Page 1 of Ruarc

RUARC

I stand here glaring through the viewer, looking down at Deapra, the planet our princess and my mate, says my dead mam and youngling sister, who I had no previous knowledge of, are allegedly residing.

Supposedly, they are alive and well if Kallen is to be believed, and that is something I cannot force myself to do.

Hope can be the cruelest of double-edged swords if you allow it to fester.

Kallen’s revelation has been echoing in my mind as I try to dissect it piece by piece to make sense of it. So far, I have not been successful.

In a single tic, my entire existence has been turned upside down, and I am having an extremely hard time dealing with all the things bombarding me at once.

For orbital rotations, it has been the six of us brothers against the void.

We all knew our place and responsibilities, and we behaved accordingly.

Of course, we had our regular brotherly spats, and it was usually Slavic who always put us in our place, while Einar patched us up when a scuffle went a little too far, but now …

they have found something that rumors are made of —the mythical ‘Starshine’.

Slavic has lost his mind catering to a feral female who fights and spews nothing but nonsense from her loud, foul mouth, while Einar’s small female looks like she might shatter into pieces if one speaks too loudly or brushes against her in passing.

Then there is Murgul, who believes he is hiding his new obsession with the pale-haired one, but there is no missing the way his wild eyes search her out every tic of the rising.

If I chose to believe the markings around my neck, it would appear that I too, have a Starshine, but my mind disregards that issue, instead focusing upon the fact that I am losing my security and the normalcy of the life I built here on the Zenith.

Huffing in frustration I lean against the viewer, my reflection distorting the scene in front of me, and I wonder now that the past has caught up with us …

How much longer can I hide the monster hiding beneath my skin? I cannot allow the others to ever know the control I can force upon beings not of my blood. It is not natural, which means I am not natural!

I hear the heavy footsteps of my brothers heading this way, and I turn away from the vista in front of me with my heart in my throat. As much as I pray Kallen’s words are true, I will believe nothing until I see it with my own eyes.