I am Number Twelve

Prolouge

© 

The events in this book are real.

Names and places have been changed to protect the identities of the Aquillians still in hiding.

There are other civilizations out there, and some of them seek to destroy you.

The Zentolions seek to destroy everything. They have secretly helped destroy Lorien.They got bored. They have tantalized Aquillia. It is hibernating. Just as Lorien did, now they are after the last remaining Aquilians who stand in their way.

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Prologue

We knew of their contingency plan. We were sent a transmitter like they sent to Earth. A white tablet with a triangle hole in its side. We were the back-up plan. The back up contingency plan.

Both leaders of Lorein and Mogadore had brothers. Ptolemy Lore, a powerful Garde, the brother of Pittacus, was torn that his brother was chosen as an elder of Lorein. He left in a hurry, in a fast powered rocket, to a planet, unihabited by superior life forms other than animals, 900 million miles away from Lorein. It took 6 years. Finally, when he arrived, he realised that Pittacus knew of his plan. The plan to leave. 6 years earlier, Pittacus had sent some Loric people to stow away on the ship. Half were Garde, half were Cepan.

By the time Ptolemy had reached the new planet, it was too late. Eventually, apart from little conflict, he forgave the others, and agreed to Pitticus' wish to populate the planet. They named the planet Aquillia, in favour of the pristine lakes and oceans on it. Along with the crystal clear bodies of water and rolling grassy hills, Aquilia had a distinctly light purple sky during the day as well as two suns, and several moons in the sky both at day and night. 

Auquillia, Mogadore, Lorein, and Earth, are only 4 of the eighteen life sustaining planets in the universe. Aquillia is 2 times smaller than earth. Ptolemy, having already been to Earth, decided to sustain Aquillia, to reproduce. For tens of thousands of years, the Aquillians lived in peace with their planet. They were thriving, the people giving to the planet, the planet giving back.

Unfortunately, with the Mogadorians having no knowledge that Ptolemy had inhabited Aquillia, there was no need to defend the planet, as it had no enemies, and it was a young planet. Eventually, the Garde were bred out. There had been absolutely no need for the Garde. 

The 15 elders though, the most powerful of them Ptolemy, for thousands of years held onto their Legacies, until one by one, they started disappearing, the Legacies and the elders. Ptolemy and Septium, the last remaining elders, were getting worried. Ptolemys Legacies weren't disappearing, but he was getting weak. Something had to be done. 

While Aquillia was 900 million miles away from Lorein, it was only 600 million miles from earth. Ptolemy knew that his brother, along with the rest of Lorein, was dead. He knew of the plan. He also knew about John, Maren,  Marina, Ella, and Stanley. Better known on his terms as Four, Six, Seven, Ten, and Nine. He knew they were back on Lorein, they had been back on Lorein for a hundred years. Lorein was flourishing.

With the population dramatically decreasing by thousands each month, he realised he had to follow in his brothers foot steps, and send children, with special powers bestowed on them, somewhere safe, to later, repopulate Aquillia, and take over the role of the 15 elders.

Yes. His mind was made. That is what he would do. With 15 expecting mothers gathered up, carefully chosen, he extracted the unborn fetuses, still living, and planted them in an incubator, designed to speed up the growing process. It would take them only two weeks to properly develop, in which that time, the Zentolions would have left. 

Meanwhile, Septium, was investigating the disapearances. He figured the puzzle out. Zentolions. From a far off planet, neighboring Mogadore, but closer to Aquillia, the Zentolions were attacking, slow, and painfully.

The Zentolions had been going to Earth for years. They helped teach the earliest humans to survive. Very early on they helped build Stone Henge, with the Loric, a large graveyard for them.

It wasn't untill the first and second world wars that they came back. They re-invented nuclear bombs. They had been developed on Zentolio. That was when they took a true turn for the worse. The leader and the supreme king, Cloytolis Ra, was the brother of Setrakus Ra, and had purposely followed in his foot steps.

The Zentolions had ruined their own planet, that once looked similar to Lorein and Aquillia, with war. With no-where to go, they secretly invaded Aquillia, kidnapping people, killing them, and taking more and more each day.

But Ptolemy was smart. Before the Zentolions had killed everyone, he put in place two charms. The first, was that the Zentolions could not set foot on Aquillia untill every last Aquillian was dead. If they did? Each Zentolion who was on Aquillia would blow up, into a thousand tiny pieces. He told the Zentolions and they fled. 

The second charm, he cast upon the 15 babies. They were bestowed with special powers, called Legacies. These 15 babies were made into Garde. They would grow and have the same powers as an elder, each one unique. They could only be killed in order. 1-15. And the charm would be broken when at least two met up and learned exactly who the other was. Ptolemy then began training 15 Cepan, so that if the time came, they could guide the Garde, help them fulfill their destinies.

He hoped the Zentolions would stay away forever, that the babies never had a need to use their Legacies. 

The babies lasted until they were 1 and a half years old. Only 1 and a half years had passed when the Zentolions attacked. They didn't blow up once their ugly feet set foot on the lush green grass. Havoc was set loose.

Ptolemy, following in his brothers foot steps, put the 15 Three year-olds onto a very powerfull ship. With the charm still in place, he branded them with the Aquillian symbol for their numbers on their ankles. He gave them each an Aqualite pendant and chest full of things to help them defeat the Zentolions. With the ship full of the 15 toddlers, and their assigned Cepan leaving, Ptolemy put one last charm on Zentolions. In order to protect Aquillia, he reinstated the original charm, and he realized that more had to be done. 

Along with the spirits of the other 13 elders, Ptolemy and Septium held hands and pledged their souls to protect Aquillia. Standing on a hill, the two held hands and they turned to stone. Next to them, 13 other statues apeared. The elders were once again together and in the distance Zentolions were combusting into thin air. But at a harsh price. All of the Aquillians were dead. Apart from the final 30. The rest of the Zentolions survived, the ones that didn't invade the planet. They are still out there, seeking the Final 30. The Cepans would be easy. It was the kids they were worried about.

Ptolemy was supposed to be invincible. But what had to be done, was done.