Faith, Love, and Sacrifice. These are the three virtues that the guardians live by. We are the guardians of a great civilization and the followers of a great religion. 

 

 I sat in my dull dormitory alone and bored, waiting to be summoned by the council. I am a guardian. A peacekeeper for this beautiful city we call Farley. Farley is under constant attack by the Dhrokans, a primitive race that does not abide by the rules of our perfect religion.

 

My fingers lightly caressed the creased pages of an old children's book. The formerly colorful but currently faded images jumped out at me with their expressive cartoon eyes. The story of an old elephant and a wise snail. Two unlikely friends. 

 

In a whimsical world where unusual creatures reside, 

An elephant and a snail embarked on a ride.

With trunks and shells, their tales entwined.

 

In a vast savannah, where tall grasses sway, 

An elephant named Ella began her playful day. 

With graceful steps and a mighty trumpet's sound, 

She roamed the land, her presence renowned.

 

A little snail named Sam, slow and small, 

With a spiral shell, explored at a crawl. 

His humble abode upon his back, 

He ventured forth, leaving a silvery track.

 

My phone rang and I dropped the book I was reading. 

 

Hello….

 

I waited for the automated voice to repeat the same message that I’d heard about a thousand times.

 

Guardian Yavin Raeyna, you’ve been summoned to the briefing room. Please make your way there immediately. You are to assist Detective Shanney on an urgent homicide. 

 

The call ended. I thought it was going to be another stupid attack by the Dhrokans at the outer walls but fortunately, it wasn’t. How many attacks have there been in these past few days? It was getting tiring fending off those primitive fools. They bred like cockroaches and had no respect for our laws so we had to cast them out of the city.

 

I quickly assembled my dismantled weapon. A generic laser pistol and a short thermal blade were issued to every guardian by the council. The pistol had two modes, lethal and non-lethal. My heart pounded and my hands shook with excitement. This was the first time I was called to assist in a murder. 

 

We were told to investigate the slums, situated on the outskirts of our city. There had been a murder, in which a young man about 20 years old had been stabbed multiple times. I was briefed by Detective Shanney, a bald, dark-skinned woman with a sharp gaze. She noticed me fidgeting and sighed. I saw one of the council members watching us. 

 

Every decision in Farley is made by the council which has five members in total. They were our leaders, and we are obliged to pledge our unwavering loyalty to them. The council is comprised of a Healer, the head among all five who is in charge of the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of our citizens, a Tactician - a master strategist and the head of the military, an Astrologer - who…well, who sees the future and works closely with all the other members, an Engineer who is in charge of all the developments in the city, machinery, infrastructure, etc..and an Observer who makes sure everything goes smoothly, safely and no laws are broken.

 

I think it was the Astrologer who was watching me but I wasn’t a hundred percent sure. 

 

Then it hit me, why did they assign a newbie like me to something as important as a homicide? Why me? Detective Shanney had her very own assistant. I wanted to ask her, but here I was shaking and her doubtful gaze made me more uneasy and fearful. I pursed my lips and averted my gaze toward the giant aquarium in the lobby, hoping that the colorful fishies might calm my nerves a little. 

 

“You alright officer? Cadet Raeyna is it? Let’s see….”

 

She pulled out a thin device that projected a hologram. The screen was filled with information. She clicked on ‘search guardian’ and entered my name. 

 

Name: Yavin Sara Raeyna 

Gender: Female 

Race: Human 60% (further testing required)

 

“Courage and initiative - 20%”

“Language proficiency - 80%”

“Repair skills - 25%”

“Leadership skills - 10%”

“Spatial awareness, observation - 25%

“Weapon accuracy - 35%”

“Strength - 20%”

“Dexterity - 40%”

“Social skills - 30%”

 

Total =32%

 

I tried to peek at the screen but she glared at me and moved farther away. Then she started questioning me.

 

“You speak Dhrokan?”

 

“A yas si lon choot.” (I do but only a little)

 

“Choot, ono sot.” (A little is not enough)

 

Yikes, I was just trying to be humble. I do speak it quite well…,  language was the only thing I was decent at.

 

“Am gat shok, ma’am” (I’m fairly fluent ma’am.) 

 

I guess they chose me for my language skills since I flunked everything else. Very few people speak Dhrokan, they are known to be an inferior race so no one bothers to learn an inferior language but I was pleasantly surprised that the detective knew it, and she didn’t have an accent. The slums were mostly inhabited by Dhrokan’s so it’s useful to know how to speak their language. 

 

The Dhrokan’s were rude and prone to pick fights with almost anything. They were also loud, disgusting, sexually promiscuous, and indecent but while they lacked intelligence, they were awfully strong. They were built like a stone bison with rough features and they were mostly bald. Their backs were always a little hunched probably because humans used them to carry heavy loads. Now that I think about it, I kinda felt bad for them.

 

We made our way to the location, it was already sealed off from the public, who were all curious to catch a glimpse of the victim. He was in uniform, our guardian uniform…. sprawled out in the open. Blood was splattered in every direction, his face was a bloody mess and his guardian-issued weapons were missing.

 

Detective Shanney took out her I.D.E.N.T.I.F.I.E.R (Integrated Data Extraction Network for Tracking Individuals, Forensic Information, and Enhanced Records), the same device that she used to search me, and scanned the victim's face. The scanner beeped red as it failed to identify the bloody face.

 

“Hmm… his face is a mess.”

 

“Well…duh…” I whispered.

 

“Excuse me?”.

 

“Nothing ma’am…we should uhh…probably get him cleaned up but before that…we need… uhh, we should… look for clues first.”

 

“So you’re telling me how to do my job?”

 

“No…ma’am, I uh….”

 

She showed me the scan.

 

“Every victim needs to be scanned and the details of the investigation have to be manually entered by the detective in charge. The scanner automatically photographs the victim. Look at his face, it’s swollen beyond recognition. Have you read your Guardians Manual?”

 

“Umm….lon choot.” I answered while avoiding eye contact.”

 

“Well, when were you planning to question the witnesses?”

 

I straightened myself and replied, “On it ma’am.”

 

My knees got weak and my pits were gushing sweat like a miniature waterfall. How does someone approach a Dhrokan? Even approaching random humans was difficult enough. I’ve spoken with Dhrokan kids before but never adults. I noticed that the Dhrokans started moving away once I started scanning the area for witnesses. 

 

A weird feeling crept up my spine. It was intense fear with an urgent need to hide. What was this feeling? Felt like I was being watched. I turned and saw light being reflected atop a distant building.

 

“Shit.”

 

Too late. I felt the impact of a bullet against my skull. I think I felt another hit my chest right after. I heard a scream and everything blurred. The momentary sharp pain electrified my entire being and I saw a wall of binary code and other programming gibberish flood my vision before I took my last breath.