Heim- A Prequel to "The Lazarus Saga"

Ch. 3- A Starry Night.

Father Orwell dispatched a cup of wine in a single gulp. He reached blindly behind him, placing the cup on a shelf already lined with empty wine glasses. The blind intrusion caused one of the many empty wine glasses to crash onto the stone floor. Father Orwell didn't bother looking back.

"So now you know all that I do about the truth of our ancestors." Father Orwell said, belching up fumes from the last of his wine. Bane sat across from him staring into Orwell with empty eyes.

Normally Bane was full of drink more than he wasn't. But, this new flood of information left him fidgeting with his wine cup, not bothering to even sip from the first of what would've been many cups. The ruby-stained liquid swirled, nearly tipping over the rim with each pondering rotation.

His whole life he was taught that his people started here on Heim. That human life was centered around this planet. That his kind fought and won a war of freedom against the Kaijynn, a war that dated back to humanity's origin on this planet. Bane let out a cackle of a laugh in his mind and supposed that at least there was some truth in that last statement. Their war with the rightful inhabitants of this planet did date back to humanity's first days on Heim, though the timeline was much shorter than everyone else was led to believe.

In a matter of a day, everything he knew had been shattered. Humanity did not start here, but far away on a planet called Earth. To think that not only did his kind manage to travel through the heavens but that there were other planets with life. Real life on real worlds all scattered throughout the heavens. It humbled him to the point of near silence. Bane placed his cup down with a sigh.

"To think that our kind gained the power to travel the heavens and yet they threw it all away to abandon us on this mess of a world."

Bane wiped wine from his almost white beard, braided to fall at chest length. He placed his dark eyes on the ceiling of Father Orwell's private chambers.

"All of those worlds above us full of riches and the sins of our ancestors have left us trapped on this rock." The contempt he held for his ancestors led him to finally swig from the cup he'd toyed with all morning. Father Orwell, already filling another cup, nodded in agreement.

"It seems we harbor the same feelings my Jarl. It is why we must get up to the Wandering Star by any means possible."

That sparked audible laughter in Bane's wine-coated throat. "To think that the wandering star has been a tool of our kind for over a thousand years, and yet we all praise it as some celestial object watching over us. If I was younger, my mind would've been made up to shout this information from the top of every tower in this city. But this is a secret guarded by Lords. I'm too old, too wise, to contend with several lords let alone one."

Bane sighed again and picked up his wine glass. "I suppose this world will continue to live under such a pretense. All we can do is exploit it for personal gain." he nodded in agreement with himself, not bothering to get Orwell's take on the matter. Not that he needed to. Their mutual interest in personal gain seemed to always intertwine in the worse ways. After a deep thought, Bane finally turned his attention towards the fowl priest.

"I assume that somewhere in that chamber you've found a means to break into the heavens?" The look in Orwell's eyes was enough for Bane to know that he did.

"Inside that very chamber is a room that leads to an escape tunnel. However, it is not an escape route you travel by foot or even by magebeast. After investigating the controls in the center room more closely we discovered an escape option. It seems they have some sort of pod capable of fitting two adults. The pod is solid metal, yet it can fly faster than the fastest dragons of the north. Would you like to guess where it flies to?"