Destiny Sorrow

by Rod S. Galves

  Destiny Sorrow

  Rod S. Galves

  For Lara, her friendship illuminates my life at all times

  Summary

  Aiden

  The Army

  Training

  Military Life

  First Mission

  Evelin

  Funeral

  Invasion

  Interlude

  The Answer of the Pharaoh

  The Chaos Agents

  Chaotic Life

  New Mission

  Kurtrick

  The Ball

  War in the Ziggurat

  Pharaoh's Fury

  Recovery

  New day

  General Sorom

  Calm

  Before the storm

  God’s Air Temple

  In the Eye of the Hurricane

  God-Computer

  Epilogue

  Part I:

  The World of Order

  Aiden

  The sun had just bathed the horizon with its first rays of light. Miles of plantations were illuminated, beginning their photosynthesis, and evaporating the dew of the night.

  Large machinery turned on automatically. They were four meters long and almost three meters high; side turbines made the five machines float. There were no propellers, only a blue energy emanating from their circular engines. That energy was enough to make the drones gain altitude and soon were flying over the plantation field, throwing chemicals at the site. In less than half an hour they had already flown over the entire territory and returned to the shed from which they left, near the large house where the owner of the farm lived.

  The polished wooden house had two floors. It was full of windows with antennae on its roof next to solar panels.

  In front of the villa, a small truck with the empty bucket rested. It was red, yet already somewhat rusty, clashing with the modernity and polishing of the house. It had four of the same drones' thrusters, but smaller and disconnected.

  In one of the rooms of the house, a child saw the drones parking out the window and packed their school supplies in a backpack.

  The room wasn't too big. There was a bed against the wall with a sheet with stars patterns. Lying on top of the furniture, there were dolls with technological armor: one with a gray armor, which appeared to be part of his skin, had a blade stored in his back. The other was bigger, with a large black armor covering his entire body and carrying a giant axe. Two more dolls thrown on the ground: a man whose lower half resembled a war tank, accompanied by a woman in camouflage, carrying a sniper rifle.

  There was also an old closet and desk, where the boy took his last materials. On the desk a woman's doll with a flamethrower by the side of a horseshoe-shaped ship. This two were close to another female doll, who had a yellow armor with black details and held two swords.

  Next to his bed was a poster of a man who seemed to follow the armor style of the toys. His armor was white and blue, with a helmet that covered his nose up, and carried a blue revolver. Above man were the words “Follow your destiny”.

  The boy was almost ten years old, dark brown hair and tanned skin. He was wearing a white uniform blouse and black pants. As soon as he put his backpack on his back, he left his room.

  He was in the hallway on the second floor, with a colored carpet, where a small drone vacuumed the dust off the ground. After passing through the machine the boy went down the circular stairs going right towards the kitchen, where he heard his father humming.

  When he entered the room, his father stopped what he was doing and took the child in his lap.

  “Happy birthday, Aiden!” celebrated the father, who showed more happiness than the birthday boy himself. “Aren't you excited? Today is the day you will receive your destiny!”

  Aiden's father had the same hair and skin color, but in his early forties, he already showed traces of old age and a prominent belly. As he leaped with joy, he heard a playful voice coming from the door.

  “Yes, maybe he turns into a chaotic.”

  Aiden became angry, looking in the direction of sound, in which a thirteen-year-old girl stared at him.

  “Dad, Yana's been saying that all the week!”

  The father showed to be disappointed to the girl.

  “Don't say those things Yana! Aiden's going to have a great destiny, just like yours.”

  Yana, Aiden's sister, was much taller than the boy, and although they were remarkably similar, her hair reached almost up to her waist and was much smoother than that of the men in the family.

  “A very great destiny indeed, to take care of this farm”, she answered sarcastically.

  She sat at the wooden table and began to eat the breakfast toast.

  “Father”, Aiden spoke excitedly, having already forgotten the provocation of his sister “I want to be a Guardian of Order, just like Guardian Simeht!”

  The father put his son in another chair and served him special birthday pancakes, which he was preparing. The boy celebrated by attacking the food.

  “See son: few are those who become Guardians of the Order, but you can still have an incredible destiny anyway. Now eat your food if you don't want to be late for class.”

  Aiden ate his pancakes too fast, and, after saying goodbye to his family, ran to the front of the house toward the old truck.

  In the driver's seat was an android. A humanoid creature made of white metal, full of joints and some exposed wires. His face was a screen that altered the color patterns of pixels simulating different facial expressions.

  “Good morning, Aiden” spoke the android with a synthetic and calm voice. “Ready to go to class?”

  “Yes, I am, Corel”, answered the boy by getting into the truck. “Did you know that today I will receive my destiny?”

  As Corel fastened his seat belt, the pattern on his face changed showing a happy face with yellow pixels.

  “I had this information saved in my database yes, great news! Being an android, I don't have a destiny other than to serve you, but I imagine you are very excited.”

  The truck took off, flying about 30 centimeters above the road.

  Aiden could see the length of his father's farm and his neighbors' farms. All small farmers working for a megacorporation, which distributed the technology, however, took most of the profits.

  After half an hour talking to his fellow android, he could see the silhouette of the city. He was used to it today but remembered the first day his father took him to the urban area and how shocked he was to see the size of the monster.

  It was made up of buildings miles high, and some so wide that they occupied entire blocks. Parks, sports fields, green areas, swimming pools, everything in the central region was within the huge structures.

  Several cars flew to great heights, in a highly organized way, rarely occurred any accident. And yet the truck was near the ground.

  Also, between the buildings it was possible to see transparent ducts of pinkish tone, through which the aerotrains circulated at high speed. Corel parked near one of these pipes at ground height that climbed up to the sky.

  The boy, after saying goodbye, made his usual journey to a large elevator surrounded by the same translucent pink glass. The elevator led to a platform where he waited for the train.

  There were already a few people standing in the wagon, but Aiden went through a man's legs and managed to pick up a seat near the window that had just been vacated. From there, he could see the numerous skyscrapers and a much larger structure in the distance. The Ziggurat-City of the Pharaoh.

  There was an entire city within the large purple metal walls that formed the ziggurat. The Pharaoh and a series of the chosen lived there, some without ever putting their foot out of the structure.

  The people in th
e wagon were of various types and styles. Some young people with colored hair and various piercings, other salaried workers wearing the classic asymmetric suits, some individuals with mechanical prostheses in place of their limbs, all highly concentrated in their pocket technological appliances. At each stop a good amount of people left and were soon replaced by a new crowd.

  In the window, Aiden could see in the nearby buildings several neon screens and advertising holograms, which mostly showed pharaoh's political advertisements.

  Aiden had seen that face so many times on television that he was already nauseous, never becoming interested in politics in all his ten years of life. He just knew that the God-Computer gave this man the fate of being the Pharaoh of the whole Gardenia country and the destinies were never wrong.

  Pharaoh Tess had a sand-colored skin and voluminous dark brown hair, as well as deep green eyes. He always dressed very well, with colorful tunics full of details. At the time of the advertisement, it was yellow with long sleeves and had symmetrically patterned triangular shapes along the arms.

  Upon seeing Pharaoh, Aiden wondered if his fate would be as great as his. He dreamed of becoming a Guardian of the Order, but being Pharaoh began to seem very tempting to him.

  Lost in his imagination, he almost missed his station. Thanks to his agility he managed to dodge people in his way and get out one second before the doors closed. Most of those who came down were young, all going to the educational building.

  The skyscraper was large not only in height but in width. Sports courts, libraries and dozens of classrooms were fitted on each floor. It was the educational building of the whole region. Each floor was occupied by several different classes, from children to young adults.

  Aiden's room was about 20 10-year-olds. All student desks had digital screens, serving for annotation and reading. The slate was also digital, with classes already pre-recorded. The teacher present in the class had the function only of answering the doubts.

  As soon as Aiden sat the android teacher, a more modern version of Corel, went to him.

  “Today is your birthday, isn't it? A government explanatory video awaits you; you are allowed to miss the first few minutes of class seeing the explanation; however, you must return as soon as it is finished.”

  Aiden just agreed with his head, and put the headphones attached to his desk. His classmates entered the room and prepared for class when the video began.

  The screen showed a man in a military suit. He did not look more than 40. His hair was black and short, and her brown eyes showed a severe expression. By the number of medals in his blue uniform, Aiden knew that man was high-ranking, he didn't even want to imagine what the soldiers had to go through following that stern man.

  However, what caught the boy's attention most was the lack of the man's right hand. What was visible was a very polished and clean metallic prosthesis. Aiden has seen artificial limbs before, but that seemed to be tip-of-the-line, and probably too expensive.

  Without delay the man began to speak.

  “I am General Roy Pardalis, and if you are listening to this, the great day of receiving your destiny has come. Since the beginning of time, the great God-Computer blesses us with the wisdom of destinies. Most people receive a common destiny like 'caring for the family', 'becoming a scientist'. In my case,” he raises his mechanical arm and holographic blue glyphs projected, initially intelligible, however, soon become the following words of the man “'you will become marshal of Gardenia'. I have not reached my destination yet, but I'm on my way.

  You can also be elevated with the great honor of the Order! If the glyphs on your arm are translated into the word 'order', you will receive special training and serve as God's personal guardian in your Air Temple. Unfortunately, the opposite is also real and may receive chaos, people who do not follow the laws of fate. There is nothing to worry about, even if you have this misfortune, our Chaos Containment Centers will give you comfort while preventing disorder from dominating our civilization.

  As soon as the glyphs appear on your arm, immediately go to any government establishment to inform your way into society. This is necessary to maintain the organization of the country. Good luck and may your fate be peaceful."

  Aiden already knew most of that information, the video served only to increase the boy's fear of becoming a chaotic. He tried not to think about it too much and continue to believe that he would become a Guardian of the Order.

  When taking off the headphones he noticed that the class had already begun and tried to pay attention to it.

  During recess he ate with his friends in the cafeteria floor. He could see a range of young children to adolescents almost graduating in the long tables in the entire floor.

  One of his colleagues, short and wearing glasses, rubbed the holographic words coming out of his arm in his face.

  “Have you seen this? I'm going to be a millionaire, I bet my destiny is the best of everyone in our class.”

  This kid ragged about his future for a month, and although Aiden hated it, he was right. None of his other colleagues had received an exciting fate. One of them “will become a publicist” while another “will getting married at thirty-two”. The one who was most proud “will save a life”. In general, the destinations were vague. It was known that they always came to fruition, occasionally in unexpected ways.

  The boy's birth time was only in the afternoon, so he wouldn’t find out his words until he was returning home. This ensured that he could not pay attention to the other classes the rest of the day, just thinking about how his life would be determined.

  Aiden's colleagues were also curious, and joked with the boy about the various possibilities, but he was so nervous and thoughtful that he didn't even when the little guy in glasses said he would be from chaos.

  As soon as class was over, he took his backpack and ran away. He knew running wasn't going to make his destiny appear sooner, and he still couldn't stand still.

  He came back again by the subway, this time having to stand. He stopped at the same point he climbed, and by the time he reached ground level, he saw his father's truck.

  “Run home, Corel!” shouted the boy just before he got in the vehicle.

  Corel agreed verbally but drove normally respecting all traffic laws.

  He saw the sun almost setting underneath the pollution layer, which became a shock pink tone. He knew the time was coming.

  The android asked how the boy's day was, but his answers were short and shallow. From time to time, he himself asked if he would be a Guardian of the Order, and Corel replied “I have no doubt” all the times. The boy knew that he only said it to please and yet he felt optimistic.

  After a few minutes, Corel parked the truck in his usual place. Upon hearing the engines, Aiden's father left the house watching his son approach running; but in the middle of the race, Aiden stopped. His father saw from afar the glyphs forming on the boy's arm, too far away to understand what it was about when they translated. He could only see in the expression of his shocked son.

  The boy approached slowly, his mouth open and his eyes fixed on the scriptures, his father couldn't take it and went to him pulling his arm to read better.

  And what was written was: Chosen to save the world.

  The Army

  Aiden's room had changed little in the last five years. He still had the Guardian Simeht poster on his wall and all the toys of the Guardians of the Order but were now all stored in his closet in an organized manner.

  He got out of bed and went to get ready. He still felt short for his age. He was going to join the army and didn't think his body was prepared for the challenges he would receive there.

  As soon as he showed his fate to the authorities, he began to call the attention of many people. He met several important personalities, such as Guardian Simeht himself and Pharaoh Tess at a very fancy dinner at the Ziggurat-City. Finally, they decided that he would be trained at marshal Magnum Laserfield's facility. Since he was not of the "O
rder", he would not serve in the Air Temple that protects the God-Computer.

  And now at the age of fifteen he would be trained and prepared and to complete his destiny to save the world, which was still vague, for the world had no imminent threat.

  Unfortunately for him, who would personally take care of his training was General Roy Pardalis, the intimidating man he saw in the video five years earlier.

  Despite the great change in his life, he was excited to start this exciting path and packed his luggage as fast as he could. When he left his room to take coffee in the morning, his sister called him.

  The boy entered Yana's room, now eighteen. It was the same size as his, however much tidier. She sat on the bed, with a melancholy look in her gaze and signaled him to come by her side.

  “You have to promise to send a message every day”, said the girl.

  “I don't know if you're going to let me do this, but whenever I can, I will talk to you.”

  She responded with an empty smile and picked up a wooden box by her side.

  “Mom gave me this before she died” she removed from the box a necklace with a drop-shaped crystal pendant. “She said it meant determination; whenever she went through a difficult time, she held him very hard and moved on.”

  The girl made a gesture to deliver the item, however Aiden instinctively retreated.

  “She gave it to you; I can't accept it.”

  “You're going to need it more than I do. With this, you'll always remember us no matter where you are. I'm very proud of you.

  He accepted the object and then received a long hug from his sister.

  “You could have shown all that love when we were kids, instead of treating me badly”, he joked and the two of them were laughing for a few seconds.