Herold Grindar came onto the sealed quarterdeck of the Xander AST and watched the violet-blue nimbus stretching across the celestial space. Surrounding planet Malden, the ten thousand kilometer-wide maelstrom whipped pale lightning from inside, waiting to devour. The vast anomaly pulsated with crimson flares like a heartbeat and spewed meteors the size of mountains.
As Herold sprinted along the main deck, dread swarmed over him. One hundred Protectors under his command, enter an oval blue light, and from beneath their feet, a piercing whistling sound ignited and slingshotted Herold and his crew onto Malden in a solar beam, descending the company onto the planet.
The Protectors stood on a wheat farm, and drab evening rain pelted their white uniforms. It was a hospitable terrain with meandering rivers and mountainous landscapes as merchants, farmers, protestants, and children ended their daily routines—unbeknownst to a foreign invader.
The night blended onto the dirt roads, coursing through dried paths and lakes toned from the blue shimmer moon phasing into a crescent. Armed with swords, staring at the planet, the Protectors dispersed to save humans from invasion—the extraction began.
Through the overpass of undulating wild orchards, Shaw Leherth began her evening stroll down the village homestead where children took baths at a well. Splurging dirty brown water into puddles, their parents grabbed their rebellious children and scrubbed their backs with soap drops running down—each one tried to escape.
Shaw plucked weeds off her tattered gown and ahead, her neighbor crossed his farmland. He sat on his porch with wicks, pipes, fresh tobacco leaves, and thinly cut straw upon a porch table. Around the leg of his chair, the straw wrapped, but he did not need a refurbished one, as he was the master of his universe. He noticed Shaw coming around his fence with a pair of wooden logs. Her arms could barely hold the weight, but as frail and intrepid as he did fancy himself for, his lie to himself that he was useful was all but a bitter tobacco taste in his mouth.
“I brought you some firewood for tonight,” she placed the logs down, “Seeing as you need plenty for your chair as well.”
“This heirloom has seen better days. Surely not as much as this sodden rock, but a generation as caring as you. I know we’ll be in good hands.”
Shaw sighed at the sheep bleating and gnawing grass beside her. Her eyes scanned the horizon and streaks of red and black mended above the silhouettes of long valleys ahead. Beside her, a line of clothes flurried in the air and a heat wave from the East dried her skin.
“You haven’t seen Jim anywhere, have ya?” the farmer asked, “I’m only asking cause my neighbor hasn’t seen her boy since he left with friends.”
“I haven’t, but last I heard, he was in the forest. I can go look for him.”
“No, you best run to your pa now. She already has others searching for them, lest you know we shouldn’t be out past the sun’s death. Are you sure you’re alright? You seem a lil’ green.”
“Something about tonight feels odd.”
“Child—you are thirteen years old and sharper than my primal instincts. You came from that other village with all the rebels, huh? Perhaps you learned to read the wind.”
“Mister, you talk strangely.”
“The spooks in the wind. You sense them clearly. You migrated from leaders who created a sordid definition of sovereignty and murdered by village rebels. Now you live here with your father and harmoniously, I might add.”
“Mother used to talk about this place. As some haven, but she never got the chance to see it.”
The farmer gently placed his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, you have your father. He’s as strong as an ox and will keep you safe.”
“Stay warm tonight, mister.”
“You too, Shaw.”
Walking down paths, Shaw headed home but another scuffing of heat came from the East and she stopped. Above her, came a roaring of descending meteors and high-pitched sonic booms. The villagers watched black streaks of embers stretching across the sky, and a dark red maelstrom entered the atmosphere. From the center, an ember swirled downward and loomed like a hurricane. The eye radiated a crimson red, gusts of supreme wind scattered debris, and animals jumped up and down, trying to escape their shelter.
A monstrous nimbus darkened the village, making the night grayer than usual, and Shaw cowered in fear. From below, the townspeople stood in awe, entranced by the nexus of the storm entering like a bulging ray of red sunshine. As if a dwarf star flickered inside the eye, hovering closer and closer. Shaw heard from the forest ahead echoing with screeches. The town below stood ignorant still, but slowly dispersed into a frenzy. The farmer yelled for Shaw, but the loud sounds of meteors igniting into flames created a unique blend of high-pitched tones.
Bloodshed from below masked the epicenter of horrors and hellish beasts ran into her village like a pack of lions with eyeless slits, bodies as dark as black oil, and ferocious teeth ready to shred flesh into ribbons. Shaw ran across the fields. Above, red hellfire circled, and casted a heatwave designed from the maelstrom’s wind. As she entered her home, she called out to her father, but no answer. She ran through a hallway and past the stairs. The windows smashed open, and the front door rumbled. The beasts passed her window with herds of shadows, screeching and thumping. She ran upstairs, and her father lay in his pool of blood.
“Papa!”
She slammed her knees beside him and tugged at his collared shirt.
“Papa, papa! Wake up!”
The front door shook and opened. She ran to her room and slammed her door shut. The force from the beasts almost knocked the door clean off its hinges.
She walked back slowly, sat beside her wall, covered her ears, closed her eyes, and screamed. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Her heart raced, and she sobbed with despair.
Suddenly, all the slamming stopped.
The beasts scattered away with shrieks of panic. She looked up, and a red glow shimmered from underneath the door. As she stood, she carefully walked towards her door and opened it. A man dressed in a long white uniform embellished with golden patterns kneeled beside her father and whispered a mantra.
Shaw opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
“I’m sorry,” the mysterious man said, “I tried to save him, but I couldn’t.”
The man stood up, turned around, and his chest etched swirling gold patterns.
“My name is Herold Grindar.” Herold held a red glowing dagger key in his left hand and walked to her. “We tried to stop the invasion, but we were too late. What’s your name?”
She looked up from her arm in sobs, staring at her father.
“Sh-Shaw…” Her lips tightened.
“You have to come with me, it’s not safe here.”
Herold reached out for her hand, and she took it.
“Would you like to wish him goodbye? I promise you his death will not be in vain.”
She nodded and walked to her father.
“Papa.”
The gash across his chest somehow healed, and the blood pulled back into him.
“I love you,” she said, rubbing tears away from her eyes.
Herold put his hand on her shoulder. “We must leave,”
“Commander!”
A voice downstairs startled Shaw.
“More threats are erupting from the South!” The soldier said. “Comms from the Xander are stagnant! The cause is unknown! Permission to abort?”
“Permission denied. Not until we get more survivors away from here. The planet is perishing.”
“What? What is happening?” Shaw asked.
“Yes, sir!”
The soldier ran off.
“No time to explain,” Herold led her hand. “We must leave.”
They rushed down the stairs and out of the house. Outside, men in white uniforms beckoned everyone to a beam of light on a field not far away. The vortex above blew warm air and whipped pale lightning—waves of dust and debris showered the landscape, submerging the valley ahead into a brownish-red tint.
“We’re safe for now, but not for long.” Herold rushed.
“What’s happen—”
Suddenly, a gigantic meteor burst through the dark clouds above with lightning around it and smashed into the planet miles away, creating an earthquake. Birds flew out of the forest, and hundreds of people rushed toward the circular ring.
Herold and Shaw pushed aside rows of wheat, and the meteor exploded in all directions with a gust of wind. Howling sounds of demon’s clawed out from the meteor cracks, jumped down, screeched with anger, and sprinted into her village. Small glimpses of creatures ran after them, and soldiers’ sliced and fought against a horde of demons, slashing and killing with their swords. A five-year-old girl sat on the dirt road and cried for her mother, but a soldier picked her up and ran for safety. Fire blazed in her town, streaking the air with bright orange embers. Shaw peeked at a black cloud swirling in the air, and an apparition of some kind showed a phantom body floating inside. Houses exploded, wood and iron ascended from the quick movement, and flames blew out. The smoke jolted, and villagers cowered, unable to move. The cloud delved straight toward Shaw, and beasts tackled innocent men.
The pillar of blue light came closer, and Herold and Shaw entered with hundreds of people. Both turned around at Protectors, tackled by demons, ripped apart and blood smeared the ground.
“Commander Herold, this is headquarters,” a voice from his metallic wristband announced.
Herold picked his arm up to his mouth.
“I’m here,”
“Permission to close the portal and ascend?”
Soldiers entered the pillar of light with children in their arms and others behind.
“Sir? Permission to close the portal?”
The dark cloud flew toward Herold.
“Now, do it now!”
A larger, brighter light shot straight up in the air, filling the beam with glistening light. Hundreds of people inside vanished into the sky, leaving their village behind.
1
A New Home
Inside the Xander AST, only a few hundred refugees and a fraction of the one hundred Protectors made it safely away from the legion and inside the solar ring. After ascending upwards, through the malevolent storm and primordial colors of celestial blue and red, sat the survivors of Malden.
Full of sleek metal walls and flooring, computers, universal positioning systems, and communication devices led to an area in the middle. Protectors stared out a high-temperature quartz glass window at the swirling pitch-black cloud. Meteors continued smashing the seas and mountains while the dark cloud engulfed the planet. To the right, a bio-dome with foreign animals drank from ponds of emerald water and giant flowers, large and well-kept, surrounded by trees with blooming leaves. A bed of purple grass stretched for a hundred yards, and Shaw and Herold stood in disbelief as they stared at Malden, strewn with craters.
“Are you okay?” Herold asked.
“No! I’m not! My father! My home! Who are you?”
“We’re called Protectors and came to help your planet.”
“The cloud killed everyone!”
“It’s a war,” he said softly, “we’ve been fighting for centuries.”
Protectors handed casual uniforms in gray to replace their ripped and bloody clothing. Herold passed one to Shaw from his soldier, and she took it.
“All we can do is rescue a species on the verge of collapsing.”
“How long has this been happening?” She asked, putting the unzipped jacket over her own.
“There’s no way of telling, at least a millennium.”
Shaw walked closer to the high temperature glass window and stared at the black cloud. Blue light flickered inside and formed in the center of the maelstrom.
“Are we going somewhere?” she asked.
“To the nearest habitable world. Your people can’t stay here because it’s against our code.”
“So, will we have nothing left?”
“We will teach you our culture. Thus, you will learn how to rebuild your civilization.”
A Protector came to Herold. “Commander, a meeting is being held.”
“Understood,” Herold walked off from Shaw. “I’m sorry, but I have to go.”
They left Shaw behind, and the anxiety of her tragedies creeped into her mind with turmoil. She collapsed to her knees, bawled and a few villagers tried to comfort her while the subordinates followed their commander to the second floor, pitying her countenance.
Herold Grindar, with short dark hair, sat at the end of a marble table inside their private room. Windowless, blue-tinted, with several Protectors standing. Only the higher-ranked sat in chairs. He didn’t think about the battle, although it was the main talk of their meeting, but the bravery in the little girl’s heart. His surviving soldiers arched their backs, slouched their shoulders, and tucked their arms in.
“Herold,” Andros, the Navigational Chief, said, “Here are the planets.”
A holographic picture of three light blue spheres hovered in the air. Everyone read the detailed descriptions of each planet.
“Hemreus.”
Andros expanded Hemreus with his hand and enlarged the hologram, giving everyone a clear diagram. “Stable ecosystem. Mostly full of water. Landscapes are more desolate, but here…”
Andros moved his hand and turned the planet around. “This landmass here is secluded but stable for crops, wildlife, and progression.”
“How far?” One subordinate asked.
“208 light-years away,” Andros said, using his hand to decrease the size of Hemreus and enlarged another planet called Mandieler.
“Mandieler. 197 light-years away.” Andros continued to browse the next habitable planet for Malden’s survivors. “A utopia of wildlife and sea life. Mostly inhabited by feral beasts and poisonous insects. It would be difficult to begin a new civilization, but in this region here...”
Andros moved the planet around to a large island surrounded by water. “Is safe.”
“And the last planet?” Herold asked.
“Gaia,” Andros replied, pulling up a mostly water-based planet with continents connecting with a few enormous masses.
“Details?”
“Mostly normal. The landscapes are tropical. Deserts, volcanoes. Arctic and barren in some regions.”
“What is the evolution of life forms?”
“Reptiles, mammals, and insects. A plethora of species in the sea. Ecosystems are full of wildlife and some sea predators. The main pro of this planet is drinkable water. The other two, not so much.”
Andros cast a shadow of skepticism on Herold.
“How far?” Herold asked.
“427 light-years away,” Andros announced, and the entire room stared blankly. “Farther than any other planet from the previous two and the best.”
“We should set a course for Gaia. All who object and wish to deny this claim speak now.” Herold told everyone.
The room was silent except for Andros. “May we go over our resources again?”
“Report?” Herold looks at the Chief Advisor for Resources, Mildreth.
“Yes, sir,” Mildreth said, “Intricate details of our fuel show excess amounts of hydrogen to increase the maximum drive to speed up our speed to make distance irrelevant, but hibernation may create insufficiencies for the survivors and us.”
Mildreth moved Gaia away and displayed a list of resources on a blue holographic spreadsheet. “We cannot stop at certain posts on our way there to refuel, but it may not be enough because it’s hard to calculate our fuel cells for hibernation,” Mildreth explained. “Because of their biological disadvantage in their current state, it would be relatively hard for them to survive by the time we get there. So is it even worth it if we don’t use hibernation? The number of fuel cells used to return to Kurus could be a problem.”
Andros glanced at Herold, “They know nothing of our culture and what we stand for. We cannot risk our resources for their survival as a random species. To the other various planets I had discussed, Mandieler seems to be the most promising.”
Mildreth sat down.
“Biological disadvantage?” Herold asked Mildreth.
“Yes, sir.”
“If we infuse our blood into their genome and biological make-up, will they survive longer to ensure their survival at Gaia? Perhaps helping them with other cultural advantages like our own?”
“Yes,” Mildreth said.
Andros’s eyes become intense. “Evolutionarily? They are children! Such advancements would be dangerous, commander! Their evolution is far behind our own, and speeding it up could create their extinction in the future! They can cause biological disadvantages from a gene mutation and learn rapidly without proper discipline. It is futile!”
“The other habitable planets are too chaotic, Andros,” Herold said. “If we leave them at either Hemreus or Mandieler, they may become extinct far quicker from the ecosystems. So it would be pointless, as you put it.”
“Giving them our gifts could be worse! It was the end of our civilization!”
“The end of our civilization was the lack of wisdom of our technological advances in the right way!” Herold raised his voice, and everyone became silent. Then, he stood and walked around. “My brothers and sisters. The Elders sent us here to save this planet. Would they have sent us here to let them perish? Or to save them?”
Mildreth thought it was preposterous. The leadership would devastate Eldin’s ancestors today, but what he said was supreme, and they must abide.
“Commander, please! Reconsider. What is so special about them?” Andros asked, and all the Protectors in white stared at Herold for an answer.
“I’ve seen something,” Herold lowered his voice. “Or someone…”
“Who?” Mildreth asked.
“A girl who’ll help us with the anomaly one day.”
Sudden gasps echoed along with whispers in the room.
“Our civilization, our code, Eldin’s ancestors,” Herold continued. “They all weren’t able to destroy this parasitic entity for millennia. Then, as we advanced, we were never able to destroy it. Now, we may have a chance.”
Herold spoke carefully. “Something about these survivors, in almost every single one, is unique. Can you not feel it? They seem to have advanced without any excess help. Yet, their character traits were flourishing and advancing without technology. Their evolution stayed on the level of agriculture and living in harmony with the elements.”
