C.S
Terrestrial Destination
As we walk along the elevated walk way,
slowly approaching the Catalyst, I look down at my suspension guards confining
me from any form of escape, these tiny little oval shaped objects are stabbed
into our arms and as they flash red, they send currents through our bodies
disrupting our gifts.
We are escorted by Drataan’s supreme
guard, faceless clones, bound in armour and implanted with a fraction of their
masters powers. If I was not retrained, I would slaughter them all for what
they have done, all the families they have killed… Drataan’s number one, Caleb,
effectively ended the war destroying our life-labs, containing over twenty
thousand unborn beings. They were our re-enforcements.
At twenty three, I am still considered a
child, one of the lucky few who have grown naturally; if you’d class growing up
through war, witnessing every blood covered year lucky. We can live up to the
age of one thousand years and at the age of nine hundred, you are elevated to
ancestor status.
My eyes cast around from our glistening
blue oceans towards the gigantic marble statues of our elders. To my right
stands Lucian, Annai’s father. Standing tall, Lucian was a great man and all
knowing. I look over at Annai, she is staring at the stone floor, her brown
fringe covering her eye’s from my gaze but I can see the sadness in the way she
walks.
As we walk past her, fathers statue, she
looks in my direction and in a poor attempt to comfort her from afar, I convey
what I believe to be a supportive smile. Annai, returns my gesture and as
looking longingly into her eyes, I feel the pain she does; which is most
probably due to her gift on transference.
As Drataan held her by the throat, she
could of easily made him feel like it was him who was choking to death, but she
did not. Annai either wanted to die, or Drataan was immune. I don’t
have the nerve to ask her what happened and I doubt I ever will, Annai is my
closest friend and I don’t want to ever push her away from my protection.
As we approach the Catalyst’s main
chamber, the giant arched doors decorated with the story of our beginning creak
open slowly and we are ushered through, thanks to a prod in the back from ours
guards staff.
We ten stand together waiting for the
judge to arrive and deliver us to our fateful punishment. I look over at Karl,
who’s is probably my best friend. His short brown hair in patches due to wounds
from a staff weapon. His clothes are war torn like the rest of us, asides from
Annai, he’s the only one I actually recognise in our small crowd. He’s about my
height, has small oval brown eyes, a pointy nose and the gift of pyrokinesis, he can
create fire and manipulate it however he sees fit.
Karl looks over at me with a look of
concern, he senses the end is near and I convey a look of mutual agreement back
towards him. His eyes cast towards the ground and an overwhelming feeling of
sadness floods my entire body. I have failed… We have failed, our fathers would
not be proud. I was bread to never give up, to fight until the end but as I
witnessed Annai in the evil clutches of Drataan, I could not stand to lose her.
I shuffle over towards Annai but the guard
immediately notices me and pounds the back of my legs with his staff. I look
around at his blank face and scowl. I pull myself up and make my way next to
Annai, staring at the guard for times entirety. Annai looks up at me with sadness,
her big hazel eyes are beautiful and they remind me of the moons of Quellis, a
far away planet that used to be a prime location for romantic getaways, it was
Drataan’s first target and it, like most of the other worlds he attacked, is
now dead. If you look into the sky by night, you can clearly see the embers
still raging rapidly. It had been a constant reminder for many years that the
war was never over.
‘Annai… I am sorry I failed.’
‘You didn’t fail Osias, we all did.’
Almost immediately, a door to the right
slides open and a judge shuffles through. It’s judge Tyrainius, a friend of my
fathers. His battered old body makes his way slowly towards the front and
centre escorted by two guards. His ageing face looks upon us and he notices I’m
part of this group.
The guard to his left places a scroll in
his hands for him to read from. Tyrainius constantly swallows his words as he
reads from the scroll of our fate… ‘Traitors against the cause of our master
Drataan, you have been judged and sentenced to the following punishment… Exile,
through the great Catalyst. You are being made to suffer for your sins… And if
you ever return; you will be killed instantly.’
He looks upon us all one last time ‘may
the Gods be with you, for you are the paragons… the best of us.’ As the guards
close in around him, the judge turns the cogs on the Catalyst and it starts to
tick like a clock. This magnificent devise is as tall as the chamber that
confines it, coated black, it transports matter to anywhere in the known universe,
including the Unknown. I can only hope we don’t end up there. The three orb
like chambers, start to descend on each other until they are one. The door of
the largest chamber starts to open and in it we step, one by one.
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