L-0182 felt their central organ press desperately against their core and felt their skin struggle to pull in the much-needed Nitrogen.
Queen Seraphi of the House Abrasax.
L-0182 remembered their ultimate master, not personally of course. They had seen the Entitled once in their long life- from a distance, as was only proper. She had been above them, tall, gleaming in a gown of pure red, long, and draped over the floating platform. Her crown had been the thing that had caught L-0182's attention the most. Ever fascinated by curious objects, L-0182 had loved the large headpiece. It had been made of gleaming metal, stylized with birds- later they had learned some native hawk of the Entitled home planet- that had hung around the Queen's face in perfect symmetry. She had been a beacon, arms wide as her sweet voice had told them of all she had come to do, and what part they would play.
It had been four hundred planetary cycles ago when she had brought all of her Keepers in charger of the Earth off-planet into her personal vessal. It had been four hundred planetary cycles ago that the Great Queen told them that the Earth was essential, that they would lead the Verse into an age of glory and morality. She had ordered them to restructured the Earth completely for the sake of this. The Great Experiment.It had been an honor that the Keepers of the Earth to hold. They had become Seraphi's crown jewel, and her in her own words, her most precious possession.
They had lasted perhaps another two or so hundred years as such.
Then the news had come, Queen Seraphi Abrasax was dead.
And L-0182 remembered clearly and vividly the disorder that had fallen in the wake of the Great Entitled's sudden death. The Verse had shaken at the loss- Or at the very least all of House Abrasax had. The Earth had been reordered yet again. Back to form, the Great Experiment gone. Lord Balem Abrasax had become their Master- and the Earth had become just another Harvesting Planet. Obscured. Just one holding of many, still valuable, but no longer the most valuable.
Their glory had died.
And so many of them had died with it.
L-0182 remembers vividly how many of their fellow Keepers had been sent to the Moon Refinery. Too many had actually dared to question Lord Balem's choices. Too many had cited their commitment to the Great Experiment, to the Queen that had fallen. They had been devout. They had rebelled. L-0182 had been too frightened to follow the devout. To wise to see the Rebellion as too weak to truly stand against an Entitled.
They had not fallen to Lord Balem as many of their Brood did.
L-0182 had crafted their existence in the ashes of the aftermath. Found favorites amongst the Terriestials. Fleeting bouts of curiosity and affection they kept hidden. A leftover of the Great Experiment I told myself. They were one of the oldest Keepers left to the Earth, but they had been frozen in their designation for being such. As a member of the Great Experiment, they could never move forward from their current number. As a member of Seraphi Abrasax's Keepers, they were lucky to be alive.
They stared at what they had thought had been just another terrestrial child. Sweet, kind child. Pretty Jupiter Jones with her different colored eyes. A lie. A mask for the guise of her own protection. How long did she bath in Regen-X to achieve this age? How many years had the Queen hidden herself on Earth? For what propose? Why did my Brood die if you were alive all this time?
"Queen Seraphi Abrasax," said L-0182, they trembled, their arms locked over their legs.
Queen Seraphi sighed, across from them. She looked to the top of the Lift, took a deep breath before she looked directly at them. Green and brown met deep black for a moment. Automatically, L-0182 lowered their gaze.
"Please don't be afraid of me," said the Entitled.
L-0182 shivered. The Great Queen is not dead. Lord Balem has usurped her place… He tried to kill his own Elder or at the very least stole all of her assets. It was unheard of a Entitled to be erased in such a matter. But what was L-0182 place to understand the conflicts of the gods?
"I am yours."
"You are not an object," came the hiss.
Despite themselves, L-0182 looked up at the vehement declaration. Anger marred Jup- Queen Seraphi's face. It was tight. It was red in distress. And tears gleamed in her eyes. L-0182 shivered again.
"Grey. Please listen to what I have to say."
L-0182 wondered how long the Entitled would take to kill them. They had discovered her secret, and no doubt she could not afford to let them live.
"I am not Seraphi."
L-0182 blinked.
"I'm not Seraphi."
"I do not understand, your Grace."
Queen Seraphi- or not Seraphi- raised her little chin. What had endeared L-0182 to her resurfaced but for a moment, even as confusion filled them.
"My name is Jupiter Jones. I'm four-years-old. Nearly five. Daughter to Maxamillion and Aleska Jones. Seraphi Abrasax is dead."
L-0182 did not understand.
"I'm Seraphi's Recurrence."
A chance in trillions. A curious twist of fate, of the law of the Verse staying true. Not everything happened just once. Even to them, a Keeper, it was a legend they knew. Recurrence. An Entitled born again. Rare in the fact that it was rare for an Entitled to die in the first place. But possible. Genes repeating themselves again, coming alive for a second time. It was a simple circumstance of chance. The right DNA cobbling itself together. The Entitled treated such a thing as mystical, as fate. As rebirth. As far as L-0182 was concerned, that was more wishful thinking than anything else.
But the words she spoke-
"And… And ever since I could remember… I remembered her life. When I had my accident, I remembered even more. Seraphi is who I was. But she died. Whatever is left of her is not enough for me to claim her name again. I'm Jupiter Jones."
Tears fell from Seraphi Abrasax's Recurrence eyes.
"And I don't want you to die. You put yourself in danger by interacting with me. Today you have marked yourself for death for lying. I can't let you die. Not because of me. Seraphi caused so much death and I can't be like that. I can't," the youngling sobbed, curled into herself.
L-0182 understood.
"Jupiter."
Jupiter looked up. She was just a youngling. Just a youngling. A youngling who held thousands of years within her mind. The memories of- Of a human who did not even think to protect the beings in her fists. I lost so much because of Balem and his Elder. And she- Jupiter Jones is willing to risk herself to save just one being. Just one creature. Just me.
"You should not have risked yourself to help me. I aided you willingly. I did not want to see you hurt."
"You don't get to die for me. No one should have to. I'm going to save your life."
She is not Seraphi.
She is not Entitled.
She is Jupiter.
... Does anyone really like Grey/L-0182's POV? Cause I really like writing them. And the next few Chapters are from their POV. For some reason, I have just been on a ROLL with this. So expect a few new chapters in the following days? I'm going try to keep posting somewhat regularly until I finish what I've been calling the 'Grey Arc'. It's basically Jupe's first few forays into the Verse while she's planet-bound, as well as fleshing out the aftermath of what happened when Seraphi died. From what I can understand from the movie an Entitled dying is not normal. At least not an Entitled of Seraphi's position. And that she was making waves at the end of her life- trying to change something to do with Regen-X. Earth was mentioned to be important to her- so I kinda used that as a springboard and been dropping hints that Seraphi was doing something with the Earth that Balem did his damndest to end and suppress after he killed her.
I also noticed that a lot of the species underneath the Entitled thumb tend to follow their owner to above and beyond. And that Entitles don't really think about it. Hence the death of a lot of Seraphi's Keepers when she died too when Balem tried to change everything back to the status quo. So. Yeah. Consequences.
This Arc will be to maybe chapter Forty-five, Fifty? IDK. Still trying to plan out how many details I can think to add at this point in the story. Basically I have the story planned this way:
Jupiter being affected by Seraphi's memories. Jupiter remembers Seraphi more concretely through her accident. Enter Sergi and Aleska's conflict, then the peace they came too.
Grey Arc.
More Earth narrative with Sergi and Aleska.
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSS. YAAAAAAS THE BEEES!
TIME-SKIP, JUPES inherits the earth, shenanigans begin. CAINE. FINAL THROWDOWN WITH HOUSE ABRASAX.
The end.
Yup. That's my outline for the story. Not many spoilers on the terms of what is going to happen going forward, just a few broad-strokes, but I hope this gives everyone a general idea and reassures them I am not just making it up as I go? Yes? Yes.
Also, side note for everyone, the pronouns for Keepers tend to lean on the Gender-neutral. Hence regarding them as the genderless them and they. They do have genders, but I sort of have it planned out that any concept of that for them socially has been phased out. Think massive loss of culture with them being enslaved by the Humans of Oros.
~Be Safe and Be Well,
Moon Witch '96