Arious was quickly becoming a desert planet. Water, the resource by which its inhabitants survived, was depleting.
(Because of the lack of water in Arious, the moist, gill-bodied skins of its kind was failing to secrete the mucus essential for respiratory cells to function in their lungs)
Countless had died throughout the eons, and without the bountiful living water of Gelna- an oceanic planet overseen by a royal committee of elders and guarded by mind benders (beings with an inborn ability to harness the unconscious state and turn mental visions into powerful weapons), extinction was certain.
Melvik, the last of the mind benders, stood atop the tallest peak of Gelna. His adversary Xathros, the chief prophet of planet Arious, along with his fighters, emerged from the ocean depths to face Melvik on the apex of a cliff. Melvik and Xathros’ regimen awaited the setting of the third moon in the western horizon. Once the night shrouded the landscape, the onset of war was to begin.
Melvik’s mind began to drift into a deep, dreamlike trance just before the invaders positioned themselves in battle formation. In Melvik’s unconsciousness, a vision of a sword materialized. The sword was engulfed in white fire. From its point thunderclaps echoed across the sky. It was the power of the mind bender, and it meant victory for Gelna.
When darkness fell, Xathros’ men advanced. As the battlefront drew ever closer to the mind bender, a malevolence took root in the minds of the storming army- a force that evoked the might of a myriad of ruthless warriors. Intensifying as they forward their attack, the battle zone soon became silent of war cries and hailed commands. Bewildered, the legion’s front line staggered to their knees near to where Melvik rested in suspended animation just above the rock. Then, in one broad, graceful motion, Melvik’s weapon of fire slaughtered hundreds of Xathros’ entranced men. To the chief prophet, the mind bender appeared feeble after the killing, yet Melvik remained strong due to the all-powerful sword he occupied- a specter in the eyes of Xathro and the remainder of his fighters- a sword with no material substance; real only in the sanctuary of Melvin’s visions.
Once the sunrise shone over the peaks did an endless waste land become visible to Melvik and Xathros. At a close distance, both combatants eyed each other with a measure of esteem. Moments passed when the wind heralded the presence of Gelna’s royal class upon the peaks of battle. A class of human-like immortals, beings adorned in precious gems and attired in pure white gowns, drifted in air atop the rock surface between the two fighters. Due to the gallant struggle between the foes, the sovereign royalty of Gelna declared an alliance between the two worlds.
The inhabitants of Arious would be granted a generous amount of life saving water at the end of every solar orbit. In turn, Melvik was to be reunited with his fellow mind benders in resurrected vitality. Peace between the races was forever established, and both planets continued in harmonious balance forever.
END…almost, it’s a snippet still. 😉
Snippets 