Homecoming
Asteroid field PS 537
The stillness of a starless night settled through the bridge as Ominek stood on the raised platform, hands clasped behind his back. His ship was hidden in a void of utter darkness. No stars or moons shone here. Only infinite black overhead, lit by no light except for the soft glow of magical runes on the walls and ceiling. The path leading from his spell ship through the Umbral plane stretched out before him like an endless abyss. He could feel it around him, taste its oppressive nature. It seemed to press in on him with all its weight. Each breath became labored and his hearts beat faster. He was acutely aware of his own mortality, that any moment he might slip on a stray stone or be sucked into the world-swallowing maelstroms below. That he would never be found again, nor know what had happened to him. He shook off the chill of fear and thought about the stories he’d heard as a young hatchling aboard a privateer vessel: how the eldritch demons native to this plane lurked in the shadows waiting to feed on their prey—living souls—and carried them into Hell; where they were tortured for eternity.
The massive field of rubble in front of us was the debris from Asteroid Field PS 527, once known as Alpha Prime: the home world of a race of proud warriors who challenged the dragons. Their world was destroyed in the last gods’ war, and with it their power and nobility were taken away. With nowhere to go and no one to lead them, they fell into chaos and many became enslaved. This gray expanse is all that remains of their home–a sad marker of what once was.
Ominek cast a glance behind him at the gathered primals shifting about nervously at the rear of the bridge. A pair of hatchlings escorted them over. Luffa at their lead. Ominek could tell she’d taken it upon herself to become the intermediary for her people. Good, Ominek mused. He could leverage that sense of responsibility against her. She was too canny to fall for his tricks
He gestured to the bleak debris field ahead of them. All eyes fell upon the stony graveyard. He turned with a weary frown to them. His expression full of empathy and regret.
“I wanted you all to see this for yourselves, largely because I too know what it was like to be raised a hostage to someone else’s plans. When I first discussed helping Luffa find her freedom, she’d mentioned a strong desire to return to her home world. I didn’t want to dissuade her from seeking that opportunity out of fear that she’d have nothing left, so I didn’t elaborate fully on just what that would mean. But now that you’re all here I believe the evidence bears itself out. Alpha Prime is a shattered graveyard.”
A male primal with wild black hair that feathered to a point approached the scry screen with a scowl and folded arms. “Who did this? The Federation?”
Ominek shook his head. “No, as much as I’d enjoy laying the blame for this at their feet, that ultimately belongs to my cousins in the other dragonflights. They feared the warriors that the primals were capable of becoming and shattered their home. The survivors have floated amongst the stars. Some falling in as mercenaries. Others being harvested as slaves.”
Luffa folded her arms. Intense skepticism colored her expression, but she couldn’t act on it. She’d been pushed into a corner. Distrusting and resentful for it, she schooled her response as neutral as possible. “You knew all this and yet you withheld it from us?”
A simple question, but Ominek saw the underlying barb beneath the question. He anticipated this kind of response. “Child, yes. If I told you your dream of fleeing your captive home and returning to your natural one was as dead as their debris field before us, would you have still tried?”
Luffa scowled, her brows knit together as her emerald eyes shifted with rapid racing thoughts. Eventually she shook her head no. “It would have been too great a risk.”
Ominek flashed a friendly smile. An understanding look from someone who only had her best concerns at heart. Both of them knew it was a facade, but the other primals accepted the charade at face value. Ominek could see the eagerness to be accepted and welcomed into anything resembling a family.
“Alpha Prime may no longer exist, your people may be scattered, but you will always have a home amongst my people.”
“Aren’t your people dragons?”
Ominek smirked. “In a sense. We’re soul shacklers. It would be more apt to call us errant souls hijacking the bodies of dragons.”
“I’m not sure that’s any better.” Luffa said, folding her arms.
Ominek shrugged. “It’s not a perfect solution, but it is the only one I can provide for you. All I’m asking is that you consider my offer.”
Luffa took her time in considering Ominesk’s offer. On the one hand, she felt a sense of loyalty to her people and wanted to help them find their way home. On the other hand, she was hesitant about joining a group of dragons whose motivations were unknown. Would they be truly accepting of her people or use them as pawns?
The decision weighed heavily on Luffa’s mind as she contemplated her options. She glanced back to the desolate remains of Alpha Prime and realized that even if they did decide to search for a new world, it would take years to find a location suitable and even more time before they could build something worth occupying. Joining Ominek’s people seemed like the only viable option at this point, but Luffa still hesitated at the thought.
She glanced back feeling the weight of everyone’s eyes weigh down heavily on her. They were still looking to her for the time being. But how long could she help shield them from Ominek’s machinations? How long before he managed to outmaneuver her and make her influence among her people all but worthless? She studied his expression carefully. What she saw made her blood run cold.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
“It isn’t as if we have any choice. If we decline we’re stranded and alone. We’ll join you, for now.” She stressed, but felt how hollow the hanging clause was. They both knew that it would only be a matter of time before Ominek was the true leader of the Primal refugees.
Ominek smiled broadly at the primals and swept his arms open in a grand gesture, as if to hug the assembled body of Primals all at once. “Then on behalf of the Sauridius, I would like to formally welcome all you to the family.”
He turned and gave a nod to the hatchling manning the control matrix. Void magic rippled over the vessel as it shifted position and moved to exit the system before opening a gateway into the Umbral realm. Void magic snapped and rippled as it tore at the fabric of reality, bending it in such a way that objects that traversed the aperture appeared on the other side of folded space and time.
Ominek’s cruiser slowly drifted back through and he strode to resume a commanding position within the bridge.
“We shall now embark on our journey to visit the ethereal mind of Sauridius, a giant star sized ball of soul, earth, fire and void magic. It is a god without active consciousness, but it’s my people’s goal to wake him.” Ominek said with a glint in his eye that was only partially hidden by his hood. “And I’d be honored if you’d join me on this quest. Together, we can work towards achieving this dream for both our peoples.”
The primals looked at each other uncertainly. They weren’t sure what the ultimate outcome would be or what they were getting themselves into, but joining Ominek’s crusade seemed like their best bet at the moment. So with a collective nod of agreement from all of them, they set off through the gateway towards Sauridius’ celestial realm.
As they stepped through the gateway and into the Umbral realm, they felt as if time had frozen around them in the icy black void. The group of primals huddled into the center of the bridge. With the Umbral stealth system of the cruiser active, all light and magic emissions were contained so that nothing was let out. To the creatures lurking within, they were little more than an inert piece of metal drifting along.
Ominek stood at the front of the bridge with his hands clasped calmly behind his back. The perfect presentation of confident authority. He’d ventured into the umbral plane before alone. Traversing its depths without the aid of a vessel is possible, though he’d never admit to the fact that it made him feel uncomfortable. In the total void of the umbral plane, he felt like prey.
Luffa approached his right side quietly. Her aura flickered nervously. He caught her gaze shifting side to side at the black scry screen. The deployed armor panels currently blocked all windows.
“How come I can feel them out there? What are they?”
Ominek smiled softly. His first genuine smile with her since his previous charade.
“What are they indeed?” He paused contemplatively, turning to lean against the platinum, gold, silver and bronze control matrix next to him.
“Some believe the beings in the dark are the true titans. Cast out by the gods before they turned on themselves. Others thing they are naturally occurring to the realm. Others think of them as devourers of everything else. Consuming matter, light and energy as it foolishly finds its way here. The cycles great recycling system as it were.”
Luffa’s brows knit. For a moment it felt like she was getting another lecture from the weaver college. Guilt pierced her stomach briefly. She cleared her throat before speaking. “What do you think?” She added extra emphasis to you, seeking his own personal thoughts.
He shrugged casually. His crisp black dress suit hugging his frame shifted with the gesture. “It doesn’t matter. They could be older than time or younger than me. But they ultimately are beyond my capability to understand or influence them. For now.” He amended.
“My focus right now is on winning the war for my peoples. So long as we live, the Federation will not tolerate our existence. They will wage war until we are nothing more than memories and dust.”
He paused contemplatively. An almost sad expression softening his face, and Luffa caught herself wondering how much of this was an act.
“At one time, dragons used to be the dominant species for several sectors. No one remembers how the last dragon flight war began. Only that it ended with most of the flights in ruins. The only survivors are those preening fools on Anazi Prime. Huddled around their dead mother. But us? The Sauridius? We are ascendant.”
Luffa folded her arms, a brow arched. “And how is that working out for you? You’ve managed to piss off every habitable world in the sector that you don’t already own. You literally whacked Eryn with a stick, and stirred up the stingers nest.”
“Yes, but we’re nearing the end game. Having my opponent whipped into a frenzy plays to our advantage. Better that they either fervently attack and defend, than scrutinize our moves. Freedom and the sector will be ours soon enough.”
“And what’s to become of us primals until then? We become your shock troops?”
Ominek smiled, as if finally hearing something he expected. As much truth as show. “If that’s what they wish. You all have endured quite much at their hand. If revenge or justice is desired, there is plenty to be found.”
“And if not?”
“Then they may leave of course. No one here is bound or shackled. You are all free beings.”
Luffa turned to face the black screen, unable to hide her scowl. “We’ll see about that.”