Of Ancient Kings

Chapter 1

Robin opened his eyes to the dull light coming in from the window as a loud buzz filled his ears, his unkempt blonde hair sticking up at odd angles.

"Alarm off..." he murmured as he sat up and yawned. On the wall beside him, the clock stopped buzzing and the room fell silent. He looked around in a mild daze, the panel on the wall displayed the date. 11th October 2080; his 14th birthday. He grinned with delight and nearly jumped out of bed in excitement. As soon as his still half-asleep body would let him, he bounded over to the wardrobe.

Robin swung open the doors and pulled out his black trousers, shirt and tie along with a purple blazer from the old oaken box sitting at the bottom. Usually, he viewed his archaic style uniform with indifference. But today, Robin admired the quality of the material and crest on his blazer. The logo was an image of a handshake in block colours and straight lines, one hand had black nails and the other clear. The same shield emblazoned his shirt pocket. It was the logo of the Luton Meta Academy, the school where the superpowered metahumans and the ordinary class E could interact on the same level.

He looked at his slim frame in the mirror. He tensed his arms and laughed to himself at how silly he looked trying to flex what small amount of muscle his scrawny teen body had. He flattened down his blonde hair and stared into his own royal blue eyes as he did so. After his brief session of giggling, he pulled on his trousers, shirt and knotted his tie. He looked in the mirror again and pulled apart his eyelids to see more of his eyes. After searching for any hints of red he didn't find any and sighed; he had begun to reside in the fact that he probably would never metarise and join his friends on the courts or fly home. He shook his head to bring his thoughts back to all the presents he would receive. Finally, he hung his blazer over his shoulder, took one last look in the mirror, and headed downstairs.

The lights were off as Robin tiptoed down the creaky stairs, he didn't want to wake his mum. When he got to the bottom the lights blinded him as his mum jumped out from behind the doorframe.

"SURPRISE! Happy Birthday!" she shouted as she chucked a shower of confetti over him, Robin stood in place, shocked. He sighed and brushed the scraps of coloured tissue paper from his shoulders, then smiled at his mum.

"And many happy returns," Robin replied as he hugged his mum.

She led him into the living room. The walls were plastered with pictures in simple silver frames, some of family and others of nature. On a chair in the corner sat a small stack of presents in blue wrapping paper.

"The big one on the bottom is from Grandma Jane and the card to the side is from Uncle Tony and his kid," she explained. Robin ran forwards and skidded on his knees to a stop in front of the wingback chair. He grabbed the top present. It was a small box, just bigger than his palm. The packaging didn't last long as he tore through it.

Inside was a plain grey box with a four-pointed star in metallic paint on the front. Robin's eyes lit up at the sight of this cuboid of cardboard. He flung off the lid, revealing a shiny pane of glass sitting in a bed of velvet. Robin swiped his fingers across its surface and an image formed on the glass. The same four-pointed star appeared with the words 'North Star' beneath it as the device booted.

A North Star com-slate.

"Thanks, mum." Robin smiled at his beaming mother. He pulled it out of the cradle and watched it as its back began to turn opaque as the background came into view. He flicked his fingers around on the screen and found that it already had all his contacts from his old phone on it and even a few games.

The next present was a rectangle about the size of the medium sized picture frames they used around the house. Robin tore through the wrapping paper. Inside was a silver picture frame. In the image was a man with long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. Beside him was Robin's mother, dressed in a white dress. In her arms a small tow-headed boy. It only took a second for Robin to realise that this was his family.