix man at the other end of the room.

  Trane walked up and kissed his mother protectively on the forehead. He loved her with all of his heart. She had raised him within the walls of The Platinum House and although when he was a child they did not have much she had ensured that he wanted for nothing.

  “Hello mother. How are you?” He and Heiro exchanged hearty handshakes.

  Belta touched her son lovingly on the arm. “I am fantastic, my son. Heiro arrived here early and was just keeping me company”.

  Heiro kept his eyes focused on the contents of his drink. He could still taste Belta on his tongue.

  Trane glanced at his best friend and asked, “Are you ready?”

  Heiro sighed in a dramatic fashion. “Do we have to count it up tonight, Trane? It has been a bloody full day and I am knackered as all hell”.

  “Megladon says he needs his delivery by tomorrow morning. It won’t take us long, my friend”, Trane replied softly.

  Heiro rose from the table and tipped an imaginary hat to Belta. “You take good care of yourself, Madame Bel. Until we meet again”.

  “It was good to see you again, Heiro. Please take care of my son”, she said back to him.

  Trane kissed his mother once more. “We will be out back if you need us, mother”.

  Heiro followed Trane past the bar and through the great room of the mansion. There were several of Belta’s girls in various stages of undress lounging about in the room. Some were busy entertaining clients while other just sat around looking bored. All of the women there knew the two men and gave them smiles and waves.

  At the other end of the great room was large alcove that led to the back entrance of the brothel. Once outside, Trane and Heiro followed a long stone pathway that led to a glass enclosed greenhouse that sat alone at the very end of the backyard. Inside the greenhouse that contained a variety of exotic foliage that Belta had collected over the years was a hidden doorway behind a flock of tall sunflower plants. The door’s bio-scanner instantly picked up the two men’s signals and obediently slid open. Inside the room was a veritable treasure trove of stolen goods that Trane and Heiro had accumulated over the years.

  “Where are the diamonds?” Heiro asked Trane.

  Trane picked up a metal black jewelry case and opened it up. He inspected the contents. “Where is that black stone? The one that was shaped like a heart?”

  “I gave it Candace. That old thing did not look it was worth much”.

  Trane shrugged with nonchalance. “You are probably right”. He dumped the hundreds of pure cut diamonds onto the table that squatted in the middle of the room. “I guess we should get started”.

  They both sat down at the table and began meticulously counting out the stones.

  HEIRO THOTHE

  It was close to midnight before Heiro returned to his parent’s small two bedroom house in Woolner Village. He covered his mouth to smother the noise of a huge yawn as he shut the front door. Both of his parents liked to retire to bed early and he did not want to wake them. By design, he did not spend much time at the house anymore these days because his line of work had become much too dangerous and who knew what information the people he had stolen from had on him. It was better not to give them any easy targets. He had opened the bedroom door and stepped inside of his small room and flopped down tiredly onto his bed.

  Hello Yamila. He whispered inwardly to the holographic image of his dead girlfriend smiling back at him from the bedroom ceiling. She was an astoundingly ravishing young women with dark brown eyes full of hidden mysteries.

  Heiro heard a strange noise emanating from t
he bathroom that sounded very much like a woman’s sob. He rolled off from the bed and stepped out of his room. The bathroom door was shut but he could see a thin stream of light under the crack on the floor. He knocked softly on the door. “Mother? Are you alright?”

  The sobbing behind the door ceased suddenly and Heiro could hear the sound of running water follow. “Mother?” He called out again louder this time.

  “I am fine, son. Just go to bed”, came his mother’s thin reply.

  This made Heiro feel even more urgent. “I want you to open the door, mother. I need to make sure that you are alright”.

  “Just go away, Heiro. Please. I am fine”.

  Heiro banged his fist against the closed door in frustration. “Open the door, mother. Or else I will shoot it down!”

  Heiro waited a moment and then heard his mother turn off the water. Another moment passed before she finally opened the door to the tiny bathroom. Heiro’s mother’s eyes had both been blackened. Her lips split open and a thin trickle of blood streamed down from her nose.

  Heiro took one look at her and fury filled his face. “Where is he?!” He demanded.

  “Heiro, please!” His mother pleaded. “This was my fault this time! I pushed him too far!”

  Heiro was tired of hearing that from her. Anytime his father chose to take out his bad mood on her, she immediately took the blame for him.

  “Where is he?!”

  His mother started to cry and covered her face with her hands.

  Heiro punched a hole through the hallway wall with his fist and stormed out of the house in a fit of rage. Minutes later he found his father seated in an empty nearby park on a bench. In his hands he gripped a half-finished bottle of black rum.

  Drunken bastard!

  Heiro whipped out his blaster and pointed it at his father’s face. Haashem Thothe was a very large man with a mean bearded face and hands that were twice the size of Heiro’s. Even though he happened to be three times his son’s age, the older man still appeared formidable. He glanced up at youngest child with beady bloodshot eyes. “What do you plan to do? Shoot me?”

  “You lowdown bastard!” Heiro snarled at his father. “That is the last time you put your hands on my mother! You hear me, old man?!”

  Haashem blatantly ignored his son’s righteous anger and drank heavily from his bottle of rum.

  “She was my wife way before she was ever your mother, boy”.

  Heiro’s finger wrapped around the blaster’s trigger. I should just do it! Save my mother years of pain and heartache.

  But the young man knew that if he killed his father that his mother would actually grieve for the bastard and the thought of that just made him sick to his stomach.

  “That pistol make you feel more like a man, boy?” He heard his father ask him. “You have no idea what it is to be a man…..to provide for a family”.

  “Shut your mouth, old man! Before I change my mind about killing you”, Heiro retorted. He put his blaster away and roughly snatched away Hasshem’s rum bottle.

  “What the devil do you think you are doing?!” His father yelled at his youngest son.

  Heiro said nothing. He just used the bottle to smash Haashem in the skull breaking it in two pieces. The old man staggered from the picnic bench and dropped onto his hands and knees into the dry cold park grass.

  Heiro felt nothing about striking his father. The old man had beat on him and his brothers and sisters mercilessly for many years until Heiro had grown tall and strong enough to defend himself. He pointed a threatening finger at his father. “Tomorrow morning I am moving out of the house for good this time! And I am taking my mother with me!” He dropped the two broken bottle pieces beside his father in the grass and stomped away.

  “You think that you are a man?!” He heard his father shouting after him. “You think that you are a man?! You are not a man! You are not a man!”

  **************************************************************************************

  As Heiro approached his parent’s house he could have sworn that he heard somebody following him but when he spun around there was nobody in sight.

  Bloody nerves. He commented to himself. It has been a long blodclot day! And on top of that I have to get up early now to move my mother out of the house.

  A scrapping noise in a nearby alleyway definitely got Heiro’s attention this time. He drew out his blaster and held it threateningly at his side.

  “Show yourself or get yourself shot!” He called out to the street shadows.

  One second passed. Then another. After a full ten seconds of Heiro standing there staring into the dark alley, District Inspector Amin finally revealed himself. He grinned in a predatory manner at the young man.

  “Hello Heiro”, was all the law enforcement officer said before shooting him with his blaster. This weapon was not his registered one. It was a pistol that Darr only used for his illegal actives such as this event tonight. The weapon could never be traced back to the inspector.

  The blaster beam melted open Heiro’s entire midsection spilling his charred guts and lungs out onto the dirty sidewalk.

  THE COLDLANDS

  WHITE BLOOD VALLEY

  There were dozens of unground caverns that existed underneath the valley that spanned for hundreds of kilometres that for the last hundred years had been strictly a stronghold for the Roxside tribe. But since The Six Tribe Conference took place decades ago a meeting of all six Volgang tribes where they pledged to work together in an effort to overthrow the First Worlders, all Volgags were welcome in the caverns. Hundreds of Volgags from all six tribes were gathered around a dark deep smouldering pit that sat in the middle of the cavern. The old legends be told said that the pit lead straight down into the planet’s core, where Sofiormenia now dwelled upon a throne made of burning fire.

  The High Priestess Masona Von Hannix, the religious leader for the Hannix tribe chanted wildly in front of a bronze fire brazier, her long purple hair slicked back with sweat as she muttered long forgotten spells in the Old Tongue. The ancient language that all six tribes spoke thousands of years ago when all six tribes were all one people.

  “Oh mighty Queen Sofiormenia!” The short priestess bedecked in a long white and purple gown recited in the Old Tongue. “Shine your white light of shadow upon us! Bathe your believers in your blinding spirit of blood and sacrifice! May all sinners standing here in your presence be forever transfigured!”

  Masona danced wildly around the fire for several minutes her hair whipping wildly around her face and head until she collapsed into an exhausted heap at the foot of the cavern pit. Fokat and Bad Bram stood among the throng of other Coldlands tribe members and in their hands they cradled two infant Chrine baby girls wrapped in swaddling clothes. Dorta Rogen, a strapping woman well over six feet tall, who happened to be the leader of the Rogen tribe, stood next to Priestess Masona. Her hands were clasped tightly together and she silently mouthed the ancient chants. Standing behind her was Sophia and Beganne Rogen holding onto their twelve year old red haired daughter. The pale skinned girl was fetching but mournful her red pupils were filled with sad tears.The high priestess rose majestically from the ground. The metal earrings and bracelets that she wore glistened in the firelight of the cavern. “Why do you cry, little girl?” She asked the Rogen’s daughter. “The sacrifice that Sofiormenia asks of you today means nothing compared to the glories it will reap for our people”.

  “I am so scared, High Priestess Masona”, Zil Rogen replied weepingly.

  “Do not be frightened child”, Masona rubbed a purple gloved hand across the Zil’s right cheek. “On this night, you and the other sacrifices leave our pitiful mortal plane of existence to join the Queen of all things in eternity”.

  Masona kissed the young girl on her lips and turned slowly to approach the gathered multitude. She raised her hands until they fell into silence.

  “My brothers and sisters. We have gathered here for one common purpose! To fulfill one common goa
l! We have gathered here to beg help from our eternal queen in ridding this planet of all outworlders!”

  The multitude roared in agreement and men and woman alike beat their bare chests with shield and axe. The baby girls that Fokat and Bad Bram held onto cried incessantly as they could sense what was to come next for them.

  “We have fought the aliens for centuries and still they remain!” The High Priestess continued. “Only Queen Sofiormenia has the power to send the foreigners back from whence they came! Bring forth the sacrifices”, she ordered.

  Fokat and Bad Bram stepped forward without any hesitation and handed the two babies to Masona who took the children with a smile. She chanted a short prayer in the ancient tongue that no one around her could her and then released each baby from her hands into the cavern pit.