The Year of 2012

Karsae sat in her office running through reports on her computer. She was tasked with looking for any abnormalities in the galaxy through these reports. As she looked through the reports she noticed that many scientists throughout the universe have somehow predicted the end of their home planet. The more she read these findings she became concerned. There were over a thousand reports of the same thing.

Karsae soon ran a background check on the scientists that discovered the findings that led them to predict the end of the planet they lived on. After many hours Karsae was shocked to find that there were no connections between the scientists. Karsae rushed to report her findings to her boss, Plokakov.

“Karsae what a surprise. Please, come in.” he said with a smile.

“Sir, we have an issue. There are over a thousand reports of worlds saying that the end will come in twenty twelve. I already run background checks on the scientists, but there is nothing connecting them to any criminal we know.”

“When is the ending date for all of these findings?”

“December of twenty twelve.”

Plokakov had a worried look on his face as he heard those words.

“That’s four months away. This has Jarneth written all over it!”

“That’s the thing Sir, there is nothing connecting it to him either.”

“Keep looking into this please. Do whatever it takes to find out exactly what is going on.”

“Will do, Sir!”

Karsae ran out of the office and to the spacecraft landing dock. She stopped half way realizing she did not have her keys on her. She ran back to her office to grab the keys and back to her spacecraft. In her prior research she had remembered a name that constantly occurred: Kaslyn. She had battled against Jarneth many times from what Karsae had read. This was the only lead Karsae had, and she had to follow it.

*** *** ***

The planet Koskoa was a peaceful planet for the most part. There were a few criminals, but they did not last for very long. The people of this planet lived alongside animals and learned from them as well. Those that took these lessons to heart knew the higher meaning of animals. These people created a group known as Skalad Avanurk. They taught those who were interested about their soul animal, the one animal that watched them from the moment they were born, and how to connect with them.

When Kaslyn arrived on the planet, she was quick to hide in the lush forests that surrounded the town. She soon reverted to the animal side of her, and any who got in her way were attacked.

The leader of the planet, Molrrav, was soon informed of these attacks. Molrrav was known for his kindness towards those who accepted the animal side inside of them. He had short, shaggy white hair with a long white beard and a long, thin moustache. After many months of hearing these reports Molrrav soon went out in the forest himself. He was advised against his idea, but he knew that he would be safe. As he walked through the forests Molrrav constantly looked around his surroundings. He spent many hours searching the forests for the mysterious attacker. Soon a yellow mist began to form next to him. This mist soon took the form of a dingo like creature.

“Always a pleasure to see you Milva.” Molrrav said with a smile.

“I am always here for you, Molrrav” Milva said. “I can help you find the one you are looking for.”

“Take the lead, my friend.”

Milva calmly walked in front of Molrrav and he followed. Shortly Milva stopped and snarled. Molrrav stopped and closed his eyes. He heard the twigs snapped and heard the snarling of a human. When he opened his eyes he saw a girl with long, matted brown hair and dark brown eyes. This girl continued to snarl at Molrrav. Molrrav stared at her kindly while his ice blue eyes hid the fact that he was figuring her out.

“You have nothing to fear, child.” he said calmly.

“Then leave me alone.” the girl growled.

Molrrav closed his eyes once more as he breathed in and out calmly.

“There is much pain inside your heart. I can feel it.” he said.

The girl stopped snarling and sat down.

“There is anger too.” Molrrav said.

“I want to be left alone.” she growled.

“Promise me you will not harm anyone who enters this forest.”

The girl nodded her head and left, blending in the shadows.

*** *** ***

Karsae had travelled for many days until she finally arrived on the planet Koskoa. She asked around to find where the leader of the planet resided. She was soon directed towards the mountains. After many hours of climbing they soon came to a flat mountain top. Before them a magnificent, white palace glimmered in the sunlight. Karsae was amazed at the craftsmanship of such a building. She knocked on the doors and a man with shaggy white hair, beard, and thin moustache answered the door.

“How may I be of assistance to you on this day?” the man asked.

“I have been looking for a girl named Kaslyn.”

“I’m afraid I do not know of anyone with that name, however; there is a girl who lives in the forest whom I do not know the name of.”

“Thank you so much for your help.”

Karsae began walking out the door, but Molrrav stopped her.

“Do be careful ma’am. The girl has quite a temper.”

“Thank you.” Karsae said kindly.

After the trek down the mountain, Karsae stopped to eat before embarking on her trek through the forest. Karsae knew she was running out of time and hoped that this girl was the one she was looking for, Once she was ready to begin her search she headed into the forest.

It was calm and peaceful as birds sang in the trees. Karsae enjoyed the calming environment as she searched for this mystery girl. She soon came to a clearing but heard a strange noise in the trees. She stayed quiet as she hid behind a boulder. She watched quietly as she saw a girl emerge from the tree tops. A black wolf followed the girl as she reached out her hand to pet it. The wolf soon stopped and began following a scent trail. As the wolf got closer to Karsae she panicked and ran, but the wolf pounced and was ready to attack.

“Bruce, stop!” the girl yelled.

The wolf looked at her with defiance, but the girl growled at the wolf. The wolf shrank back and laid next to Karsae. The girl whistled and the wolf went back to her side and the two began to leave the clearing. Karsae quickly got up and tried to catch up.

“Wait!” she pleaded.

They did not stop until they reached a cave. The girl sat on a flat topped boulder. Karsae soon arrived and the girl scowled as Karsae stopped to catch her breath.

“Are you Kaslyn?” Karsae asked,

The girl glared at Karsae as she grabbed a tree limb.

“Who sent you? Was it him?” she snarled as she brought the stick to Karsae’s head.

“I came from the planet Gorrek. My name is Karsae and I need your help.”

“I don’t help anyone.” the girl snapped.

“So you are Kaslyn then.”

“That was once my name, yes. I don’t wish to be that person any more.”

“You have fought Jarneth before, right?”

“Do not speak that name.” Kaslyn growled.

“You are the only one who can help me.”

“Who told you that?”

“Your name pops up in every file we have of Jarneth. You have fought him more than once. I thought you would help me if we had a common enemy.”

“You thought wrong. Jarneth destroyed me.” Kaslyn said with a whimper. “He took everything from me, made me a monster.”

“He is the monster. He has deployed spies on over a thousand planets to convince everyone that the world and all life is going to end. We only have until the end of December.”

“That’s too bad.” Kaslyn said as she walked into her cave.

“That’s it?” Karsae yelled.

Kaslyn came back with a glare in her eyes.

“What do you expect? Jarneth defeated me in our last meeting. He killed my family in front of my eyes and nearly killed me. I barely escaped and landed here. He is a better monster than me. I cannot defeat him.” Kaslyn explained.

“You will just let him win.”

“He already won, a very long time ago.”

“I only have four weeks to stop him.” Karsae pleaded. “You are the only hope I have.”

Kaslyn looked at Karsae and sighed.

“What do you want me to do?” Kaslyn asked hoarsely.

“I need you to stop whatever his plot is.”

“Do you have a spacecraft?”

“Of course.”

“I know where he is.”

“We will need to go to Gerrok to plan our attack.”

*** *** ***

Once they arrived on Gerrok Karsae called an emergency meeting in the council room. Kaslyn sat quietly as the others argued against the plan to make a straightforward attack or to sneak in using a decoy. The argument amused Kaslyn and she soon began to chuckle. Everyone went silent when they heard her, and she just smiled as they glared at her.

“Care to say something?” Plokakov sneered.

“You truly do not know your enemy, do you?” Kaslyn asked with a smile.

“We have been tracking Jarneth for five years now and -”

“I’ve been fighting him for twelve.” Kaslyn interjected.

“We know plenty about Jarneth and his plots.”

“But do you know where he resides as we speak?”

Plokakov went silent as did the others. Kaslyn smiled and chuckled once more.

“You truly know nothing. He currently resides on a forgotten planet known as Promas. He destroyed all life and created an eternal desert on this planet.”

“He was last seen on the planet Pareoku. He had built an army there.”

“That was twelve years ago.” Kaslyn said calmly.

“How would you know?”

“Because I was once part of his army. I was born on Pruvodok and he recruited me as a child soldier along with many others. He used us to infiltrate his enemies’ forts, headquarters, things like that. I served him for two years until I realized what we were doing. He annihilates life on the planets he conquers, so I refused to be a part of it. He tortured me for two years, after that he hunted me like a wild animal until I became one. He has nearly killed me countless times.”

“You’re afraid of him.”

“He killed my family in front of me, so yes I fear him and hate him at the same time.”

“Then why help us?”

“I’m the only one who knows him. I can get you inside and avoid him at all costs.”

“What do you propose then?”

“Both of your plans will fail. He has an army of over one hundred thousand. A straightforward attack will last all but maybe two minutes and they will win. A decoy will only tip him off that something is wrong. He is very smart and cunning, but he overthinks everything. You need a simple approach to this. Someone he doesn’t know and hasn’t seen before.”

“That would be Karsae. She is new to the job of protecting the galaxy.”

“So be it.”

*** *** ***

Sirens blared as a lone spacecraft came and landed on the docking bay. Jarneth looked out his office window to see the guards interrogate the craft’s captain. His heart raced as he watched to see a girl with long brown hair.

“Was it her again?” he wondered.

He sighed with relief when he saw the girl had blue eyes instead of brown. He sat back in his chair and watched the spacecraft fly off. He checked his watch, it was almost time to start his doomsday device. He had no time to lose, so he got up and quickly ran to the bunker to start his machine. He threw open the door as he ran inside. He flipped on the light switch and ran to the computer. As he quickly typed on the keyboard he heard footsteps behind him. He spun around as he pulled out a laser gun.

“Stay back!” he shouted.

Kaslyn emerged from the doorway. She just looked at him with a blank stare.

“How do you keep finding me?” Jarneth shouted.

“It’s not that hard, Jarneth. You typically go to planets that are easy to conquer.” Kaslyn said.

“You can’t stop me!” Jarneth said as pressed the enter key on the computer.

The machine buzzed to life as a timer appeared for thirty minutes. Kaslyn just sighed as she got ready to fight. Jarneth chuckled at her.

“You think you can defeat me? After all these years of constant failures?”

“Never hurts to try.”

Jarneth pulled the trigger and shot Kaslyn. She yelped as she was propelled backwards a few steps. Jarneth punched her in the face as he ran away. Kaslyn closed her eyes for a moment then reopened them. Kaslyn walked towards the machine. She saw that it ran on a radioactive power core. She pulled out a phone type device and called out for Karsae.

“What is it?” Karsae asked.

“I’m the only one by the machine, but it has a radioactive core.”

“Just be patient, please. We will figure this out together.”

Kaslyn stood there looking at the machine. She had twenty five minutes remaining. She felt a sharp pain in her side and felt the blade leave her. Jarneth smiled evilly but Kaslyn punched him in the face then picked him up by the shirt.

“How do I stop it?” she growled.

“You can.” he laughed.

Jarneth was about to stab Kaslyn again, but this time she caught his wrist and drove the dagger into his leg. He screamed in pain as Kaslyn let him go. Kaslyn walked to the machine and looked at the core. She slowly reached towards it, feeling the intensity of the radioactive heat it emitted. She looked at the timer and saw that she had ten minutes left.

“What are you doing?” Jarneth shouted.

“I’m ending this.”

Kaslyn grabbed the power core with her right hand. She snarled as she felt her hand burn at the touch of the core. She pulled the core out with a small yell from the pain. The machine buzzed more frantically as sparks began to fly out.

“You FOOL!” Jarneth yelled. “It’s going to melt down now!”

“As long as no one gets hurt.” Kaslyn said as she watched the machine generate miniature portals and closing them repeatedly.

She heard Jarneth yell, so she turned around only to feel a sharpness in her stomach. Jarneth had shoved a piece of broken metal into her stomach. A portal opened behind her and Jarneth punched her backwards into the portal before it closed. Jarneth collapsed to the ground from exhaustion from his wounds.

*** *** ***

Kaslyn landed back first into a blanket of snow. She slowly reached for the metal shard in her stomach. She breathed slowly as she pulled it out. She quietly yelled as she finally got it out. She laid her arm back on the ground. She could see the steam of her breath in the air as she looked at the stars that she had never seen before. She heard the sound of a spacecraft landing, but she did not have the strength to move.

“Kaslyn!” Karsae cried out.

Karsae ran towards Kaslyn and saw the wounds she had sustained. Kaslyn was starting to breathe in short bursts. Plokakov soon stood by Karsae and tried to pull her back.

“We can save her, Plokakov. We just need to get her in the spacecraft.” Karsae explained frantically.

“Karsae, she wouldn’t make the trip,” he said calmly.

Karsae tried to hold back her tears. Kaslyn slowly moved her head and Karsae looked at her.

“Did you get him?” Kaslyn asked.

“Yes, we did.” Plokakov answered.

Kaslyn breathed a sigh of relief.

“Where are we?” Kaslyn asked wearily.

“We are on a planet called Earth.” Karsae answered.

“They have beautiful stars here.” Kaslyn sighed.

Karsae and Plokakov stayed with her until she was at peace. Karsae stood up and wiped her eyes.

“It’s not fair.” she sobbed. “No one knows what she did for them.”

“They don’t need to know.” Plokakov said.

“What? How can you say that?”

“People wouldn’t believe the story even if they heard it. It will simply be dubbed as a miscalculation on the scientist’s part.” Plokakov explained.

“So what do we do then?”

“We will bury her in the forest of Koskoa.”

“She did love it there.”

“And her memory will live on through us.”