ARIS

The Beginning

I hissed a heavy breath, the heavy pack was digging into the sensitive flesh of my back. I crouched outside of the council room, my tools weighing me down. I had been out here for at least an hour, my night of preparations had left me feeling drained, but I was pushing through, not for myself. But for Aris, and the others just like him. This had to be done, and it had to be done now.

The council was set to begin their deliberation in a few minutes, and when that time came I was going to set off the one dozen explosives I had spent hours rigging around the room. Under the table, under their chairs, among the shelves of documents, I had placed them everywhere I could find a surface. All I had to do was press one button, and the council would feel the pain of each and every child they sent out to slaughter. I was ready to watch that pain. I was going to drink in every ounce the council, and their family members felt when I was finished. They deserved this, and more.

It was time for retribution.

I pulled myself up the wall and looked through the window into the room. The council members all sitting down. Goblets of drink and platters of finely prepared food sat in front of them. Food that soldiers like me had never experienced in my dizziest daydreams. I scoffed as the men and women around the table appraised each other in judgement. Their powdered white hair was free of beads or any indication of achievement, their faces free of facial hair, or any emotion other than boastful pride, their skin blemish and scar free. They had never seen outside the station walls, their vision was limited to only that of the chromatic prison that was Dune Station.

I closed my eyes for a moment, allowing the peaceful black to engulf me. I had been on edge the last day, every second I breathed during the last twenty-four hours was dedicated to the cause. The planning, the schematics, the building, and the planting of the bombs all took meticulous thought and energy. I was beginning to lose sight of why I was doing this, the longer I stood staring into the window, the more I found myself rationalizing the council's choices. But, I knew, I knew that it was the centuries of brainwashing taking over. I was finally seeing clearly, and I had vowed to myself I would never let go of this clarity.

Every time I breathed, every time I did anything I saw him. I saw his limp body on the stretcher. His blonde hair matted and red. He looked so small on the adult sized gurney. You could see his age as he lay there motionless. I wasn't just doing this for my Aris, but all the other Aris's that lived on Dune Station, or even the human Aris's that were fighting on earth. I just knew the pain had to end, and if no one else was going to end that pain, it was my job now.

I could not hide my disdain for the people in front of me. Everything they stood for, every word they spoke was selfish and driven by hatred toward the human race. My fingers itched for the trigger, and I carefully pulled the small plastic remote from my pocket. Only two controls needed to be pressed for me to end the lives of so many. It was so easy, like breathing. My finger inched closer to the power switch. I rubbed my finger along the metal toggle. So cold, so smooth. I flicked it firmly, the soft click telling me that the time was close.

My heart fluttered as I saw the head councilmen pull the ballot box from the shelf next to him. He flipped the lid open but paused to address the council, his lip curling in a sneer as he spoke, his brows dipping menacingly. The people around him looked fearfully enraged only making my heart beat heavier. There was no Valhalla for me, not anymore

My finger slid up to the button, poised and ready. Without further thought, I pressed it. My index finger plunged with it, and I held it, waiting for the perfect moment. I stared, eyes wider than plates as I watched the head councilmen angrily dump the ballots onto the table his chair tipping backward onto the floor. The women of the council shrinking back into their own chairs. He raised a finger, and I knew.

"Aris," I whispered looking out the window to my left. The stars shone brightly today as if he were there pushing me forward.

Now.

I heard it before I saw it, the simultaneous clicks and then there it was the explosion. Time suddenly slowed down, and I let out a hysterical laugh my own voice sounding foreign and mechanical in my head. I tried to look once more, but I felt my feet lift off the ground. My body flew from the door across the hallway and made contact with the wall adjacent. My shoulders broke the fall, but my skull took the majority of the impact. I felt my spine reverberate in my body and I landed finally on the ground, my elbow breaking the fall this time. I tried to catch my breath, but my lungs screamed in protest. Fire burst from the doors like the gates of Hel. She was coming to get me, Hel. She was coming to take me away because of my transgressions. I laughed again, welcoming her fiery clutches. The fire lunged for me, shattering the glass windows in a cascade of glass shards and shrapnel. The billowing of smoke and the blinding light was all I saw before everything went black.

It was over.