The Bronze of Benin - Writer's Month Entry

Saint Ren

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Prompt 5.

Everyone has heard of The Rift. It is a central part of many horror films out there. You hear it spoken about in drunken whispers in seedy deep space taverns. You hear it from poets, prophets, and children. It's the half-cracked smugglers that frighten you, though. The ones who travel all their lives. The ones who've actually seen things. Mostly, it is that single-eyed Jhanaean. He described it like the others, a shuddering tear in space-time, leaping with utter randomness between the stars. He described how it swallowed one. He described the communication frequency he'd accidentally used to summon it. Now, aliens hellbent on conquest are about to take over your planet, and the Federation army is too far away.

 
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Saint Ren

So Iconic - User OT Month 4 April , May AND June
Joined
Jun 11, 2019
Posts
3,558
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Location
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Cygnus A Galaxy
Benin
Humanity Crew 32


"Water....fell from the sky?!" Adrien questioned in disbelief, following Ariel around, his fingers tightly gripped on the old techpad.

Ariel stalked through the small living quarters that had been assigned to her and her brother, searching for her gravity gun.

"Adrien, help me find my gun or go away." She scowled, "I'm going to be late for training and Commander Montgomery will eat me alive."

"But water-"

"It's called rain" Ariel cut him off, squatting down so that she could see under the kitchen table. "It use to rain a lot on the old planet"

Adrien paused, his brows furrowing as his brown eyes widened in amazement, "Earth was incredible." He declared.

Ariel paused, her heart giving a strange thump at the sound of the name. Earth had been amazing before humanity had destroyed its own home in its pursuit of power.

"it's in the bathroom" Adrien suddenly spoke.

"What?" Ariel questioned, confused.

"Your gun." He clarified, "it's in the bathroom."

Ariel stared at him, the confusion giving way to annoyance.

"And who put it there?"

Adrien looked away, the guilt clear on his face. He sighed, lifting his head so that their eyes connected. He looked so much like their Papa sometimes that it hurt to see, same dark skin, brown eyes, and head of curly hair.

"I didn't want you to go" Adrien quietly admitted, "it's dangerous" he snapped.

"It's what keeps a roof over our heads and food in our bellies."

Ariel was part of the Bronze program, an elite training program within the Federation Academy, that took the best humanity had left to offer and then put them in the line of fire to save their new planet, called Benin.

After they were orphaned last year, Ariel's only options were to either mine the farms and be split from Adrien who'd only been eleven, or try and gain entry into the Bronze program, aged only sixteen, and keep her family together.

In the end, the choice had been easy.

"I don't even see why we have to fight, the Druids aren't coming for us" Adrien argued, "and even if they were, we could explain that it had all been a misunderstanding, that we weren't trying to destroy them-"

"Adrien!" Ariel snapped, cutting him off again. "You can't reason with a Druid." She growled.

"But if we just talked to them." He stubbornly insisted, "if we all just sit down and explain that all this fighting has been over a misunderstanding, we could fix it and Tommy could come home."

"It doesn't matter what started the war." Ariel tried to explain, "what matters is all the dead bodies floating in Space, Earth shattered to pieces, humanity scattered, the Druids can't just take that back! Tommy is doing his duty in the Federation Army, I miss him too but we should be proud."


"He doesn't even know that Mum and Dad are dead!" Adrien yelled, startling her back. Adrien paused, surprised at his own outburst, his eyes watered but before a tear could fall, he turned around and ran out of their quarters.

Ariel ran a frustrated hand through her hair. She didn't have time to chase after Adrien. With a sigh, she walked into the bathroom and grabbed her gun.

She had training to get to.
 
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