Prologue

A dusty haze hovered over the ground of the battlefield. The two fighters stood face-to-face, swords drawn and fierce looks upon their faces. The two could have been twins; both wore the same simple brown outfit of a farmer, both of them were barefoot, and both of them wore a look on their face that said neither would hesitate to kill the other.

“Ready, Girus?” the first said, whose dusty brown hair was tied back in a long ponytail, revealing two ears whose tips ended in a point.

“Born ready, Juack.” Girus grinned and carefully brushed his long ebony locks behind his ears, both of which were the same as his opponent’s. “The question is, ‘How skilled are you at the blade?’”

“You trained under Atticus, and I trained under my father…” Juack said with a smile. “Of course, only one of us can prevail beyond this point.”

“En garde, Juack. En garde.” Girus lunged forward with his sword forward – a strong lunge that could have pierced a hole straight through his opponent’s gut. But Juack had seen it coming. The scar on his stomach was proof, and the memory was still painful. He quickly spun to the side, countering the attack with a swift kick to Girus’ knees.

Girus went down to the ground with a grunt, but still held himself up on one knee, his sword held in a defensive position. But Juack didn’t strike; he stood his ground and held his own sword out in a similar stance.

“Touché. I see you remembered what happened last time. I suppose you’ll see this next move coming?” Girus jabbed his sword in the ground and used the hilt to do a forward flip over the blade, feet-first towards Juack. Juack, however, had seen this move used dozens of time, and took the kick to the gut he knew was coming in order to block the sword that came behind it with his own.

“Another move diverted. It looks like I’ll never land a hit…” Girus smirked, “Unless you can somehow dodge this?” He suddenly threw his sword at Juack, the blade spinning directly towards his face. But rather than make a complicated dodge, Juack simply tilted his head, and the blade went flying past him. But after the weapon flew behind him, a bloody cut appeared on his cheek.

“And now you’re unarmed.” Juack said with a grin, ignoring the cut. “Shouldn’t have thrown your sword, pal.” He lunged forward and stabbed his own blade towards his friend’s unguarded chest.

“Shouldn’t have underestimated my abilities.” Girus spun to the side and grabbed Juack’s sword blade with his bare hand. He then raised his other hand just in time to catch his own weapon by its hilt as it spun end-over-end towards him. “Little trick Atticus taught me. Throw the sword at just the right angle…”

“And it comes right back. I should have expected him to teach you something like that.” Juack groaned. “Now, drop mine or yours.” He shifted his weight and changed his grasp on his sword in order to send a backwards kick to Girus’ gut, sending him to the ground.

“Damn, you’ve gotten better.” Girus grinned. “Looks like Raphael wasn’t such a bad teacher after all.”

“Hey, you’re not bad yourself.” Juack offered a hand to his fallen friend. “Atticus knows what he’s doing. That’s a really neat boomerang trick. Must be hard to do.”

Girus grabbed the proffered hand and got to his feet. “It’s really not, once you get the hang of it.”

They walked together towards their small and discreet audience, which consisted of Juack’s parents – Raphael and Kiren Hallavasso. The father was clad in the same simple outfit that his son wore, though he also wore a pair of thick leather gloves from working in the fields day after day. Yet despite his choice of occupation, his slim form stood tall and proud, almost regal. Many years of life gave him short black hair with streaks of gray peppered throughout. The same effect was apparent on the small tuft of hair on his chin.

Juack’s mother, however, wore a white maternity dress over a protruding belly, obviously several months along and expecting soon. But despite her condition, she continued to wear a gentle smile that time after time eased the worries of both her husband and son. As the two boys approached, Raphael was stroking her wavy brown hair softly, the simple motion benefiting both of their troubled minds.

“Juack, I’m proud of you. Of course, you’re not a bad fighter either, Girus.” Raphael grinned as his son neared and clapped him on the shoulder, nearly sending the boy to the ground. “Looks like you took a hit…” He examined Juack’s face closely, noticing the long bloody scar that Girus had created. “Not a bad hit, either…”

“It’s nothing…” Juack said, raising his fingers to gently probe the cut. “Just a scratch.” He wiped a dirty palm down his sweaty face, smearing the blood across his cheek.

“Juack, honey,” Kiren said softly, “You don’t want to get it infected. Here…” She lifted a slender hand and pressed it to Juack’s face. A green glow engulfed her hand and Juack’s cheek, and the blood vanished. The scar, however, still remained.

“Ah…” Raphael muttered. “Well, guess it won’t go away that easily. Not a hit from such a fine blade as this. I’d warn you to be more careful, but…telling you that you won’t experience pain in the future is somewhat pointless.” As he spoke, Kiren clutched her husband’s shoulder.

“What do you mean?” Juack furrowed his brow in confusion as Raphael put his hand on Kiren’s.

“Nothing, son. You’ll find out in due time. Girus, come here and let me-” Raphael started to reach out, but he suddenly jerked and fell to one knee. “Damn! They’re here!”

“What? Now!?” Kiren gasped. She grabbed Raphael’s hand and helped him to his feet. “It can’t be!”

“It is. Get Juack and Girus to the Avalon. Take them to Oherron and contact Caelus. I have to lure them away and…”

“I’m coming with.” Kiren said immediately.

“No, you aren’t. You have to protect the boys. And besides – you’re going to have our child soon.”

“I…you’re right. I shouldn’t be so foolish. Juack, Girus, let’s go.” Kiren latched on to each boy’s hand and gave her husband a look. “I’m going.”

“Be careful. They won’t hesitate to attack y-” Raphael’s words were cut off by a high-pitched screech that filled the air. Right on cue, dozens of small, sleek, one-seat black spacecraft appeared in the sky and peppered the ground near them with blasts of superheated plasma, leaving scorching craters where they hit.

In an instant, the fields of long, willowy stalks of grain, carefully tended by Raphael and his son day by day, were lashed into a frenzy and flattened to the ground by the assault. Raphael, the sun-beaten farmer, spared not a glance for his beloved crops and began to run in the opposite direction from his wife and the children.

“Wh-what’s going on?” Juack and Girus both gripped Kiren tight as the ships began to turn around for another run.

“Juack, I have to leave you for a while. Stay close to your mother, and I promise I’ll see you someday soon.” Raphael shouted over his shoulder, scanning the sky as the jets wheeled and turned. “Kiren! Get going!”

“Affirmative.” Kiren held on tight to the two boys and chanted several powerful words of an ancient, dead language under her breath. Her hands glowed green again, and in an instant, all three of them vanished. They reappeared seconds later in a huge metal room, where a silver craft waited. It was a fairly simple triangle-shaped vehicle, and based on its relatively small size, it was built to hold only one or two passengers.

“Quickly, we need to leave!” Kiren hustled Juack and Girus towards the ship, where a ramp leading inside was slowly descending.

“Where’s dad?” Juack asked. Kiren was silent while she carefully helped the two boys into the ship, which was definitely too small for all three of them. It only had two leather seats, a single viewscreen that showed the hangar wall in front of the ship, and two computer consoles used for navigation.

“Your father will join us soon. Our priority is getting out of here right now.” Kiren said through gritted teeth. “Everything will be alright.”

“What’s going on? I don’t understand.” Girus sank his head into his hands. “Why are we leaving?”

“I’ll explain everything once we’re cl- ahh!” Kiren suddenly screamed as a blood red projectile burst out of her arm and created a singe mark in the ship’s hull. “Th-they’re here!”

“Mom!” Juack grabbed Kiren’s arm, but she pushed him away and hit several keys on the computer. The ramp slowly started to ascend, and through the viewscreen, the three of them could see a massive metal door beginning to open to the surface of the planet.

“No! Stop!” Kiren shouted as several dark green hands appeared on her arms and legs. She grabbed at the seat in front of her, but more hands appeared, grabbing at her and dragging her backwards through the still-open door and out of the ship. “No!”

“Mom! MOM!” Juack yelled. He tried to pull himself out of his seat, but an invisible force held him in. He could only watch helplessly as his mother was pulled away from him and forced out of the ship. Then the ramp was sealed, and the ship was airborne. “No! Let us out!” He pounded the keyboard, but the ship continued forward and flew out of the hangar.

Outside, on the surface, it was pure chaos. Where once there were clear blue skies, there was now a red glow. The ground, once dusty brown, was covered in thousands of black scorch marks. The skies were now filled with hundreds of black spacecraft, all firing plasma salvos towards the ground.

But most horrifying was the sight above the planet itself – a massive silver moon that had appeared in conjunction with the ships. It hung there ominously, an orb in the sky waiting for its lackeys to do its dirty work. And dirty work it had done – for Raphael was nowhere in sight, and Kiren had been captured.

“Wh-what is that thing?” Juack gasped and grabbed Girus’ arm.

“I don’t know…but it definitely can’t be a good thing.” Girus muttered. As soon as he said this, their fears became reality. The moon suddenly blossomed, opening up and revealing the inside. But what was inside was truly a sight to behold.

An enormous black cylinder was hovering within, like a giant gun barrel pointed at the planet. As their small craft approached the atmosphere, the computer automatically dodging the plasma bolts from the enemy ships, the barrel started to glow an eerie, luminescent green.

“What…what is it doing?” Juack ground his teeth together, wringing his hands in silent prayer, hoping that it was not what he dreaded. The glow brightened to a point so painful that the boys had to direct their gaze at the ground, and seconds later, the moon fired its charge at the planet.

The entire world split in two. Fissures formed all across the globe, snaking out from the crater of the blast, rivulets of earth sliding into nothing and chasms opening up to send billions tumbling down to their doom. As the deadly beam continued to concentrate on the planet, a blazing wave of heat made its way around the planet, toppling all that got in its way. Cities crumbled, farmlands were reduced to cinders, oceans evaporated and rose up in steaming clouds, and the ground itself was burned to a crisp.

And when the wave finally met with itself on the other side of the planet, engulfing everything in a blaze of fire…the planet vanished in a tremendous explosion. The atmosphere burned away, and any life that may have remained on the planet was wiped out once and for all.

As Juack and Girus stared in awe, their craft escaped along with several others past the destruction. But even as they fled, the enemy pursued. The escaping ships were defenseless against the powerful assault craft. Many of those who had evaded death with the planet were still sent to their fate at the hands of their unknown attackers.

Plasma fire shot past their craft, but through some unseen force, all blasts missed them. After some time, the enemy attacks thinned, and finally ended.

But they were not out of the woods yet. While the enemy had been evaded for now, they were still out in space with no knowledge of where they were going. They were alone, possibly the last survivors of their race, and with nobody to help them once they reached their destination.

Yet in spite of their situation, both of them managed somehow to remain calm. They had nobody but each other, but they had grown up together, taken the rites of manhood together, and knew each other more fully than themselves. That was all they needed.

What they did not know, however, was that someday, some years from the day they became survivors of this nearly extinct race, they would lose their friendship for good, and would become the bitterest of enemies.

For when their past finally caught up to them, neither one would be prepared for the destruction it would bring.