Chapter 1: Dreams

"Rin. Rin. Rin!" Mr. Sato yelled, "Stop your daydreaming and get back to work!"

Rin Slovak was snapped out of his thoughts by his employer's harsh yells. "Y-yes sir. I'm on it."

He was supposed to be focussing on harvesting the gava fruits from the trees. It was hard for him to stay focused on the harvest when the sky was as clear as it was. There wasn't a cloud in sight and the stars were so clear. He loved looking up at the sky. He loved to dream about the worlds that were out there. He wondered what it would be like to live on a planet that actually received light from the sun. Harvesting fruit seemed like such a small task when there was a whole universe out there.

But these dreams of other worlds were just that, dreams. There was no way he would ever be able to see the universe. There was not a vehicle on the planet of Keket that had the ability to travel through space and as far as he knew there never was. It would be amazing if the Yokios people could develop the technology for space travel. There had to be other life out there.

There was a legend that was told to the children about outsiders from another world. The legend told of greedy beings that wanted nothing but destruction. Because of this legend, many were afraid of the universe outside their own world. Rin wasn't. He wanted to know about what was beyond their world.

Rin sighed and continued to pick the gava fruits. He scurried along the trees picking the small, purple fruits and putting them in the bag he was holding with his tail. He did his best not to look up at the sky and tried to focus on his job.

In nearby trees, other pickers were far ahead of him. They didn't daydream or look up at the stars. They just did their job. Rin thought that it must be nice to be able to stay focused like that. At the same time he pitied them because they never questioned if there was anything bigger than themselves.

After four more hours of picking Gava fruits, Mr. Sato finally let them go. Rin was exhausted from the work. He wanted to go home and watch the stars.

"Nice work out there Slovak," a boy about his age sneered. His name was Koda and he and his group of friends usually gave Rin problems. They usually picked on him because of his smaller size and how he was always daydreaming. "Because of your daydreaming, the rest of us have to work harder to meet the quota."

Despite both of them being fourteen, Koda was almost a head taller than Rin. He was muscular with broad shoulders and good looking. He was everything that his people prided themselves on. Rin was envious of Koda's good looks and hair. Koda always had his black hair combed back and it made him look tough. Whenever Rin tried to comb back his hair he looked like an idiot and his hair never stayed combed. No matter what he did with his hair it would never stay kept.

"I only have one less sack full than you," Rin answered, "And I am meeting the quota just fine."

"You're meeting the minimum quota. You are still not keeping up with the rest of us."

"Look Koda, I don't have time for this, I have to get home," Rin said. He did not want to get into a confrontation with Koda and his boys because he knew that he would lose.

Rin had turned to leave but Koda had grabbed him by the tail and pulled him back. Rin ended up on his back with four large guys staring down at him.

"I don't suppose that you be interested in talking about this like intelligent beings?" Rin asked.

Koda and his gang shook their heads.

"No, I didn't think so. That would imply that you were intelligent beings," Rin said without thinking. This comment looked to have angered the gang even more. Why couldn't he keep his big mouth shut?

With a wave of his hand, Rin channelled his spirit energy and pushed the boys away from him. It was like an invisible hand had pulled them away from him. All the boys except Koda and one other landed on their feet. The rest were on their backs.

Rin knew he made a mistake by doing that. Before they were just going to use their fists to hurt him. By pushing them back it was an invitation that it was a free for all. All Yokios could channel spirit energy to cause objects to move. Some were so skilled that they could summon lightning.

"So that's how it's going to be huh?" Koda said, "Alright then. We were just going to give you a simple beating. Now you're asking for it."

Koda moved his hand and a nearby rock rose up. Another movement and the rock hurled towards Rin. Rin dodged it easily. The rock hit the Gava tree and shattered. It left a large gash in the side of the tree. Koda was strong but lacked accuracy. Koda threw another and Rin dodged it again.

"Is that the best you got?" Rin mocked, "You couldn't hit me if you tried."

Rin had spoken too soon. The other members of Koda gang had also had rocks levitating around them. They all threw the rocks at once. Rin was able to dodge a few but there too many. One struck him in the back of the head. It threw him off balance and disoriented him. More rocks hit him. One to the stomach, another to his left knee, shoulders, kidney and arms.

Rin fell to the ground. His whole body ached. Why didn't he run when he had the chance?

"What's going on over there?" Mr. Sato called out.

"Uh-oh. Busted," one gang member said.

Koda knelt down next to Rin. "Next time twerp. Next time you won't be so lucky. Remember your place. There is no way that you will ever beat me."

Koda and his gang ran off leaving Rin in the dirt. Rin tried to stand but his head was spinning too badly. He felt like he was going to vomit.

"Are you all right son?" Mr. Sato asked as he approached Rin.

"I'll be fine," Rin answered. He tried to stand again but fell to his knees. He wished the world would stop spinning so fast.

"Do you want me to call your folks?"

"No. I'm fine." His father was always saying that he should stand up for himself. What would he say if he saw that he had been a victim of Koda and his gang again?

On his third attempt Rin was able to stand. He could barely put any weight on his left leg. He would have to make it work.

"I'll see you tomorrow Mr. Sato."

"Rin, take tomorrow off. You need to heal. If you want, I can remove Koda from the harvest. You don't have to be his personal punching bag."

"If I don't, he'll just pick on someone else weaker. I'll be back tomorrow."

Mr. Sato put a hand on Rin's shoulder. He was patting the place where Rin was hurt. It hurt but he didn't show the pain. "Rin, I'm ordering you to take tomorrow off. The harvest will still be here in two days. You need to rest. You are no good to me like this."

"Yes sir."

Rin hobbled away from the field and towards his home. What would his mother think of his recent injuries? She worried about him so much. She always worried about him because he was small for his age. Rin's father would tell him that he needed to toughen up.

As Rin walked into town, he found himself gazing up at that stars again. They provided the only source of light on Keket. The sun was only slightly brighter than the other stars in the sky. He wondered what Keket would be like if they were closer to the sun. How much brighter would it be on the planet? Probably too bright for the Yokios. They had adapted to the darkness and so had the rest of the planet. He doubted that anything would grow. That much sunlight might cause harm to the plants. Unless they plants could somehow get energy from the light. Energy from light. How strange. Everyone knew that plants got all their energy from the ground.

The house that Rin lived in with his parents was on the far end of town. It was similar to the other houses around it. It was small and made from stone. The size of the house meant that they did not have a high standing in the town but the stone meant that they were a strong and loyal family. It had a single room on the ground floor with the bedrooms being upstairs in a loft. Rin could hear his parents inside. He waited outside for a few minutes before gaining the courage to enter.

Inside, Rin's mother was busy preparing supper while his father was at his workbench working on a piece of furniture. Both of them had their back to him so if he was quiet, maybe they wouldn't notice him or his injuries.

"What took you so long, son?" his father asked him without turning around.

"Uh, Mr. Sato asked me to stay behind and clean up," Rin lied, "I'm really tired so I think that I'll just go to bed now."

He was almost to the stairs when his mother turned around. "Rin, what happened to you? Don't tell me that you got into another fight."

"No, a fight would mean that the two parties agreed to fight. And that both sides had an equal chance of winning."

"Rin," his mother said in a stern voice. He could see that she was worried about him. She was trying to be stern with him but her eyes were giving her away. "Was it Koda again?"

"Uh…"

"It was, wasn't it? I should have a talk with Mr. Sato. He can't allow Koda to pick on you like that. Maybe he can change the shifts around so that you don't have to work with him."

"Nonsense," his father said, "If Rin wants Koda to stop bullying him, he has to beat Koda himself. It won't stop until he does that."

"Yeah that would work great if there weren't three other guys backing him up," Rin replied, "That's hardly a fair fight."

"Life's not fair. But you have to find a way to overcome this. Life will always put you in unfair situations. You just need to learn how to overcome these situations," his father advised, "It won't do you any good if we but in."

His father had a point. He had to deal with Koda himself. Though perhaps fighting him would not be the best method. There had to be another way.

Rin's father cleaned him up while his mother finished preparing supper. Nothing more was said about the fight that night.

The family went to bed shortly after supper. Rin snuck out the window and climbed onto the roof. The slant of the roof gave the perfect view for star gazing. He liked to go out there when he wanted to think. It was quiet and no one could see him up there. Rin felt like he had been going up there more since his older brother, Reggie had moved out.

Reggie was three years older than Rin and had gotten married almost a year ago. Reggie was the only person who really supported Rin. He was only living a few streets over but Rin missed having his older brother around. Reggie stood up for him and protected him whenever Koda was picking on him. He couldn't rely on Reggie to help him now so he would have to find a way to beat Koda by himself.

How could he possibly beat Koda and his gang? Maybe he could beat him at something other than fighting. Something like what? It was tradition of his people to settle disputes with fighting. Rin couldn't fight to save his life. He was fast and was agile in the trees. Maybe he could lour Koda into the woods where he would have an advantage. But then Koda would be at a disadvantage. That wouldn't be fair to him.

Rin studied the dark red markings on his left arm. All Yokios have different red markings on their bodies and faces. They were called catos and they were supposed to signify the type of person that they will become and what type of life they will have. Rin stared at the catos as if they held the answer to his problems.

Rin had a series of intricately woven lines that varied in width and had sharp points at the ends. It started on his left hand and went up his arm, covered his shoulder, a small part of his back and covered the left side of his chest. The catos went down his side to the top of his leg. According to the village elder, it was supposed to signify that he will become a great warrior. It meant that he would become someone who was honest and fought for what was right. The catos on his face were less elaborate. He had three thin lines on his forehead and cheeks. They were supposed to mean that he will suffer great loss.

Rin never put much thought into these superstitions. How could the markings that a person is born with determine what their life will be like? How could he ever become a great warrior? Nothing about him was warrior material. Maybe by defeating Koda he will become a great warrior. Doubtful. He once heard that Koda's cato said that he is a protector. Were they ever wrong? He just hoped that the part about him suffering great loss wouldn't come true.

He was about to go in for the night when Rin thought he saw something in the sky. Something had appeared in the sky. Rin had never seen anything like it. It had a strange shape to it that Rin had never seen before. As Rin studied the new object in the sky five more objects that were identical to the first appeared in the night sky. What were these things? They just appeared out of nowhere.

Whatever these things were, they were getting closer. The objects spread out and seemed to be making some kind of formation in the sky. One of the objects turned sideways and Rin could see the full shape of the object. The front and back were a pointed, roundish structure while the middle had what looking like wings.

Rin was interested in these objects. The objects started to release thousands of smaller things. Rin's fascination quickly turned to dread. Something was wrong. They were being attacked by these objects.