2199 Extinction

It Begins

**I will forever remember the day my mother was murdered. Her husband of course, denies it, swears that she died of natural causes. But I know better. She was only forty-seven years old. What is forty-seven years to a race that lives an average of two thousand years? I was away in school, Andromeda Royal Preparatory Academy, so I wasn't there to save her. The day I found out, was just an ordinary day.**

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Shelves line every available inch of wall space; with worn-out, leather-bound books crammed onto every shelf. The leather on the books is blue, although, on some books it's so, worn that the blue appears grey. The left side of the room is crowded with free-standing shelves, that are also crammed with books. The right side of the room has a few tables haphazardly placed with a few chairs tucked underneath. The room is dimmer than what it should be; with just a few lights hanging from the ceiling to chase away total darkness.

Only twenty-six students are allowed to use this library. Seventy-five students completed their General Studies education, a few months ago. Only six students, out of the seventy-five graduates were allowed to continue to the Advanced Studies classes. The other five hundred students in the school are younger. The twenty-six oldest are the children of the most powerful Talfarians in the galaxy. And out of those twenty-six, only two students are currently lost in the pages of the books.

I sigh, rub my eyes, and close the book I was reading. A few books lay strewn on different tables, collecting light purple dust. Ugh. I hate how you can never seem to get rid of all the dust, here. You can clean and clean, and still, within a week everything is back to being covered in dust. I wonder whose bright idea it was to place a school on this dusty purple moon. Across from me sits the only other student here, his light brown hair is the only thing visible over the book he is reading. The dim light makes his hair appear a darker shade of brown. I check my watch; the purple moon and the yellow planet are directly opposite each other. I have been studying for the past three hours. I have two languages to master in the next two days, but I'm fairly sure I will ace both the written and spoken tests

I look down at the book I was studying, Language and Customs of the Copaie. The Copaie, my own people, in looks. I have the same lightly tinted yellow skin all the Copaie share. The difference between me and most Copaie is my eyes. My left eye is light brown while my right eye is a bright green color. According to all the books I've read, this is an extremely rare trait, with only the royal Copaie displaying heterochromia. But there is no way I am royalty, at least not among the Copaie.

I was found by a young Talfarian princess when I was a baby, abandoned on one of the most dangerous planets that have ever been discovered. The young princess brought me to Talfar and raised me as a member of the royal family. This means I gotshipped off to the purple moon called Lila Luna when I was five to attend Andromeda Royal Preparatory Academy.

"Why are you reading about the Copaie? Why would you want to learn about that moronic, violent, and deadly race?" Amlican says, pulling me from my thoughts. He reaches across the table and grabs the book in front of me. His dark green eyes seem to be laughing. Amlican is not like me, he is Talfarian, which means his skin is not yellow. Other than that, we have the same genetic makeup. The Talfarians and the Copaie are originally from the same planet, but a few thousand years ago, a bloody civil war raged and ended with the Talfarians being driven from the planet.

"Well," I say, holding my hands out. "I'm kind of one of them."

"Not really," he says. "I mean, sure you look like them, but since when does skin color mean anything?" he says, pulling a chair up next to me, with his free hand, and sitting down.