A Roll Of the Dice Of Fate

A Roll of the Dice of Fate

Footman Carth Garent was concentrating. He was concentrating on his commanding officer and the briefing, he was concentrating on maintaining his weapons and equipment, but he was concentrating hardest on not dying.

Garent's Officer was standing at the front of the small war room and explaining the rather special mission he, Garent, had been selected for. Garent was thankfully not alone on this mission, as he looked around he saw at least twenty other men and women in combat gear like he but at this moment he sure felt alone. He returned his attention to the briefing, hoping desperately to hear the details that would keep him alive.

“...Rebels.” The officer, First Regent Korom, was pointing to a map displayed on the wall of a class 4 pacified world. Pacified was the throw-around term for a people the Emperor had helped in their evolution by establishing a better form of government: namely their own. However, as Korom was explaining, it was not exactly pacified. “Now, remember everyone, when we made first contact we were wearing our encounter suits just as you will be. They do not know what we look like, and we would like it to stay that way. Fear is a powerful tool in the civilizing of excitable races.” he pulled up a picture of the armor Garent and his team was going to be wearing. “This, as you may know, is our best encounter armor. It is nearly impervious to all infantry-held weapons, and many of the vehicle mounted ones as well.” he coughed slightly, “In fact, with their lower level of technologies we are confident you will be completely impervious to their attack. Just don't get stuck in something and you should be fine.”

He pulled up a new picture, this one showing the paint scheme on the armor. “As you can see, we've painted it with our traditional horror-inducing design, and you should be able to kit out your weapons systems to go along with the look.” An image appeared listing and displaying all of the allowed weapons for this mission. “Now, we're going to have an interesting mission on this planet. They don't seem to respond to our suggestions of a peaceful subservience, so we have decided to instigate a terror run. This run should take no more than a few moments! This is crucial. We're droppin' and hoppin' on this one: you forget to come back to us, we forget to come back for you. Everybody got that?' he checked that they all had nodded understanding and continued, “Good. Go in, run into the housing developments, scare a few, run back here.” he smiled reassuringly at them, “should be easy right?”

There was silence and finally a man voiced their collective thought, “will the Emperor know?” he asked.

Korom smiled again, “Of course! And be assured of your reward when you return. The Emperor will be quite pleased, I'm sure.” He stood to attention and the soldiers in his command all shot up to stand as well.  He saluted, punching his fist into his other hand in front of his heart. The soldiers all did the same, and he said, “you've got just a few moments before landing, lets go!”

They all scrambled for their equipment and Garent pulled down his weapons and donned his armor with some difficulty. The armor was wonderful, it could make him run faster than most civilian vehicles, could take the impact of even an artillery round without killing him, and looked very impressive. He adjusted the color of his weapons just as instructed, matching the theme of fear.

He lined up at the exit hatch with his squad mates, and checked his weapons one last time. All there, all secure. He wished he could say the same about himself and his nerves. But before he had time to brood on this again the hatch began its opening sequence. He said a quick prayer to his favorite god, Jezel, the god of the future and fortune. “hope you listen Jezel...Shine on us.” He shut his eyes, “please I need a sign to regain my faith. Please, give me a sign?” he said aloud.

Ohert, the woman next to him turned to him and said, “sorry, did you say something?”

“I said, uh, good luck, footman.” he covered hastily.

“Oh,” she paused, then turned back to the hatch which began to swing open. “Jezel shine on you too. Remember he likes honesty most of all.” And she ran out of the hatch  into the sunlight of the planet they were aiding.

Kay Hotoni cowered under the bed of her room upstairs. She had just seen her father run outside to meet the alien invaders, waving a sign protesting the attack and reign of terror. She listened to him shouting, using the alien's own language, albeit with a bit of an accent, like her own skill of  the invaders' language. He was shouting for them to leave, and to grant more rights at the very least. She heard a deafening noise she could not begin to describe and then the protesters began to scream. She heard deafening bangs, the sounds of explosions and the thudding steps her people had learned to dread, the steps of the Death Knights.

Kay began to cry and hid even farther under her bed, waiting for the nightmare to be over. After a moment she heard a sound even more dreaded than the Death Knights: A Death Knight breaking into her house. Frantically she looked for a weapon and found a gemstone her father had given her for her last spring festival present, a large crystal growing in exciting shapes and pretty colors. She wept at the thought of breaking it, but was terrified out of mind already, too scared to think of a different plan.

She listened closely, and the sound she knew would come did: the sound of the Death Knight climbing the hall to her room. She held her breath and waited. She could smell burning trees all around her, and knew her forest village must have been set alight. She wept for the fallen trees, and her fallen people. Just then the door was knocked right out of the wall and the Death Knight stepped into her room. In one fist it held her screaming older brother, and this sight made her finally get the courage to fight. She stood up then, out of her hiding, screaming at the alien. “Let him go!” she demanded, hoping he could understand her though her accent.

The Death Knight moved its weapon toward her brother and she dropped to her knees to beg. “Please! Don't kill him! Please kill him not!” she begged.

The alien's strange weapon made its deafening bang all Velari had learned to fear and her brother burst, splattering all over her room. She screamed in horror at the sight, and as the Death Knight turned to her she threw the heavy crystal right at its head.

The rock made a 'dink!' sound as it struck the face of the terrifying alien, and during the time it was confused she ran over to her younger sisters, who had also been hiding in the room. She stood in front of the girls and spread her arms protectively, shouting “No! Leave us alone!”

The Death Knight turned to look at her and seemed to be thinking. She had never known one to hesitate before, and this surprised her enough to almost let her emotions take over and let her faint. But she stood tall against the invader and protected her family.

However what the alien did next nearly made her faint anyway. It spoke to her, a gruff deep male voice. “Bravery?” it said, but said it as a question.

She had no idea what to do now. She stood up a little straighter in front of her sisters, holding her arms out more and sticking out her little chest in defiance. The Death Knight took a step towards her and knelt down so its face was only a head's height above hers instead of towering over three times her own height. It spoke again. “tell me.” it demanded. She stared at it, unsure what it wanted, or indeed why she was not dead. “What?” she said at last.

It pointed at her with a large metal finger. “you... you're not like the rest of them.” It poked her chest with surprising gentleness, “you're brave. Why?”

Kay was again at a loss for words. But it continued to speak anyway, “I want to know why. Why do you protect your.... little... those things also bred of your mother? Why did you protest my killing of a weak one? Why did you fight when they did not?”

Kay was now angry enough to speak, so she shouted, careful to use his language. “I protect them because I love them!” she stood up straighter, her chest poked by the finger again.

“Oh, So you fought together, yes? You've shared good experiences? Killed enemies together, survived together, and thus a loving bond is formed?” it suggested. Kay stared as it actually put down its weapon and sat down, as though they were having a chat over morning meal and not in the middle of a planetary invasion. This was the absolute last thing she had expected to happen, and could not speak anymore out of shock.

Garent looked curiously at the Velari girl he had found. This was amazing, it was a little female who had fought back more than her male... nest mate? What should he call them? They all lived together in this tree dwelling together, but as far as he knew they were not assigned to each other, and actually grew from the same biological pair, like animals did. It was odd, and he found himself insatiably curious. Garht the mission, this was interesting. He had killed a male in front of her, as per usual instruction but she had reacted violently instead of fearfully, and Garent wanted to know why. There was something about this girl in particular, and he thought her worth preserving, if for no other reason than scientific study.

He had an idea. “Look, I'm not going to hurt you, really.” she remained silent, her arms slowly falling to her sides as time went on.

“....why?” She asked him.

Garent wished he could smile at her, like he would a young one back home. Instead he tapped her gently on the chest and said in as kind a tone as he could, “because I want to know what you might do.” he saw that something was still bothering her and realized what it might be. “Will you talk to me if I let your ... young females go right now? I won't hurt them, then we'll talk. Agreed?”

Kay stared at the alien. It had just suggested chatting like new friends meeting at a temple gathering, and had offered to be kind to her sisters. This was so strange she wondered seriously if she had been knocked out by debris and was imagining all of this in a temple heal room somewhere.  Well if that were true, where was the harm in continuing.  “you... you promise?” she asked the alien. It nodded and she spoke quickly to her sisters to run to the nearest shelter. She watched them go, and then she found a chair to sit in. the pair stared at each other in silence for a while until she said. “can I make a request... please?” she said softly.

It did not move. “I might not grant it, but you may ask.”

“May I  see what you really look like?” she asked.

It did not move or speak for a short while, but then, “Why do you think this is not what I am?”

She shook her head, “No, that is clothes. Clothes I don't understand, but clothes. If you want me to be nice to you, then I have to know you.”

It seemed to stare at her for a long time and then said. “again you amaze me with your bravery, courage, and determination. Very well, you've impressed me enough to earn it.”

Suddenly everything fell open at once and a man stepped out, dressed all in bluish black tight clothes, and she gasped when she saw his alien face.

Garent  tried to smile at her, and the two aliens took a good long look at each other. Kay was small, very small, only coming up to his elbows at best and she had wide angular green eyes, long pointed ears, an angular face and nose. She had long green colored hair, and wore many layered robes of different shades of green. She was very thin and slightly bony, with a white skin tinged with blue-green blood, more flushed now he assumed than normal from the stress he was putting her through.

Kay gazed up into the full face of an alien for the first time. It was gray, like old stone and had big round yellow eyes, a small square nose and black short hair. She stood up and he squatted down to her own height, and after a moment's hesitation she reached out to touch his  face gently. Her long fingers traced the large face and felt the material of his clothes. After a long time she finally said quietly. “thank you.”

He reached out and gripped her arm and she began to struggle but he said simply “flex” and she suddenly realized he wanted to learn about her. She flexed her fingers and she saw his strange yellow eyes watching the movement intently. “seven fingers?” it asked, and she had nothing to say in response.

Eventually this moment of strange intimacy passed and she asked, “so, why am I alive? Why are you doing this? Why? Why?!” she demanded as nicely as she could manage.

He looked at her. “because I think you have amazing potential. I have been waiting for a sign from god, and I know now that you are that sign.”

She was completely blown away by this response, and it became even more amazing. “I know now that I am supposed to help you somehow. What do you need help with?” when she did not respond, he clarified, “You have an amazing destiny, ...what is your name?”

Finally she spoke, “Kay... Kay Hotoni.” she said very quietly.

He continued, “I know you to have a truly amazing destiny, Kay, and I am here to help you realize it.” he pulled out a small box of cubes with symbols she did not recognize on them. “this will let us know what it is. Jezel will tell us. He has already shown me the way to you, he will show me the way to your future.”

Kay was still too stunned to speak and she merely watched as he crouched down and motioned for her to do the same. She did, kneeling as though praying at the altar. He shook the box, softly at first, and then harder and harder as the cubes began to fly about in their container. At last one of them popped out and landed between them. It spun for a moment before coming to a rest. He kept shaking until all the cubes were out of the box. She looked at the little symbol which seemed to have shocked the Death Knight man. “what does that mean?” she asked him tentatively. Every one of the seven cubes had landed with the same strange symbol emblazoned across the top surface.

He stared at her, shock in his alien eyes. “It means you're going to be a great leader! A moving speaker, a powerful politician, a great ruler.” he looked at her curiously and added, “and I believe it. Of all your people, you are bravest.”

She still had nothing to say to this, her head spinning from so many questions she could not even think straight. “So, do you have a cause you wish to pursue? I'll teach you, aid you, and help you achieve it with your destiny in mind.”

She finally spoke, still staring at the little cube. “I want the death to leave. For things to be as they used to be,  before the Death Knights came from the skies... before you came. I want to make my world whole again, green again, and pure again. They way it should be.”

He stood up and picked her up by the waist. She struggled for a moment but then stopped to stare into his face. He seemed torn, but determined all the same. “I will help you, Kay Hotoni. I will help you become a ruler of your people, and help you achieve your goal. I will be at your side.” he lay her against him with one arm as he bent down to pick up the box of cubes. He handed it to her and said, “do you accept your destiny?” when she did not answer he continued, “I will help you conquer your prople and rule them as you see fit, even if it means fighting my own people.” he pressed the box more into her delicate hands, “Do you accept your destiny?”

Kay was stunned. The idea of leading her people to oust the invaders and save her beautiful holy forests? Her?! She was still a child! ...But with this man's help, who knows what she could do. And maybe there were other gods, the gods of this man, who were indeed smiling upon her. Wasn't it then her duty to help her people? She thought too of power. She had dreamed of it of course as a child,  who didn't? But to actually become a leader, and maybe even a military leader? It was craziness, it was insanity, it was....it was....

It was a wonderful idea. She looked into the eyes of the alien, seeing a holy zeal in those yellow orbs and seeing his sincerity in his willingness to help her. She smiled then, and squeezed the box of fate tightly in her fist.

“I want to rule the world.”