1 The End and Beginning of Everything

Four Years Ago

Planet Pagua of the Kira Star System

I clawed at the red dirt under the Balian soldiers' gaze. The soil was soft and moist from last night's rain, and it smelled inexorably of the past. It had been the first thing I noticed when I had arrived on that forsaken, wild planet: the coppery aroma of the soil. Pagua was a raw untamed planet, so unlike the perfectly landscaped planet of Utania I had left behind.

My right hand felt raw from digging, but my titanium-made left one fared better. When my left hand had been blown off, Solano had joked that I should have gotten a new right hand as well. I would have listened to him if I had known I'd be using my hands to dig his grave a few months later.

It was growing dark but I dug until a soldier grabbed one of my wings and pulled me aside. All the strength I had mustered to confront them and demand they let me live was gone.

"I'm Utanian. If you kill me, there'll be consequences for you," I said.

The truth was, the Utanian Empire wouldn't have cared if I lived or not. After all, I left her home planet over a decade ago. But that was all I came up with when faced with the bloody lance that had just pierced Solano's chest.

I sat on my knees and stared at his body, not bothering to remove the dirt from her hands. One of the soldiers descended from the Balian ship with a metal shovel. He'd finish what I started.

Two soldiers searched through the pockets of Solano's bloodstained jacket and found nothing. They used their legs to roll the body in, where he landed face down. One of Solano's limp legs caught something at the side of the grave. The soldier kicked it and it made a metal clank. He writhed in pain as he cursed and grabbed his foot. Solano's metallic leg, I thought, and smiled.

The soldier limped towards the ship and motioned for me to follow. I squared my shoulders and straightened my wings as I walked up the long ramp to the beehive shaped ship. I stepped inside and took one last look at the makeshift grave while the soldier filled it up. Three of Pagua's moons were rising in the sky, and they cast an eerie light over the trees that surrounded the clearing.

In the distance, some Balian robotic beasts were dragging the dead Paguans into a tall pile of bodies. So many men and women I had fought, laughed, and lived with, gone, because of Solano's refusal to surrender. How long had it been since the war became a manhunt instead of a series of battles? It seemed like I had been running around Pagua with Solano for ages, and now the Balians had finally killed him, ending the war.

It's over.

It had been over for a long time.

"We should have left a marker that said 'Here lies the former emperor Solano of Pagua, beloved by his flying pigs and his Utanian whore," said a cool, raspy voice behind me. I turned to face Count Eu, but a soldier pulled me towards a corridor by the arm. I stopped.

"Murdered by a Balian coward, you might add," I said and raised my wings. The soldiers took two steps back and drew out their guns. I knew they'd be frightened of my wings, even though I'd be dead before I could use them.

Count Eu tried to hide a scowl. "You are now Balian property, Alysia Lynch. Behave accordingly," he said.

"I am no one's," I said, lowering her wings. "An Utanian citizen is a free citizen of this universe and you should treat me accordingly."

Then I walked past the soldiers, down the poor-lit corridor into the unknown.

*****