Three Earth-years passed before the Physician called on me for war. Xelan, thirteen, wasn't allowed to join us. My little brother fumed as Korac and I crossed into the conduit. Not that he wanted to fight. No. That scientific brain of his wanted to see Enki and Lacceirus-Capra, the planet we were invading. I admit I was also curious about the Tritan world.

The conduit crackled and fizzed around us. Korac frowned as we traversed through a strange monochromatic world without touching it. He craned, peering into it before we stepped through the rest of the way.

I tapped him with a questioning glance.

He shook his head, unwilling to discuss his curiosity.

Interesting.

The sight of a Dyson's Sphere is awe-inspiring to most. Truly beautiful engineering to behold. My little brother would love it.

It boiled my blood and soured my otherwise good mood. I restrained myself, digging my nails into my palm. My "leash" depleted an entire day.

Rayne, surely you must have asked yourself "why." Why so much suffering and stress? Why the groveling and the demonstrations? The Tribunals?

Why do they force us, their creations, through all this bullshit when they have all of this? The means. The ingenuity. The avarice.

"Sire." Korac leaned into me for discretion. He always sensed my anger. For my sake he added, "We will convene shortly."

I aspire to Korac's gift for veiling his emotions. Even at Earth-age seventeen, his demeanor gave nothing away. Keep someone like him with you when dealing with interplanetary diplomats.

"Welcome to Enki." Eminent Lance, another Tritan without an orb, gestured to the conduit within the glass shrine.

We entered onto a shining stone platform surrounded by... Blue. The water was blue. Not dark and inky. And it stretched on and on. I wanted to weep at the sight of it.

All of it.

The white fluffy clouds. The storm on the horizon with lightning striking the waves. Rayne, there were living trees in that sphere. I could smell the ozone from them and the salt from the ocean.

I could only say, "I wish Xelan were here."

Lance nodded as he approached the next conduit with his hands behind his back. "Soon enough. Soon enough."

I glared at him.

"Ahem. Through that conduit is a shrine. On the other side is the entrance to Lacceirus-Capra. A truly barbaric planet. Your father awaits your legion's reinforcements." Lance offered us two strange devices. "For communication. Questions?"

"What does Cinder gain from this?"

Korac's glare bore into the back of my head.

"If you pacify the mongrels, the Lyriks will follow. They are a powerful ally. Do you find that agreeable, Prince Nox?"

More people to appease and to allow to subjugate us. How unappetizing. "We shall see." I took a step into the conduit.

"Nox?"

With the static prickling me, I glanced back.

"Return those devices to me. You would not do Cinder any favors letting one fall into your brother's hands." With one blink of his Tritan voids, I felt the weight of his threat.

"Very well."

A bunny hopped over my boots in the meadow outside the conduit to Lacceirus-Capra. Butterflies competed with hummingbirds for nectar on a honeysuckle bush. Exotic flowers in purple, blue, and pink brushed our waists on sturdy stems. The trees of smooth yellow bark and bright red leaves formed a canopy over our heads. A wild, fresh scent carried on the warm breeze.

"Not exactly what I imagined."

Korac frowned. If he frowned visibly, it meant he wanted me to see it. "I dressed more for winter." Silver pelts covered his back and tied around his waist, forming a kilt. He looked utterly dejected.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

My sudden laughter frightened the wildlife. "Come. Let us find--"

"Nox. Korac." Father communicated to us the coordinates of their location.

We found him in a valley beyond with two million Icarean soldiers. All healthy and unharmed. The supply wagons brimmed with material and loot.

I glared at my father. "You called for reinforcements?"

Umbra frowned. "No. We attack in an hour. I want you to plan the strategy."

"Did Amolot fall?" I fought to keep the hope from my voice.

Father all but ignored my tone, save for his glare. "No. She and I will be occupied during the battle. The Tritans want to see what you can do." He growled. "Not even a man yet, and they already figure you to replace me."

I stared at the plans. Where was their front line? Their troops? All their provisions--wells, livestock, crops--were unsecured. "What do you make of it, Korac?"

After forty-five minutes, we devised a battle strategy with a guarantee to feed the "leash." I offloaded my supplies, preparing to fly. "Arrange the soldiers. Fifty thousand should do. Give my comms device to the standby troops. Ready?"

I'm sad to report my first battle--if I can even call it that--was utterly inglorious. Our forces captured their provisions within thirty minutes. The few "soldiers" who provided some resistance fell instantly.

I didn't like it. These people worked as a socialized community. Everything they needed was contained within. They didn't require Tritan technology nor warranted their interference. No wonder they resisted. But surely Enki could pacify them without the Icari. So why...

"I am Prince Nox of Cinder." From the air, I addressed the unusual beings so like us, but with their elbows and knees bent in the opposite direction. Their fear of me escalated so much that it satisfied the "leash."

I opened my unarmed hands wide. "There was a mistake. I wish not to hurt you. I wish to help you. We come from a planet destroyed by our sun. We could use allies such as yourselves. And I believe we can help you fight back the--"

An unusual electricity pulsed through the sky. The shock wave spanned the clouds into the horizon. The breeze picked up into a soaring wind that tested my stability in the air. A high-pitch wail followed.

As I landed, Korac took to my side. Both of us covered our faces from the debris in the air. He shouted through the wind, "We never asked what King Umbra and General Amolot planned to do while we attacked."

Well, no. We assumed "occupied" was a euphemism I'd rather not hear explained. "Never will we make that mistake again."

The people fled, seeking shelter in the mountains. Caves, most likely. The very sky transitioned from blue to brown. The fresh breeze soured into a toxic stench. Wind howled with such force it peeled vegetation from rock.

The planet was ruined. Like Cinder.

I found my father at the mouth of the conduit. He stared into the fierce cyclone with a satisfied grin on his face. "Well done, Prince Nox."

Korac and I shared a brief glance. "What did you do?"

He nodded toward a device our soldiers dismantled. Massive. Made of nacre glass and alloy. "The Tritans refer to it as 'atmospheric persuasion.' It takes hours to assemble. You distracted them so we could detonate it."

"Dishonorable," I growled. Korac tensed beside me with no outward evidence he'd done so. I didn't care if I was being reckless as I continued, "Father, slaughtering them would be better than this--"

"This way they live to learn, son."

I wanted to knock his teeth in, but Korac tightened at my impulse. Place and time. I turned and took one last look at Lacceirus-Capra. The most beautiful planet I'd seen in my long life.

The flowers and trees blew away. Black rain fell from the sky and dissolved the bunnies lingering in the meadow. Their shelter ruined. The army marched along the wasteland made only within the last thirty minutes, touting the means of its destruction.

I stepped into Enki, and Korac followed.

Eminent Lance greeted us, "Welcome back. Your father lauds your success."

I chuffed, unable to express my fury. "Success..."

He held out his hands. "Communication devices, please."

I peered over at Korac, who shrugged as he confessed, "We must have dropped them when the sky started falling around us."

I suppressed a grin. "Quite."

Lance almost blew a gasket. Steam jetted from his ear holes. "No matter. If Prince Xelan turns up with one, you will meet the Tribunal firsthand."

The Tritan troll escorted us, tight-lipped and fuming, through the rest of the maze.

Once home, Korac and I met Xelan in his chambers. I told him the story of a beautiful planet that needed our help. We saved them.

The End.

The biology of the people fascinated him. He was curious about the flowers and the crops. I promised to take him one day. I gave him a soil sample I collected post atmospheric apocalypse to tide him over for now.

As we made to leave, Korac turned and held out the comm device to my brother. "Keep it hidden."

Xelan beamed at him. I kept my comm, allowing Korac some time in the spotlight.

"Nox?"

I stopped in the door and turned back to my brother. "Yes?"

Xelan frowned as if something didn't settle with him. "So they were glad to have our help?"

Why did I feel the need to lie? I barely tolerated the truth myself. If I couldn't explain my own motivations, how could I hope to explain the Tritans'? "They will never forget us."

I later learned the people of Lacceirus-Capra evolved into a subterranean race. They constructed beautiful cities by dissolving their surroundings with acid glands inside their mouths. They developed these glands to survive their new ecology. An ecology we made.

They are the modern-day Caprents. Mighty warriors. And they never forgot me.

The Tritans never see things as they are. Only as what they saw through the probabilities. The potential of what they'll become. They saw Lacceirus-Capra as a barbaric planet because that's what it became. The Tritans never considered themselves as the catalyst for its transformation. Nor their part in the destruction of it.

Same as you. To them, you're already dead. And they resent you for what you'll become. Without even realizing they'll be the reason for it.