Europa - A Banshee Story

Prologue - Death of a World

Karina Techaendeer (Silcaria - Spring of 1999)

I was seven years old at the time... in Earth time. Seven years old, but I remember it clearly as if it happened only yesterday. Every Silcar who lived to tell the tale knew where they were on the day that our world died, when our way of life was forever snuffed out, replaced by the need for survival and service to those who had brought this doom upon us. Despite everything that has happened to me since that fateful day, however, I am glad that I lived to tell the tale. Yet this does not mean that death allowed me to slip away uncontested.

My father was the viceroy of Efaresta, the largest of the Silcarian realms. I remember him as a kind man who always knew just what to say and just what to do. He loved me dearly, as did my mother, yet made it clear that there would be boundaries to what I could get away with. Nothing ever seemed to catch him off guard, and even if it did, he would manage to improvise a solution within moments.

But one day, my father seemed to change. He returned from the royal palace with a somber look on his face and locked himself in his work chamber for the rest of the day. Over time, I could not help but notice it getting worse, although he did his best to hide his gloom from me. One night, however, I could not sleep and walked to his study, where I knew he would be at that time. He was there with the king himself. Being the viceroy's only child and heir to his position, I had met the king on several occasions, yet I knew better than to interrupt whatever he and my father were talking about.

Hoping that they would be done soon, I decided to wait for a while and so heard some of what they were saying. They spoke of an enemy that was coming for our world, of colonies that had gone silent. How Efaresta, and perhaps not even the power of all the realms combined might not be enough to stop it. It was the first time that I saw my father not being able to offer a solution to a problem.

It was the king, however, who then offered a solution instead. This may sound as if I did not think much of him, but the king was a young man and still looked to people like my father for advice on many matters. He told my father that every monarch on Silcaria had received an ultimatum from this enemy, one that gave them the choice between surrender and total annihilation. All of them had rejected the ultimatum and chosen to fight instead. As such, the king explained, the full might of all Silcarian realms would be my father's to command against the enemy, if he wanted the position.

My father accepted, after some persuasion by the king. Even if he did not wish to admit that he was the most qualified for the position, he was the only one would could have led all of us. Unfortunately, even the best of us were unable to stem the tide that came in for us...

On the day that my world died, I stood by a window in my bed chamber. My mother had forbidden me to go outside, even if that meant the balconies or the roof. I had never been more afraid in my life up until that moment, yet I was unable to avert my eyes from what went on outside. I stood paralyzed as I watched hulking cylinder-shaped ships plummet from the skies, coated in flames as they broke through the atmosphere. I knew that my father was up there somewhere, fighting to kill as many enemies to keep them from reaching the ground.

The ships drove straight into the surface of the planet, both inside the city and without, killing hundreds of thousands at once. Once the dust had finally settled, the enemy came pouring out. Army upon army emerged from the towering wrecks, swarming out to enslave our dying world.

I do not know if my father survived the battle or not. All I know is that he did not go down without a fight. Likely his final thoughts were of my mother and I, or perhaps the world that he had fought for against overwhelming odds...

A ship crashed into the surface close to the palace. The explosions that came with the crash were so bright that I covered my eyes. This proved to be a saving grace, as a shockwave shattered the glass in my windows. Scared witless, I shrieked helplessly as I fell to the floor.