Rift Pt. 01

The poor excuse of a math class seems to drag on forever. How can humans be so stupid? This is such basic knowledge.

--

Lunch Period

When lunch rolls around I sneak outside to escape the humans. Not because I'm weak. Humans are just annoying. I still don't understand why they refer to themselves as humans when the planet they reside on is called earth. Why does no one but "aliens" refer to them as Earthlings? This place is filled with a bunch of idiots.I manage to find my way to the football field. There's only a few people here. Some are sitting on the seats and others are either running around the football field on a strange spongy surface, while others look like they are playing football. But they aren't wearing the same gear as the ones from last night? Are they just practicing? That must be it.

"You eat out here, too?" An all too familiar voice asks.

The same human girl as before. At least I think. They all look alike and I'm not going to take the time to get to know them individually.

"Am I not allowed to eat my lunch in the bleachers?" I ask.

"No. You totally can sit here, Anyone can sit here. That's not what I meant. I just meant that you want to escape the cafeteria," the girl says.

"So what do you want?"

"I just wanted to see if you could use some company, that's all."

It is the same girl from yesterday. What's her ulterior motive? She must be after something. She can't just want to talk. Everyone has their own agenda. If I didn't take that stupid challenge from that old man, I would have read her mind by now. I will say one thing about him, he is a smooth talker. I should watch him more carefully. He and his woman are probably after something as well. These earthlings can't be trusted.

"I don't care what you do, you can sit wherever you like," I say, portraying no emotion. I can't let her see any weakness or soon I'll find a dagger in my back.

Even with my display of apathy, she still decides to sit down next to me. What is it with these humans? They just don't take a hint.

"So... How come you like to be alone," she asks as the big blue eyes staring at with such a big dumb look on her face. I'm not sure if she looks happy or sad.

"Why would I tell you that?" I ask.

"You're right, that was a stupid question," she says. Her big bright blue eyes fall to her feet.

I try to ignore her as I grab the bag the old man's woman gave me filled with food. It looks like it is filled with food from the cafe.

"Wow, you're so lucky you get to eat all the great food at the Taylor's Cafe," she says, eyeing my food. How can she consider this good food? This has nothing on the food back home. It is filled with too much crap to be effective.

"You can have it," I say, handing it over to her.

"Really?" she says, looking at the bag. "I'll feel so bad if I take your lunch. We'll trade."

"Look, I didn't do it to be nice. It's not that good, okay?" I say.

"Okay, okay. But the least I can do is trade. You'll be hungry for the rest of the day," she says. I suppose she's right about that. I need to maintain my strength. Without saying another word, I grab her food.

"So, I'm curious. You said you weren't their son, then what are you to them? You share the same last name, are you their nephew?"

I nod my head.

"Wow, those are beautiful necklaces. Are they identical?"

"If you're going to continue talking, find somewhere else to sit."

"I'm sorry, it's just... I don't have very many friends here. Actually, I don't really have any friends," she says.

"I can see why, you talk too much," I say.

"That wasn't very nice," she says, once again, her gaze falls to the floor. "But I suppose you're right. I do tend to ramble on."

I let out a long sigh. She's like a stray cat, give her some food and she won't leave you alone.I bite into her so-called sandwich. What a weird word. Why would someone want to eat something that is like sand? As I bite into it, It is not half bad. No flavor and kind of plain. Just meat and what they call cheese between two slices of bread. This is how food should be. Simple.

"So how come you don't try out for the football team?" she asks.

"Why would I want to be a part of a pathetic excuse for a team? And why do they play with such an oddly shaped ball?" I ask.

"Clearly, you're not from around here. The ball is shaped like that so it can be better thrown," she says. "And yeah, our football team isn't very good. Last year they were actually pretty decent. They had a great quarterback but he graduated. Now this year, we'd be lucky to win a game. That's more of a reason for you to play. Maybe all they need is someone to lead them."

"And what makes you think I am that person?" I ask.

"I don't know, there's just something about you that makes me believe there's a lot more to you than meets the eye," she says. I will not be fooled at her veiled attempt to dig for information.

"I doubt any of the players on your football team could rise to the challenge. They're far too feeble," I say.

"I don't know, they might surprise you. Maybe all they need is someone like you to help them out," she says.

I let out a long sigh. Is this why she's nagging me? Because she wants me to play on this stupid team? I finish the sandwich and crumple up the bag before tossing it aside.

"Hey, you can't just litter like that," she says, rushing over to pick it up.

"Why not? It seems like you'll clean it up for me," I say. This world means nothing to me.

"You could've just handed it to me," she says.

I get up and start to make my way back to the school. I'm not surprised to see her chasing to catch up to me.

"Hey! Wait for me," she says.

"Why are you following me?" I ask.

"Well, like I said earlier, I don't really have any friends. So..."

"You sure are annoying," I mutter.

"Yeah, I get that a lot," she says.

As we walk into the school, I see quite a few people staring and chatting about us amongst themselves. Some are even pointing. If this were Novala, I would have made them suffer for such acts of disrespect.

"Aww if it isn't little miss tranny," a girl says as she walks up to us.

If she is talking to me, I'll squeeze her brain until it turns into mush.

"So Macky boy, who's your friend?" the brown-haired human girl says as she turns to me. "He's actually kind of hot. Why's he hanging out with you?"

The black-haired human girl who's been following me since yesterday doesn't say a word. Her shoulders slump in defeat as her gaze fall to her feet.

"Look, my name is Jessica and I pretty much run things around here. You really should kick the tranny to the curb. It's not good for your image," the annoying brown eyed human girl says. She's got such an arrogant smile. It makes me want to remove it from her face with my fist.

"You're annoying me and I hate your face," I say before I continue down the hall. She's not worth my time.

"What did you say to me?" she asks as she stands there watching me as if she was frozen in ice.

"Don't make me repeat myself," I say as clearly as I can.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Do you know who I am" she says glaring at me as if I scorched the earth she walks upon. She has such a high view of herself for being such a... what's the word they use here? Ant?I could squish her as easily as I breathe.

"I don't care who you are. You're an ant to me. Bother me again and I'll squish you," I say. I hate arrogance more than anything. Especially those who have nothing to be arrogant about.

The little human puppy hurries to catch up behind me. "That was so awesome! You stood up to Jessica! No one stands up to her," she says.

"She annoyed me," I growled.

--

After School

After school, as I make my way out of the building, I see what must be the football team making their way to what must be a practice field. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to see these pathetic mongrels train. I take a seat on the ground as I watch.As they begin, they start loosening their muscles with stretches and sprints. Followed by what I assume they're doing some kind of fighting drill, where they go up against each other and try to tackle the other to the ground. No wonder they're so weak, half of the time they're fooling around.

Their leader, an old fat human doesn't even look as if he knows what he is doing. This is a waste of my time.

Once they're finished with such poor excuse for drills, they gather around the fat man. Some of them raise their hands. The ones who have their hands raised get into a line while the others get into a different line. The hand-raisers get a ball and one of the non hand-raisers sprints down the field. The one with the ball tosses it down to him. It doesn't even make it halfway to him. Everyone starts laughing at the one who threw the ball.

Another player gets the ball and they do the same thing over again with a different player running down the field. Surprisingly, this is rather amusing watching such pitiable excuse for athletes attempt to toss an oddly shaped ball. Half of them can even throw the damn thing.As the human sprints down the field, the one with the ball launches it in the air, except it flies towards me. I raise my hand and catch it without much effort. Was he trying to throw it to me? Maybe he was trying to hit me with it. That would be a big mistake. Without much effort at all, I whip it back at him.

The ball pierces through the air and pelts the human in the head, dropping him to the ground. Stupid human, thinking he could make a fool out of me. The rest of them just stare at me with gaping mouths. Are they mocking me? That would be a fatal mistake. I could kill them all like the insects they are. I'm not going to sit here and let these ingrates gawk at me like some kind of spectacle. As I get up to leave, the fat man rushes over to me.

"Hey, kid. Hold up a sec," he says. He has the nerve to call me a kid? I may be young compared to most Novalans, but here I would be considered ancient. Stupid human.

"What do you want?"

"Have you ever thought about playing football?" he asks.

"Why would I want to do that?" I ask.

"Cause you've got an arm like a cannon," he says.

"So..." I say.

"Don't you want to be apart of something? To be a team."

"No."

"What do you want?" he asks.

"To be left alone," I say as I continue to walk away.

I hear him shout out behind me. "We need a kid like you."

--

Back at the old man's home

Back at the old man's home, above his cafe, I eat dinner with them.

"So, Jordan. How was school today?"

I shrug. "Boring."

"I can imagine the material is a bit easy for you and that can make things quite boring. But, that's not exactly why we want you to attend the school," the old man says.

"And what exactly is your reasoning for wasting my time?" I ask.

"Because you need to experience what it's like to be one of us. To have friends and experience the wonders of being human," he says.

"Why is that important? I should be finding a way off this rock you call a planet. I need to find any of my people that could've survived," I say.

"I know it's tough for you to just stay here and wait, but without another option, it's what you must do. Besides, you need to take time to figure out who you are and what life means to you," he says.

"I know what my life means to me. I will avenge my people," I mutter.

"Son, I believe you were sent to this planet for a reason and I don't think it was for revenge," he says.

"What do you know about it?" I ask.

"Because revenge will only destroy those who seek it," he says.

"You know nothing about it," I say, getting up. I leave them to their food and storm off to my room. That old man doesn't know what he's talking about. How could he? His world is still here. His people are still alive. He's not alone in this universe like I am. I collapse on the bed and let the darkness consume me.

--

Dream

Another solo mission completed. Time to go home. Father will be proud. Maybe he'll finally acknowledge me for once. I'm one step closer to stepping out from his shadow. It has been so long since I have been home. I can't wait to see Xarla. I wonder if she misses me. We've been training for so long together, it felt weird to go on a mission without her.

We know each other as well as we know ourselves. It is to be expected with a mind partner. A mental duel can reveal a lot about a person. And ours can get really intense. We've practically lived inside each other's minds. It's weird not having the weight of her conscious on my mind. It's equally strange not having her calling out my every mistake. Or telling me how much of a quib I am. Even though I'm the son of the most respected general in our military, she's not afraid to call me out. I think that's why I respect her so much.As I arrive back home, something feels wrong. It's quiet. Too quiet. I don't hear anyone. Usually, Novala is loud. You constantly have to guard your mind from people. As I get within sight of my home, I gasp. What the hell happened?

The planet is surrounded by debris. It's like a graveyard of space ships. How come I wasn't notified of an attack? I should've felt something. Xarla! Please tell me she's okay. I race my ship through the maze of destruction. A wasteland of broken ships and shards of debris orbit the planet like an asteroid belt. It takes every bit of my mental fortitude to evade them as I fly down to my homeworld.

I make way to the command center. As I find an open space to land, a chill goes down my spine. How can it be so quiet!Not a single thought drifts in the air. I reach out, but nothing is there. This can't be. Where is everyone? As I stumble out of my ship, I fall to my knees at the sight of such mass destruction. Our command center is in ruins. Father! I rush to the ruins of the once beacon of our civilization. I clear a path inside. The place is completely destroyed. It's a wreck. There's no semblance to the place I spent every waking hour in.

It might as well have been my home. What the hell happened? Was it the Kartaris? Are they responsible for this? I swear with my last dying breath, I will get my revenge. I do the best that I can to dig out a path to the command center, but it's hopeless. Crushed bodies of my brethren lie everywhere. Hardly recognizable. There is no way the Kartaris could do this. We could never lose to them. This kind of destruction is beyond them. The once-mighty towers that reached the heavens are now dust. All that's left are the carcasses of the buildings and my people.

When did this happen? I need to find a camera, there must be one. I must know the truth of what happened here! The mainframe will have what I seek. I force myself off the ground and into the air. High above all the destruction, I fly forth to the mainframe. I hope to god it's still there. Whoever did this, couldn't possibly know about it. The command center...

It's completely demolished. There's nothing left of it. Ruin. All is lost. No! I refuse to accept that. The mainframe could still be unscathed. I must get to it. With all my power, I move the debris out of my way as I make my way into the command center.

The place is unrecognizable. But, I've spent most of my life in this once-great tower. I know it like the inside of my palm. The entrance to the mainframe below should be up ahead.

It takes everything I have to clear a path to the entrance to the mainframe. Many corpses are guarding the entrance and it looks like they sealed it with an explosion. The corpses look like dried up husks, as if they've been drained of their soul. At least they didn't allow the bastards to breach it. For some odd reason, I doubt that's what they were after. It just seems like they just wanted to destroy everything. As I look around, I see it. My father's sigil. No, it can't be. I drop to my knees as I look upon the corpse wearing my father's sigil. Why! How could this happen? I hold my father's body. His corpse is an empty lifeless shell. The pain of losing him has shattered my heart into pieces.

"I promise, I will find whoever did this... I will avenge my people," I declare as tears stream down from my eyes.

I surge up out of bed, drenched in sweat. It was just a dream. A memory. The worst day of my life. The day I lost my life. I lost everything. Every day since is a nightmare I can't wake up from. No matter how hard I try, there's no escaping this hell. All that's left is vengeance. I will kill the one that did this. I will not rest until I avenge my family.

--

Throughout the Day

Throughout the day I can't get the thought of the decaying corpse of my father out of my head. The sight of his still lifeless eyes staring into the abyss will forever haunt my thoughts.

"Jordan, wait up." I let out a long sigh. Not today. I can't face this human girl today.

"What do you want?" I don't even bother to stop, I just carry on.

"I just wanted to say thank you," she says.

I stop and turn to her. Why am I stopping? Raising an eyebrow, I ask why.

"For standing up for me yesterday," she says. She gives me such a big smile, it's kind of overkill. Almost blindingly so.

"Maybe if you weren't so weak and pathetic, you could stand up for yourself," I say as I turn and continue on my way.

"You're right," she says.

"If I was stronger they'd be afraid to pick on me."

Her eyes are bolted on the floor. That dark hair hangs over her head like drapes on a window sill, hiding her innocent face. Just when I think she's about to give up and cry, she picks her head up and looks me in the eye. "That's why I want to be around you. I want to learn how to be strong like you."

That's ridiculous.

"Whatever," I sigh as I continue to class.

I'm not surprised when I find her in my shadow.

"So does that mean I can hang out with you?" Once again, I find myself stopping to look at this girl in the face.

She's got eyes like my pet back at home. That's beside the point. I don't want to put up with this annoying human or any of them for that matter. They're all weak and should be slaves, bowing down to me. The superior being.

And yet, why haven't I conquered this world yet? What's stopping me from forcing all of these weak humans to be my slaves?

I just... I just don't care anymore.

Enslaving them all just seems fruitless. A lot of work without a cause. I did everything to make my father proud and to impress Xarla. They're gone now and forevermore. I have no reason for living. No purpose in life. My people are all gone. All that's left is to get revenge. But sometimes, even that seems so pointless. I'm tired.

"Fine... Do whatever you want. I don't care."

"Great! I swear you won't regret it," she says with an even brighter smile than before. What is wrong with this human? How can someone be so happy all the time?

--

Sitting in Class

As we sit in class, an announcement goes over the speaker. "Will Jordan Taylor report to the gymnasium."

The annoying human girl and I exchange looks.

I let out a long sigh. Now what?

I get up and leave. As I walk into the gym, I spot the fat coach who's also bald without his hat. "What is this about?" I ask.

"Son, I'm Coach Sheller of the football team. That pass you through yesterday was incredible. You know how hard it is to do what you did? You threw a 40-yard pass while sitting down with pinpoint accuracy," he says.

Way to state the obvious. I just stare at him, waiting for him to get to the point.

"How would you like to play football?" he asks. "You would be our starting quarterback."

"And why would I want to do that?" I ask.

The man looks as if he just got punched in the gut. "You... You..." He takes a minute to gather his composure. "Because you'd be great. With you at the helm, we'd win. There's no doubt about it."