Kingdoms Fall: Book One

by Joseph Pryce

The infants fell without a sound.

  “May the queen of all things guide your journey to her, my children”, she whispered.

  “NOOOOO!” Zil screamed at the top of her lungs. She struggled to get away from her parents but their grip on her was too strong.

  “Stop it, girl!” Sophia shouted at her daughter and angrily slapped her face. “Are you trying to anger the queen?!”

  Masona smiled at Zil and she held out her hand to her. “There is nothing to fear, my child. Your death will be beautiful and will bring life to millions of our people”.

  The sobbing Zil reluctantly took Mason’s hand and allowed herself to be lead to the lip of the pit. The priestess laid a calming hand on Zil and silently prayed. “May the queen of all things bless you, child”, Masona said before calmly pushing the teenager into the tavern pit. The smouldering pit groaned so loudly that it forced all present in the cavern to shield their ears with their hands and a great blinding light shot forth from the pit.

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

  Three hundred kilometres north of the cavern where Masona and her believers were gathered was the location of a massive Sandstorme sanctioned plasma energy pipeline station. The icy ground underneath the massive installation suddenly shook and quaked without warning. Then the ground split open up akin to a gaping maw and in a matter of mere minutes, completely swallowed the entire energy station whole.

  SUNBURST CITY

  SUMMERHILL

  The Conference of the Three Kingdoms, represented the first time in two hundred years a large scale meeting of Summerhill, Ocean Imperial and Sandstorme and had been coordinated by Grand Vizier Thoth. The conference’s stated aim was to discuss the recent rash of planet-wide quakes that had been destroying several plasma energy plants and to call a cease fire to the War of the Three Kingdoms. Thoth had chosen Sunburst City to hold the conference because it was the only city in all three of the kingdoms with a conference hall large enough of hold all of the delegates. The Biko Convention Centre had been named after King Shaka’s great-great uncle, The Emir of Sunburst, Biko Aadil Shaka following his death at the ripe old age of one hundred and fifty. The imposing multi-purpose venue was a gold and crystal beautifully designed structure located within walking distance of the city’s Business District. The Biko Convention Centre consisted of twelve exhibition halls, four convention centres, one hundred meeting room, fourteen restaurants and had the capacity to easily handle three hundred thousand visitors daily if need be. The centre was nestled majestically within the very peaks of a mountain range that overlooked The Majira Rainforest. A colourful, enchanting jungle filled with unparalleled biodiversity.

  SERENAH

  Prince Akuna sat next to King Shaka at the head of a long conference table. At the other end sat Queen Blakstorme and her brother and in the table middle was Pharaoh Alooma Kane the Fourth. The newly appointed ruler of Sandstorme now that his father was deceased and his sister Princess Alya Kane, a strapping woman who was the spitting image of her father. The conference room was richly furnished. Black and orange coloured carpets covered the floor that had been inlaid with gold dust, and on the walls hung priceless works of holo-graphic artworks created by two of Summerhill’s most coveted artists, Rahman Abal Nince and Abella Amoi Yadd.

  The queen of Ocean Imperial glanced over the table and could not help but be amazed. Although she kept any emotion from showing on her pretty face.

  What an historical event this is! She remarked. The ruling leaders of all three empires together in the same room!

  Her eyes fell on the prince of Summerhill’s face, his eyes the colour of dark chestnut smouldering within his handsome brown face. Such a handsome young man. Favours more the queen than the king.

  She glanced at the imposing figure of the bearded King Shaka, his face rugged where Akuna’s was smooth, hard glinting eyes in contrast to the prince’s sensual gaze.

  “Queen Blakstorme”, she heard Shaka begin to address her. “Please accept the condolences from my royal family. Djimon Leone Blackwood, was an honourable man. We were troubled to hear of his passing”.

  Serenah bowed her head slightly in acceptance of Shaka’s offering. “Thank you, King Shaka. My husband always spoke very highly of you”.

  “May we get down to business? We have many issues to discuss today”, Khon rudely interrupted.

  “The Rajah is correct. Our time at this conference is extremely limited”, Alya agreed.

  “Very well”, Shaka said. He glanced at Akuna. “Son?”

  “Of course, father”, the prince stood up. He looked very dapper and mature in his dark jumpsuit, the Shaka family crest embroidered on the lapel. Akuna looked up slightly at the conference room’s domed ceiling. “Computer?”

  “Yes, Prince Akuna?” A lilting female voice instantly answered. It was voice of the conference centre’s central computer intellect that was responsible for operating every single function of the entire complex.

  “May I have your operating name, please”, the prince asked the computer.

  “This one is called Nyommmi, your nobleness”.

  “Nyommi, can you give us a visual of every single plasma energy plant worldwide?”

  It took the central computer less than two seconds to activate the room’s holographic projector. The room lights dimmed and the large scale image of all twenty-one plasma power plants scattered across the planet dominated the rooms.

  Akuna pointed out the power plant that was destroyed near White Blood Valley to everybody in the room. “The Sandstorme installation had been previously located here but as you can see, the power plant has simply disappeared”.

  “Our inspection crews have been going over the entire area for weeks and have found no trace of Power Plant Twenty-six”, Alooma exclaimed in disbelief. “It is as if it had never existed!”

  “Which is impossible!” His sister offered. “A complex of that size does not simply “disappear”! How do we know that this has to do with the planet quakes and not some Volgag attack?”

  I do not like this woman already. Serenah thought to herself. “Princess Alya, all of us here are fully aware what the Coldland tribes are fully capable of doing. This simply do not have the technology available to be responsible for something like this”, she firmly told her.

  “Tell that to my father’s ghost, Queen Blakstorme”, the stout woman retorted. “It was those white hearted savages that were responsible for destroying an entire military base in Shivery Village where my poor sweet father lost his life!”

  Alooma patted his sister’s hand in a comforting manner. “The military investigation to this point has proven that General Dambudda acted alone, my sister”, he told her in a soothing manner.

  “You may believe that, brother. But I do not”, she spat back. “The Volgags are base creatures and are in contact with all manners occult blood magics and arcane religions! Who know what evil deeds that conjured under the moon’s pale light?”

  Khon shot the princess a withering look. “Speaking on behalf of the queen as well as myself, Princess of Sandstorme. We are an enlightened peoples in Ocean Imperial. We do not believe in blood magic and ancient religions. We subscribe only to what science reveals to us. And it is a scientific fact, that centuries of terra-forming this planet have led this recent issue. We can only bend the fabric of this world so much to our will before it begins to reclaim itself”.

  Shaka ran a hand through his thick beard. “What will happens once this world decides to “reclaim itself” Rajah Khon?”

  Khon glanced at King Shaka and barely suppressed his gleeful smile. “If my calculations hold true, King Shaka. The intensity of the planet quakes will continue to increase geometrically to the point that the force of these quakes will eventually destroy all of the terra-forming transformers that were in implanted in the planet’s core. Once that happens, the gravitational field of this world will return to its original inhospitable levels, our control o
ver the world’s weather patterns will be nonexistent. The waters of Oceanstorme will eventually freeze over, the vast deserts of Sandstorme will become encroached with fields of ice and the jungles of Summerhill become a frozen tundra”.

  An alarmed look covered Shaka’s face. He glanced at Akuna in slight shock. “Is this accurate?”

  Akuna solemnly nodded in agreement. “Nyommi?”

  “Yes, Prince Akuna?”

  “Could you project the world’s after-image based on the calculations that you have stored in your memory?”

  “As you command, my prince”, the computer replied. The image of the plasma plants were instantly replaced by images of great expanses of the planet caught in the clutches of wild torrential ice storms and sixty foot snow drifts.

  “This is what the world will look like once the terra-former implants are destroyed”, he addressed the room gravelly.

  The silence that followed was thick and deafening.

  Serenah stared at the frozen prairie of what was to come and an icy chill gripped her heart.

  I cannot allow this to happen. I have an entire empire that depends on me for their survival. Millions of subjects that I must protect.

  “What are our options, Prince Akuna?” She asked.

  “The prince does anything that we do not already know, Serenah”, Khon sneered.

  “Please, Khon. I would like to hear it from Akuna”, Serenah replied and fixed her dark eyes on the prince.

  “Thank-you, Queen Blakstorme” Akuna smiled handsomely at Serenah. “This planet was an ice covered world before our ancestors arrived here. The average daily temperature was minus fifty degrees Celsius and the winter season lasted two hundred and sixty days, with a gravity more of than twenty metres per second squared. Needless to say that these conditions would make it impossible for our people to survive here”.

  “Twenty metres per second squared?!” Alooma repeated with much gloom.

  King Shaka came straight to the point. “How much time do we have?”

  Khon and Akuna exchanged glances. “That is hard to say, King Shaka. Some of the computations have given us another ten decades. While others have put it the eventual collapse within the next ten years”, Khon shrugged casually. “It al depends on what the planet herself decides to do”.

  “What are our options, Khon?” His sister asked. “What contingencies can be put into action?”

  Again Kohn gave a casual shrug. “There is not much that can be done, sister. That is why we have all gathered here. To prepare for the inevitable. This planet is doomed”.

  “I refuse to accept that fate, Rajah Khon”, Shaka chastised. “Every problem has a solution. We must locate all of the remaining Inter-Dimensional Transports”.

  Alya shot Shaka a disparaging look. “Why should we leave this planet?” She asked. “After all of the sacrifices our ancestors made to bring us here in the first place?”

  “What choice do we have, Princess Alya?” Shaka asked her tightly.

  The tension is this room is becoming palpable. Serenah thought dourly to herself. “May I suggest that we break for the afternoon? We can reconvene later this evening to further discuss this?” She suggested. She said this in a soft tone as she remembered that she was not in Ocean Imperial where her word meant all. Here in Sunburst, she but first among equals. She rose from the table and the others followed suit.

  “Until this evening then”, King Shaka consented and made for the door.

  The thin faced Alooma and his sister were the next to exit along with Khon. Akuna stayed behind and moved in closer to Serenah with a smile.

  “It is a great honour to finally meet you in person, Queen Blakstorme”, he told her with charm and grace.

  “Thank-you, Prince Akuna. It is a privilege to meet you as well”, she replied graciously returning his smile.

  Akuna held open the conference door for the beautiful queen to step through first and followed her behind her.

  JARAWA

  In a seperate conference room three quarters down the winding corridor from where Serenah and the other leaders were meeting was where The Order of the Viziers held their own meeting to discuss the imminent threat to the planet’s survival. All one hundred Viziers including Thoth, Jarawa and Netha were present. There were several holographic projections filled with complex computations that hung above them in the room.

  A Summerhill female Vizier named Yemaya stood up from her chair in the third aisle to address the room. “My fellow Viziers. We must face the fact that Queen Sofiormenia is still alive”, she announced with weight.

  A quiet mummer filled the room.

  A young Sandstorme Vizier seated behind Yemaya rose from his chair. “Are we certain of this fact, Grand Vizier Thoth?” Vizier Ogun asked.

  Thoth, Netha and Jarawa were seated together on a raised dais that was perched at the front of the conference room.

  “It is the only possible explanation for what is happening to the planet, Vizier Ogun”, Thoth replied solemnly. “The Order must gather our forces together once more as we did in the days of old, find and destroy Sofiormenia wherever she may be hiding. This time there can be no room for error on our part. The stakes have risen too high”.

  Jarawa hated Thoth. She hated him for reasons that she herself could not begin to understand.

  The pompous fool acts as if he is the only Grand Vizier present on this dais. Why does he alone get to decide what the Order will or will not do?

  “I must concur with Thoth”, she heard Netha say. “We must act now before the hour becomes too late”.

  Lickspittle! Jarawa cursed silently. He always falls in line with whatever Thoth says or does. I hate him too!

  Jarawa’s mind drifted back to the previous night. She and Khon held one another in the king sized canopied bed of the luxury guest villa that he resided in since arriving in Sunburst City. She listened with a masked detachment of his grand plans to use his engineered mutant army in attack against the Conference of the Three Kingdoms in an effort to disrupt the peace.

  Khon is a fool! The security force surrounding the entire city is so tightly organized that not even a rat’s fart can escape their notice. Let alone launching any sort of attack.

  Jarawa hated Khon too. In fact she could not think of one person in the world that she did like. It had always been thus as far back as she could remember. The feelings of malcontent and malice eating away at her gut like a virus.

  Khon….Thoth…..Netha…..The Order of Viziers….Who the hell needed them anyway? Who the hell needed any man?

  SERENAH

  She was quite enjoying her time with Akuna. The Prince of Summerhill and the Queen of Ocean Imperial strolled casually along an intricately tree-lined manicured mountain pass that veered just slightly outside of the main convention grounds. Following close behind the king’s son and the monarch was Juliana and six armed Queen Defenders as well as four members of the Summerhill Guardians, sworn bodyguards whom the Summmerhill’s royal family used to protect them when travelling outside of the kingdom.

  “I must say, Prince Akuna that I was very impressed with your demeanour during that meeting. I know that my brother can sometimes be quite abrupt”, she told him professionally but inside her heart fluttered.

  He is so handsome! She commented inwardly. And those shoulders….so wide!

  “Not to mention the princess of Sandstorme”, Akuna chuckled. “She seemed vexed from the moment she entered the room”.

  “From what I have heard about her. She is as every cantankerous than her father ever was”, Serenah laughed along with him.

  She could feel Akuna’s eyes roaming over face and body but he shyly looked away when she tried to meet his eyes.

  Akuna snickered quietly to himself with some mirth.

  “What is so amusing?” Serenah asked him with a smile. Her deep brown eyes twinkled in the daytime sunlight.

  Akuna looked into her eyes and felt himself at a sudden loss for words.

  “Look at
the two of us walking and talking together like normal human beings. And all of these long years our two realms have been at constant war with one another”.

  Serenah nodded in agreement. “And now with one stroke of a stylus. Ocean Imperial, Summerhill and Sandstorme have become allies”.

  There was small intimate garden at the end of the pathway dense with colourful trees and exotic looking shrubbery.

  “What a beautiful space that is”, Serenah remarked. “Do you mind if we sit in there a moment?”

  “As you wish, your majesty”, Akuna replied gallantly.

  The two of them made their way into the gardens with Juliana, the Queen Defenders and Summerhill Guardians following close behind. The prince and the queen sat down close together on an intricately designed stone bench and continued their conversation well into the afternoon.