PRL Serials

The Heir can’t help but look at the Prince suspiciously. He can only see him as the potential for sabotage, a weaver of illusions who might be using the Heir to spread Une’s taint to Xêvioso’s forces. It was easy to look past the exterior that gave him pangs of longing for his love far away in his home existence, and the Heir only sees Dae, Prince of the White Corruption. 

“Your magic extends your life?” the Heir asks frankly as he travels with the Prince and Clay in search of a group of Warehares that Xêvioso had detected as needing assistance. The Heir had rendezvoused with the Vodun and was almost immediately dispatched back out into the cosmic jungle of tendrils to help retrieve others in the Vodun’s forces. It had felt like diving back into the jungle because the location where Xêvioso had posted up, and where other members of the Vodun forces had regrouped, was untouched by Une’s tendrils, like a blindspot of the enemy that Xêvioso was happy to exploit. 

“The sacrifice of my fathers extends my life,” the Prince says. The three fly through the tendrils, sticking together in a tight pack, mirroring each other’s movements with the help of the suits they wear and they are able to hear one another clearly because of the arcane connection between the three of them. 

“Speak on that,” the Heir says curiously. 

“When I was born, my fathers were pariahs of the galaxy; I was the first son of two men, created in a laboratory from their combined DNA and many viewed this as an affront to nature for many reasons. On Juoil, I was abomination because of the hubris of my fathers who made me despite the objections of the most conservative julios of my world. Your parents intervened from Halfyn, your father is still the man that I look up to most for the way he sacrificed himself on behalf of my family. We would have died if he hadn’t helped us escape into exile. Your father was such an admirable man, it must be the same in your existence.”

The Heir is speechless. He has two mothers in his home existence, he’d been born as a child of love and magic. The love between his mothers, and the powers they possessed, was so great that they both became pregnant one evening and when the Heir was born, they joined the two halves of his body and he opened his eyes on the world for the first time. And this was common in his home existence, it is how his Ice Prince of his home existence is the son of two fathers, not some laboratory experiment.

“I’m sorry,” the Prince continues, “have I said something to upset you?”

“No, well…” the Heir shakes away his disorientation and explains the differences in their conception. “I have never had a father.”

The Prince is astounded to hear this. “He looked just like you and he was so kind to me. I imagine it is why I fell in love with you when we met as young adults. But you have two mothers? And that is common? I am jealous to hear that. Magic exists here, but most who do it here, have drawn it from Une.”

The Heir’s ears perk up at this. “Is that the magic your fathers used to give you their life?”

“Yes, but it is not the magic that I use. I’ve never forgiven them for what they did, the pact they made with Une, and they swear they did it so that I could live a long life and protect others, and that’s good I suppose. But all I feel is abandoned. I had you for a while, but Une took you from me too. So I made a fortress of ice and others were able to benefit from that, but I was just hiding. I couldn’t take being abandoned again.”

“Y’all just forget that I’m here, don’t you?” Clay says. “I know I shouldn’t let it go on for as long as I do, but I can’t help myself, y’all are entertaining, and I forget that y’all don’t know each other at all, I know the Heir better than you do, but y’all got all this history. It’s fascinating. Anyway, heads up, I think we just ran into both things Xêvioso asked us to look out for.”  

The view before them is strange and concerning. There is what appears to be a planet, but its surface is metallic and dimpled all around like a golf ball, and the color is dark, contrasting with the greenish-brown of the tendrils that crowd space around them. And from the surface of the planet, three beams of light, one green, one yellow, one purple, are trained on a large group that is tiny before the planet, and they are being pulled by the beams to the surface. 

“Is that group part of your forces?” the Prince asks.  

“They are,” Clay says. “Those are the hares we came to help. And that must be the planet-sized ship. Do you know what it is, Dae?”

“It is the Ascendant ship,” the Prince says. He is trying to hide it, but he is annoyed just laying eyes on it. “Many of the Ascendant, including their leader Neu-Brosme, were corrupted by Une as she expanded into our universe, but some of the Ascendant survived in their ship. It is where my Heir went to try and help in the resistance against Une.”

“Then it is a friendly ship?” the Heir asks. 

The Prince shrugs. “I doubt that Une can penetrate the outshell, even with the knowledge that the corrupted Ascendant must have given her. But it has been ages since I laid eyes on this ship, who knows who controls it now.”

“Let’s go,” the Heir says. “We can find out what we need to know and help the hares escape if we are caught with them.”

“We can also die with them if that ship ain’t controlled by friendlies,” Clay says. “But I’m with y’all either way. We just need to make a decision quick.”

He and the Heir look to the Prince who shrugs. 

“Let’s do it,” he says. “We’re not gonna learn anything here.”

They fly to the group and are instantly caught in the beans of light that hold the hares and they soon realize that Tracia of the mmoatia is with them.”

“You are all in Vodun armor,” Tracia says, unable to move the glorious wings at her back as they draw ever closer to the ship’s surface. 

“Xêvioso sent us,” Clay explains. “Our friend who is not in the Vodun armor is Dae, he is from this universe and has survived for a long time hiding and protecting others from Une. He says that this ship may be friendly, but we have to board to know for sure “

Tracia and the hares are reluctant to accept their fate, but there isn’t an obvious or immediate escape. They are pulled to the surface of the planet-sized ship and then inside when a hatch opens in the outshell that quickly closes behind them. Inside, they all seem to float in space under a screen of artificial stars, and then they slowly float to land in a grass field that looks completely natural. Tracia introduces Clay, the Heir, and the Prince, to Jalukas Volcanus, leader of the Warehares of the Dark Knoll, multiversal recruits likes the Heir and Clay who are strong in green magic. She also introduces Bric Zomo, agent of the Zomo Monarchy on the Disc of Agê in the Fonlands. There is a group of more than a hundred hares and they form a defensive perimeter in the high grass. 

A contingent that the Prince recognizes as the Ascendant arrives, but the expression on his face is one of astonishment when a man leading the Ascendant greets them. He is the Halfyn Heir but in clothing similar to the tattered and dark clothing the Ascendant wear. 

“They said you were dead!” the Prince shouts as he makes his way to stand before the Heir of the Ascendant ship. He is crying and the Heir shakes his head in disbelief.

“We had to lie to keep you and everyone on Juoil safe,” the Ascendant Heir says. “I knew you would have tried to find me and I wasn’t sure how long it would take to do what needed to be done. I’ve missed you…”

“I’ve mourned you!” Dae yells.

The Heir in Xêvioso’s armor is stunned by the sight of himself.

“If you are not hostile to us,” Tracia interjects, “why have you captured us?”

“We noticed new beings arriving and once we determined that all were here to fight Une, we have been trying to help. But you all are rightly suspicious of us.” The Ascendant Heir indicates to the Ascendant with him. “We all want the same thing. We were looking for the source of a beacon of golden-yellow light, but it stopped and then we saw another. We know how to kill Une. We have studied her for a long time.”

“How do we kill her?” Clay asks.

“She has a heart that must be destroyed,” one of the Ascendant explains. “Neu-Brosme, who was our leader but has been corrupted, has resisted the complete control of Une. She has shown us the location of Une’s heart and mind, but we have never had the means to split open the shell of tendrils that wrap her.”

“You all should come with us to meet Xêvioso…” Clay starts but the Heir in Xêvioso’s armor interjects. 

“I will summon the Vodun to us to inspect this ship.” He moves to stand before his counterpart with the Ascendant. 

They both stare at one another for a moment before the ship begins to shake and quake violently.

“This is a trap!” Jalukas, the head of the Warehares, yells. “ Our powers have been taken from us!”

The Heir can feel that his powers are being siphoned by his armor, but the violent rocking of the ship has him completely off balance. He can’t fly, he can’t contact Xêvioso. The Heir is powerless in the chaotic ship that is seemingly trying to separate him from his friends. But everything in the ship is disturbed by the violent movement. The Heir closes his eyes and prays to Xêvioso, even though the Vodun can’t hear him.