When Marilyn and Ryllah were called into the throne room they had some idea as to why their presence was requested. They knew there was no hiding that they had snuck off to infiltrate the Jhori Academy for Elementi. For one, they had failed to rendezvous with Darex’s galactic cruiser before it warped back to Farako. Which resulted in them being left behind. Marilyn’s starship was built more for evasive maneuvers than the long-distance warp jumps her father’s galactic cruiser was capable of. It took quite a bit longer for them to reach Farako, the capital planet of the Farak Quadrant.

   Darex sat up on his throne and pulled at his long blonde sideburns. “So,” he started, “How strong were they?”

   Marilyn and Ryllah both let out sighs of relief. They thought for sure they would be getting scolded or worse for sneaking off without permission. Lucky for them, Darex seemed to be in a rare good mood since visiting Imperia for the first time.

   “I really only got to fight Prince Dravon. He’s certainly not lacking in skill, but I know I could defeat him if it came down to it.” Marilyn said confidently.

   Ryllah chuckled as she reminisced how she had gone about earning her cheap victory over Dravon.

   Marilyn ignored her and continued. “Prince Jraken is who really caught my eye though.”

   She told her father of how Jraken had deflected a large fiery attack from the top student at the Jhori Academy. Then told him of how he did the same to a fusion of both Dravon’s fire and her own electric attack.

 

   “Once again Priestess Lys has made predictions that hold true. The little fire prince could one day be the strongest of us all.” He replied.

   “I wouldn’t argue that!” Said Ryllah. She received dirty looks from both Darex and Marilyn. Their pride did not allow such information to come without certain remorse. Darex was widely believed to be the most powerful Elementi alive. He defeated entire armies single handily back when his father, Overlord Frako, was attacking any Jhori system he thought was not defended well enough. He was the cause of several royal family member’s deaths. The only Elementi rumored to be able to put up a fight against him was Prince Jrax. Their paths almost crossed once, but both Jrax and Darex’s fathers died in battle against each other just as Jrax and Darex were to meet on the battlefield. Both princes were called home and crowned. Darex ended the war right after.

   “Jraken’s father, King Jrax, has pledged his troops to us. King Davus of the Lunanites has also pledged his support. I believe that several of the Aerosi and Onyxians will see that their monarchy is made up of cowards and fools and will also join our cause.”

   “That would be amazing!” Exclaimed Ryllah.

   “It would certainly help. However, this Prince Jraken is predicted to be strong enough to put an end to my dream of freeing all the Elementi.” Darex warned.

   “I thought you said the Pyrans would be joining us.” Said Marilyn.

   “Jraken’s loyalty remains to be seen. As you saw, he recently started attending the Jhori Academy. Even though he is two years younger than the normal age an Elementi would start. I find this to be very suspicious seeing as how Jrax seemed to do all he could to keep the boy’s power a secret.”

   “So, this war comes down to whether or not we can win over a child?” Asked Marilyn in disbelief.

   “Wars have been settled by far less.” He answered.

   “Well, we didn’t exactly make a good first impression.” Admitted Ryllah.

   Marilyn gave her another dirty glare. Ryllah had all but mastered the ability to ruin Darex’s mood. Her bubbly personality was usually enough in and of itself.

   “Which is where we get to your punishment for sneaking off.” Darex said with a smile. “One of our outer worlds, Wulfo, has recently gone black. Communications have been cut off and we’ve lost two patrol ships that had gone to check on the planet. See to it that Lord Telmont Zephyr and his family are alright. As soon as you find out what has happened, report back to me.”

   Marilyn hardly considered this to be punishment. “I won’t disappoint you father!” She said trying not to sound too excited.

   “You two always manage to get yourselves into dangerous situations, so I may as well send you into them myself.” He said dryly. “It’s not a very advanced world so be careful with your ship. Wulfo sits on the border of our quadrant and will be an important strategic point for fighting off Jhori invasions.”

   Marilyn looked at Ryllah and saw that they both had trouble hiding how zealous they were. They had never been trusted with a mission like this without supervision before. Most often they were accompanied by one of Darex’s generals, who would spend more time hitting on Marilyn than actually helping out with the mission.

   “Of course, I wouldn’t send you out alone.” Darex continued.

   Marilyn’s heart sank. She dreaded to think what insufferable general she would have to suffer through this time.

   “You’ll be going with your betrothed. General Lucius Storm.”

   “MY WHAT?!” She asked incredulously. Her father had been trying to get her to marry Lucius for years. He was one of Darex’s strongest and youngest generals. Marilyn really had nothing against Lucius. He was more tolerable than most of the generals. She could not help but find him to be a complete and total bore. After several dates at the behest of her father, the sparks just did not fly.

   “No matter how chaotic the present may be, we must always look toward the future. We need a successor. You will marry him if not someone else!” Darex said, knowing full well how upset his daughter would be upon hearing the news.

   “Not if I kill him first!” She shouted. Marilyn had no intention of actually killing Lucius. As far as she could tell, he was in the same awkward position as her. It was not as if Lucius would or could ever say no to his overlord. Though, she did feel as if Lucius had much more to gain from their newly arranged arrangement.

   The subject of Darex’s successor was a sore one ever since Marilyn’s little brother Marlo went missing. Marilyn’s parents went out on a date, and when they returned to the palace, her mother Marlana, went to check on her children. Marilyn was sleeping soundly in her room.  Marlo, however, was nowhere to be seen.

   Darex was furious, but Marlana was the one who truly lost herself to her anger. She wanted to see someone punished for her missing son. It started with Darex banishing the royal guards who were on watch that night. Not long after, Marlana put bounties on all their heads.

   After she had ensured all the banished royal guards were dead, she started persecuting the servants who were in the palace that night. She held mock trials and killed many of them herself by electrocution.

   Darex finally had to put a stop to it when she killed the chefs for not cooking her breakfast exactly the way she wanted. A couple days after Darex had publicly apologized for his wife’s recent behavior, she left without a trace. No note, no flight path logged into her ship’s history. Just gone.

   Marilyn always carried a heavy guilt for the absence of both her mother and her brother. The day before Marlo had gone missing, she had been carrying him through a busy street on Farako. He had been crying non-stop and a strange old lady at a booth selling trinkets and potions offered to take him off her hands.

   Marilyn thought she was joking and replied, “I wish you would take him off my hands, right now!” She bought a talisman to help the old lady out, left, and thought no more of her.

   Until that night when her little brother went missing. Marilyn had never told anyone about this, and she was not about to do it right now. So, she bowed her head to her father and stormed off.

 

   Ryllah followed the irritated princess down to her private hangar. Kembro was already standing outside the door waiting for her. His ears were back, and his tail shook only a little, giving away that he was nervous about something.

   “Everything okay, big guy?” Asked Ryllah.

   “The princess has a visitor.” Kembro said as he opened the door for the girls.

   Marilyn walked right past Kembro without ever acknowledging him.

   “She knows.” Ryllah said with a bright smile.

   The hangar had a collapsible roof that was opening as Marilyn walked in. Her ship was bright yellow and looked as though it had seen better days. Several laser burns covered the outside of it. Some burns even had exposed wires sticking out of them.

   The hangar also had a lounge area with couches and a small table to the right as you walked in. Which is where Lucius was sitting. He stood up as soon as Marilyn arrived.

   “Princess.” He said nervously.

   “Not a word!” Marilyn said pointing at him without ever looking at him. She continued to walk towards her ship with an angry strut.

   “Listen, I-“ Lucius tried to say.

   “NOT A WORD!” Marilyn screamed from the entrance of the ship.

   Ryllah and Kembro followed her onto the ship and Lucius reluctantly joined them.

   “Is she going to be like this the whole mission?” Lucius asked Ryllah.

   Ryllah patted his shoulder and smiled, “Just give her some pillow time.”

   “Pillow time?” He asked.

   Suddenly a door towards the back of the ship slammed very loudly. Not long after, a muffled scream of frustration could be heard throughout the whole ship.

   Lucius looked nervously at Ryllah, who was still smiling at him. He could not decide whether she was smiling because she was nice or if she found his predicament to be humorous.

   Kembro walked up behind Lucius and started sniffing his hair very intensely. After a couple whiffs he sneezed and continued walking towards the cockpit.

   “The abyss was that?” He asked very confused.

   Ryllah laughed, “That was Kembro. He’s from Calahel, all Calahelians can learn a lot about someone through scent.”

   “Like what?”

   “Oh, personality, intentions, shoe size, favorite cereal. Stuff like that.” Ryllah said as she started grabbing bags of junk food from the cupboards.

   “You think he likes me?”

   “He doesn’t usually like men, but you don’t give off much of an alpha vibe. You’re probably fine. I’ve seen him lay out some dudes out of nowhere just because he didn’t like the way they started to smell! Like I said though, you’re probably fine.” She said as she started down a hallway to try and console Marilyn.

   “Probably?” Lucius echoed quietly.

   “This is going to be so much fun!” Ryllah yelled back as she quickly entered Marilyn’s room.

   Lucius stood alone in the dining area. “Do I have a room?” He asked aloud to no one.

 

 

   “I can’t believe him!” Marilyn complained, her face still buried in a pillow.

   “You knew this day was coming. If anything happens to you then Farak Quadrant kind of just goes down the drain.” Ryllah said from the foot of Marilyn’s bed. Her own bed was on the other side of the room across from the sunk-in lounge area that made up the center of the room. The walls and ceiling were decorated with several dangling lights of green, pink, and blue.

   “How is that so? If we are truly the ‘Free Elementi’ then our people should be able to get along fine without an overlord.” She asked as she removed her face from her pillow and sat up.

   “Have you seen our people?” Ryllah asked and they both laughed. “We punch things good, but we don’t exactly make good farmers. Or scientists. Or doctors. Or-“

   “I get it, I get it. Most Elementi have a soldier mentality. They just want to be told what to do. That’s why we stayed under Jhori rule for so long and why the vast majority of Elementi are still there. We’re a loyal lot. I still don’t see why that means I have to marry ‘Borefest Borrison’ out there.”

   “He’s not that bad! Besides, I’ve never heard you croon over anyone. I like boys. I like boys a lot, and it’s not exactly a shared interest is it?” Ryllah asked with a raised eyebrow.

   “I like men, and I’ve yet to meet one.” Marylin responded sharply.

 

 

   Kembro set a course for Wulfo. It was on the outskirts of the Farak Quadrant and though it was not as far as Elementa, it still took quite some time.

 

   Lucius made himself as comfortable as he could with the table and chairs in the dining room. He did not want to go knocking on or opening doors for fear that he might run into a very pissed off princess. Instead, he put a couple chairs together in the dining room and tried to make himself comfortable.

   After about half of what would be a day on Farako they came out of warp above Wulfo’s atmosphere.

   Marilyn and Ryllah rushed past a sleeping Lucius to get a good look at Wulfo from the cockpit.

   “Ladies, we have arrived.” Kembro said proudly.

   “Little dark, don’t you think?” Ryllah asked rhetorically.

   “Well, it’s nighttime. Would you prefer the other side? I was trying to be sneaky.” Kembro explained.

   “No, like I mean where are the lights? Don’t people live on Wulfo?” Asked Ryllah.

   “My father said it wasn’t a very technologically advanced planet. Maybe they’re primitive.” Said Marilyn. Though, even she thought that seemed rather unlikely.

   “Take us down for a closer look.” She instructed Kembro.

 

   As they got closer, they saw streets and buildings scattered about. All were empty. Eventually they came across a city with several tall pyramids surrounded by smaller rectangular buildings, and it too was devoid of life.

   “This is creepy.” Ryllah commented.

   “Wait! Over there!” Marilyn shouted while pointing. “I saw someone!” 

   Kembro initiated a landing, but per usual, Marilyn could not wait for a landing sequence and ran off to open the bay doors.

   The bay doors were right next to the dining area where Lucius was still sleeping on the chairs he had pushed together. Marilyn entered in the code to quickly open the doors. As soon as they opened, it let in a powerful wind that knocked Lucius off the chairs.

   He gathered himself as fast as he could. He stood up quickly and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

   “You’re still here?” Marilyn asked him as she rolled her eyes. Then she jumped out the door. 

   Ryllah came running by right after. She dove out the door with a loud “Whoo Hoo!”

   Lucius was trying to process why everyone was diving out the door.

   “If anything happens to the princess, Darex will kill you. If I don’t first.” Kembro said from the entrance of the hallway that lead to the cockpit. He was chewing on an antler from a creature Lucius did not recognize.

   He nodded to show he understood. “Is there a fire on board? Why can’t we land first?”

   “We are landing. You’ll find that Princess Marilyn isn’t exactly the patient type.”

   “You don’t say.” He replied.

   “So, are you afraid of heights, or something?” Kembro asked.

   “Not really.”

   “Then jump!” Kembro yelled with raised lips showing sharp and intimidating teeth.

   Lucius flinched and then ran over to jump out the door. When he saw how high up he was he paused, but only for a moment. He knew he was already decently far off from where the girls would be landing. He jumped out and braced himself for impact.

   Repeating to himself aloud, “Tuck and roll, tuck and roll, tuck and roll…”