Altura

I sighed as I looked at the emptiness of space. A hundred years had passed since I had taken over the world as custodian, and my work was finally done. Well, not done, but at least all the many rebel groups, terrorist organizations and other irritants had been dealt with.

A game of whack a mole that took a century. But it was all done. And I could finally relax. Perhaps I would even pursue romance. But I also had nothing to do. I had tried to see the places beyond the solar system, but it was too chaotic, too powerful, and too arrogant a place for me to step into.

I took a deep breath in as Kerrin joined me on the balcony.

“Is it done, your grace?” he asked.

“Yes, Kerrin, Toràrtho Moriste, the last rebel is dead. But enough of that, tell me, how is Panni? The kids?” I asked. Kerrin had married Panni thirty years ago,, and she had given birth to five children since.

“Panni is well, your grace, and so are the children.” Kerrin said, his tone turning grave, “Aswelth though is still refusing to rejoin, your grace.”

“Well, let him. The work is done now, he can enjoy his retirement. Not that he will have much of one. Just remind him that I wasn’t the one that thought having twenty-three children was a good idea.” I said, shaking my head. Aswelth, the love struck fool, had far too many children than he could handle. In the end he had been forced into retirement just to take care of them, their children, and his great-grand children.

“So…what now?” Kerrin asked.

“I don’t know, Kerrin, I don’t know. I could accept Xerte’s invitation.The idea of a vineyard on a gas planet was interesting. But I truly don’t know. I will do something I suppose, I must, but you go. Panni is going to blow up a city if you don’t return in time for dinner.” I said, cracking a smile.

Kerrin nodded, bowing out. And I returned to sighing at the stars. A star suddenly shot out, an object entering the solar system. A cylinder of some kind, and it was sending out sound waves to boot.

I sensed it, the thing was moving well below light speed, and with minimal power. Not a threat. The sound…it was English. I had realized that the language here was not in fact English, I just knew to speak it somehow. But here was a rocket from Earth. A rocket saying:

“ Hello, we come in peace”

Was it one of the friendship missions? A new one? I couldn’t make out any markings from this far…but I also knew that I could not allow it in here. Earth was not ready to get involved in a cultivation world. No, it had its own trajectory to follow. And I had lost all claim to it long ago.

I stretched out my finger towards it, drawing a circle in the air. As it moved, space split before the rocket, taking it back to Earth’s space, sure to become a great mystery. The space was calm again.

I got up and went back into the orbital station, I would figure out what I wanted to do. But I would do it on my own time, there was no hurry after all.

Uhum.

Hello.

I am cat. The Random Cat, to be exact. The master of bad jokes and worse puns. Thank you for slogging through reading my book! Altura has taught me a lot while writing it, but it has come to an end. I am of the opinion that it has reached the point of ‘logical exhaustion’ where character development has ended and any further will just be repetitive.

I will be releasing another book, in approximately two weeks. The book will be monetized on Patreon in the usual manner (advanced chapters) but will be published for free on RR. I can’t really give you much of a sneak peek, I haven’t written it yet, but I can give you two things: the title and the MCs photograph. I hope you will give it a try.

The Glitter Mage