UNTITLED: Book One

REWIND 10th

Introducing,

The 10th Hero

The Millennium Hero

“…my everything. I love you both dearly, always… Bye now.” The mother says to her children over her communicator.

The Millennium Hero turns to look at the one who is destined to become a Warden one day, her oldest friend—like a brother, once. At one point, almost something more. They now stand on Isi-Iyi. He returns her gaze.

It’s not just his opaque glasses hiding his eyes—something he’s been wearing since their younger days, she simply can’t seem to get a read on him at all. It feels as though there’s almost nothing left of the person she once knew. The boy that was always afraid, but wanted to be brave, so he put on those glasses to become his own hero. To feel strong. That boy is gone. This person, standing across from her, is just…a monster?

“######…” She says calls out his name to him, but it’s drowned out by yet another cruiser-class ship crashing in the distance.

They don’t have many of those left now. Pretty soon they won’t have anything left that could survive the trip back to Earth. These new weapons of theirs… This makes her briefly recall just how many ships they lost in the beginning of the invasion alone. Simply while trying to enter the atmosphere. How unprepared they were for what they’d find here. How the fleet admiral had sacrificed himself and the life of his crew so that she, and everyone else could touch down on the battlefield. We need our hero, was the last thing the admiral had said to her. Not ‘I love you’ or anything else sentimental, like a husband should. Just duty. Always just duty. You big dummy. What was so hard about just telling me that you needed me? Or that you loved me?

Still, while he wasn’t always the best husband, his sacrifice was a testament to how truly amazing he was as a soldier, and honestly he was a truly reliable Father. And that last part mattered to her the most.

Now, her thoughts shift to her twins—her little boy, always proud of his parents. Eager to be like them. Strong-hearted, but not skilled enough to be a Hero—thank goodness. He’ll hopefully be spared from this life.

But, then there was his older twin sister—my little girl. Growing up so fast and the exact opposite of her brother. It frightened her that her little girl was so much like her. No, even better than her. Too smart and strong for her age. Too capable, of everything except just enjoying her childhood. She can only hope that her daughter's hatred of Core keeps her away from it.

She wanted her children to just enjoy their lives. But, of course that’s hard when both your parents are like this, she thinks to herself as she looks at the armor covering her hands and arms.

Despite all her hoping, her little Anaye might never avoid becoming the next Hero, because Core would never let someone that talented go. She understood this. So it was up to her, The Millennium Hero, to make sure there was no need for another Hero. She had to try. And hopefully, her children will be able to avoid her same mistakes, find love to raise a family of their own, and finally settle down. Be free from all this.

“Agh.” She brushes off the incoming rush of sorrow with a fast-twitch shake of her head.

It’s probably time to officially call for a retreat. And, she should probably retreat with them. And doing so would probably be the wisest thing to do… She sighs, but Heroes don’t surrender do they, Amala (ah-mAH-luh)? She asks herself as she looks towards the sky again where she witnesses Sollar cut down yet another cruiser-class before going after a carrier class this time. She cringes and her fist clenches tightly as she repeatedly taps her thigh to calm herself. It’s not the one with her children on it, but he’s getting closer.

She closes her eyes. I love Earth, my home, but damn Core. She thinks about how it’s because of her deep distrust of them that she had chosen, during this 10-year campaign, to not only remain pregnant with her twins, but give birth to them and raise them in the very same carrier ship that she traveled in. They were safer with her than without, she had thought. Arrogance, she curses herself. And their Father, well he would certainly protect them with his life, but also he would most certainly lead them into joining Core. He didn’t know what she knew about them, so he didn’t share her same distrust. After all, as the highest ranking military figure on Earth and in throughout the galaxy, some things were classified, even for him.

No. Arrogant as it may be, it was the right choice Amala. You did the right thing. Core would definitely use them as unofficial hostages if ever they wanted me to be, especially, obedient. They wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice children. They never do.

She opens her eyes again and scans the ground around her. The bodies of all the Perennials, the hero-candidates that trained everyday of every year since their recruitment. All for a role they would never have. Slaughtered now, and they were so young. Three-generations of them, nine bodies.

She recalls all her arguments with Core leaders, including her husband, trying to express that this campaign was doomed to fail. But they refused to listen because of what they saw him accomplish, she looks again at the future Warden, then up towards the sky at Sollar soaring through the air, before returning her gaze again to her old friend.

He doomed us all when he finally succeeded in creating his own super soldiers, The Guard. She scoffs to herself, then she speaks up again, “It’s a crime that someone so unskilled with the blade could cause so much destruction, that Sollar. There’s no way all of this doesn’t come with a steep price though. I’m right, aren’t I?”

“Quite. Such is the beauty, and the horror of these weapons. Of life, really,” he replies while looking at his two blades. “It’s interesting. You’re taking this pretty well, Amala. As unshakable as ever, I see. You were always the heart of the group, after all.”

The Millennium Hero chuckles to herself. “I’m terrified ######. No one is unshakeable, but you never understood that. Look around you.” She points to the carrier in the sky that houses her children. Sollar currently taking on two battleships at the same time, getting nearer now to her kids.

“This was an utter failure. My fleet gone, my husband is dead, and my children are in danger. You KNOW just how much they mean to me. You know it, Four-Eyes.” She passionately expresses with a hint of desperation. Using his childhood nickname, one last time.

Upon hearing it, he manages to fights back a quick smile before simply replying, “I do. Yes.”

“Do you? How could you possibly? I mean, my goodness!” She exclaims as she points towards Sollar while looking him in his eyes. “You essentially gave an already war-hungry murderer, a bomb with unlimited ammo—and then THE strength to wield it! What THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU??”

“It would be you. It’s a sword Amala. It should be you. You… with the power to change destiny. To save everyone in the galaxy. To beat everyone. But you ran away from it, and left me fight on my own… We were supposed to fight Core together…? When did you change, Amala? When, between ravaging worlds and changing diapers, did you decide to aid a world you distrust so much? To abandon me? When, between erasing entire lineages and scolding your own, did you decide that this… is what it meant to be a Hero? When did you decide to become their Hero? You inspired all of this. And even brought war to this planet. MY planet. What should have been our planet.”

“I HAVE KIDS ######! I Have! Kids! What-… arghh!” She throws her hands up and stomps while turning around, away from him, hoping to regain her composure.

“I do too, now.” He says.

She whirls back around towards him, “What? Wh- What do you mean by that?… By whom?” She asks suspiciously.

“You’ve missed a lot.”

She looks at him as her suspicion grows. She hesitates for a moment, then she leans in, lowering her voice, “Was it when you went to that place?… is that where you got these weapons from?”

“… a lot, Amala. Too much, in fact.” He reiterates.

She knows his answer means nothing good for them, and it is all the more reason why she must do this. She finds her resolve again.

“Be that as it may, it changes nothing now… ######, I can admit that I was wrong. I was so... Incredibly wrong. And I’m only just now realizing that it’s too little, too late. For me, that is. But not for my little ones. And it seems now, not for yours either. You see, while burning that path through the galaxy, I found the most powerful thing in the universe. More powerful then what you’ve found. And then I took hold of it and I gave birth to two stars that will one day birth Suns. ######, I don’t need a planet. I have a universe. I don’t need your weapons. I have love—I do. I do now. It’s saved me.” She nods her head repeatedly, reassuring herself. “I was wrong. But so are you. We all are. I did a lot of wrong to be earn the title of The Hero, and that is part of the reason why I will not run today. I deserve my fate.”

“Your escape, you mean. I am trying to protect us all.”

“Then you should have never taken those weapons,” She simply replies. She’s come to terms, right then and there, with the idea that she’ll never change his mind, or her own.

So she taps in the retreat order on her command gauntlet… It’s received. Now, what’s left of the ground units begin running to the nearest transports which try to escape to the nearest of the two remaining cruisers. But not without receiving heavy fire.

“Stop,” She says with an exhausted and annoyed look in response to him bombarding her retreating army.

He stops them.

She continues, “Call your little experiment back here too. Call Sollar. It’s been ten long years of this shit. These encounters. Us debating philosophies. The catharsis whenever our interests did align. The amazing places you’ve shown me. The horrors we saw. The pain of betrayal after. Then me, always hoping that you’ll come back to us, to me. But you’ve caused too much pain, ######. We’ve all caused too much pain, really. And so, I’m tired. I feel like I’ve failed as a Mom and Hero, but the last thing I can do is to try, for my babies. Imma save them and, I’m sorry I couldn’t save you too.”

She watches his mysterious blades glow, and then soon she can hear a shockwave as Sollar heads back their way at high speed.

“Likewise, Hero. But you’re the one in need of saving. You have no idea what you’re up against today.”

She pulls her sword out of the ground as Sollar lands next to The Warden. Sollar’s eyes completely blackened and fierce, breathing like the rabid dog he always was. The Millennium Hero readies herself.

“I don’t doubt it. I still don’t know where you two went to get such weapons. I never will. I don’t know if I want to, considering all the other places you’ve shown me. But based on all that alone, I know that it can’t be good. For as long as I’ve known you, you have never thought about the consequences. Always the big picture, but never the price.”

Her remark about the price makes him break his stoic demeanor for a moment, anger flashing across his face. Gone as fast as it came, but now present in his demeanor, “We’re done now. Goodbye… I do love you, despite what you think. ”

“Spare me your fake sentiment. And you should know by now, it’s never done.” She points her sword at him:

{

I’ve been a prisoner of more, then of war when, my closest friend enclosed us in this box and watched. The Warden, I dub you. And I trust you, know its the fate of all those who embrace titles, to die in the end. The man I called friend. Dead. Because you can’t see how you’re doomed to a fate where these monsters you’ve made will one day consume you.”

}

She makes her move and the battle that ensues becomes the most legendary battle in the history of both The Earth and all the 21 Colonies. As told by the The Guard, that later become the Old Guard. As told by the remaining armies of the other colonies. As told by the survivors of Core escaping in their last two ships.

Regardless of whether one spoke of the horror, or glory, of Core’s loss that day, all parties present knew one thing. In watching The Millennium Hero versus The Warden and Sollar, everyone, every single person, would say that they witnessed the same things:

That day, they witnessed one person take on giants—two people with the power to create tides the size of mountains, and then flatten those mountains. They witnessed a battle reshape the map of an entire world as their fight spanned across the entire planet, only just to end back on the island it started. That day, all sides witnessed the single greatest warrior that the galaxy had ever seen in the last thousand years, fight the greatest fight they had ever seen. All just to simply wound The Warden. But those wounds went deep. Never healing. Leading to Sollar’s eventual depravity… and the day The Warden would meet his end.

To her loved ones and friends, she was Amala. To some, a conquerer. To all, she was the 10th Hero of Core, The Millennium Hero. But to her kids, she was Mom. And this was the title she chose to die for that day.

—

And because she forgot to turn off her communicator that day…her little boy and girl heard everything, down to her very last breath.

The thunderous drum strikes once…