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Science Fiction Fiction

*Author's note: thought ya'll who are interested might want a teaser to the second book of Genesis: Exodus. Currently, I don't plan on posting the whole story, just this part. Enjoy!*

___

Rune was dying. He lay in the grass, gasping to get a breath, but only a trickle of oxygen reached his lungs. The air was heavy and uncomfortably hot. Wait, no. It was his body that was hot, because of the blood running down his sides and leaking into the ground. Was there someone pinning him to the ground? No, there was no one, but he couldn’t make his limbs move. An invisible force trapped him; and a shadow crept toward him. It was Gallas, looming over the younger sarsh; the admiral was only a black silhouette, his features impossible to discern. But his intention was obvious as he leveled a gun at Rune. The barrel gleamed in the sun, reflecting in the Admiral’s red eyes. The admiral’s finger tightened on the trigger. Terror lanced through the dying soldier; he screamed because he could do nothing.

Suddenly he could move, but something hot and heavy coiled around his legs like a creature trying to crush him. His surroundings were pitch black; Rune couldn’t see. He roared in terror and anger, thrashing to remove whatever was restricting him. Then he stilled, his mind clearing. His chest heaved, wet with sweat. It was his blanket, twisted around his body that was preventing him from moving, and he’d torn it nearly in half in his panic to get out of it. The sarsh sat up, shaking and pressing his hands against his face. Tears and sweat trickled down his cheeks.

The soldier sat there for a long time, darkness surrounding him and darkness inside him. He shook and rocked, weeping. For months, his fear tormented his dreams. The barrel of the gun like a black eye, always watching him. He’d stopped visiting Gallas- every time he saw him his scar ached and his hands shook. It made him angry, his fear. His inability to look at a gun and not flinch. But, amid his fear and anger, he had a light. Still soaked with sweat, the sarsh stood on trembling legs, took a worn book from the table at his beside, and opened the heavy wooden door leading to a balcony overlooking the lake through the trees- he slowly descended the ladder and walked on the well-worn paths through the forest.

The sun was just coming up when Rune stepped on to the sand on the lake’s shore. It was late spring and the morning air was warm. A soft wind blew, whispering through the grasses surrounding the lake and playing with the cybersoldier’s clothes. He took a deep breath, gazing out over the lake. The sun had yet to come fully over the flat horizon, but it still turned the water to gold with its light. Rune stood as a statue, silhouetted against the golden light, allowing it to reach into his fear-filled heart and whisk the darkness away.

The sarsh lowered himself into the sand and opened the faded black book to a random page. He stared at the words before him, blinking away the last of the terror from his eyes.

‘Do not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap the harvest if we do not give up.’

The sarsh looked at the verse for a long time, carefully sorting out his thoughts. He knew why last night’s dream was so much worse than any of the previous ones. Today marked one year since Rune and his people came to Tamaska, one year since Reign had given Rune new life and a second chance. Rune had been dreading this day for a long time. Because it meant leaving his family behind again, because it meant returning something he saw only as a vain idea, hardly whole and formed out of desperation to make a difference. Telling his family was the hardest part; he’d gathered them up a week ago and told them the burdening news. Amarillius and Sharn were angry, their young faces screwed with disappointment. Their eyes, full of the past loneliness and fear, were so painful to see after they’d been full of light and joy for almost an entire year. Tycho- being as he always was- sat on Rune’s lap and buried his face in his big brother’s chest; the little boy said nothing, but studied the emotions on Rune’s face and then the little sarsh smiled. Lyris was angry and grieved at the same time- she didn’t like that her adopted son was ‘going off for who knows how long with people I don’t know a thing about.’ Rune did his best to ease her worries by promising she could meet at least one of them when he came. It didn’t satisfy her.

Amarillius avoided him now, Sharn was more quiet than ever, and Tycho... Tycho ran to Rune and hugged him whenever the five-year-old saw his brother. It hurt more than any pain the soldier had ever felt, seeing those soulful eyes full of hope that Rune knew he would shatter in a matter of days.

And now that day had come; when he shattered their hope, when he left them behind again. And it hurt so much. His chest physically ached, his lungs froze, his head throbbed with the weight of his guilt. He’d spent his tears already, now his eyes felt like only empty sockets, blankly staring at nothing.

Taking a deep, shuddering breath, the cybersoldier rose. He fixed his eyes on the sun, their deep purple depths reflecting the golden light. What have I gotten myself into, Reign? And how can you help me? I need help. I need help... Rune rubbed his chest, metal fingers detecting the raised mark in his skin, right over his heart. A shiver ran down his spine. The dark barrel flashed behind his eyes. But he forced away his fear, his dark thoughts. For now, he had a promise to fulfill. Every time he saw the flash of the silver ring against the darkness of his skin, he remembered a friend he’d promised he would come back to. And she needed to know he lived again. The soldier gathered his strength, his courage, his will to keep his promise, and he used it to keep himself upright. To support him when he felt weak with a thousand fears.

The soldier turned and moved lithely across the sand, shoulders back, head high. Like a soldier taught to show no weakness. The grasses brushed his thighs, exposed by his short summer tunic. His sky-blue hair, once short as was his military standard, was now longer and tied in a small bun, but besides that small difference, he’d barely changed in a year. Some people said he’d grown half a foot or more, but he couldn’t see a difference. He still saw himself as the soldier who’d failed so many, as the brother who’d abandoned his family. What more should he see?

__

Rune walked silently through the forest, there were towering trees- some stretched nearly a hundred feet into the sky. Then there were saplings, many of them lining the worn paths. They looked like grass compared to their larger counterparts. Both the big and the small trees had bark that twisted up their entirety, colored grey-blue and turquoise. The leaves complimented those colors with a strange dusty purple. They were beautiful, the trees. Rune couldn’t help but notice them every time he saw them.

The cybersoldier took a small path that branched off of the rest, one that anyone beside him rarely walked; it was long and winding, but its destination was more important than the path itself. It led to a small clearing Rune had chosen as his training area. The trees were tall and climbable, perfect for practicing agility and upper body strength. The tall grasses surrounding the circle made for a good way to practice both stealth and phasing- walking without making the grass move.

The soldier had taken to hunting to practice using his invisibility and phasing, moving without his target detecting him. Of course, they could still smell him, but staying downwind was part of his training. It was lonely, since only his family knew about his Flares, but he purposefully didn’t bring it up around them; it seemed to make them uncomfortable, which Rune found understandable. The sarsh didn’t always mind being alone; it was a way for him to focus on something other than his dark thoughts and that was what he needed most.

_

It was nearly midday when Rune started on his way back through the forest; his mind felt less murky now, and in his heart, he felt the glow of hope for his future. That was how it went, one minute he was sobbing in fear and trembling with uncertainty, and the next, he felt whole again. He took the moments he felt whole and fearless and cherished them, hoping they would blossom and multiply. He seemed to feel the most clear-minded during and after doing something active, so he took every opportunity to move. Rune jogged through the narrow paths, feeling the tall grasses tickle his legs, both metal and flesh. The sun was warm on the sarsh’s face, but the air still had a crisp quality to, unlike the heavily humid days of summer.

The soldier’s dark skin was slick with sweat when he stepped back onto the main path and moved toward his house. He admired its beauty every time he saw it; the builders made it masterfully. It was one of the first ever fully made when his people first moved to Tamaska. Rune climbed the ladder, feeling a familiar but welcome ache in his muscles as he pulled himself up. As he neared the top, the scent of food put a smile on his face, and his stomach reminded him he’d missed breakfast. Lyris smiled at her adopted son as he entered- he went to hug her, but she wrinkled her nose, smiling. “You’re covered in sweat, son. Go change before eating.”

Rune grinned at her and obeyed. The hum of voices met his ears from the open windows as he changed. It was so unlike the forests on their homeships, surrounded by fake light and silver walls. Here it was natural, the beautiful trees swaying in the wind and the sun smiling down on the planet’s inhabitants. The soldier pulled on a deep purple tunic over his shorts and, made his way out the door; he leaped down the stairs and landed with a faint thump on the thick wooden floorboards. Lyris raised an eyebrow at him as she set the table- it stood proudly in the center of the room, made to have lots of company. With Rune’s popularity- faded as it was over the year- many people were eager to meet him and each day it seemed like there was a new face from deep in the forest coming to see the legendary cybersoldier. Rune thought he would have met everyone by now, but with every Sarsh from across the world now living Tamaska, there were many more than it originally seemed. “One of these days,” Lyris said. “You’re going to break through the floor. With all that extra weight, you probably weigh over three hundred pounds.”

Rune raised his eyebrows in a mock-offended expression. “Extra weight?”

“I’m referring to your metal limbs, dear, not fat. You have little of that.”

“I know, Lyris. I was only teasing.”

The older woman said something under her breath. Rune frowned. “What did you say?”

“There used to be a time when you and I rarely spoke, and never teased. I’m beyond happy that time has gone, although I wished Orlan were here to share it with us.”

Rune was quiet. He often felt guilty because he felt little to no grief when he thought of his passed, adopted father. The older man was never like a father to him, only a commanding officer. Rune never had a father, in all his life. The only man who’d gotten close was Artemis, although the rebel was rather hard toward Rune at first. But the soldier didn’t like to think about his parents- he didn’t allow himself to. Only four years passed and Rune remember every minutes of their abandonment, but he chose not to.

“What’s wrong, son?” Lyris asked absentmindedly as she placed the meal in the middle of the table; bread which Lyris and Rune’s siblings cooked the day before and a large melon cut into cubes and mixed with savory spices and a thick red sauce. The sarsh gave her a small smile; the older woman had the strange ability to sense someone’s mood without even looking at them.

“I think you know.”

“I do, but I want to hear it from you.”

Rune sighed, sitting at his usual spot at the table. “I can’t bear to leave again. Lyris... I almost left them forever. I can’t do that again.”

Lyris’s shoulders slumped. She leaned on the small chopping table next to the firepit where they cooked their food. It was a huge step down from the high-tech interior of the home ships like Zenith. But it was a welcome change to most; some disagreed, but all they had to do was travel a short distance to a colossal plain where all the ships remained- relics of a past life. Most didn’t. “It wasn’t an accident that you came back, Rune,” Lyris said. “And I think you should follow what your heart says is right.”

“It isn’t my heart that is saying I should go. It’s Reign.”

Lyris smiled. “Then trust Him.”

Rune traced his metal fingers on the wood grains of the table, the two materials producing a soft scraping sound. “It’s hard.”

“Of course it is, but when you continue to trust Him when it’s hardest, that’s what matters the most.”

December 05, 2022 20:52

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2 comments

I read it! The opening sequence was very vivid, and then when he thought there was something coiling around his legs, I thought he was having yet another near-death experience while fighting some snake-monster. Then it turned out the entire thing was just a dream, and he's still safe. But knowing Rune and Tyrene's previous goals for him, it won't be long until he's not… Wait a minute, Rune is still growing? He's getting bigger?! Is this because he's just not fully grown, or is it because of his Ignition? Poor Tycho! Actually, when I went...

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Creed .
16:44 Dec 13, 2022

That was the idea, the beginning will draw the reader in and make them interested, and then the action gives way to his normal life. That's true, he won't be safe for long. Yes, it is mostly because of Ignition, but also, most Sarsh grow to be quite large and Rune is only twenty years old, so he has some growing to do. A lot How strange. I know Tycho is a real name, it's just not a common one. *Sigh* Yeah, you're right. I just... I don't have anyone else to share it with, but I have to be tentative with my posting lest I get dragged back ...

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