Fantacia. Chapter 11

Chapter 11
Getting the news around Titan had been put into action, speeches were made and the people of Titan listened to plans about the fight for Earth, most agreed that they would leave this moon and go back. Human colonies in their hundreds began their journeys back to Earth, the evacuation of those wishing to leave would take time, but the Humans wanted to be back on their own planet to help fight for their planet.
Kathos and his warriors left the moon quickly after making the newspaper drops; the Humans now had everything under control and would leave the same way they had got there.
They were told of Beth and her threats, so that they would be aware that their enemies could strike at any time that Beth was close by, watching.
Instructions on ‘How to kill The Vardu’ were handed out with the news, just in case any of Beth’s allies did decide to return.
Stu was befriended by Comet who had taken him to Vox to stay with his family; Comet found him fascinating and wanted to show the other Voxian people why he believed that the Human race was worth saving.
The next meeting at the Manor House had a 24 hour gap; Kathos had given everyone a day to recover from their various trips. Stu had been invited as well; he was already seen as a part of the Voxian alliance by those who had rescued him and was going to be introduced to the others at the meeting.

The next morning, everyone arrived at the house, Kathos prepared to speak to his people and heads of state; he walked to the centre of his massive lounge.
“We must discuss our next move, time is running short and we are looking at only 10 months to December 2512 in Earth years. I am happy to tell you that the colonies on Titan are now in their ships heading back to Earth.” Kathos smiled at Orion “although some scientists have decided to stay on, resealing the domes by other methods. Most of the Human’s opted to go back to Earth, now won’t that be a shock for the British PM?” Kathos said.
Orion looked content with the news smiling dreamily to himself.
“BLOOD, FIRE, WAR, HATE!” the warrior’s cry of battle was loud and clear.
Then all went quiet, but not for long. Ledawna joined her partner in the centre of the room, the warriors fell silent.
“Belial has got many allies; the Voxians from Raithar have had most of their powers taken away. Belial insists on being the stronger power, this is the way to prove loyalty to him. The Vardu appear to be very few; I believe that there are about 10,000 of them.” Ledawna said speaking softly to her people; she then turned around facing Comet and the stranger who sat beside him.”Comet may I ask, who this is?” She nodded towards Stu who had been sitting quietly in the background; he was waiting to be introduced.
Ledawna approached the stranger curiously, he thought was that this was a brave man and she could see him a long way into the future of Vox, he would be there to stay. Ledawna smiled at him, bowed and backed off.
Comet stood next to the large black leather chair Stu had been sitting on.
“I am here to introduce one of our first Human allies” he said pausing for a moment “he is called Stu to those who know him well. Please Stu will you come forward.” Comet then gestured towards him; Stu was quite tall as Humans go, but he still looked small in the land of these giants.
Stu got up to his feet a little uneasily and Raidar grumbled something in a low voice, Comet then took a step forward still gesturing to his friend to move to the middle of the room until all could see him.
“This man showed bravery, courage, he helped us spread the news of Earth, putting his life at risk to make sure everyone on Titan knew that they were able to go back home. Stu did this under the threat of being killed by Beth and her parasitic Vardu followers.” Comet said looking at Raidar.
Raidar moved towards Stu as he did, Stu stood his ground as Raidar towered over him, putting his giant face right into Stu’s.
“Dude, I have personal space issues!” Stu retorted “Back off a little!”
Stu had been told how to handle Raidar by Comet and Safire before the meeting, he stood firm and confident.
The look on Raidar’s face was terrifying, he snarled at Stu who still stood his ground, not taking his eye off the big guy for one second.
“What are you, what help can you be? “ Raidar snarled even more now “You are weak against even Vardu soldiers and we... ha-ha well even with no powers, we would be able to snap you like a twig.” Raidar growled as he began backing off, but only slightly.
“Dude, chill out, I am not weak. What if your enemies have Humans fighting on their side, will you be able to justify killing them if you are as powerful as you say... I am not your enemy!” Stu said.
Raidar looked amazed at this man’s nerve.
“I am not saying we would kill them, idiot. I am just stating a fact; I could fart and break your neck at the same time.” Raidar put his face closer again elongating his fangs.
Stu still stood his ground.
“So what Raidar, do you want the Human race to keep out of the fight? Just because we aren’t as strong as your Voxian people are?” Stu said back angry now.
Raidar was shocked, that this small man had the guts to stand up to him. He had to admire him for that.
Comet stepped up next to Stu trying to calm the argument.
“See I told you,” Comet said to Raidar “they may not have our strength, but I believe that there are many Humans who are strong willed enough to fight with us, with training would be able enough to fight for their planet if they wish to!”
Raidar turned smiling at Comet.
“Yes, I can see why you like this idiot man now.” Raidar said sitting back down in his seat “I just hope you’re right. I am willing to train this species, but it will have to be without Voxian warriors, they are too strong for the beginners at the moment, if they wish to live to fight Belial we will have to build them up, introduce them into the fight slowly.”
“Thanks my friend, I am so glad you have seen their potential.” Comet said stepping away with Stu.
All in the room began to chat freely and then Kathos called the room back to order.
“NEXT! On our agenda is...well, what is this Ledawna?” Kathos asked his wife.
Ledawna got up on her feet, her body elegantly sweeping into the middle of the room; she was not the most powerful of the warriors, she came from the psychic faction, which was one of many specialised groups within this race. She looked around the room until she spotted Sky and then began.
“Now for a journey never made before, Sky, have you finished your study of Dino logic?” Ledawna asked her.
“Yes Grandmother, I have.” Sky said.
“Okay, we are going to travel to Reptilia.” Ledawna said smiling at her great granddaughter.
There was a gasp of surprise in the room, chatting began again; they had left this species alone since the beginning of time, why were they approaching them now?
Ledawna walked around the room slowly “As we all know, we have a psychic and physical link with our pentagram stars. This means if we touch other allies, we can adapt their abilities to ours...what we want from the Reptilians is their skin, their armour.”
The warriors in the room showed displeasure at her suggestion, as if they would need more protection, the suggestion was an abomination.
Ledawna waited for the room to quieten again.
“They are descended from the Earth’s Dinosaurs and have evolved; we are hoping they are intelligent enough not to see us as prey. Hopefully they can be persuaded by Sky to ally with us in the fight.” Ledawna said.
“Ha-ha now that’s gonna be awesome!” Raidar laughed as he looked around the room at all the shocked people. “Well it is...these things were deadly in their time.”
The warriors all looked at the only person they thought would know, Stu’s shoulders shrugged, but then he began to remember some of Earths well known history, so he gave a smile as he nodded in agreement.
“Dude’s Yeah, I believe that they were one of the most deadly of the carnivore species, before the Ice Age killed them all off!” he said.
Sky stared blankly at Orion; she had no idea that she would be facing Dinosaurs. Orion just began to laugh at his sister but when she seemed a little nervous, he went to comfort her.
“Talk to Dinosaurs...Why would I want to do that?” Sky asked nervously.
“Don’t worry, we will protect you, I don’t believe you’re going there alone.” Orion said.
Kathos took hold of Sky, hugging her into his side; “You will be just fine,” he said “you are allowed to take as many of our warriors with you as you wish.”
Sky thought about this carefully, she knew that the Human race had evolved, so was sure the Reptilians would have done the same; she too had done her research well.
Even if they hadn’t evolved, she could now speak their language, also thanks to her new powers, she would be happy for a chance to see these creatures in the flesh, that’s if they didn’t try to eat her.
“It would be an honour to help Grandfather, I would like to take Rexus, Orion, Kale and Halen; they are all good strong warriors, two with the gift of speed, the other two with great strength. I would also like to take Genesis and Ledawna with their psychic ability to calm all situations.” Sky said.
“Is this all? I am sure they will be happy to go.” Kathos said turning to the younger men, they were mucking about not really listening much. They noticed Kathos looking at them, all went quiet as they started to pay attention. “Will you be happy to accompany Sky to the planet?” he asked them.
“Yeah...why not!” Halen said.
“I wish to go as well Sky.” Comet said “I may be useful in locating the species when we are on the planet. I believe it is full of jungle.”
“Okay, but we need to limit the size of our team. We don’t want them to believe this is a full blown invasion do we.” Sky said.
Kathos saw her way of thinking, how the Reptilians received people on their planet was important, if they wanted to make any relationships with the two species at all.
The Reptilians had been self reliant for a long time now.
“This is your mission Sky, you are completely in charge. I know you have studied hard since you have been here on Vox, I am very happy for you to make all the decisions about how this goes.” Kathos said.
“Thank you Grandfather, I will be proud to represent our people.” Sky said.
Kale whispered to Orion “is this going a bit over the top?”
“Mmh, have you just met her? She is over the top!” Orion whispered back.
The two men laughed and watched as Sky explained the complications that she had found, all of the Dinosaurs history that she had researched via Earth.
Most of the warriors looked on in boredom; this was to be expected after an hour of ‘carnivore’ and ‘herbivore’ talk. Although the talk of the T-rex did make them sit up and listen for a while, but only for the detail about their size and the fact that they were classed as one of the most dangerous of their species with lots of sharp teeth.

Stu’s ceremony
It was only a few days after the meeting that a surprise had been arranged for Stu. He was asked to meet Orion and Comet in the Capalian city, at the memorial square where all the Voxian power ceremonies took place.
He had no idea where this was, but he did know that like Earth, Voxians also had sat-nav systems and Stu had been given one when he had been lucky enough to buy his first car on this planet, it was in a red open top sports car. He thought it was a bit flash for him, but fast cars were the latest fashion accessory on Vox at the moment and jeeps were another. He didn’t like 4X4’s at all, so he drove the fast car and pretended it was a small family car from Earth.
Fantacia had offered to drive with Stu as it was quite a distance from the Manor Estate, Stu had gladly taken her up on the offer. It had been a long time since he had seen her. He had attended college with her on Earth for a year, as well as Orion so they both had some catching up to do.
Stu stared for a while thinking to himself, it seemed like one minute Fantacia was just his mate’s mom who had been in his law class at college, the next she is this alien warrior and one with a lot of power.
They spent time talking about life at college, how naff it was there, they spent time catching up on news, what they knew of the others who had been there with them, most information came from Stu as he had remained at the college for another two years once Fantacia had left, so he knew who else had left and where they had gone.
The drive to the city the journey seemed to go fast and the two of them had enjoyed their talk about the old times. The engine on the sports convertible hummed as the car came to a standstill, Stu stepped out of his car he could see crowds of warriors around the city square.
“So what’s this about dude? It looks like a scene from history, like an old arena?” He said.
Kathos was in a ceremonial robe as he stood at the head of the massive circle.
Stu looked around and then back at Fantacia.
“This is all for you, but only if you want it” she said.
Stu looked around as Orion and Comet came towards him, they pulled Stu to one side and sat him down.
Stu began to look very uncomfortable.
“This is the ceremony of a Voxian warrior. We all have to take part in this; it gives us our true powers. Some of us become great warriors like Orion and Raidar, others are psychics like Fantacia and others become the peacemakers and star mappers.” Comet explained.
“Comet, I don’t understand, I am not a Voxian, dude!” Stu said.
“We are aware of this my friend, we believe this will help you to enhance your potential, we are hoping that you to will be accepted on our planet as a Human, but also be allowed some of the powers of our species. Knowing your vocation here may be important and could bring out power in you that you had no idea is possible.” Comet said.
Stu smiled at his friends, he could see what they were trying to do and this was acceptance, balance, being not just a Human in a Voxian world, but being a member of the Voxian people. But did this mean giving up all that he was, Humans may not be strong according to the Voxians, but his Humanity meant a lot to him.
“What about my Human abilities?” he asked.
“You will always be a weakling Stu if that’s what you’re worried about.” Raidar said as he walked over smiling at him. “Humans are Humans at any time ceremony or not, we don’t want you to change, we want you to have more of a fighting chance and be accepted in both of our worlds. No loss of humanity, Goddess’ forbid!”
“Then it would be an honour to be a part of this ritual...” Stu’s face changed “Hey you aint gonna do weird stuff are you?” he asked looking nervous again.
“Just come on; let’s get you ready for the ceremony.” Comet said.
The crowds cheered as Stu took his place in the circle and the warrior chants called in his support, the Voxian people had liked this man and this was their way of showing him.
The ceremony went on as usual and was over quickly; Stu was given warrior status and pleased that he could now train with the Voxian warriors. His health improved instantly, it would take only days to realise that his body was bulking out; he began to eat more than ever, due to his new found health.
As the time passed Stu trained to fight, he had a great desire to hunt and kill his own food, this made him a little scared at first as it was not an inbuilt desire he had before, unlike the Voxians though Stu always cooked his food, so he soon realised that hunting wasn’t so bad, even if it all seemed a little strange.
Plans for the visit to Reptilia included him, he was proud that he had gained his new friends trust so quickly.
The Voxian people had been wonderful to him, he realised that he could stay here, he loved living with Comet and Safire for the moment but would seriously have to consider a home of his own.
Stu’s 6 foot medium frame made him look a little smaller than the others, but Drakos was smaller, so he didn’t feel that much different.
The Voxians trained him well, his hair grew longer and blonder, his features looked older, but he would still pass for a 20 year old on Earth. He still had style and spent hours styling his hair, using hair gel like it was going out of fashion, but hey, if it did he would find something else to keep his strange peacock style.
He wore the Voxian warrior uniform and was invited with Orion to get his first sword. After all, a warrior never leaves home without one.
Both of the men had been issued with white cards and had been told that Fantacia and Drakos would be taking them into the city the following day, the two new warriors would then be leaving for Reptilia the day after that.
Time was ticking by, the battle for Earth was drawing ever closer, Kale and Halen would be meeting them at Orion’s house so that they could shop together, not because they needed to go, they just wanted to. Stu was never sure whether or not to be nervous at this or happy to have such great allies.