EPITAPH 0.002 - Cousin

by: Haziel May C. Natorilla
Volume 1: The Crystal Ephesoziel

Last time, on Rexers…

            After the little prince fled to Celestial Era 2005, the Draispans tracked him there and attacked, killing a multitude of people. Escaping to an edge of time, he met Nebuer who gave him a protoDigiRex device. He successfully transformed into one of the legendary Rexer soldiers – Black Rex. However, his fatigue undid the transformation and he fainted.

EPITAPH 0.002 – Cousin

Cosmic Age, 5990.

Saint Gabriel Hooskas.

            “So it seems that the device is a little bit unstable. Still, our theories were proven. All is well,” asserted Nebuer to himself.

            “Well, well…” begun a rough, teasing voice, “thanks for the data, little prince.”

            “How long have you been there, Sonsi?”

            Fej Sonsi’s father, the splitting image of Fej save the absence of dimples on his visage, appeared from behind a calculated gap. The gap opened from one of the Titanium-made, reinforced bookshelves covered with artificial oak layers. The wooden surface lining of every furniture piece provided the aesthetic camouflage necessary to keep their laboratory passages a secret. Sonsi’s no-nonsense attitude bore a sharp contrast with Quinoa’s calm look, a thing that often amused outsiders who saw them. That was if there were any outsiders. Still, Engle Sonsi remained an outstanding scientist in his field.

            “Since he came,” Sonsi proudly replied. “For starters, our sleeping prince needs a name and some roof.”

            Flipping an odd silver coin as he walked towards Nebuer, he continued, “The house on the hill should be fine for stray cats,” emphasizing the word ‘stray’.  “Anyway, that’s not why I’m here, Sir Quinoa.”

            “Please. Have a seat while I call in my children.”

            As soon as the word left Nebuer’s mouth, he called in his twins through the picocommunicator. Mitt arrived in the same fashion as Leizah, who was waiting outside the hallway, did earlier. Unlike Leizah who was usually clumsy, cheerful and easygoing, Mitt kept his body in top form even as he studied. Serious and strict with himself and those he care about, Mitt was more-or-less oblivious to people who admire him for his good looks and strong sense of justice.

            “Mitt!”

            Leizah, excited to show her brother the ‘alien’ that their Dad was talking to, beamed with a smile and hugged him.

           

            “Whoa! What’s the deal, Leiz?”

            “Mitt, tell Dad you’ll go with us to Neleh Palace. Super pretty pleasey.”

            “Go where?”

            “The ‘alien’ wants to see our colony’s ruler who lives there… at the Neleh Palace,” bragged Leizah, proud that she knew something she thought her twin didn’t.

            “You mean the replica? Sure. Been there before,” said Mitt confidently.

            “Cool! Dad’s been talking to it for a while. Maybe it couldn’t convince Dad,” worried Leizah, “but I bet you could.”

           

            Mitt entered the principal’s office first, followed by Leizah. Mitt was talking to their Dad when Leizah saw the ‘alien’ lying on the sofa. Rushing over by the little prince’s side, she shook in the hopes that the ‘alien’ was still alive.

            “Hmm… hmm… hmm…”

            “Leiz, weren’t you listening? Dad told us to bring our cousin home.”

            “Hmm… hmm… hmm…”

            “Leiz!”

            “Oh! Our cousin’s coming to visit? When?” wondered Leizah, still trying to wake little prince up.

            “That ‘alien’ you brought is not an alien. That’s our cousin, a member of the Am Guzden clan sent to train with us this summer,” stressing on the words ‘our cousin’.

            “What’s it’s… I mean his… his name?”

            “Dad doesn’t know which child was sent. Ask him later when he wakes up. For now, we’re going home,” ordered Mitt as he slung one arm over his shoulders and Leizah took the right arm.

            “You can use the fourth tube from here kids,” Engle added. “I’ll open it for you.”

            “Sweet! Thanks, Dr. Engle. You’re the super best!” said Leizah.

           

Quinoa Residence

            In a matter of minutes, the twins reached their house near the hills. Traveling via tube with others was a first time for Leizah. Switching their anti-gravity shoes, they went from one of the back entrances and sped towards the second floor.

            “I thought the tube can only hold one person at a time. There were three of us in there,” wondered Leizah.

            “One adult at a time, Leiz. Actually, it’s more of how heavy instead of how many,” smiled Mitt. “Up and there. Okay!”

            Mitt and Leizah placed the little prince on one of the spare beds in the guest room. As they laid him there, the prince stirred a bit. The twins had no idea of the little prince’s frightful dream, or of his past, when suddenly, he grabbed an arm. His grip on the wrist was hard and firm. Painful.

            “Ahh! That hurts!”

            “Why you! Let her go!”

            Mitt tried to pull the hand away from Leiz, but it wouldn’t budge. Taking the nearest vase, he poured water on both of them. After water soaked them, the little prince snapped out of it and immediately woke up. He was, however, still gripping Leizah’s arm tightly.

            “Ugh…” groaned Nosneb.

            “Let go of Leiz, or else…” threatened Mitt.

            “Um, Mitt, you don’t have to scare him,” interrupted Leizah. “So, what’s your name, cousin?”

            “Nosneb zi Rha Faan…” said the little prince slowly, as though in a trance and withholding his last name, Ephesoziel. In their planet, Ephesozen princes traditionally said the Ephesoziel surname first and attached their mother’s last name last. He had the sense to drop ‘Ephesoziel’ after waking up in a semi-conscious manner, following Nebuer’s warning. Still, the images from his dream looked clear as the water that drenched him that he hardly noticed the cold.

            “That’s an awfully long name, cousin. Can I call you Nosneb?” said Leizah, as she forced a smile while her arm still hurt.

            “Nosneb zi Rha Faan Am Guzden,” shrugged Mitt, “is an awfully short name compared to most of our other cousins. And… I see you were named after the ‘Rha Faan’ tribe.”

            “I wasn’t named after them. I was one of them,” corrected Nosneb in his mind. “Am Guzden? Wherever did you get that? I hand it to your quick thinking, Nebuer. Thanks,” he continued in his mind, gazing at a blank point in space.

            “Let go of my sister now, Nosneb zi Rha Faan. Let go of Leizah.” demanded Mitt in an authoritative tone.

            Nosneb, seeing that he grabbed her arm by accident while asleep, quickly released it. Leizah, smiling as she walked towards the door, said, “Gotta go, cousin. Make sure to change those clothes.”

            “Clothes are on the second drawer to the left,” said Mitt.

            “Thanks, Quinoa.”

            “It’s Mitt.”

            As Mitt walked away, Nosneb knew that he needed to make as many allies as he could if he were to fight the Draispans and restore Ephesoziel. He had best start with this lad.

            “Thanks, Mitt,” replied Nosneb.

            Surprised that he was thanked twice, he looked back. He wanted to doubt this cousin because of the way he hurt Leizah before he woke up, but because their Dad instructed them to take care this cousin, he held back.

            “No problem. Just don’t…”

            “Don’t what?”

            “It’s not important,” said Mitt as he closed the door and left.

            Nosneb took a quick shower and changed. Worried about what happened with his smartbots – Araco, Balco, Coco, Duco, Ezreco, and Fauzco, he wanted to set off and find them. He barely stepped out of the room when Leizah came running on the hallway.

            “Hello! So you’re done changing? Wanna go play at the Sonsi’s?”

            “P-Play? I’ve got other things to do than play, child.”

            “Whatever! You’re a child too. Let’s go! Let’s go!”

            “Don’t pull me. I can walk,” Nosneb asserted.

            “I know! I’m sure you can eat too. Now let’s go! Dr. Lucia’s cheesecakes are the best! I won’t miss them for the world!”

            Drawn to Leizah’s innocence and optimism like a magnet to a pole, half of the little prince wants to regain his innocence and youth, while another half needs to bring justice to his people. He found it relieving that this child treated him as ordinary as possible, even though his silvery hair and auburn eyes betrayed his origins. He thought about dyeing his hair to a different color, at least, before he went meeting other people. When they left the back door entrance, Nosneb broke the silence.

            “Child, how do we get to the Sonsi’s? Do we fly?”

            “Um… if you call me ‘child’ ever again, cousin, I’ll call you ‘alien’,” teased Leizah. “And right, we’ll fly so highey high… or not! It’s pretty near! We can float!”

            “O-Okay. If you mean something like this…”

            Nosneb activated his ATP-powered spaceskates to glide in the usual manner. Like a boy proud of his toys, Nosneb smiled as he soared in those freestyle moves he used to do on gaseous surface. This gaseous surface was not exactly air like from the old days, but a clean version of it devoid of contaminants like Argon.

            “H-h-hey! Let me on that thingy!” Leizah shouted. “I wanna try that! Nosneb!”

            The little prince didn’t want ‘the child’ to shout his name out in the open that he sped his way down. He was still floating when Leizah climbed on his back.

            “W-w-what are you doing??” said a puzzled Nosneb.

            “Piggyback ride. Now let’s go! Let’s go! Straight to the east!” Leizah answered excitedly.

            “E-e-asier said than done,” said Nosneb as he lifted the two of them to the air. “And quit moving!” he ordered.

            Unfortunately for Nosneb, Leizah had no sense of direction and barely paid attention to landmarks, let alone coordinates. Nosneb’s GPS watch worked quite normally in this world that it puzzled him a little. While airborne, Nosneb noticed a small crater and wanted to check it out. As he descended, Leizah finally remembered something.

            “That’s it! See that white chimney? It’s Fej’s place!”

            “I was looking at the crater,” Nosneb replied blankly.

            With all that fidgeting around and Leizah’s crazy direction-telling as they glided, it took them two hours to get to the Sonsi’s, when it was a mere thirty-minute walk. Fej saw Leizah from the window, so he rushed out to greet them.

            “Hey! Leizah! Glad you could make it!” shouted Fej, his voice echoing through the hills. “Over here,” he waved.

            “Oopsie. I was gonna surprise Fej, but… the window’s fine too,” Leizah shrugged. “To the window!” she rallied.

            “It’s not proper to enter from the window, but… I can live with that,” Nosneb thought as they flew to the window.

            Nosneb and Leizah entered smoothly through the life-sized, colored glass windows panes. Fej’s windows used a special type of strong glass, reinforced to withstand a variety of weather and pressure. Occasionally, Dr. Engle and Dr. Lucia used those panes to serve like classroom H-boards whenever they taught Fej. Since the Sonsi’s were usually immersed with their research, they had a full-scale, operational laboratory at their residential area, complete with assistant robots. Whenever Fej wasn’t playing with the Quinoas or with his other playmates, it was almost too sure that he’d be somewhere in one of the household laboratories. This time, however, since it was four in the afternoon, Fej was bored doing his afternoon summer homework when he happened to saw Leizah coming. That woke him up from routine.

           

            “Great! You brought your pet robo too. This’ll be fun!”

            “He’s not my pet robo, Fej,” corrected Leizah, “He’s my alien cousin. Sorry. Didn’t tell you earlier.”

            “Cousin? No way!” replied Fej, as he stared back at Nosneb again. “He doesn’t look like a Quinoa to me. As far as I recall, all of you are black-haired and black-eyed. Had a DNA shift?” wondered Fej.

            “A what???” asked Nosneb, completely lost with whatever Fej was saying. In the previous edge of time where Nosneb was, elementary students never studied the word ‘DNA’. He had no clue what Fej was talking about and he hated not to know something.

            “A DNA shift means that your DNA shifts or moves towards expressing something which your DNA does not normally have towards something it now artificially has. It could also be something that your genes normally have that is turned OFF that was switched ON because of the shift,” explained Fej. “For example, when a certain amount of light hits your hair and eyes, it turns black because of the shift. Whenever light is not enough, your hair and eyes goes back to its original color.”

            “Fej, you’re talking strange again,” grunted Leizah. “Did you memorize that from Dr. Lucia’s notes?”

            “Not telling,” answered Fej. “Well, so was it a shift?”

            “It’s… uh… dyed,” Nosneb reacted in a hurry.

            “Dyed?! Didn’t think your alien cousin would be old fashioned, Leizah. Some hobby.”

            “Don’t say that.” Leizah defended. “So Fej… where’s that thing you were gonna show me?”

            “In the lab. Found it outside the house near the cave. You’d be surprised.”

            “Really? Is it pirate’s treasure! Gimme! Gimme!”

            “Nope. It’s even better… an ancient robot!”

            Fej led his friends downstairs to their lab, which, for most purposes, Fej called ‘garage’. With all the glasswares and instruments safely stowed away, the lab did look more like a garage workshop than a laboratory. Scrap metals, motor oils, gears, tires, and all sorts of mechanical tools lay around. There, Nosneb wasn’t prepared when he saw one of the smartbots he was searching for that he couldn’t speak in shock. It was Fauzco, sixth of the six smartbots his second parents gave him.

            “Here it is. I can’t get it to work yet. There’s nothing on the cosmonet about ancient robots that look like this,” complained Fej. “Maybe I’ll pry it open and study it.”

            “Nah. You won’t be able to put them back if you did. You broke too many robots,” replied Leizah.

            “I’ll do anything to get this thing to work. If only I knew how.”

            “If you showed it to Dr. Engle, I’m sure he could fix it.”

            “No way! This is my loot! No grown-ups are touching it.”

            “But… it’s pretty super useless if it doesn’t run, Fej. What do you think, cousin?”

            Nosneb, who was thinking of a way to take Fauzco, finally got his thoughts together. While he was thinking of how to say it nicely, Leizah, who was getting impatient with Nosneb’s stiff silence, was shaking the little prince hard when Fej interrupted.

            “Leizah!” said Fej as he tried to restrain her, “Stop it.”

            “But…”

            “It’s impossible for this old-fashioned cousin of yours. I bet he can’t,” said an arrogant Fej.

            “That’s an interesting bet,” said Nosneb suddenly. “If you can’t do it, how could I? I can’t possibly win against you in robots even if I tried. You’re an expert.”

            “Tell you what. I’ll give you one shot. Make it work on one try,” said Fej, still smiling over Nosneb’s praise.

            “Are you sure? What if my cousin gets it to run?”

            “He can have this robot. That’s only if he could make it work,” Fej replied, highly stressing the word ‘if’.

            “But surely…” Nosneb feigned hesitation.

            “I don’t think it’s broken. At first I thought that it’s solar powered, but the panels don’t seem to work. I also checked the circuits, and they’re fine. I don’t know what’s wrong!”

            “All right,” agreed Nosneb. “Let’s go outside while the sun’s up.”

            As Fej led the way outside, Nosneb quickly deactivated the encryption code and turned the backup power cell while they weren’t looking. Fauzco’s eyes blinked once as it looked at Nosneb, waiting for instructions.

            “Hush,” Nosneb signaled. “Wait ‘til your name is called. Do it with style.”

            They headed to some open space near the crater. Nosneb opened a compartment, revealing a compact grid that could harness solar energy. He positioned the tubular-based solar panel at an angle to gain maximum exposure from the fading sunset. Evening was about to come, but with the secret technology of this smartbot at the time, thirty minutes was enough to recharge it at 50%.

            “I already tried that,” said Fej, “and it didn’t work. I exposed it to sunlight since I found it.”

            “Patience. We wait until the sun’s down to charge it. It’ll run,” answered Nosneb confidently.

            “How can you tell? You weren’t sure earlier,” asked Leizah with great curiosity.

            “How about you name the robot? Consider it my thanks,” answered Nosneb.

            “Really? I can? Hurray!” said Leizah, beaming with excitement. “I know! Can I call it Jean?”

            “Jean it is.”

            Rising from where he stood, Nosneb walked slowly towards Fauzco, the sixth of his smartbots. “Fauzco, one of the sparkling stars that protects us, people of the Celestial Era, please grant me some courage. The fated time has arrived. Awaken, and be known as Jean to Leizah Quinoa.”

            As planned, Fauzco, the smartbot who enjoyed acting much as its young master, pretended to have just been awakened. It slowly opened its eyes and walked slowly, like toy robots did in the Celestial Era. Since this era was way past that timeline, the smartbot appeared more ancient than it had to.

            “Creatures of this time who dare call forth my name without an offering, for what reason have you awoken me from my slumber?” said Fauzco.

            “The purpose is…”

            “…to play with me! C’mon Jean! Let’s go! Let’s go!” Leizah interrupted.

            “Wait!” called Nosneb as he chased them.

            Carrying the cylinder-shaped robot with her, Leizah was happily smiling as she ran when Fej stood in her way. Fej, burning with anger, took his charged whip and aimed to hit Leizah when Nosneb pushed her out of the way. In catching the weapon with his hands, the excited atoms its motion’s path created released energy. The impact rippled through the surrounding air and the little prince fell on his knees.

To be continued on EPITAPH 0.003

EPITAPH 0.001 – Flight

by: Haziel May C. Natorilla
Volume 1: The Crystal Ephesoziel


Celestial Era, 2005.

Tinnic Moon Outpost

  “Great. We came all the way to this side of the moon just to be stuck in space quarters,” grumbled the little boy to himself.

  Seated on a one-seater office chair that resembled a racing bucket seat, he shifted impatiently from one edge to another. The carbon fiber drift seat was perfect for his father’s built, but it was too large for him. At least the complicated racing harness belts kept him in place, or so his father believed.

  “Hehe! You can’t keep me strapped in this. I’m goin’ out!”

  Somehow, the ten-year-old boy figured the varying contraption behind the chair’s harness belts. Wanting to surprise his father, he floated away to the hall, went round the circular midsection of the east wing and towards the meeting room. His excitement was cut short, naturally, by six guard smartbots that blocked his path.

  “You again?” sighed the little boy. “Araco! Balco! Coco! If you don’t go, I’m usin’ this Degrader on you three,” he teasingly threatened, still floating on mid-space.

  He was told that it wasn’t real, that it was a model toy, but you never know. His parents, talented physicists as they are, gave him unique birthday presents each year. This time it was a Degrader, to complement the bucky ball-shaped Container he got last year. The Container was quite handy, for it gathered all his unique toys in one place no matter where he’d left them. Expandable and retractable, it almost seemed like there was no limit to how far it could stretch or how small it could resize itself and anything in it.

               “Bzzzz!”

             “Please. Mercy, young master. Mercy,” recited Duco, the fourth of the six guard smartbots, in the flattest robotic tone.

           “Ezreco will tell you a secret. Please stop, young master,” bargained Fauzco, the sixth of the six guard smartbots, in a thin robotic tone.

               “A secret? This better be good, or else… pha! Pha pha pha pha pha!”

          Waving around his Degrader, the six smartbots moved in haphazard manner, as if to resemble panicking, if there was such an emotion in robots. With half of the guard smartbots twice as tall as he was, it never failed to amuse him whenever the smartbots were alarmed.

               “Rrrrnnng! Rrrrnnng! Rrrrnnng!”

               “What was that???” he asked the smartbots.

               “3D space damaged. Intruder alert,” replied Ezreco in a monotone.

               “Intruder? Araco, locate intruder.”

              “Intruder at x 3600, y 6400, z 8100. Warning. All bots must eliminate target,” Araco voiced out in a thick robotic tone.

              “What? Isn’t that…”

              “Yes, young master. Run,” answered Coco blandly in the smallest robotic tone.

            “Run,” shouted Balco in the roundest robotic tone, as the sentry robots missed Balco’s head by a centimeter.

              “Hey! Don’t leave me! W-aaaaait!” yelled the little boy as he quickly ran to catch up with the six.

  The sentry robots, in gray-and-white stripes, looked like a crossover between a tiger and a bear. Normally it would have been impossible for a child to outrun these sentry robots, but since the little boy was gliding on mid-space with his custom ATP-powered Spaceskates, he was fine. His Spaceskates’ seemed like ice skating boots, except that instead of a single thick blade that cut through ice, there were multiple layers of thin blades that cut through space as long as force was applied. His were special, somehow, because it was not the mass-produced Spaceskates that ran through limited terrain and fixed gravity. His gliding gear set allowed him to move freely in most terrains and in varying gravity. If this prototype birthday present had a setback, it was speed. The acceleration components were heavily dependent on the user’s athletic ability, or in the boy’s case, his poor athletic ability. Soon, he found himself near the southern exit of the space quarters. With a flick of the finger, his lightweight head-and-body space gear auto-equipped, preparing him for an area devoid of air.

              “Shoot! They’re gaining on me!” said the boy to the closest smartbot on sight.

            “We should head for that shelter, young master,” spoke Ezreco in that distinct monotone. “It’s the one your parents told you about before we arrived here.”

              “Okay! That’s a plan.”

              Still being chased by sentry bots, he saw that the bots suddenly stopped after a single high-pitched octave tune rang through the area outside the quarters. And then a most horrible thing happened. The Tinnic Moon Outpost space quarters exploded as the sentry bots chasing him self-destructed. It was a terrorist attack.

           

            He was safe, thanks to the six smartbots that erected a force field around him. When the moment had passed, he looked up to see what exactly happened and saw a great sea of fire in the enclosed area of the outpost.

  “NO! Dad! Mom!”

             

  He realized that the absence of Oxygen gas at where he stood saved him, for the sentry bots that self-destructed did not generate enough force or firepower to kill him then. However, the pain of losing his parents in an instant stirred something within him. A faint memory from a distant past resurfaced as he recognized the sentry bots. For the first time, he knew fear. He knew the enemy. And he remembered his fallen home, the Ephesoziel Empire.

  As the unseen enemy heavily bombarded the Tinnic Moon Outpost with a stream of wave attacks, a small surface of the moon cracked, pulling the little boy along with the rest of the six smartbots unto a distortion tunnel. Though deeply damaged from the previous explosion, Araco, Balco, Coco, Duco, Ezreco, and Fauzco surrounded the boy to protect him once more. With steadfast loyalty and unwavering strength, the smartbots accompanied their unconscious master through a tunnel’s exit - an unknown edge of time. While the little boy safely entered a new world from an exit among many exits, his smartbots ran out of energy as these activated the boy’s Container device to cushion his fall.

Cosmic Age, 5990.

Tureenar Central Park.

           “One Majella… two Lapupu… three Nekedii… four Babapor… five Tesvolpie… six Pikapsti…”

             B-b-boom!

           A little girl was playing quietly on a patch of green grass when she heard something from the north. Quickly shutting down her hologram dolls and items, her black pigtails hardly swayed as she hurried to the place where she heard the soft sound come from.

             “What’s this black bouncy squishy thingy?” said Leizah to her cute pet dog, Boka.

             “Arf arf!”

             “You think so?” smiled Leizah. “Hmm… maybe it this one???”

          Boka nudged a tiny opaque gel plate with its nose, and lo, the strange gel sphere with hexagon-shaped plates vanished. Amazed at this discovery, the nine-year-old Leizah was puzzled as she saw an unconscious two-legged creature. Poking the creature’s arms…

             “Arf???”

             “This suit looks so old. Hmm… switchy switchy,” Leizah playfully touched.

             Click! The head-and-body space gear automatically unequipped, leaving a sight that’s clearly young and human-looking. It was…

             “An alien! Um… uh… it’s not moving, Boka, now is it? You think it’s alive???”

             “Arf arf!”

             “Okay, okay,” agreed Leizah, as she placed her right ear over his chest, intently trying to listen to his heartbeat. Her head now faced his chin, but, since she was looking upward, she failed to realize that the little boy was wide awake. He stared at her for what seemed like half a minute, memorizing her features with one look. Having judged her as harmless, he finally spoke.

            “You,” said the little boy in an arrogant tone. “Get off me.”

            “Woof woof woof woof woof!” Boka barked defensively.

            “Oh!” smiled Leizah. “Good job, Boka! You woke the alien.”

            The little boy straightened himself with an air of dignity common to princes of the ancient Ephesoziel. Slowly, he stood up and looked at his surroundings without a word. In seeing that it wasn’t the Moon, he deduced it was somewhere foreign. That the smartbots were nowhere near worried him, for, should they be separated, his parents clearly instructed him to retrieve these… to never lose sight of the custom smartbots. It was imperative that he found his six guards. If anything, he possessed a strong sense of duty and love towards his second parents, his Empress mother, and the fallen Ephesoziel Empire. He has, after all, taken upon himself Myjim’s knowledge and had traveled this far to evade demise. He cannot lose. Not now. Not here.

            “You. Take me to your ruler this instant,” he demanded.

            “Ruler? You’re really an alien, aren’t you?” inquired Leizah, not the least bit daunted.

            Leizah, using a picocommunicator necklace, keyed in from the virtual keypad the seven-digit code to call Mitt, her twin brother. The green-colored gem wrapped in copper coil wires resembling an ancient atomic model masked the fact that it was more than a child’s fancy necklace. Mitt’s 3D image appeared as half of his body was projected from the necklace.

            “I found an alien at Central Park. It’s telling me to take it to our ruler. Do you know who that is?”

“Leiz! I thought I told you not to use this for fun!” Mitt said angrily.

            “I’m not lying! Come here and see for yourself!” she defensively answered.

            “I’m busy. Take it to Dad. Bye.”

           Mitt hanged up, but at least Leizah had some idea on what to do with the ‘alien’, as she called the little boy. She wondered whether the word ‘ruler’ applied to her Dad, so she stood quietly, still thinking about what her twin said when she heard police sirens.

            “Oh no! They’re coming to get you, alien! To Dad’s office!”

           “Who’s she calling an alien? Don’t I look human enough to her?” he thought. “I’ll show off a little,” he decided.

            He moved in an attempt to glide with his Spaceskates, but since his strength was fading, he quickly fell after about a meter high. Quickly taking him by the hand, Leizah whispered, “No, you can’t fly! They’ll catch you! Let’s just… um… walk! Walk away… walk away.”

            His hand was held by such a dainty one. Half of his mind wanted to let go, yet another half wanted to hold on. Ephesozen royalty can’t be touched by anyone from the opposite sex… at least in the Ephesoziel that he knew. However, he realized that it was much more dangerous to let go of his sole clue to some salvation that he chose to let go of tradition and hold on to this child.

Yes. He saw her as a child while he was a child himself, for he already inherited most of Myjim’s vast knowledge and experience. Still, while the little prince may have grown quicker than he should, he remained innocent in other areas… innocent in all other areas which Myjim locked in his heart – matters of a forgotten love, pains from a forsaken dream, and cries of a forlorn nation.

           His silence was suddenly broken when he saw that they had arrived at an enormous gate. The gate looked exactly like…

            “Ta Chia! Gate of the Eastern Ring,” murmured the little prince to himself.

            “What? You want to ring the bell too?” asked Leizah. “It’s that button… over there. See?”

            “I wasn’t talking to you,” he thought.

           Despite the little prince’s behavior, Leizah’s cheerfulness seemed oblivious of the moment. She just smiled.

            “This is the school gate’s back door, ‘kay. Well, if you won’t ring ringy, I will.”

           As soon as Leizah’s finger was millimeters away from the button, the gate opened. A young voice echoed from a distance.

            “Hey! Leizah!”

            “Fej!”

The boy was of the same age as Leizah Quinoa. Fej, firstborn of the Sonsi scientists who used to work under Leizah’s mother, Ilina Lotilcas, was a familiar playmate. After coming to play and finding the Quinoa twins gone, Fej walked back the way he came. Now, he saw Leizah and that ‘thing’ she held by the hand. Fej’s brown eyes stared deeper than his brown hair into the little prince’s clothes. Deciding that those clothes were odd, he figured that it couldn’t be human.

              “What’s that? A super robot?”

              “No! It’s an alien!”

              “No way!”

              “Yes it is!”

              “If that’s an alien, where’s its spaceship?”

              “It’s that black squishy squishy thingy that went poof when I touched it!”

          “If you’re done playing with that pet robo, come by our house. I’ll show you a rare one in the garage.”

              “Yeah yeah. Later, Fej.”

            Leizah told her ‘alien’ that they were at Saint Gabriel Hooskas, a school founded by her father’s ancestors. It has five sectors – three of which were open and two exclusive. The back gate led directly to the principal’s office.

             The walk was quick, as the tube at the entrance allowed them to enter the office without being seen by anyone else who did not know of the Tubes hidden all over Saint Gabriel. The tubes were fine, as these already existed in the time where the little prince previously lived. Still, a greater surprise fell upon his face when they entered the room. 

            “Hi Dad! I’m back!”

         “That was fast,” said the principal in his usual demeanor without looking up from doing his routine computer work.

            “Dad, do you know who our ruler is?”

            “Leizah,” lectured the principal, “go look it up in the history book.”

It was this strong, calm voice and familiar look that struck the little prince. This man was the splitting image of the former Emperor… of his Ephesozen father! The manner by which the principal appeared to ignore this little girl who held his hand up until now reminded him of how difficult it was to approach his father.

“Um, Dad… which history book is it?”

The principal’s room, with its matching chairs and working desk, was designed to have an antique look with its wooden furnishings. The word ‘book’, however, referred to digital files inside the Hazale Board series of computers. Leizah was moving her hand in mid-air as she touched through points in space when the little prince spoke.

“What nonsense. You have to put in the year when you type words on the search engine.”

“It’s hard to type with one hand,” argued Leizah.

“You could let go,” defied the little prince.

“No, I can’t! You’re goin’ somewhere far far away!”

 It’s amazing how this playful conflict of theirs went on without disturbing the principal. Or, at least it appeared that way. The principal was curious that her daughter brought a new playmate, but he wouldn’t let Leizah notice. He was more of pretending to be busy just so he could observe them some more.

 “This colony’s ruler is… um… this baldy beardy guy… Chon Kinsfer! He lives at Neleh Palace…” read Leizah.

 “What?”

 “Sir Chon lives at the Neleh Palace replica!” shouts Leizah.

             “Good. Let’s go,” said the little prince as he hurriedly tried to move back to the door.

             “Leiz,” said the principal sternly. “You go ahead. I must speak with him.”

 

            Leizah, seeing how serious her father looked at the ‘alien’ she brought, left the room quickly. As soon as she did, the principal waved his hand in a circular motion, and the room... its walls and everything in it transformed into something the little prince knew so well – the Ephesoziel Inner Throne Room.

            “Now, who might you be?”

            “Why father, it is I. The twelfth imperial prince of the Ephesoziel Empire, N---”

            “Save it.”

            “But father, I…”

           “It is best if you do not use your true name in an age you do not belong. That is the Rule of the Rule.”

          “Rule of the Rule. Yes, I remember,” answered the little prince, ashamed that in his haste, forgot about it.

         “First of all, I am not your Ephesozen father. I bear most of his memories and likeness, but I am not him. I am a citizen born of this time and age. Nebuer Quinoa.”

           Again, the principal waved his hand in the same, circular motion. The room returned to its usual state, with everything in order. This display of illusion and its sudden vanishing brought the little prince back to the reality he was in. The principal took something sealed from his drawer and carefully handed it to the little prince.

“Here. This is a protoDigiRex, a device our underground research team is working on. The device evolves based on its owner’s emotions and preferences. As a pure Ephesozen, I am confident that you can use this to its fullest. The decision to be a legendary Rexer soldier is yours though, little prince. Open it, and see for yourself,” explained Nebuer.

           

          Taking courage to unseal the package, the little prince found the device. As soon as he touched it, the device shone brightly. Its metallic luster changed from silvery to a deep black color like ebony. He knew that the dreaded Draispans may come after him in this edge of time as enemies did in his previous home. This time, he was going to fight. He was determined to protect this new land where he is.

          “Sakubgam akk as gnika sotu. Unlock.”

        The little prince transformed into one of the legendary Rexer soldiers – Black Rex. However, his fatigue undid the transformation and he fainted.

           

To be continued on EPITAPH 0.002

Prologue

by: Haziel May C. Natorilla
Volume 1: The Crystal Ephesoziel

Celestial Era, Year Unknown.
Chuay Inner Palace, Planet Orcim

QUI ORCIM, ruler of the Draispans and of a multitude of planets, looked over his vast realm with an arrogance that comes with great power. The holographic galaxial map on the room’s ceiling made relaxing in his private lavish bath a soothing experience.

            As he bathed in a mystical, viscous liquid cooled by the dark Planet’s core, he thought of her, Rhel Rha Faan, an Empress of Ephesoziel. He thought of ways to possess her, to make her his. Her Ephesozen powers were strong and desirable, but it was her beauty that Orcim found irresistible. Her soft hair danced in his mind like the wind, fluttering as though its golden gleam was made for him. Her face glimmered like the gentle sun in his heart as he recalled how perfectly those sea blue eyes complemented her graceful demeanor. Her blood red lips tempted him as he looked at it again and again. Her skin shone a flawless tone worthy of her glory, and her voice rang an impeccable melody. While she was an Empress of Ephesoziel, Orcim was told that she had yet to bear a child. Thus, the more he thought of her, the more he wanted her.

            The day was long gone, but the overwhelming sounds of marching from the Germ Troops had yet to disappear in his mind… for tomorrow was the day to attack Ephesoziel.

And that fateful day did come - the fall of Ephesoziel.

Palace Neleh Secret Passage, Planet Ephesoziel

Amidst the confusion due to the fires, the deaths, and the cries of despair from the unexpected defeat that befell their empire, there was yet someone who evaded being captured. Hidden from their enemies, the two walked silently through the dimly lit passage.

“Mejhudii, please, you must escape,” pleaded Myjim, personal guardian and attendant to the twelfth Prince of Ephesoziel. As scholarly middle-aged man with a delicate composition often did, Myjim stood firmly as he led the way.

“How dare you! You say that I must leave while my own people defend our planet? No! I will not be called a coward!”

“Forgive me, but we must go before the Empress Rhel…”

“What of my Mother?! Speak!” the little prince demanded. While the seven-year-old prince was indeed a prince of Ephesoziel, he was also the least of all the princes. Nothing was expected of him; nothing was demanded of him. Growing up in the shadow of his siblings, he longed for the day that he could prove his worth.

“The future is yours to create. You should be able to create a future for yourself, Mejhudii. So please… please escape,” begged Myjim for the last time, for his wounds ached as heavily as his heart. There, he breathed his last.

“Myjim! Myjim!!! You say that I must escape, but where to?!” the prince shouted, but to no avail.

The prince shook as he realized that he was alone. And then, as quickly as the thought came to mind, he decided to do it.

“Where you’re going, you won’t need your memories. Lend me your knowledge and let me be on my way,” declared the prince with a conviction like never before.

In the Name of Rivila, Laino, and Memfri

Sovereign Ruler of all the Realms

I call upon Thee, so hear my plea

Send Your Guardians

Protect this land of Ephesoziel

And our future

Ekat wis!

With a stroke of a hand and the concentration of the mind, the little prince broke the first Ephesoziel taboo. He took his servant’s memories and knowledge upon his own and with it, the responsibility of an empire.

“I understand. Then let me be born in a future that knows nothing of Draispans.”

And he broke the second Ephesoziel taboo.

ReXers

by Haziel May C. Natorilla

Before there were five kingdoms…

…there was one heartbeat.

One empire. Ephesoziel.

Before they fell at the hands of Draispans, the last heartbeat brought forth a wish. It was through this wish that all five warriors returned to the epic battlefield 5000 years into the future.