Chapter 25 Flaming Fear “Ah, our sweet Tensartis! Every time it’s the same, my lord, you keep on forgetting to mention the high percentage of hydrogen in the air! Poor boy! Hurry, the shooting will start again any minute!” Pieris drags me into the hole, with Kallitris helping with a remorseful expression on his face. He sure is lovely even when he is upset! I pass out briefly, knocked out by the winds of Ashtarma, but I c...

Chapter 24 The Winds of Ashtarma “Tell me more.” I ask, rubbing the thin but strong skin of his wings between my fingers. “I was running away from the intergalactic search, when I smelled Leot. At that point I was in so much pain of his rejection, and his desire to hunt me down, that I felt like turning myself in. So I put my spaceship over that city, Deikeren, and I went there. The strangest places, these human cities......

Chapter 23 Never to let go “Here.” Kallitris points to the bin nearby. I throw the carrot into the bin and the guard, finding nothing suspicious, looks away. We’re almost to the middle of the field now. The tired and overworked people around pay no attention to us. But I still can’t see Relemill. Suddenly a man, bending to pick a carrot right by me falls to the ground. “It’s him!” Sheirer runs to the man, who looks very o...

Chapter 22 Searching for Relemill We’re coming down between the two mountain tops, abundant with life and beauty. The stunted trees hide the paths that mountain rams and deer made with their nimble hoofs. Small patches of grass get saturated with moisture, left by big wooly clouds that rub their massive sides as they squeeze through the rocky ridges to get to the plains of Tirra… “This is, like, the most dangerous passage...

Lucy hops around the sapphire blue fire, occasionally flapping her tiny wings to get a good feel of them. I load my magazines with ammunition and watch her as she dances around the flame. Here on Cordial, most firewood stored enough energy to turn the flame blue, and the one branch I found did exactly that, and it lit up the area around the crashed gunship very well tonight, there isn't a single crack we can't see."She su...

We could have had all the luck in the world, but it would not be close to what we needed, for what happened next. I felt all our hopes and dreams rain down like meteors. The light was suddenly blinding and unbearably hot. It was a fool's errand to begin with and we beat the odds to get where we were. Now the cruel world played its cards, and we lost the game. I gave everything to get away, only to find myself forced to wa...

Chapter 21 The Shadow of Ari Taken aback by the prophet’s reaction I glance at Eva, standing there very calmly. “I told you to kill them, Demi, not send them running!” Sada is distraught, and she leans on the counter, shaking. “I did that. But this turned out to be even better – it’s shamefully hilarious! They ran with their tails between their legs… hehehe!” “Wait, these are not your species? They had tails?” Eva is visi...

Chapter 20 Star Enchanted The supportive power of love never ceases to fascinate me. This time it is Henessada’s love for her country. What wouldn’t you do for your country? “Get in, Demi, before it’s too late.” I hear Sada’s voice in my head. “Where are you?” I say aloud, as I’m worried and upset at her absence. A familiar ramp stretches from out of the cloud and onto the city wall. It’s Eva. What a relief. Iris and I ru...

Chapter 19 Anger of His Heart “Yes” The prophet sighs. “It gets worse. Eva thinks that Kallitris is using the Faith Star to protect him enough to be able to take the energy. She does not understand how can anyone approach a quasar so closely, but the old sheirer is up to no good. The hope for us is that the Faith Star appears to have no limits in its power. I need you to access it right now.” Easy enough. I walk away from...

Chapter 18 Diamonds of Painful Love We ride to the city of Tustridge, the capital of the country, as fast as we can past the wild nature, swept in the whirlwind of the autumn that comes as a moody queen, painting everything red and purple, then ripping off all the colors, wreaking havoc… It is not far to go, and now Sada feels a bit stronger in the face of the upcoming invasion, but the spaceship is still of little use if...

Leonid tapped his foot impatiently, Mickey had forced Triton squad to stay behind and not fight because they were rookies, and Leonid was getting real pissed. First they told them they were gonna die, then they didn't tell them the briefing had started while they were gearing up. And now they were ultimately leaving them out of the action. The life of pure adrenaline and life or death decisions and shit never going your w...

Chapter 17 Eva I feel that we’re not done here. This is what I think when we cross the threshold of my grandfather’s ship. I can’t let go of this thought even when too much is going on as it is. Sada is pale, and it looks like someone is trying to strangle her. The ghostly woman holds her hands over the old woman’s head. I can see Sada’s gray hair right through the woman’s hands. Henessada gasps for air, screams, the woma...

Dayna scrambled through the escape pod hatch and into the cool morning air. Standing on the side of the pod, she looked back along the furrow it had scored through the forest when it landed. She slipped down the side of the pod, and when her bare feet hit the ground they sank into the soft, damp soil and she savoured the feeling. It had been so long since she'd been outside and felt dirt beneath her feet or a soft breeze...

Chapter 16 The Brainstorm “This is our horse!” screams my husband. “We caught him in the field! Finders keepers!” answers the man who played the guitar, as he turns his back to us, and joins the crowd. As they walk by us, Sarji winks at me. He’d wave with his hoof, but for all the people too close to him! “Oh, no, you didn’t!” Iris, pulling out his sword, is getting ready to go after them to fight for our horse, when Sada...

Chapter 15 A Gypsy Trick Sada has a strange vision as we ride out of the village. It’s getting ready to rain. Iris and we wrap ourselves tighter in our cloaks, but the prophet does not seem to notice the cold weather. She looks straight in front of her, transfixed. I can penetrate her vision, but the images are blurry and I can’t see everything. There are a lot of people. They speak loudly to each other, in a cacophony of...