PRL Serials

E, Eris, Erim [He, His, Him; She, Hers, Her respectively]

God was born on the planet Druont and e was banished to the Regions for experimenting on erimself and violating important norms against self-experimentation. God has tampered with eris DNA so much that the scientists of the planet could not determine eris true age. E was believed to have reached maturity on Druont and e was about to graduate from the Hall of Orphans, where most Druintes are raised until they reach adulthood, before e caused trouble and was sentenced to hard labor that is a punishment for truly irredeemable and ineffectual Druintes of mainstream culture. God exhibited peculiar traits and the Lead Scientist of Druont’s government, the MDDS, recommended him for a secret experimentation program where God’s sins were discovered. 

Before eris banishment, God met Pegraf who was an undercover social Druinte; mainstream Druintes do not engage in intimate relationships but dedicate their efforts to their collective culture, and the social Druintes are a small portion of the total population who value close relationships and draw the ire of mainstream culture. Pegraf was born in a small city of social Druintes before e traveled to the largest city on Druont and began work for the MDDS. Pegraf was skilled in biological sciences and the Lead Scientist recruited Pegraf for the secret program where e would eventually meet God. Pegraf was banished along with God because Pegraf concealed the truth about God’s crimes before the Lead Scientist discovered the truth. 

God has enjoyed eris time in the Banned Regions. E and Pegraf arrived to the Regions two years ago RET and they were lucky to travel there with a sophisticated ship that they could use as a home. They did not live in the Safe Zone, God made sure of that. E was eager to experience the dangers that were said to exist there; roving gangs and dangerous criminals who would rob you and toture you for sport and they encountered considerable danger upon first arriving. Their ship was flashy compared to the old or cobbled-together ships that frequented the area and it attracted a gang of mechanics that was composed mostly of Rhasdwiis women. They stood on a small rock as four ships of the Rhasdwiis gang landed around them. A leader emerged from one of the ships and flew to stand before them.

“We will take you back to our stronghold,” the woman said, pointing a large weapon at the ship behind the two. “Or we will just take the ship, it is your choice.”

“Thank you for the compliment and the offer,” Pegraf said, hoping to avoid conflict, “but we are happy here.”

The woman laughed. “That was not an offer. I am informing you of your choices. You can avoid death by boarding the ship and following us.”

God laughed and approached the woman.

“I am so eager to test the mettle of the place,” e said as e removed eris helmet and eris spacesuit; e found it difficult to move comfortably in the tight material.

“How are you able to survive the void?” the woman asked as God approached her with no apparent weapon.

“E is God,” Pegraf said because without eris helmet, God could not communicate with the woman. “And I tried to avoid this, but now e must demonstrate eris power.”

The woman fired on God and there should not have been enough time for erim to evade it because e was close to her by that point, but as soon as the weapon fired, God sprung into the air, and e jumped high enough to land on one of the ships that surrounded them, and e crashed through, leaving a sizeable hole in the hull. 

“What is going on? I need a status report from that ship,” the woman screamed into her communicator and Pegraf could hear her. Her voice was shaky and she was obviously concerned. 

The ship never gave a status report. God ripped it apart from the inside out and e easily killed everyone on board, before hopping to the next where e did the same thing. E dismantled all of the ships and when e was done, there were bodies and debris floating space like an explosion had leveled a parking lot. When e went back to eris ship to stand next to Pegraf, e was tickled to see the Rhasdwiis woman with her weapon pointed at Pegraf.

“I will blow this thing’s head off,” the woman said, more afraid now than before. 

But God couldn’t hear a word she said, e only saw her mouth moving. And when she was done, God ran at her faster than she thought was possible, and she fired at erim to no avail. E subdued her and Pegraf restrained her while they surveyed the land around them and God replaced eris helmet.

“This should be a very interesting experience,” God said. “Do you regret coming here with me? I know that you do not enjoy violence as much as I do.”

Pegraf shook eris head slowly. “It seems you have found the place for which you were made. I can never go back to the place for which I was made. Changuzi, the home of social Druintes, was disbanded before we left. But I enjoy being by your side. Please, put on your suit, I know that you can heal rapidly, but I can see the cold damaging your body.”

God smiled and put on eris suit.

Their time in the regions was full of conflict and God was always eager to meet any threat, confident that nothing could put erim down. Pegraf did not worry for God, e did not worry about anything. Being with God felt like the realization of eris entire existence and e never felt that e had more purpose than e did when he was next to God. 

“Maybe we should just pay him something,” Alia says to Fandral who is very angry at the idea of paying a toll. 

“No,” Fandral says flatly. “I do not negotiate with terrorists.”

“You have it all wrong,” Pegraf tries to explain. “We are not the terrorists. God is the savior of this space. If not for erim, you all could be dead by now. This is a very dangerous place.”

“A savior does not ask for favors,” Fandral says as a long, blue staff that is almost twice the length of his body materializes in his hand. “You are a terrorist and I do not take kindly to terrorism.”

God smiles as e removes eris spacesuit.

“I am nervous about this one,” Pegraf says, eyeing the fearlessness of the Kazi. “You said yourself, the Kazi are magical.”

“Partner,” God says, never taking eris eyes from Fandral, “this is a rare opportunity. I am a skilled fighter and my list of accomplishments are long. I would like to add the defeat of a Kazi to that.”

God removes eris helmet and Fandral spins his long staff and settles into a ready position.

“We should just pay him,” Alia says again and looks very annoyed at Fandral, but she steps back to give them room. 

God runs at Fandral who swings his staff in eris direction, but God dodges each swing with ease. When e reaches Fandral, e punches hard, sure that e will land a blow, but Fandral and his long staff seem to disappear and God looks around confused. 

“Where did he go?” God asks looking to Alia who just points a finger up. When e looks up, Fandral is swinging his staff down and he slaps God in the face, sending erim tumbling back to Pegraf’s feet.

“Oh, please be alright,” Alia hears Pegraf say and she knows that God is unconscious. 

“E will be fine,” Fandral says as he lands next to Alia.

“What did you do to erim?” Pegraf asks. “There is no physical wound.”

“I slapped eris spirit with my staff. Hopefully I knocked some sense into erim.”

Pegraf replaces eris helmet and soon God regains consciousness. 

“What happened?” e asks.

Before anyone can answer, another ship arrives and it is larger than both of the ships currently on the rock. It doesn’t land, but hovers and then a bright light flashes on that causes the Earthling, Eeling, and two Druintes to shield their eyes.

“They are here,” Pegraf says ominously. “We almost had it, if only these two had not been so difficult.”

“What’s happening?” Alia asks as doors on the ship open slowly. 

“The Mind Snatchers detest God,” Pegraf explains. “E has killed so many of them, but because they deserve it. God enjoys violence, but e does not take the lives of innocents. The Mind Snatchers have come for a final showdown, to take God as their own, or to kill erim. We hoped with enough valuables we could bribe them to leave us alone.”

“But God is strong, right?” Alia asks. “He can handle them.”

As she finishes her sentence, hordes of armored soldiers rush out of the opening of the ship and they surround the rock. 

“Not all of them at once,” Pegraf says and hangs eris head. E holds God’s head in eris own and they smile at one another. “It was an honor to live this life with you. Being by your side is the greatest honor of my existence.”

Alia is moved by the show of care between the two and despite the conflict between God and Fandral, she knows that there is no way she and Fandral will be able to leave unless they deal with the Mind Snatchers. She looks to Fandral who knows what she is thinking.

“Can you defend yourselves?” Alia asks.

God slowly makes it to eris feet and e stands next to Alia. “I am ok to fight.”

“Then Fandral and I will help you.”

God nods, “I am happy to accept the help of a Kazi. But what are you? How can you help?”

Fandral chuckles, “That is the Alia and you should show respect, God.”

They all hear communication from the ship in their helmets.

“This is Tazil, God, and these are all of my men. You cannot beat us all. Surrender, save the life of your partner and whatever new friends you have. It would be a waste to kill you here like this.”

“Do not threaten my partner. It will be the last thing you ever do, Tazil.”

Tazil’s snide laughter can be heard over the communicator. 

“You are not in a position to make threats. When I kill you, I will take your partner for my own and e will learn the art of pleasuring an Ointite man. I will keep erim warm for you while you explore the oblivion of the afterlife.”

God is angry now. 

“Fire,” they all hear Tazil say and then the floating soldiers fire their weapons at the group. It is a combination of photon and proton blasts, bullets and bombs, and there is a flurry of chaos that obscures the rock for a few minutes, but when the smoke clears, the four are still standing between their ships, completely unharmed.

“The Kazi are truly magical,” God says as e watches Fandral who is covered in a blue glow that has shielded the entire rock.

God is wearing eris full space suit again and e flies with Alia toward the soldiers. They both easily dispatch their enemy, though they are facing very grim odds. God is impressed at the woman who moves swiftly through the air and punches hard enough to puncture the armor of the enemy. Even e can’t do that, but she has fists that glow white, so she has some advantage that e does not. When they take fire from the weapons of the enemy, they are shielded by Fandral who has covered them in a blue glow as well, and when the majority of the soldiers are done, God flies for the ship. E enters through the opening that the other soldiers had left through and e lands in a large holding space that had held the soldiers. The room is empty because it isn’t airlocked and God charges the door that leads to the airlocked portion of the ship. E doesn’t break it on eris first attempt, and as e smashes eris shoulder into, and the metal bends and creaks under the force, e is attacked by a couple of Tazil’s soldiers. They try to wrestle erim away, but e slams them both against the door until it smashes open and e activates eris jets boosters against the rush of air that inundates him. It isn’t enough to keep erim from flying away from the door, but eris reflexes are quick and e grabs onto the damaged metal of the door frame and pulls erimself inside just as the ship initiates emergency protocols that seal the hole. E is in a hallway and just as e recovers, e is rushed by more soliders who e fights off. E kills most of them, maims others with the long nail of eris thumbs that are exposed because of the damage to eris suit. E is sure to leave one of the soldiers intact and e threatens them until they take erim to Tazil. 

They find him in the command room of the ship and God runs toward him before he can speak a word and tackles him through the glass of the ship’s front display. They tumble through space until they land on the rock where Pegraf is still standing with Fandral.

“Tell them all to stand down,” God says to Tazil who is pinned under erim, and his helmet has engaged but he is still bruised and bloodied.

Tazil gives the order and the few that Alia has not injured, retreat to Tazil’s ship. Alia lands as Fandral drops his protection.

“Say goodbye to this existence, Tazil,” God says and then e looks up at Fandral. “This is a terrorist, and this is how I keep this space free of them.”

God grabs his helmet as though he is readying to rip off Tazil’s head, but e stops when e hears Alia.

“You’re just going to execute him? Right here like this?”

“You can go,” God says, “your debt is more than paid and I am always in your service for the assistance you all have given me. But this is the Banned Regions, we make our own peace.”

Alia looks to Fandral who motions for her to follow him back to their ship. She hugs Pegraf and wishes them well, and the two board their ship to finish Alia’s search for SoEl.

Meanwhile, on the Rainbow Road…

The view on the Road is spectacular; the sky with stars that literally twinkle and the snaking road with all the colors of the rainbow that slices through it before it trails off in the distance. Alia and Darker are moving at a steady pace, putting one foot in front of the other at a swift jog and they traverse the hills up and down as they come to them.

“This isn’t so bad,” Darker says, speaking easily, but yelling over the sounds of their footfalls on the road that ping each step as though it is taking account.

“As long as we don’t look too far ahead it isn’t. It’s good we don’t get tired.”

They round a curve that slopes up and then curves down, and as Alia studder steps to make sure she doesn’t lose her footing, Darker stumbles and she hears him yell and slide to the edge. She stops to help him, but when she turns in his direction, the scene around them has changed and she sees Darker standing with a look of utter regret before the hellish background. Behind him, a swarm of what she knows to be demons spots them and heads toward them. Alia is angry and her skin tight body suit is red. She pushes past Darker and then yells up at the demons as they approach, and she takes off running at full speed toward them across the rocky ground. Before they collide, a black figure descends in front of the swarm that grows ever larger as Alia stops and the black figure lands.

“Alia,” she hears the black man growl slowly with no mouth. “You are returned.”

“Who are you?”

“The Father of this place.” As he says it, his form changes into a large red devil, nearly twice Alia’s height, with furry legs and dark red bat wings that beat the air softly behind him.

“Well, I won’t be here for long,” Alia says and she extends a hand as a red mace materializes inside of it. 

“You are not my Alia,” the large devil says. “You are all so much alike. Stay here and I will give you everything you want, in exchange for the one thing that I want.”

“What’s that?” Alia says and she grabs the handle of the mace with both hands. It has a thick handle and the ball of it is larger than her head with many spikey points all around. 

“More souls, your counterpart could bring them.”

Alia feels a tap at her shoulder and she turns angrily to see Darker who stammers at her as he looks around nervously. While she has been talking to the Father, they were surrounded by what had to be millions of demons trained on her and waiting for the word from their father.

“We have to go,” Darker says in a panicked whisper.

Alia turns back to the large devil and she recognizes that trap she has fallen into. She drops the mace and grabs Darker’s hand while she reaches the other up above her, and when the mace hits the ground, the large devil screams and the swarms of demons spring at her. The rainbow appears and takes them away just as the demons crash into the stone ground and one another. 

They hit the road running and Darker apologizes profusely for being careless. Alia shrugs it off.

“We got to meet the devil,” she says as their footfalls ping brightly and steadily.

Darker chuckles.

After some time making steady progress, as they come to turns and curves that they had seen at a distance and breeze past them on the road, Alia groans loudly. She sees the road hook left and upward over what must be thousands of miles through the twinkling blackness, and then she is sure that the road loops into big circles that seem to occur one after the other. She worries if they will have the momentum, and she points it out to Darker.

“Let’s pick it up, as fast as we can go,” he says. “I’m sure we’re on a decline and we can hit that incline with a little bit of the downward momentum.”

Alia nods and they take off as fast as they can manage, Alia in front of Darker by a mile and the distance increases as they near the incline and the left hook.

Suddenly, Alia’s view changes, like she blinks and when her eyes are completely open, she is in a white space that swallows her body in the white of her suit and her head seems to float in the white. She is standing still, no longer running, and she knows that she is not on the Road anymore. She looks around and she sees the dark skin of Darker’s head and he looks very ashamed of himself again. 

“I’m slowing you down,” he says, his voice sounding more distant than it is. 

Alia notices the faint hum of this place, it is persistent and it seems to disrupt the sound of Darker’s voice. She notices that Darker’s body is distorted as well and he seems to vibrate ever so slightly with the hum.

“I think we got too far apart from each other on the Road,” he says. “I couldn’t really keep up and you were so far ahead I lost sight of you.”

Alia is confused. If they had fallen off the road, and they aren’t in Hell, then where are they now? They had been running for a long time since Alia almost engaged the Devil in battle, could it be possible that they had made it through hell and into heaven?