The Spy
Chapter 1
Time could not be easily discerned within the Null Void dimension. Young Garra had no idea how long her parents had been deceased. Time had little meaning in the Null Void. The concept of months no longer existed. It felt like ages. She was very lonely and tired, hungry, and often afraid. The fear she felt was nothing compared to when the Null Guardians suddenly turned violent and attacked the inhabitants of the Null Void.
Garra ran and escaped to a cave before the Null Guardians turned the skies dark with their massive wings while flying in huge swarms. They began to swoop down and pick up any person they could find. They lifted them into the air and whisked them away to some unknown location. She listened to their screams and the howls of the Null Guardians until she covered her ears with her hands, unable to bear the noise any longer. That night, she sobbed uncontrollably for the last time before she slept.
The next morning, all was silent. Garra exited the cave with confusion and more fear. The Null Guardians were gone. She felt truly alone. They had taken all the other inhabitants away. She wandered by herself until she observed smoke from a fire pit. The pit had been deserted. The only thing to be found in the vicinity was footprints. They disappeared shortly, as if something had lifted the makers of the prints into the air. Garra assumed they had been taken by the Null Guardians. She wanted to cry again. Tears would not form. She felt empty. She wondered if they would come get her if she sat and waited.
Her assumption was correct. A Null Guardian flew overhead while she was walking below and swooped down at her. She instinctively chose to fight and jumped on the creature's back until it writhed and bucked. It flew with Garra on its back until it reached a startling sight. Garra gasped. On top of a large asteroid was a construction of metal. It was something she had never seen the likes of before. It looked like a tower. It was unfinished. Many Null Guardians flew around it. Some held huge machine parts in their tentacles and on their backs. They appeared to be working with someone to build the structure. Below was another confusing sight. She observed the many missing inhabitants of the Null Void. They were carrying heavy loads as well. Some were working with tools. Others were moving large baskets of yellow mineral. The formed long lines carrying the baskets until they dumped them into fire pits.
The Null Guardian screeched until it descended with Garra and threw her off its back. She hit the ground and cried out in pain. The Null Guardian roared until it departed. Garra rubbed her back and stood up in confusion and fear. She was surrounded by a wall. Many other people were surrounding her. Null Guardians were flying everywhere. She was closed off. There was no escape.
Someone bumped her from behind and knocked her down. It was a man who looked exhausted. He didn't stop to apologize but instead kept trudging with his heavy load strapped to his back. Garra saw she had walked into the middle of a line of workers before she stepped out of their way. None of them looked at her. They were as if in a trance. She wondered if she should follow them. Someone handed her a bag. It was a woman with fox-like features and bright red hair. She was beautiful. She looked concerned.
"You need to carry this. You must work, or the Null King will be displeased," she said while looking concerned.
"It's heavy!" Garra said. The weight was nearly too much for her to handle without dragging herself. She struggled to lift the heavy bag filled with the yellow mineral.
"I know, but you must bear it," said the woman. She walked with Garra in the line.
"Where are going? What is everyone doing? Who is the Null King?" Garra asked.
"Shh. You mustn't talk now," said the woman. "Not until we are inside the mines."
"Mines?" The woman shook her head and Garra stopped talking after that.
Garra walked for a long while with the others until she came to a fire pit. "I dump this in here?" she thought until she mimicked what the woman and everyone else did with their loads. Into the fire it went. It glowed yellow and gave off a sickly smell that made Garra feel dizzy.
Not before long, the group went into a small building. Garra gasped when she observed Null Guardians picking people up and flying them away.
"They won't hurt you if you don't resist," said the woman. "We're going to the mines now. Once we're in the caves, we are free to speak. In hushed tones, of course. The Null Guardians don't understand languages. They do understand loud noises."
"Will you tell me what's going on then?" Garra asked.
"Yes," said the woman until a Null Guardian wrapped its tentacles around her arms and torso and lifted her away.
Garra watched her depart with the Null Guardian until a Null Guardian came toward her and reached out its tentacles. Garra was frightened and recoiled before she remembered the woman's words. She closed her eyes. The thick tentacles grabbed her and she was yanked into the air. Her stomach swirled with vertigo as they flew somewhere. It wasn't long before they landed and her feet were again on the ground. The Null Guardian flew away. Garra opened her eyes. She observed many baskets being hauled and large mine carts being pushed by men, women, and species she could not distinguish the sexes of. She looked for the red-haired fox woman but did not see her anywhere.
"Here, child," said an old man. He was green skinned, with large black eyes and four arms. "Take this basket and fill it with Kormite before you're caught not working. The Null King has trained his Null Guardians to pick out those who are too slow and punish them!"
Garra's eyes widened as she remembered the weak and tired looking man from before. She was thankful for her youth as she hurried to join the other workers going into the mines.
"Who could be so cruel to enslave so many innocent people? Who is the Null King?" she wondered. She had no idea who he was but she already hated him.
She cringed as she saw two Null Guardians stationed at the mouth of the cave where the Kormite mines were located. People pushing carts walked past them with their heads down. They seemed intent on not drawing attention to the evil looking beasts with huge mouths full of teeth and no eyes. One man lost his balance and fell. The Null Guardian roared fiercely at him before he scrambled to his feet.
"I'm sorry! But my foot! It aches so badly," cried the man until the Null Guardian shot a red beam from its mouth. The beam struck the ground at the man's foot and caused him to yelp and limp faster. "I'll work! I'll work! Please don't hurt me!" he begged.
Garra cringed at the incident. The poor man. Being forced to work with an injury. It was too cruel. She took a spot in the line in back of a large purple man and what looked to be his smaller wife. She looked very scared. She clutched the basket to her chest. Her husband looked depressed. Garra felt it as well. The feel of hopelessness was thick in the air.
"Is this going to be my life now?" she muttered before she entered the Kormite mines. Again, Garra wanted to cry but the tears would not form.
She toiled in the mines for an unknown length of time. It felt like forever. She observed many men using various work tools to chip away at the deposits of yellow mineral known as Kormite. Groups working beside them packed the Kormite into mine carts. Still others took the full mine carts away and returned empty ones. It seemed a never ending task.
Contrary to what the mysterious woman had mentioned to her, not once did Garra hear anyone talking in the mines. Everyone looked too scared and focused on their work to try. Garra wanted the answers to her many questions. As she helped a blue man with large black eyes somewhat hidden beneath a straw hat, she whispered to him.
"I was brought here today and am very confused. Please tell me what is the purpose of these mines? What is this yellow mineral everyone is digging up? And who is the Null King?"
The blue man looked shocked. "How could anyone not know who the Null King is? Have you been beneath a rock before they brought you here?" He looked embarrassed after the hushed outburst with a hand to his mouth. He stopped talking after that.
"Can't we talk if we whisper?" Garra asked in a whisper.
He shook his head. He pointed to Null Guardians.
Garra's shoulders slumped. She continued in silence until she found the woman again. She felt a brief happiness. The woman was in a different line. She was carrying empty baskets beneath each arm with several other women. They were exiting the mines. Garra wanted desperately to speak to the woman again. She made a rash decision and ran out of her line until she met with the woman.
"Please!" she shouted against all sanity. "Tell me what's going on? Who is the Null King? Why is everyone doing his bidding? Why is no one speaking? Why is everyone submitting to being enslaved?"
Many gasped and looked terrified. The Null Guardians turned and screeched with aggression. They flew into the air. Garra knew she had little time. They were coming for her. Her fear turned to anger. She wasn't going to be enslaved so easily. She would fight. She jumped onto the first Null Guardian which arrived to stop the commotion and began beating its back with her fists. She unleashed her claws and raked at its wings until it bellowed and bucked. The Null Guardians looked intimidating but they felt pain like any other creature. They could be defeated.
"Why is no one fighting back? Why is everyone allowing this to happen? The Null Guardians were never dangerous to us before! Why should they be now?" Garra screamed. She fought the Null Guardian until it slammed into the wall and passed out. The second Null Guardian's mouth began to glow red. Garra threw a rock at it until the Null Guardian yowled and fell down. "Rise up! Fight back! We outnumber them!"
"Please, stop!" screamed the blue man from before. "You have no idea what you're doing! The Null King is not to be trifled with!"
"You'll get us all killed!" yelled another man. "The Null King has no qualms about throwing out an entire group of laborers and moving in new ones! We'll become even more tortured than we are now, spending tireless eternities dumping Kormite into the fire pits, or end up in the fire pits ourselves!"
Garra was confused at the reactions of the group. "How can you say that! I'm trying to help! Why not take the opportunity to escape?"
The blue man fell to his knees. "You think others haven't attempted rebellion before? They were destroyed completely by the Null King. He's more powerful than you could imagine. Even without his Null Guardians. No one can beat him."
"I can't stand it! Who is the Null King?" Garra demanded with her hands in the air. "How can I be afraid of someone I've only heard by name! Why should I? I refuse!" Garra jumped from the unconscious Null Guardian until she ran for the mine's exit. "You can all stay here and be slaves for eternity! I won't be! I'd rather die!"
She ran from the mines until she reached the light. She meant what she said. She had nothing to lose. The face of the fox woman faded in her memory.
The roars of more Null Guardians met her ears. They were coming after her. She ran past many workers without looking until she reached the end of the rock platform. There was no escape other than jumping into the abyss. A wave of fear came over her before she backed up. Her back bumped someone. She turned around and assumed it was a worker until she saw a smiling man with yellow eyes and long white hair wearing a tattered cape.
"So. You must be the one who disrupted the workflow in the mines," he said in a low, deep voice.
"Who are you?" Garra yelled before a Null Guardian slammed its tentacle into her back and knocked her down. She groaned in pain and struggled to get up. She was lifted by a Null Guardian's tail before she was dangled in the air in front of the man in the cape.
"Interesting that such a small, harmless looking creature could defeat two of my Null Guardians and attempt to incite a new rebellion among my timid slaves." He rubbed his chin in thought as he spoke. "But it was nothing short of futile."
"I'll never be a slave," Garra said softly. Her body ached but she refused to give in. Was this the infamous Null King standing before her? He looked like any ordinary man. His eyes were strange. They were the same color as the Kormite. They seemed to glow with power. "Who are you?" she repeated, louder.
"You may call me D'Void. And if you refuse to be my slave, then perhaps I can find something better for you to do," he said before Garra passed out.