The Great Palace
Residence of Great Emperor Igétis
Unknown location
"You must state your business!" the Imperial Guard of Corps yelled at the soldiers. "You cannot just barge in here and say you have to speak urgently to the Great Emperor. He is not one to be disturbed."
"You don't understand!" one of the injured men said, his iridium-silicon armor nearly about to fall off. "It's very important! It's urgent! It's…" his sentence was abruptly cut short when the Imperial Guard ended his life with a proton gun. "He is not a Red Eye. Red Eyes are not panicky or cowards. Didn't you know that?" he said, kicking at the lifeless body.
"Take him away," the second soldier said in a casual tone of voice. A group of five masked men came in an almost robotic stance and grabbed the dead man's carcass, his long, severed tail dragging behind. "I didn't like him anyway, so I won't even tell his family."
"Yes, of course," the guard answered, his gaze lingering on the dead weight the masked men carried away. "And you will join him unless you can give me a good reason to let you see the Emperor without being called. You do know that you can be hanged for that, right?"
"I am fully aware of that. I was taught in the best law schools in the Empire before becoming a Fleet Commander. I have no reason to reveal anything to you. Only that this is most importance concerning the Emperor himself and realm of his power."
The Imperial Guard clicked his steel-gray, smooth-yet-sinister looking weapon at him. "I guess I'll just have to give the Emperor a good reason for having killed you: doubting the very power of our High Entity himself!"
"You want a good reason? All right! I did not do this by my own will. Let that be known!" He dragged a covered odd-shaped object on the floor and removed the blanket. The guard's expression became ice and stone. "Tha…that's the Emperor's Son! Ferralzo!"
"Do I need a good reason now?"
Instead of answering, the guard ran into the Emperor's quarters, leaving the Fleet Commander staring at the silver titanium walls. His reflection teetered along the curves and indentations, transforming his image into a truly alien-like form.
He knew well that Red Eyes were not to feel fear of anything nor no one. Just yesterday he had received a call to kill a young kid who was scared of the dark. The reason? Fear was an unthinkable element of Red Eye society and all those who manifest it, even the young ones, must be executed so to as not contaminate the Red Eye race.
He dared not to let his actual fear that he felt creep in. Everyone knew of the rumors that there were mind cameras literally all over the place to search for the undesirables. But he knew that his fear was a healthy one. He like everyone else, wished for the Empire to last forever and to dominate the universe.
And no Amarkian, not even a %*#&^! like King Akanthodis "Spiny" Kyverná was going to get in the way.
"His High Entity will now see you," the still-faced guard said to the Fleet Commander, breaking him out of his trance. Though he said nothing. Daydreaming, though not cause of a death sentence was also viewed as crass.
"Thank you." He covered the young Red Eye's body and stepped into a dark, gloomy chamber were only a small slit of light penetrated. His eyes made out the figure of the Great Emperor; only his hands and feet were actually discernible.
"Ah, Commander Fierol."
He lowered his head in respect. "Oh, Great Emperor Igétis Nassdar. May the spirit of our great Lord Skliros accompany you! Life, prosperity, health and eternity to you, oh Giver of Life and Protector of the Empire."
"Commander, what brings you here?"
"Oh, my Supreme Lord, I bring troubling news."
"I have not yet known of any news that could trouble me. Are you certain of what you speak, Commander of the Fleet?"
"Yes, though would that I didn't. This is a deeply personal and critical matter. The attack, sir? By the Amarkians and their allies?"
"I will not hear of such a thing!" he yelled, causing a loud thunderclap when he brought down his fist. "This is not of a matter to which be spoken of!" He extended his hand out. "The new generation will not know about this embarrassing defeat. We will say that we demolished them."
"Sir, I am afraid that the trouble I bring is of more importance."
"What more trouble could you possibly bring?"
"This, sir." He removed the blanket from Ferralzo's corpse, dancing along the shimmering wind. He did not perceive any change in the Emperor's posture or expression. "King Akanthodis of Amarkia killed him. I was a witness. I am terribly sorry."
"Anafthei!" the Emperor's voice boomed throughout the walls. The Captain of the Imperial Guards, his titanium-iridium armor gleaming in the gloomy light took Commander Fierol completely by surprise. "You do understand, Commander, that there are certain things that no Red Eye must ever let happen."
"Sir! I implore on your mercy! I do not fear for my own life! I do not even fear for my family's life! They do not matter. I fear for your great Empire, oh Great Lord of Evil."
"But the fact of the matter is that you fear. And you have begged. And I show no mercy; it is unfit for the Great Emperor." His voice sounded as he spoke the words that all Red Eyes knew was the sign of certain death. "Jaekemal!"
Feirol felt the dark energy blast incinerate his chest and just before his eyes rolled into white balls, he caught glimpse of his heart being blasted out of his body and his eyes came to see it as he collapsed.
"Take him away. And eliminate his entire household and family. I want no trace of cowards! And bring in the Superior General of the Fighting Power. General Narake."
"At once, Great Lord of Evil!"
"The Emperor is indeed in a great state of despair. But not grief. Grief in unthinkable in our society. Not even a tragic loss like the one our High Entity suffered must make us lose our purpose." General Narake's tough, ear-ringing voice echoed throughout the room full of high-ranking officials.
"We have many other troubles, sir," his First Sergeant spoke. "The Space Armies and Inter-Dimensional Forces have aided Amarkia in conquering five of our planets. I…I cannot explain how it happened! I never thought that our men would be…"
"Yes, I understand your concern, Sergeant Fasdroul. It worries me too. Yet, the Great Emperor myself has asked me to inquire in this matter and I have come up with a brilliant way to avenge our great Prince's death."
"And what is that?" Commander Nastet asked. "Do you want to kill a member of the Royal Family?"
"Perhaps. But….I think we should continue to have fun with them. We can't if they are dead, can we? Yet, now would be the time to execute our sentence against King Spiny. Amarkia was just recently attacked by the IEO. They are in no state to face us."
He set a large, metallic box on the table. "Like I said, the Emperor agrees with my plan. I had to stop him from turning me into a regent Prince. I simply cannot accept that in my conscience. However, we have orders to attack Amarkia as soon as possible. My men are ready. And we will…hurt Spiny in a place where no black hole bomb or dark matter pistol can ever hurt." He fingered his way through some photographs, finding his selected one.
"You want us to kill one of his friends?" Sergeant Fasdroul asked.
"You are very perceptive, Sergeant. We have rehearsed it many times and have consulted our Time Cubes to see just how things will plan out. They will never suspect that this was a planned attack."
"Make it seem like an accident? Like, we were trying to kill Spiny but accidently kill his friend that we are going to eliminate?"
The General snickered. "Yes, you are perceptive. I could not have said it better myself."
"And just who are we going to take care of?" Commander Nastet said.
"This is the one," General Narake said. He placed the photograph for all to see. In the fading light of the room, was the picture of a smiling young boy with green eyes and shaggy blonde hair.
Back on Amarkia
Three hours after arrival from Red Eye planet
The Royal Palace
The pain in my shoulder has subsided somewhat, returning only occasionally when I least expected, like a vicious evil Velociraptor and her pack, hunting for prey. Unsuspecting, unwary, and completely unprepared.
"Ow!"
"Hurt again?" Lilia said.
"Yeah, a little." I sat up on my bed and rubbed my shoulder, wincing and clenching my teeth. The empty space in the front caused by the broken ends of my incisors. It felt so weird, feeling the empty space with my tongue. It made me get shivers and my toes crawl.
"Here, let me see if this helps," Lilia said, kneeling on the bed behind me and placing her warn hand on my bare shoulders. My clothing was pretty much messed up and Kathy didn't have time to do the laundry while we were gone, so I had to remain shirtless while Larry went out to buy at least two clean shirts.
The feeling of Lilia's hands on my bare shoulders sent a warm, fuzzy feeling into me and I felt my heart turning into putty. The way her fingers danced over my tensed muscles. I let out a long, relaxed sigh and my eyelids sank.
"That feels great!"
"I'm glad." The sound of her voice so close to me, made my hair stand up and I felt the blood rush to my cheeks. I opened my eyes and turned my face to look at her. She glanced at me directly and her eyes of honey melted before me. Her angel smile and the dimples on her cheeks and her adorable blush…
My left hand began to move upward without my brain's permission and it grasped her head gently towards mine. She placed her arms around me as our lips came together and erupted into sparks. I felt the sensation of her tongue on mine and they started pushing against one another. My hands wavered down to the hem of her blouse and I felt my blood start to boil.
As she started to moan…Larry burst in and said, "What are you doing?!"
We both jumped and in the process we not only managed to bump our heads together, we also bumped our front teeth together. I felt my face blush from embarrassment and anger. I turned a murderous glare on Larry. "Haven't you ever heard of knocking?!"
"How am I supposed to knock if the door is fully open?"
I sighed. I wasn't going to waste my energy with him. He just shook his head and smiled. "Teenagers…I can't leave you two alone for more than two minutes and you're already making out."
My eyes fixed on Larry and became slits. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Lilia glancing down at the floor, biting her lip, blushing…and smiling? "It's okay, Spiny," she said. She stood up and placed her hand over my cheek. "I'll come back up later, okay? Just going to check on the Woods' Tribe." She kissed my again, sending pleasant shivers all the way down my back.
After she left, Larry handed me a turquoise collared shirt. "You think this will do?"
I placed the shirt on and checked how I looked in the mirror. Scarred face, slightly bumpy left shoulder, chipped front teeth, hollow cheeks, and maybe about 5% more muscle mass from the Rayblade duel with Ferralzo.
"Well, considering what we just went through, I can afford to say that I'm satisfied." I was still fixing my hair with my hands, when I said, "How much will it cost to repair Sauropolis. What did Fal say?"
"Nothing good."
"Larry! Can't you two get along for once?"
"All I said was that he needed hair because his brain was catching cold. He tore my pencil and stomped out of the room. Anyway, I found out for myself how much it would be. It would take $67.8 billion and about a minimum of three years to rebuild."
I choked on those words. We had the money to do it, but the time? "Three years? That's a minimum?"
"I didn't even look up what the maximum would be. I was too scared to find out."
I sighed and rested my hands on the mirror furniture. "Well…the last thing we need now is worry about all that and having our minds cramped with all those negative thoughts." I glanced at Larry's hardened stare. "Why don't we go relax a little at Arnold's and release our grip on the world just a tad?"
His expression softened. "Sure thing! I'm going to order their new Super-Deluxe German Chocolate-and-Cappuccino frozen yogurt."
I grabbed my jacket and Larry stepped in behind me down the flights of stairs. When we stepped outside, we were greeted by the ear-piercing sound of an air-raid siren. My darted around in all directions but didn't see anything. Were they testing it? But that was impossible! It wasn't scheduled until tomorrow!
"What's happening?!" I said, now getting quite nervous. After several weeks of attacks, I was wary of everything.
My phone started ringing. "Hello? Yes. You. Are. Kidding. Me. That can't be!" My eye darted upwards and saw dozens of Red Eye fighters coming down at lightning speed and saw in complete shock as they began to fire upon everything.
"Red Eyes?!" Larry was astounded also.
We were caught completely by surprise. Our soldiers were in no condition to fight. We had just come back from days of space travel from a grueling battle with them on their own planet. I felt the terror rise in my throat and I felt my skin grow stone cold.
"Evacuate all civilians! Clear out the streets!" I yelled frantically, waving my arms wildly. Larry ran inside and started speaking to several people at once on his phone while I ran down the street towards town. I heard the screams of people, the squealing of brakes and tires screeching against the road.
I don't know what made my run towards Arnold's. I just assumed that most of my friends would be there now. I pumped my legs, my left shoulder bringing back pangs of pain. I winced and tried my best not to cry. I needed composure for whatever happened. I heard the loud blasts around me as entire buildings were vaporized and my stomached quenched when I saw some people who had been burnt alive.
Mobs were now overrunning the entire intersection of where Arnold's was. As I was pushing through the crowds of people, I heard a loud screeching from above. When the bomb made impact I threw myself to the ground and covered my neck, like during those school drills.
I heard loud screams of people and cries of pain from the dinosaurian citizens. I felt something spiky against my side. I glanced and saw the severed tail of a young Stegosaurus. I quickly stood up and my legs burned as I tried to run away from the horrible sight unfolding around me.
Everything that happened next is still a blur now that I remember it.
Angry flames rolled in a semi-liquid way out of the windows of Arnold's and I felt the searing heat on my face, sweat dropping over my nose. I heard the shattering of glass and the popping of leather. And the screams. The blood-curling screams. Of people. Young people. Teenagers. Kids. Being burned alive. Being cooked by the hellish flames while still alive.
I could make out the silhouettes, but it may have been my imagination. The front doors crashed open, and a blonde boy covered in soot came out, holding a girl's hand, also with blonde hair and a torn leather jacket. I instantly recognized them and had such a sudden change of emotions that I got dizzy.
"Roger! Darla!" I ran toward them, ignoring the now unbearable pain from my injury. They both glanced up at me and still coughing, we meet halfway and I quickly embraced both of them. I could see steam coming off their hair and their clothes were very hot. I saw a piece of glass had cut the top of Darla's earlobe, staining her gold-blonde hair a visible red. Roger was bleeding from his eyebrow and his nose. But none of them seemed to be in pain. It must've been the adrenaline.
I heard the sounds above me of blades whirring and pounding. I waved my arms and jumped up and down to signal the helicopter to stop above us. The pilot finally saw me and he came a few hundred feet above us, the loud blows of air pushing us down like a great giant.
"Get in the chopper! They'll take you to the hospital! You guys need to see a doctor!" I shouted at Roger and Darla above the noise of the blades. They nodded and Roger pushed Darla forward as the soldiers opened the doors for them. Once they were seated and buckled in, the soldier gave the pilot a thumbs-up and they went airborne again. The pilot pointed the nose of the chopper northwestward, in the direction of the city. The hospital was one of the few buildings that had been left relatively unharmed.
That's when it happened.
Like I said, looking back, it's still blurry and quick-paced.
A Red Eye spacecraft suddenly appeared out of nowhere and shot at the chopper. And this time, it didn't miss. There was a loud and violent impact on the left side and I caught the sight of both doors and a falling soldier flying off. The Red Eye must've fired at the pilot, because the chopper went dizzyingly out of control and started spinning nose-down.
I panicked as I felt my heart in my throat. "Roger! Do something! Put your parachutes one! Jump! Get out of there! Jump! JUMP!" My cries were unheard. Both by Roger and by anyone. The screaming, the explosions, and the crackling of a burning inferno not more than twenty feet away all became muted as I saw the horrible sight of the chopper carrying my two friends crash and transform into a fireball.
All my vision became blurry as it focused on the totaled helicopter, now in flames. My temples pounding and I stopped breathing. I don't recall running towards the chopper. I must've, but every time I try to remember those few seconds it took me to get there, it seems like I dream. All I knew is that in the blink of an eye, I was just a few feet away from the burning wreckage.
Several firefighters had arrived already and were drenching the water over everything. The chief, a Liliensternus, with his full gear on was helping one of the others pump water. I was surprised at how quickly they'd put the fire out. One of the firemen, who wasn't pouring water, came to me. "Hello, sir. It seems like the fire started immediately. But if I'm correct, we managed to stop it before it reached the people inside. So, most likely, it will only be some trauma and head injury. But at least they won't suffer severe burns or smoke inhalation."
Thanks for the relief.
I ignored my own mental response and watched with my heart now beating so hard the the fireman actually heard it. The smoke became steam and two of the strongest ones ripped the doors right off.
I was not prepared for when they pulled Darla and Roger out. They looked limp and lifeless. My hands started shivering and I was now hyperventilating. No...no…please be alive. Both Darla and Roger were unconscious and Darla's whole face was a bloody mess. And Roger had several lacerations on his earlobes and a piece of metal had struck him deeply on the chin. But I was somewhat relieved to see that they had not suffered any external life-threatening injuries.
As both firemen began performing CPR on both, I yelled, "A hospital! We need to get them to a hospital! Call an ambulance! Or another chopper! No! Get the ambulance with a full police escort!"
The fireman who was attending Darla stood up. "Okay. We're loading her up. They'll get in contact with her parents."
"She doesn't live with her parents," I said quickly. "She lives with her sister. She's her legal guardian. A college graduate. In the suburb of Veralte." That's on the northwestern side of Sauropolis.
"Okay. When we reach the hospital, I'll make sure they put her immediately in the treatment room. I may not be a doctor, but I'm pretty sure she's in a coma."
"Oh, god!" I said, my throat closing up. A coma's pretty bad. I've been in one, and it's a horrendous experience to live through. But at least the meant that she had a chance to live. I saw the fireman with Roger was struggling and I heard him panting. When I saw him sigh and slowly stand up, I felt my hands and legs quiver again.
"What are you doing? Why aren't you calling an ambulance?" I yelled.
The fireman looked at my with a mournful look. I caught a tear coming from his eye. "I'm sorry, sir…he's…he didn't make it."
I felt a cold, dry something grip the inside of my throat, like something had gotten lodged in it. My heart stopped beating. Everything froze in my vision. "No…no! NO! NO! He can't be dead! Don't tell me he's dead! Don't lie to me! Please! Say that he'll make it! Call an ambulance!"
He shook his head as the fires miles behind him invaded the blue skies with angry, black smoke. "I'm sorry, son," he said in a fatherly tone. "He's dead."
I collapsed on my knees and I brought my palms to my face. "No! NO! No, please. No, please! This can't be happening! This can't be! No! Roger!" I bawled and sobbed at full voice. The tears now came pouring out and I cried as my vision of my blonde-haired, green-eyed brother-like friend's lifeless body contemplated me.
He's dead.
You've just lost Roger Loski.
Forever.