UNNAMED prologue
UNNAMED (first draft)
Cayleb was born on the new planet 20 cycles ago.
His people had only been on this planet for 70 cycles. The planet had no name and his family was fine with that, referring to it simply as home.
After the catastrophic end to their true home planet Verbinia, they believed a planet without a name would not be an easy target. So far they had been correct enjoying 70 cycles of peace.
His parents were the first to have a child in this new world. His name is Cayleb.
His mother, a master healer from a long lineage of feline royals and his father a general in the Protective Guard, the son of the last King, had fallen madly in love with one another upon first sight.
They were not a product of arranged love as the customs dictated. Because of his father's family's fierce loyalty to the King and his mother's pedigree, the relationship had been allowed. Many cycles later, on their true home planet however, they still waited for permission to breed. Then the wars came and invasion followed. Verbinia and most of the inhabitants were destroyed. The invading species sucked the planet dry of it resources making it uninhabitable. Fleeing ravished and destroyed Verbinia, they arrived on this small planet half a cycle later with a small fleet of 1000 survivors and few supplies.
His parents were considered an anomaly on Verbinia. But they were perfect for rulers in this strange new world. After 50 cycles on this new world, it was deemed safe to start breeding and slowly, one by one, successful births occurred. Cayleb, being the first. There was still much to learn and even more to tame on their new home planet. His parents fostered a more tolerant way of life, simply because of their own love for one another, and also the fact that many of the survivors were not in conventional mating pairs.
The Tyto, an intelligent race of owl like beings, who were trusted advisers, scientists and healers, monitored closely all the coupling pairs and births, keeping meticulous records. They allowed unmatched males to contribute their seed to females who wanted to keep their bloodline pure. Since there were many different species among the survivors the Tito helped match pairs when needed to make sure the offspring would be viable. Much was trial and error, during the early cycles and 1/4 of the population died. Unmatched carrier females that were not yet ready to settle down could provide couples with an option for offspring as well.
His people had happened upon the Goa fruit by accident during early exploration of the new planet. To his people it has long been a special and important fruit. Its skin is used in several medicinal remedies and its soft lightly sweet insides were in sections that could be easily shared. Goa seeds were harvested and roasted and sometimes replanted. None have successfully been grown outside of its natural habitat. Not even when soil was brought back to grow it in. A gift for birthing parents and served during festivities, the Goa fruit is precious, only blooming after the first solstice on the dark side of the planet. A small group of Harvesters make the hazardous journey each year. This year Cayleb hoped to join the ranks of the brave harvesters that make the dangerous trek to the other side of the planet. Cayleb was born with an adventurers spirit.
7 cycles ago Cayleb wandered far off from his parents land and happened upon the cavern. Cayleb discovered a secret deep below the forest. He coveted the place of serenity not sharing its existence with anyone.
In the depths of the black water pool something has been disturbed, awakened. It called to him revealing its location, allowing Cayleb to find the cavern. Cayleb visits in secret and then a beautiful voice started communicating with him. For seven cycles It has helped to shape and influence Cayleb. Allowing him and his people to survive in this strange new land. As Cayleb nears his 21st cycle things will change, He will change and the UNNAMED will no longer remain hidden.
Is it the soul of the planet or something else entirely? Will they have more to fear from surviving on the UNNAMED planet or the UNNAMED entity?
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