1 Chapter 9-Zuai
Lana opened her eyes slowly. She hadn't dared to keep them open as she stepped onto this new planet. She wasn't sure she would have had the courage.
Clark, or Adam as she should now call him, gently held her arm, cradling her, in case it was too much.
She opened her eyes, and at first saw nothing strange. It was a country setting, similar to places she had ridden on her horse.
She slowly took in the fact that here were people with varied degrees of skin color. Red, blue, green, the colors dazzled her. Nothing this different was seen on Earth. You had the varied shades of brown, a bit of white, and the mixture of peach skin.
And yet, as red as the high school jacket, or as yellow as the banners in a home game, these were not 'white' or 'black' color schemes. They were vibrantly…alive. Lana couldn't describe it if she had tried.
Worried because of her necklace's complications, she avoided the green people. But the green skin tones had nothing to do with kryptonite, and the red tones had nothing to do with krystolite.
But a purple woman with ivory hair approached her. "My lady." The woman bowed deeply. Lana took a quick breath. "Who are you?" The woman risked raising her head to smile at her mistress. "I am Haylee Kabia, one of the chosen families of violet to serve you." Lana nodded, now distracted.
Many blue, red, yellow, green, and even a small orange child came to her, begging to serve her. Some were old men, and one, the small child was not even 15. The crowd was close about the ship, and Lana tried to retreat.
Taking this as a sign of dismissal, the people pressed harder, trying to reach her. "Mistress! My mistress, hear me!" the people cried to be heard, but Lana was lost in thought. There was no way this crowd could come with her. Would she be left behind? Would Adam's mission be more important?
Clark squeezed her arm. He was still there. "Lana will decide. You will leave us in peace." Clark's voice was commanding. Lana couldn't see the boy who had tripped the first day of school at first, but as the crowd turned to go, she saw the familiar nervous expression. "It's not your fault, Clark!" she snapped, upset he still blamed himself. I thought he was done with that! Lana retreated inside, and Clark remained outside, his face a mask Lana couldn't penetrate in one glance.
Clark watched her go, carefully masking his feelings, so she wouldn't see how much he longed to just fly away, to someplace none of these people would ever find them, never to have to worry about politics or prophecy again. But that thought was one she might not understand. So he stifled it.
The orange child was sitting next to the door. Chloe sat down on the pleasant grass, and smiled at the girl. "Hey, what's your name?" The girl turned, and Chloe was alarmed to see blood on her cheeks. Somehow, the girl was bleeding from her eyes. But as it continued to flow, and the child didn't cry out in pain, Chloe realized it was tears, although she always felt afterwards that there was some blood in them.
"My name is Aidana Celosia, and I am here to serve the chosen one. Did she dislike me?" Chloe softened. This child was longing for someone to love her. Chloe longed to hug the small frame, but her fear of staining her shirt with blood held her still.
"It's not you, Aidana. There were a lot of people, and Lana's not used to so many different colors. Everyone's basically one of three colors at home. Here, there are many colors. She's just getting used to the idea of being the chosen one. She didn't grow up, training for her destiny. She might have, but her parents were killed when she was a little younger than you."
Aidana's face took on a solemn look. "Her mother could not train her. That is sad. Will Adam train her?" Chloe flinched. Was she the only one who still thought of him as Clark? Well, maybe the Kent's still thought of him that way.
"I don't know, Aidana. I don't know…" Chloe trailed off, and watched Clark enter the meteor.
"Lana?" Lana jumped up, and fiercely hugged him. "What am I supposed to do?" she whimpered.
Clark held her a few minutes before he responded. "Just as I have to train to deal with my own family, you must train to deal with your own servants. You don't need that many, five at most I'd guess." Lana smiled, and Clark wiped her tears away. Why was I crying, anyway? What good would it do? An ocean of tears wouldn't get me back to earth.
Clark released her, but Lana was careful to keep his hand holding hers. She couldn't face the crowd alone.
~
Outside, the crowd had regathered. Lana spoke clearly, a new courage filling her. "I am taking only five with me for my journey."
Lana paused, carefully remembering the prophecy before she spoke. "When I return, the chosen family will serve me."
Chloe came close, and whispered something in Lana's ear. Lana turned abruptly, and saw a small orange child with red tears streaming down her face. Lana gave the child her brightest smile, her heart breaking looking at the hopeless face. "You. Orange skin, red hair! Come here." The creamsicle skinned girl came to her, joy shining in her golden eyes. Cries of protest sounded loud and angrily, but Lana ignored them. "What is your name, child?" Lana heard her name, and beckoned the child to stand next to her. She did so, and gladly took refuge behind her, peeking around at the crowd.
Lana scanned the crowd. "Of the house of Kabia, would Haylee come to me?" The woman kept her head down, and meekly approached. "My mistress, are you choosing me above my sisters?" Lana looked, and saw several tall black and purple haired Kabia women. Lana realized the absurdly 6 ft tall girl next to her was actually younger than herself. Lana breathed a sigh of relief. 6 feet was better than 12, and Haylee seemed kind. "Yes." The violet people left, along with a portion of the Aquaians. A young man with cyan colored hair, and navy blue skin caught her eye. "You!" The youth's head jerked up. "What is your name?"
"My master calls me Klag, but my mother named me Nikko." Lana rolled the name back off her tongue. "Kneeco?" Sounds more like a shoe company. She nodded. He approached, bowed, and stood next to Haylee. He was trembling, and Lana was disgusted to see long gashes seared across his shoulders. Am I to deal with slavery on this planet? I thought my ancestor did enough of that!
She gazed across the crowd again. A man with black skin, literally black, stared at her. Shivers ran down her spine, and Clark's grip tightened. "I will decide tomorrow." Lana kept the hesitation out of her voice. That was the last thing she needed right now. To show them that she was weak.
The crowd dispersed, angrily eying the chosen ones. Cerulean and Azure led the two elder servants away, but Lana let the child stay with her.
An African American woman, much like any seen in the US, came and bowed before Lana. "Please! Do not send me away! My whole life I have seeked you, and you send us away! Please choose me, I will do the most meaningless work you assign me, as long as I serve you, my mistress!" Lana was suddenly uncomfortable. But—on my planet, your people were once enslaved. I couldn't dare have you as my servant!" The woman wept at Lana's feet, and Clark grinned at her. "You'll be ruining her life if you don't let her serve you." Lana didn't smile. It honestly bugged her. The others were so other-worldly, she hadn't considered it slavery, but the brown skin brought back all the history lessons. She couldn't allow herself to enslave this woman.
Aidana grasped Lana's hand. "We're not slaves in the way you think, mistress. We wish to serve you. On your world, slaves were forced to labor. We wish to bring honor to our people, and without your approval, we would have gone back to our planets, shamed. You have given them hope, but they are not blind of Qing Quaz's jealous rule. It would have brought great fame to many families, to have been slaves in the uprising."
Lana stared in astonishment at the child before her. Although she appeared a mere ten year old, she was a very wise young woman. Lana turned to the African American. "What is your name?" The woman straightened, and rocked on her feet. Nikko caught her. "My name, is Rebecca Lieshing, my lady." Lana backed away from the woman before her. "Into the meteor, quickly!" Without questioning her, they did as she commanded. Clark looked back, and saw a black shadow disappear. He wanted to race after it, and beat it senseless, for scaring Lana, probably for no other reason than a prank. But he knew she needed him right now.
Inside, Lana breathed slowly and evenly. Chloe calmly held Aidanna in her lap. Haylee and Rebecca were soothing her, and for a split second, he despised them for soothing her for him. But then he realized it was what they were trained to do, and while he trained who knew where, they would comfort her.
Lana slowly sat up, and smiled at Clark. "What was it?" Clark shook his head. Lana sighed. "Can we leave, right now?" Cerulean shook his head. "You promised the people 5, my lady. Five you must take." Lana took a shaky breath, and waved Rebecca and Haylee away. Clark sat next to her, on her small pallet. Lana smiled up at him. "Right now I feel safe. I just wish we could take off, right now." She whispered, so only Clark could hear. Clark smiled, and nodded. He felt the same.
Nikko and Cerulean stood. "As bodyguards, it is our duty to see who we are protecting you from. If it is a Nekkro…" Nikko shuddered, and didn't finish. They walked out the door, and when the door had shut, Lana shivered. "I know they had to leave, but now I'm scared they won't come back. What's a Nekkro?" Rebecca and Haylee didn't answer her. But once again, Aidana did. "Let's hope that you may never know, my lady."
The next morning, the blue skinned youth returned, unsuccessful in finding a trace of the Nekkro, and yet, Aidana pointed him out to Lana.
The day was much longer than the previous one, and Lana soon grew tired of the pressing crowd, and the begging. She had heard nearly every story in the crowd, and yet…she hadn't come to the corner where the Nekkro stood. And in the moment the Nekkro stood alone, his turn to speak, Lana discovered why they terrified everyone who knew them.
He stood, staring at Lana, and yet not seeing. "Her majesty will have a long, successful reign, and yet she will abandon us!" His cry brought outrage, but it was against himself.
"She will cast nations down into the abyss, and think herself kind for doing so!" The crowd looked nearly ready to throw themselves at him, yet their fear held them back. Clark had clenched his fists.
"She will be a princess to be desired, and yet she will stay with the weakest—the one who refuses dark magic!" Suddenly, shadows appeared, and grew upright. They surrounded the Nekkro, and kept him safe.
"I myself will betray her, and yet she will spare my life!" The crowd now boomed, as the Nekkros fought the rest. The Nekkros were fighting their way towards the princess, and Lana became frozen with fear. Clark encircled his arms around her, anxious to make the crowd wait another day, but knowing they must endure this.
"She will enslave and free us from Crystos!" Lana and Clark tightened. This could not be good. Interfering with a God was never a good thing…or so they thought.
An hour later, the Nekkro was identified as Casey, and although uneasy about the prophecy he didn't remember, Lana accepted him. "He didn't say I'd be cruel to him, and I want away from this planet. It's not the kind caring land described in the stories."
Lana opened her eyes slowly. She hadn't dared to keep them open as she stepped onto this new planet. She wasn't sure she would have had the courage.
Clark, or Adam as she should now call him, gently held her arm, cradling her, in case it was too much.
She opened her eyes, and at first saw nothing strange. It was a country setting, similar to places she had ridden on her horse.
She slowly took in the fact that here were people with varied degrees of skin color. Red, blue, green, the colors dazzled her. Nothing this different was seen on Earth. You had the varied shades of brown, a bit of white, and the mixture of peach skin.
And yet, as red as the high school jacket, or as yellow as the banners in a home game, these were not 'white' or 'black' color schemes. They were vibrantly…alive. Lana couldn't describe it if she had tried.
Worried because of her necklace's complications, she avoided the green people. But the green skin tones had nothing to do with kryptonite, and the red tones had nothing to do with krystolite.
But a purple woman with ivory hair approached her. "My lady." The woman bowed deeply. Lana took a quick breath. "Who are you?" The woman risked raising her head to smile at her mistress. "I am Haylee Kabia, one of the chosen families of violet to serve you." Lana nodded, now distracted.
Many blue, red, yellow, green, and even a small orange child came to her, begging to serve her. Some were old men, and one, the small child was not even 15. The crowd was close about the ship, and Lana tried to retreat.
Taking this as a sign of dismissal, the people pressed harder, trying to reach her. "Mistress! My mistress, hear me!" the people cried to be heard, but Lana was lost in thought. There was no way this crowd could come with her. Would she be left behind? Would Adam's mission be more important?
Clark squeezed her arm. He was still there. "Lana will decide. You will leave us in peace." Clark's voice was commanding. Lana couldn't see the boy who had tripped the first day of school at first, but as the crowd turned to go, she saw the familiar nervous expression. "It's not your fault, Clark!" she snapped, upset he still blamed himself. I thought he was done with that! Lana retreated inside, and Clark remained outside, his face a mask Lana couldn't penetrate in one glance.
Clark watched her go, carefully masking his feelings, so she wouldn't see how much he longed to just fly away, to someplace none of these people would ever find them, never to have to worry about politics or prophecy again. But that thought was one she might not understand. So he stifled it.
The orange child was sitting next to the door. Chloe sat down on the pleasant grass, and smiled at the girl. "Hey, what's your name?" The girl turned, and Chloe was alarmed to see blood on her cheeks. Somehow, the girl was bleeding from her eyes. But as it continued to flow, and the child didn't cry out in pain, Chloe realized it was tears, although she always felt afterwards that there was some blood in them.
"My name is Aidana Celosia, and I am here to serve the chosen one. Did she dislike me?" Chloe softened. This child was longing for someone to love her. Chloe longed to hug the small frame, but her fear of staining her shirt with blood held her still.
"It's not you, Aidana. There were a lot of people, and Lana's not used to so many different colors. Everyone's basically one of three colors at home. Here, there are many colors. She's just getting used to the idea of being the chosen one. She didn't grow up, training for her destiny. She might have, but her parents were killed when she was a little younger than you."
Aidana's face took on a solemn look. "Her mother could not train her. That is sad. Will Adam train her?" Chloe flinched. Was she the only one who still thought of him as Clark? Well, maybe the Kent's still thought of him that way.
"I don't know, Aidana. I don't know…" Chloe trailed off, and watched Clark enter the meteor.
"Lana?" Lana jumped up, and fiercely hugged him. "What am I supposed to do?" she whimpered.
Clark held her a few minutes before he responded. "Just as I have to train to deal with my own family, you must train to deal with your own servants. You don't need that many, five at most I'd guess." Lana smiled, and Clark wiped her tears away. Why was I crying, anyway? What good would it do? An ocean of tears wouldn't get me back to earth.
Clark released her, but Lana was careful to keep his hand holding hers. She couldn't face the crowd alone.
~
Outside, the crowd had regathered. Lana spoke clearly, a new courage filling her. "I am taking only five with me for my journey."
Lana paused, carefully remembering the prophecy before she spoke. "When I return, the chosen family will serve me."
Chloe came close, and whispered something in Lana's ear. Lana turned abruptly, and saw a small orange child with red tears streaming down her face. Lana gave the child her brightest smile, her heart breaking looking at the hopeless face. "You. Orange skin, red hair! Come here." The creamsicle skinned girl came to her, joy shining in her golden eyes. Cries of protest sounded loud and angrily, but Lana ignored them. "What is your name, child?" Lana heard her name, and beckoned the child to stand next to her. She did so, and gladly took refuge behind her, peeking around at the crowd.
Lana scanned the crowd. "Of the house of Kabia, would Haylee come to me?" The woman kept her head down, and meekly approached. "My mistress, are you choosing me above my sisters?" Lana looked, and saw several tall black and purple haired Kabia women. Lana realized the absurdly 6 ft tall girl next to her was actually younger than herself. Lana breathed a sigh of relief. 6 feet was better than 12, and Haylee seemed kind. "Yes." The violet people left, along with a portion of the Aquaians. A young man with cyan colored hair, and navy blue skin caught her eye. "You!" The youth's head jerked up. "What is your name?"
"My master calls me Klag, but my mother named me Nikko." Lana rolled the name back off her tongue. "Kneeco?" Sounds more like a shoe company. She nodded. He approached, bowed, and stood next to Haylee. He was trembling, and Lana was disgusted to see long gashes seared across his shoulders. Am I to deal with slavery on this planet? I thought my ancestor did enough of that!
She gazed across the crowd again. A man with black skin, literally black, stared at her. Shivers ran down her spine, and Clark's grip tightened. "I will decide tomorrow." Lana kept the hesitation out of her voice. That was the last thing she needed right now. To show them that she was weak.
The crowd dispersed, angrily eying the chosen ones. Cerulean and Azure led the two elder servants away, but Lana let the child stay with her.
An African American woman, much like any seen in the US, came and bowed before Lana. "Please! Do not send me away! My whole life I have seeked you, and you send us away! Please choose me, I will do the most meaningless work you assign me, as long as I serve you, my mistress!" Lana was suddenly uncomfortable. But—on my planet, your people were once enslaved. I couldn't dare have you as my servant!" The woman wept at Lana's feet, and Clark grinned at her. "You'll be ruining her life if you don't let her serve you." Lana didn't smile. It honestly bugged her. The others were so other-worldly, she hadn't considered it slavery, but the brown skin brought back all the history lessons. She couldn't allow herself to enslave this woman.
Aidana grasped Lana's hand. "We're not slaves in the way you think, mistress. We wish to serve you. On your world, slaves were forced to labor. We wish to bring honor to our people, and without your approval, we would have gone back to our planets, shamed. You have given them hope, but they are not blind of Qing Quaz's jealous rule. It would have brought great fame to many families, to have been slaves in the uprising."
Lana stared in astonishment at the child before her. Although she appeared a mere ten year old, she was a very wise young woman. Lana turned to the African American. "What is your name?" The woman straightened, and rocked on her feet. Nikko caught her. "My name, is Rebecca Lieshing, my lady." Lana backed away from the woman before her. "Into the meteor, quickly!" Without questioning her, they did as she commanded. Clark looked back, and saw a black shadow disappear. He wanted to race after it, and beat it senseless, for scaring Lana, probably for no other reason than a prank. But he knew she needed him right now.
Inside, Lana breathed slowly and evenly. Chloe calmly held Aidanna in her lap. Haylee and Rebecca were soothing her, and for a split second, he despised them for soothing her for him. But then he realized it was what they were trained to do, and while he trained who knew where, they would comfort her.
Lana slowly sat up, and smiled at Clark. "What was it?" Clark shook his head. Lana sighed. "Can we leave, right now?" Cerulean shook his head. "You promised the people 5, my lady. Five you must take." Lana took a shaky breath, and waved Rebecca and Haylee away. Clark sat next to her, on her small pallet. Lana smiled up at him. "Right now I feel safe. I just wish we could take off, right now." She whispered, so only Clark could hear. Clark smiled, and nodded. He felt the same.
Nikko and Cerulean stood. "As bodyguards, it is our duty to see who we are protecting you from. If it is a Nekkro…" Nikko shuddered, and didn't finish. They walked out the door, and when the door had shut, Lana shivered. "I know they had to leave, but now I'm scared they won't come back. What's a Nekkro?" Rebecca and Haylee didn't answer her. But once again, Aidana did. "Let's hope that you may never know, my lady."
The next morning, the blue skinned youth returned, unsuccessful in finding a trace of the Nekkro, and yet, Aidana pointed him out to Lana.
The day was much longer than the previous one, and Lana soon grew tired of the pressing crowd, and the begging. She had heard nearly every story in the crowd, and yet…she hadn't come to the corner where the Nekkro stood. And in the moment the Nekkro stood alone, his turn to speak, Lana discovered why they terrified everyone who knew them.
He stood, staring at Lana, and yet not seeing. "Her majesty will have a long, successful reign, and yet she will abandon us!" His cry brought outrage, but it was against himself.
"She will cast nations down into the abyss, and think herself kind for doing so!" The crowd looked nearly ready to throw themselves at him, yet their fear held them back. Clark had clenched his fists.
"She will be a princess to be desired, and yet she will stay with the weakest—the one who refuses dark magic!" Suddenly, shadows appeared, and grew upright. They surrounded the Nekkro, and kept him safe.
"I myself will betray her, and yet she will spare my life!" The crowd now boomed, as the Nekkros fought the rest. The Nekkros were fighting their way towards the princess, and Lana became frozen with fear. Clark encircled his arms around her, anxious to make the crowd wait another day, but knowing they must endure this.
"She will enslave and free us from Crystos!" Lana and Clark tightened. This could not be good. Interfering with a God was never a good thing…or so they thought.
An hour later, the Nekkro was identified as Casey, and although uneasy about the prophecy he didn't remember, Lana accepted him. "He didn't say I'd be cruel to him, and I want away from this planet. It's not the kind caring land described in the stories."