Star Trek: Be all my sins remembered
Chapter 1: Stranger's from a distant land
Life is like the changing seasons.
Some lives are like summers, long and passionate. They're full of romance and drama, that twist and turn people into following their destiny and finding their true loves while they live in fantasy worlds. Oblivious yet content, they live, breed and die without complaint for life appears prosperous for these people. They know not of evil or despair but of goodness and peace that we all long for.
Some lives are like spring, short yet happy. They're full of good memories and moments that changes the world very little, but are important anyway. Their lives are coated with sugar and they always believe in the lies of the world like a flock of sheep. Dumb yet happy they live, and they never dream of dying even for an instant.
Some lives are like autumn, medium and changing. They're full of confusion and variety that twist and turn them into different paths that they sometimes lose track of. Like winding streams they flow through life until they eventually reach the mouth of the sea either content or not. They know what they choose to know and love their lives as they wake up every day to a new world for them to explore.
Then there are the lives like winter, short and bitter. They're full of fire and blood and anguish with nothing really goes right for them. They try and try to fight against the current around them, though at any time they could be swept under and ripped apart by the forces around them. They lose so much yet gain so little in return. They know reality as it really is and see the horror around them without distraction or ignorance like the others.
I am of the bitter winter.
My story starts ironically on a summer's day. I remember that day vividly, though it pains me to remember it at times. I was with my sisters, talking about various philosophical debates that our tutors had been teaching us the day before. We lay in the orchard of our mother's garden, eating fruits from the trees with lazily contentedness.
My eldest sister Maina, named such due to our culture's fondness for the Maina flowers on the eastern meadows which though small grew to bear fruits that were more delicious than any other in the valley of our lands, was the most humble of us all. She conceded to our ideas with nodding modesty, not daring to speak of her own ideals for fear that we should take offence to her forwardness. She was kind and sweet and tender. Beautiful, ever so beautiful. Maina was small and slender, with shining black hair that fell elegantly to her shoulders. The pale purity of her face reminded me often of the statues of Trangoia, Goddess of rivers and peace. She looked modestly down at the floor below her, rarely looking up but when she did look up I tell you that you would fall in love with her instantly and from then on never think of anyone as beautiful ever again.
My younger sister Nolaina was the most sly and cunning of us all. She fought with viciousness against anyone who dared to disagree with her, blinding them with the witted remarks that she could invent instantly to cancel out your argument and render it forever void of meaning. Her eyes were sharp, piercing anyone who looked upon her with a stare that challenged and evaded you like a cunning beast from a lesser predator. She was tall and lean, with brown tresses that fell at the bottom of her waist but mostly was pulled back to allow her to have no distractions during an argument. She was forward and rash and quick to temper. Quirky in looks yet startling in intelligence. She looked through you as she spoke, examining you with pin-point accuracy like a javelin, which always made me nervous when I spoke to her.
It was a peaceful day. But not for long.
The first sign that danger was imminent was the sound like a hurricane descending down from the north. A blast of wind that cracked the tops of the trees like a whip, and deafened those who heard it. The ground rumbled and moaned, while the frightened screams of my people bit at my ears like an angry serpent. A cloud of dust flew from the north, choking my people in its embrace. A ship descended down from the heavens and the world was thrown into chaos. We had never before seen such power; nor such beings in our entire lifetimes. We ran towards our great city, seeking the safety within it. Nolaina fell back slightly; helping a terrified woman who clutched a small child in her hands and another beside her. I screamed at her to hurry; as my people flooded our city like a tidal wave. None of us knew what to do. We were scared, afraid of the unknown and the horrors it may bring. My people were farmers, a peaceful people whose last great war had been millennia ago.
We were not prepared to fight.
I looked behind me, a part of me curious to see who or what had emerged from the great sky ships, to see figures emerging from the tree line. They looked humanoid in shape, though from the distance I couldn't yet see their faces. As the screams and cries of my people filled the air; I couldn't keep my eyes off these creatures. At the time; I thought they must be messengers from the Gods. I thought that the high Goddess Lenina had a message for us. That she was calling us to go to her and bathe in her glory. How naive I was back then. They were of course, not messengers from the Gods but monsters. That day my life and the lives of my people had been changed forever.
The beginning to an end had come.