Dark Star [18+]

Chapter 1

Opposite-charge. Enta Kors. Shadow Kors. They don't absorb light, they scatter it.

They live on an Elion planet called Neastron. There's a constant fog in the air so you can only see 10 ft in front of you, dark plains of endless black salt and rivers of acid. That's the ground. If they let you in, the dimensions will change. The Sky Palace will pull you up with gravity. In that space, it'll appear like a Kor Hold. Something more familiar.

However, they've got a thing for bones. And they've got a thing about fountains of blood. So I have to keep that in mind too. Apparently it stinks of iron. There is no water on Neastron.

It's hostile to sub-species. It's truly Elion, completely fine for Enta. They like the acid, the salt, the rivers and fountains of horror.

I can't believe my baby girl is growing in a Shadow womb in that Elion hell. My daughter.

"Diana."

I've frozen again in my training on Dark Ninth. I always freeze when I'm thinking about her. I feel a Shadow connection to my baby girl. I feel her kicking, even though she isn't inside me. Even though she's with the Enta –

"Diana. Come back to me. You are a Dark Nine – my Estoria. My Star. My Dark Star."

I come back to the present, my eyes focusing on Ninth's trails of moss, low brush and a creek tainted by my blood. I had fallen earlier and cut my leg badly. I had bled into the water and my Kors had wanted to heal me. I refused, yelling at them to let it bleed.

I knew the Enta might really hurt me when I hunted them down, and I needed to get used to the pain.

I feel the King of Kors, my Estori, standing at my side, turning off his invisibility, his Stealth drops and his giant dark blue physique takes up half my vision as he pivots in front of me.

"Did you say something?" I ask, blinking with dry eyes, as I only swim with tears on the inside.

"Diana, you're not well," Alpha Centauri tries to engage with me, I see his Star Squad shimmering to visibility to my right and Ninth Squad, on my left. Mars stands with them, his dark eyes are haunted by our stolen daughter, although he hides it well. They had been training our sons, Maelstrom and Diasphora, Entrpy and Ephereum, to get better at hunting. Because the Enta were a threat to them too.

I had been learning to dance with Star Squad as they Stealthed, going invisible. I had been dodging them and launching off their shoulders, pouncing around them, using my own invisibility with theirs. I had been practicing with my balance, my speed, my strength. Until I started to fall and hurt myself.

But I wouldn't stop and I wouldn't let my Kors heal me. I needed to train and feel pain. I needed to hunt the Enta Kors. I could only do that with my Kors' help. But now? I'm losing my mind to my grief. It's harder to focus. I need to go. I need to go now. I can't wait any longer, I can't delay her rescue any further.

"Of course, I'm not well," I look up at Alpha Centauri.

"You're cut," Alpha Centauri starts to snarl his displeasure quietly over me, as he takes a step closer, "You're wasting blood."

I smile at his obvious displeasure, feeling the warmth of the wound in my left shoulder and my right thigh and the bruise on my hip, "I'm making my demand. You need to take me to Neastron, Estori. The Enta are calling me closer. I'm not meant to be here. I'm meant to be Hunting them. You must answer my desire. I am the Empress. Tell me how to win their trust and take me there."

"They have no honour, Diana, they won't pity you either," Alpha Centauri catches me as I sway off my feet, I had been standing on a slippery rock, the moss started to slide with me, and I have no more strength to stop my slip. It's okay though because Alpha Centauri holds my waist and lifts me right up off the ground, holding me like a child while I try to stop the dizzy-spell washing over me.