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Crystal Guardian

Arc 1: Between the Darkness and the Light

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Chapter 1: Origins

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On the planet Azleck chief scientist Zao approaches the Royal Court to make a request to king Huto supreme Ruler of the Azleck kingdom and head of the Azleck Royal Court.

Zao : " Holy heir! Supreme Leader! Honoured Father! Loved Mother! And Noble Lords!"

Huto : " The Azleck Royal Court is ready to hear your request Zao! Step forward and speak!"

Zao : " Eminence; We have nearly all the ingredients to proceed, but we need one more element to proceed"

Huto : " What is it?"

Zao : " I humbly ask for the Sceptre of Andros!"

Huto : " The Sceptre of Andros?"

With anger and surprise in his tone.

Huto : " The Sceptre of Andros was given to our ancestors by the God Andros!!"

The King is slightly angered and his face reflects this.

Huto : " It is the symbol of my Divine right to rule! The Sceptre of Andros is said to contain the power of the God Phaylon!"

Zao : " My Lord; we seek the power of the Sceptre of Andros to complete the research, and the healing power of the God Phaylon contained in the Sceptre is the key!"

Huto : " Two thousand Trilus (Solar Cycles) ago the God Andros gave this Sceptre to my ancestors!"

The king raises the Sceptre, and everyone in the room bows.

Huto : " Every king since then has held this Sceptre, has ruled with it!"

Zao : " My king! We are at war with an infinitely powerful enemy, and to counter that power we must seek the power of the Gods of Old! They have conquered a thousand worlds, and they are yet to meet a Nation they cannot defeat, but perhaps the power of the Sceptre of Andros can help us convince them to look elsewhere for their conquest"

Huto : " Our high Commander believes the Migon to be unstoppable! We've began the evacuation of Azleck”

The King moves towards Zao.

Huto : " Go! Harness the power of Phaylon in the name of Azleck!"

The King hands Zao the Sceptre of Andros.

Zao : " Praise be to the King of Azleck! May the Gods grant him strength!"

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Approximately 69370 light-years from Earth the Azleck kingdom had been at war with the Migon Federation for five Earth years, but despite the Azleck's best efforts they were losing. The Azleck's were never any kind of a match for the Migon Federation. Military analysis reports had long foretold their defeat; the Migon Federation had mastered the art of war, and their technology was dedicated to improving their war making capabilities.

For five long years the Azleck had bravely stood against impending Destruction, but time was running out, and in a matter of months the Azleck home world would fall, and with its fall all the Azleck citizens enslaved by the Migon Federation. These were insurmountable odds, the Migon Federation had only dedicated 0.06% of their war making capability to the war against the Azleck Kingdom, and their calculations were precise.

In a desperate bid for survival the Azleck research team led by chief scientist Zao were working on a project they hoped could save their people. The secret location for this project was in an uninteresting area of space, a part of the Galaxy that held no strategic value; the solar system that housed the planet Earth.

The project's purpose was the creation of an ultra fast crystal based central processing unit (CPU). The crystal was a genetically engineered living organism modelled on the brain. The hope was that with faster processing levels they could engage in high speed attack sequences and manoeuvres against the Migon Federation. The plan was for automatic target acquisition, targeting and high speed attack or engagement.

The Hyperconductive Crystal was derived from an underwater plant organism that had been altered by introducing genetic material from other plants, bacteria, viruses, archea, reptiles, mammals, birds etc. The cellular walls, nucleus membrane, nerves, synapse of the organism are formed by various formations of Crystals. It was later learned during the testing of the Crystal Plant that it was toxic to other plant material, when introduced to animals it destroyed the immune systems.

In laboratory accident some fragments of the Crystal Plant became imbedded in the skin of one of the Azleck Scientist revealing that the Azleck's highly evolved immune system could destroy all the crystal plant. Zao began to experiment with giving the Crystal Plant genetic memory in order to create a kind of DNA based operating system and memory storage system. The basic programming allowed existing computers to be linked to this new Crystal Plant based organic computer.

Before the research Team could finish the programming of the organic computer they were attacked by three Migon Federation Warships; it was as though they came out of nowhere! The Research Ship was destroyed, and debris of the ship scattering throughout the solar system. Most of the Crystal Plant was destroyed, but a fragment about the size of a human fist that had been in cased in a metallic cube survived.

The exploding ship propelled the cube on a path that would eventually lead it to Earth; it was an incident that would change the destiny of the humans by linking them with the Azleck.

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Because the metallic cube had been damaged, the metallic cube could not sustain its structural integrity on entry into the atmosphere. The metallic cube began to melt and fuse with the Crystal Plant; this caused the Crystal Plant to break apart into many fragments.

The high heat hardened and fused metallic cube particles to the Crystal Plant, but even though the outer layers had become metallic crystal, the inner core of the Crystal Plant was still fundamentally organic. The planetary entry trajectory was over the south Atlantic to south east Africa. While most of the Metallic Crystal Plant ended up in the Indian Ocean some of the Metallic Crystals hit land most destroyed by the force of the impact.

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Earth Date 1805, Southern Africa, late afternoon three brothers are taking care of their fathers cattle in the bush, guarding them from predators. They are Molefe age 9 years, Lesedi age 14 years and Ralefa age 17 years. The boys were performing what was their duty, their obligation to their family. Their Father Kanao was one of the village shaman, healer and diviner. While they were moving around checking on the cattle something fell from the sky and hit Lesedi on the chest; the force of the impact threw Lesedi to the ground.

As Lesedi cried out in pain his older brother Ralefa ran to his assistance and found Lesedi on the ground bleeding, his hands clutching his chest. Before Ralefa could ask Lesedi what had happened, Lesedi lost consciousness, then when Ralefa removed Lesedi's hands from his chest he saw what looked like a piece of rock Imbedded right at the centre of Lesedi’s chest. Believing that they had been attacked Ralefa told Molefe to run home to their father for help.

Ralefa tried using his fingers to remove the piece of rock from Lesedi's Chest but a piece of the rock splintered and lodged itself in his middle finger. Ralefa felt a stinging pain emanating from his middle finger, he saw the piece of rock, before he could remove the splintered rock the pain increased and spread from the finger up the arm to the neck and the rest of his body. Before he passed out he whispered the words Poison.

It was the Metallic Crystal Plant Fragment; it had impaled Lesedi and infected Ralefa. Ralefa was the more fortunate of the two, he had only received a small amount of the outer Metal Fused Crystal Plant, and even though it was still organic it was only reacting to those parts of his body that contained Metallic minerals. The first to be infected was the blood; the cells were infected, their DNA corrupted, changed to include some of the Metallic Crystal Plant DNA.

From the blood it spread to all other areas of the body attaching its self to all receptive cells, in a matter of hours the Transformation was complete, and all new blood cells being created contained Metallic Crystal material and DNA. The effects were much more severe on Lesedi, and because he was exposed to more of the pure organic Crystal Plant, every cell in his body would eventually be altered. The process was taking much longer than that in Ralefa.

The Metallic Crystal Plant attached to the bone on the chest was replicating into the bone changing the bone making it much denser than it was before. In both Ralefa and Lesedi the Metallic Crystal Plant was increasing their muscle density, giving them abnormal strength and speed. For Lesedi the transformation would be long and painful.

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When Ralefa woke up a day had passed, he and Lesedi had been carried to his fathers’ house, his mother was in panic, his father being one of the village healers and Diviner was communing with the ancestors, requesting their intervention in saving his sons. When the young woman entrusted with caring for Ralefa realized that he was awake she ran to inform his father. Ralefa soon found himself surrounded by many villagers who were all eager to know what had happened.

Ralefa believing that he and his brother Lesedi had been poisoned told all that had occurred from his perspective, he then enquired as to the status of Lesedi. Ralefa was told his brother Lesedi was in great peril, but he was alive, Kanao told his son Ralefa that the ancestors would give Lesedi the strength he needs to overcome the ailment that afflicted him; that Lesedi would rise to claim his destiny.

A few days later with Lesedi still in a deep sleep, Ralefa who was now completely recovered went back to the scene of the incident to see if he could use the Powerful Psionic ability inherited from his father to see the whole picture. He wanted to see if he could use the third sight to discern the past, and see what was! He stood in the spot where Lesedi laid for hours, but was unable to discern anything. The fact that he was unable to see and discern anything convinced him that what had happened to them was the doing of an evil force.

On his way home he found himself face to face with a hyena, it was big, male and hungry. Armed only with his walking stick, under normal circumstances he would not stand a chance, but something was different. There were no nearby trees for him to climb, so Ralefa realised that he would have to fight to survive. They stared at each other, then the beast moved closer in preparation for a lunge, Ralefa held his stick steady, then in a flash the hyena jumped and made a lunge for Ralefa's neck, when Ralefa reacted he noticed that he was much faster than the beast, and so with his left hand he grabbed the hyena by the neck while it was still in mid air and squeezed.

In an instant the hyena lay dead in his hand, its neck had been broken and crashed, and Ralefa’s hand was covered in its blood, and so Ralefa stood in shock with the dead hyena in hand for several minutes. A passer-by from Ralefa's village was walking home when he came upon the sight of Ralefa with a dead hyena in hand, the villager ran to the village telling anyone who would listen what he had seen.

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Ralefa arrived back at the village to stares and murmur; he was unaware that someone had seen him with the hyena. Upon arriving at his home his mother told him what by then all the villagers had heard. Ralefa told his family what had happened with the hyena, he then asked his father if this was the doing of the ancestors; had the ancestors chosen him to wield their power? But Kanao would only answer with the word "perhaps".

The next morning Ralefa and his father were summand before the village chief and the village Elders. The village Elders and the Chief wanted to know if Kanao had used magic to increase Ralefa's strength. The village chief had always been suspicious of Kanao, he was afraid that Ralefa could threaten his rule over the village. Kanao told the village Elders and the chief that he had not used magic to increase anyone’s strength.

Incidentally the village elders did not believe Ralefa's father, instead they believed that this was some kind of attempt to unseat them. Amongst the Batlokwa Tribe powerful magic and Psionic ability was commonplace, so it was not farfetched for the village elders to believe that Kanao was practicing some form of powerful magic. Ralefa being naive was unaware of the great danger his family now faced, nevertheless they would allow the will of the Great Spirit to unfold.

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It had been ten days since Lesedi and Ralefa were injured, Lesedi was still in a deep sleep, the villagers were growing restless, rumours were spreading, and some of the rumours were being spread by some village elders. A consensus was forming, the villagers were being influenced to believe that Lesedi had in-fact died but his father brought him back from the dead. They believed that to complete the revival for Lesedi a Human sacrifice would be required.

Fear and suspicion in the village spread like wildfire, before long a mob had been organized, the intent was to rid the village of Ralefa and his family. On the eleventh day the mob descended on Ralefa's family home, Ralefa had been checking on his brother Lesedi when he heard the noise in the lapa (porch), he stepped outside to discover that his father, mother and younger brother Molefe were being attacked by the mob.

As Ralefa ran to the aid of his family the mob speared Molefe and his mother while his father was vigorously trying to fight them off. One of the villagers threw a spear at Ralefa, but Ralefa caught the spear and threw it back into the crowd instantly killing two people, another man tried to knife Ralefa from behind but Ralefa heard him, hit him on the chest collapsing his ribcage, when the mob saw this they became even more enraged, throwing their spear all at once, even with his speed Ralefa could not stop them all, Kanao threw a sack in the air then hit the sack with his cane and instantly half of the mob fell asleep. However this did not stop the spears so one of the spears hit Kanao fatally wounding him.

Ralefa faced a painful and horrifying death at the hands of the unrelenting mob, but then in an act of fate Lesedi sensing the devastation outside awoke from his deep sleep, the crystal on his chest was still protruding from his chest, but it had been changed to the shape of a smooth 38mm Sphere in socket, it looked like a perfectly round eye on his chest, the Crystal was partially covered by a skin flap just like an eye lid. Lesedi stepped out of the door, the mob quickly went still, Ralefa had been injured and was hiding behind a door, he was using it as a shield holding it with the left hand while the right hand held a spear.

Lesedi looked around shocked at the horror before him, then the lid covering the crystal on his chest opened fully and a bright light emerged from the crystal, all the villagers who looked at the light felt a blinding pain in their heads and collapsed. Ralefa was somehow only mildly affected by the bright light emanating from Lesedi's Chest. The crystal was drawing energy from the nerve synapse that had formed inside the internal Hemisphere. The nerves and synapse had been enhanced to be Hyperconductive like the crystal.

With the mob now subdued Ralefa and Lesedi quickly rapped the bodies of their family members in cloth and carried them off into the bush. They walked for about ten hours then stopped to rest because Lesedi was tired, he had not eaten a full meal for days, and while he was sleeping he was only fed milk.

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At about the same time the villagers were beginning to awaken from the sleep induced by Lesedi and his father. Ralefa decided that they could no longer carry the dead bodies, the bodies would soon begin to decay because of the heat, they couldn’t burry them because the villagers would find them and desecrate the graves, so the only available option was to burn the bodies.

Upon hearing Ralefa talk about burning the bodies Lesedi began to imagine the bodies burning, then the eye lid like skin flap covering the crystal on Lesedi's Chest opened and a beam off light came out of the crystal forming a circle around the bodies, a moment later electricity flowed from the crystal burning the bodies to ashes. After this latest manifestations Lesedi felt very weak and fell to his knees.

Ralefa told Lesedi to rest while he went to look for food, so Lesedi went to the top of a nearby hill in order to keep an eye on his Brother. Ralefa did not have to go far before he came upon a herd of buffalo, he saw a large male buffalo at the edge of the herd, the bull was large and confident, and thus did not feel the need to have the protection of the herd. Ralefa's plan was to lure the bull away from the herd by forcing it to charge at him, its strength would be its undoing.

Realising how quickly he had healed from the attack by the mob, Ralefa was confident that he would be able to survive any injury the bull could cause. The bull charged as predicted, and so Ralefa ran continuously taunting the bull, making it angrier thus being blinded by its rage, he led the bull into a trap then speared it. While the bull laid there dying he approached the bull and grabbed it by the tail, and that's when he felt it; it was as though he was draining all the energy from the bull, the bulls Life-Force was leaving the bull and entering him.

The commotion attracted the herd to the scene, the herd was coming to the aid of the bull, Ralefa soon found himself surrounded by an angry herd of buffalo. Ralefa quickly grabbed the bull’s hind leg and ripped it clean off the bull’s carcass, one of the buffalos charged so Ralefa used the leg to strike the buffalo on the side of the head, the buffalo died instantly, seeing this he hit every other buffalo that charged the same way, before the herd decided to retreat twelve buffalos laid dead in front of Ralefa.

Ralefa was in no mood to give way to anything else that day; he had lost too much and would surrender nothing else, not even to a wild creature. So Ralefa carried two hind legs of buffalo to where his brother was waiting, they cooked the meat and ate. When they were finished eating Ralefa took the largest bone from the leg he had used to kill the buffalos and proclaimed that the bone would be his new weapon of choice.

To Lesedi there was something strange about Ralefa, he never seemed to be tired, he slept a maximum of four hours, when his wounds healed they left no scars and they healed at a phenomenal rate, not to mention his strength. Lesedi also felt very strong but also very heavy, he felt like his body weighed ten times what it did before. That night Ralefa told Lesedi all that had occurred while Lesedi was in a deep sleep.

Ralefa swore revenge; he swore that one day he would return to the village and punish all those who were involved in the attack on his family. The next morning they continued to journey west towards the desert, Ralefa knew that the desert would offer some protection against all those who would wish to follow them; the desert would be a natural barrier against their enemies. They walked for days stopping to rest and eat along the way.

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After about a month of travelling, they came across a man from the San tribe being harassed by two North Sotho men, Ralefa reacted to this with anger saying to Lesedi "Now they assault even the defenceless" Ralefa's anger from the attack by the mob had not subsided, he grew to dislike his own people. The San man Naxe was pleading with the two men to let him alone, but the men would not stop, so Ralefa stepped forward and said to the two men "Will your thirst for blood never seize, when will it be enough?".

The men were confused by Ralefa's statement, so they told him to get lost. Then Ralefa said “if you will not stop your prosecution of the innocent, then I will just have to stop you". One of the men tried to push Ralefa aside, but this only made Ralefa angry so Ralefa took his buffalo bone and hit the men on the elbow breaking the man's arm, seeing this the other man ran off. Naxe told Ralefa and Lesedi that the man would return with others, so they must be on their way.

Naxe took Ralefa and Lesedi to his home village; it was a small San village at the base of a rocky valley. The mountains around the village were made up of hard jagged rocks, this made them difficult to climb, but the villagers had become very adept at manoeuvring on the rocky surface. When Naxe told the villagers how Ralefa came to his rescue the villagers readily accepted and welcomed them into the village.

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Naxe had four daughters so he saw Ralefa and Lesedi as an opportunity to get his daughters married off. So without even consulting Ralefa and Lesedi, Naxe chose his two oldest daughters aged 16 and 18 for Lesedi and Ralefa. Naxe selected the 18 year old to be Ralefa’s wife, and then chose his 16 year old girl to be Lesedi’s wife. Ralefa did not mined being married off, he was just happy to be amongst people who did not want to harm him, he was happy to have someone else make the decisions. Lesedi on the other hand was just following his brother.

Being fast and strong Ralefa made a very good hunter, he picked up the san hunting techniques with ease, but Lesedi on the other hand was never a good hunter. Both Ralefa and Lesedi had learned to read from the missionaries not far from their home village amongst the Batlokwa, their father had made sure that they learn to communicate with European settlers. While exploring the nearby mountains Lesedi came across a cave. Lesedi went into the cave, when it became too dark to see the Crystal on his chest opened and provided him with a bright light source.

Lesedi noticed some rocks reflecting his light; he discovered that the stones were gemstones. Knowing the Europeans affinity for these gemstones, he decided to collect them and try to trade for other goods. Lesedi returned to the village with some of the stones, he told his brother Ralefa about his find, Ralefa thought that it would be best not to tell the rest of the San village about the gemstone, he remembered how these stones had brought Europeans to those areas that had them which led to the destruction of the nearby local communities.

So the two brothers Ralefa and Lesedi decided that they would travel as far away as possible from the San village and trade with the Europeans. They would tell the villagers that they were going to trade with animal horns, tusks and skin. While they did take these items to trade they also took some gemstones. Ralefa and Lesedi used their divination talents to see into the hearts of the Europeans, they sought out the poor and desperate amongst the Europeans, and then used them as middlemen; they traded for books, implements, seeds, food and other essentials.

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Many years passed with the brothers Ralefa and Lesedi living peacefully amongst the San as members of their village. In the cause of fifteen years Ralefa had seven children with his wife Mana, five boys and two daughters. Lesedi on the other was not as blessed, for thirteen years he had been trying to have children with no success, but when he had almost given up hope his wife Cara fell pregnant and gave birth to twin boys.

The wildlife in the area began to be depleted as other hunters from all over the land increased in number, so the San village elders decided to move their people north towards what would later be known as Botswana. Ralefa and Lesedi refused to move with the rest of the village, they knew that with the aid of their secret stash of gemstone they could survive on the land without the wildlife. A year after the San villagers had left Ralefa had a vision, in the vision the people of his fathers village were attacking another family, so Ralefa took this as a sign that the time had come to return to the village he had escaped from and punish the evil people who lived there.

Over the years both Ralefa and Lesedi had grown stronger, their talents had increased with age. Ralefa in particular had become almost invulnerable, earlier that year while they were digging for gemstones a large rock fell onto his leg but caused no damage. Again he had once hit himself on the finger with a large hammer but felt only mild discomfort. When ever his skin was punctured all he needed to do was absorb the life energy of an animal and he could heal instantly, leaving no scar.

Ralefa's Children had inherited most of his talents; they were fast, strong and could absorb energy from animals. Lesedi on the other hand was limited in his abilities, he also had incredible strength and speed, but his talents seemed more conscious than natural, all his abilities seemed to be generated through the crystal in his chest by a conscious effort. Lesedi seemed to draw his energy from both food and the sun while Ralefa seemed to for the most part only need large amounts of food.

Lesedi could generate many types of energy from the crystal in his chest , the energy was drawn from reserves in the rest of his body, once those reserves were depleted he could no longer generate these energies from the crystal on his chest, causing him to loose most of his abilities. Lesedi's two sons were also born with these transparent crystals on their chests though with no skin covering; completely exposed. Lesedi could also absorb life energy from animals, but this was painful, Lesedi however found that he could also absorb Life energy from plants. It was because the plants absorbed light energy from the sun that made the particular energy compatible with Lesedi.

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Ralefa and Lesedi left their families protected by Ralefa's eldest children and set-off on a quest for justice; they travelled by day and rested at night because of the limitations of Lesedi's capabilities. Both of them could run for kilometres at high speed without the need to rest, which allowed them to be on the outskirts of their father’s village in just a few days. Ralefa and Lesedi decided to camp at the top of a hill near the village; from there they would launch their assault on the villagers.

Ralefa had devised a plan that would ensure maximum suffering for the village's people, he would take away their livelihoods, make it impossible for them to survive, take from them what they had taken from him, their homes! Early one morning they made their move, Ralefa moved from kraal to kraal absorbing the life energy of all the village livestock, Lesedi used the crystal on his chest to absorb the life energy of all the Plants in the Village, instantly turning the entire village into a desert. Then Ralefa and Lesedi went back to the top of the hill to observe the results.

The villagers awoke to find that their entire village plant and animal life were dead, so they quickly started to cook and store all the dead chicken, sheep, goats and cattle, but this was a futile exercise, they couldn't store the meat quickly enough to stop most of the meat from rotting. Before long the entire village was covered by the smell of rotting meat, so the villager decided to burn all the rotting carcases.

In a matter of just days the food supply of the village had almost been depleted, village diviners tried to uncover the cause of this disaster but they could find no answers except that this was some kind of vengeance. Ralefa and Lesedi had used their Psionic abilities to shield themselves from the sight of the village diviners. When the villagers tried to ask for help from nearby villages they were met with scorn, the nearby villagers believed that this particular village was cursed, and that all the inhabitants were also cursed, they believed that allowing those people to enter their villages will bring ruin to them also.

None would help them, they began to feud amongst themselves for the little resources that remained, blaming each other for the tragedy that had befallen them. The village began to break apart with the inhabitants leaving for other areas; those who had been wealthy were now faced with the prospect of having to sell all their possessions and try to start anew elsewhere. With the village in ruins Ralefa and Lesedi set their sights on the village elders and the chief, they would make them pay for their crimes, with no one to protect them the time had come for atonement.

In the middle of the night Ralefa and Lesedi rounded up all the village elders, the chief, and their surviving families and locked them in three huts, then set the huts alight burning some forty people alive. Lesedi was concerned about the prospect of directly punishing the innocent, but Ralefa was adamant that those who benefit from evil are just as guilty as the evil doers, and thus should share their fate.

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Ralefa and Lesedi returned home to their wives and children. Something was different with Ralefa, having seen the full extent of their power his ambition became grater than just freedom, peace and safety. He began to believe that he could achieve more with his power. Ralefa began to believe that the power he and Lesedi wielded did not come from the ancestors; he believed that fate had chosen them to be an instrument of Change. Ralefa believed that the proof of his assertion was in his children, the fact that they had inherited his power was the final proof that the power did not come from the ancestors.

On this Ralefa and Lesedi felt differently, Lesedi believed that the power came from the ancestors, he believed that they were chosen by the ancestors to protect their people while Ralefa believed that fate had chosen them to rule the people, and through them would flow a blood line of warrior kings. Ralefa argued that they could not protect people who feared and despised them. Ralefa knew that even with his power he could not take over the lands, and that's because the numbers of people were too great.

While reading history books Ralefa realised that there was another way to acquire power comparable to that of a king; wealth! Extraordinary Wealth could give them the power to determine their own destiny. It could give them control over the world around them. It seemed that Ralefa and Lesedi had reached a compromise in their arguments about the use of their power; they began to stockpile the gemstones until they had depleted all the reachable gemstones in the mountains near their home.

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Ralefa and Lesedi then made contact with three British bankers through their middleman in order to purchase ten percent of a small British bank called Merchant and Traders Bank (MTB). Having bought a stake in this bank they then deposited all the money gained from the gemstones in the bank. That gave the bank enough money to start becoming a serious lender; all this made all the other share holders very happy with having Ralefa and Lesedi as partners even if they were Africans.

The revenue generated from the Bank afforded Ralefa and Lesedi the opportunity to educate their children in Britain. Lesedi's wife Cara became pregnant again, this was an unexpected blessing for Lesedi, and his two sons were now 19 years old. Cara was nearly 48 years old, Lesedi was 46 years old. Sadly Cara died during childbirth, but the child survived to be raised by Lesedi alone. Lesedi named the boy Peo.

Ralefa realizing that his daughters were having trouble keeping boyfriends he decided to help them find husbands. The men that were interested in Ralefa's daughters would all run for the hills once they realized that the girls had superhuman strength and speed, the men felt immediately threatened by this, they believed that the girls would eventually control and dominate them. So Ralefa appealed to his brother Lesedi.

Ralefa knew that there were only two boys in the area that would not be threatened by the abilities of his daughters; Lesedi’s twin sons. Only those with abilities comparable to those of the two girls could understand. Ralefa went to his brother Lesedi and asked Lesedi to tell his twins sons that they must take Ralefa's two girls as their wives. Ralefa then promised Lesedi that if he agrees he can have the area both families call home as his own. Lesedi agreed and thus their children were married

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Ralefa had already decided to leave that area; all the gemstones that could efficiently and secretly be mined had been mined, so the land had little value to Ralefa. Using his new found wealth Ralefa used an agricultural corporation he owned that was registered in Scotland to buy a cattle farm ninety kilometres away. The company had hired an Englishman to manage the farm, Ralefa, his sons and their wives would stay on a large house he was building on a small hill on the farm. The company manager instructed the Farm manager to never disturb Ralefa and his family.

Lesedi had also set up a company in Britain to own lands through out the British Empire. Both Ralefa and Lesedi had realized that they couldn't openly own land and property, because they were always viewed with suspicion. Europeans would not openly trade with them, Europeans regarded the Africans as inferior, but the Europeans would happily trade with an anonymous corporation. A corporation gave Ralefa and Lesedi the anonymity that allowed them to move around freely.

On the year Lesedi turned sixty he decided that he would travel the northern lands, he would explore Africa, seeking out others who were like himself, and he sought to find others in the continent that were given the talents that he and Ralefa possessed. Lesedi left his youngest son Peo under the care of his twin sons and left the valley on a journey of discovery.

Lesedi left in the year 1852, he travelled by any means available to him visiting tribe after tribe, village after village, he collected village knowledge, village legends and tribe history. After travelling for many years with no answers he heard of a legendary people that existed a long time ago in Ethiopia, the legendary people were said to possess powerful magic that could create bright light, thinking that this could be a link to the source of the Crystal on his chest Lesedi wrote to his sons and told them that he would be travelling to Ethiopia for the next phase of his journey.

When Lesedi reached Ethiopia he searched for the legend of these ancient people, Lesedi learned that the people he sought once lived in a land called Nubia, but the Nubian civilization had long since vanished. Lesedi went to the edge of what was once the Nubian territory but found no remnants of the people, knowing that the British were great collectors of knowledge Lesedi travelled to study ancient civilizations in British Libraries.

Finding no reference to crystals Lesedi wrote to his sons and told them that he would be returning home. Before Lesedi could leave he encountered an African man named Kanu who was also trying to discover his origins. Kanu was the son of an Ethiopian who served a British explorer, Kanu was 52 years old and had never set foot on Ethiopian soil, Kanu's wife was an Indian woman who fled India because she belonged to the lowest cast and was mistreated by those of higher cast status.

Lesedi told Kanu about the search he had undertaken, he told Kanu that he would soon be leaving for Africa because his journey was without success. When Kanu learned that Lesedi was a man with some wealth Kanu asked Lesedi to employ him, things were difficult in England, Kanu's family could benefit from moving to Africa. Lesedi agreed to employ Kanu and his wife as his servants, Lesedi paid for the voyage of Kanu, his wife and five children; they would travel through Russia to Asia and eventually reaching Cape Town in 3 years gaining more servants along the way.

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Lesedi arrived to a host of activity, it had been 43 years and the European settlers were at war with the British Empire. Lesedi and his companions quickly made their way to his home, and Lesedi arrived to find that his sons were uneasy about the situation in the land; they feared that war would find its way to their home. Lesedi went to see his brother Ralefa who told him that this was just another squabble for land that did not belong to the Europeans.

Ralefa was certain that the war would result in better terms for his family, Ralefa would not take sides in the war, and he would not assist any of the warring parties. Ralefa had moved most of his family to Bechuanaland to keep them safe from the conflict, Ralefa's four sons had multiple wives and with that many grandchildren for Ralefa. In time Ralefa had 90 grandchildren. Ralefa advised Lesedi to also move his family to the northern lands. Ralefa had become embolden by his wealth, he believed that the longer the war dragged on the weaker the Europeans would become, he hoped that in the aftermath of the war there might be an opportunity for him to grab power.

Ralefa believed that they were superior to both the Africans and Europeans; he believed that it was his children’s destiny to be the main power in the region. Ralefa believed that the normal Africans would never accept them, so the only option was to be the secret controller of things. Ralefa wanted his descendents to be the puppet masters of the region, to that end Ralefa was already secretly meeting with chiefs all over Southern Africa, giving the Chiefs weapons and other resources in return for their loyalty to him.

Lesedi was shocked to see how wealth and power had corrupted Ralefa, even worse Ralefa had passed on his believes to his sons and now the grandchildren would also hold the belief that they were superior to all other humans. Lesedi knew that eventually the descendents of Ralefa would view his own descendents as a threat. Lesedi knew that because of their divergent views conflict between the two bloodlines was inevitable.

Fear befell Lesedi, he knew that he would soon die and with him gone, there would be nothing stopping Ralefa's sons trying to take control of his family. Lesedi began to plan for the survival of his family; he would build a shelter, a safe haven for all of them. Near Lesedi's home on the hills forming the valley which circled Lesedi's home, at the top of the hill with the hardest rock, there; on that hill Lesedi began to dig.

Lesedi's abilities had increased with age, he was using the crystal on his chest to generate a beam of light capable of cutting through solid rock. The diameter of the whole was 2 metres. After digging for three weeks the depth reached seventeen meters, Lesedi was growing impatient; he thought that perhaps he could dig faster if he channelled more energy into the beam of light. Lesedi summoned all his energy into a beam of light that would dig deep into the mountain, the eye on his chest opened and a massive beam of light flowed from the crystal with such power that it melted the rock at the edge of the hole.

A single burst of energy that lasted 20 seconds had increased the depth of the hole by 20 meters. Then in a twist of fate Lesedi felt a sharp pain emanating from his chest, he had used too much power, some of the energy had been refracted inwards, his heart and nerves had been damaged. Lesedi had fatally wounded himself, his impatience had killed him. With only hours left to live he began to make contact with the ancestors, asking for them to clear his path.

Lesedi's Chest Crystal began to glow, the ancestors told Lesedi that not all of him would die, they told Lesedi that a portion of his spirit would be left inside the crystal; they told Lesedi that his descendents would be able to communicate with the part of his spirit in the crystal. As his final hour approached Lesedi told his sons that once he dies they must take his body and throw it into the hole he had been digging.

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When Lesedi died his sons followed his final instructions and threw his body into the hole. Then a burst of light began emanating from the bottom of the hole, the crystal was still alive, infused with Lesedi's spirit it could actualize his final wishes. The crystal absorbed all the material of Lesedi's body leaving nothing of the body, then it began to dig using bursts of energy, the depth of the hole reached 1000 meters. Absorbing Fundamental Energies increased the powers of the Crystal. Rock material from the digging process were crushed into dust which was absorbed by the crystal, this process increased the Crystal's diameter to 3 meters, thereby increasing the diameter of the hole to 4 metres.

The Crystal was producing from the rock a very hard crystal to cover the wall of the tunnel; the tunnel was vertical, smooth and very stable. At the bottom of the tunnel The Crystal created a large cave that had the shape of a Hemisphere with the flat part at the bottom. The diameter of the Hemisphere was 1500 meters. At the centre of the cavity the Crystal had created a 300 meter high pyramid made of the same hard and dense Crystal, at the top of the pyramid the Crystal placed itself in a cavity it had created.

The main Hemisphere was surrounded by 12 smaller Hemispheres each of diameter 650 meters with tunnels connecting them to the primary Hemisphere. The 12 Hemispheres were called the first level of Hemispheres. The positions of the tunnels connecting the smaller Hemispheres to the primary Hemisphere were such that they resembled the hours of a clock. Adjacent smaller Hemispheres were also connected by a tunnel. At the apex of each of the smaller Hemispheres there was a 0.5 metre Diameter Crystal sphere attached to the ceiling, this would serve as a light source illuminating the Hemisphere.

All illuminating crystals would draw their energy from the main crystal on the pyramid. In the main Hemisphere next to the pyramid was a 200 metre high, 50 story cone shaped building. This building would serve as the primary residence of the inhabitants; it was fully equipped with indoor pluming which connected to one of the smaller Hemispheres which contained water storage and purification systems. The cone shaped building had been divided into 10 room apartments with a single exit.

At the top of the tunnel the entrance became covered by a black, hard and dense crystal, the crystal covered the entire peak of the hill. Lesedi's sons thought that this was merely a tomb for their father, but it was much more than that, it was a sanctuary for them. It had been months since Lesedi died, the hill where his body had entombed itself had been rumbling since they threw his body into the hole, then the hill went silent, and the rumbling stopped.

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