“I HAIL FROM THE PLANET JORRAK… Which is located in the ‘Jupus’ Sector,” Kaze said to Magnus around a lit campfire that divided the two emotionally and mentally damaged life-forms.
Having fed upon a couple of Protein Gel Packs that Kaze had retrieved from the small Astro-Light Freighter that he had hidden via usage of its built-in ‘Stealth-Shield’ generator.
With his energy levels rising as each milli-cycle passed, Magnus just stared into the dancing flames of the campfire with a haunted look in his bloodshot eyes as Kaze continued, “Seven month-cycles ago Jorrak was WRONGFULLY accused of being a ‘secret safe haven’ for the Kren. Once the Voltairan Emperor had heard of this thracking lie, he sent his Galactic Decider THRACKOIDS to my world to decide its fate along with its people… MY PEOPLE.
“When the Galactic Deciders first came to my world, they gave my people and I two choices… ONE was to surrender ourselves, all of our resources, and home world to the possession of the Voltairan Empire. The other choice… WAS TO BE BROKEN. So, out of fear of the Galactic Deciders and their ‘destructive abilities’, our planet’s KROONISH leaders chose ‘surrender’ over extinction. Little did they know though that instant death would have probably been a far grander fate than survival.
“THREE DAY-CYCLES LATER… The Galactic Deciders had returned to our leaders and told them of the choice that THEY had made for us. So, the Deciders left Jorrak and ordered Voltairan Astro-Battle Cruisers to invade and CONQUER our world for the Voltairan Empire. We thought that they were only going to take our precious and most vital resources… BUT THEY DID FAR MORE THAN THAT.
“They took us as well… ALL OF US. They loaded every single Jorrakan man, woman, and childling aboard their astro-vessels and transported us all the way back to thracking Voltaira, but not on its surface. No. No, no, NO. The emperor would not be able to stand supposed ‘Kren-Sympathizers’ running amok on HIS world’s surface so he placed us ‘elsewhere’. He placed us BENEATH the surface in a cursed tracking place called… THE PRISONER PITS.”
Upon hearing of the ‘secret prison’ that the emperor had hidden beneath Voltaira’s surface, Magnus now locked his eyes on Kaze’s angry looking face.
Magnus then recalled back to witnessing the cursed, ‘underground city’ that he had seen with his own eyes through ocular lenses on Lero’s Holo-Fier device.
Whilst Magnus slightly lowered his brow Kaze continued, “I knew nothing of ‘the Pits’ until I saw them with my own thracking eyes. Its a wasteland down there. The worst of the worst. It’s where all of the life-forms that had once inhabited the supposedly ‘surrendered worlds’ the Voltairan Empire had conquered go to service those who lie above on the surface. There, the Voltairans live like thracking kings whilst the rest of us ‘lesser life-forms’ live like urchins… THRACKING URCHINS!!!”
Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, Kaze explained to the World-Breaker, “I spent a whole month-cycle down there until I escaped. I tried to escape once before, but I failed… WE failed.”
Glaring into the campfire, Kaze seethed, “The first time that I tried to escape the Prisoner Pits was with my older brother, Kartr. Kartr and I attempted to use the Jorrakan species ‘special ability’ of enhanced agility to literally ‘leap’ our way out of the pits and off-world entirely. Once we had successfully completed this truly grand task we would then go in search of warriors… BRAVE, NOBLE, and VALIANT warriors who could come back and free all of the enslaved that resided beneath the Voltairan surface… BUT WE FAILED.
“Before our feet could leave the ground we were discovered… And immediately surrounded by a squad of Voltairan Knights. The Knights run the Prisoner Pits with zilitium-hardened fists. Merciless and emotionless, they are. Upon being discovered, the Knights took us to the Pits’ Torture Level and enacted many unspeakable… UNIMAGINABLE horrors upon both Kartr and I. After three week-cycles of non-stop pain and torment the Knights sent me back in with the rest of the enslaved. As for my brother, who was always the most resilient, the Knights sent him along with a slew of other ‘uncooperative prisoners’ off to suffer a more gruesome fate… THEY TURNED THEM INTO THRACKING KREN!”
Magnus now recalled back to the first creation of the Kren that he had witnessed through the eyes of a younger Lero back to the time when the World-Breaker, and the rest of the Deciders, were all infant childlings.
The Breaker of Worlds remained silent as Kaze stated, “All my life-cycle, I thought that the Kren were an actual, REAL LIFE threat. Everyone across the galaxy did, but none of us knew the truth… THE TERRIBLE THRACKING TRUTH. The Kren are us… THE ENSLAVED. They are the people who ‘peacefully surrendered’ themselves to the Voltairan Empire… Only to be transformed into the dreadful beings who ‘supposedly threaten all innocent life’. Hmph… What a thracking lie.
“So, after those Voltairan Knight-Thrackoids turned my own brother into a Kren, I was sent to work with the other men, women, and childlings for a short while. In our grueling work we are meant to do one thing and one thing ONLY: service those who live above, on the surface, in luxury. Can you thracking believe that raxx? People… LIVING BEINGS actually bask in their paradise and gluttony whilst enslaved men, women, and childlings… THRACKING CHILDLINGS slave and rot away all hour-cycles of the day-cycle and night-cycle for them! ALL IN THRACKING SECRET!!!
“Urgh… Not long after Kartr and I were discovered, I grew immensely tired of it all. I became reckless… Careless… I did not care if I lived or died anymore. All I cared about was getting everyone who had been enslaved and not turned into Kren out of the Prisoner Pits once and for all. So, one day-cycle, right before my twenty hour-cycle long working shift began, I secretly left the work floor and managed to enter a ‘Secret Hangar Bay’ through a small ventilation shaft.
“Once I had successfully made it into the Secret Hangar Bay, I ‘commandeered’ the Light Astro-Freighter that is currently ‘cloaked’ over yonder and left Voltaira in search of someone… ANYONE who would aid me in my quest… My DUTY to free all of the enslaved from the Prisoner Pits.
“It’s been six month-cycles now since I escaped from Voltaira and I have still yet to find anyone who is willing enough or brave enough to join my cause… Let alone even believe in my supposedly ‘fictitious’ claims… Until I found you, Magnus.”
Magnus then raised his eyes to meet with Kaze’s, who continued, “After the brutally EXTRAORDINARY things I saw you do to those Thundrukii Mercs in the Marketplace back on Rannuk… AND AGAINST THE GALACTIC DECIDERS THEMSELVES I knew right then and there that you were the key, Magnus. The key to saving the poor people who have all been secretly enslaved by Emperor Voltair… As well as the key in bringing down his wicked empire. An empire that was built on the backs of lesser life-forms that HE and HIS PERSONAL SOLDIERS conquered on the basis of a carefully thought out and well executed lie…. A GRAND LIE.”
Scrunching his brow, Magnus looked back down into the campfire's flames whilst Kaze asked, “You were one of them… WEREN’T YOU??? A Galactic Decider…”
Magnus glared into the campfire now as the former Jorrakan Slave pressed, “You weren’t just any ‘decider’ though… YOU WERE THE WORLD-BREAKER.”
Magnus slowly shifted his eyes up towards Kaze again to see that he had his eyes narrowed at him sourly.
“You destroyed worlds… COUNTLESS WORLDS,” Kaze bitterly stated. “You, along with the rest of your band of EXTINCTIONISTS, cast several races of life into non-existence. My question for you… IS WHY? Why did you do it, Magnus? Why did your break all of those helpless, innocent, defenseless worlds… AND PEOPLE???”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“‘Twas our duty,” Magnus coldly said whilst looking back into the campfire again. “My duty.”
“YOUR DUTY??? It was your ‘duty’ to kill people? INNOCENT PEOPLE???”
“Yes… IT WAS. At the time, it was… But that time is over now. My time taking life-cycles… AND BREAKING WORLDS is over.”
“What??? What are you saying?”
“I am saying that I am done with it. I am done with killing. Done… WITH BREAKING.”
Lowering his head in sorrow now, Magnus stated, “For ten cycles, I extinguished so many life-forces. I broke so many worlds. ‘Twas all meant for the grand of my people… Until I learned that they were not my people.”
“So… You’ve found ‘peace’?” Kaze asked in a vexed tone.
“No,” Magnus denied. “No peace. I do not think that I shall ever find… ‘peace’.”
“What are you trying to say then? That you will not kill anyone ever again? ANY THRACKING ONE???”
“Yes. Tis exactly what I am saying… Kaze.”
“URGH… THRACK!!!”
Shooting up from his seat on a downed, rotten tree log, Kaze clenched his fists and glared intensely at the EMOTIONALLY broken ‘former’ Breaker of Worlds.
“I can’t believe it! I CAN’T THRACKING BELIEVE IT,” Kaze raged. “I cannot believe that you will not take another life-cycle again! Even after EVERYTHING that I told you about Voltair’s Slaves in the Prisoner Pits and what my brother and I went through to get to this point right now! You STILL tell me that you will not extinguish anymore life-forces?! WHAT A LOAD OF A RAXX!!!!”
“Tis my decision… My FINAL decision,” Magnus thundered.
“That’s raxx and you know it, World-Breaker! You know that somewhere, deep down in your bony thracking chest, you truly give a raxx about what’s going on beneath Voltaira’s Surface! All of the horrific atrocities that are being committed day-cycle after thracking day-cycle! All of the innocent life-cycles that are being lost as each milli-cycle passes thracking by! Urgh… For thrack’s sake, think of the childlings, Magnus! Think of the INNOCENT CHILDLINGS who are being forced to work day-cycle and night-cycle all in service to the gluttonous thracks that fester upon the cursed surface of Voltaira! THINK OF THEM, MAGNUS! I WANT YOU THINK OF ALL OF THEM! ALL OF THEM!!! Do this and tell me that you still do not care! Tell me that you do not wish to take the life-cycle of EVERY SINGLE VOLTAIR-WORSHIPPING THRACKER who has, and most definitely will, harm the enslaved IF we do not return to Voltaira… TOGETHER and bring an end to Voltair’s heinous crimes once and for all! ONCE AND FOR THRACKING ALL!!!”
In the wake of Kaze’s angry outburst, Magnus just kept his head lowered in shame.
“He is correct… World-Breaker,” Little Jaiya whispered ONLY to Magnus in his ear. “You know that he is…”
“Silence,” Magnus said to Little Jaiya, to which Kaze overheard.
“What?” Kaze huffed in confusion. “What did you just say to me, World-Breaker?”
Lowering his brow, Magnus said aloud, “SILENCE.”
Raising his head, Magnus locked eyes with Kaze and said, “Your words fall upon deaf ears.”
“Duh-Deaf ears?” Kaze stammered in shock.
“I am sorry, Kaze… But I cannot return to Voltaira with you. I cannot. My time for killing is…”
“RAXX!!!! That’s raxx, World-Breaker! You know that you wish to help me free the enslaved… ALL OF THE ENSLAVED and bring down Voltair’s Empire! You can lie to yourself all that you thracking desire, but you CANNOT lie to me!”
“I do not lie. I only speak the truth, boy.”
“Boy??? BOY?!?!”
Tightening his fists, Kaze grunted, “LOOK, I don’t have any more time to waste because I have wasted enough of it searching for someone… ANYONE who has the scrote to help me with my duty! I am going back to Voltaira… TODAY-CYCLE! WITH OR WITHOUT YOU!”
“You will be killed. SLAUGHTERED… Without hesitation or remorse,” Magnus confirmed with an emotionless expression his weary face. “If you return to Voltaira, then I assure you.. BOY that your life-cycle WILL be brought to an end… A VIOLENT END.”
“It may be… BUT at least I will have done something rather than doing nothing at all.”
“I bid you grand fortune on your journey then… Kroone.”
“URGH… THRACK YOU, YOU RAXX-EATING COWARD!!!”
Turning his back on the World-Breaker, Kaze went to his small, primitive-looking wooden hut to grab a few of his very little belongings.
While the Jorrakan rummaged around the insides of his hut, Magnus remained sitting by the campfire, staring into its flames once more.
“You know that he is correct in his claims, World-Breaker,” Little Jaiya said to Magnus again, this time appearing out of a gust of smoke that filtered up from the campfire. “Many more of the emperor’s Enslaved Workers shall perish unless you return to Voltaira and free them… TOGETHER. AS ONE.”
“Be gone… BE GONE, I SAY!” Magnus stressed at Little Jaiya’s apparition as Kaze came stomping out of the hut moments later.
Little Jaiya fizzled herself out of reality once more as Kaze, now lugging a large rucksack over his right shoulder, looked to Magnus and asked, “Don’t you wish to redeem yourself? Atone for your past crimes against ALL civilized, innocent life?”
“There is no redemption,” Magnus stated coldly. “No atonement. Only guilt.. Dread… SORROW.”
“No. You’re wrong, Magnus… YOU’RE WRONG. There is a way to redeem yourself for all of the ‘world-breakings’… For all of the life-cycles that you took during your time as a Galactic Decider. Join me in my voyage back to Voltaira. Help me free all of the Enslaved from the Prisoner Pits. Help me bring down the emperor and the empire once and for thracking a--”
“NO!” Magnus thundered in a voice that caused a light force of gravity to surge from his body and pass through Kaze and the rest of the small camp.
Stumbling back a few feet, Kaze stared at Magnus in shock, who shouted, “I AM DONE TAKING LIFE-CYCLES! I AM DONE BREAKING WORLDS! I AM DONE! DONE!!!”
Regaining his footing, Kaze lowered his brow and said, “Fine. Very well. Be ‘done’ all that you thracking wish, World-Breaker. I do not care for you and your totally thracked, self-centered problems. I have my own problems to worry about… AND TO DEAL WITH.”
Turning his back on Magnus again, Kaze now faced the Voltairan Light Astro-Freighter that he stole from the Royal Voltairan Astro-Naval Fleet, which was still hidden by its Stealth-Shield.
Before taking off towards the invisible Light Astro-Freighter, Kaze glanced back at the self-hating former Galactic Decider and huffed sourly, “Have a nice life-cycle… You planet-destroying piece of raxx.”
Kaze then stomped off towards the Light Astro-Freighter as Magnus lowered his head in shame once more.
Whilst Kaze got aboard the Light Astro-Freighter and deactivated its Stealth-Shield, Magnus remained sitting around the still lit campfire with his head dropped and eyes looking downward at the lightish brown dirt that resided beneath his bare feet.
