Empire's Son: An Epic Science Fiction Novel Series

I awoke with a start. I blinked as I looked around to realize I was in my bedroom on the Quortous. The lights were dim, and there was only the faintest hum to let me know the ship was still running. The artificial gravity held me steady against the mattress. There was a pulsing green light coming from my nightstand. I reached over and picked up my unity ring that I had set there before going to bed. There was one text message from Markus.

Arriving at Darat in two hours. Pavi wants to see you before we go down.

I looked to see that it had been sent only thirty minutes ago, so I still had time. I lay back in bed for a moment as I processed what I had just dreamed. My vision blurred as the dream replayed in my mind—my family's faces on Earth, and the echo of my childhood self's grief when I had to leave River Palace. The same wound, across decades, still bleeding. I saw myself in my mind's eye walking hand in hand with Aragon through the corridors of River Palace the wound as fresh and raw as the day it happened.

I pressed the heels of my palms against my eyes, trying to push the image away, but it clung like spider silk. The dream so real, but then it hadn't been a dream at all, but a memory. I could smell the small red azken flowers that grew along the palace's eastern wall, hear a hamerock wren calling to its mate as we passed through the grand front courtyard.

But the memories didn't stop there, because in the next breath, I saw my younger self laughing at a joke a younger Markus told me while we built a small city in my playroom. Then I saw a younger version of my mother pick me up from tripping down a set of stairs in a corridor I knew led to the kitchens at River Palace. I saw King Rainus smiling down the table at me from his position at the head of the table, where all his family and mine were gathered for a meal.

Then, I was in a large pool with a raven-haired teenage girl I knew was Markus's older sister, Revannah. She gave Markus and me nasty looks when even a splash of water came in her direction. And then there was Tantis, who was just a year older than me, and always seemed to be sulking because Markus ignored him and instead chose to play with me.

The memories kept coming, one almost on top of one another, so fast I almost couldn't keep up. I gasped at the intensity of it. And as suddenly as it began, the cascade stopped, leaving me breathless and disoriented. I lay there, chest heaving, as the silence of my quarters pressed in around me. The artificial air recycling system whispered through the vents above, but even that familiar sound felt foreign now, distant from the warm breezes that blew through the trees of the jazberry orchard I so loved to play in. My heart squeezed at the memory of it––at all the memories of my forgotten childhood.

"Adar!" I heard Markus yell my name.

I looked to see him rushing into my room. He looked upset, and I realized he must have been feeling what I was feeling through the bond. I sat up and swung my legs around to sit on the edge of the bed.

"I'm alright," I said, reassuring him.

That seemed to settle him a little, but his brow remained creased with concern as he studied my face.

"What happened? I felt like—" Markus paused, running a hand through his dark hair. "Well, I'm not sure. It felt like drowning and flying at the same time."

I smiled at his description and thought it very accurate of what I was feeling. "I had a strange dream where I met my younger self. He showed me the day I left River Palace to go to live with my father on Dyniss. Then I woke up and everything just flooded me almost at once." My voice trailed off as I got lost in the new memories.

It was so natural for them to be there. Like they had never been gone in the first place. But they had been. I had gone long years without them. It was weird to finally have them back, but it felt good to have them back too. These memories filled in the empty spaces of my identity like water finding its level, and I felt a strange comfort knowing that beneath the different names I had and star systems I'd occupied, my core remained unaltered—the same boy who once chased hamerock wrens through the palace gardens still lived within me.

"Your lost memories?" Markus asked.

I nodded, unable to speak.

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"You remember everything now?" Markus took a step closer. His voice carried a note of excitement.

"I remember a lot of it. I have actual memories of many of the stories you told me about my childhood. I remember my room at River Palace and playing in the orchards. I remember Revannah, Tantis, your mother and father. I remember bits and pieces of being at the White Palace, and I think I remember being on a ship on a long journey. The rest…" I shook my head.

"Well, you were only five when you left."

I nodded. "Yeah, but it was enough. I guess part of me was worried about what I didn't know. That I might––"

"That you might have been more like your brothers," Markus finished for me. "Trust me, Adar. You were never like them, and you never will be. You're too good of a person in every way."

I thought about that for a moment and the confrontation I had with Zorren. "I feel kind of bad painting Hazeth and Xavier the same as Zorren. I haven't even met them yet."

Markus snorted. "Don't spend too much time feeling bad. No, they aren't quite at the depraved level Zorren is at, but they are bad enough in their own ways. It takes a certain kind of nastiness to attack a five-year-old."

"But did they actually attack me, like beat me up themselves? All three of them at once? That part has been very vague from everyone I've spoken to about it, and I certainly don't remember it happening. I'm pretty sure that it's locked away behind the closed lock Dad gave me."

Markus shook his head. "It's old news, Adar. Don't get stuck in that trap. Just be glad you don't remember. There are some things better off not knowing."

"Yeah, I guess you are right."

"I know I am."

I laughed at the other man's bravado, but he had a point. I was glad I got the childhood memories that Dad stashed away behind the last adaptable lock back, but I found I didn't need them as much as I thought I did. And I definitely didn't need to dredge up anymore sad feeling memories, remembering leaving River Palace was enough.

But one thing was for sure, I most certainly remembered how much I enjoyed playing and spending time with Markus. I had thought him so clever, brave, and adventurous. He had been a big brother and my best friend all rolled up into one. I was so glad we had found each other again.

I smiled at him. In that moment, it was as if I was seeing him for the first time, like really seeing him. Before me stood the older Markus, who was was darker, more sullen, and angry, but beneath all that, I now could clearly see the glimmers of the boy I once knew.

"What?" Markus asked, shifting uncomfortably under my scrutiny.

"It's just... I can see him now. The boy you were. Behind your eyes."

Markus's expression softened, a flicker of vulnerability crossing his face before he masked it with a smirk. "That boy's long gone," he said, but there was no conviction in his voice as he said it.

I also noticed something else and I was surprised it had taken so long to registered. My eyes took in the black uniform he was wearing. It fit him well, its sharp lines accentuated by the brown dragon crest emblazoned on each shoulder. I couldn't help but nod my approval.

"That uniform looks good on you," I said.

"Thanks," Markus said, glancing down at the insignia with a mixture of pride and uncertainty. "Still getting used to it. Feels weird after slumming in common clothes for two years." He tugged at the high collar slightly. "And they didn't design this yavit overcoat for comfort that's for sure."

I chuckled glad not to be the only one who seemed to have trouble getting used to a new station and the clothes that went with it.

Markus's unity ring beeped. He looked down at it and scowled. "Pavi really wants to talk to you before we go down to the planet."

I glanced over to see a text message scrolling across the rectangular window. I only caught the words, Make sure he knows it's important.

"What's important?"

Markus looked up and let his wrist hang back down by his side. "He told me not to tell you, but that he needs to see you before we leave the ship. Depending on your decision, arrangements need to be made."

"What decision?"

"That's the part I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

Markus let out a heavy sigh. "How about you get up and walk next door and ask pavi yourself?"

I gave the other man a look. "Well, okay then. Do I at least have time for a quick shower?"

"Quickly," Markus said in an urgent tone, eyeing his unity ring once more.

I walked over to my closet, pulled out a set of fresh clothes, including a bright blue long coat that matched my eyes. This one had no gold trim like many of the others I wore. This one a sold shimmery blue with a darker blue trim all around the edges.

I tossed the clothes on the bed and tried one more time to see if I could get anything out of Markus. My curiosity was at an all-time high now. "So you know what he's going to ask me?"

"Yes."

"Why am I the last to know?"

"Adar," Markus growled.

"What?" I sent my friend an innocent look.

He shook his head. "All I will tell you is that whatever decision you make, I'm all right with it."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"That's only making me want to know what's going on even more."

"Then you'd better hurry." He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at me, and I knew he wasn't going to give me anything more.

"Fine. Ten minutes," I said as I rushed off to the bathroom to take the quickest shower of my life.