Oshoobu [city], Welom [moon], Metrog [planet], Condor [star system]
7 December; 15:22:07 Hours
The streets were filled with the laughter of children. Seven kids - varying from the age of 8 to 13 years old - tossed and kicked a ball back and forth, while their mothers watched on from the stoop of a porch just down the block. The habitable moon had just entered its Fall seasonal orbit a week beforehand, a cool breeze swept through and blew orange and yellow leaves around.
A taxi drove up the street seconds before one of the kids hurried after their ball, causing a woman to shoot up from the steps of the stoop off behind the children, shouting, “Jaes! Hey, don’t run after the ball!”
“But muuuuuum!” he groaned, and stopped a foot from the curb.
“Jaes! Back here now!”
He stomped his feet and headed back toward his mother. “Fuh-ine!”
But another kid, the same age as Jaes, took his place. The boy hurried into the street, saying, “Don’t worry, Jaes! I got it!”
“Wait Kyle - don’t!” Jaes’ mother, Vhael, called and started down the steps as she ran after the kid.
“Kyle?” A woman perked up, hearing her son’s name called, and she turned to see him running into the street. Kyle stopped in the right lane where he bent over to grab the ball, just as a delivery truck came speeding up the street. Being only seven years old, the boy was small and out of the driver’s visible line of sight. Vhael, who was almost at the curb, and Anna, Kyle’s mother, were yelling for the truck to stop but nothing. Kyle stood up straight, the ball raised above his head as he looked back with a big smile, though the truck was five feet from him.
“Khyyyyyle!” his mother and Vhael screamed.
In less than three seconds, the truck flew past where Kyle was standing. Everyone went silent as they couldn’t see the boy anymore. Anna dropped to her knees, Vhael covered her mouth as tears rolled down both of their cheeks. But then Vhael’s eyes slowly opened wide as she lowered her hand and slowly walked out into the street.
Anna saw Vhael moving toward what she figured was her son’s corpse; she struggled up to her feet as friends tried to stop her. Some were saying, “Hey, come on, you don’t want to see your boy like that.”
“Anna, please don’t.”
The woman to her right - baby blue skin, cream freckles, and Elvish ears - stepped in front of her. “Heeyyy, don’t do this to yourself, Anna.”
“No!” Anna screamed, “I wanna see my boy!”
She pushed by them and walked around the parked vehicle where one by one, Anna and her friends saw what Vhael had seen as she walked over into the left lane.
There in the center of the lane were Jaes and Kyle, holding one another as a white hazy aura - a glowing mist - emanated around and off the two.
Vhael said over and over, “Jaes! Jaes, honey!”
“Kyle… Kuh-Kyle! Oh my - By the Will of Basjuvaa, Kyyylllle!” Anna cried as she ran out to the boys.
They slowly let go of one another and sat up, as Kyle was still holding the ball. He smiled before holding it out to Jaes, saying, “Here you go, Jaes. I told you I’d get it.”
“No,” Jaes told him, “you keep it.”
Vhael hurried over to her son and picked him up. “Jaes! What did you do?”
“But mom, he was going to get—”
“Kyle!” Anna ran over to her son, dropped to her knees where she hugged him tightly, saying, “What happened? How did you… How?”
Anna and the other mothers looked at Vhael and Jaes. There were varying degrees of shock and disgust that consumed their eyes and facial expressions. They watched as Vhael slowly backed away, looking down to her right as she tried not to make eye contact with any of them.
“I’m fine, momma,” Kyle said.
“Vhael? How’d your son do that?”
“Yeah!” one of the three other mothers - black skin with bright green eyes - said before another followed.
“That’s not possible!”
“Vhael!” Anna snapped and positioned herself in front of Kyle. “How’d your son do that? How’d he save my son - How?”
“I… I don’t know what,” Vhael fumbled and almost tripped over the curb while she hurried backward toward her house, saying, “I don’t know what you mean! I, I don’t!”
“Yes, yes you do!”
“No! I’m sorry, I don’t!”
“Stop!” Anna pointed at Vhael and Jaes, screaming, “Stop! Yuh-you freaks!”
Vhael violently shook her head, gritting her teeth like she was ready to explode at the mothers, but something clicked in her head and her eyes sank deep. She saw an uncertainty flickering in the other mothers’ eyes, and before they could get another word out, Vhael shot up her steps and through the front door before slamming it shut.
“Mom? Why did we run away?” Jaes looked up at his mother after she put him down to lock the door. “Mom?”
“Not now, Jaes - Go to your room!”
“But Mom?”
“Your room. Now!”
“Why? I didn’t do anything wrong,” Jaes said. “I saved Kyle, Mom! I saved him!”
“Your father and I told you not to tap into Shine around Shimless!” Vhael snapped, spun around, and pointed up the stairs. “Now go to your room!”
“But he would’ve died!”
“And now Pitches and Rippers could surely be after us… Or, or worse!”
“I don’t want to move again, mom!”
“Go to your room, Jaes. When your father gets home, he and I will discuss it.”
“Buuuut Mom—”
Vhael sternly pointed up the steps and Jaes pouted before finally giving in. He stomped and whimpered, but Vhael turned and looked out the peephole to find the mothers had crowded in front of her house. The children were each standing beside their mother, and she watched as they talked amongst each other while the crowd of neighbors began to grow larger and larger.
***
“We have to go now!” a man’s voice erupted down the hall from Jaes’ bedroom, causing the boy to shoot up in his bed. “No, leave it Vhael! We don’t have time to take any of this!”
“But Naethun! We can’t just leave all of this!” Vhael yelled back at her husband. “We can’t just get up and leave… We can’t do that to Jaes again!”
Naethun punched the wall with Vhael taking a step back from her husband, as a white aura emanated off his fist and forearm. He slowly turned to his wife, growling, “The boy did this! It’s his fault that Lancers are now on our tail!”
Her eyes opened wide. “Lancers?”
“Yes,” he said as the aura slowly faded.
“Buh-but why? Why are the King’s Gardna after us… Naethun?”
“Erraghhhh! I, I thought this place would be safer - Being neck deep in Shimless… I, I thought we could blend in and give the boy a normal life for now.”
“It wasn’t Jaes’ fault, Naethun. That boy would’ve died. He would’ve been hit.”
“Maybe he should’ve allowed it.”
“Don’t you dare talk like that!”
“Why?” Naethun shrugged his shoulders.
“Why? Because we’re not like the Rip—”
Naethun quickly raised his hand, cutting his wife off, lowering his voice to a whisper as he said, “Wait… Do, do you smell that?”
Vhael’s eyes squinted. Her nostrils flared a few times before her eyes quickly opened and doubled in size as she turned around to see an orange and yellow glow coming up the stairs. She didn’t hesitate to scream, “Fire!”
“Get the boy, Vhael! I’ll try to stop it!” Naethun ordered, and in a flash, he went charging down the hall.
Vhael came running toward Jaes’ door, only for him to open it as she was several feet from him. His head perked back and he uttered, “Mom,” but then he quickly looked around her at the thunderous pounding sound that reverberated through the home.
“Jaes! We, we have to go,” Vhael frantically told him, trying to move him back into his room, though he kept looking around her.
“Mom, where is Dad going?” he said before his eyes tripled in size at the sight of a massive blackened figure that emerged from the roaring flames.
Naethun slid to a stop, several feet from the monstrous being that appeared to be donning black layered armor from head to toe. He turned to Naethun with a continuous blackened aura, like smoke, shimmering off his entirety. The air immediately went cold and Vhael turned to see what her son and now husband were staring at.
She froze.
“No!” Naethun yelled as he thrust both hands toward the Being, with a powerful white shining energy - known as Shine - erupting free. “Vhael - Take the boy and run!”
The Shine shot at the Being, but it seemed to do nothing to him as it ripped around his chest with the blackened aura, Shade, deflecting it and leaving him virtually untouched. The Being then took several steps toward him, as he was struggling not to falter, but the Being reached through the intense glow where He violently grabbed Naethun by the throat. The second His gauntlet-donning hand wrapped around Naethun’s neck, a shockwave of Shine erupted from him, the walls and floor cracked and Naethun’s clothes ripped to shreds. He was left only in his white mail, as Vhael and Jaes flew back into the bedroom where they were forced to watch the Being lift Naethun off his feet.
“By the grace of Aaela!” Vhael screamed, starting to crawl toward the door when Naethun erupted.
“Nah-nooooo! Dammit! Get Jaes and GO! Forget about me, Vhael!” He grabbed the Being’s helmet as Shine ignited off his hands, arms, and chest. “Forget about me!”
The flames had since spread up into the hallway and were blazing around the two, as Naethun struggled to keep a grip on the Being while simultaneously trying not to concede to unconsciousness. Tears rolled down Vhael’s cheeks as she couldn’t bring herself to listen to her husband. She wanted so badly to charge down the hall through the flames to his aid, but she felt a small hand grab hers and she looked to find their son’s light blue eyes looking up at her.
“Mom?” he quivered as his grip tightened. “Dad is going to win, right?”
She didn’t know the answer to her son’s question, but said anyway, “Of course… Your father always protects us,” as she picked Jaes up in her arms and turned her back to her husband and the Being.
“Nooooo!” the Being roared with a guttural intensity that shook the entire home, watching Shine begin to emanate from Vhael and Jaes but Naethun slammed his fists down on the Being’s forearm, breaking His grip before lunging forward where he charged the Being back into the wall at the other end of the hall.
“Go!” Naethun yelled again after he slumped to his knees and looked back at them.
But the Being hooked his arms under Naethun’s before He launched the fully grown man through the air, into the wall to His left like it was nothing. Vhael’s teeth were chattering as she watched the blackened shimmering aura, a darkness that was pulling out any remnant of light from the air, emerge through the roaring flames with the floor shaking under each step He took toward her son and her.
Vhael backed toward the windows of the room as the Shine emanating from her son and her continued to intensify, but it pulsated with uncertainty. The Being, though, had closed half the distance between them, and she screamed, “Naaaaethun,” but Jaes placed his hand upon his mother’s face with a bright, unstable white aura transferring from him to her as his light blue eyes glowed with intensity.
The immense surge of Shine soon released from Vhael as she shrieked. “Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
Fire trucks, patrol cars, and two ambulances were out front of the house. Dozens of firefighters and sheriffs were rushing around. The entire neighborhood stood behind caution-wire that roped everyone back five houses down, in either direction. Everyone watched and whispered, but then a massive explosion erupted. Shine in the form of white roaring flames burst out Jaes’ bedroom windows - the front room on the second floor. Melted glass and debris rained down onto the street below.
“Oh my!” people screamed, though firefighters went charging into the house.
The Shine burned everything in the bedroom to ash before it exploded down the hall. The Being raised His right forearm to shield Himself from the blast as Shade ripped from all around and merged with Him, supercharging the shimmering aura. The white flames blasted Him, shooting around and fighting the Shade, but as the intense light receded back within the room and dimmed to darkness, Vhael and Jaes were gone.
The Being stood up straight, lowered His forearm, and rolled His shoulders forward with the raging aura returning to its previous intensity.
Naethun had struggled to his feet where he stood panting before he charged the Being. Though He quickly turned and blocked the wild right hook Naethun unleashed and then a left jab before the Being unleashed an explosive front kick. His armored boot struck Naethun’s chest, sending him sliding across the floor and nearly all the way down the hall through the blazing fire.
“Heh-errraghhhhhh!” Naethun yelled, thrusting both hands at Him with a powerful stream of Shine bursting down the hall.
The Being again raised His forearm, blocking most of the Shine though He grimaced as some ripped through the Shade, what had appeared to be impenetrable and Naethun pushed forward. “You will not stop us,” Naethun barked, inching forward. “No! I won’t allow you! I will not allow you to kill us! I can’t!”
He thrust his hands a second time with an additional surge of power releasing and the Being dropped to His knee. Naethun stopped in front of Him where he stood over the monster and smiled. There was a feeling of victory that flooded Naethun, but in a blink, it faded as he gasped. A third shockwave of Shine erupted from him, more powerful than those before, and the stream he was projecting ceased.
He looked down at his abdomen where he found that the Being plunged Sazamaal - a curve dagger - into him.
Slowly rising to His feet, the Being looked into Naethun’s intensely glowing blue eyes with powerfully glowing white voids where eyes would be, like the darkness that He seemingly was had been eating the light around His face, and He violently twisted the dagger before yanking it free.
Naethun gasped as his hands trembled toward his center-mass where he felt his mail and flesh before the warmth of his blood. A cold quickly washed over his fading existence. His eyes dimmed back to light blue and he stumbled backward, falling to his knees before forcing himself back up, only to collapse to the ground.
The Being returned His attention to the bedroom where He found nothing but ruin, and out of frustration, He erupted an ungodly roar that echoed throughout the entire neighborhood.