-1NEOPTOLEMUS
The rains drizzled, pitter patter on the soggy soil. A green haze settled around what was left of Mentpha city. Buildings crumbled like wet crackers, sending their white colored exteriors crashing to the ground and further adding to the haze. All was silent, no one was around to speak, no animal to squeak, no machines to beep. Utter destruction had made itself evident and was not moving from its spot for a long while.
Pitter patter, the rains made play with a warriors hair, he naught move, for a single step could sent his opponent coming at him full force, reading to attack. His read eyes settled onto a figure who looked much like him. Breath accompanied the rain now, pant patter, it went. A whisper of his opponents clanking armor, his many weapons shifting and clamoring in the empty wind. How long had it been, since this pointless battle had even began. "Give up Enlil" his opponent said, retrieve a katana from it's sheath and marching towards Enlil. "Why must we fight Enki?" Enlil asked, readying himself for the oncoming attack.
Enki lunged, swinging his sword in a downward motion over Enlil's head. Enlil flinched but caught the blade between his palms. Enki grunted as his tried to slice Enlil in half. "It is the way of the Citatel." Enlil struggled with Enki, but managed to kick him a few yards away. "What Citatel, brother?" he yelled angrily. "We have destroyed it all!" Enki sheathed his sword. "The council still stands, we are forbidden to attack there." The black haired warrior brushed off his sleeveless rubriam armor and turned his back to his brother. "We will resume shortly. I need water." Enlil watched him step across the soil to the other side of the ruined clearing.
It wasn't apparent to Enlil just how many bodies there were until his attention was deterred from the battle. His eyes scanned the battlefield in horror. "What kind of king will you be!" he screamed after his brother. "You have slaughtered millions, destroyed everything," "You-!" Enki turned swirled around his eyes ablaze with anger. "And you assisted me, brother!" he bellowed. "You assisted me in the murder or millions and in the destruction of the glorious empire of Citatel." he calmed himself. "One of us will rebuild the country when this duel is over." the black haired prince turned and walked off into the smoldering concrete jungle to look for a drink.
Enlil dropped to his knees. "He is right" he thought. "Forgive me fathers, fore I have destroyed our land, our people.." Suddenly it came to him like water to a dry mouth. He knelt and prayed to the gods that his brother would be long. "Thank you" he said before dashing out on the open plains. Most of the vast plains used to be covered in markets and villages, but all that was destroyed fifty years ago when the Citalic Duel began. His heart ached as he imagined the billions of souls that used to make up the entire area.
He threw these thoughts away and hurriedly made his away to a large tower like structure in the distance. Back in the ruins of Mentpha, Enki had just finished refreshing himself with a drink of water and a splash of it to his face. He moved his flowing black hair out of his eyes and stepped outside of the bombed out convenient store into the glow of the binary stars Minerva Alpha and Minerva Beta, they're glared distracted him before his eyes adjusted to the outside light. Slowly he walked back to the clearing to resume battle with his brother but he found him to be missing. "Hm, must of gotten a drink also." The young citalian sat and waiting for his brother to return.
Enlil raced down the plains, the tall cylindrical tower coming closer and closer into his view. He was sure that his brother had found out that he had ran away, it mattered not, his chance at escape was too close. With all his strength he leap over the array of tall hills separating the Ba'alian plains from the space port. He rushed to the outboard control panel next to the giant cylindrical tube that reached to the stars and summoned a emergency pod. There were no people here either, all of them either already escaped to the outer countries or dead. He sighed and continued programming the ship for a destination half way across the galaxy. "Terra.." he recited the name of the planet. "Primitive forms of intelligent life, perfect."
The pod hovered from the underground and into the view inside the tube. The plasvium doors slid open and Enlil stepped in. He wasn't ready to say good bye to his homeland but it was evident that he had to. He put his hand to the ground and chanted a ancient mantra before a loud explosion was heard from below. "He won't be following me." The ground on which he had place his hand was glowing red with raw energy making cracks and splinters in the rock. The young prince grabbed his wrist and flexed it before stepping inside the pod and viewing his land for the final time. Slowly he started the ships ignition and the sound of the tube's accelerator filled his ears.
Something on the horizon disturbed him. A black dot was zooming across the plains, at hundreds of miles per hour. A deeply disturbing sight. He frantically pressed buttons on the console in hopes that it would make his ship move faster. It seemed to move all the slower as his brother stormed over the plains. Another whirling sound rocked his eardrum and the ship shot through the tube and into the stratus sphere in mere seconds. Within minutes the pod had exited the magnetosphere and was off on it's way to some unknown planet.
Back down on the saturated planet. Enki brooded, pacing back and forth at the site where his brother just was. "That fool never understood tradition" his nostrils flared. The console behind him read, "Unable to summon ship" but the coordinates previously entered were being copied to an external device. "Terra-Sol III" he repeated under his breath. "What would Enlil want with a desolate planet like that? Perhaps it is an invitation." he sighed and placed his palm a few inches away from his body. Purple vertex's manifested at four points and connected to make a rectangular face. Video instantly started feeding from some unknown source. A man, easily in his hundreds was on screen. Behind them there was a vast acrylic window. His robes and hood were a cream color trimmed with blood red. "Do not worry my child, we will find him. The country of Oenone to the northwest have just completed their space program." the old man took a long draw own breath that couldn't be distinguished from a cough. "The pitiful Oenonian government has owed us for more time than I can remember. Surely they can give a ship or two." Enki nodded. "Yes master, hopefully I can return soon." The old man raised his hand next to his face. "The consul has spoken, dismissed." The hologram disassembled itself and Enki was once again alone, his only companion the harsh heat of the plains leading into the Ba'alian desert. He stared out into the orange sky and pinkish clouds. "I will find you, and end this duel." he said, turning and heading for vast dirt mounds in the distance, the Oenonian border.
