James Somers - The rise of Lucin

The video images of Wynn continued to the point where his body was removed from the building ledge he had been killed upon. The disturbing images continued further though, revealing the fate of Kale. He could be seen in the middle of one Gaj's busy streets throwing a man into an oncoming vehicle and taking down two other combatants before forming a kinetic forcefield to protect his self from a massive barrage of laser fire. Then he appeared; Lucin himself. The two struggled before the cameras and Lucin got the better of the young king. After showing Kale being bound and hauled away from the street, the video cut to an announcement of the public execution of the Barudii king. The day was set for today, a few hours from now, in a large spectator sports arena.

"We've got to find out where that place is," said Grod.

Emil was stunned-he couldn't take his eyes off of his best friend being taken down by Lucin himself. He had faced the Mithrial-man himself and lost, but for Kale to lose was astounding. Lucin was growing in power to be sure and Emil wondered how they could ever defeat him.

"Emil?" said Grod while shaking his son out of his minor trance. "We've not got much time to find Kale."

Those words pulled him back to the task at hand. The men pulled up the satchels they had carried with them and proceeded down the street looking for the nearest public transport depot. The Barudii's weakness among the Vorn was not Grod or Emil's-they blended perfectly with the natives.

LUCIN walked out of the officiator's suite onto the terrace overlooking the Gaj city arena. The terrace was reserved only for dignitaries and his name had spread quickly as the defeater of the Barudii enemy. Many of the people living in Gaj city could remember the attacks by the Barudii sphere weapon. A large portion of the megalopolis had been destroyed during planet-wide attacks. The sports arena and the entire western city complex were dedicated to those who had lost their lives in the attacks. To have the latest Barudii king bound before them and awaiting a horrible public death was merely justice in their eyes.

It's the perfect scenario, thought Lucin. They hate the Barudii because of the sphere and none of them seem to understand who I am.

Of course, Lucin was not without his own followers. He had been quite busy assimilating as many Vorn and Horva as possible and then sending those out to assimilate others into his will. In the two weeks after his arrival in the city, Lucin had managed to incorporate nearly ten thousand Vorn and Horva into his group of symbytes. The Horva were best suited for the kind of task he had in mind; complete domination. These later generation clones were certainly not the prized specimens he might have craved. But the first generation clones, like Grod, possessed immunity capable of destroying his symbyte form within their bodies.

The crowd beyond the terrace was cheering wildly. Word was spreading quickly about the great charismatic warrior among their people, Lucin. He alone had been able to defeat and capture the Barudii king. In the middle of the arena was a fair skinned young man; the object of their bloodlust. The Barudii would die as a further memorial to the Vorn that had been killed years ago.

KALE tried to open his eyes, but they did not wish to obey him. He attempted to maneuver, but his bands held him fast to the stone column standing in the arena. Thousands upon thousands of dark skinned people were cheering as they watched him. Kale had a feeling the cheering had little to do with well wishing.

Several barred doors stood at the far end of the arena ahead of him. Kale watched as a dozen leonase paced back and forth just behind the bars. Kale tried to free his hands, but he lacked the strength to pull against the fibrous bands that held him. His face was hurting on one side, but the pain was dulled. They must have drugged me, he thought. Kale couldn't concentrate enough to utilize his kinesis. He was absolutely defenseless.

EMIL nodded to his father as Grod handed his son the fried meat snacks in a basket, called metin. His father was posing as a vendor and making his way through the crowd as he covertly planted the charges they had carried with them to Demigoth. Grod needed enough to make a good diversion so that Emil could get into the guarded arena and release the king.

Emil watched his best friend strapped to a post inside the arena. He wondered if this was the sort of entertainment the Vorn usually craved. Kale looked bad. Emil could see that his face appeared swollen on at least one side and the flesh tone was mottled with bruising. He didn't look like he even had the strength to hold up his head.

At the far end of the arena, a leonai was clawing against the bars which kept it from the bound prey being offered. Nearly a dozen of the beasts waited with excitement to tear Kale to pieces before the assembled crowd. The Leonase were stealthy predators in their natural environment and could be found in the grassland areas on several planets including Demigoth and Draconis. They sported short dark gray coats and wooly light gray manes on the males only. It looked like a mixture of sexes waiting to feast upon Emil's friend.

There were guards posted all around the entrances to the arena area itself; mostly Horva from what Emil could see. They definitely were not the feral type of brute Horva that his father had talked about being produced by the Vorn clone facilities on Castai. These appeared tame enough in their manner, but tough looking nonetheless. His father had been able to rally the Horva of the first generation on Castai to rebel against their Vorn masters-Emil wondered if these Horva were ready for such an uprising to gain their own freedom.

Lucin stepped to a microphone and addressed the thousands of spectators present for the Barudii king's execution and said, "People of the great city of Gaj-though I am new to your city and your world, you have welcomed me with open arms and thousands of your people have already embraced my plans for the future. I hope to help you rebuild the great empire your clan once enjoyed and the dominion you once held over the other habitable planets of this system."

Cheers spread across the stadium as the people reveled in the hope of spreading out and conquering as they had in the past before the Barudii sphere weapon came. He continued, saying, "As a show of my power and as a good faith offering to you as allies in this war, I have brought you the king of your mortal enemies, the Barudii. This clan was once believed to be wiped out, but this has not been the case. They survive still and have been gathering a great army with which to attack your planet. Even now, this man's army may be approaching Demigoth with orders to carry out a brutal invasion and kill your children."

Emil listened to the Mithrial-man's lies to the Vorn-the crowd was eating it up. They wanted to hate Kale and the Barudii-they wanted revenge and nothing else was going to satisfy them. Lucin played their emotions like a finely tuned instrument. They were playing with the Devil and didn't even realize it. This is going to make it very difficult to bring our army against Lucin, thought Emil, he's preparing them for an invasion that isn't meant to be against them at all. We'll never gain them as allies now. They'll automatically smell deception with anything we try to tell them.

Emil's com-link beeped. "Yes, Father?"

"Head down to the arena," said Grod though the link, "I'm setting off the charges in five seconds."

"Affirmative."

Emil got up from his seat and moved quickly down the aisle toward the arena floor. It was shielded by a transparent dome with access points guarded by Horva clones. No Problem. Emil was counting the seconds as he made his way to the ground level amid the cheering spectators and Lucin's tirade booming over them. He turned right on the ground level walking along the edge of the arena floor area just outside of the dome. Emil had his eye on two guards ahead of him at one of the access ports. He wasn't wearing any weapons. The charges his father had gotten into the arena were a special compound that was organic and able to be triggered by a specific frequency that he could produce with his com-link. The guards had checked over both of them on the way in and had not paid any attention to the recall devices they wore on their wrists.