Wolf Rock, Planet Zenot, Year 16, Second Era

I sit on the beach and watch as the sun sets on the edge of the ocean. The waves slowly and peacefully crash against the sands. I reach out to touch the water as it gets closer. It fills me with peace.

My sister walks from behind me and sits to my left. She turns to me and has a bittersweet smile.

"Whatcha thinking about?" She asks.

I swear she always knows when there's something wrong. "I found this book, it was in the temple in the section Zen told me not to go. Kind of wishing I had listened."

"What was it about?"

I turn to her. "It was about the different planes of existence. Just seeing how many there are. It really just makes me wonder what our importance here is. We aren't special, we aren't alone. We are just one of millions of planets in one of millions of universes and yet we just stay here. We raise cattle, we feed ourselves and this village and then we die. Feels like my life is meaningless."

"It's not meaningless Hail. You can do whatever you want with your life. We don't have to stay here if you don't want to. In a few years we could go anywhere you want to go. Do whatever you want to do and I'll be right there with you."

"Who would take care of mom?" I ask

She shakes her head. "Zen could. They've always seemed like they had something going on anyway."

"Gross Mia, although it would explain why he asks about her after every training session."

She giggles and I smile back at her. "Maybe you're right, maybe in a year when I'm seventeen, we could just pack our things and leave. We could go there if we wanted to." I point up into the sky at Naurus, our neighboring planet.

"See that's the spirit." She says.

I stand up and take a look around. "But would you really want to leave all this?"

She nods. "Anything to be with you. You're my favorite brother!"

"I'm your only brother stupid."

She giggles.

Zenot is beautiful this time of year, or anytime of year. It's a tropical climate and has a rainy season and a dry season. That's it... nothing more. No snow or ice, it's just perfect. The fact Mia would leave to be with me, it says a lot. She's my best friend.

"Well it's starting to get a little chilly without the sun, you ready to head back to the house?" She asks.

"Sure, let's go home."

We leave the beach and begin to walk towards the house. It's walls made of the wood from palm trees and its roof made of leaves.

Looking up through the leaves I could see the glow of Naurus "One day." I whisper.

I could hear the subtle sounds of the animals in the night. The air was warm and had a cool nick to it. I laid there for hours on my cot and watched as the moon floated above.

"Hail..."

I turn to see a dark figure clouded by smoke and a faint purple glow. It reaches out for me. Brushing its hand across my neck.

My heart begins to race. My ears begin to ring. I feel the sharp edge of its nails dig within my flesh. It begins to hum a slow dark tune as it does so.

"I've been waiting so long for this child."

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Its face begins to emerge from the shadow. Large jagged teeth from a jaw that grows and grows without end as it moves towards me.

"Hail!"

I jump forward as I scream. Opening my eyes I see my mother sitting next to me. I reach for her comfort as she brushes her hand across my back.

"It's okay, it's okay, it's just me. You were screaming. Scared your sister half to death."

"I'm sorry, it just felt so real and..."

"I know. Just try to get some rest. We'll talk about it tomorrow okay?"

I nod as she turns to the door. Mia steps past her and into the room. She lays down next to me on my cot.

"Don't worry, I'll stay in here for the rest of the night so you aren't alone."

"Thanks Mia."

I roll back over and stare at the wall. Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes again.

I wake to Mia shaking me. "Come on sleepy. It's time to feed the animals."

I sit up at look out the window to see the sun and the ocean.

She grabs my hand and pulls me from the cot. "If we don't get our chores done before mom gets back from the fields then she will send us to bed without supper. Hurry up."

I walk over to the door and pick up a bucket. I trade it into my left hand and then walk outside. I walk to the stables and fill the bucket with feed. Then I open the doors to the barn and see the horses all eagerly awaiting their breakfast.

"Alright guys. I know you are hungry but we don't have a lot today."

I let open the doors and pour the feed into the troff at the center of the large barn. All of the horses run out trying to be first to eat. I smile as they take their places. I turn and walk out of the barn now and see Mia waiting at the door.

"You done yet?" I drop the bucket next to the door.

"Yeah, is mom home?"

She shakes her head. "No, I don't know where she is. She should have gotten home by now, it's already noon."

I look at the house. "Follow me."

I walk into the house and then enter our mother's room.

A journal lays at the foot of her bed. I look to her chair in the corner but she isn't there. My eyes then turn back to the journal and fixate. I walk to it, my heart is racing. I know it's wrong but I can't help myself. It's binding calls to me. I take hold of it now and flip through the pages to find entries from throughout the years until I stumble across the most recent entry. The words I read are chilling.

"His nightmares are happening again. Should we move again? We've only just gotten here but if they are getting worse then it must mean She is close. Maybe we should leave by morning?"

"Mia!" I yell.

She walks in behind me. "What is that?"

"I shake my head, I don't know, have you ever seen this before?"

"No... are you reading it?!"

"Well yeah I thought it might have something about where mom went."

She grabs it from me and hides it behind her back. "It's not nice to look through peoples things, especially not something as personal as someone's diary."

"Mia, give that back" I reach for it as she jumps back through the door.

"You don't get it..." I say. She looks at me with a concerned gesture.

"What does it say?" She asks.

"Nothing I just..."

The front door opens and mother steps into the room. Mia turns back to look and I grab the diary from her hands.

We both step forward now into the dinning room and awkwardly stare at mother's face. She looks confused and slightly worried.

"Hail, Mia, what are you two still doing inside, shouldn't you be doing chores?"

"Where were you? It's past noon." I ask.

"I was at the temple with Zen. We had something important to discuss."

"Was it about this?" I toss the journal to the dinner table. Her mood changes. She becomes noticeably uncomfortable at the sight.

"I dreaded the day you found that." She speaks somberly.

"His nightmares are happening again. Should we move again? We've only just gotten here but if they are getting worse then it must mean She is close. Maybe we should leave by morning?" I recite it from memory. "Who is She? Is this why we keep moving?"

"Hail, it's hard to explain."

"You say that like it's an excuse to keep me in the dark. What is going on?"

"She killed your father..." Tears form in her eyes. She covers her mouth as if she's surprised by what she just said to me. Almost as if she slipped for a moment and said something she shouldn't have. "And now she's looking for you, for us."

Mia turns to me, I see the shock begin to set in.

"My father?" It was the first I had ever heard her speak of him.

"Chronos..."

I sit at the table now, my legs begin to shake. "My father... is Chronos... Magnus... father god?"

She nods. Tears now pour from her eyes as she covers her face.

"Who is She?" I ask.

"A powerful Daem." She mutters.

Mia sits next to me now and brushes back her hair with her fingers. "A daem... as in...?"

"A fallen god, yes. She's after your father's throne."

Zen steps into the house behind her.

I point to him. "You knew about this too?"

He nods and steps closer.

"Hail..." he sighed. "I always meant to tell you this sooner but your mother insisted I wait. There are nine gods. Magnus, Draco, Eluna..." he motions towards mother. "...Arkos, Zen..." he holds out his hands implying himself "...Julian, Qharus, Thylan, and Shiarus. Magnus died and left Draco in charge. Eluna and I came here to protect you ourselves. Magnus is your father."

"My father? I'm the son of Chronos Magnus?" It still didn't feel real.

"Yes Hail, you are." He pauses. "We've tried our best to protect you from Her, but the longer we stay outside of Hofkin, the more our power dwindles."

I wipe the tears from my eyes and pull my self up. "Dwindles?"

He sighs. "To create this universe we drained our power. This made us mortal. Our days are numbered and we are all dying. Soon more gods will have children as a last effort to allow our power to live on. You will become the next generation of the Nine, immortal gods but not invincible."

I nod. "What about Mia?"

She looks up as Zen locks eyes with her.

He sits down at the table across from us. "Mia is a fragment of you. When we sent you here you had a fault. From that fault Mia was formed. She is your sister but she is also you."

"We're... the same person?" She asks.

"Yes, technically speaking."

"How many of us are there?"

He looks down at his hands. "As of right now, there are three others. One is of Draco, the other is of Eluna and another is of Shiarus. Soon there should be nine assuming everyone has the chance to have a child."

"Why isn't... She... after anyone else then?" Mia asks.

"Because, She wants the Throne and the Throne belongs to... well to the both of you. She can't take it until you are both gone."

"What happens if she finds us?"

"We will try our best to keep that from ever being a question." Eluna tries to reassure us.

"Just trust us and try not to worry about this too hard. You both need to get some sleep. We'll leave in the morning." Zen smiles.

The sun begins to fall behind the horizon. I lay on my cot and Mia lays next to me. She seemed to fall asleep pretty fast but I still can't find the chance. My mind can't stop racing over this and if I fall asleep and see Her again... I don't know if I can handle that right now. Maybe I shouldn't have looked at that journal.