GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: Shards: Genesis Project

GENESIS PROJECT

SECOND AGE OF THE KASNA

SHARDS

AARON MICHAEL SMITH

Copyright 2018 Aaron Michael Smith.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Genesis Project: Second Age of the Kasna: Shards is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Cover Art By Patrick William Eugene Smith

Ravania Entertainment and the Ravania Entertainment logo are Copyright 2018 Aaron Michael Smith.

-GENESIS PROJECT TIMELINE-

SECOND AGE OF THE KASNA- (0 BTC-1970 AC)

-THE HEAVEN’S GATE SAGA-

GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: Curse

GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: Survivors

GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: Broken

GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: Shards

-THE DEMONS HANDS SAGA-

GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: Hammer Fall

GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: Abyss

GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: The Dying Light

GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: Hands of Evil

-SECOND AGE OF THE KASNA ADVENTURES-

*GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: Remnants

*GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: Planetary Empire War

*GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: Destiny

*GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: Rebirth

*FORTHCOMING

-CHARACTERS-

Ahryah Emahra; Emahra Warrior (Female Emahra-kin)

Ahtt; Shadow Traveller (Male Shadow Traveller)

Azal Kidfar; Vong’s Mother (Female Kasna)

Deslor Nakoo; Kalek Learner (Male Kasna)

Dragon; Outer Power (Male Well Traveller)

Glowing Eyes; Dragon’s Thug (Male Unknown)

Gorvoz; Kalek Adept (Male Gossk)

Imon Kench; Student (Male Kasna)

Korov; Dark Lord (Male Unknown)

Lah Moss; Kalek Learner (Female Kasna-Jex)

Lillith; Mykyn’s Inner Circle (Female Demoness)

Mykyn; Lord of the Darkones (Male Darkone)

Myly Kidfar; Vong’s Grandmother (Female Kasna)

Nell; Shadow Traveller (Male Shadow Traveller)

Poem; Cait Gunin (Female Emahra-Hybrid)

P’Xayer Ravyn; Dark Lord (Male Unknown)

Rakeen; Dark Lord (Male Rakee)

Ravania Emahra; Last of the Emahra (Female Emahra)

Rocky Bluestar; Student (Female Kasna)

Soshoo; Scientist (Male Darkone)

Tak; Shadow Traveller (Male Shadow Traveller)

Vong Kidfar; Kalek Learner (Male Kasna)

GLOSSARY

Dorash: The mystical power that people Wystrals and Sentine harness

Emahra: Ancient mystical warriors who fought in the eons past Hell War, most people believe they are just stories

Hyperion-space: A subspace corridor accessed by many spacefaring people, which allows starships to go faster than the speed of light

Kalek: Ancient Warriors who defend the Kasna Republik

Klacmetru: The common Fundamental word for kilometer

Metru: The common Fundamental word for meter

Myno: The common Fundamental word for minute

Mystral: A female Dorash-user of great power who harnesses and controls the powers of Dorash

Mystic: More powerful and mysterious that a Wystral or a Mystral

Shadow Travellers: People with the ability to travel to parallel and alternate Universes

Urrh: The common Fundamental word for hour

Voorith: A living organism bonded to a Kalek or Thon’s sword, giving the warriors greater senses and aide in his or her duties

Whisper-image: A three-dimensional holographic image used in communication

Wystral: A male Dorash-user of great power who harnesses and controls the powers of Dorash

Yehv: The common Fundamental word for year

Before time was recorded

Beings of light walked the stars...

Then one day they breathed life into the Universe...

It was their Legacy…

A great Project…

GENESIS PROJECT

-SECOND AGE OF THE KASNA-

(0 AC – 1970 AC)

The Second Age of the Kasna is the era of the Kasna Republik that spans the cycles from the Kasna Curse to the Keeper of the Undead’s declaration of war against the Kasna Republik in 1970 AC. During this time, the Kasna Republik is the leading power in the Four Galaxies, and the Kalek are its noble warriors and protectors.

This is the Final Volume of the Heaven’s Gate Saga.

The events in this story take place one hundred cycles after the Xioon War...

The year is 10,000 New Kasna Calendar (NKC) or ten thousand years since Desshar came down from the mountain.

PROLOGUE

Wolf in the Fold

‘Anyone who thinks the Kal’sek have been wiped out completely is an utter fool!’

-Van Del-Himnor, in discussion with other leading Kal’sek, when the legend of the lost Kal’sek Destroyer, Governing Blade and her Mistress, Lady Venom, was brought up during a meeting

10,000 NKC

THE OUTER RING OF THE FIRST GALAXY

A dark ship moved in space. Red weapons-fire flashed from it, striking a long, narrow transport, tearing through shields and shredding hull. The old, bulky, grey Coron ship listed to one side as its blue engines flickered and died.

‘Where is she? Where is she?’ Captain Shruepp shouted, sitting in his command chair on the rectangular command deck of his ship, Red Lady, as the attacking vessel shot past the prow and out of sight.

‘She’s off our scopes again!’ a cat-faced Cargorian at tactical snarled toward her blue-skinned, Kasna Captain.

Shruepp was a tall, burly Pirate, with a scar down the right side of his bearded face. His head was bald and tattooed, with a skull across his entire scalp. He slammed a huge fist on the arm of his chair and switched on the internal comm. ‘Engine room, give me something!’

‘We’re dead in the water, Captain,’ a woman’s voice sounded back to him. ‘I’m barely keeping the essentials on line.’

Shruepp swore and slammed a fist on the arm of his chair again. He looked to Jox at the helm. ‘Get out of that seat and go help that fool woman!’ he snapped at the green-skinned Squipit. The alien had a long trunk on his face and fin-like ears. He wore a red and black striped shirt and dark trousers.

‘Aye, aye, sir!’ he told the Captain and leapt to his feet, heading for the door at the back of the bridge.

Then the Red Lady rocked violently again, but it wasn’t a pulsar blast.

‘What was that?’ Jox asked, looking up.

‘Something hit us,’ Shruepp snarled, standing up.

Then the ship rocked again and alarms started to scream.

‘Cap’n!’ a pretty, Azure woman at one of the internal sensor stations shouted. ‘We have a hull breech! Something is inside the ship!’

‘Frash this!’ Shruepp snarled, and he drew his pulsar from his hip-holster. ‘Where is it?’ he bit out at the yellow-skinned woman, as she twirled one of her narrow head tentacles in her fingers nervously. The big one that ran from the top of her head to the small of her back was twitching on its own.

‘C-Deck, back quarter... it’s moving,’ the Azure told her Captain.

‘Come on!’ Shruepp snarled at his crew. ‘Let’s kill it!’

*

Mykyn sealed a hatch behind him, letting atmosphere cycle. He could live in the vacuum of space, but he preferred atmosphere. With his red eyes glowing like embers in his skull-like face, Mykyn triggered the hatch open in front of him and started into the front three quarters of this Pirate vessel.

Alarms were screaming.

They knew he was here. They’d be coming to him.

Good, it’s what he’d wanted.

He drew his sword from inside his dark robes and slashed it in front of himself. He stood where he was and he waited.

They’d be here soon enough.

*

The lift opened and Shruepp marched out of it, with his crew behind him. They had weapons, they were ready for a fight, and Shruepp was all anger and determination.

Who would dare attack him and board his ship?

They would pay for this!

They hurried down the corridor and went left at the end. A long walk was ahead of them. At the far end, dressed in dark robes, holding a sword in one hand, was a towering figure of menace.

Hateful red eyes glowed out from the shadows of his hood.

Shruepp pointed his pulsar gun at the creature. ‘Don’t move!’ he snapped.

The figure at the end of the hallway laughed.

‘I am looking for a Kal’sek,’ he rumbled, his voice like thunder.

‘Kal’sek?’ Shruepp asked in dismay, furrowing his brow. ‘Don’t you know anything? The Kal’sek are gone.’

‘You have one among your crew... I am sure of it,’ the demonic creature snarled. ‘Tell them to step out and I will spare your lives.’

‘How about, frash you!’ Shruepp sneered, and he fired his gun at the intruder.

In a blur of movement, the creature moved. With his sword he batted the pulsar blast to the side and into a bulkhead. There was a flash, sparks, bits of super heated metal.

For the first time since the attack, Shruepp felt a little scared.

‘What are you?’ he hissed. ‘Raath? Kalek?’

The creature wasn’t looking at Shruepp anymore, he was looking past him, at Miirliir, the Cargorian tactical officer.

‘It is you,’ the Demon rumbled, ‘isn’t it?’

Shruepp and his people looked at Miirliir. She was frowning. She shifted her jaw. Then, cat-eyes filled with anger, she stepped forward.

‘What do you want?’ she hissed.

‘I seek Kal’sek to join my cause...’ the man informed. ‘I was seeking such, when I felt you... Your power is strong... Join me.’

‘I make my own path.’

‘Tell me where the other Kal’sek are hiding.’

‘I will not betray them.’

‘Then you and all your friends will die,’ the robed one growled, nodding to Shruepp and the others.

Then he motioned with his hand. Miirliir yowled as she was lifted off of her feet by an unseen power. She flew through the air and slapped into the monster’s grip.

‘Tell me!’ he snarled.

‘NO!’ Miirliil roared in defiance.

Without even the slightest hesitation, the monster snapped Miirliir’s neck and threw her dead weight to the floor.

‘Very well,’ he grumbled and sighed.

He turned his hellish red eyes up to Shruepp and the others.

Those eyes were the last thing the Pirate ever saw, and the tortured screams of his dying crew were the last things he ever heard.

Shards

I’m angry all the time. I don’t know who I’m most angry with... Grandfather and Dad for dying, Kidal and his family for all the lies, or just at everyone in general for putting this all on my shoulders. I don’t know who I’m most angry at, but I’m angry... all the time.

I feel like I’m losing myself.

I feel like I have no anchor.

No faith.

No hope.

Why did I tell Rocky we couldn’t be together?

Idiot.

-From the Journal of Vong Kidfar

ONE

Deeper than the Depths

‘I trapped it away for now... but it’s still down there. You mustn’t go down there... no one should... Pit of evil, pit of darkness! God! What did I see? Listen to me! Listen to me! You don’t know what’s in the Depths, you don’t know!’

-The ravings of a man found wandering the Depths, some four thousand yehvs before the Kasna Curse.

KASNATIA – FIRST GALAXY

CAPITAL CITY – NORTH END – THE DEPTHS

In the Depths of Capital City on Kasnatia, Zanth Nakoo stood in an old apartment with his team. They’d all been thrown together quiet suddenly, and the task before them was not going to be easy, though the Kalek Warrior could see and feel the determination from all of them.

Presently, Nauth was nearby, talking on his comm. The tall, dark-haired man was nodding, responding in the affirmative again and again as he paced back and forth in front of patio doors that looked out on the forever night time realm of the Depths.

The teenager, Moccio was standing next to Zanth, his arms folded across his chest, thick black eyebrows beetled together. He had dark eyes and his black hair was spiked up. He wore dark clothes and a leather jacket.

The kid was a friend of Rocky Bluestar, he’d been determined to help find her. Standing across from Zanth and Moccio was pretty, copper-haired Sersa. The young woman – she couldn’t have been more than eighteen – was dressed in green and red armour. There was a grimness to her face and shadows of dark horrors and pains in her green eyes as she spoke to Zanth and Moccio about some of the unspeakable horrors that lived in the Depths.

Zanth listened carefully. He’d promised Van Del-Himnor that he would find Rocky Bluestar and bring her home... the more he prepared for that momentous task, the harder he was thinking it was going to be.

Zanth Nakoo was a tall handsome Kalek man with brown hair, light skin and grey-blue eyes. He wore a Kalek uniform and his hand hovered at the hilt of his sword that hung at his side. He felt cold and his stomach churned down here.

Even in the relative safety of this abandoned flat.

It had been a couple urrhs since Van Del-Himnor, Kench, and Bazz had gone off to find Vong. Despite the fact that Moccio – the kid with the thick black eyebrows – was pretty sure about the alleyway where the girl Rocky Bluestar had vanished, Zanth had been hesitant to head in immediately.

He’d made mistakes in the past, not having enough information. He wasn’t going to fall into that trap again. Consulting with Sersa and Nauth had been a no-brainer.

Nauth was a Cop and had resources... Sersa knew the area.

Nauth got off of his comm and stepped over, frowning. ‘I checked with the Robot Precinct,’ he said, ‘according to them, most of the gangs and criminal organizations steer clear of this area... people go missing around here. Mostly it sounds only the most desperate types of people end up in this part of the Depths.

‘Why would Mister Bluestar take Rocky here?’ Moccio asked, looking a little pale. ‘I mean, they were running... but why not go to the Police?’

‘Maybe we can ask him when we find him,’ Zanth said with a weary sigh.

‘If we do,’ Sersa put in.

Zanth and the others looked at her.

‘Gangs, homeless... these are the least of our worries. I’ve been trying to tell you,’ Sersa said in a choked voice. ‘There are things that live in this area... I’ve seen people dragged away. I’ve seen people eaten by shadows. I’ve seen unspeakable monsters lurking in the dark... there is a reason people avoid this area. You need to be prepared for the fact that Bluestar and his Daughter might already be dead.’

‘There’s a cheery thought,’ Nauth grumbled.

‘She’s right though,’ Zanth said. ‘We need to be prepared for anything.’

Nauth nodded.

Zanth looked at Moccio. The kid looked scared.

‘You going to be okay?’ he asked.

‘Yeah,’ the teen said standing a little taller. ‘We should get moving though, we’ve wasted enough time...