Empire's Son: An Epic Science Fiction Novel Series

The massive doors at the far end of the auditorium burst inward with a thunderous crack. Through the settling dust stepped a figure that sent an involuntary shiver down Rainus's spine. This being looked much more like the one he had seen from Vang's recording.

It was currently the brightest and hottest part of the day on the desert planet with merciless beams of Sora streaming through the windows of the auditorium, yet Rainus felt an icy chill sweep through the room as the being entered.

Unlike the armored warriors he'd seen outside, this creature cloaked itself in so much darkness it was difficult to come up with a clear description. It was as if the being had pulled shadows around its body to hide itself, but the eyes were visible enough to see from the hooded head. They were a bright, glowing violet that seemed to see right into Rainus's soul. An involuntary shiver ran down his spine.

The King steadied his resolve, knowing that completing his task would take all the fortitude that he could summon. Fear was not something he often felt anymore, but this creature evoked a primal response that he had to consciously suppress. His Telepathic Dome-ni detected something profoundly alien about the being before him, and he wondered if his ability would even work with this creature. The being took measured steps forward, each movement fluid like water yet precise as a predator. Behind it came three more figures of similar stature, though their forms seemed to shimmer and shift as if they weren't entirely present in this reality.

"You are not the one we seek," the lead figure spoke, its voice resonating with an unnatural harmonic that seemed to bypass Rainus's ears and vibrate directly in his mind.

Rainus maintained his composure as he presented himself. "I am King Rainus of House Nador, ruler of the Avi-da Kingdom, and today, a representative of Emperor Ghar Zahn. I stand ready to negotiate terms."

The creature tilted its head, those violet eyes narrowing. "Negotiate? There is nothing to negotiate. We have come for what is ours."

"And what might that be?" Rainus asked, keeping his voice measured and diplomatic despite the growing sense of dread in his gut. He tried to push his consciousness forward, to brush against the alien's mind, but it was like trying to grasp smoke—his telepathic Dome-ni slid off the creature's thoughts, finding no purchase.

The lead figure took another step forward, the darkness around it seeming to pulse and expand. "What was stolen from us long ago?"

"Perhaps I can help facilitate the return of your property," Rainus offered, carefully monitoring his thoughts. "The Emperor values peaceful resolution."

A sound emerged from the creature that might have been laughter, though it held no mirth—only a cold, hollow resonance that made the hairs on Rainus's neck stand on end.

"Your Emperor holds what is not his to possess, as do you all," the creature said. "We will give you one chance to leave without further threat from us, but all those who infest our domain must leave or they will be exterminated."

Rainus eyed the man with confusion as he tried to understand what the being could mean. Leave this planet? This sector of space? "Leave from where?"

"This galaxy."

The King blinked at the tall creature before him. "Why would we do such a thing? This is our Empire." He stressed the part as anger started to rise inside him.

"No, this is ours. It has always been ours from the beginning of time. This is where we were birthed by the Old Ones. This is where we grew and became strong enough to set out on a great pilgrimage. We have traveled across a great expanse, and now it is time for us to come home and reclaim what was once ours. Just as the sheema said we would long ago."

"I see," Rainus said as his mind tried to assimilate this information. He had been hoping that there could be a quick or simple resolution to appease the invaders, or maybe there had just been a major miscommunication between their species that Rainus could set right. That hope died as his insides twisted. This might be a bigger problem than he originally thought. That meant they needed as much information on these beings as possible in order to defeat them, or at the very least, convince them that the Empire wasn't worth the trouble.

Rainus cautiously attempted to push his Dome-ni toward the alien's consciousness again, seeking any opening, any weakness in its mental armor. This time, he concentrated not on penetrating its thoughts directly but on creating a subtle resonance between their minds—like ripples meeting on a pond's surface rather than breaking through ice.

"This sheema you speak of," Rainus said carefully, "it guides your actions?"

The alien's violet eyes flared brighter. "The sheema is truth. It is knowledge passed from the Old Ones themselves. It foretold our return, and the usurpation we would find." The being's darkness seemed to deepen around it. "Your kind has spread like a disease across what is rightfully ours."

"Our histories record no prior claim to these worlds," Rainus countered, maintaining his diplomatic tone while continuing his delicate mental probing. "The Ethian Empire has existed for thousands of years. We built these worlds, terraformed the uninhabitable ones, and created civilization where there was none."

"Thousands of years?" The alien's voice took on a tone of contempt that made the air itself seem to vibrate. "We left this realm millions of your years ago. Your Empire is but an infant playing in the ruins of what once was."

Rainus felt a flicker of something as his Dome-ni finally found purchase—not within the alien's mind, but at its edges, where the darkness seemed less absolute. Images flashed through his consciousness: vast cities of impossible architecture spanning entire continents; beings of light and shadow moving through dimensions beyond human comprehension; a great exodus as stars began to die; and then, more recently, a great awakening, a call that pulled them back across the vast expanse of space to reclaim what was theirs.

"You left," Rainus said, carefully measuring his words while maintaining the tenuous mental connection. "By your own admission, you abandoned these worlds."

The alien leader's form seemed to ripple with anger. "We did not abandon. We journeyed. The sheema foretold our return when the time was right." Its voice lowered to a resonance that made Rainus's bones ache. "And now we find primitives squatting in our ancestral home."

Through the fragile connection, Rainus caught glimpses of the aliens' intentions—not merely reclamation, but purification. They viewed the Ethians as vermin to be exterminated, and the Empire as a blight to be cleansed. There would be no negotiation, no coexistence. Only complete annihilation.

Rainus fought to keep his expression neutral as the weight of this realization settled in his mind. The Emperor needed to know immediately. The entire Ethian Empire was in danger, not from some border skirmish or resource-hungry invaders, but from beings who viewed the galaxy itself as their birthright.

"I understand your position," Rainus said carefully, buying time as he mentally organized what he'd learned. "But surely there can be accommodation. The galaxy is vast—"

"There will be no accommodation," the alien leader cut him off, its voice now an icy blade slicing through the air. "The sheema is clear. This realm must be purified for our return. You have been given a warning as a courtesy that even vermin rarely receive. But we have been gone a long time and realize you may not know of our glorious return. You have been informed. Now you must leave."

Rainus stood tall, refusing to be intimidated despite the hollow feeling in his stomach. "I am afraid I cannot accept those terms. The Ethian Empire spans thousands of worlds with billions of citizens. We cannot simply...leave."

The alien's eyes flared with such intensity that Rainus had to resist the urge to shield his own. "Then you have chosen extinction."

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"Before you commit to that path," Rainus said carefully, "you should understand that the Empire has weathered many threats over its long history. We are not defenseless."

A sound like grinding stone emanated from the alien leader—perhaps laughter, perhaps contempt. "Your weapons are toys to us. Your shields, weak and easily overcome. Your armies, insects to be crushed beneath our heel."

Through their tenuous mental connection, Rainus caught flashes of devastation—worlds burning, cities crumbling, technologies far beyond Imperial understanding unleashed against helpless worlds. The alien force possessed weapons capable of tearing apart matter at its fundamental level, ships that could phase through solid objects, and mental abilities that could turn an enemy's own consciousness against them.

Rainus maintained his composure through decades of diplomatic training, but inwardly he recoiled at the enormity of the threat. Still, he had one more card to play.

"The Emperor will not be so easy to defeat, and he certainly will not bow to your demands. Cross him at your own peril." Rainus said, carefully measuring his words. He had great respect for Ghar's Dome-ni ability. If anyone in the Empire could discover a solution to these invaders and remove them as a threat, he could.

The alien leader paused, its violet eyes flickering with what might have been interest. "The Emperor... yes. The sheema speaks of one among you who holds something of... significance."

Rainus felt a cold spike of alarm. Through their tenuous mental connection, he glimpsed something unexpected––these beings were searching for something specific––not just the galaxy's reclamation, but an object or power they believed the Emperor possessed. Something ancient, something that had been lost to them during their exodus.

"What does your sheema say about the Emperor?" Rainus asked, trying to probe deeper through their fragile connection.

The alien's darkness seemed to congeal, becoming more solid, as if in response to a threat. The mental link between them abruptly severed, leaving Rainus momentarily disoriented.

"You attempt to breach our thoughts," the alien leader hissed, the harmonics in its voice sharpening to painful intensity. "Your primitive abilities are an affront."

The chill that had taken over the auditorium atrium once the being entered suddenly plummeted. And despite the fierceness of Sora's brilliant rays, veins of frost started to form and rapidly grow across the thick glass panes of the arching windows. Rainus's body involuntarily shook from the cold, and a fog expelled from his heated breath. The darkness around the creature seemed to grow until a pall resembling that of night fell over the atrium.

Rainus knew the being was attempting to intimidate him, so he steadied himself and stood a little taller and willed his body to stop responding to the cold. His shivering did not cease completely, but it was reduced, so it wasn't such a distraction. Rainus also hardened his mind against the enemy, because based on the quick glimpse of Vang's recording of his encounter with a being very much like this one, he was pretty sure what would come next.

The creature glided across the floor, rapidly closing the distance between them while Rainus remained rooted in place. As the being approached, Rainus could glimpse the shadowed features of his opponent better. Its face was long, narrow, and a sickly shade of amber. The outline of two spindly arms underneath a cloak of black. The limbs calmly at its side like the creature was just taking a leisurely stroll.

As it swiftly advanced, someone raced across the atrium and positioned himself between Rainus and the creature. It was Jamiss. As he stood a few steps in front of the King, he whipped out an executioner's staff, extending the weapon to its full seven-foot length. The Protector then slammed the bottom end to the floor and activated the blue transparent shield. The familiar hum of the activation created a sharp hiss in the atrium.

"Jamiss, I told you to stand down until I signaled," Rainus rebuked his Protector.

He knew the man was only doing his job, but then so was Rainus, and in order to do it fully, he wanted the creature to attack him. He had gotten what he could from a passive scan. Now he wanted to see what he could get from a much deeper one, but that meant physical contact with the enemy. Rainus had explained this to Jamiss while they had waited for the invaders to show up, but he wasn't entirely surprised the Protector had acted, anyway. Still, it was annoying, and he was impeding Rainus's task.

The alien invader halted its approach, those violet eyes now fixed on Jamiss with predatory interest. Rainus could feel the temperature drop even further as the being assessed this new obstacle.

"Stand aside, Jamiss," Rainus commanded, his voice carrying the full weight of his royal authority. "This is a diplomatic mission. I need direct contact." The last word an attempt to remind the Protector of Rainus's plan.

Jamiss didn't move, his stance unwavering as he held the shield between his charge and the alien threat. "With respect, Your Majesty, I cannot allow that."

Rainus placed a firm hand on Jamiss's shoulder. "Stand aside. That is an order from your King."

He could see Jamiss's jaw tighten, but the man deactivated the shield and took several long steps backward until he was standing just to the left and slightly behind the King. The staff remained extended and ready to be used at a moment's notice.

Rainus gave the man a small nod of appreciation before turning back to the creature before him. The shadowy being loomed tall and frightening as it peered at Rainus with interest. Its violet eyes almost appearing like two miniature suns in the foreboding darkness.

The King watched as the being opened its thick, protruding mandibles, and out of a black maw a thin tentacle reached out. Rainus quailed at the sight, but he did not move, did not even blink as the appendage reached for him. The tentacle slithered toward him, snaked up his nose, and a moment later, the King felt a violent shudder rip through him.

Excruciating pain lanced through Rainus's skull as the alien presence invaded his mind. Unlike the subtle probing he had attempted earlier, this was a brutal assault—tearing through his mental defenses as if they didn't even exist. His vision blurred, replaced by a kaleidoscope of alien memories and knowledge flooding into his consciousness.

He saw vast fleets of living ships traversing the void between galaxies, witnessed the birth of stars and their deaths, and felt the weight of millions of years of existence pressing down upon him. The alien was ancient beyond comprehension, its species having walked among the stars when the first primitive mammals were still evolving on Rainus's ancestral world.

"Your mind is... unusual," the alien's voice resonated directly in his thoughts. "We have observed that most of your kind are not so strong of will and mind."

Rainus fought against the invasion, desperately trying to maintain a block against the enemy as it rifled through his memories, but the violent force was more than even he could control. He did what he could to block the most sensitive of information, while letting the less important go.

As suddenly as the attack began, the alien withdrew from Rainus's mind and stood there for a long moment, peering at the King with what seemed like deep curiosity. "You have much useful information, but you are blocking us. You shall come with us for further interrogation."

The alien gestured with one spindly limb, and two of the other shadowy figures moved forward with unsettling grace.

Jamiss exploded into action before they had taken three steps. His executioner's staff whirled in a blur of motion, the shield reactivating as he planted himself once more between Rainus and the aliens. "You will not take my King," he declared, his voice steady despite the palpable dread emanating from the creatures.

The Protector further activated his staff with the press of a button in the middle of the weapon. A blue pulse shot from the staff to race toward the enemy.

"Jamiss, don't—" Rainus began, but it was too late.

There were only two pulse settings on the executioner's staff, stunt and kill, and Rainus had no doubts that Jamiss had used the kill selection. But the pulse didn't seem to have any effect on the creature in front of them. Instead, the leader raised one elongated finger, and the air itself seemed to distort around Jamiss. The Protector staggered, his body suddenly rigid, as if caught in an invisible vise. The executioner's staff clattered to the ground, its shield flickering out.

"Your primitive loyalty is noted," the alien leader's voice said, the harmonics in its tone shifting to something almost like amusement. "But ultimately futile.

With a flick of its wrist, it sent Jamiss flying backward. The Protector crashed into one of the ornate pillars with bone-crushing force, then crumpled to the floor in a heap.

"Jamiss!" Rainus shouted, his diplomatic mask slipping for the first time. He made to move toward his fallen Protector, but found himself suddenly immobilized, held in place by the same invisible force that had incapacitated Jamiss.

The alien leader glided closer, those violet eyes now mere inches from Rainus's face. "Your kind attachments are a weakness we do not share. The one you call Emperor possesses something that belongs to us. You will help us retrieve it."

Rainus felt his body being lifted several inches off the floor, suspended in the alien's invisible grasp. His limbs refused to obey his commands, and a cold pressure constricted around his throat—not enough to cut off his breathing, but a clear warning of the power this being wielded.

"I will tell you nothing more," Rainus said, his voice strained but defiant.

The alien leader's eyes flared with renewed intensity. "You misunderstand. We do not require your cooperation. Your mind will provide what we need, whether or not you wish it."

From the corner of his eye, Rainus saw movement—Nathias and his men were rushing toward the enemy. The alien's head snapped toward the approaching soldiers, its violet eyes flaring with cold contempt. With a gesture that seemed almost casual, it sent a wave of force rippling across the atrium floor. The polished stone cracked and buckled, lifting in a rolling wave that knocked Nathias and his men off their feet before they could even raise their weapons.

"Such primitive creatures," the alien leader said, turning its attention back to Rainus. "Your soldiers cannot help you. You will come with us now."

Rainus felt his body being pulled forward by an invisible force. His mind raced, calculating options. If he were taken, the information he'd gathered might never reach the Emperor. He fought with every ounce of his being against the darkness that was threatening to overcome him, but it was too strong. His last thought as unconsciousness took him was that he at least hoped the recording he'd captured of the battle would be enough to fight back against the enemy.