Kingdom of the Nine: Hail (I)

Chapter 1

Wolf Rock, Planet Zenot, Year 16, Second Era

I sit on the beach and watch as the sun sets on the edge of the ocean. The waves slowly and peacefully crash against the sands. I reach out to touch the water as it gets closer. It fills me with peace.

My sister walks from behind me and sits to my left. She turns to me and has a bittersweet smile.

"Whatcha thinking about?" She asks.

I swear she always knows when there's something wrong. "I found this book, it was in the temple in the section Zen told me not to go. Kind of wishing I had listened."

"What was it about?"

I turn to her. "It was about the different planes of existence. Just seeing how many there are. It really just makes me wonder what our importance here is. We aren't special, we aren't alone. We are just one of millions of planets in one of millions of universes and yet we just stay here. We raise cattle, we feed ourselves and this village and then we die. Feels like my life is meaningless."

"It's not meaningless Hail. You can do whatever you want with your life. We don't have to stay here if you don't want to. In a few years we could go anywhere you want to go. Do whatever you want to do and I'll be right there with you."

"Who would take care of mom?" I ask

She shakes her head. "Zen could. They've always seemed like they had something going on anyway."

"Gross Mia, although it would explain why he asks about her after every training session."

She giggles and I smile back at her. "Maybe you're right, maybe in a year when I'm seventeen, we could just pack our things and leave. We could go there if we wanted to." I point up into the sky at Naurus, our neighboring planet.

"See that's the spirit." She says.

I stand up and take a look around. "But would you really want to leave all this?"

She nods. "Anything to be with you. You're my favorite brother!"

"I'm your only brother stupid."

She giggles.

Zenot is beautiful this time of year, or anytime of year. It's a tropical climate and has a rainy season and a dry season. That's it... nothing more. No snow or ice, it's just perfect. The fact Mia would leave to be with me, it says a lot. She's my best friend.

"Well it's starting to get a little chilly without the sun, you ready to head back to the house?" She asks.

"Sure, let's go home."

We leave the beach and begin to walk towards the house. It's walls made of the wood from palm trees and its roof made of leaves.

Looking up through the leaves I could see the glow of Naurus "One day." I whisper.

I could hear the subtle sounds of the animals in the night. The air was warm and had a cool nick to it. I laid there for hours on my cot and watched as the moon floated above.

"Hail..."

I turn to see a dark figure clouded by smoke and a faint purple glow. It reaches out for me. Brushing its hand across my neck.

My heart begins to race. My ears begin to ring. I feel the sharp edge of its nails dig within my flesh. It begins to hum a slow dark tune as it does so.

"I've been waiting so long for this child."

Its face begins to emerge from the shadow. Large jagged teeth from a jaw that grows and grows without end as it moves towards me.