VOLTAIRA.

  A truly grand and glorious world.

  My home world.

  Tis the grandest world in not just the whole solar system, but the whole galactic sector as well.

  Here, our people are free.

  Free from harrowing work.

  Free to do whatever they please just as long as they obey the law, which is VERY lax.

  Tis like a ‘dream’, Voltaira.

  Maybe this is the reason why the Kren despise us so much?

  In their prime, the Kren became too dependent on technology and the idea of power.

  So dependent that they dried themselves of their natural resources, destroyed their environment, and KILLED their whole planet.

  This is the reason why they now span out across several worlds in several different solar systems… Like Crix.

  They do this in hopes of finding not just one world to begin anew with their species, but to find ANY WORLD that they could claim as their own.

  Even if they have to MERCILESSLY SLAUGHTER whomever, or whatever, stood in their wicked way to lay claim to it.

  For this reason, amongst several others, is why the Kren wish to take control of Voltaira.

  My planet.

  MY. PLANET.

  My…

  _

  “MAGNUS!” cried out Tristen, the long, golden-curly-haired and chiseled chin member of the Galactic Deciders, who looked like a literal ‘Angel’… Minus the harp, halo, and feathered wings. “Look alive, brother! Our time to appease the masses is drawing SWIFTLY near!”

  Standing aboard an Astro-Shuttle that was currently taking them to meet with the emperor, to be congratulated for their success with the ‘breaking’ of the Kren-aligned Crix, were the ten Galactic Deciders of the Voltairan Empire:

  Magnus; their ‘Commanding-Leader’.

  Braako; Magnus’s ‘Second-In-Command’.

  Anora.

  Tristen.

  Kai.

  Apollox.

  Medo.

  Xan.

  Draex.

  Rayven.

  While the black body suited protectors of the Voltairan people waited aboard the Astro-Shuttle, Apollox snapped, “Calm your emotions, Trist! You are getting far too out of line again!”

  “Oh hush up, Apolly!” Tristen returned to his dark skinned brother. “Tis fine! We just had another ‘victory’, after all!”

  “A victory?” dark black and red-haired Rayven asked whilst she polished her trusty Pulsar Saber on her lap. “THAT is what you call a ‘breaking’, brother? A THRACKING VICTORY???”

  Confused, Tristen replied, “Well, um… Yes? A victory against the Kren, is it not, Sister???”

  “Ugh… Such a young kroone, you are, Tristen. Such a kroone…”

  “Young fool? RAY, we are the SAME CYCLE, you and I. WE ALL ARE”

  “I meant ‘young in the mind’, you skogger!”

  “Alright, everyone… Calm your emotions,” ushered in Anora, who was basically the ‘den mother’ of the team.

  Standing alongside Magnus (as she always did) the platinum-blonde-haired and blue-eyed Anora continued, “We are almost to the Emperor’s Palace so please, if you would be so kind as to not TEAR ONE ANOTHERS HEADS OFF before we arrive there then it would be grandly appreciated.”

  “I agree with Anora,” spoke Medo, who had long, dark hair, dark-skin, and emerald green eyes. “I think you all are acting like squabbling little childlings. Especially YOU, Tristen.”

  Tristen, now crossing his arms over his chest, ‘stuck his tongue out’ at Medo, which gained him a shaking of her head in disgust.

  “Speak for yourself, Meds,” huffed out Kai, who had sepia-skin and a cleanly shaven head. “Not all of us act like ‘childlings’.”

  “I was not meaning you, Kai,” Medo replied. “But since you decided to ‘speak up,’ then you are MORE than welcome to fall into said classification.”

  Kai flashed Medo with a brief smirk as Xan, who was the shortest member (runt) of the group, currently tried to contend with his fear of flying aboard astro-vessels.

  “Is everything well with you, Xan?” Anora caringly asked.

  “Nuh-Never buh-buh-better, Auh-Anora,” Xan stuttered in a shaky tone. “Gr-Grand thu-thanks.”

  Disgusted by Xan’s ability to so easily fall into the emotion of fear, Braako rolled his eyes and grunted whilst he stood alongside Magnus, “Ugh… For the love of thrack.”

  “Relax, brother,” said Draex, who always sat with Xan during flights to calm him. “Everything will be fine. The journey is almost over with.”

  “I huh-hope suh-suh-so.”

  “Tis. I promise.”

  As the rest of the team continued to tend with the rest of the flight, Anora turned to Magnus and asked, “And how ‘well’ are you, Mags?”

  “Hm?” Magnus replied.

  “I asked you ‘how well’ you are.”

  “Oh. You did? Apologies, Anora. My mind was… elsewhere.”

  “Really? Where was it?”

  Thinking about his breaking of Crix, the stuffed toy Janx, and its ill-fated owner little Jaiya, Magnus lied, “Nowhere. Just… Lost my head in the flight. Are you well?”

  “Yes,” Anora happily replied. “I am well. Grand thanks for asking.”

  Magnus nodded to her as the Astro Shuttle’s landing lights kicked on, signifying the end of the flight.

  “See, Xan? Here we are,” Draex said with a joyful look on his face. “The flight’s over.”

  “Oh, grand thanks,” a very sweaty Xan said after breathing a sigh of relief.

  Fiddling with a Pulsar Spear that he currently had enclosed, Braako rose up from his seat and said, “Urgh… Alright. Stand at attention, everyone! Time to meet the Grand Emperor!”

  “Attention?” Anora said in confusion, to which Braako turned to her and glared.

  “That is what I just said… IS IT NOT???” Braako snapped. “Having trouble hearing, Sister?”

  “No. I heard you ‘just fine’, Braako,” Anora firmly replied with her seemingly twinkling eyes narrowed bitterly. “Tis just that the last time I checked, you were NOT the one who gave the orders around here. Tis MAGNUS’s duty, brother.”

  Narrowing his eyes at his ‘sister’, Braako gritted his teeth as Magnus remained standing off to the side, still thinking about Jaiya and Crix.

  “Urgh… He’s too caught up in his own ‘messed up’ head to give orders,” Braako barbed, to which Magnus overheard.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “Excuse me? What was that, Braako?” Magnus asked.

  “Urgh… Nothing.” Braako grunted.

  “Really? Are you positive about that answer, brother?”

  Anora and Magnus both had their eyes set on the brash and headstrong Braako, who replied. “Yes. I am positive… brother.”

  “Grand,” Magnus nodded. “Alright, everyone. The shuttle has landed. Let us head off in pairs of two… Confirm command!”

  “COMMAND CONFIRMED!” the nine other Galactic Deciders said in unison, which made the ‘oh so emotionless’ Magnus nod to them before departing from the shuttle.

  _

  “Thrack… I always forget how big this place is,” Tristen said in response to the insides of Emperor Voltair’s massive royal palace.

  Made completely out of the golden mineral known as 'Cilivite' (which was TEN TIMES harder than Diamonds), the amazingly beautiful palace was the pinnacle landmark on planet Voltaira.

  “Silence, Trist!” Apollox snapped in an intense whisper. “You know that the Emperor doesn’t take kindly to ‘accursed’ language.”

  Narrowing his eyes at his ‘brother’, who was the most brutish out of all the Deciders, Tristen replied, “Oh, go get thracked, Apolly.”

  “URGH… WHY YOU!!!”

  “SILENCE,” Magnus said in his calm, yet FORCEFUL vocal tone, which passed over the other nine like a gust of strong wind.

  Heeding the word of their Commanding-Leader, both Tristen and Apollox stopped their squabbling while they awaited their meeting with the Emperor in his Throne Room.

  Strutting into the gilded Throne Room wearing an entirely golden tunic with a shiny golden cape trailing down from his shoulders was the man himself, the Voltairan Emperor Alixandr Corvinux Voltair.

  Approximately eighty-cycles of age, but looking only in his early fifties due to how well kept himself with the aid of the finest tech and bodily enhancements that currens could buy, the sole ruler of Voltaira was accompanied by several advisors, concubines, and Golden Battle Armored Voltairan Knights, who were armed with Pulsar Sabers, War Shields, and Auto-Rifles.

  Sporting his golden, laurel-like crown, the fair-skinned, blue eyed, graying black haired, and goatee-sporting Emperor Voltair greeted the ten Galactic Deciders with a warm and welcoming grin.

  “Ahhh…. ALAS! THE GRAND HEROES OF THE VOLTAIRAN EMPIRE!!!” Emperor Voltair applauded cheerfully to which the Deciders responded emotionlessly.

  Once all of the clapping and cheering had ended, the Emperor caught himself by saying, “Grandest apologies. I forgot. You Deciders like to keep your emotions in check. Grand rule. Grand rule, indeed…”

  Approaching Magnus firstly, Emperor Voltair sneered, “Grand greetings, Commander Magnus.”

  “Grand greetings, Your Highness,” Magnus nodded.

  Magnus then proceeded to bow, as did the rest of the other nine.

  Smiling widely at the reverence, Emperor Voltair quickly said, “Grand thanks, everyone. You may now all rise.”

  Magnus led the others in rising as Emperor Voltair was soon escorted over to his golden royal throne by his peers and confidants.

  After taking his seat atop the throne, Emperor Voltair looked upon the rest of the other nine Galactic Deciders and erupted, “Grand greetings to all, MY Deciders!”

  ` “GRANDEST GREETINGS, EMPEROR VOLTAIR,” the ten replied in unison.

  The Galactic Deciders all then bowed to the Emperor once more, making him sneer yet again.

  After being permitted to rise upward, the Galactic Deciders waited as Emperor Voltair said, “The mission to ‘cleanse’ planet Crix of the VILE and UNHOLY Kren has proven to be a success. Well done, everyone… WELL DONE.”

  “GRAND THANKS, EMPEROR VOLTAIR,” the Galactic Deciders replied.

  Setting his sights on the World-Breaker himself now, Emperor Voltair said, “And especially well done to you, Magnus, for carrying out the rather… destructive act.”

  “‘Twas an honor… And privilege to deliver the Crixans their justified fate, my lord,” Magnus emotionlessly replied.

  “Aye, yes it was. Yes it was,” Emperor Voltair nodded. “But I know it was difficult, Magnus.”

  “Difficult, Emperor?”

  “Destroying the Crixan home world. Reducing it to nothing but jagged rock… AND CLUSTERS.”

  Magnus had a slightly confused expression on his face now as Emperor Voltair asked, “Tell me, Magnus, what does it feel like? What does it feel like to BREAK a world? Does it make you feel powerful? Like a God, perhaps? Knowing that you, with only one simple brain function, can cast an ENTIRE RACE, along with its home world, into the bounds of extinction in a mere milli-cycle. How does it feel???”

  “Nothing. It feels like nothing… My Emperor,” Magnus blankly answered.

  “Nothing, eh?” Emperor Voltair smirked. “Grand. Just the answer that I was wanting to hear.”

  Magnus remained motionless and unfazed as Emperor Voltair turned to the other Galactic Deciders and continued, “Emotion is something that you ten should NEVER possess. Tis a weakness, my ‘childlings’. A WEAKNESS that the Kren would most DEFINITELY exploit when in the heat of battle. This I know. All too well…”

  “What are your orders now, Emperor?” Braako spoke up, which garnered a brief glance from Magnus.

  Turning to the mohawk-sporting Galactic Decider, Emperor Voltair raised his brow upwards

  while he asked, “Orders?”

  “Yes, Emperor Voltair,” Medo spoke up. “What are your orders for us now that we have returned from our SUCCESSFUL mission to decide planet Crix’s fate?”

  “MY ORDERS,” Emperor Voltair said again. “Ah, yes. My… ORDERS.”

  Looking at the rest of the Galactic Deciders again, Emperor Voltair brought his hands together as he said, “Well, for your grand victory over Crix I believe this calls for a celebration… A GRAND CELEBRATION!”

  “Yes,” Tristen said under his breath, which gained a shoulder bump from Apollox.

  “A celebration?” Magnus asked. “Emperor, we have not the time for a… celebration. We MUST return to the Temple for processing.”

  Nodding, Emperor Voltair looked back up at Magnus and said, “Yes… Yes, of course you do, Magnus… But after, yes… Heh, heh… After your… ‘processing’ you and your heroic kinsmen, and kinswomen, shall gather at the City Square where we shall ALL celebrate yet ANOTHER successful victory of bringing the dastardly Kren race one step closer to extinction!”

  “Thrack yes!” Tristen suddenly erupted, which immediately garnered glares from the rest of his ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’.

  Tristen then lowered his head out of embarrassment as Emperor Voltair looked over at him and said, “No need to hang your head, my childling. Tis absolutely fine to take joy in your grand achievements.”

  Looking in the direction of Magnus once more, Emperor Voltair asked, “Tis not, Magnus?”

  With a sneer shone proudly on Voltair’s face, Magnus emotionlessly replied, “Yes, Your Grace… TIS FINE.”

  “Heh, heh… Tis fine INDEED.” Emperor Voltair briefly snickered as he then looked on to the rest of the Deciders and said, “Well then, tis all that I wish to say to you ten… FOR NOW. We shall convene at City Square tonight-cycle to celebrate the holy destruction of planet Crix.”

  Glancing over at Magnus again, Emperor Voltair smirked, “Or should I say ‘breaking’ instead? Heh, heh…”

  Magnus kept a blank expression on his chiseled face as Emperor Voltair finished, “Until tonight-cycle, you are all now dismissed, Galactic Deciders. Farewell and grand tidings.”

  “GRAND TIDINGS, EMPEROR VOLTAIR,” the ten Galactic Deciders all said in unison whilst bowing to their ruler before exiting the Royal Palace enroute to their ‘home’ on planet Voltaira: THE GRAND DECIDING TEMPLE.

  _

  Heroes.

  Heroes?

  Tis what the emperor called us. What he ALWAYS calls us.

  Heroes for our ‘grand efforts’ of destroying yet another world that harbored an unknown amount of Kren upon it.

  Is that what it was when I broke Crix?

  Heroic?

  Heroic to reduce a race, AN ENTIRE SPECIES, to nothingness?

  ABSOLUTE. NOTHINGNESS.

  Ugh… Thrack, Magnus. What be the disturbance within your skull?

  Why do you still dwell upon the thought of Crix?

  The thought of the Crixans?

  The thought of… JAIYA.

  Little, sweet, and precious Jaiya.

  In the short amount of time that I briefly knew her, the young Crixan girl merely wanted to know my name.

  ‘Twas all that she wanted.

  Only my name… And nothing else.

  In return… I annihilated her home world and species instead.

  I broke Crix because Little Jaiya was my enemy… But was she?

  Was she really?

  Jaiya was no Kren.

  Kren are a vile, unholy looking race of foul creatures.

  Bloodthirsty savages.

  MONSTERS.

  They are murderers and destroyers… Like myself.

  No. NO, MAGNUS. Cease these accursed thoughts, you kroone!

  You are a hero.

  You and the other nine Galactic Deciders are HEROES… To our people.

  As for anyone else within this Solar System and the several others that lie beyond it?

  You are the foul creature.

  You are the bloodthirsty creatine.

  You… ARE THE MONSTER.