Holy Hearts

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. A world, sandy and barren and a world, icy and broken, spin on opposite sides of the galaxy with great depths between them. Two children with empty eyes and shattered hearts emit a sorrowful tone that breaches the void. Civilizations clash violently but ultimately bring them salvation from their ills.

Ottica:

Aorei stands on the bridge of his mothers vessel watching the millions of black cross shaped weapons accelerate passing them into a great sandstorm with lightning coursing through it. The young boy pressed his dark tan face against the spherical red viewport as the ships were swallowed by the storm that seemed to rage more intensely with each ingestion. His golden yellow eyes filled with worry when the wrathful desert storm looked to grow larger. He turned to look at his mother for consolation, his white braids swaying behind him. Before him, his mother floating in a red liquid encasement of a translucent orb, controlled the ship. Her eyes were closed as she focused on the task at hand, suddenly feeling her son’s gaze, she opened them to support him with the same shining gold eyes as his own. Within the viewport with Aorei and his mother are several handmaidens in a semi meditative state, praying for the battle's success. All are garbed in the black armor they are born with and now stand at the precipice of their civilization’s survival. On the right of his mothers ship Aorei looks to the several smaller black vessels that guard his mother’s ship. He feels a deep tension from the one closest. Aorei can sense a deep glare from his half brother’s vessel, who has been forced to protect his step-Mother’s flotilla. Aorei ignored this tension as the storm ahead was far more important. A roar tremored through the viewport and Aorei turned his attention back to the storm. The great sand cloud constricted and ejected several black orbs with tendrils flailing about them as they flew. As they let loose from the storm like arrows they began to chase the ships outside of the storm. Aorei’s mother’s ships and following ships tried to bank and retreat from the onslaught but the black spores were unrelenting in their chase. Several went through the viewport and slipped through like it was made of liquid. Aorei stumbled away fearfully, managing to avoid the large spores as they ravaged the bridge. The handmaidens struggled unsuccessfully with the large spores using their tendrils to draw them into the black tar-like center. One attacks Aorei’s mother as he looks up in shock. The translucent orb relents like broken glass as the spore fights to break through. Aorei’s mother’s body is stationary but her eyes dart from her son to the monster in erratic fear but slowly her eyes calm. Aorei couldn’t comprehend his mother’s reaction. She looked at the beast squirming to get at her like it was putting her in a trance.

“My love…”, Aorei reads from her lips as the spore finally breaks through, attacking his mother and causing the liquid she resided in to become jet black. The ship begins to fly erratically tossing Aorei back and forth with the g-forces. Unable to hold his grip the child is thrown from the ship, easily flying through the liquid based viewport. He watches the black crossed shaped ship squirm in the air like a snake possessed as he falls to the dunes below. Crashing to the surface dust billows up in a plume. Though his body is intact, pain racks his person but this pain doesn’t compare to his inner turmoil. In the distance his mother’s ship crashes on the dunes with the storm slowly consuming it and a beast manifest from the site showing like a shadow through the storm. “All is lost,” whimpers Aorei with tears in his eyes begins to scream in agony.

Urosa:

Andera looks around as if she hears a high pitched ringing in her ear. The redhead young girl with pale skin and blue eyes had been crying. The high pitched noise was odd but it did not change her situation. Her father was going to die. Andera was curled up in the corner of her room and couldn’t sleep all night after the bishop announced that her father was to be sacrificed. There was a knock on her door.

“Andera…”, a loud burly voice said. Andera’s tears began to well up again. A large man in blue and white armor opened the door and walked into her room. He was balding but his long black beard was beautiful with his piercing blue eyes. His armor barely let him through Andera’s tiny doorway but he walked toward her and knelt.

“Andera. I have to leave soon and I need you to be strong… for our people.” Andera looked at him and though he looked strong his face was full of burdens. He touched her face with his cold metal clad hands. Though it was freezing, Andera endured the touch knowing there was warm love behind them. There was a loud knock on the door that echoed through the large house. A servant walked behind Gene and whispered in his ear. The knight stood up straight and proud and seemed ready to face anything. There was a shaking from his armored hand. Andera rose, wiping her tears and grasped his armored hand to give him strength. Gene looked to her thankfully and they walked together. Though Andera’s room was small, the house they lived in was enormous. The house was reserved for the commander of the knights of the region and soon it would switch hands. Several servants stood at attention leading to the doorway as Andera and Gene hand and hand walked forward to the door. There were three heavy raps on the door and two servants opened the door as the two approached. A snowy gust of wind buffeted all near the opened door. Five knights stood at the door, four with helmets and masks and the fifth without. He had golden hair and green eyes with venomous intention. He pointed at Gene and two knights seized him, their mask wheezing with oxygen as they forced him by the arms. Gene was wrenched from Andera’s hands. The green eyed man looked at her and smiled slyly. He turned around and marched with his knights with their prisoner in tow. Andera followed with her servants. Outside a continuous snowstorm bit at them as they walked. This storm was never ending and plagued Andera’s planet along with spirit beast. As they walked people were drawn from their homes to follow them. They passed ruins of tall buildings from a past civilization. A civilization that sinned, broke the world and brought on this forever winter. Though Andera was dressed in fine clothes the people that swelled their ranks wore rags on top of rags to protect them from the cold. A deep sorrow walked with them as Gene was a beloved leader. They arrived at the city square where the bishop with flowing white and blue robes stood with a coterie of soldiers in armor and priests in robes of the same color. In the square there was a large circle of steaks where many were tied ready for their sacrifice. Gene was brought to one of those steaks and stripped of his armor. The priest alongside the bishop smiled gleefully at the dishonor of having his armor taken away. Andera looked up at him from the gallery and saw his face. He seemed more feeble without his armor but he was still the strongest man Andera knew. The green eyed knight joined the bishop and his group and the ceremony began. The bishop and the priest started to chant. The snow storm around the square responded by creating a torrent around them. The crowd was amazed by the change but Andera kept staring at Gene who hopelessly awaited his fate. Tears welled up in her eyes again as now she’d be alone again. He looked to her and gave her a loving smile. This look gave Andera strength but the pain was so great it felt like her heart was tearing. At this moment lighting began to course through the torrent around the square. A blue circle of light began to emit around the sacrifices and the bishop and priest began to crescendo in their chants. “I love you,”whispered Andera to her father. In a tower of light her father and the sacrifices had silhouette images of their bodies taken from them. They rose to the sky in a bright blue translucent Phoenix, the spirit beast of Andera’s land. The beast screeched and filled the onlookers with awe. Andera looked up at it with disdain. Tears flooded her eyes and she couldn’t hold the pain in her heart anymore. She fell to her knees and clinched her arms. Her veins began to pulse light blue and the spirit beast hovering in the sky began to respond. The crowd around Andera repelled from her, unable to understand what was happening. The bishop, realizing the spirit beast wasn’t disappearing, began to chant again in order to put the beast to rest. Andera looked to Gene’s lifeless body and then to the bishop trying to control the Phoenix. Her heart filled with anger towards the bishop and the Phoenix began to dive towards him and his coterie. The crowd began to run and panic. The bishop eyes filled with fear and began stuttering with the chant. The priests and soldiers around him retreated from the bishop believing, him to be the next target. Stumbling away the green eyed knight looked at Andera realizing she was controlling the spirit beast.

“My lord!” Exclaimed the bishop, as the beast swallowed him disappearing into the ground and taking his soul. His body collapsed lifelessly to the ground. Satisfied with the bishop's death, Andera’s heart began to fill with sadness again. An unrelenting pain overtook her and she began to scream.

Ottica:

The desert storm continued to swell in front of Aorei as he screamed on his knees. The storm began to settle and a silhouette of a great black tree began to appear from the sandy torrent. The battle in the sky continued as the black spores hunted the cross shaped ships. Aorei turned around feeling someone approaching. They stepped forcefully through the sand as of carrying a great weight. It was his half brother, injured with blood dripping down his dark tan face and with a large black spore pulsing on the side of his head. Aorei was in shock and stayed as his brother limped closer. Tendrils from the spore lined his body going underneath his black armor. “Run..”, his brother utters without emotion as he lifts a black blade extending from his armor. Aorei started, he felt like he heard a scream from far away. A scream, like his, that mirrored his pain. A large portal stirred in the sky above the battlefield. Aorei stared in amazement as it completely overshadowed the land. Feeling hope the young boy felt a great power overtake him. A large ship, larger than anything he’s ever seen generated from within him. Aorei’s brother wide eyed struggling against the parasite, stares upward at Aorei’s new form. “The Emperor!”, he exclaims falling to his knees, tendrils digging deeper into his body. Aorei transformed into the largest black vessel of his people and began to float above the ground. The large ship charged toward the portal and the remaining ships from the battle followed him. They dispersed into the portal leaving their world and the plague behind.

Urosa:

Amongst the chaos, Andera cried, hugging her fathers corpse. The green eyed knight stood over her with great anger in his eyes. Above them a great black portal began to stir and several black cross shaped ships ejected from it and an especially large one appeared to be leading them. Andera looked up in wonder with her tears drying on her face.