Quest for the 5 amulets P-ch1

(currently all chapters and prolouges will be posted here)

Quest for the Five Amulets
Book 1 – Kaisa’s Quest

Fate is the wind,
Whistling through the voids of the universe,
Brushing her muzzle against the windowpanes.
A thousand coincidences webbed into one
With tendrils of love, hope and pain.
A palm’s imprint in the air,
Evaporating back to the source,
With a soul smiling in the dark;
Its heart bathed in light.


Prologue Pt1

Aeons ago, before time itself had ticked into life, there was a great darkness. Eternal and empty, it stretched throughout the nothingness. All that broke it was the feeling – if a place without life can feel – a sense that beyond the black, pressing invisibly against its surface and sometimes almost in view, as if through frosted glass, there was a consciousness. A something that existed in this empty space. Beneath the frosted glass this thing stirred and at once there was everything.
This everything – the universe - has origins cloaked in darkness. Even in modern times scientists stumble upon the unknown, such as the dark matter that apparently fills over 70% of the universe. If a single atom started the big bang, then what is this? How did the atom explode in the first place? The origins of it have always and will always be cloaked in mystery even to God himself.
All He knows is that somehow she was aware, and around Him. It had been Her, but the mechanics of it boggled even His divine mind.
All those aeons ago, He had woken, and looked about the vast stretches of pure light that existed parallel to the universe, again unseen by the tiniest film of existence.
As mysterious of the origins of the universe was that of His ‘birth’. He could not recall it, but now…here…He was. He was a being within this strange endless plain and He knew at once, written deep into His consciousness, it was His. The white light had a homely feel despite its utter blankness. It felt good…comforting. It was a haven.
~Heaven.~
He smiled to himself and raised himself up (although of course He was without body as nothing was ‘alive’ at this time) and moved to the edge of Heaven, where the universe rolled above and down from the light, and pressed his hand against the thin film of matter dividing them. Gradually as He stared out at the rubble and glowing embers, the gates of Heaven rose up in great sheets of rock and molten fire, surrounding the place. He smiled and unconsciously as He had made the gates, shifted his form to mimic the rolling ‘fire;’ of the big bang.
~ Who am I? ~
He looked about the walls of the potential prison of Heaven, its comforting feel gradually becoming claustrophobic as the panic of the mystery of His existence crept through Him. He was lost.
Suddenly the universe jumped into life with greater vigour. Asteroids gathered into planets and collected into solar systems, stars were born and collected into separate clumps and formed galaxies, all rocketing off into the distance. He was dimly aware of the titanic passage of time and watched closely. A sense of being utterly lost filled him as the galaxies separated and he moved away.
None of this was His. It frightened him to think of how much of this there was. He stared as something pressed what might have been a finger across the film of existence between heaven and the universe, as if beckoning him. It was gone.
He walked forwards again and could feel other consciousnesses take control of these alien galaxies. Tentatively, He reached out into the window of space, concentrating…searching until…there!
A new galaxy His galaxy, span around beneath his fingers and he watched it in wonder. He felt He was touching a part of His soul.
~ This…this is who I am. ~
He felt a great relief and studied it closer, then willed it to become nearer.
There were thousands of new stars and a jumble of asteroids everywhere, silently turning. It was a blank canvas, and yet there was so much to grasp.
He turned from it and felt himself swell. He looked lovingly over the plains of Heaven. Pure white light…and the wall.
~There’s much to be done~
He thought, smiling. He rose himself into the air, amazed at his own power – he could feel it coursing through him, beating and swelling.
Inspiration suddenly came as a torrent and he felt its warmth and grinned. He could do so much with this. He loved it!
From nowhere a voice came out of the light and whispered.
Jahovahh; take care of this. You are its God, and you alone can help me. Keep it safe.
He looked around for the voice and closed his eyes. Instantly knowing who it was.
~Fate. I am your servant. ~
There was a beautiful feeling, then it was gone and he was left alone.

~Jahovahh. That’s my name. ~
He glowed with light and promise and rose to start his masterpiece within heaven, dreaming up the components he would use upon the real galaxy later to come. It was hard work, with every detail taking His attention as he dreamt of what could be possible, if the tiny atoms were able to turn the right way…if, with a little luck, things could evolve like this on their own. He knew he could not force it, but it would happen.
On occasion, he was lost as to what to make next. A grass or tree would begin, and yet not end and he wished he too had the freedom of evolution in Heaven to choose for him. The concept was known to him, yet it had not started yet. In fact, he could feel the tiny spider webs of promise and potential stretching out into the future. He turned back to the newborn galaxy as the asteroids chose their stars. He couldn’t just paint a picture of a galaxy, he had to have meaning behind it. It had to have life, like his life.
How could this be achieved? What could keep it as His stewards?
Concentrating deeply his form shifted. Two legs, two arms, head, torso… suddenly an image leapt out form the future to him and was gone nearly before He could catch it. But He had a glimpse.
Smiling again He realised He had to start here. The job was too big for him alone. He needed help. He looked out to the new lush land he had created in Heaven and brought out a hand.
“Gabriel.”

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Prologue Pt2


Contrary to popular belief, the world did not come into play within a week, or even a year. Time didn’t exist within heaven, although over a while of studying Jahovahh had learnt to interpret the ever moving patterns of the asteroids. Occasionally he would stretch out a hand to move things in a certain direction, create stars and sit enchanted by their light, but despite all the creativity that had been bestowed on heaven, he still felt inept to begin work on his galaxy. That is where Gabriel came in.
Once heaven was almost completed, Jehovah had a near-perfect but fleeting flash of inspiration as to what he wanted to create in the stewards. He knew he had to give life to the empty but infinite beauty of space. Of course, as he later found out even more, everything starts in Heaven.
He had surprised himself as how easy Gabriel was to create; he sat transfixed with his hand out concentrating and watched the form rise up out of the light. Eventually this new being - the first life - stood in front of him. It was naked, though asexual in a humanoid form, with delicate beautiful features and a lithe body. Long ringletted golden hair fell about its shoulders lightly, a golden ring of light hovered above his head, six feathery white wings spread out and tested themselves tentatively and large deep blue eyes shone with an internal light as it observed Jahovah with a mix of wonder and surprise, before condensing into a sudden knowledge. Jahovahh smiled and withdrew his hand, moving to embrace Gabriel.
“Father?” Gabriel said quietly, moving his hands over Jahovahh’s shoulders firmly, as if testing their reality.
“That’s right. I created you Gabriel.”
Gabriel withdrew and looked at him, taking in his every feature. Jahovah was lost in his eyes. They filled with such a being, such a consciousness that it frightened him slightly, but in a good way- SUCH a good way. It was unpredictable, it had free will. He knew it had to have free will in his galaxy. Everything had to. And yet despite this, the angel instantly felt love for him.
Gabriel stretched his wings again and looked at Jahovahh, moving to a knee before Jahovah caught him and pulled him back to his feet. He blinked and smiled before moving backwards and folding his long fingers delicately at his lap and looking at him.
“What do you wish me to do, Lord?”

From that statement it all came together. The two spent as much time as they could in the galaxy, (which Gabriel playfully named the Milky Way), turning the rocks together into solar systems and finding which ones they could create life on. Life was what Jahovah strived for and Gabriel marvelled at its prospect. One day when the two had chosen a particular planet to work on, and Gabriel had created volcanoes to start the whole process, Jahovah realised that this job was too big for even the two of them. He looked over at Gabriel as ‘he’ swooped down dodging the magma, moved to the ground to observe the rocks, took a seat and watched them carefully. He was so obedient even despite his free will, but Jahovah got some sort of pulling sense with him. He didn’t think it very fair that Gabriel should only ever be a servant to him. Jahovah moved away and thought. Over the past few heaven-days the image he had briefly got in the creation of Gabriel had come again, clearer now. He knew what the stewards should be eventually, and he knew that life had to exist, but he also knew he couldn’t just create it like that. He wanted to see what the Earth could create by itself, but how could anything evolve into what he wanted? Gabriel was life, but he was wrong in a way.
There was something they lacked.
That image had brought across a flurry of new ideas and finally Jahovah had a solution to the problem. Genders. If it takes two life forms to make another then evolution HAD to happen evolution meant they became a little out of Jahovahh’s control and this meant that they had more free will.. However the exact mechanics of this confused him somewhat. It was far off. Gabriel suddenly looked up as it began to rain and laughed, dancing in it.
“Male and female.” Jahovahh muttered and Gabriel stopped, looking at him.
“Hm?”
“That’s the answer.”
“To what?”
“Here… let me show you.”
He reached out a rock and something began to swell in it, and then rise up until it changed substances. Suddenly, another angel rose up and looked around stunned. Gabriel stared at it and then moved over.
“Sir?”
“That, Gabriel, is a male.”
A tall man looked around him, long straight black hair falling over a bare tanned back. His eyes were a dark green set in a beautiful but more masculine face holding a thin moustache. He was athletically built and dressed in archer arm and leg bands and a long loin cloth. He only had two powerful white wings and a golden halo also. Gabriel walked up to him to touch his arm and he flinched before blinking again.
“But what IS it?”
Jahovah laughed and moved over, placing his hands on the man’s shoulders. He looked at Jahovah and smiled.
“Well, his name is Lucifer. A male is one half of the life forms I will make; full of testosterone and intelligence, free will...he’s magnificent isn’t he?”
Jahovah grinned and Gabriel looked Lucifer over. Lucifer stared back.
“And he’s like me?”
“Sort of. He’s an angel like you. I thought you needed a companion.”
Gabriel nodded. “Thank you.”
Finally Lucifer spoke in a relatively deep voice, looking out over the volcanoes. “So what now?”


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Chapter 1 – Kaisa


Kaisa Smith wandered down the wide, airy corridors of the vast NASA space station, her hands stuffed in her baggy jean pockets, and a tangle of messy straight black hair obscuring half of her face. Judging by the events of the last few weeks, Kaisa had better things to do than brush her hair. Now everything was calm she had not had the willpower nor the pain threshold to brave trying to unknot the terrible lugs and had settled on the hopes that if she left it alone it may take pity on her and return to normal. If this didn’t work, she clung to a hope that dreadlocks may spontaneously sprout from the mess so she could at least attribute it to a personal choice on her part.
The corridor led to the main hall of the space station, and in the walls of it were huge windows that let the pale morning light filter in, although the corridors were still artificially lighted. Unlike most corridors, this was not surrounded by rooms but instead its sides opened out into artificial gardens that were roofless and open to the elements; be them kind or cruel. Because of the scorching American sun the gardens were packed with thirty or so people, all savouring the last of earth’s beauty before the coming launch, stretching out like cats on the grass banks. This was the crew for the cargo ship that was to be launched this afternoon. It would be fat with building material and fuel for the ships constructing another space station some 2 million miles West of Pluto, and from there they would move on to ferry goods between the numerous space stations that littered the nearer reaches of the galaxy. Cargo ships were extremely common place, and practically the galactic equivalent of the royal mail. The crew usually travelled around in a rusty 23rd century space ship, but after problems they had to crash-land on Mars and be rescued buy the solar division of the federation. Kaisa could still remember being tossed about within the ship as the gravity and engines failed, and the horrific sound the ship made scraping the rocky ridges as they dived into the red planet. Though she already missed the old ship, she was glad for the idea that this one wouldn’t spontaneously smoke when you pressed more than 15 buttons within a minute, or spark like a blacksmith’s anvil at every re-entry. This new model was a top 25th century vehicle.
The crew was more of a family then anything, like a circus or a band on tour. Cargo ship crews, they say, were as loyal as a pack of dogs. They were also the most mixed crew. There were all types of aliens, only about 17 humans were in the thirty. The ships were slow, only usually travelling at 2 1/2 time's light speed, sluggish for a space ship, although it suited the means of the cargo ships, which meant it wasn't surprising for children to be born on board. Therefore it wasn't unusual to find a few half aliens on board, much to the disapproval of the Terrestrialists – an extremist band against alien influence in Humanity. They said it was against nature, and even many of the NASA eggheads were reluctant towards cross-breeding.
Kaisa had been born on board, but was fully human. Cargo ships were all she knew, and the crew were the only friends she had.
She was 13 years old, nearing 14, with dark brown eyes and a determined look constantly showing in them, as if she had something to prove, or something to do, constantly.
She had a figure that would look good when she grew up, but right now was not lacking in puppy fat that she couldn't get rid off. She was wearing a brown T-shirt with black, tatty jeans with a chain dangling from the side, and a green jacket with the federation logo on the front and the NASA sign on the back. She wore black trainers that were unlaced. In general this was her default outfit – Kero had only seen her in anything else once in a blue moon. He had decided to stop questioning whether it was because she never changed or whether she had hundreds of copies of the same outfit. The soot and dirt on her clothes generally suggested the former.

Kaisa tugged at her hair again, wincing.
“Hey Kaisa!”
She turned on her heel and smiled. She waved and he waved back.
“Hiya Kero!”
A boy, ran out of one of the garden’s doors and down the corridor towards her. He was about her age with dark brown skin, as on earth, thick, curled to the point of dreadlocks black hair at near-shoulder length and a nose piercing. He was dressed in a tough-wearing brown religious habit, which tugged at the top part of his legs, and he tripped over twice before finally getting to her. She laughed and he grabbed her elbows for support when he almost tripped again, and grinned. Canine fangs caught the light and pointed ears were visible briefly under his hair. Kero was one of the half- human half-alien breeds on the ship: His father was human, but his mother was a Carluxin. The race was humanoid, and was well known for their psychic abilities and skills in magic. They were also the victims of kids' taunting, because of their pointed ears and jet-black skin and hair.
“Hi, hi….whew!” he bent an arm around Kaisa’s neck for support and panted and she lightly punched him in the side.
“Your mum doesn’t make you do enough laps, ey?”
“Shut up.” He straightened up, but kept his arm in place.
“You know we’ve gotta be on the space ship soon?”
Kaisa nodded.
“Uh huh. You got all your stuff?”
“I didn’t unpack!” he laughed, grinning again and skipping two and fro on his heels. Kaisa raised a brow at him and stepped back.
“What’s up with you? Y’ look like a squirrel!”
Kero stopped skipping and frowned at her.
“Peh. Nice. Compare me to a rodent!” he feigned offence and folded his arms, sticking his nose in the air.
"If you must know I only happened to appear excited because of a new trick I learnt, and wanted to show you..."
Kaisa smiled and stood up straighter. She giggled,
"Now you look like a peacock!"
"Shut up you!" he said smirking, and put his arm around her again. He held out his hand as if he was cupping some water in it. “What if I don’t show you this little trick, ey? I don’t think you’re worthy of my magic perfomanancery skills.”
“’ Perfomanancery’ isn’t a word.”
“A master sorcerer like me can make up whatever words I want.”
“Come off it.” She flicked his nose, making his piercing wiggle uncomfortably. He clapped his free hand to it.
“Look, are you going to show me or not, Kero?” she raised a brow at him and he winked.
“Ok, ok, just give me some time. Watch the birdie.”
Kero directed his attention to his hand and he closed his eyes and moved his mouth silently to some words. His hand quivered slightly and Kaisa stared at it in anticipation. Suddenly an eruption of sparks flew from his hand and spraying from it like a fountain.
"GAH!!!!" they both cried and fell over.
"I OVERDID IT!" Kero shouted over the deafening fizzing sound that had come with the sparks.
"YA THINK?!"
Kero's eyes darted around, trying to remember what the words were that would stop the things. Suddenly it flashed into his head.
"KAIYO ANI MARGARIJAI" he screamed and the fountain of sparks ceased.
Kaisa picked herself up from the floor and after a seconds stunned silence they both broke out into a fit of laughter. A few people in the garden stared through the windows at them and then rolled their eyes, returning themselves to absorbing what sunlight they could before the months of darkness in space.
Kaisa laughed and pulled Kero up, dusting him off.
"Look at that, such a skilled mongrel!" she teased sarcastically.
Kero frowned and kicked the back of her legs so she plummeted to the ground again.
"OW! You'll pay for that!" she yelled, pushing him over and pinning him down before he rolled on top of her and grabbed her nose. She stuffed her fingers in his armpits and he fell back, laughing, then kicked him in the shins before he could get up, standing up herself. Kero shuffled backwards then rugby tackled her to the ground again, both yelling and laughing and kicking at each other.

“What are you doing?!”
Kero looked up from the headlock Kaisa had him in to find his mother’s threatening glare fixed on them as she stood towering 6’3’’ above.
Jerrianai. A Carluxian, with hair at least as long as her height, in a single plait. Her skin was a black as her hair, and piercing purple eyes scowled at them. She was also wearing a habit, and a necklace made out of beads of amethyst that her late husband had given her on their honeymoon.
Kero and Kaisa looked up sheepishly at her and both gave a weak smile.
"What's happened, why are you fighting?" she asked in annoyance, showing her fangs – longer than Kero’s.
They both looked at each other and shrugged. They'd forgotten.
Jerrianai sighed and pulled Kero up. Kaisa quickly let go of him, putting her hands behind her back sheepishly.
“Come on. Ship, now.” She said sternly, lading him down the corridor by his shoulder. Kero sighed and looked around her, holding up a hand in a vague wave to his friend. “See ya later.”
“No Kero. See you later.” He mother corrected, giving an agitated glance back at Kaisa.
“Yeah?”
“Yes!”
“I know mom!”
Kaisa snickered and waved them off. As they disappeared around the corner she let her arm slowly drop and sighed, putting her hands slowly in her pockets again and turning to return back in the opposite direction. She glanced to the gardens again where the crewmembers began to get up and move out. Blinking in surprise at how much sooner the launch must be than she thought, she picked up speed to a run.
She headed up some stairs into the reception – now buzzing with activity as the last stragglers hurried where she had come to prepare for the launch – and she rushed into a small lounge, finding her rucksack on a chair. She breathed a sigh of a relief and a middle aged caretaker looked up from the TV at her and smiled.
“I kept your bag safe lil’ lady; you aught not to leave it about on its own y’know.”
Kaisa bustled up her bag onto her shoulder and smiled. “Thanks a lot, dude.”
“Dude?” the man chuckled and watched her head out the door. “You on the cargo ship, then?”
Kaisa looked back and nodded, smiling, although a flicker of a guarded expression crossed her features as if anticipating criticism. The man nodded to himself and placed his hands in his lap.
“Well you better head off then. It wouldn’t do for you to be late after all. Tell ‘em thanks from me – as I recall once when my cousin was out on a space station your lot helped him out with getting that space pod to them. Couldn’t have been home for Christmas without it.”
Kaisa smiled and nodded again. “Will do, sir.”
The man nodded again, pleased at the compliment of a proper title, and waved to her as she charged out of the door and down the stairs. She headed back through the corridor, hoping to catch up with Kero and his mum. When she couldn’t find them she caught her breath and sighed, frowning lightly again. She stuffed her hands in her pockets again and walked briskly but somewhat morosely. She watched as the crew and their little families walked ahead of her as they entered the huge main hall,
She sighed. She was an orphan; her family were killed in an accident while repairing the outside of the ship while in orbit. There was an explosion and her parents died. As simple as that. There lives taken at 28 years old. Kaisa was just a baby then, adopted by all the crew, a shared child. She never had anyone she really loved more then everyone else, part of one big family. The only person she loved like close family was Kero, but his mother didn't approve of her.

She scuffed the ground with her shoe and looked up as an announcement blared out of one of the speakers.
"# All members of the cargo ship X4412 please report to the launching bay for boarding. Repeat: all members of the cargo ship X4412 please report to the launch bay for boarding, thank you. #"
There was a moment of no recognition before something clicked. The serial code for the old ship was different, and burned into her memory, but the new one had not settled in yet. When it dawned on her she smiled with the usual rush of excitement passing through her as she awaited her next new 'adventure' in space. She put her hands on the straps of her bag and ran down the hall towards the launch bay.