"Alastor, you're wanted in the Concourse," said a voice over an intercom. "I don't see why I have to be at the Matron's every whim." Alastor complained. He stood up from his seat and left his room. Alastor was an outcast from the Cruxtraugh Sector of Andromedas, a fairly large land city on the aquatic planet of Marin Azula. In Azulean society, anyone who is an outcast is limited to what they can and cannot do. Most outcasts were exiled from their sectors for one reason and one reason only: Treason. Rather than being put on death row, outcasts were forced to live their lives as servants and lower caste citizens - if they were lucky enough for that.
Alastor trudged down the hall of the large mansion he lived in. While many would long to live in the mansion, Alastor didn't. It was a place that kept him in chains, preventing him from leaving ever again. It wasn't his social standing that rubbed him the wrong way, rather the fact that servants were worked to the bone while still living the luxurious life in the giant mansion.
"Alastor, dear. I've been expecting you." the Matron called out from inside the room. Alastor was waiting outside the door of her luxurious common room. As he stepped inside, he couldn't help but take in the elegance of the crown molding that lined the walls, the blue-gray paint plastered all over the room, and the lounge chairs and other furniture that looked too detailed to be real that begged for him to sit down. In the far end of the room, a woman with short, graying blonde hair and the standard Homestead uniform was seated behind a desk. "Please, have a seat." the Matron motioned her hand at the armchair next to Alastor. "I have a task for you." she said blankly. Her faint blue eyes glistened in the rare sunny weather outside the window. Marin Azula was notorious for its almost everlasting rainstorms, in which a sunny day would come once in a blue moon. Even still, it was odd that it was sunny today, so something must be up. "What might that be, Matron?" Alastor asked cautiously. The Matron opened a drawer and pulled out a file, placing it in front of Alastor. "Read through this file, take in as much information as you can." Alastor did as he was told, and within five minutes, he had absorbed the entirety of the information in the file.
"Why must I know this information? What do you need from me?" Alastor urged. The Matron's blank expression slowly morphed into a devious, menacing, and bloodthirsty grin.
"I want you to kill her."
Alastor felt a cold sweat trickle down his neck. "Yes, yes, I know that you're normally confined to servant duties here, while other outcasts work as assassins, but you seem to wield a power that could benefit my cause." The Matron explained slyly. Alastor thought about her words for a moment, trying to read The Matron's actions. Alastor was good at reading people, also known as the ability to scan body language, words, thoughts, expressions, etc. But with the Matron, it was like trying to read a book with no words. He couldn't crack into her thoughts no matter how hard he tried.
"Why must I kill this girl?" Alastor asked. "This girl is the offspring of the pair that took my exploration away." The Matron began coldly. "I grew up with her mother when I lived on Earth many years ago. We were good friends, and went on to join the Homestead Federation together. Unfortunately, she met a man, and they took my golden opportunity to shine with interstellar oceanography." she paused impressively. "What did you do?" Alastor asked.
There was a moment of silence.
"I killed them." The Matron smiled wider with a satanic look in her eyes.
Alastor's eyes widened. "If you killed them, what use would this girl be to you? Was killing them not revenge?" he asked. "Not the revenge I'm looking for." The Matron sighed. "Eventually, this girl will learn the truth, and will want to find them. That will be your job. Find the girl, lead her on if you must, and when I get my hands on her, I'll kill her." The Matron finished. "You're used to killing. You elementals and your witchcraft, it's no wonder the government accused you of treason. You're a dangerous being, Alastor." The Matron smirked.
"And," she added, "If you do as you're told, I'll request your freedom from servantry and low social standing. Do we have a deal?" she asked. Alastor nodded, refraining from shaking the Matron's hand. Most deals are established with a handshake, but Alastor had other ideas. He left the Matron's room with the file in his hand and made his way to his quarters. "I have to run away, I need to help this girl. I can't let her die, not in the hands of that woman." he thought. As soon as arrangements were made, Alastor got in a ship and ran away to his destination -
Earth.
YOU ARE READING
June - The Planet of Lost Voices
Fantasy25 year old June has been on her own since the age of three, even though she was adopted as a child. She was told her birth family died at sea. On her 25th birthday, June learns that her parents did in fact die at sea....on another planet. June deci...
