RMA

  Red Moon Advocate

  Prologue

  Gracious Emperor

  Lightning streaked for miles. Thunder rumbled for what seemed like minutes. The ground quaked uncontrollably. Rain poured for weeks at a time causing major floods and drowned communities.

  In a rundown hut sat a man with white robes made of what seemed like high quality silk. His hair short and blonde and eyes golden and gentle.

  In his hands he flipped through pages quickly until he finally stopped, eyes locked in like an acquired target.

  “The patterns are adding up.”

  His leg began shaking but was quickly calmed by a tight grip of his hands to his thigh.

  “History cannot be-no... I can’t assume the worst.”

  He took a deep breath and calmed himself before standing slamming the book shut, placing it on a table next to him. He walked to the front door closing his eyes before slowly pushing it open.

  A crowd of people stood waiting outside, parting an open path for him to walk through.

  Sounds of uprooted trees and broken ground echoed across the air. He had finally reached a clearing where a platform sat inconspicuously. He took a step up and took one last deep breath before turning to face the crowd.

  Worried faces flooded his sight, nervous warriors' teeth were clenched and fists tight. The wind began howling like a banshee, so powerful that it began to push and move people involuntarily. A massive tornado formed in the back engulfing what seemed to be a small mountain.

  Chatter grew louder in the crowd as everyone was panicked. A loud whip cracked in the air with the same intensity as a sonic boom. It was the golden haired man with his fist in their air. The sound quieted everyone.

  “Listen…..we have currently reached the limits of our technology combating this unnatural disaster.”

  His voice was soft and gentle as if lulling a baby to sleep.

  “Our great guardian Veighn, this planet can no longer sustain us and I have no idea why.”

  Mothers held their children tight

  “But understand, I’ve sent a distress call to the Empire. They will come to help and we will endure like the Shisue always have.”

  A mother loosened her grip on her child.

  A spear was lowered and someone in the crowd let out a shaky sigh. An uneasy feeling rolled down the golden-haired man’s spine as the crowd began to disperse.

  Somewhere in the crowd, a pair of dark irises remained fixed on him. The golden-haired man noticed and greeted him with a warm smile, jumping down and running to him.

  “Giarc, you’re going to burn a hole through me with that gaze. What’s wrong?”

  Giarc narrowed his eyes and turned to a nearby forest. He was a mountain of muscle, with long flowing golden hair and a golden beard that traced a chiseled jawline.

  “Concern….that’s all.” Giarc said flatly behind a low, commanding voice.

  The golden-haired man placed a hand on his shoulder.

  “Brother we’ve faced tougher ultimatums than this.”

  Giarc rolled his shoulder away in disapproval and began walking towards the outskirts of the forest.

  “Arlon…..”

  Giarc decided not to speak and kept his back towards Arlon.

  “Do you think the tehrrar eagles population fully died?” Giarc said instead of his original thought

  Arlon perked an eyebrow actually pondering the thought.

  “I’m not sure. If it’s one species stubborn enough to survive this madness it would be that one.”

  Arlon walked and stood to next Giarc. The wind still howled fiercely across the tree line bending trunks and branches to their capacity.

  “Remember the game of overlord we played as kids?”

  Giarc said still flat and unassuming.

  “Yeah, first one to catch a tehrrar eagle is overlord for a day.”

  Arlon said with a warm smile on his face, images etching across his memories as he reminisced.

  “Why don’t we do that one last time?”

  Giarc’s voice now had a slight tremble to it that Arlon did not catch.

  “One last time? Man you speak as if all hope is lost. Trust me a little bit. I made the right call to get the Empire involved. My friend will not let me down.”

  Arlon paused hearing a loud screech that resembled the sound of tires across asphalt followed by the flap of large wings, no different in sound than the rumbling thunder. Giarc smirked.

  “Well there’s our answer.”

  Giarc said before dashing into the forest at break neck speeds. His heavy frame cratered the already fragile ground below. Arlon not wasting time went in hot pursuit, his steps light as a feather as he began leaping across branches to get closer.

  Within an instant Arlon was now on top of the bird with a vine wrapped around it’s neck. For a moment Giarc saw images of Arlon as a kid using this same tactic but it was quickly erased. The bird plummeted to the ground with a loud crash.

  “Show off.”

  Giarc said but the moment was quickly interrupted when the bird got back up and charged Arlon. Reacting almost immediately Giarc closed the distance.

  The sound of ripped fabric and torn flesh echoed through the air. Tiny drops of blood trickled to the ground landing just by Arlon's foot. Standing between he and the bird was his brother Giarc.

  The eagle turned to take flight, but its legs found themselves in Giarc’s firm grasp and was effortlessly ripped off as the bird took flight.

  A thick trail of blood followed behind it’s struggled wing beats. Giarc fell to his knees holding his chest with ragged breath.

  “Giarc!” The words came through a cracked voice

  Arlon rushed to his side not sure how to stop the heavy bleeding. Arlon’s concern was quickly overwritten as Giarc’s wounds had woven close right before his eyes.

  “That’s…." Arlon’s voice had become much more serious. “Not possible….”

  Before he was able to finish the thought Giarc interrupted.

  “Still feel like the Overlord?” He said weakly behind a grunt as he stood to his feet. Arlon’s face was filled with disbelief, but that cold chill returned, crawling its way down his spine.

  Giarc pointed forward into the distance revealing a shrine. “Come….this is where I really wanted to bring you.”

  The shrine was a large domed crystal cathedral with intricate designs probably native to their culture. The floors were marble and reflected like mirrors giving evidence someone kept the place clean.

  Sounds of crystal clinked together from the slight rumblings of earthquakes but the place held together. Shelves lined the wall, filled with old ancient books, some newer looking than others.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “I wrote these…” Arlon spoke lost in thought while he glanced around at his creations. “Everything about our races history is here.”

  He paused before looking to Giarc “Even that forbidden healing technique.”

  Giarc ran his finger along a specific section of books. Their spine read Black Luster arts.

  “I am still fascinated by your dedication. You recovered every bit of history the Empire took from us.” The words escaped his mouth as he grabbed a book off the shelf and began skimming through.

  “The Shisue’s Black Luster arts give us full control over the elements, yet here we are being conquered by those every elements.” Giarc muttered while flipping through pages of the book.

  Arlon locked eyes with the book Giarc held. The spine read Forbidden Techniques. Then he spoke. “I recovered these so we don’t repeat history.”

  Giarc quickly interrupted “Not all power is meant to be caged. Our ancestors knew that. That is why we ruled the Galaxy and not the Empire.”

  There wasn’t anger his voice. It was more revolution than anything. He began flipping through the pages even faster. “I’ve learned to tap into the guardian. I can absorb Veighn’s essence like our ancestors of old.”

  Arlon frowned before speaking with disapproval in his voice. “But if you keep reading you’d understand that you kill the guardian in the process.”

  His muscles twitched uncontrollably as if they had a mind of their own. His lips quivered as he parted them to speak. “Brother look at the planet! It’s dying, we’re dying.”

  “A price I’m willing to pay to free our people.” His voice was flat and uncaring, and his eyes never left the book.

  “We are free.” Arlon shouted, then cleared his throat trying not lose composure. “The cycle was supposed to be broken.”

  Giarc scoffed at the thought. “The cycle of fate will never be broken. Light and Dark will always exist, and such is balance. I’ve chosen to accept that darkness.”

  Arlon’s nostrils flared “The Empire could have wiped us out long ago but they gave us another chance. That is mercy, and for our peoples sake I plan to uphold the chance we were given.”

  Giarc frowned and slammed the book shut. “A cage is not mercy. They fear us. Our technology pales in comparison to other species, and that is on purpose.”

  Giarc clenched his fist and a dark aura formed around it. “I intend to break the cage with Veighn’s power.”

  Arlon’s eye twitched. A loud "thump" was felt and heard in his chest. His legs grew weak and he lost feeling in his toes causing him to stumble backwards, resting his back against a support beam. His breathing was shaky. “Giarc I can’t let you destroy our entire legacy like this.”

  Giarc unclenched his fist and threw the book at a wall, the sound of the book slapping the wall was muffled by the clinks of crystals within the shrine, and the groaning of the planet from the tremors. “And how do you plan to stop me? I surpass you in all manner of strength.”

  Arlon finally gained control of his body allowing him to stand up straight. He realized he was well within striking distance of Giarc.

  Giarc took a single step forward. “Arlon, our people will become extinct under your leadership. I will not stand on the outside looking in anymore.”

  Without a warning, a spire of rock erupted toward Arlon’s body. His eyes widened and the spire seemed to be moving in slow motion. Arlon's jaw dropped, a shock was sent down his spine, but the jolt was strong enough to bring him back to reality.

  His body slid to the side dodging at the last minute, the point of the spire slamming into the crystal pillar behind him. Not even a seconds hesitation Giarc was already in close quarters, his palm open with swirling lights rotating violently covered by a dome of darkness.

  “Oblivion” Giarc said calmly as he slammed it into Arlon’s abdomen. Flesh caved without bleeding, and his organs rumbled and burned as he was flung into the wall, crashing through the crystals, shattering it like glass, skidding outside along the ground into the forest.

  Blood fell from his mouth as he tried to lift himself up. His arms shook and buckled under his weight, then he fell back to the ground. Arlon opened his eyes and suddenly there was no ground or no air. He blinked once and in front of him was a woman made of nothing but energy bound by dark chains.

  “Veighn?” He spoke weakly, his voice barely able to form words.

  “Take the rest of my power before he does.” Her voice was not physical but it rang through his ears all the same.

  “But that will kill you.” The words escaped fragmented through gurgling blood.

  The chains rattled as she lifted her head to look in his direction. “I cannot sustain the planet anymore. The Shisue will die if you don’t defeat him.”

  Arlon took a moment to his own thoughts then weakly lifted his hand. A stream of energy flowed to his hand like flowing water. Her body faded and the chains fell. He blinked once again and he was returned to the spot in the forest with his wounds completely healed.

  He stood to his feet and took one deep breath then exhaled, letting an energy of pure light radiate from his body. It was calm and his mind was clear. Giarc smirked as he walked through the man sized hole in the wall.

  Giarc grinned with amusement. “Ah a hypocrite I see. Our qi allows us to manipulate the elements but…”

  Arlon interrupted “When that qi mixes with the elements of light or darkness it becomes something catastrophic.”

  In one fluid movement Arlon leaped backwards, with such a force that it cratered the ground and crumbled into a deep chasm beneath. This propelled him for miles until he finally landed far from the village.

  “This should be far enough.” Arlon landed, his feet never made a sound as they anchored themselves to the fragile ground below.

  Giarc emerged from a shadow in the ground a few paces from Arlon. “Your death will bring about a different age Arlon.”

  The low hums of machinery echoed from the walls of a metallic throne room bearing an unfamiliar insignia. In a chair surrounded by holo monitors sat a man typing, his finger clacking away at the keyboard quickly. A door slid open. “Sire there’s a distress beacon from Veighn.”

  The clacking stopped “Patch it through.”

  An audio visual appeared on one of the monitors as he heard his friend Arlon asking for an immediate evacuation. The roar of winds and thunder almost overpowered the sound of his voice.

  The man at the computer stared at the screen for a moment before speaking. “Get a team together and depart for Veighn now.”

  Back on Veighn their battle raged on, violently reshaping the land and terraforming the surface. Droplets of black fell, clinging to plant life like sludge, followed by a loud sizzle then they withered away.

  Cracks and crunching filled the air as pockets of dirt and rock shaped themselves into spears the size of small aircrafts on both sides of Arlon. Both spears were launched simultaneously coiling around each other along a single point.

  Giarc remained unyielding even as two objects far larger than him approached at breakneck speeds. A row of black flames erupted from nothing in the shape of a vertical wall in front of him, just moments before the spears would collide. Each one was incinerated.

  A pocket tore open at the walls most center point as if hands had forcibly pried it open. Every color of the rainbow peeked through before a glowing fist made it's way into Giarc's personal space.

  Without a seconds hesitation he twisted his body catching Arlon's fist snatching him into the air, then flipping him over his back straight to the ground. Rock cracked violently from the impact and dirt lifted as pockets of dust.

  The bottom of a shoe was the last thing Arlon saw before he quickly rolled to the side. A stream of cracks traveled for miles across the ground under his foot, splitting mountain ranges in half.

  Air waves around the crack became distorted, followed by a faint orange glow. Heat swelled and steam hissed then molten lava spewed sporadically into the air. Giarc used his qi to catch and manipulate what little he could, shaping and forming it into a whip.

  Crack

  Droplets of molten lava smacked the ground where Arlon laid but he was already on his feet. Giarc sent another strike his way but it collided with air. A sharp sting radiated his ribs followed by a loud crack in the air.

  Water was flowing down from the clouds in a stream right into Arlon's hands. Arlon jumped back gaining some distance then let his whip crack once more. The sound of sizzling water echoed across the immediate area as water and molten lava collided.

  A faint roar was in the distance, then within seconds was so loud that it drowned out the sounds of the constant tremors from the planet. A torrent of water rushed down from the mountain valley snatching and washing everything away in it's violent waves.

  Arlon and Giarc both leaped into the air, then landed on top of the water as if it were a solid surface just barely three paces from each other. Neither seemed tired or ragged.

  Ships from the Empire flew in landing on the unstable ground. The village of people began running but the ground gave out dropping a large number of them into a chasm below. Only three Shisue managed to make it, a woman and two children. Lightning began flashing violently often times striking the same spot multiple times. The ships wasted no time leaving.

  While Arlon and Giarc’s battle raged on the ground gave out and lava from the planet’s core spewed into the air. Volcanic ash rained from the clouds, and with one last groan the planet crumbled then imploded leaving not a single trace of it’s existence behind.

  The ships had barely managed to escape using their warp drives, but not before the children saw the destruction of their home. The ship approached a massive fortress world then the three were escorted out by armed guards shielding them from angry mobs.

  “You Shisue aren’t welcome here.” Shouted some in the crowd. The crowd was filled with different species, some with scaly green skin and others with large horns.

  Monitors everywhere showed live footage of the planet Veighn being destroyed.

  Finally the three reached the throne room where the Emperor stood waiting. The woman bowed and signaled the two boys to bow as well.

  “Marru….I heard everyone was lost but three. I’m happy you and Jensu were among the three.” A man in distinct robes stood just a few feet from them.

  Marru kept her head down not speaking a word.

  “Stand it’s only us in the room.” The Emperor said as he walked closer with a reassuring voice. Tears fell from Marru’s eyes as she grabbed her son Jensu and her nephew Jinho pulling them close.

  “Are we safe here?” Marru asked with a shaky voice. The angry mob began banging on the door to the throne room. The Emperor looked to the guards, and they immediately acted rushing outside to control the mob.

  “Truthfully no.” The Emperor said with sorrow behind his voice.

  “Arlon was your friend. He fought hard for peace.” Her voice cracked.

  The Emperor sighed but never broke character. “He still is my friend, but the sins of your people are not so easily washed away. It’s only been five hundred years since the Shisue were removed from power. Their tyranny is still fresh in the minds of everyone.”

  She frowned “We don't have a home anywhere. Where do we go? There are children here.”

  The Emperor looked her in the eyes. “You remain here with me. I can protect you through marriage. My concubine and her kin can never be touched or mistreated unless they want to be tried with treason.”

  Her eyes widened. “No…..I won’t be paraded around like a prize.”

  The Emperor stood silent for a moment then spoke calmly. “The marriage will only be in name. It’s the only way to legally protect you, and it will allow me to integrate Jensu and Jinho into our society through the Advocate program. I will not betray Arlon’s legacy.”

  Marru gritted her teeth but ultimately she knew he was right. “Arlon trusted you with his life….so I see no reason why I shouldn’t.”

  In the coming days they displayed a fake marriage to the public with a fake ceremony. This lead to heavy tensions rising, and the multi species council furious. The Empire remained silent and continued through as normal having no other choice but to accept the Shisue as citizens.