Star Keepers: Rebirth

Prologue

In a dark room surrounded by nothing but stars, two children have just been created.

A woman walks in slowly. She smiles at the newcomers. "Welcome to the Star Realm." She says in a soothing voice. "You two will fit nicely in the sky." The woman picks up one of the children, a girl.

"Ursa," a voice calls behind her. "He's come."

Ursa turns to the girl in the doorway. "Thank you, Minor. Send him in." Minor nods, walking out.

"I hope you know what you're doing." a man says to Ursa a minute later.

She smiles. "Of course I do, Lynx. Do you know how many Star Keepers I have created?"

"Quite a lot, ma'am, and I figured it would stop soon."

Ursa laughs. "You figured wrong."

"But ma'am, we're running out of space in the sky. You're going to have to borrow stars from the other constellations."

"You can't do that. That's like borrowing someone's arms and legs." Ursa said.

"Exactly my point, ma'am." Lynx sighs. "So what season and hemisphere are you thinking of putting these two?" He looks down at the children.

Ursa walks with the girl in her arms. "I was thinking summer and spring. One northern, one southern." She smiles at the child. "This one shall be known as... Cygnus."

Lynx frowns. "Swan?"

Ursa nods. "And this one," she walks to the other, a boy. "Lupus."

"Wolf. Interesting duo." Lynx smiled.

The joy in the room is short-lived when the door is suddenly flung open. A dark figure walks in, and looks at the newborns.

"Who are you? How did you get in here?" Ursa asked.

The dark figure doesn't answer, just raises a hand. The other child, Lupus, begins to fade in color.

"What are you doing?!" Lynx yells, trying to get to the boy, but the figure suddenly multiplies. Lynx dodges one double, but another grabs him by the throat.

"Lynx!" Ursa yells. She attempts to grab the boy, but a double appears before her, and pushes her against the wall. The figure then grabs the child and takes her to the original.

The figure laughs as he drains the light from the children.

"You can't take these children!" Lynx croaks out. The figure merely blinks and lets Lynx drop to the floor. He gasps for air as Ursa transforms into a giant bear. She lunges at the figure.

It multiplies again and again, and Ursa slashes at each one, more and more appearing with every slash. "Lynx, it's Hydra!" She calls.

The figure smiles, his yellow eyes coming to view, and his pointed teeth bared.

Lynx, fully recovered, transforms himself into a lynx. Hydra laughs and dodges every bite and claw they attempt. In the blink of an eye, Hydra is no longer man- he's the slithering sea-serpent he's named for.

"Fools!" One of the serpent heads spit in a booming voice. He breathes fire, nearly scorching Ursa. Lynx lunges onto Hyra's back, but the head on the far left grabs Lynx's leg by his teeth and throws him off. He hits the wall with a thud, and is turned human again when he hits the ground. Ursa claws at Hyra's stomach, but it's to no avail.

"We're outmatched!" Lynx yelled, dolphin diving to avoid Hydra's bite.

"Grab the newborns!" Ursa calls. "Leave! Now!"

Lynx hesitated. "What about you, ma'am?!"

"Just leave!"

Lynx grabs the children, but before he could reach the door, Hyra's tail hits Lynx with such force, he's thrown across the room, and the children fall out of his hands.

Hydra laughs, but not for long. Ursa turns human again, reaching for the children. Hydra sees what she's doing, and begins making his way to her. Ursa grabs the boy, but Hydra scoops the girl in his arms, turning human again.

Ursa gets up and tries to make a run for the door. "Not so fast." Hydra says, a double blocking her path. She skids to a stop, the double grinning from ear to ear. "Give me the child."

"Never." Ursa says.

Hydra snarls, and the original walks up behind her. "Ursa..." he starts, "don't make this harder than it needs to be."

She turns to him. "And what is 'this'? Why are you doing this?"

Hydra smiles. "It's getting awfully cramped in the Star Realm, don't you think?" His yellow eyes pierce into Ursa's brown ones. "There's only room for so many of us. And when you represent the largest constellation," Hydra chuckles, "it gets old pretty fast. Wouldn't the night sky be more special if it had only one constellation?"

Ursa punches him across the face.

Hydra hisses, his forked tongue coming out. He begins draining the light out of the children again, but Ursa grabs his arm and twists it. Hydra lets out a snarl, but before Ursa can do anything, he disappears in a cloud of smoke, leaving nothing but a hiss ringing through the air.

Ursa runs over to get the children, but they were nowhere to be found. She runs over to Lynx. "Lynx! Lynx!" She shakes him, but he doesn't respond. She sighs, steps back, and closes her eyes, summoning her four most trusted Star Keepers.

"Yes, Ursa?" They appear at once.

"Hydra has attempted to take two newborn Star Keepers's life. My right hand man is down. Find the children, they could be anywhere in the galaxy. Then find Hydra, and bring him in. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. No one may realize it, but every Star Keeper I create is more important than you know. Do anything you need to get them back."