Solace - 1st Chapter ( Signs )

[iHoriz0n]

Before i start, this is a small story i wrote myself to kill some time, so please read and enjoy, and don't forget to comment!! ^^



Chapter 1: Signs

Light whirled and flashed past, time stalled and slowed down. Falling down into an endless oblivion faster than the body had ever experienced before, suddenly a wide array of colors exploded all around, ending the falling sensation. What appears next is a world so different, two moons, one small red and one significantly larger beautiful white hanging above the dark violet-blue sky, with surrounding flora so different and alien. A soothing voice ranged through the tranquil world, soft and gentle yet deafening and distant. “Wait for me…”

The rest was cut off untimely. Rudely awakened by the glaring light and a head splitting sound by the alarm clock, I shot out my hands and silenced the wailing offender, banging it hardly in its temple continuously until the loud siren became a deafening silence. As I lie out in my bed, now messy and full of crease, I thought back of my dream and ponder its meaning. What could it have meant?

Regretting the idea of setting the alarm on even for a Sunday, my decision wavered between going back to bed and try to continue that dream, and whipping up a hearty breakfast for my annoying sibling just as I promised the day before to my mother over the phone. Alas, a promise is a promise, I am a woman of words, and a promise to my mother is worth more than anything in the world. Making a final body stretch on the bed, I mustered enough motivation and strength to shift my lazy bum off my cozy bed, and made my way to the kitchen downstairs, yawning and walking like a zombie.

The school semester vacation has finally started, marking the end of my first year in my new school but it heralded the beginning of school camps, from Co-Curriculum Activities (CCA) camps to school camps, all spring into action as every student shakes away their examinations blues. Certainly, things are beginning to get more interesting. As the freshman for the year are becoming sophomores of the school, it also meant that they will be preparing and organizing the Freshman Orientation Camp (FOC) for the new wave of fresh meat coming in next year. As the secretary of the school club, no doubt the workload for me will increased exponentially as the holidays start, but why rack your brains over such things when it is the second day of the holiday and a Sunday. Right now, what is needed to think of is the hearty breakfast.

So what should the breakfast be, perhaps waffles and maple syrup or bacon and eggs, maybe even sausages with a sunny side-up. But I guess I should leave the decision to my younger brother.

“Will! What do you want for breakfast and come down after you get your things packed for the field trip.”

“Okay, alright, stop nagging like Mum and I told you, I want bacon and eggs, and don’t forget my Horlicks!”

Bacon and eggs it shall be then, the usual favorite as it always is for a weekend breakfast for the family. So I went and heat up the pan with a medium fire and prepare my bacon strips and two eggs, both from the fridge and not forgetting some pepper and olive oil. After measuring a tablespoon of olive oil, I spill them over the pan and move it around; the eggs went in first with a light knock twice and split it open. After that, scramble the egg yolk and the egg white until they blend into a nice yellow mixture, then 3 bacon strips placed on the unused area on the pan, and last but not least, two pinch of pepper on the scrambled eggs should do i. The hearty breakfast was in place for William after his Horlicks is ready with fork and spoon on the table, as for me, I’m contented with milk and cornflakes for breakfast. All that is missing right now is the person himself.

“Will! Aren’t you ready yet, you are going to be late for the field-trip, if you don’t get your butt down here now!”

And a rush of footsteps ensued together with some clattering of metallic items in his bag, no doubt he brought something there to play with, but I have no interest in asking what it is. Gobbling down his food, he gulped down his hot beverage in a split second and he was off to the doors already. No goodbye, no thanks for the breakfast, no nothing and he was gone with a slam on the poor wooden door. Heaving a sigh, I cleaned up the table, washed the dishes and went to the washroom to wash over and take a long nice bath. Bathing is the most wonderful habits of mankind indeed.

After brushing my teeth, I stripped down to my undergarments only to realize 7 dark bruise appeared overnight on my back perfectly aligned together to make a hexagon with a big one right in the middle of my spine, it was as if someone made it. What or who could have possibly done this to me and why didn’t I feel anything, I could not answer. Then a thought struck me hard, maybe it is leukemia since one of its symptoms is sudden appearance of bruises, but whatever it is, I shall go consult a doctor about it and let my heart rest easy. So I abandoned the thought of it and directed my attention to the bathtub of warm water. Taking off the rest of my clothes, I traverse into a new world of pleasure as the hot water caresses my skin gently and forget what might be signs of something.

- To Be Continued -

[iHoriz0n]

Chapter 2: Oath

Just outside the huge school compound, a shadowy figure lurks quietly as he had been for the past week. Shifting uncomfortably due to the afternoon heat, he wiped off the drop of sweat that was just threatening to enter his eyes. Unconcerned of anything happening around him, he continued waiting. Somehow, no one noticed him loitering outside the tall fences peering into the school facilities, searching for someone or something. If he was an average person, the waiting could have made him disgruntled and bore anyone to death, not to mention the heat waves pouring down on his body. But he is something else.

These small environmental conditions is nothing to him, a small crystal the size of a bottle cap that is embedded in his body, stored the excess heat energy that would have given any normal human a heatstroke. The crystal has a similar structure that of a diamond, but only more intricate and complex, it was the hallmark of an extra-terrestrial civilization whose technology was at its prime and none in the universe could be able to exceed it. The energy stored in the crystal could be easily manipulated by the owner and to be converted into other forms of energy, the crystal serves as a medium whereby energy can be transformed easily into another, like a rechargeable battery but a ton more advanced than that kind of simple dry cells. Such technology would need a few more thousands of years before Earth could attain that kind of standard; such is the advancement in technology in that civilization.

Sadly, it was also the reason that caused the decline or rather, the annihilation of the entire alien race. However, some were able to escape from the cataclysm that had befallen on their home planet and he was a living proof of it, how many more did escaped, there was no way to tell. But one thing is sure, what remains of his race has blended into the human society since the dawn of resident’s primitive race, some has forgotten their origins as time passed, others kept a record as they passed down generations after generations. The technology together is passed down during birth as the mother would sacrifice her own life to pass the technology down to her child even if it means ending her life. After all, with great power comes great sacrifice. The decline of the race was merely a means of sacrifice for the gargantuan power that could literally make one, more or less, an immortal.

The young boy continued standing under the unforgiving sun, what matters is that he find the one that would herald a new age, the one that his ancestors has sworn to protect with their lives, the one whose family once ruled over their ancient civilization. Time is ticking as an ancient enemy approaches from the ruins of the decimated planet. Contradictingly enough, that same enemy was the creation of the once mighty race, now the creation will come back and haunt its creator, and utterly destroy the last vestige of them. But knowing this, the boy stood there patiently for any sign of one with the royal blood.
Just before his father died some two years ago, his training has ended with the baptism of the crystals from his father to him. In his last breathe, the old man moaned, but he was able to manage some words before death claims his body and soul.

“Find her and fulfill the oath our forefathers had made to her, protect her by all means and do our family proud.”

The last words escaped his mouth weakly as colors faded away from his creased face. Nonetheless, the old man smiled warmly and gestured his son to do what he was supposed to do. Kaz stared at his father’s eyes, hoping that there is something else that could be done, but he already knew there was none to begin with. With the new burst of power, his right arm contorted into something resembling what it was moments ago, only twice larger and the hand beautifully shaped into a massive claw, now the arm itself is of the same compound as the crystal, only its power amplified multiple times and its color, a mesmerizing night black with a tinge of translucency. Kaz incinerated his own father into ashes as tears streaked across his smooth face, leaving no trace of his father’s physical existence. The extreme heat from the white flames projected out of his arms instantly melts the body and items around him in a few seconds, and what was left was a pile of fiery-hot ashes where his father had been. The fire spread around the house, consuming everything that it sets its sight on. Mustering enough strength, he pointed his right arm and a vacuum was created at its palm, the concrete wall was blasted apart with bits of burning wood. His exit was created and now he made his way out from his burning house. He glanced back at the inferno after walking a safe distance from it and vanished among the bushes. Just as he promised his father, he shall fulfill the ancient oath that bind both families as servant and master relationship, a bond that still exist now within their blood.

[iHoriz0n]

Chapter 3: The awakening

Some hundreds of light years away from Earth, a dark nomad planet drift across the plane aimlessly, no name was given to this planet that is slightly larger than Earth, but in the native’s tongue, the once-mesmerizing planet was known as Farenhal. It has two moons still orbiting the dark planet, one big white and a small red, Lahutia and Saphedor. The calcium deposits in Lahutia’s soil gave the appearance of the orbiting satellite a pearly-white hue, whilst the iron rich soil in Saphedor gave her a rusty red color. The two satellites had watched the start and end of one race, the final days that hailed the end of Farenhal’s life. What is left of her now, is just an empty shell void of life, a miserable wreckage of a planet that was once home to the most intelligent creatures in the entire universe. A long time ago, this planet looked like Earth, a blue but slightly greenish water-back planet with an equally diverse ecosystem. The species that once dominated this planet has literally been wiped off of its existence, and such is the fate that befalls those that are ignorant and complacent about its technology. Alas, the word ‘ljosalfar’ was erased from existence, the name of the forgotten race, the name of the mighty creators. The image of them has been erased from history, though some sources still indicates that their appearance and organic features resembles that of the humans. But since the start of the human civilization, both races have cross-bred, though the alien race remained as an exceptionally small group while the humans prosper and grew in population. Slowly, they just blended in the human society as time passed, even though some managed to keep track of their alien bloodline.

The crystal which was named after the planet is known as ‘Farenhuit’, the result of the most advance sciences that the sentient beings living there created just before their end. Having the technology to travel in space, the natives were able to harvest the vast amount of energy in dying stars. In a neutron star less massive than the limit, the weight of the star is balanced by short-range repulsive neutron-neutron interactions mediated by the strong force and also by the quantum degeneracy pressure of neutrons, preventing collapse. If its mass is above the limit, the star will collapse to some denser form. It could form a black hole, or change composition and be supported in some other way (for example, by quark degeneracy pressure if it becomes a quark star). Because the properties of hypothetical more exotic forms of degenerate matter are even more poorly known than those of neutron-degenerate matter, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that a neutron star above the limit collapses directly into a black hole. The Farenhel’s natives were able to intercept this process of a neutron star turning into a blackhole, using the sciences available to them after eons of research and study. They were able to create a medium whereby they could store that kind of energy safely without any hiccups, and in the process, synthesizing the crude crystal they needed. Furthermore, they have device a way where the kind of energy can be used to convert into other forms of energy, since energy can never be destroyed.

After a long time of experimenting around the crystal, their brilliant minds finally came out with a finished product which could be attached to their body, using their own nervous system to control the event of transforming the form of energy specifically with the ease of control. Shortly, they were able to revive and prolong the life-span of their body cells, enhancing cellular regeneration using the controlled energy from the crystal, making them almost immortal. Furthermore, they could create a force field around them to prevent certain amount of collision from objects or using high amount of electricity to change the structure of elements at their will whichever they touched on and taking away the excess energy in an instance. But such power came with great sacrifices. Once the crystal is attached to the body, they cannot be removed; attempting to remove it will break the medium, unleashing the energy inside of it. What the natives could do was to pass down the crystal to their descendant through birth, when there is connection between the mother and the child. Risking her life, she would have transfer the crystal from her body forcefully to her baby. Such excruciating pain would ultimately claim her life and without the crystal to heal or revive her, the mother could only be left to die. There is, however, another way of transferring the object to another. The condition of the alternative method is that both transferor and transferee must be blood-related, since the device could recognize the users and the possibility of synchronizing failure could be reduced via blood relations. The price, however, is left unchanged. With great power came great sacrifice, a life. The crystal can be moved from the original host to another through a process known to the natives as baptism. This complicated process is usually performed from the father to the child, sacrificing the latter in the meantime. As the father forcefully purge the crystal from his body, the crystal would not break for a small amount of time. This crucial moment is where the crystal is quickly embedded into the body of the child, stabilizing the object and thus beginning the synchronizing. If the synchronization were to fail, the crystal would break if a suitable candidate is not found in time, and the consequences would be dire.

Few crystals were created in their time, a total of nine crystals were known to have been existed. All of them belonged to the several ruling families during their era, but while four crystals were destroyed, the after-effects that consumed the entire planet wiped out the many survivors of the race; three remained intact as few lucky survivors and the descendant of the last ruling monarch left the planet in time before the tragedy sets in. Now, the planet could barely hold itself in place as it floats around, with conditions impossible for any living organism to survive on, but that does not mean there is no activity present in that wretched planet. While most technologies created were annihilated by the cataclysmic event, some were left unscratched, sheltered by the collapsed ruins which formed a tavern that blocks additional rubble and debris colliding atop of the machinery.

A long time ago, the planet was divided by different ruling families, however, 2 big families held sovereignty over their brothers and sisters. The names of these families were long forgotten since their descendant light years apart has long forgotten their mother language. Though, the bloodline of one family still exists, running in the veins of the last surviving descendant somewhere on Earth, living a normal life just like any other humans there, and holding the three crystals inside her body without her knowledge. Someday, she will learn the truth of her bloodline and does what her ancestors has done, passing down their legacy to the next generation with her life.

Just below the epicenter of the past cataclysmic event, a legion of ancient weaponries remains unscathed from the damage the outside world has been inflicted with. As the nomad planet drifted past a star, the stellar flare that the passing star gave off struck the planet, bathing the planet with radiation. The source of energy was quickly absorbed by something that lay lying deep within the rubbles of the planet. A soft hum breaks the silence that has been there for ages since the loud event eons ago, while technologies back on Earth would be fried, here they simply just collects the energy, using it for other purposes. As lights flashed around the dark cavern, activities became more evident as more energy was concentrated and amplified within the same mediums, which were made into the crystals a long time ago. More and more activities became evident in the same cavern, now lightened out by sparks and flashes spraying out of droids that are repairing the ancient machines. It would take them a while to work it out and have the machines fully functional and operating, but these small workers were created to last them that long, time and space has little effect on them since they were non-living things in the first place.

The first cavalry pods has started working, pumping energy into the medium and generating enough energy to power up the androids and get them too, to start working. As the shuttle doors of the pods were kicked and strewn across the other end of the cavern, a shadow appears in the midst of the gas coming out of the pod. Its red eyes flickered for a second and became constant, and then the huge humanoid figure started its way out of the gushing smoke from the pod. Standing at roughly two meters high, the android gauges its system and functions within the powerful artificial intelligence system which the creators once pride themselves for. Even after a long time, everything seems to work out fine for these ancient machines, damage counts were zero and the full analysis of performance came back as optimal. The wisdom of their creators has remained intact with them; nothing was lost from them, making things easier for them. Now they shall only have to gather more numbers and strength, and then, they shall continue their mission eons ago and fulfill them. The utter annihilation of the creators shall be complete and perhaps, the complete domination of the universe. Slowly the quiet cavern starts coming to life, as more and more pods housing more androids became active. The scourge of their creators has finally awakened…