Celestial kingdom a tal.., p.27
Celestial Kingdom- A Tale of Blu, page 27
“Where’s my Marines?”
“We penned them up over there, because they were tired out and beaten but wanted to keep fighting,” he said, pointing over to the barracks with a tank stacked against the doors. “Problem was, they would have just got in our way. So we knocked them out one by one and stored them in the barracks,” he said, then went back on his way.
“Way to wound my soldiers’ pride,” I mumbled. “But thank you.”
We went on to move the tank and pull the door open. thousands, no, tens of thousands of my Marines crawled out the bunker. They were beaten and tired. Some were already knocked out in the bunker. Then I saw my best friend, Jerry, crawl out the bunker.
“We did it, brother,” he said, reaching out to grab my hand. I batted it away and hugged him. All my legion reunited inside the stronghold. Only about twenty percent of my legion died this campaign but nearly 90% of the living were wounded. I stood alone among the ruins of my stronghold. I stared out to the sunset.
Doubt: “You got lucky, you’ll never change, you’ll—”
“Shut up! I can do this. I saved millions today. I can be a better person and nothing you say will change that. I can change… I will be better than what I was yesterday,” I said with many tears flowing from my eyes.
I probably looked crazy up there speaking to myself but I needed to say it out loud for my mind to finally register it. I needed to say it for myself. I could be better. Next thing I knew, my body clocked out and only darkness filled my vision.
035
When my eyes opened I was in a hospital bed. I could see the Nanites pumping in my bloodstream through my IV implanted in my arm. It was probably repairing my cellular systems from all the adrenaline I was pumping into my body during the war. I examined my surroundings for several minutes but most of my surrounding were obscured by curtains. I was in a med room but where was the med room?
I made tons of noises, to alert anyone that may have been here that I was awake. After a few minutes of failed attempts I tried to move, my body was so sore. As I pushed forward, the curtains around my bed opened and there was Jerry with gray hair, glasses and a gray beard.
“You’re finally awake, after all these years, you’re finally awake.” The shock of the realization that came with it was too much for me to put in words as I saw an older Jerry. How long was I out? How many years had I missed? “You’ve been asleep for over 250 years.”
“What?! What about the world we saved? What about Alicia?”
“Oh that world is fine. Alicia, well she went off and married some rich jackass. She had at least five dozen kids with him.” My heart twisted into a knot and my chest ached. Everything, my entire life gone. Before tears could drop from my eyes, I saw a light brown hand grab the end of Jerry’s beard and pull it from his chin. Then that hand smacked him in the face.
“Why would you screw with him like that, you idiot?” a familiar female voice said. My face shifted to her, it was Alicia! She wasn’t old and gray at all. And then I noticed the beard was fake. If I could move I would kick his butt, giving me a scare like that. Jerry bellowed a great laugh while holding his gut.
“Oh look at your face! That was golden, I’ve been waiting for two weeks for that joke,” Jerry said.
“I’ve been out for two weeks?”
“Yeah, I was out for a week. Jerry recovered quicker because of some reasons. Give us some alone time,” Alicia explained. Jerry continued his laughs and strolled out the room. He promised to return with food.
“So where are we and how are the people on the world? What about my Marines?” I asked. Alicia came closer and plopped on my bed. The sight of her warmed my heart. If she was going to have five dozen kids and spend centuries with someone, it would be me.
“We are—”
“We’re on your battlecruiser,” the King’s Shield said, stepping into my med room. The big kahuna himself had come for little old me. He crossed his arms with a light grin.
He had a bald head, and was brown-skinned with a beard that covered most of his jaw. His large hulking frame was big enough to touch the ceiling with his head. Silver bulky armor with engravings and jewels decorated his armor as well as a fur scarf from some great beast.
“Lord King’s Shield? What are you doing here?”
“I came here with a battlefleet to reinforce you with the new alien threat, but it looks like you managed to do get it done. You also scored us some allies. Now I’m here to take you to the High King.”
“To the High King? What about the people on the planet? My Marines?” The King’s Shield looked shocked.
“Even presented with the opportunity of meeting the High King in person, you still care about the people you swore to protect? You’ll be perfect,” he said with a sly smile. I was unsure what he meant. I stay alert, waiting to see what had become of everyone I fought so hard to protect. He sighed deeply.
“We’ve unleashed the Inquisition on that world, to root out all corruption. They’ve already arrested 77 businessmen, and over 200 politicians of various levels. A world this far from the Throne World was bound to have some corruption but to this level? That world government was dirtier than a homeless man’s butthole.”
“Yeah, it was. Where were you this whole time? How did you let this happen?” Alicia said, breaking rank. My heart forgot to beat.
Alicia suddenly remembered who she was talking to and I could see the sweat form on her brow. Her widened eyes darted to the ground. She was about to apologize and the King’s Shield lifted his hand. Alicia flinched, but the King’s Shield just scratched his head and shook it.
“We are mere mortals. We are not gods, we do the best we can with what we have. Governing ten thousand worlds is not easy. I know it’s not a justifiable excuse for this level of abuse but it’s the only answer I have…”
“So the people are safe?”
“Yes. The warden of that city is being processed as the new Imperator. The people will celebrate this day in the honor of the Steel Marines and you especially. As for your Marines, they are healing in your battlecruiser. Around 80% of them survived.” That was a relief. Then it hit me, the two most interesting beings that appeared.
“What about the new aliens?”
“We have them. The Malum is locked down. We even have the tech to keep him from using his mind powers. Whenever he conjures up thoughts more complicated than what’s he eating tonight, BOOM. An electrifying no-no,” the King’s Shield said. It was curious why they had that sort of technology lying around.
“The Cherubs.”
“They are a unique bunch and they are far from home. When we reach the Throne World we’ll decide how to get them home, or accompany them on the Throne World. They did save your butts, so we owe them that much.”
“Yes we do,” I said with a grateful smile. Everything came together. Now I needed to see the High King of the Kingdom of Man. The nerves hadn’t kicked in. I was about to see the leader of the human race. Maybe I could ask about becoming a Vindicator.
After two months of traveling to the Throne World of the Celestial Kingdom, we finally arrived at Eve. Eve, the new human home world for the last one thousand years.
I stared out the star deck, my eyes could not move from the view. The world was large, larger than any world I’d ever seen. Its surface was snow white and ocean blue. The lights from the city were situated in a beautiful diamond. Fleets of warships orbited around the world as if they were a planetary ring. I heard the heavy foot thumps of the King’s Shield behind me.
“My lord!” I said, saluting to the King’s Shield.
“At ease. We’re ready to go planet-side. Ready to meet the King?”
“Yes! I am, my lord.”
Within the hour we were descending through the atmosphere. We headed to the largest city, the capital. They called it Throne City. When we came upon it, I was so flabbergasted by how big the city was.
“How big is this city?”
“Over two million square kilometers. The city holds around 60 billion people alone.”
“60 billion? Just on this city?!”
“Yes. Why are you surprised? Eve is the largest planet ever. It’s the size of a hundred planet Earths and has 6.4 trillion citizens,” he said. My jaw dropped.
As we found a good place to land I learned much more about the world. The corruption in other worlds was absent here. Since Eve was such a large world, there was tons of free land for people to move to and build homes. The air was so clean and the ground as I touch down on it was clean as well. But I wondered, hold up, why were we on the ground and not in the imperial palace?
“Um, why didn’t we just fly to the palace?”
“Security reasons. The Argent Lords won’t let anyone fly over the imperial palace or anywhere near the palace. We have to go by ground,” he said.
“That makes sense,” I said.
We were greeted by a hover car, large enough for the King’s Shield and me. I was so overwhelmed. I was in the capital city. It was just a fantasy for many people growing up in my gang to see this place. There were giant TV screens on buildings, flying car lanes. Hover cars everywhere. Many people together, walking through the city. Buildings that touched the sky. Rainbow colored trees and plants scattered throughout the city. I wanted to live here—raise a family here.
We toured around the city for a bit before finally reaching the palace. It was so large, it was shaped like a wedding cake, but instead of soft, lush cake, it was metal. A black and gold palace, that was two kilometers high and five square kilometers large. It had large fortress walls shaped like a hexagon around, and main turret battlements on each corner.
The car landed in front of the palace doors where the Argent Lords guarded. I remembered seeing them before on planet Kronus. They were as intimidating standing guard as they were in battle. They did nothing to stop us from entering.
As we journeyed through the palace, it was a breath of fresh air from the royal palace back on York. It was modest as it could be. The large place housed many paintings on the walls and sculptures lined up to each doorway. However there was a kid’s picture next to each of them. The King’s Shield must have noticed me looking at them.
“Those paintings and sculptures were made by dying children who wanted the King to see their art before they went,” the King’s Shield explained.
“That’s nice of him, it’s hard seeing a King that caring.”
“He has nice personalities, but that’s just one of them.”
“One of his personalities? Are you saying the King has multiple personalities? Why is someone like that ruling the human race?”
“Oh no, no, no. It’s not what you think. The King’s brain is much more powerful and evolved than regular humans. He developed different personalities on purpose to look at subjects differently. To put it in perspective, he’s like dozens of different brains combined into one. He’s a council but one person.”
“Wow, that sounds really freaking useful,” I admitted. The King’s Shield chuckled.
“Exactly.”
The King’s Shield continued explaining the King using different persona around certain people. Like around his children he was a goofy dad. In council he was a stern and stoic man and, on the battlefield, he was the embodiment of rage or a charismatic general. To his vilest enemies he was a vicious and sadistic killer.
We finally entered the throne room and there was the King. The room was large, with large gold pillars and a gold pathway to the throne. Around the pathway were pools of crystal blue waters, with a fountain constantly pouring more water. There was a red carpet that rolled from the chair to the door.
Few people had seen his face. When he made speeches he wore a gold mask so that he could live a normal life outside his duties. He had brown skin, snow-white long hair tied in thin dreadlocks. His eyes were hazel brown and he had a handsome face.
He was covered in gold and black robes. He sat in an ebony throne with gold thorns wrapped around the ends of the chair. It had black and gold wings protruding from the back of the throne.
At the sight of me, he stood. Within an instant he scaled the room and was in front of me. My heart nearly jumped out my chest. It was always clear that the King possessed superhuman qualities and was why people didn’t mind his kingship. Still…seeing it up close was breathtaking.
While in his presence, I started to sweat. Like a dork I knelt on one knee and bowed my head. The King and the King’s Shield both laughed at me.
“Get up,” the King said, his first words to me. I rose and my heart beat a mile a minute.
“I’m sorry, my King?” I questioned. I was sure that was what everyone did when he walked past them.
“You’re nervous. Relax. Let’s talk some more over a bite to eat,” he said, leading me to a side room in the throne room. It was a banquet. When I entered into the banquet room I was stunned by all the different type of food. There were hot dogs, burgers, chicken, steak, ribs, fish, Lamb, ox tail, various pastas and every other main dish you could imagine. It was the same for side dishes, all spread out on a table in large dishes.
There were maybe hundreds of the King’s children of various ages, running around taking whatever they wanted for food. I wasted little time either. At first, I received strange looks from the children but then they went back to stuffing their faces. I grabbed some buffalo sauces chicken, with yams, macaroni and mash potatoes.
Then I stumbled forward to the King’s table. I had to swallow my nerves, it was my one and only chance to ask about being a Vindicator. Then I could make real changes in the Kingdom. I could help people like no other could, like what Raven did for me.
A time ago my life was just a dead husk moving forward through time waiting till its last day. Then as my life was coming to a screeching halt, as those hordes of Leones charged into my city, there came Raven. She dropped out the sky and saved me and everyone she could. Turned out she was saving large patches of humans all around the world. I wanted to give that hope to people like that. I wanted to save the hopeless.
Then I recalled my exploits on York. Even without being a Vindicator, I still saved millions. Even if he turned me down as Vindicator, I’d still work hard to help and save people. With my every breath, I’d bring hope to the hopeless and I couldn’t wait to get back to work.
“Very good!” the King said, startling me with a glimmer in his eye.
“Excuse me?” I asked. He smiled.
“Sorry and excuse my intrusion, but that entire monologue in your head about Raven saving and inspiring you. Then deciding that even without becoming a Vindicator you will still do your all to help people. One of my many abilities includes telepathy.”
“What the hell!” I said, totally snapping and losing my temper. I immediately checked myself. I thought I would be reprehended but nothing happened, instead the King clapped his hands together and bowed his head.
“My deepest apologies. Your thoughts are just so bright, it’s hard not to notice them,” he said.
“You’re—you’re unusually humble,” he said. One of his daughters came beside him.
“Our dad goes through the virtual reality humbling every six months to keep him grounded in humanity and free from corruption.”
“Shoo, you!” the King said. The little girl ran away, giggling. I was unsure what to do, so I just sat down and ate.
I remember reading about the Humbling. It was a ritual that was recommended to new Imperators before they became actual Imperators. The ritual includes throwing a rich noble person who would be a lord into the poorest environment. In this environment they must not only survive, but thrive.
This would allow them to see the world from the other side which would equal a more down to earth and well-rounded leader. Although most leaders try to run from this knowing they could not pass the ritual. Virtual reality humbling just recreates poor environments and speeds the time up inside it so it can be done quickly.
“So, King, about being a Vindicator?” I asked. Might as well since the cat was out the bag. The King grinned.
“Do you know what a Vindicator even is?”
“Ah… Not exactly. A really high rank in the military?”
“A Vindicator is a symbol, not a person. It’s a symbol that inspire hope in the hopeless, courage in the fearful and power in the powerless. Something like giving courage to a group of Guardians to fight an army of troopers augmented to be several times stronger. Time after time, you have inspired your troops to fight bigger and more powerful enemies. You are what Vindicators embody.” My heart flew.
“My King are you saying that you’ll want me to?”
“Yes. It’s why I called you here, would you like to be a Vindicator? Would you be one of my personal agents delivering the King’s protection to every corner of the world?”
My face smiled harder than before and tears slid down my face. “Yes, my king!”
The End
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Thank you for reading my work. I’ve been working on this novel for years, with little resources. If you enjoyed it, could you please review it for me? I would love to see your opinions on it. This book I plan to make a seven-book series, also with many companion novels. I will try to produce a book once per year. To be quite honest, I’ve already written four of the books at the time of publishing this book and I know how the story is going to end. So support me if you enjoy the story and want to see where Blu goes from here. Read my bio for more information. That will have more updated information.
J A Ebonlight, Celestial Kingdom- A Tale of Blu
