Book 1: Spark of Imagination
Introduction
The universe would bend to our will.
Our enemies fell before us at the wave of a hand.
Our power seemed infinite, and no one dared to stand against us.
We were gods.
But we forgot how we obtained our power.
We were ignorant to forget that our power was stolen, and that one day its rightful owner might come to reclaim it.
Because of our greed, we almost lost everything.
Now we can only hope this dark chapter will never be forgotten.
There might come a day when we are once again tempted to wield this power.
But it cannot be controlled.
The power is his, and his alone.
Locked away in endless dreams.
The dreamer must never awaken.
It had been a long and stressful day at work for Vincent; one of those days where everything just seemed to go wrong. The workday had finally ended, and he just arrived at the small peninsula by the lake outside of town for some much-needed time to unwind.
The water is calm with the sun standing high above, and in the distance across the lake, a line of trees is creating a green belt between the blue sky and the shimmering water. It is mostly quiet, except for the occasional seagull squawking in the distance, and only rarely does someone come walking by on the nearby path.
Vincent often came out to the lake to clear his head, and he was normally able to relax immediately when he got there. But today he has a hard time finding his calm as a feeling of anxiety is building up inside him for reasons he cannot figure out. So, he tries to remember what a friend had taught him about meditation and decides he should give it a try.
It takes him a while to get comfortable, but while sitting there, time gets away from him and he does not notice that the day passes into evening. The sun is now disappearing behind the treeline and clouds are gathering in the sky, while the wind keeps getting colder.
Eventually, as the cold wind starts biting through his clothes, he decides to get up and make his way back to town. But just as he gets on his feet and picks up his bag, he feels a sharp pain, as if a needle is stabbed into his head, making him loose balance and fall back down again.
When he hits the ground, something lashes around his legs and starts dragging him away at high speed. As he tumbles and turns, he can feel the razor-sharp ground shredding his clothes and eventually begins to pierce his skin. But just as quickly as he had been pulled away, he suddenly stops again.
Vincent takes a few deep breaths before he looks down towards his feet, finding himself at the edge of a dark hole. As he realizes how close he is, he quickly crawls back and looks terrified around him.
When he has gathered his nerves, and starts to calm down again, he carefully stands up while slowly leaning towards the hole, trying to see how deep it goes. But there is only darkness, so intense that it burns his eyes looking at it.
Vincent takes a step back and looks around carefully. It is a large cave with symbols carved into the walls that are filled with what looks like metal, glowing in pale blue. It is difficult to see anything except the symbols, stretching far in all directions, as if they were floating in the darkness like distant stars.
He suddenly gets an earie feeling that something is reaching out to him from below, so he takes a careful step towards the hole again and looks down into it.
The darkness looks like it is moving, sometimes slightly shifting in dark green, and he gets the idea that it is watching him, trying to communicate with him. It seems to be alive and absorbs the light around the hole unlike anything he had ever seen before.
While he stands there, staring into the deep darkness, sadness starts creeping upon him. The sadness turns into grief, and he begins to cry without even knowing why. He feels as if a large stone is pressing on his chest and his body is getting so heavy that he can hardly keep upright anymore.
As Vincent is fighting the urge to lie down on the ground, he hears something moving closer towards him through the darkness below, and suddenly, it explodes up around him, engulfing him completely.
He feels his mind invaded, and a voice begins talking to him in a tongue he cannot understand. Each word is like a knife gracing him, making small cuts, and as the words intensify, he feels as if they start to cut off small pieces of his skin and flesh.
Moments later, he is standing in his hometown where everything around him is burning. People are running screaming out of their houses and the sky is filled with green flames, swirling in and out of the clouds like a forming tornado.
The clouds slowly open and the noise quiets down momentarily. The air feels unnaturally heavy, and the people stop to look up at the sky. Then suddenly, beams of light rain down over the people, quickly cutting them to pieces.
The pain is now so intense that he falls to his knees, and as the pain intensifies even more, he eventually falls flat to the ground. But just before he passes out, the words start becoming clearer and he can just make out one sentence:
“Through death, there will be life.”
The pain abruptly ends, and he quickly sits up, finding himself at the lake again. It is dark, but the wind has calmed down and he can hear the waves softly hitting the rocks in the water below him.
Vincent looks at his arms and legs to check if the cuts that he felt are there, but there is not even a scratch.
‘What the hell was that? Did I fall asleep? Was I dreaming?’
As he brushes the dirt from his clothes, he hears a strange, crackling sound above him, and he looks up to see a blue fireball falling towards the nearby city.
Vincent quickly gets on his feet to get a better view and sees it crash somewhere in the forest with a big explosion.
‘What the actual f…?’
‘I have to see where it crashed. I hope no one got hurt.’
He hurries to his motorcycle, gets on it, starts the engine, and rides off in the direction where he saw the explosion.
As Vincent rides along the country road, smoke starts to rise towards the sky, and when he gets closer, he can see the smoke coming from behind the trees, not far from the road.
He turns off from the main road and drives in on a small dirt path through the forest, heading towards the impact. Close to the crash the path stops, so he parks his bike and starts running the last hundred meters. Just then, he realizes how he is rushing towards this potential danger without any regard for his own safety. But he is driven by a sense of urgency that he must get there as fast as possible, and the feeling inside him is so incredibly strong that he cannot ignore it.
‘What the hell am I doing? Why do I feel this need to get there?’
Once he gets close enough, he can see a large crater with thick smoke coming out of it.
‘No, it’s not smoke. It’s more like… mist?’
To his surprise there is no heat or fire anywhere; on the contrary, it feels quite cool. So, he slowly takes a step forward, and as he looks down on the ground, he notices that it is covered by a layer of crystals, shimmering in pale blue.
As Vincent walks further in, he sees something in the middle of the crater, and he moves carefully through the mist to see what it is. When he gets close enough, he can make out the shape of a person lying on the ground.
Vincent gets down on his knees to look closer and finds a woman lying flat on her back. She is wearing a helmet and a dark, shimmering suit, with some parts of her suit having the same blue glow as the crystals. As he reaches for her helmet, it feels like it is made of thick metal, but when he removes it, it feels surprisingly light.
He puts the helmet beside her and reaches down to feel her pulse, trying to check if she is alive. Just then he hears sirens in the distance, and he stands up, looking towards the road.
‘Other people must have seen the explosion and reported it.’
He reaches down to pick up the woman, but just as he does, she suddenly wakes up and looks at him with a big smile.
“Vincent! It’s you! It’s really you! It’s me… Karena…”
Her face then slowly relaxes before she slips out of consciousness again.
He can now see the blue lights from the rescue vehicles close by, so he starts walking quickly towards them with the woman in his arms.
When he gets close, two policemen come walking in his direction, and as they see Vincent, one of them approaches him with his hand on his gun.
“What happened here?”
Vincent catches his breath.
“I found her in the crater. She woke up for a moment, but then passed out again.”
The policeman relaxes his hand and points up to the road.
“The ambulance is incoming; let’s get her up there.”
Just as they reach the road, an ambulance stops behind the police car and Vincent continues towards it.
As two paramedics step out of the ambulance, Vincent continues up to the one closest to him.
“Please help her! I don’t know what happened, but she woke up for a moment just now. She seemed to know me.”
The paramedic is quiet for a few seconds while quickly checking the woman’s vital signs.
“Her pulse is weak, and she has a high fever.”
The driver opens the back door.
“Let’s get her in the ambulance. There is a seat in the back, but don’t get in the way of my colleague.”
They put the woman on a stretcher, lift her into the ambulance, get in themselves, and start driving towards the city at great speed with the sirens wailing loudly.
As they drive away, Vincent looks confused at the woman while the paramedic examines her.
‘Those clothes… the markings in my dream, and the crystals in the crater; all with the same blue glow. Are they connected somehow?’
‘And why do I recognize her? I would remember if I met her before.’
Once they arrive at a hospital, Vincent hurries in after the paramedics and takes a seat in the waiting hall while the woman is rushed into the emergency room.
A short while later, a nurse walks up to Vincent, holding a tablet computer.
“Sorry, but are you the one who came in with the woman that was just taken into the emergency room?”
Vincent looks up at the nurse.
“Yes, that was me.”
The Nurse holds out the tablet and a pen to Vincent.
“Could you please fill in her personal details? And are you family? Friend? We don’t seem to have a record of her in our systems.”
Vincent shakes his head.
“I’m sorry, but I only know her first name: Karena.”
The nurse starts filling in some parts of the form.
“I see… well, I will fill in that for now. We can fill out the rest later.”
“How do you know her?”
Vincent looks confused at the nurse.
“I don’t really know her, I just found her like this.”
The nurse looks sceptically at Vincent and writes something on the form.
“Okay, well, please stay here and you will be updated if her situation changes.
We might need to ask you some additional questions as well.”
Vincent nods.
“Thank you, I will!”
The nurse nods to Vincent before he walks off, down a corridor and into a room.
As Vincent finally starts to calm down, he begins reflecting again over what happened back there.
‘How did she recognize me? And why do I feel this connection to her? It’s like I know her from somewhere.’
He cannot explain it, but he feels that she is important and that he must find out more about her. So, he stays and waits to see that she will be okay at least.
After about two hours, a doctor steps into the waiting room and looks around for a while, before she walks up to Vincent.
“Are you… Vincent?
Vincent stands up.
“Yes, that’s me! Is she okay?”
The doctor motions for Vincent to follow and walks to open the door again.
“She is asking for you, but she may not have much time. Several of her internal organs are failing, and there is not much we can do.”
Vincent shakes his head.
‘Why am I so bothered by this, and how does she even know my name?’
Vincent follows the doctor down a corridor where they stop at another door, and she opens it for Vincent.
“Here it is.”
When he steps into the room, he sees Karena is lying on a bed and she looks up at him, smiling.
"I can't believe it's really you!”
Vincent walks up to her.
“Do we know each other?”
Karena takes Vincent’s hand.
“I never thought I would see you again. I was stuck in there for what seemed like days."
Karena is speaking with a heavy accent and Vincent has some difficulty understanding her.
"I recognize you, but I don't know from where?”
“And what do you mean? Where were you stuck? Did someone hold you captive?"
Karena gets up and tilts toward Vincent.
”What I have to tell you is of great importance, and I don’t have much time. You are the only one who can save us. You are the only one who can find it and give us a fighting chance.”
Vincent holds his hand on Karena’s shoulder to support her.
"Save you? I’m sorry, but the doctor says they can’t do much.”
Karena shakes her head.
“No, I know I’m done for. I knew that when I took this ride already. But please listen, because many people’s lives depend on you…”
"Vincent… you must head for Anzoria. There you will find the weapon... the... the...”
Karena shakes her head as if she were hit by something.
"The weapon..."
Vincent looks confused at Karena.
"Anzoria? What do you mean? I don’t even know what that is.”
Karena grabs Vincent’s hand even tighter.
"You must believe me! If you don't… we are all done for, and our world will be doomed."
"Please, take this map."
She puts a map in his hand, made of something that looks like nylon, but it feels like metal to the touch.
Vincent shakes his hand loose and looks at the map.
"Somehow, I trust you... But none of this makes sense. Who are you? How do I know you?"
Karena shakes her head again.
"I... I... I am... out of..."
She gets an empty stare in her eyes, and Vincent moves closer to her.
”Out of what? Karena?”
Karena suddenly grabs Vincent by the neck and gives him a kiss.
“I… was first…”
She then falls completely limp, but Vincent catches her before she hits the floor.
”Karena!?”
The doctor moves closer and checks her pulse, before shaking her head.
”I am sorry, but she is gone.”
Vincent stumbles backwards and sits down on the floor.
”Can't you do something?”
The doctor shakes her head again, more slowly.
“She seems to have been injected with some poison. We have never seen anything like it. The damage is just too extensive, and there is nothing we could have done to save her… I am sorry.”
Vincent sits there on the floor and holds her head in his lap, still having difficulties making sense of it all.
The doctor carefully stands up and pats him on the shoulder.
“I am sorry for your loss. Take a moment if you like.”
As the doctor walks off and exits the room, Vincent looks down at Karena again.
“Why does she feel so familiar? Who is she? I know her. Somehow, I know who she is; it’s there, just in the back of my mind somewhere… just out of reach.”
Vincent draws a deep breath and shakes his head in disbelief.
Suddenly, Karena starts to glow, and the entire room quickly gets brighter, until Vincent cannot see anything except a pale blue light. He then feels Karena disappearing from his arms while he becomes lighter and floats up from the ground.
After a few seconds, the light fades away to reveal a mesh of glowing dots all around him. He rubs his eyes and looks again to realize it is stars that he is seeing. He seems to be moving, and when he looks behind him, he sees Earth getting smaller and smaller. It feels like he keeps accelerating, and then suddenly everything around him distorts while bending in towards him.
A few seconds pass, and with a sound like a large sheet of plastic being bent and then quickly released, everything unfolds, allowing him to see the stars clearly once more.
It takes him another moment to form a coherent thought after the experience.
‘What the hell just happened to me? Am I in space?’
In front of him he sees Earth once more.
‘No… wait… it looks like Earth, but all the continents are wrong. Where am I? Am I hallucinating again? Seriously, what the hell is happening to me?’
‘Oh Shiiii…’
He suddenly starts falling towards the planet and everything quickly turns pale blue again, before he comes to an abrupt stop.
He can feel himself standing on solid ground again, but still cannot see anything clearly.
‘Where am I? Am I dead?’
When the pale blue light slowly disappears, he finds himself in a big, sandy crater, filled with mist, just like where he found Karena.
He looks around him, confused, trying to see something through the mist.
‘Well, wherever I am, I should probably get out of here.’
As he climbs out of the crater, he notices crystals of varying sizes; again, with the same glow as in the other crater.
He picks up one of them, but as he puts it in his pocket, he feels something, like a thick, metallic disc.
‘How did this get here?’
Vincent takes it out and looks at it.
‘It looks like some sort of container.’
He carefully opens it and finds another crystal inside it.
‘It looks exactly like the crystal I just picked up.’
As the mist disperses, he can make out that he is standing on a sandy beach, next to a large pine forest. The forest is similar to the ones he knew from back home, but with a few types of trees that he had never seen before.
As he stands there looking around, his mind has difficulties interpreting what he is experiencing, like it wants to tell him it is not real; that it is just a movie or a videogame.
‘But it feels so real. What is all of this? What is this place?’
From behind him he hears a strange humming sound, and when he turns around, he sees two vehicles in the distance that seem to be driving towards him.
He cannot help but wonder if whatever is driving towards him in those vehicles are friendly or not. As far as he can figure, he has ended up on an alien planet, and all those sci-fi horrors he saw when he was younger comes rushing back to him.
‘If this is even real? Did I pass out from heatstroke by the lake? Am I still laying there, and this is just some vivid hallucination?’
But he has no choice but to wait for the vehicles and hope for help, as he has no idea where he would go otherwise.
‘Maybe they know of a way for me to get back home again?’
‘Get back home again? This can’t be real! This must be a dream!’
He pinches his arm.
‘Ouch… nope, not dreaming.’
‘I mean, common, what the HELL is happening to me?’
‘Oh shit, my bike is still standing in the forest back home…’
‘Okay, that might not be my biggest problem right now, but damn, that was a great bike.’
‘Just calm down Vincent; calm down and go with it. If this is a dream, you’ll wake up, and if not, you need to get back home again.’
‘But that I’m even considering this to be real…’
Vincent looks around again.
‘It seems so real…’
The vehicles are now close enough to make out details, and he can clearly see that they are some sort of trucks, somewhat similar in design to a regular truck from back home.
The two trucks drive up close and stop, but he still cannot make out what is inside. The exterior of the trucks looks like something out of one of those sci-fi movies he used to watch, but at the same time they seem to be constructed of a brass-like metal, and appear to be incredibly old, like ancient artefacts, belonging in a museum.
‘Am I really going to meet aliens? Will I even be able to make myself understood?’
‘I really hope they’re not the probing kind of aliens.’
But out of the trucks step what looks like three seemingly normal humans; two men and one woman. They are all clad in medieval armour, but with some parts looking more futuristic, like what Karena was wearing, and has the same pale blue glow again.
One of the men draws a sword and points it to Vincent.
“Who are you, and what are you doing here?”
The language spoken by the man is like no language Vincent has ever heard before, but to his surprise he can understand every word without any difficulty. He registers it as a foreign language, but at the same time he hears his own language spoken to him. The feeling is quite odd and confusing.
The woman raises her rifle and aims it at Vincent.
“Answer him! Who are you?”
Vincent puts his hands up.
“Sorry, my name is Vincent, I don’t know how I got here.”
The woman takes a small step back and lowers her weapon again, looking surprised.
“You… you speak perfect Hizena? Where are you from?”
Vincent gestures for the woman to calm down.
“I came from a place called Earth. How is it that I can understand you, and how do you understand me?”
The man looks at Vincent as if he said something stupid.
“You are really not from around these parts, are you? You are infused with SOURCE, of course.”
Vincent shrugs.
“SOURCE?”
The man nods.
“Yes… you know… SOURCE; everyone gets it with birth. I guess it is the same where you come from. Maybe it’s just called something different in your homeland?”
Vincent thinks for a few seconds.
'I’m quite sure I never had this thing they call SOURCE.'
One of the men point at the crater.
“Have you laid claim to these SOURCE crystals?”
Vincent shakes his head.
“SOURCE crystals? I don’t even know what they are. You can have them if you want. All I ask is that you help me figure out where I am and how I got here.”
The man sheathes his sword and looks suspiciously at Vincent.
“Okay… do you know how much this is worth? Don’t you at least want a share of it?”
Vincent shakes his head.
“Ehrm, no, I don’t know what it is… or what I would do with it.”
The man pats Vincent on the shoulder.
“Okay then, thank you! If you wish, you can come along with us to the village once we have loaded the crystals. These will surely save us a lot of work. Help us load up, then we will see to it that you get a good meal and somewhere to sleep tonight. That’s the least we can do.”
Vincent looks down at all the crystals.
“Well, I don’t really have anywhere else I can go. I have to get home somehow, and I don’t even know where I am.”
The man closest to Vincent points at the other man.
“This is Remin.”
Then he points at the woman.
“This is Eria, and my name is Osry.”
“As for where you are; this is Blinzmore of Zholand, part of The Free Kingdoms.”
Vincent rubs his face with the palm of his hand and shakes his head.
"I don’t think that helps me much… and I guess I am not going home anytime soon. Might as well join you and see if I can figure it all out."
Eria puts her hand on Vincent’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry, we will help you out once we get to the castle. I know someone who might know of your homeland. But for now, let's start loading the crystals."
Remin goes to get shovels and buckets from one of the trucks. Vincent then helps them loading, and they are busy for over an hour before all the crystals are cleared from the beach.
When they have finished, Osry pats the closest truck while looking at Vincent.
“You go with Eria; we got this one.”
Osry and Remin get into one of the trucks and close the doors. Eria walks around the other truck and opens the door, then pauses, looking at Vincent.
“Are you coming along, or would you prefer to stay here?”
Vincent looks up at Eria and shakes his head.
“Yes, of course, sorry, just zoned out there for a moment.”
Eria chuckles as they get into the truck and start driving away.
“It sounds so weird, hearing someone talk Hizena so casually.”
The trucks exit the beach, onto a brick road, and after a short drive they turn in on a wider road, leading through the forest.
Eria leans towards Vincent.
"This is Ondermael forest; strange things happen here. There is something hidden in these woods that does not belong in this world. Many people have walked into this forest and never been seen again.”
“We try to avoid this place, and if we must travel through it, we stay on this one road that has been kept clear for passage.”
“In these vehicles we should be safe, but they are the only two SOURCE trucks around these parts, so most people don't have the luxury of this type of travel. The only reason we use them for is to gather supplies for the village."
Vincent looks around inside the truck.
“Why don’t you get more trucks then?”
Eria shakes her head and looks a bit annoyed.
“We are quite happy that we found these two trucks. Finding working SOURCE is no easy job. The findings are sparse and the items that we do find are usually broken beyond repair. Also, if repairs are even possible, we often need SOURCE crystals to fix them, and those are also increasingly difficult to find nowadays.”
Vincent leans back, quickly.
“Alright, sorry. I don’t know how all this works.”
Eria points with her thumb over her shoulder.
“We are truly lucky with the findings today. Normally it takes us a year to gather these amounts of crystals.”
Vincent grabs the crystal in his pocket.
“So, how does it work then? And who made the items in the first place?”
Eria rolls her eyes at Vincent.
“Well, you should know who made them, you speak their language and all; the Hizena, of course!”
Vincent looks at Eria with confusion.
“I never heard of Hizena until today. I don’t know what SOURCE is, and where I come from, we definitely don’t have any tech like this.”
‘Except for what Karena wore.’
Eria laughs softly.
“You surely are a weird one. But don’t worry, we will help you as much as we can. We owe you for helping us secure all these crystals.”
Eria chuckles, then pauses for a moment.
“And about the SOURCE items; we don’t really know how they function, but they seem to work differently depending on the person using them. SOURCE weapons for example, can be almost harmless in some people's hands while they yield horrible destruction in the hands of others.”
“You can practice and get better at using SOURCE to achieve more powerful results, but some people just have a much easier time attuning to the items than others. As if they were born with a better ability to control it. But why this is and how it works, is a mystery as far as I know.”
Vincent thinks for a few seconds.
“But someone has to have created all of this.”
Eria looks at Vincent.
“According to legend, there once lived beings on Entori, powerful enough to construct these SOURCE items. They called themselves Hizena and were sworn to guard this land.”
“Whatever happened to them, no one knows. But we have found relics from their time here, all over Entori. As far as anyone can tell, SOURCE items date back thousands of years, but they are all extremely resilient.”
Eria shakes her head.
“How is it that you don’t know any of this? Everyone from around here learn this early in school. Did you hit your head and lose your memory or something?”
Vincent is quiet for a moment.
“Or something… Let’s go with that for now.”
Eria looks at Vincent again.
“Hmmm?”
Vincent shakes his head.
“I’ll try to explain later.”
“What is, Entori, by the way?”
Eria shrugs and laughs.
“Entori is everything you see around you; that is our name for the world.”
As they exit the forest, Vincent can see a castle village on a hill in front of them, and Eria points to it.
“There it is! Blinzmore castle!”
The trucks drive up to the gates of the village, where Remin holds up a piece of paper to one of the guards at a small booth. As the guard puts his hand on a plate, the gates slowly open and they continue to drive in through the portal.
Once inside, the village looks to the most part as you might expect a medieval village to look; there are blacksmiths hammering metal, outside a pub in a small stable there stands horses, and the guards all wear plate and chain armour. But at the same time, the blacksmith’s forge seems to be powered by some sort of large engine, next to the stable with the horses stands what looks like a futuristic motorcycle, and the soldiers armour has pale blue glowing bits and pieces mixed in, which is quite a confusing sight.
It takes only a few minutes to drive through the small village, and they keep driving uphill until they get to the castle. They continue into the central castle yard through a portal and park at a pair of large, wooden doors.
When they have stopped, Eria shuts off the engine and turns to Vincent, smiling.
“So, here we are. Time to get the crystals unloaded.”
As they get out of the truck, a well-groomed man, dressed in what looks to be an expensive suit, comes walking towards them with quick steps.
“Eria! Remin! Osry! I got a message from the guards at the gate, that you had returned. You are back much sooner than I expected.”
Eria walks up to the man and gives him a hug.”
“Hey dad! We ran into something unexpected.”
The man in the suit looks at Vincent.
“Ah, I see. Who is this then?”
Eria tilts her head to the side, towards Vincent.
“This is Vincent. He seems to speak perfect Hizena and says he comes from a place far away called Arth. He led us to a huge payload of SOURCE crystals, which is why we’re back already. Both trucks are already full.”
Eria looks at Vincent, and then back at her father.
“Vincent, this is my father: Minister Harel Zeunze.”
Vincent raises his hand.
“Actually, it’s called Earth.”
Harel looks suspiciously at Vincent.
“You would just give away two truckloads of SOURCE crystals? What is it you want in return for this?”
Vincent waves his hands subtly in front of him.
“I just want to figure out where I am, and if possible, find my way back home.”
Harel’s suspicious expression turns to a smile.
“I have not heard many people speak Hizena so easily. But there is something different about your pronunciation that I cannot put my finger on. Is it perhaps a dialect?”
Vincent shakes his head.
“We have a lot of different languages and dialects where I come from. I know very few of them.”
Harel puts his hand on Vincent’s shoulder.
“A mysterious man indeed. You must join us for dinner and tell us all about this… Erth place!”
Vincent rolls his eyes and sighs.
"Close enough."
Osry motions for Eria and Vincent to go away.
"Go! We can handle this! We'll see you here tomorrow morning again."
Eria looks surprised, but then bows excessively before Osry and Remin.
"Well thank you, my favourite gentlemen."
Remin laughs.
"Yes, yes, we already said we would do it; no need for flattery."
Eria waves to Remin and Osry.
“Thanks guys! See you tomorrow!”
Harel waits a moment for Eria and Vincent to follow him. They then walk through an opening in the wall, crossing a small garden to the main castle building. As they reach a small door, the three enter a large hallway and then continue into the dining room, where the table is already prepared for dinner.
The dining room decorations are quite modest compared to what you might expect to find in a castle, and on the wall there hangs a machine that displays holographic images of a small girl and a young woman.
Vincent first looks at the hologram for a moment, then turns to Eria.
"Is this you and your mother?"
Eria gets a dreamy look in her eyes.
"Yes, it is… she was a great engineer and SOURCE mechanic. I hope to one day be as great as her."
Harel turns to Eria with a bothered expression on his face.
"You are already better at repairing SOURCE equipment than anyone I have ever met, including your mother."
Vincent gently pokes the holographic image with his finger.
“Was? What happened to her?”
Eria’s dreamy look suddenly goes away.
“She was one of the first to disappear in Ondermael forest. We searched a long time for her, but none that disappeared in that forest has ever been found again.”
Eria sighs.
“If only I knew what happened to her. With all the horrible stories you hear about that forest nowadays, it’s difficult not to let your imagination create all kinds of scenarios. So many sleepless nights we’ve had… I don’t like to think about it.”
Vincent turns towards Eria and holds up his hands.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Eria shakes her head.
“Don’t worry about it. One day I hope to find enough SOURCE tech to build myself a vehicle powerful enough to venture into the forest and find out what’s in there.”
Harel clears his throat loudly.
“That will have to be one damn safe vehicle, if I am going to let you head into that forest.”
Eria laughs and pats her father on the back.
“The forest was not always as dangerous as it is now. I remember when I was younger, we used to go on picnics or fishing at the beautiful forest lake. Then all of a sudden people started disappearing, and the bright colours of the forest just seemed to fade away. It’s strange that such a wonderful place can turn into something this dangerous, and that no one seem to have any answers as to why.”
Eria pauses for a moment while frowning.
“Even Freun sent a team to investigate. The team headed into the forest several times with no luck. Then one day they just disappeared, never to be seen again. After that, Freun didn’t want to send any more people, and we were left to try and figure it out by ourselves.”
Harel nods.
“Well, yes, but what can they do? They do not want to send any more people to their deaths.”
Eria looks to the window.
“No, I get it, I do. But it’s so frustrating that we can’t seem to get any answers. Will whatever it is in that forest, stay in the forest forever? Will it disappear by itself? Will it start attacking us here in town?”
Harel puts his arm around Eria.
“Well, we have a guest now, so perhaps we can save this conversation for another time?”
Vincent shakes his head.
“Don’t mind me; I find it fascinating.”
“Sorry, maybe that’s not the best word, but I never heard of anything like this before.”
After a short silence, a waiter comes in, pushing a cart with three covered dinner-plates.
Harel lights up with a smile as he sees the cart, gesturing eagerly with his hands.
“Finally! Dinner!”
Vincent looks at the covered plate, suddenly realizing again that he is on an alien planet.
‘Right… Hope they don't eat something too weird around here.’
‘… Please don’t let it have tentacles.’
Malkreth had seen the view from the ship's deck countless times before, but somehow, he could never quite get enough of it. He would sit there for hours staring at the vast sea of stars, stretching out in all directions.
When he sits at the right place just above the ship’s main engine, there is this soft, humming sound that blocks out most other sounds. For this reason, he often missed the calls over the communications system where the captain is currently informing all personnel to gather in the storage area.
Today, the ship is headed for a small merchants’ planet called Caeria; a planet that is mainly used for distribution of intergalactic shipments and stopover for travellers. But over the years many merchants have set up permanent shops, taking advantage of the steady flow of ships passing through, while on the way to other star systems or waiting for intergalactic travel clearance.
The captain had been quite secretive about this mission, so Malkreth is deep in thought contemplating what the mission could be, when a shoe comes flying just in front of his nose and the captain comes in yelling.
“WAKE THE HELL UP, MALK!”
“Dammit, we’re about to land soon! Go meet up with the rest in the storage area.”
Malkreth shakes his head.
“Sorry Davon! I must have lost track of time.”
The captain picks up his shoe and puts it on his foot again.
“You and your damn daydreams. Hurry up and get your ass to the rest of the crew. I can’t keep giving you special treatment. Also, it’s ‘captain’ to you, while under my command on this ship.”
Malkreth gets up.
“Sorry captain! I will pay more attention in the future.”
Captain Davon Aurus looks like the kind of man you would not want to have as your enemy. He is older than the rest of the crew, and there are a lot of stories going around the ship about his younger days; each story crazier than the one before it. However, when it comes to the captain, it would not come as a surprise to many if they all were true.
He also has this thing about him that somehow makes everyone stop and listen when he speaks. So, when he walks into the storage room and stares over the crew, the chattering dies out like a campfire that just had a bucket of water thrown at it.
“Attention crew! We are about to land on Caeria to pick up our latest job. This one pays a bit more than our usual deliveries, so there is an added bonus in it for each of you, if this goes smooth and to plan.”
The crewmembers start to whisper simultaneously, and Davon clears his throat.
“However, this will be a long trip and not without danger.”
“Our job is to transport her royal highness Queen Anexia of Daruna to Earth. There will be a meeting between the queen and the Intergalactic Trade Council to try and come to an agreement which will stop the Aterion aggression on Daruna. It’s our job to get her there safely.”
“This will be a secret meeting and she is travelling incognito with a minimum number of guards. So, we’re also paid to be additional guards for the duration of this trip.”
Davon points at a map on a nearby screen.
“So, our destination is on Earth, but we cannot take the fast route, since it’s constantly inspected. The controls themselves are not the problem, but Aterion has a lot of spies in the Trade Councils facilities, and if they would find out who we have on board, we won’t make it far after that.”
Davon points at the map again.
“We have to take the long way around the outer territories, and we will have to be careful when we use the Fold, since Fold-jumps are often monitored around highly populated star systems.”
“We are soon landing, so get everything ready. I need three extra rooms cleaned and set up for the queen and her guards.”
“…What are you standing there for? Start working!”
The ship is heading for Yminport, which is a large, densely populated city, mainly filled with shops selling everything from designer clothing to illegal weapons. The city is located at the slope of a huge mountain; larger than anything you would ever find on Earth. At upper parts of the city, you could find the most exclusive stores and homes, elevated on large circular pedestals reaching several hundred meters in the air. But Malkreth and the crew are headed to the lower parts of the city, to avoid the watching eyes of the authorities and enemies of the queen.
The ship eventually lands on a small platform, attached to a large, older, spherical building. Around the landing platforms people are busy getting luggage and goods on or off the ships. The main, larger landing platform is connected by a wide bridge that stretches inside the spherical building and onto a shopping street.
Once the ships engines have turned off, the crew heads down the ramp and onto the platform, with Davon stepping out shortly thereafter.
“Malkreth and Tiera, come with me. The rest of you, stay here on guard. There is a lot of dodgy stuff happening around here, so keep it off my ship.”
Tiera is undoubtedly the best fighter of the crew; she is as agile with her blades as her marksmanship is accurate. Malkreth is nowhere close to Tiera’s fighting skill, but he is exceptionally good at noticing details, reading people, and had gotten the crew out of difficult situations more than once. All quite useful skills when you are visiting dodgy places, meet with shady people, or which is often the case; both.
Davon turns around and looks at Malkreth, then Tiera.
“Try to keep it professional, okay? I know this is not the kind of clientele we’re used to, but if we do this well and get a recommendation from the queen, we might get the chance to finally expand the business and move to less… shady customers.”
Tiera laughs.
“What’s wrong with our current customers?”
Malkreth shrugs.
“First of all, they try to kill us once in a while to skip on payment. I could do without that.”
Tiera shakes her head.
“Well, I guess, but you are never in any real danger as long as you bring me along.”
Davon sighs.
“Please, just try and be on your best behaviour.”
“Shall we get going?”
They head down the bridge, into the large building and onto the shopping street. A few hundred meters down the path Davon stops at a small pub between a sales stand and a parking for smaller vehicles.
“Come on, in here!”
Tiera looks at the pub and laughs.
“Yeah, sure captain, this looks really classy.”
Davon rolls his eyes at Tiera and opens the door.
“Just go inside.”
They head in through the small pub and up a stair to a private room. Davon knocks on the door and shortly thereafter a guard opens it, looking intensely at Davon before he lets them in, carefully.
Malkreth steps into the room last, and as he sees the queen, he cannot help but to stare. He had heard she was beautiful, but those descriptions were clearly underrated.
Tiera pokes Malkreth with her elbow, then leans towards him and whisper:
“DAMN, she’s hot! I would soooo hit that!”
Malkreth pokes Tiera back with his elbow.
“Keep it down! She is a queen; I don’t think she would appreciate you talking about her like that.”
“But yes… damn…”
Tiera quickly punches Malkreth on his shoulder.
“It’s a compliment! I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”
“And one more thing: Dibs!”
Malkreth rubs his shoulder.
“Good luck with that.”
Davon bows his head slightly before the queen.
“Your highness, it is an honour.”
Queen Anexia takes Davon’s hand.
“The honour is all mine. Captain Davon Aurus: The man who punched Kerian Aterion in the face and lived to tell the tale.”
Davon clears his throat.
“Ehrm… well, that was a long time ago. I have nothing to do with the Aterions anymore.”
The queen smiles.
“No, I would not have hired you if I thought so. It is difficult to find anyone who is not in the pocket of the Aterions.”
Malkreth leans to Tiera and whispers:
“The captain, with the Aterions? I got to ask him about that later.”
Tiera whisper back to Malkreth:
“I heard some stories about it, but I wasn’t sure if it was true.”
The queen looks over at Malkreth and Tiera.
“And who, if I may ask, might you two be?”
Tiera looks slightly embarrassed while she takes a step forward.
“I’m sorry your highness, my name is Tiera. We are here to make sure you make it back safely to our ship.”
Davon pushes Malkreth forward.
“And this is Malkreth, our surveillance and information specialist. Tiera is our weapons specialist.”
Malkreth waves his hand.
“Ehrm… nice to meet you, erm… your highness.”
‘Dammit! Smooth, Malk, smooth…’
Queen Anexia smiles at Malkreth for a second.
“Nice to meet you, Tiera and Malkreth. I hope you and your team can live up to your reputation.”
Davon gives off a slight grin.
“I thought we had quite a bad reputation last time I checked. I was surprised that you would even choose to contact us.”
Queen Anexia points at a screen showing a commercial for Aterion Industries.
“I can sort out their propaganda from the truth. I know the Aterions have tried to sully your name, which has forced you to work mainly outside the regular systems and regulations; and that… is exactly what I need right now.”
“But I do hope you can tell me the story of what happened between you and Kerian.”
Davon looks irritated.
“It’s something I would rather try to forget.”
“But please, come with us your highness, we will get you safely to the meeting.”
Queen Anexia looks at Davon with a disappointed, yet playful look in her eyes.
“Okay, I will leave it… for now.”
They all head out, followed by Anexia’s guards, down the stairs, and out into the busy street again.
As they walk along the shops and stands towards the ship, Tiera leans over to Malkreth once more.
“Want to make it interesting?”
Malkreth chuckles.
“You still on about the queen?”
Tiera nods her head and smirks.
“Oh yeah! Thirty days of chores says I’ll win her over.”
Malkreth rolls his eyes.
“She’s a queen; what do you think you are going to achieve?”
Tiera looks over to the queen.
“It’s not like I intend to marry her and adopt a bunch of kids.”
Tiera bites her lip.
“But everyone has needs… even royalty.”
Tiera winks to Malkreth.
Malkreth shakes his head slowly and lets out a sigh.
“I have seen that movie; it never goes well. But I wish you the best of luck.”
Tiera pokes Malkreth with her hand and stretches it in front of him.
“We have a bet?”
Malkreth laughs and shakes her hand.
“Sure, why not. Easiest bet I have ever won.”
Tiera pokes Malkreth softly with her elbow.
“I have absolutely no intention of losing this bet.”
“Okay, good luck! Let’s see who can get her first.”
Malkreth looks irritated at Tiera.
“Hey! I am not going to hit on the queen.”
Tiera smirks.
“Well, that makes it easier for me then. I’ll try to convince her to get you invited as well.”
Tiera slaps Malkreth on his butt-cheek, and the slap is so loud that Anexia turns her head, smiling at the two.
Malkreth looks embarrassed while Tiera gives a wink to Anexia.
“I think she might have overheard your plans, Tiera.”
Tiera slides her fingers through her hair.
“It makes no difference.”
They both chuckle as they walk onto the landing platform, and Davon looks back at the two, shaking his head.
As they reach the end of the platform, Davon stops and motions with his hand to the ship.
“Here she is! Perhaps not what you are used to travelling in, but it will get us there, without suspicion.”
Anexia stops and looks up at the ship.
“We have several of these, making deliveries to and from Daruna. They are quite large ships. I would have expected something significantly smaller.”
Davon also looks up at the ship.
“Well, it’s something I kept from a time when I had larger and more frequent deliveries. It’s a good ship. Few years on her back maybe and needs a couple of new parts once in a while, but still reliable.”
“And speaking of; I am sorry, but once we reach our next destination, I will have to replace one of the void-coils before we can make any longer Fold-jumps.”
Anexia smiles at Davon.
“As long as you get me to Earth, I am sure it will do just fine.”
They all walk up to the ship and step onboard. Tiera shows the guards where they can store their larger weapons while Davon and Malkreth show Anexia to the sleeping quarters.
Davon points to one of the rooms and holds his head low.
“I’m sorry we cannot offer you anything more comfortable than this your highness, but we have made these rooms ready for you and your guards.”
The queen looks into the room.
“Don’t worry, this is perfect. I may be royalty, but I have never been much for the excessive luxury and etiquette. It is going to be a long trip; if we are to be formal and apologize for everything all the time, then it is going to feel even longer. So please, just call me Anexia and do not worry about my comfort.”
Davon gives Anexia the key cards to the rooms.
“Sorry your hig… Anexia. You seem alright to me. Never had much for etiquette anyway.”
Malkreth laughs.
“Except when we forget to address you as captain.”
Davon straightens his jacket.
“Well, ehm… that’s different.”
Malkreth slowly shakes his head.
“Different how?”
Davon grabs Malkreth and pushes him towards the door.
“I don’t know, I just thought… Yes, okay, I get your point.”
Davon turns around and looks at Anexia again.
“Well, Anexia, welcome aboard!”
Anexia laughs.
“Thank you, both of you. I am looking forward to getting to know you and the crew.”
Davon nods to Anexia.
“If there is anything we can help you with, don’t hesitate to ask.”
Malkreth and Davon bow to the queen, then head out from her room towards the common hall.
As they are half-way down the corridor, Davon stops and turns to Malkreth.
“This might sound weird, but I need you to keep an extra eye on the queen for me. I trust my crew in most situations, but the Aterions would give you a lot of money for the capture of the queen.”
Malkreth looks surprised at Davon.
“It almost sounds like you are trying to sell me on the idea of giving her up. And how are you so sure I won’t?”
Davon leans over and whispers.
“Well, if it wasn’t for doing the Aterions a favour, I might have considered it myself.”
Malkreth laughs.
“Don’t worry captain, I’ll look out for her. And I highly doubt anyone of us would ever betray you in any way.”
Davon pats Malkreth on his back.
“Thank you, I don’t believe so either. Just can’t be too careful. This is a HUGE job and I want it to go perfectly. Besides, she seems to like you; shouldn’t be too difficult to get close to her.”
Davon winks at Malkreth.
“Also, you have never been in it for the money. That’s why I trust you; you are in it for the adventure, same as me.”
Malkreth thinks for a while.
“Well, don’t think you can stop paying me, because money is still quite handy.”
Davon laughs.
“HAH! Don’t worry! If we make it through this, there will be something extra in your bonus if you look after the queen for me.”
The two walk into the common hall and Davon knocks loudly on a table.
“Listen up crew! We will start this trip by heading to Fiyrah. From there we can Fold jump undetected. The trip to Fiyrah will take a few days and should be quite uneventful. Take this time to prepare, because the rest of the trip might not be as easy.”
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