Chapter four

A coming darkness

Far, far away from Pookarier, on the other side of the galaxy an evil was stirring. It had hidden away for countless centuries, feeding off the shadows that lingered at the edge of space.

Once this evil had been beautiful, a star of immense brightness...until it had found the dark realm of space. No starts shone it this dark realm, it was filled with darkness alone. Fascinated by this darkness the star had covered itself with a mantle of shadow until star and darkness became one. Thus Nalkariss, the nightmare king was born. Nalkariss lived off the fears of all living things and now he desired to reshape the galaxy into a mirror image of his own nightmarish mind.

Slowly opening his enormous right hand he let loose a small band of the Dream Pirates who served him. Whispering his orders to them he sent then out towards Malatran. This would be the first world that would feel his dark touch.

...

Kozmotis Pitchiner stood on the bridge of his personal star-ship The Dragon, gazing out into space.

Since the war on Palmantas, Pitchiner had become a hero and had been made general of the armies of Lunanoff. Pitchiner remembered the war on Palmantas all too well. It had started as a small uprising that Lunanoff's armies had been requested to stop by the planet's government. The task should have been short and simple but things hadn't gone according to plan. The uprising had turned into full scale war and thousands of lives had been lost.

As Kozmotis was lost in thought a golden-armoured soldier walked up to him and throw a smart salute.

"Report," Pitchiner ordered.

"There seems to be trouble brewing on Malatran, sir."

"Trouble?"

"Yes sir. The planet's citizens seem to be becoming restless, fearful and angry. The law doesn't seem to be able to calm them down. No violence yet but we don't know long that will last."

Kozmotis sighed and ran his hand through his black hair before saying, "Malatran is only a few light-years away. We'd best see what the trouble is before it gets out of hand. I for one don't fancy a repeat of Palmantas."

"Likewise sir" the golden soldier replied.

...

Kozmotis stepped from his ship onto the world of Malatran and looked around.

Malatran was a rocky world with little water and little appeal. The capital city of Malatran was named Bastra and this was where the General had disembarked from The Dragon.

As Kozmotis Pitchiner walked through the streets of the city he became aware of the sound of many voices shouting from the city centre.

Hurrying to the city centre Pitchiner beheld a large throng of people standing around a platform upon which stood an elderly man.

The man was dressed in a grey robe, with brown boots and white hair. "We can't just do nothing and wait to be attacked!" the man yelled, "We must be ready to defend ourselves and-"

"What's going on here?" the general bellowed. All heads turned towards him.

"Kozmotis!" the old man gasped in awe, "What are you doing on Malatran?"

"Stopping an uprising I'd say" the other replied firmly, then added "I'll ask again - what's going on here?"

"This isn't an uprising. We're not trouble makers" the white haired man answered indignantly, "We mean to defend ourselves is all".

"From what?"

"Dream pirates".

Pitchiner saw now that these people were mad, and madmen could become dangerous men. "There are no dream pirates here" the general told the other man calmly, "Dream pirates have not been seen for over a thousand years!"

"We know they are here," the old man retorted, "because she had a nightmare!" At this he pointed to a small, brown-haired girl in the crowd, who was holding onto the hand of her mother. Pitchiner walked towards the girl and bent down to her level. "Is it true child?" he asked, "Did you have a nightmare?"

"Yes sir," the girl told him truthfully, "and it was horrible. I don't want one again."

Kozmotis smiled. "Well never mind" he told her, "As long as you're with mummy and daddy, they can't hurt you". Standing up, the general addressed the whole crowd and announced in a clear voice, "I know you are all worried about this child's nightmare, but I assure you, you are not under attack. One nightmare does not mean-"His words were cut off by the sound of a child screaming somewhere within the city.

Here it is the next part of my story. For anyone who is wondering about Nalkariss, I wanted a villain for this story. I wanted someone who could lead the dream pirates and fearlings so that they weren't just random things that just happen to attack people.

P.S I hope you like this and PLEASE remember to review.