Like A Guiding Star

Chapter 1

Prince Rain flinches at the explosion. That had been close, way too close. There has been fighting in the capital since dawn but that had sounded like it was coming from inside the palace itself.

"Sky, take Rain and get to the gate." His uncle Niran says.

"Uncle, come with us." Rain cries desperately.

"Rain, I need to find your cousins and someone needs to stay here to try to lead our people through this, at least in some capacity. You have a duty to do as well, stick to the plan." His uncle says sternly, sounding like every bit of the king he was.

Right the plan, get off the planet and find allies to help them battle the invaders. Still Rain hesitates. He doesn't want to flee leaving his family and people behind. Finally Sky has to physically drag him to the transport room.

The interstellar transporter, nicknamed the gate from an ancient fictional story, looks a little like a doorway with massive pillars on each side. The pillars seem to sparkle with lights that are actually a billion tiny cpus processing information simultaneously. There is an input terminal near the pillars but their destination, a primitive planet called Kannika, is already locked in. This planet was chosen more because it is the closest planet that isn’t already under control of the Warlord, Chaiya Anant and his invading horde.

The outer wall of the transport room consists of a clear metal called betronoir that is Thurlian III most valuable resource. The metal is stronger than carbon steel but when heated turns clear and glassy looking. From this room they can see almost all of Niatis, the Royal city and official capital of Thurlian III.

Rain lets out a pained cry and can not stop the tears at what he sees, it looks like the entire city is on fire. Niatis, well really the entire planet of Thurlian III, has known nothing but peace since it had been colonized hundreds of years ago. Most of the colony members had come from war torn planets and had grown weary of the petty conflicts that plagued other societies. He looks at Sky and sees that his usually stoic guard also has tears streaming down his face.

“We’ll take it back,” Rain says, wiping his face.

Sky just nods at this and turns to start the gate. They need to hurry. There are voices just outside the door and they can tell these aren’t their people from the unknown language they are speaking in. “Rain get to the gate,” Sky yells. Rain reaches the gate just as the door opens and the invaders fill the room yelling.

Sky pushes Rain ahead of him as they begin firing at the gate. The gate itself takes a hit, giving off dangerous looking sparks and breaking into pieces that are drawn into the portal, but Sky is distracted by the pained cry Rain makes as the ether closes around him. He tries to hold onto the prince but Rain is ripped from his grip by the gate’s forces. The last thing Sky sees is Rain’s pale face and his eyes slipping closed before the gate completely engulfs him.

Phayu bends down to study fresh hoof prints, he is getting near his prey. With any luck their hunting camp will feast on roast grazer for dinner tonight. He silently moves forward, and spots the animal just ahead of him. Just as he is readying his bow a sound louder than thunder disturbs the peace of the day and startles his prey into flight.

Phayu stands up, perplexed and hurries quickly in the direction the sound came from. When he reaches the clearing he sees there are pieces of a strange metal scattered around the area, Phayu picks one of these up and is studying it. A moan draws his attention and he sees a small figure curled onto the ground ahead, unconscious. He moves toward the figure and sees it is a small omega, so bruised and grimy that Phayu can’t tell what he looks like. He wonders what an omega is doing here alone, no omega should traverse the wilds without the protection of an alpha.