All sentient life is connected. The appendages may be different, we may eat different things, and live in different solar systems, but at the end of the day, we’re all one big family.
It’s time to explore the branches of the universal family tree, and today, we present:
Fhet Kings
– Issue 2 – Calamity
The call from the primary satellite of the Fhet Kings was urgent and cut through all of the alarms that were blaring at the secondary satellite as the IP started their assault on the Fhetat cycles earlier than expected.
“Nuren is here,” King Cras-myne Re of S16 said over the communicator. “King Minios is lost, and we are retreating. The primary satellite is lost. The Queen Ravelith and her companions will rendezvous there with King Wyath, if they survive this attack. So many of the defense satellites are under attack and being overrun. We have lost five stations, maybe more. Reinforcements are coming. Hold the reserve forces back until we regroup. If we do not make contact by the end of the cycle, the call is yours to make.”
There were ten Kings at the secondary satellite and they stared at one another gravely. And before they could discuss King Re’s message, there was another message that dominated every monitor and caused the alarms to cease.
“Hello, mighty Kings,” Representative Pen Nuren said on the screens that showed a close up of her smug face. “The fight has arrived earlier than maybe you expected and your crowns are no match for my new weapons, just ask your friends at your primary satellite. I have an offer to end this before it even officially begins. The IP won’t be broadcasting updates until our official forces arrive, so we can call this the secret portion of the war. I have one demand, give up your crowns. All sixteen. Or I will be forced to take them from your corpses. And if speaking with your friends at the primary satellite won’t convince you, I think I have all the evidence you need.”
The tight shot on Representative Nuren’s face panned to her right where two men stood next to a beaten and bloody King Aid-o Minios of S7. He still wore his crown that generated a blue bubble that encased him like thick armor to make him taller and stronger, but chunks of the blue armor were missing, none of it covered his face and he was bruised and bloody. He barely stood and the two men seemed to be propping him up, and when Representative Nuren approached them, the two men shoved King Minios to his knees. The Representative balled a fist that was covered in a silver weapon that took whatever shape the wielder desired, and she reinforced her fist with the metal before punching Minios hard and shattering the light blue armor that still covered the tip of his head and his crown; the armor at his head dissipated like dying embers cast off of him. The crown flew from his head and one of the men grabbed it gingerly. It was a very ornate and impressive thing. There are no jewels embossed into the crowns of Fhet Kings, they are just solid, very hard metal with ornate carvings.
The Fhet Kings at the secondary station stared at the monitors wordlessly. It was truly unbelievable for them to watch a King in his prime be decrowned and humiliated. And they wondered what the power of the crown would do to one who was not Fhetatian. No crown of a Fhet King had ever even been touched by an alien and they stared with wonder as the man held the crown and it seemed to exist in a light blue bubble that covered the man’s hands. The Representative took the crown into her hands and then turned to her audience.
“I will take them one by one if I have to,” Representative Nuren said. “Or you can surrender yours and save many lives. We will continue our attacks to take your crowns and we hope to take over your Fhetat perimeter security before our reserves even arrive. Think it over carefully.”
She put the crown on her head and was instantly covered in a blue armor that made her taller and stronger. The Kings cursed and punched monitors, it was blasphemy.
“We have to do something,” Gilthon Ju-arl of S3 yelled loudly. “We cannot cower while this woman makes fools of us. We have to attack her.”
“It is unwise to take our crowns to her,” Teknon We-la of S15 said gruffly. “We need to help defend the satellites and find out what we can about Pen’s weapons. She has come very prepared. We need to regroup and figure out a plan. Someone get word to Re and Wyath to rendezvous at the tertiary satellite.”
“You do that,” Ju-arl said, “and take whoever wants to go.” He turned to everyone else. “I’m going to help defend the satellites, who wants to rage with me?”
Three Kings agreed and they all went to escape rooms and abandoned the secondary satellite.
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