They call it “The Black Star” but only in shushed tones whispered in places where they feel the safest. The translucent rain poured for days without stopping. The king ordered that all citizens are not allowed to go outside their homes until the order is lifted. Deimos is in the great library looking through the window overlooking the city, its lights are beautiful like dancing fireflies of summer evening even though it’s still midday, at least its supposed to be. Deimos can see the gigantic walls of the city by its search lights and giant watch towers. The city has the inner wall named Thermopylae and the outer wall called Salamis which connects to Lionsmane port making Trident an impregnable city. The city is protected by the royal army made up of elite knights and hardened soldiers. As long as the elite ranks of the royal army are in the city, it wouldn’t fall to an enemy attack. He steps away from the window and sat at a table full of dusty books.
“Did you find anything?” Deimos asks Apollonia, her encyclopedic knowledge of history coupled with her brilliant mind makes her a blooming politician.
“No, but keep fooling around.” Apollonia gave him the look of a stern teacher silencing her unruly students.
“Eh, all righty.” Deimos replies holding up his hands. Apollonia dislikes it when Deimos fools around when she is immersed in her books.
Deimos looks and sighs at the piles of books he already scanned to find anything about this unnatural eclipse. Kailina is also helping out, listening to the audio reports and acting as the team leader in their little research project. Meanwhile, Anastasia is using her custom computer to dive into the deep net for clues. They have been huddled for days here in the library, becoming a little tribe as humans usually do during times of trouble.
“There is no historical information regard this phenomenon, Apples.” Deimos says as he prepares his brew of hot chocolate milk with cookie cream crumbs. He took a long satisfying sip before going to the table full of food.
“No, but there is this passage about the world covered by Darkness for three days.” Apollonia replies, “Although its historical accuracy is highly controversial and debated.”
“I am sorry that I can’t be much of a help as you guys.” Kailina says.
“Don’t worry about that, Lina. You are much helpful than your lazy brother.” Anastasia consoles Kailina while one-upping Deimos.
“Hey.” Deimos protests as he munched on his pizza greasing his lips with dripping cheese. The feigned anger in his voice makes Kailina smile.
Deimos activates his RealityLens, a specialize nanoglass in the eyes that projects images in the eyes of the users triggering an augmented reality. Deimos scanned the news and found a disturbing information.
“Look at this.” Deimos projected his screen into a holo. The Black Star engulfs the entire world in perpetual Darkness.
“In the Beginning, there was Darkness.” Apollonia comments and went quiet, possibly scanning the news content. She stays silent for a long time as Deimos watched the holofeed.
“I accessed the Weather Society’s databases. It seems that this event came out of nowhere. The models estimate a one in trillion chance this might happen.” Anastasia tells the group without looking away at her screen.
“Let me see.” Deimos scooches closer to her hoping to see her discovery. Their warms bodies touch.
“Get away from me, you gigantic pervert.” Anastasia whispers her complaint to him.
“You look lovely today, Anastasia.” Deimos says in hushed tones and sniffs her like a dog, “Sobriety is doing you wonders.”
“Fuck you, Deimos.” Anastasia blushes. She must have promised herself not to drink anymore after that embarrassing evening.
“Maybe next time when you aren’t drunk.” Deimos snickers. Anastasia sighs at the grinning Deimos and continues to investigate her findings then frowned, “That’s weird”.
“What?” Deimos moves closer into her personal space but she no longer minds him. Her attention is entirely on something else.
“All satellites are down. Absolutely nothing from orbit.” Anastasia whispers, beads of sweat forming on her forehead.
“How is that even possible?” Deimos asked, perturbed but has a sinking feeling he already knows the answer. Even during powerful storms and intense solar flares, there is still some communication from the orbital satellites albeit only a garbled mess. There is one obvious explanation.
“It is not a jamming device or system malfunction.” Anastasia says then paused for a while to contemplate her thoughts, “But if I have to guess, it would be because the Black Star.”
Even the name evokes primal fear of the unknown. A fear as old as mankind itself.
The populace is frightened and when people are scared, they tend to do irrational things. There has already been riots and protest that had to be broken up by the Civil Guards, martial men responsible for protecting the citizens and upholding the law. News from all over the kingdom reports the same thing. The most concerning is from across the Black Sea, the Mujin Empire is massing millions of soldiers in Diaoyu fortress ready to invade the Wild Lands once again through the coastal mountain side. The invading force is headed by a warrior-princess named Altani, the Desert Antlion. Altani is one of the Mujin Empires greatest Urluk, an army commander, and she is dangerous Baghatur who are the equivalent a Knight. Altani conquered and looted vast swathes of Wild Lands territory making her one of the riches in her nation. Deimos has a history with the greedy and persistent princess. In his mercenary days, Deimos clashed with her forces of multiple fronts and battles yet always end it a stalemate. Since his abrupt disappearance after the Siege of Malta, Deimos heard Altani has been looking for him ever since.
“The only thing that keeps communications alive are the Lighthouses.” Apollonia answers the unasked question which snaps Deimos out of his reverie. The Lighthouses are communication centers that serves as the backup and relay for the Kingdom’s communication system. If they are destroyed, the entire kingdom would be blind and deaf.
“How many Lighthouses do we have?” Deimos asks. Those must be protected at all cost.
“That’s a state secret only high-ranking officials would know.” Apollonia replies.
“You must have heard a few things from your father.” Deimos presses her. Apollonia looks at him, Deimos does his best puppy eyes impression. She hesitates but eventually relents ,“Fine” Apollonia smiles at his pathetic attempt at persuasion but couldn’t resist it, she finds it adorable.
“Father never really speaks matters like this, only to Asakami and but yes, sometimes he speaks to me.” Apollonia explains to Deimos, “I heard a few things about the Lighthouses. They are located on hidden parts of the kingdom guarded by the secretive Order of the Lightkeepers.”
“I have always thought they are myths.” Kailina comments.
“I assure you they are quite real. They answer directly to the King to act as his eyes and ears.” Apollonia says. “Their official name is Office of Communications and Intelligence Agency.”
“You must have a few encounters with them.” Apollonia says to her childhood and best friend Anastasia, knowing her hobby.
“Yeah, a secretive bunch. They run a tight organization so I only have a few tidbits about them.”
Deimos was about to ask Anastasia for further information when a priority alert captured his attention, he read the report using his RealityLens.
“Sorry, ladies. It seems I’m being summoned. I will be back as soon as possible.” Deimos said as he stood up.
“A booty-call?” Anastasia smirks, her petty revenge for earlier. Apollonia bristles at the joke while Kailina frowns.
“I wish. It is a priority alert.”
Deimos enters the throne room. None of the usually courtiers are there except for the king and his inner circle. Their faces are grim and weary, heavy dark bags under their eyes. It seems they haven’t been able to sleep in the past few days. How could anyone? Deimos cannot really drift off for long as he can sense a suffocating presence watching him from the sky.
Deimos bows. The king lifts his hand to bid him to rise up.
The cabal were evaluating him with the intimidating silence. Deimos scans the men and women that are the backbone of the King's power. He recognized a few of them, they are some of the kingdom’s top military and civilian officials. Deimos stood strong waiting to be acknowledge to say something as required by etiquette. King Anglius was the first one to break the silence.
“There has been a concerning report.”
P.S
An early release!
This chapter marks the end of the opening arc. I am taking break for a while to research the next arc. Also, I am going to revise the series from the beginning to make it better. The next expected release would be on 3rd of July.
