DIAMONDS OF TESMARO

©written by Donitta Booker aka DtheCadeyra

Authors Note: This story is intended for an 18 year or older audience and has LGBTQIA+ attributes in certain characters. Kuro are darker versions of the elven people of folklore. This story is my very first fantasy/sci-fi novel from my own imagination. I designed the two main characters before I began to write this story. It has taken me over ten long years to create this tale and I didn’t know how this book would end when I started but now that I do, all I can say is; I wasn’t expecting it either.

Planet Name: Seken

Planet Size: Same as Earth. There are two main continents, one is shaped like a dolphin and the other is shaped like a whale, all sectioned and bordered into Kingdoms, fishing villages, mainland villages, and farming, There are various small islands that surround the two continents. The large island up north is specifically cursed, anyone who ventures there is never seen again. Lots of vegetation and wetlands in and around the coasts. Indoor plumbing and electricity exist on the planet but technology is replaced with magic.

Moons: Two

Sun: One

Lands on Seken: Marshlands, forests, grasslands, farmland, graveyards, and islands. Villages where most races live are scattered across the planet. Segregated villages.

Species that inhabit Seken: (OO-NEE-DOO)Unido – Cloud People

(CHEE-SCY)Chiisai are short, bird-like humanoid creatures with wing hands, tiny horns and opposable thumbs. They practice magic, but not all Chiisai can use magic. Most live in forested areas and farm on the main lands.

(YAH-JOO)Yajuu are beast people with various horns or antlers sizes that have an average height of seven feet, even the females of the Yajuu race are very tall. According to the Seken history archives the Yajuu were once Chiisai but were changed into monsters for their evil deeds. Not all Yajuu are bad creatures though a lot of them have been known to cause problems for the other species on the planet.

(KOO-ROW)Kuro and (HUE-MAN)humans are alike in bone structure and vital organs except for a few differences. Skin tones for humans go from pale pink to dark brown, Kuro skin tones are all the same, light blue with various lengths of pointed ears and their hair colour is silver. When a Kuro is cut, the place where they were cut turns black and it can never be erased. Humans inhabit Seken as miners, blacksmiths, janitors and bartenders and so on. Their role on the planet is small but greatly appreciated by the other races.

Animals: All are the same that inhabit Earth. There are special half-horse, half elephant magical hybrid creatures created for traveling purposes and in teams of six they can pull five-hundred times their weight. They are called Monsors. Only one can be made for one person. A team for transport still requires one Monsor to be issued to the owner and local Kingdom and High Sorcerer approval as well. These magical creatures only need water to sustain them but they need a lot of it. A bathtub or two full would satisfy them for the day. Monsorkin are special evolved versions of the regular Monsors as they grow much larger in size (at least three times), becoming more dragon-like with two extra legs growing out of their torso and they have white bat wings on their back that function as solar panels as well. They can fly endlessly during the day, even with heavy cloud cover and on a full moon night but the new moon they would have to use their reserves to fly.

Modes of transportation: Monsor harnessed carriages, Monsorkin, Boats, Horses, Camels, Donkeys, Elephants, running and walking.

Kingdom(s): Intuse is the main kingdom on Seken. There are several smaller kingdoms that work together with Intuse to keep a fair system to all. See map for further details.

Year: Wreckage Age (WA) eighty-four (Comotos’ birth year)

Chapter 1

War is known to bring chaos and death to civilizations across decades, centuries, and even millenniums. Planet Seken is no different than Earth in this matter. Since its beginning, the planet has seen many wars that have taken many lives. Though everything is peaceful now, we can never know when old hatreds will be born into new bodies. Our story begins in year ninety-four WA, Comotos Wellshur is celebrating his tenth birthday with his family; his older sister and his mother. Ten flickering flames burned brightly on top of ten medium-sized uncolored wax candles. They had been pushed into a white frosted cake that was sitting on a white plate, centered on a wooden dining table.

There was a young boy with light blue skin and short, spiky silver hair sitting in front of the cake on a chair much too big for his tiny lithe body, he was trying to extinguish the flames with his weak breath. He was unsuccessful because barely the tip of his nose was level with the cake. His older sister giggled and the boy joined her in her laughter quickly then continued to try to blow out the flames. Strange shadows danced upon the wooden walls of the tiny shack as the boy huffed and puffed. His little lungs were beginning to reach their limit and his sister noticed this. She removed a small package from her pocket and held it out towards him. He looked up at her and she smiled at him, "Happy Birthday Comotos!"

The boy returned the smile, said a quick, "Thanks!'' And took the present from her hands. As he initiated tearing off the yellow, shiny wrapping paper from the small package: his mom, who was sitting in a large sunken-in chair in the middle of the cabin, initiated speaking aloud to no one in particular. He stopped tearing at his present wrapping to watch her. His violet irises sparkled in the candlelight and moved upwards to his sister again. They gave each other a similar look though it wasn't pity they were feeling. Their mother had silently become a raving madwoman since their father was killed six years ago by a band of rogue Yajuu. Following that horrific event, she had lost her mind over time. It laid in his sister's power to take care of her.

Trosimo, his older sister, had to do all of the housework, cook the meals, and give their mom sponge baths every now and again. Sometimes they thought that she didn't recognize her own children anymore. Much to their surprise, she began screaming wildly at the top of her lungs. An ear-piercing wail made the siblings cover their pointed ears in shock. She was having a horrible vision of the future; her wonderful and well-behaved children were ruthlessly killing each other. They each had a unique weapon in their hands and they were hacking away with no mercy. When the siblings were sure their mom was done screaming they removed their hands from the ears and gave each other a scared glance. They had never heard their mother sound so horrified in their entire lives.

Not even on the day their father was killed, she had found his lifeless body near their home but she had only stepped inside of their tiny cabin, woken her children up from their slumber, and told them that they would never see their father again. The boy had snuck outside that night and found his father's body, his eyes were closed and he was half-buried in loose soil in front of the woods behind their house. He was scared for a brief moment until he understood why he would never see his beloved father again. He began to cry as he understood everything surprisingly though he was four years old at the time. He quickly finished unwrapping his present while keeping one eye on his mother. He moved his head and irises to what was now in his hands, it was a grey pendant with a three-pronged symbol in the center. There was a thick jet-black rope threaded through a hole so he could wear it around his neck, which is what he did.

There was something in the air now, something foul and hot. He gazed at his mother one last time and so did his sister, and in the next moment, he knew he would never see her again. "Trosimo... look after your brother. He is the only one you will have now..." Their mother gasped sharply and dark smoke rose up from her mouth as she exhaled. She began coughing hoarsely and then her body exploded into an inferno. Trosimo grabbed her little brother and shielded him from the oncoming firestorm that was beginning to tear through their little house. She held him as tight as she was capable of. He was terrified to see his mother burst into flames, but was even more horrified to see his sister disintegrate before his very eyes. The firestorm reached him but he woke up, startled, and dripping with cold sweat.

He tried to calm his breathing to no avail; he kept gasping and his violet irises quickly scanned all over the accommodation he was in. He was twenty-one years old today and he had rented a room at an Inn above a tavern. The sun was just beginning to rise and the light was casting weird shadows around his suite. The sky was changing from black to dark blue and light purple as the sun rose slowly across the horizon. He wiped the sweat and tears from his face as he sat up. He sighed heavily and shakily and yawned quickly, and sat there for a few moments before he moved the blankets away from his body and swung his legs off to the side of his bed. He stood up, took a step or two forward, and stretched out his naked and muscular blue body. Another yawn escaped his lips and he scratched his head through his shoulder-blade length silver hair with both hands. He removed a red band from his wrist and tied his hair into a loose ponytail then grabbed for the grey box attached to a thick black rope that was around his neck.

He never took it off after all of this time. The year is now one hundred and five. Eleven years after being rescued and taken in by Mark, the creator of the Bounty Hunters Organization. Mark was human and had trained him, as well as three other orphans, to be very agile and flexible for the first five years they were together. Those five years were basic training according to Mark. He saw potential in the Kuro boy and decided to give him more advanced training. It was a rigorous and brutal extra five years and at times he didn't think he would survive but it made him into who he is today, a very strong man mentally and physically even with his past emotional scars.

He felt his empty stomach growl with hunger as he walked to a door in his lodging. It leads to a washing room with a barrel tub near the far wall. He lifted the toilet seat, held himself over the water in the bowl, and commenced urinating loudly. He shivered and placed a hand on the wall to steady himself. After a short bath in the barrel tub, he got dressed in his dark green sleeveless jacket and black pants that were tattered at the bottom. He grabbed his grey, ribbed gauntlets and sat on the bed, pulling his brown and black boots with shiny silver buckles on his feet and tucked the bottom of his pants into his boots, shoved his arms into his flexible gauntlets, and then stood up once again. He searched in the vicinity of the chamber for any items left behind and then picked up a small brown pouch from the side desk; he shook it and heard the faint clank of coins. He let the collection of the coins fall out of the pouch into his large blue palm and he counted each piece.

Oh, how he loved money! He counted one hundred I SKMS in silver coins, which were in denominations of ten, returned six coins to the inside of the pouch, and pocketed the rest; those four coins were for the carriage ride to visit his mentor to claim another reward on his first solo bounty. He stepped towards the front door, unlocked and opened it, and stepped down the hall towards the stairs that lead to the tavern below. He can order breakfast there and luckily for him, this tavern had a free breakfast special with the price of his room. As he sat at a table in a dark corner of the tavern he thought about the frightmare he had. He had it every year on the same day, the night in advance of his birthday.

Every year it was the same dream and he would wake up in the exact same way; scared, out of breath, and dripping with sweat. Even when he lived with Mark for all of those years his nightmares still haunted him and he was never able to console the boy and tell him that everything would be alright. No matter how many times he tried to forget, he couldn't. Nothing could make him forget his mother and sister dying the way they did - in a ball of flame and ash. He closed his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose thoughtfully.

He opened them to see a dark-skinned lady, with short curly black hair in the back and longer red dreadlocks in the front dressed in an orange barmaid dress with two large stacked plates walking up to him. He removed his elbows from the bench as she placed the plates in front of him then set down a fork and knife set wrapped in a napkin that she removed from her pouch. He thanked her quickly and dug into his meal. The barmaid smiled at him then walked over to serve other patrons that were sitting at tables on the farther side of the room. She walked to the backroom after a few minutes with empty plates and cups balancing on one hand tray. As she placed the dishes into a large double sink, the door next to her swung open and a cloaked person walked in.

The figure removed its hood revealing wavy lower back length pink hair, chocolate brown skin, button nose, and bright violet irises with long dark eyelashes. When the girl with darker skin in the orange uniform smiled at her, the girl with brown skin and pink hair greeted her good friend with a curtsey. "Hey, you’re early Drusilla! That’s a good sign for your first day! Go ahead and start if you want, my shift isn't over for another ten minutes but I'll stay back here and clean up." The woman accepted and fully removed her cloak to reveal an outfit identical to her friends but in green shades. She hung up her cloak by the door and tied an apron around her waist as the girl in orange, Laina, washed the mountain of dishes in the sink. Suddenly both the women and the only cook heard a terrible sound, it sounded like it was coming from outside but it was still very close. The ground beneath their feet felt close to an earthquake.

It was shaking beneath their feet as the scream became louder and more ferocious until it suddenly stopped. The barmaids gave each other a look of utter terror and then went back to what they were doing as if nothing happened. Drusilla couldn’t forget that scream though, it was as if someone was getting their eyes burned out of their head! It was much too frightening to imagine so she shook her noggin, tried to clear her mind of such horrific thoughts, and grabbed a notepad and a pencil from an overhead compartment. She wandered out into the dining room to see if anyone needed anything. After wiping off an empty table in a dark corner with a clean, damp cloth she trudged over to the bartender and tried to strike up a conversation but being a quiet fellow he didn’t have much to say.

Comotos had finished his second plate of food by the time the barmaid left the main dining room and was rubbing his full tummy happily. He belched loudly and he grinned to himself as some patrons looked his way and stood up from his seat. He decided at that moment to get some fresh air before he would make his return trip to the Bounty Hunters Organization. The reward for his most recent bounty should have been around five hundred gold coins and he had gained extra coins not only from the bounty itself but from the ones who hired him. His employers had tried to skip town before they paid him the other half of his cut, so he tracked them down. They had tried to apologize and he would have forgiven them but they had tried to attack him with knives. He definitely didn't enjoy being threatened so he ripped them both to bloody shreds with his signature attack, large red energy claws he called, "Ripping".

He learned that technique when he was about fifteen years old, training with Mark to the point of exhaustion. Those were the beginnings of his advanced training. He was barely able to avoid being crushed to death by falling rocks because he activated his energy claws just in time to save his own life. To use them in their entirety, what he needed to do was think about cutting through what was ahead of him and they appeared. Either way, he had taken all of their money and spent most of it on his room, food, and a new money pouch. He stepped outside of the doors and strolled down the path a little ways when he suddenly heard the sky rumble with distant thunder. He looked up into the overcast sky but thought nothing of it so he shrugged it off. The thunder boomed again and it began to sound very close at that moment. There was a nagging feeling beginning in the back of his head, like what the start of a headache feels like.

He suddenly felt faint and fell to his knees. He panted for a moment then raised his crown up to the sky to take a deep breath. Instead of being pelted with rain, two blue bolts of lightning hit him. He screamed in agony as the lightning struck his face, leaving behind a trail of seared black across his eyelids down to his chin. Once the lightning vanished and the pain subsided only then did he open his eyes and touch his temple. He blinked and after a while, he felt well enough to stand up, though he was very wobbly. He put a hand against a nearby tree and steadied himself with a few more deep breaths then he returned to the tavern. He really needed to sit down.

As he re-entered the building and sat in the same seat in the same dark corner he leaned back and placed his booted feet up onto the surface, he noticed from the corner of his eye a barmaid walking up to him. She was wearing a green barmaid outfit and had pink hair from what he saw but when he actually made eye contact with her she looked frightened. He still wasn't feeling too hot so he just stared at her until she spoke, "Excuse me, sir, please take your feet off of the table, I just cleaned it." This kind of surprised him, but since he wasn't feeling well he just slid his feet off of the table and let them thump on the ground loudly. He continued to stare at her, in awe of her beauty and she winced but she held her position and stared him down until he looked away. As she spoke to him he started to feel better, "Welcome to the Zephyr Tavern and Inn, what would you like to eat or drink today?" "I’m going to wait a bit before I get a drink," he replied.

The man's voice was a medium baritone that made her insides quiver but the girl just nodded to him and swept the dirt off of the wooden surface when the front door of the tavern was suddenly slammed open. A group of loud and rowdy Yajuu men walked in and sat at a table near the door. She curtsied to him, "Certainly sir, If you need anything don't hesitate to ask for me, my name is Drusilla Almani." and with that, she sauntered over to the strangers. He gleefully watched her leave, and then set his eyes upon the Yajuu newcomers. He could tell who the leader was right away because he was wearing a red and black striped sweater and dark-coloured shorts; the others around him were dressed in greys, blacks, and browns. Something about the Yajuu leader looked familiar like he had seen him somewhere before. After a moment, it struck him like a ton of bricks. He grabbed a piece of paper in his pants pocket and scanned it and then he crumpled it into a ball with a sinister grin on his face.

The Yajuu was familiar in a sense, although he had never met him in person. His name was Tukmah and he had a bounty on his head for fifty thousand C gold and ten X platinum coins, dead or alive! The thought alone made him drool! That bright green mohawk made him seem taller than he really was, let alone with those gigantic antlers on his large head. He knew it would be tough to bring in a famous criminal but Drusilla would soon make it a lot easier to confront him at least. She was standing at their table, scribbling down the plain-clothed Yajuus’ orders. She turned towards the leader and he mumbled something, from where he was sitting he saw him grab her bum. He had been unsuccessful to swoon her because she had dropped her notepad, and was raising her fist in the air shakily. She let her fist fly downwards and she knocked the Yajuu leader's head into the table.

The thick wooden planks cracked loudly and he was plowed into the floor until only the lower half of his body was visible. "Holy shit, she's strong!" he exclaimed nervously in his mind. He was feeling much better now! He watched for a moment more until he saw his thick and medium-length tail move. He knew this wasn't settled. There would have to be a lot more "persuasion" involved to earn his reward. As if on cue he groaned and began digging himself out of the rubble as his henchmen began to fuss over him and tried to help him up. He pushed them all away and the group started to edge closer to her as he picked off bits of wood and debris off of himself. Her hands shot up to her mouth and she took a step back towards the bar. He made a fist and stood up, calculating how fast Tukmah and his men moved. He made his way over to their busted bench and before Tukmah could get any closer to her, Comotos stood in the way.

Drusilla would normally shrug off an assault like that but the Yajuu was different from the rest. She could feel a sickening, evil presence all around him and didn’t want to be anywhere near it. "Don’t be so hasty," he spoke to Tukmah directly. "I don't think this girl deserves your cruelty even if she did smack you around a bit." He turned slightly towards her and Drusilla walked backward into the bar. Her shoulders slumped down as she began to shake. "Listen, she only punched you because you were being a prick. A gentleman should know better than to rub a lady’s ass before getting to know her." Her eyes shifted to the floor, she was still shaken up from her dilemma. Tukmah looked at him. He scanned his blue face and venom-coloured irises. He could see nothing but darkness and angst behind them. He was frightened for only a moment. “Gentleman or not, that bitch has to pay! No one smacks me around and lives to tell about it, ‘ere?!” The large Yajuu planted a sharp claw on his chest and jabbed him with it a few times. He could have ripped the guy’s head off right there for even touching him. It was the bully’s way of speaking sooner than they thought not to say something idiotic.

"I can’t let you do that Tukmah," he murmured. The Yajuu's feral ears perked up, “How do you know me, eh?” Then it hit him. The Bounty Hunters for hire posters always had his picture on them in various villages. He knew he recognized that face! Even though most Bounty Hunters for hire had a neutral expression, this Kuro had a different and menacing expression on his face. As if he would walk out of the picture and claw your face off for even looking at it. “Aaaaaah, so you’re the infamous Comatas, huh? You’re no big deal, not as big as me anyway!” His men began cheering for their boss, shouting how cool he was and how he could kill anyone. He rolled his eyes and huffed a bit, “If you’ve seen the posters then learn my fucking name, it’s Comotos Wellshur! Don’t ever forget it you hairy shit cone!” Tukmah looked quite hurt but quickly began to get angry. They stared at each other and Drusilla felt a sudden duty to keep the tavern from caving in from their immense energies.

Comotos blinked because she had grabbed his left forearm. He looked back at her with a surprised look on his face, "Please, take this fight outside, I don’t want any innocent people to get hurt!" The other patrons of the tavern were staring at them with horrified expressions on their faces. He nodded at her and turned back to Tukmah as she let go of his arm. “You heard the lady, let’s take this matter outside.” He gestured his right hand towards the door to let Tukmah walk out first, followed by his henchmen, then he motioned with his head and eyes for Drusilla to go next and he walked right behind her. She felt the frigid embrace of Tukmah’s evil presence in front of her as he walked out of the door. Behind her, Comotos’ energy was burning hot and thick but there was something else. A flicker of … she didn’t know what. It was strange. How could something so small hide such a monstrous presence? Drusilla felt like she was being squished into a pancake by their immense prowess. He guided her by her shoulder to a tree away from where he would be fighting.

She gasped as she touched the trees’ bark and she realized she had been holding her breath. Comotos gave her a concerned look but then turned his attention towards the gathering Yajuu dressed in dull colours. Tukmah’s men were told to kill the Kuro or at least hurt him enough to easily kill. They seemed pretty happy about it. There are legends on Planet Seken that say when a Kuro is killed in battle; a demon in hell dies forever, but these are only legends after all. Comotos walked away from the tree and the girl towards where he planned on taking his position. He always felt the butterflies flutter in his stomach before a fight. He wasn’t feeling nervous. He just couldn’t wait to fight them all and shed their blood.