Ecstasy of Gold - Prologue

On a planet under a massive red sun, there lived a warrior race on the planet Akyllis. They were mostly human, but had adapted to the high gravity of their new world. The race’s entire society was geared towards war. Their structures were wide but not tall, structured like ornate heavy bunkers. Their children were trained nearly from birth for combat. Trained especially hard were the children of all of the various tribal leaders.

One of the leader’s daughters was doing pull-ups on one of their less humane devices; a bar over a pit of hot coals that would cause excruciating pain if the person should drop to the ground. The leader’s daughter wouldn’t suffer the indignity of falling onto the searing coals. She pushed herself harder and harder to earn her father’s approval.

Her hair was the same fiery red as the coal. Despite her young age, she had a physique of granite. She had spent far more time training than the rest of his children. She had to be the best, just had to. This all had a very simple reason behind it. She was the smallest. She hated herself for being he runt among her brothers and sister. Even her younger siblings were already taller than her, and that couldn’t stand. If she couldn’t be bigger than them, she’d be better than them.

She stressed and strained and started to wear out. She didn’t care she was pushing her body far too hard. Her grip started to slip, but she ignored it. Suddenly, she fell. She braced for the coming pain, knowing she’d hit it on her side or her back, but a pair of powerful arms caught her.

“Ariis,” her mother Grizelda said, carefully putting her down on an over-stuffed bed, “you should not push yourself so hard…”

“You don’t understand, Mother…”

“I understand more than you think…” She brushed aside some of the hair that had matted down on her face. “The small aren’t always the weak…”

“Easy for you to say…You’re the tallest person in your family by half a head…” Ariis collapsed to her back, gasping for breath. She was more winded than she could admit. “You’re a mighty goddess…Any soldier would gladly fight and die with you on the front lines…”

“You are forgetting the stories of Gun’Serg. You use to love his stories, bugging me to hear them before you went to bed…” Ariis sat up, barely managing to prop herself up with her aching muscles.

“I remember…you use to do the voices…and stay with me, telling me the legends until I fell asleep…”

“He wasn’t the biggest, or the strongest, but he was the bravest and the best.” Grizelda put her arm around Ariis. “Would you like to hear one of the stories?”

“You bet!” Gun’Serg was a god on Akyllis. He had legendary adventures that everyone on the planet and in the empire knew. To top it off, every city had a large statue of Gun’Serg in full battle armor and holding his custom assault rifle with a massive clip. Ariis loved him, or as much as she could love someone who may or may not exist. Grizelda just loved comforting her daughter and spending time with her, hating how the rest of the family treated her.

Long ago, on the Ringed Earth that was, their technology was advancing by incredible leaps and bounds. They had battled the Nom’ed and survived, and earned all of their advances. One such advantage wasn’t for the best, however.

There was a chemical spill in the Atalantic Ocean. It was massive and threatened the entire planet’s life. Those in charge of the technology decided to use a nano-technology they had invented to clean up the spill and return the oceans to normal. But they made a grave error.

Instead of simply breaking down the hydrocarbons in the spill, it started breaking down ALL carbon. It started tearing apart the very building block of life. Soon, it would spread all the waters of the world and end all life, but fortunately, they had a champion.

Gun’Serg arrived as fast as he could, rushing to the aid of his home world. He knew there was only one thing that could stop it. He rode fire and thunder in a ship bristling with fusion bombs. He rode it down and down, deep through the atmosphere. Through the fire and the plasma, he sent the shuttle plunging into the grey ocean, jumping out of the shuttle at the last second. He plummeted towards the poison sea, the shuttle plunging in and exploding in a massive fire ball that engulfed the entire nano-machine infection.

He was recovered from the Atalantic and scanned and test endlessly, making sure he was absolutely, positively fine. His nigh-impervious defenses had saved his life and…

“And this…is the most boring Gun’Serg story…” Ariis said, collapsing back to the bed. “You couldn’t tell me the story of Gun’Serg saving the human race from extinction or…”

“I only have so much time, bek’lonik…” Bek’lonik was an Akyllisian word that didn’t translate well to English. It essentially meant strong, brave warrior. “Those are epic poems, remember? I told you the story of Gun’Serg’s battle against the Demons over almost half a year.”

“Really? Was it that long?” Ariis scratched her head. She couldn’t believe that it was that long. Her memories from childhood all ran together, but she did realize it lasted an entire pregnancy for her young mother. “Will you stay with me a little longer, mother?”

“Of course, dear…” She picked her up slightly, setting her down on her lap. “Don’t tell you brothers and sisters, but you have always been my favorite…” She whispered gently in her ear.

“Really?” Grizelda nodded.

“Know that, no matter what your brothers and sisters call you.” She patted her back. “You’ll see. You’ll have your own ship one day…”