The next morning came too soon for Darju, waking up to the holoscreen alarm playing Cryster music. She had set it for before the first light after Flurew insisted that she needed to be ready before the God arrived. She climbed from her bed, yawning loudly and stretching. Walking into the cleansing cubicle, she hit the button, and within seconds, her whole body was flooded with the cleansing particles. She peered into the reflection screen and appraised her appearance. Her scales shone brightly, and she smiled with delight.

Walking from the cleansing cubicle, she dug out the travelling clothes she had worn on her journey to the starport and got dressed. She even picked her staff up and attached it to her small backpack. The cave was a cintep away, so she better take food and drink with her. Leaving her room, she found Flurew already busy in the kitchen.

“Morning,” she called as she entered.

“Morning, dear. Breakfast?”

“Please. I was going to make a couple of sandwiches to take as well and a flask of juice.”

“I will make you some,” Flurew replied, turning and smiling. “Oh. I see you have your travel clothes on.”

“I did not want to ruin my new clothes since I came here. The mountains are not the easiest place to traverse.”

Flurew busied around making food and packed a small container for Darju as she sat munching through a stack of pancakes. She had not long finished her breakfast and placed the container in her backpack when there was a sharp knock on the door.

Flurew hurried over to answer it. “Do come in.”

Dralcor walked into the house. He was dressed in the same nanosuit, and Darju did not think he had ever changed out of it. He was only the same height as herself, and she still did not understand the concern with these Gods. Even after it had been explained that Dralcor was the God of War, where they were going, there would be no need for violence or fighting. Apart from the cave incident, her trip through the mountains had been uneventful.

“If you are ready, we should go,” Dralcor said, addressing Darju.

“Sure.”

Darju followed Dralcor outside and nearly walked into the two huge behemoths waiting. They stood nearly three metres tall and resembled the same shape as the Gods, but were definitely not living. They were the most intricately designed robots that Darju had ever seen. They did not appear to have any normal joints of bolts showing as robots did, nor did they move on tracks but walked like many other beings.

“What are these?” she asked in surprise.

“They are sentinels. They offer protection and can also provide support if we need to dig or move anything,” Dralcor casually replied.

“They look great,” Darju replied, in awe at the automatons.

Dralcor looked at Darju casually, a faint smile breaking his emotionless face. “They are my own design. Shall we get going then?”

“Yes.”

Darju led Dralcor and the two sentinels towards the town's gates. The Apelore on duty, seeing the God approaching, flung the gates open and bowed deeply. “Your Highness,” they said as he passed.

Dralcor was not a conversationalist, and even though Darju tried to talk to the God, he rarely replied to any of her questions or comments. It was mid-first sun before they reached the peak, and it was the first time she had looked back into the valley since she had left the pod. It had not changed. The thick woodland sprouted on either side of the river that ran the valley’s course. She knew where her pod was located at the distant end of the valley and felt a pang of guilt.

The cave should be located a couple of yhuse along the trail. She had not paid attention when she had travelled the path, but it was very restrictive in parts, and the sentinels had to move around parts on a few occasions due to not fitting. They were so agile, though they could easily scale the rock faces to allow them to pass. “Not far now,” Darju said.

“How far?”

“No more than two yhuse.”

“Good.”

Dralcor had listened to the comments from the young Lyzord as they walked. She had spoken about her pod, telling him about its history and the clan wars they had been involved in when her father had died. She had even told Dralcor all about why she left the pod and wanted to wander. He had not responded to her chatter and just allowed her to talk. He had nothing to say or add to the life of such an insignificant species as hers. They were worthless in the eyes of the Throne. Providing no technology or ability to support their continued superiority.

He was aware that all across the Universe, millions of variant species were similar. These species he did not even concern himself with. He knew of most, although new species were regularly identified on some more distant planets. Especially the newer planets that formed and were then terra-formed. They always seemed to end up with one dominant species and then many other subspecies. It was strange how one primary species always came to be above others. It always seemed to be the way the universe worked.

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Their race was no different. It was just on a universal rather than planetary scale.

Time passed, and Darju continued with her tales and stories from the cantina. He did not think she had hardly stopped talking since they had left, apart from a short period when she had stopped to eat. She had offered him food when she had realised he had nothing with him, but he did not need sustenance. The second sun was just reaching its peak when Darju noticed the small outcrop and recognised the cave entrance.

“Here we are,” she said as she approached the cave mouth.

Dralcor looked into the small opening. The sentinels could not fit inside without digging into the mountainside, and he did not want to chance the cave collapsing. He ducked down and squeezed into the entrance gap. He was not surprised that this had never been found before. It was such an insignificant planet, and the cave was so pointless that no one would ever have thought what the cave might contain.

He activated the neon lights on his nanosuit, bathing the interior with a soft white glow, allowing them to see inside its dark depths easily. Darju led him through the smaller cave and into the huge cavern containing the stalactites and stalagmites. Darju stopped and gasped in awe at the sight. Her light stick, not having shown the true beauty of the cavern. The colours were truly magnificent, and she gawped at them. She led Dralcor across the cavern to the far side where the small tunnel began.

“It is just down here,” she said as she led him down the tunnel. She entered the small chamber where the light had been, but nothing was there.

“This is where I saw it,” she said.

Dralcor did not say anything and pressed a few times on the sleeve of his suit. A bright beam of light erupted from the cuff, and a wide arc beam began to scan the interior of the chamber. She watched as Dralcor completed his scan and noticed a slight frown appearing on his face.

“Are you sure this is the location?”

“Absolutely. That is where I came to after I fell unconscious,” Darju turned, pointing to a patch on the chamber floor and where she had discarded one of the degradable light sticks. The stain on the chamber floor was the only sign of its previous purpose.

Dralcor again scanned the chamber, but still nothing. ‘Where is it?’ he thought. He moved the beam around, turning, ensuring every corner was covered. It was then the beam cast onto Darju.

As the light touched her scales, Darju felt a strange sensation. It was not painful, just a tingling sensation like her scales were itchy.

Dralcor’s eyes widened in shock. It was the first extreme expression that Darju had ever seen on his face.

“What?” she said, looking at him.

“You are it!”

“I am what?”

“You are somehow the object,” his expression was now confused. “This is impossible. It can’t be.”

“What can’t be?” now Darju was just as confused.

“The Sunstar,” he shouted, his usual calm and emotionless resolve completely gone. “How? What have you done?”

“I do not know what you are talking about. What is a Sunstar?”

“Your eyes.”

“What about my eyes?”

At that moment, Darju felt a strange sensation course through her body. Her eyes were only slightly forward facing as per her species; their normal vision allowed them to see almost 360 degrees. A brilliant golden light erupted from her eyes, encasing the chamber in its intense glow. Darju could still see clearly, and to her vision, everything looked normal. What she saw happen scared her. As the golden light she emitted touched the suit of Dralcor, it reacted. The black nanosuit began to discolour, turning a light grey, and before her eyes, the microscopic nanobots began to fall away, leaving the bare pink skin of the being underneath.

“No!” Dralcor screamed, stepping backwards and moving from the light.

Darju did not know what was happening. She had no concept of the light she emitted and did not understand why the God was suddenly so fearful.

“What is wrong?” she stammered, flustered and shocked at what she had seen.

Dralcor had now crouched to avoid the golden light bathing the chamber. He cried in anger and frustration as his nanosuit continued to degrade and fall away.

"Sentinels!" he screamed.

Darju heard a loud thumping sound, and rumbling began behind her.

"Close your eyes!" Dralcor screamed.

Darju did as she was asked, but she then heard the God wail in pain.

Opening her eyes again she saw that God's pink skin had begun to blacken. His outstretched hand, trying to protect his face from the light, started to look burned as if charred in a fire pit. She stood in shock as the form of the God slowly began to disintegrate. It was as though he was made of paper and set on fire, particles floating up into the cavern air.

She was scared, her heart thumped in her chest. She had never seen anything like it before, and fear struck her.

“No. No.” he wailed as more of his body under the power of the light continued to dissolve.

Darju did not know what to do and stepped towards the God to help him. Dralcor screamed in agony and stared at her in wide-eyed terror. The confidence and brashness of the being lost in its last moments as his body crumbled to the ground.

The hammering continued behind her, and she could hear rocks falling and crashing down. The whole chamber began to shudder. The sentinels tore their way through the rocks, struggling to reach their master.

As fast as the light had appeared, it vanished. Darju's vision was gone. The light from the nanosuit was lost with the God and she was now standing in darkness. She panicked, fumbling, and grabbed a light stick from her backpack, breaking it and flooding the cavern in its weaker light. Where the God had been crouching was now replaced by a pile of ash. The nanosuit was destroyed, and also a God.

She could not think straight. Had she just caused the death of a God?

The hammering intensified as the sentinels continued to crash through the tunnel towards her.

The ground shook, and small rocks fell from the chamber roof as the first sentinel appeared, breaking through into the room. Darju backed away against the far wall. The second sentinel appeared, and a beam was emitted from its body, scanning the chamber; a metallic voice screamed at her. "Where is the master?"

Darju could only point at the ashes partly scattered as the sentinel appeared. Its robotic head looked at the ashes and turned to look back at Darju.

"How did you kill our master?" its metallic voice was filled with uncertainty. The AI controller that operated it had never been programmed to consider the death of a master. They did not understand the concept, never being taught that they could die. Their glowing red eyes began to flicker, and the emitted beam faded. The sentinels fell silent and still as their eyes dulled.

She could not have caused the death of a God? Could she? Gods were immortal.

"Maybe their immortality was a myth, after all..."