Prologue
At times, I have seriously given consideration to suicide. During those times, the only thing that has stopped me is the belief that one day, I will find out who I really am. Maybe one day I will be able to return to where I belong, to start a new life where I can be happy. For now though, I have been forced to wonder the deserts of this planet as nothing more than a dangerous drifter, with no real identity apart from the name that I myself had chosen, no past that I know of and possibly no future. The only things that I have to help me work towards finding out my identity are the armour that I wear and the pair of scimitars that hang in their sheathes by my side.
Lost identity
Another city looms on the horizon, a day away from my current position. I check the glucose and water levels in my armour and see that both are too low to go any more than two days if I do not meet any problems. I will have to make an unwanted stop at the city, which I have been forcibly removed from 4 times before.
The huge gates tower in front of me, open to the world, no more a barrier to invaders than a wall to me. My earpiece beeps at me to tell me that I have less than a day of water and glucose which translates as 2 days of the mixture that I have programmed into the armour. That is, it would if I did not push myself physically. If I have to either fight or flee, the mixture will drain a lot quicker. The guard on the right of the gate glances in my direction but does not try to stop me. I have made it into the city. It was built around an oasis but has since expanded rapidly, making it necessary to drill huge wells that go down several hundreds of metres. I walk towards the nearest one and let out the armour’s refill pipe. It winds out for 2 minutes then stops. I feel the pull and see the water moving very quickly up the pipe and into the armour. The armour itself starts cooling down as the cooling system’s water is replaced. Once the water levels are replenished, I walk to the nearby general store to buy some glucose, the essential ingredient in my system if I want to live. The previous owner had died by my hands for getting me thrown out of the city the time before last. I had found him sleeping at the till the last time and slit his wrists deeply enough for the damage to be enough to kill him. He woke up but I kept him there and watched him bleed to death. I felt no remorse then and none now. I believe that he deserved what he got. If it was not me, it would have been someone else.
The shop was large for this city, although by galactic standards, it was a general store. This shop did have one major factor that did draw customers away from other shops. If you could not find something elsewhere, you were more than likely to find it here and, if you could not, it would be here in less than 5 days. I walk to the counter and ring the bell three times while waiting impatiently. The new shopkeeper emerges from the darkness between the two massive shelves behind the counter. He is wearing an ankle length druid’s robe that is coloured bright green instead of the pure white of the druidical order. It has a hood that covers his face enough for him to see me but not vice versa.
“What are you looking for?” Is the rude greeting that I get from him.
“10 Kilograms of glucose.” I answer, an icy edge to my voice, my hands moving to my scimitars just to try to scare him a bit.
“What for?” He asks, taking in the grey robe that I wear with the hood down, my head exposed.
“Na yniej. ” I laugh at the look of shock on his face as he pulls back his hood.
“Aiej (h)quqhah? ” Now it’s his turn to laugh. I study him very closely.
“This is not a safe place to talk about this sort of thing, nuug nu zyxq suju yg uots(g) i’xpixq. ”
“O dop(p) zu suju. ” I respond, turn away and walk out very calmly, hiding the anxiety that I am feeling. I have never before met someone who could even understand the language that had been imprinted into my mind, let alone someone who could speak it fluently. My mind is whirring as it considers different possibilities but one stands out to my conscious self. Maybe he knows who I really am. If he does, then my search will be over. I shall wait impatiently for 8 o’clock tonight.
I stand outside the shop, waiting anxiously for the shopkeeper to let me in. The time is 19:59. One minute more to wait. As my watch beeps to indicate 20:00, I hear shuffling footsteps behind the door and it opens slowly, very cautiously. I step into the dark room and the shopkeeper closes the door behind me.
“I’m going to rush this a bit because you only have two hours to get to the palace.” The shopkeeper blurts out, speaking quickly.
“Hold on, what do you mean?”
“I mean that before you get the information that you are looking for, you have to retrieve some confiscated cargo of mine, just to see whether you are the real Skeksys. It is being held in the palace and that is why you have to get there. The item is a battery cell like the one that runs your armour, if the palace officials discover how it works; they would use it as a power source that could destroy us. The palace guard changes at 2200, you have to leave quickly or else you will miss the change.”
“I need that glucose now though, my supply is basically empty.” I say calmly.
“It’s in the back by the back door of this shop. You might as well go out that way, it is quicker. Any way, good luck.”
“Hold on, what do I get out of all this?”
“Y x(p)eu gi aie owumgoga. ” I smile at his excitement and the unintended switch to my language. I am also thinking about what this clue could be. I climb over the counter and sprint along the tall shelves that continue for over 300 metres. At the end, I find thousands of bags of glucose. I find a 10 Kg one and open it quickly, sticking the glucose refill pipe into the opening. It immediately sparks into life and in less than 3 minutes, all the glucose has been sucked up by the pipe. I open the door and step out into the moonless night, my mission ahead and my confidence high.
I arrive at the palace an hour later and immediately after seeing the ten guards huddled around the doorway, I decide that a frontal assault is a very bad idea. I circle around to the back of the palace and find a small door being guarded by only one guard. I slowly draw my scimitar and start creeping from building to building, keeping as low as possible and making as little noise as is humanly possible. When I get to the nearest building, I hear a rustling from a bush to the guard’s right. A figure steps out and starts walking towards the guard. I tense and move back into the shadows. Watching the scene with interest. The guard turns towards the approaching figure.
“Who goes there?” He shouts the old watchman’s call. I hear something flipping quickly through the air and see the hilt of a throwing knife appear in his temple. He drops to his knees and stays there for a couple of seconds before dropping flat on his face with a sickening crunch as his nose breaks. I draw my second scimitar and come forward towards the figure now. The figure walks confidently to the guard and kneels beside him. I sneak up behind it as it draws its knife out of the hapless guard’s temple. As I get there, the figure sheaths its knife. I put the blade of my right scimitar on the figure’s right shoulder, sharp end on the neck. The figure freezes instantly as it feels the cold metal on its neck.
“Turn round very slowly.” I order. The figure obeys and turns as slowly as possible. I freeze for a few milliseconds as I realise that it is a girl but she does not take advantage. Her eyes are blue and her pupils very large. She has blonde hair down to her shoulders and she is wearing a very tight, dark purple cat suit. My mind leaves the present for the moment and I see images of a young girl playing on a beach somewhere. I am staring out at her and she turns towards me and runs. I see her shoulder length blonde hair and her eyes have large pupils. As she gets closer, I see that she has blue ring around her pupils. At the last second, my viewpoint changes and moves sideways out of her way very quickly. It turns to follow her and she turns round and tries to catch my viewpoint again. It dodges again, then my mind returns to the present.
“Who are you?” I ask in a whisper. She continues to stare at me, unmoving, totally silent. She is playing with one of her teeth with her tongue, a sign that normally signifies an attempt to break a capsule of what is commonly called tooth poison. “Please don’t kill yourself.” I say quietly and pleadingly.
“What are you going to do to me then?” She asks quietly after a pause.
“Ask for help. I need to get into this palace and find a power cell that has been confiscated. I have not the foggiest clue where they would keep it.” I drew away my scimitars and sheathed them.
“I can help you but you will have to keep up with me because I am on a very tight schedule.”
“Don’t you worry about me not keeping up. If I knew where to go, it would be you that would have a problem keeping up.” She turns away with a slight chuckle and opens the door. We walk into a long passage that looks as if it goes on for 500 m. She starts running and I pull up close behind her. After 100 m she takes a left corridor for 10 m then a left for 5 m then a right for 50 m, then I lose my bearings and just follow mindlessly. We eventually arrive at a huge room with 2 m high shelves full of assorted objects.
“Search quickly, your cell is in here somewhere.” She says. I look around and immediately see what I am looking for. I run towards it and pick it up. It feels suspiciously light and it does not have the feeling of power that mine emits.
“Hey, you found what I was looking for.” She says. I draw a scimitar and hold it out, pointing it at her throat.
“This may be my only chance to discover who I am.” I say, abandoning chivalry.
“The same goes for me. Please?” She looks at me and her eyes flash with sorrow. I am hit by a wave of sorrow-induced nausea, and then my mind starts wandering again. I see the same girl crying on the stairs of a spaceport. My point of view (POV) approaches slowly and lowers itself next to her. She looks up at the POV and I see the same eyes that I had just seen. My mind returns. I see that her eyes have now glazed over slightly. They come back a few milliseconds later and she looks at me, her face a picture of sorrow.
“For interest’s sake, who asked you to do this?” I ask, knowing the answer.
“The shopkeeper at the general store.” She says. I chuckle and smile at her. “What?” she asks nervously.
“I got my ‘quest’ from the same person. I was there at eight.” I explain.
“I was there at ten past eight.” She says. I realise now why the shopkeeper had tried to get rid of me so quickly.
“I’m Skeksys.” I say, extending a hand. Her eyes flash but she takes my hand and shakes it.
“I’m Cara.” She says. Again I get a flashback but it is just a jumble of images of the same girl as before. ‘Here goes’, I think.
“Wi aie emwu(jh)gym(w)? ” I ask in my language. Cara smiles with beautiful well set teeth.
“Iv xiej(h)u. ” Cara responds. I feel my face spreading in a grin.
“You’ve also been getting flashbacks haven’t you?” I ask.
“Yes. And I thought I was going mad.” She responds grinning widely.
“What are you doing here?” I hear a voice coming from the door. “Guards, help, there are two intruders here!” The man shouts. He collapses as one of Cara’s knives fly between his eyes. We run to him and Cara pulls out her knife as we pass. I see a row of guards, each with a spear pointing towards us. Cara launches three of her knives into the three centre guards. They drop and I make my way into the middle of the gap. I draw my scimitars and bring them up to neck level, cleaving through the remaining guards’ necks. They drop and we keep running as fast as possible. I let Cara take the lead after she has withdrawn her knives from the dead bodies. She takes us back the way we came and we leave the palace, guards at our heels. We weave in between houses and after 3 hours of running, we finally lose them. Unfortunately we have put the city on high alert. We sprint to the general store and find the shopkeeper waiting there.
“Good, you met each other. That power cell is yours Cara. It has to be recharged by Skeksys’s before your armour works.”
“Where is Uy(j)gs? ” We both ask at the same time.
“It is now called the bane of humanity by all apart from those who once called it home. Its real name is no longer used and it has been all but abandoned. Only our group operates there and you two are key to its functioning. You need to get there ASAP.”
“How do we get there?” I ask. The shopkeeper runs off and returns a few seconds later carrying a tiny capsule.
“Take it.” He says, holding it out to me. I take it and look down at my armour inside my robe. I see the slot where the capsule is supposed to go. I pull off my robe and Cara gasps. I put the capsule into its slot and it gets absorbed, making another solid area. I now only have two capsules missing. I look over at Cara and stare in shock at the armour that she is wearing. It is only missing five capsules. She has two double capsules. I look at mine and see that her capsules are the ones I need. I also check my doubles and see that I have the five that she needs. I take them out and place them in her armour. They absorb instantly and her armour starts glowing slightly. She takes out her doubles and puts them into my armour and the same thing happens. I look at her, then at the shopkeeper. He has a wide grin across his face.
“What is happening?” Cara asks.
“Skeksys, touch her cell.” I walk over to Cara and reach out towards her cell. As I touch it, I feel power flowing through me and see her cell start powering up. “Cara, now you touch his.” She does so and I feel the power flow double both ways. The glow gets brighter and brighter. After ten seconds, I feel a surge and feel that both batteries are almost full. I close my eyes yet I still see the brilliant flash that is emitted when the batteries achieve full power.
“What now?” I ask when I open my eyes. I see that Cara also had her eyes closed and she looks up at me.
“Now, you think of the place you want to go, say its name and you will be there.” The shopkeeper explains. I go close to Cara and take her hand. “Good idea, it would be appropriate for you two to go through together. I will come through eventually but I will have to travel by more conventional methods.”
“Let’s go?” I ask Cara. She nods and closes her eyes. I imagine the beach and know that she is there as well. “The beach?” I ask.
“Yes.” Cara replies.
“The Beach, Uy(j)gs. ” We say simultaneously. When we open our eyes, we are on the beach that we had dreamt of. It looks exactly the same as what I had seen in my first flashback.
“Why do I think something is wrong?” I ask.
“I don’t know but I do too.” Cara says. We walk up to the crest of the hill separating the beach from the temperate land. As we reach the crest, we look down and see what is wrong. The earth is scorched and there is no grass. The ruins of a coastal village lie to our right, the houses razed to the ground with only the odd steeple still standing. Tears creep into my eyes as I start seeing scenes of destruction in my head. I see space bombers coming in and bombarding cities all over this world. I see this village, first peaceful and happy, now burning with people screaming and abrupt ends to those screams, then here in the present., burned with nothing to show apart from the steeples. A tear streaks down my face and I look sideways at Cara. Her face is covered in tears. I pull myself out of the depression that is hitting me and pull her into a hug.
“All those people.” She mutters through her sobs.
“I know.” I say soothingly.
“Skeksys, we have to avenge them.”
“Vengeance is not worth it. We will avenge our ancestors deaths, but not by fighting actively. You and I are both covert operatives and we probably would be able to do well as politicians. We seem to be able to convince people of basically anything.”
“That would be your strong point.” Says a voice behind us. We both spin towards it and see a man standing there.
“Who are you?” I ask.
“Sorry your majesties, I am known as Reaper.” He says calmly.
“Your majesties? What do you mean by that?” Cara asks looking up at me. I shrug my shoulders.
“You two were betrothed before any of this happened. Skeksys, you are of average descent but you made a good impression on the royal family when you helped Cara during her troubles with her first boyfriend. She fell in love with you and your parents all agreed that you would make an excellent couple.” We stare in disbelief at Reaper and he grins at us. “If you do not believe me, Skeksys, take out one scimitar and check the engravings.” I take the left one out and look at the engravings. For the first time in my life they make sense. They are the names of the royal family, plus Cara, then me.
“Wow.” I am speechless beyond that.
“Cara, take out a knife and look at its engravings.” Reaper orders. Cara takes one out and gasps. I look at the knife closely for the first time. It has an inscription written on it: “Like these knives, I will be with you for all eternity.”
“The knives and those scimitars were combined to your souls meaning that you will always have them, even after death” Reaper explains. “Now, we must get to the base. Let’s go!” We walk after him and three hours later, we arrive at the base camp.
Epilogue
We operated from the base for four years before finally being able to launch a political campaign. After five years of candidacy, we finally win the bi-annual elections, bringing us into power. We diverted funds to rebuild our home world and, by the time people realized that we were from their bane, it was too late, Uy(j)gs had taken its place among the most powerful worlds again. It was the beginning of another war.
Skeksys
