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The First Step

Hey Guys!

Here is a story that I made and sorry it is really long. This is a prequel of my poem, The Final Stand. I highly recommend that you read it first before reading this story, as it may help you understand this story a bit more. You can read it right here:

http://irockenglish.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-final-stand.html

Either way, thanks for reading this and hope you guys enjoy!

-Harish Karumuri

_______________________________________________________

Date: March 10, 3026

Location: Gamma Ray Cloud

R.A.: 05h 34m 33s

Dec.: +22:00:55

Houston Time: 3:48

In front of the Massive Terrier X-1 Photon Cruiser -a prime spacecraft of the fleet at my home planet of Xenonia - was a plethora of Gamma Radiation, an energy at the top of our radioactive wave chart. It powers our cities for years, if not decades. However, this particular source could run our planet for at least a century. This ball of gas and radioactivity is what our planet runs on, and without it our city would be devoid of the technological miracles that have been bestowed to us by the scientists of our planet. We have cures to many diseases, clean energy, and sustainable crops due to the energy harnessed within this destructive force. With my family being grown in the Pre-Bestowed time of Xenonia, a time when plague and famine had came across the planet, I felt a need to help our terrestrial sphere continue its prosperity.

“Captain, how’s the energy?” I hear, from my best friend and partner down at the base.

“Navtek, everything seems to be going well. Preparing to take in energy. And how many times have I told you to call me Clayton?” I hear a chuckle from his side as I begin to take out my Energy Absorbtors to take in the abundance of energy from the Gamma Radiation. Energy begins to first fuel up my spacecraft and then begins to store the excess. From my dock inside the shuttle I see the gauge of the Absorbtors slowly grow. But at the last second, the gauges start to show an excess amount of radiation and error messages along with red flashing lights everywhere. If you haven’t seen any good action movies, this means something bad is going to happen.

In this case, the gamma radiation was so much stronger than what I originally anticipated. The energy was seeping out of the Absorbtors and harming the ship itself.

“Sergeant! What is going on?” I hear through a crackly intermission.

“Navtek, it seems as if the energy source came into the infrastructure of the ship. Run a diagnostic now!”

Within seconds came a response. “The assumption you had was indeed correct. However, the radiation is much too extreme for a body to handle. It is required that the ship breaks apart for the escape of the energy as well. ”

“Then what the heck am I supposed to do?”

“First, wear the radiation armor. Then steer the ship to the coordinates you are about to receive.”

The pair of numbers are sent to me and the coordinates take me to some unknown planet. “What coordinates are these!” I scream in panic as I quickly put on the radiation exosuit. In my 5 years as an energy collector, this is my moment of most panic.

“Sergeant, getting back to Xenonia is literally death. This was the closest planet we could give you.”

With no other option, I hop on to driver’s seat and rush to the planet as fast as I can. “Houston, tell me the details of this planet!”

“Planet name: Un-own. Popula-on: Un-own. Biome: Un-now-.”

“IT’S BREAKING UP,” I scream at the top of my lungs with chaos going on around  me. Knowing that my communication was about to be cut off, I start to take precautionary actions.

“Sur-ival Chanc-: 1.2%” my computer practically shouts at me.

The two words to describe my feelings were, “Oh crap.”

“Out of all the things I hear, that’s the one thing that comes out of you, you stupid computer!? The one thing that totally can motivate me to survive!?” I practically scream.

Everything afterward is just an indecipherable mess of static. I guess cursing at the computer made my situation even worse. I throw my hands in the air in frustration and assess the predicament I was in.

I have no other option. I have to go to this planet and survive. As I wait in anticipation, my ship suddenly goes into overdrive.

Date: March 10th, 3026

Location: Planet Unknown

R.A. 06h 34m 33sec

Dec. +23:01:56

Houston Time: 4:50?

As I painfully open my eyes, I see a desolate land with withered trees outside the cockpit. Toward the back of this cockpit is a blown up and fragmented stern. The ringing sensation in my ears recedes. As I make my way into my ship and look for any undamaged gadgets, a display on ship’s front shows the outside air quality  as anything but breathable. If I go outside, I die. Luckily the cockpit itself stayed intact, retaining the oxygen inside.

I soon decide to scavenge the interior, looking for anything that I can use: mainly oxygen, food, water, and weapons. After a good while of searching, I find a small survival bunker [Thank the lords!], which gives me a week’s worth of nutrition packs with water, a small pistol with several cartridges, a blunt copper dagger, and the one thing I need the most: oxygen. There’s only one problem- I only have three days worth of it.

Three days.

I have to get out of here in three days if I ever want to see home.

See my family.

See Xenonia.

I put on my oxygen mask to head to the doors, leading to a world that I have no idea of- with no sense of what obstacles are going to come across my way, no idea of how I was going to get home, and no knowledge of surviving with any creatures that may be out there.

I take one more deep breath, and open the metal door. A screech of air releases and comes outward, causing red-orange dust to puff around and make my mask become unclear. Soon after I wipe it off, I experience a fearful awe that comes across me.

The sky was nearly dark with small sections of a yellow, glowing rock, dimly fading with a small source of light. Around and below me is a blood red crust that makes me feel miniscule, inferior, and disgraceful. Some sections seemed to be a poisonous and vicious gunk that threatened to melt the soul away from anyone who ventured into it. And across some edges were pools of molten magma, daring for something to come venture into the scalding sections. Some areas even had shriveled up plants and trees thriving for water and nutrition. In short, this place was as if Mars had crashed into the Hell.

As I walk in, I feel the swish of an arrow just above my ear.

So I fling my pistol out expecting to see the most horrifying creature alive. Well, I’m not sure if I should even call it a creature. The only thing that was visible was a charcoal black skeleton with one of the most powerful bows ever invented - a Manalyn Framed, Ferrouskyn stringed bow (Did I mention I got an A+ in Weapon Identification in college?). I had to be extremely lucky that he missed.

I shot him several times, and that only made him seem to rage even more. His body started to light up as a blinding flash came about. Then, I saw no longer a skeleton, but a flaring skeleton monster, with teeth sharper than a granite-sharpened damascus steel sword. His body grew to at least seven feet inside. When I look even closer, it seems as if it has a black smog releasing from him as his focus began to come on me.

Crap.

I began to once again shoot wildly, trying to hit every part of his evil, skeletal body. However, this came to no avail.

Then I took out the one weapon I had left. The copper dagger with a dull tip was what my life came down to. I had no other choice. I chucked the worthless piece of metal at him as hard as I could and when the knife struck him, a piercing screech shot out of him and his body slowly shriveled to ash leaving only one thing.

The copper dagger.

I slowly creep toward the body, hoping that it won’t somehow magically pop back to life in a more bloodthirsty form. But as I reach the death spot the glint of the dagger was the only thing found in the mound of dark ashes. I pick up this strange shard and begin to marvel at the power that seems to be inside.

That is, until when a hard thump of a club hits my head. The last thing I hear is a gruff man saying, “Dang it Billy! Boss told us to keep him alive!”

Date: March 11th?, 3026

Location: Planet Unknown

R.A. 06h 34m 33sec

Dec. +23:01:56

Houston Time: ?:??

“Hey Boss, I think the guy’s waking up.” I hear the same gruff voice.

I hear another unfamiliar voice, assuming it’s Billy’s saying, “I told you I didn’t kill him!”

I try to pretend to remain sleeping so I could eavesdrop into the conversation, but a third unfamiliar voice, “Wake up Clayton. We know you’ve already been awake for the past five minutes.”

What the. They know my name!

The same unfamiliar voice replied, “Yes. We know your name. That’s probably why I said it.”

I swear, these guys are freaking mind readers. I manage to open my eyes and sit up to find myself in a meager, metal-walled room with computers and flashing lights. Each screen had different things on it, like a security camera. The first camera had a picture of the atmosphere. The second was a picture of a fortress, seeming to be made out of a refined sort of the crust that I had crash landed on. A third screen trailed a buff man which seemed to embody evil. The man had a dark, ashen aura seeping out of his body. He was wearing obsidian armor with damascus iron boots, and a light, flexible black undercloth. His face showed a evil pair of eyes with no pupils showing. His blood-red colored hair was tied in an ornate fashion with jewels and gold, showing his vile face which was a stygian skin on top of the evilness that was already in him. The camera followed him until he reached a weak and undernourished boy. The boy moved his lips in fear, as if he had done something wrong. Then in a flash, the evil man took out a shadow iron sword and decapitated the poor little child.

I can’t say any more about what he did at that moment.

And on the fourth screen was a broken down Terrier X-1 Photon Cruiser.

“Wait a second, why is my Terrier X-1 Photon Cruiser on the screen!” I yell in frustration.

The third man who had spoken responded with, “Uuuuuuuuummmm. You should follow me.”

But then I realized I was talking without an oxygen mask. “Before you say anything else, where is my oxygen mask?”

“We went to refill it. There is oxygen constantly being filled in this base so you will be fine.”

Oh. So I guess these guys are friendly. What’s this guys name anyway?

“Yes, we are friendly. And the name is Ramhart. I am part of the Pure Blood clan. We are here in order to bring prosperity to this land.”

Once again, freaking mind readers! “What’s the name of this planet?”

“Welcome to planet Earth, or nicknamed by us as the Underworld.”

Yikes. I’ve only heard legends about this place by elders who escaped from the planet and fled to Xenonia. “And why do you want me?”

“You took down a monstrous force that kills three of our members every time it approaches. You took it down with no effort.”

“Well, I di-”

“Don’t say it was the copper dagger! There’s something inside of you that can help us. You may be...” Ramhart began to mumble off.

“What was that?”

“Oh nothing. Let me introduce you to the leaders.”

After what I think an hour has elapsed, I finally get an understanding of the “Pure Blood” clan. So this group has five different leaders, and each of them have mastered their minds and bodies and are now able to control one of the six elements. Ramhart has mastered spirit, giving him telekinetic powers, so he’s the only one who can mind read. The group also made him the general leader, so that’s who “Boss” was. A slender and fast girl, Bryze, controls the element of wind. Because of her, we have the oxygen in this area. A girl named Blaise pretty much bends fire, so she gives the heat when we need it. The Gruff guy, named Thomas, has electricity, so I think it’s self explanatory on how he helps the base. Finally, Billy can control water, so he gives the group hydration.

There was one more element which I questioned them about, but they all pretended like they didn’t hear it. It was frustrating, but I didn’t really want to get on the bad side of some people who could wreck my face in a few seconds.

There were also other members from crashed planes and refugees from the so called “Death Age” who helped the cause here as well. They didn’t manage to be able to “master” themselves, but they help out the place by developing new tools and such.

After being bored in the room I awoke to for a long time, I got up and and checked the place around. Despite what I originally thought, this place was gigantic and had intricate hallways and many different rooms. In the midst of roaming around, I heard Ramhart speaking from a small distance away. As I ventured closer to the sound, it seemed as if the leaders were having a discussion.

“Is Clayton the one?” Bryze says.

Wait, what? They’re talking about me? What do I have that can make this place great?

Then I hear a sound that I never thought that I would hear. Navtek.

“Clayton is your guy. He’s been one with nature since childhood. He loves animals and he has a huge garden back here. He will help Earth come back to how it was,” he said through a transmission.

I couldn’t hear anymore. I could not listen in. I immediately left the area. All that “unknown” crap he gave me about this planet. He knew the ins and outs of this place. He never wanted me to get back home. He wanted me to fight for some bloody cause. But then I heard my name once again.

“Clayton, I know you’re listening in on this. I’m sorry man. I had to do this. You know what? Xenonia is on its tipping point too. We may not have plague or hunger, but we have another problem. Greed. Wars are breaking out between us and many countries. There’s overpopulation. We need more room to grow. That’s why you are here.”

I just ran away as the ending click came. Thomas was coming out and trying to send a stun ball my way, but as he threw it, a trap door opened below my feet into a dim area. As I was falling, the door was going back into place and the only place I could go was down.

---

I seem to be waking up with paining eyes way too much within the past few, hours? Days? I don’t even know at this point. I get up off this dusty floor and I find myself in this old and decrepit room. On the far side of the room are podiums, each one with a small symbol on them. I come closer and see that the first one had a Purple circle with a four pointed star in the middle. The one after had strokes of white coming forward as if it showed a sense of wind. The one after was remarkably like a fire burst with colors of crimson and orange. The next had a lightning bolt on it with a golden yellow. The one after had waves of water.

The final one had a tree with branches that came forward at me and was calling my name. And what was really different about this one was that there was a sword handle sticking out of the top. It had an intricate carving of branches and leaves. There was a force belonging to this sword that was longing me to pull it out. I went forward to grab it and I clasp my hands around the handle.

As I tried to pull it up, the sword remained stiff and refused to come up no matter what I tried.

I pull with great strength for an extreme amount of time and begin to frustrate myself. After what I think is an hour, I give up and try to head back.

No need to though. Blaise and Bill manage to come in and help me out. They said nothing. They just get me out, take me to my room and left. Nothing more than that. I lay down on my bed, thinking about everything that happened and just fall asleep with the confusion in my head.

Date: March ??, 3026

Location: Planet Earth

R.A. 06h 34m 33sec

Dec. +23:01:56

Houston Time: ?:??

“BEEEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEEEP”

I jolt awake immediately. Red flashing lights with ear-splitting sounds scream at me. A worker tells me to go to the conference room, the same room where I heard Navtek. Everyone was squished into the area to see a giant video message from the ominous man I had seen on the security camera.

“Hello there Pure bloods,” he said with a mocking tone. “My name is Oklarth Tenebis. It has come to my attention that you are attempting to steal my kingdom. If anyone tries to steal it, I punish them. So, I have done exactly that. Take a look at these people.” Gasps came out from all around the room. Each of the clan leaders were there, tied to a pole surrounded with billions of things that could kill them. Things from flame throwers, to tear gas, to motion detecting turrets ready to fire at the slightest bit of movement. “I have heard that these people are leading this cause. If you want them back, you have one thing to do. Fight. Otherwise, say goodbye. You have 2 hours starting now. May you lose!” He followed that with the most menacing laugh heard by any being’s ears. A timer came afterwards.

I had no idea what do or or say. But then I saw a small, green pathway, similar to the one on GPS, urging me to follow it like the yellow brick road. With the shock I was in, I decide to follow it. It leads me down some stairs and directly to the sword.

The Sword.

I was about to curse and scream in frustration, but I heard a voice. A small voice.  

Ramhart.

“Pull-the-sword.” I hear his croaking voice. “Pull-the-sword.”

It all begins to click in my head. Spirit. Wind. Fire. Lightning. Water. Life. A newfound will comes into me. Ramhart is right. I will pull this sword out of this podium. I will not be stopped. These are my friends at stake. This is the planet at stake.

This is Xenonia at stake.

I will be the warrior of life.

I take a good look into the sword and grasp the handle. As I pull my hand upward, there is a copper sword ready to destroy a skeleton army.

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