THE NOTHING THAT AWAITS EVERYTHING
Before everything, there was nothing.
But it wasn't an empty place.
It was a being. An infinite consciousness, dark, hungry. The Nothing is not evil in the way mortals understand evil. It predates good and evil. It simply exists. And its nature is to absorb, dissolve, return everything to its origin.
The Nothing does not hate. It does not love. It does not plan. It simply IS.
And its nature is as simple as it is terrifying: everything that exists, someday wants to return to it. Universes are bubbles in its ocean. And it, patiently, waits for them to burst.
Mortals, in their nightmares, sometimes feel its presence. That feeling of emptiness in the chest. That nameless fear that comes in the early morning, when there are no sounds, no distractions. That is the Nothing, calling them. Reminding them where they came from. And where they will return.
From the Nothing, for reasons no one understands, not even the most ancient beings... Zeno Sama was born.
--
**THE FIRST BREATH**
Zeno Sama created the multiverse like a craftsman creates a sculpture.
First, he separated existence from the Nothing. Like separating water from oil. It was an act so violent and so beautiful that the void itself trembled.
From that separation, the 18 main universes were born. And after them, thousands of alternate universes. Parallel realities. Minor dimensions. Bubbles of existence floating in the infinite ocean of the Nothing.
And Zeno Sama, the first to exist, he who was born from the Nothing without being called, became the King of Everything.
Because there was no one else.
Because he was alone.
--
**THE FIRST CHILDREN**
Eons passed. There is no measure. Time as we know it did not exist.
But in that nameless eternity, the first conscious beings emerged.
The Angels were born from Zeno's first breath. Creatures of pure energy. Perfect. Wise. They have no flesh. They have no blood. Only light and purpose. When they cross space, they leave no trail. When they speak, the universe listens. But they never laugh. They never cry. They are perfect. And perfection, Zeno later thought, was their only imperfection.
Each universe has its assigned angel. They are the assistants, the advisors, those who see everything. Their only mission is to observe and teach. That is why they are the perfect companions for the Gods of Destruction, who are all emotion, all instinct, all chaos.
It is said that the first angel, the Grand Priest, was created by Zeno to remind him that he was not alone. The other angels were born later, each assigned to a universe, each with the same task: to watch over the gods and, if necessary, replace them.
The Titans emerged afterwards. Beings of immense power. Created to protect. Each titan guards two entire universes. They are the guardians, those who face the Nothing when it threatens.
Titans are not like angels. They are not perfect. They are not cold. They are passionate, warriors, natural protectors. Each titan chooses their two universes and defends them fiercely. It is said that a titan can feel when one of their universes is in danger, even from the other side of the Nothing.
That's why the traitors were so dangerous. When the titans were corrupted, their protective instinct twisted. Instead of defending, they began to hunt. And there was no better hunter than those who knew all the defenses.
And the Gods of Destruction. The most important ones. Each one IS their universe.
They are omnipresent: they are in every particle of their territory. They are omnipotent: they have absolute power within their universe. They are immovable: their consciousness is the universe itself. They do not have a physical body like mortals, although they can project a form to communicate.
When a God of Destruction walks among mortals, they are only lending a piece of themselves. Like someone dipping a finger into a puddle. The rest of them remains the ocean.
--
**ZENO'S GIFT**
Zeno, in his wisdom, knew that the gods would have to fight. And he knew that if two gods fought inside a universe, that universe would die.
That's why he created an absolute rule. A shield for mortals.
When two divine beings fight, 99 percent of the collateral damage is automatically deflected to the Nothing. Only 1 percent affects the physical plane.
Mortals don't know this. When they see two gods fight, they think they see the end of the world. Mountains exploding. Huge craters. The sky burning.
What they don't see is the 99 percent of the energy destroying the Nothing on another plane.
That is Zeno's Gift. The only reason mortals can exist while gods fight.
--
**THE ETERNAL ENEMY**
But the Nothing did not disappear. It's always there, outside, waiting.
And sometimes... it gets in.
When the Nothing manages to seep into a universe, it doesn't destroy directly. It's subtler. More perverse.
It amplifies evil from its smallest form, an ant attacking without reason, to its most colossal, an emperor enslaving worlds. The more evil there is in a universe, the more it becomes infected. It's a vicious cycle. A cancer that starts in one soul and ends up rotting entire galaxies.
The universe begins to die from within.
When a planet or a galaxy is too infected, the God of Destruction must act. They cannot save the inhabitants. They cannot cure the infection.
They can only destroy.
In a single blow. A light. And everything disappears.
Mortals do not suffer. They only see a white light. And then... nothing.
It is the most merciful and most terrible act of a God.
--
**THE SERVANTS OF LIGHT**
To help them in this task, the Gods of Destruction created servants.
They did not create them from nothing. They chose them from among the most good, kind, and wise mortals of each era.
Beings of pure heart. Noble souls. Men and women who had lived a thousand lives and in all of them had chosen good.
To each one, the God offered the same deal:
"Serve me for one million years. Watch over the galaxies. Maintain balance. Use my power to create life and planets. And at the end... you will sleep forever. An eternal sleep, without pain, without regret. That is my gift to you."
Thus the Supreme Kai's were born.
At the top of the hierarchy, the Supreme Kai's care for entire galaxies, or thousands of galaxies. There are tens of thousands of them.
Below them are the Kai's, who care for smaller sectors.
And at the base, the Kaios, in charge of individual planets. There are millions of them.
But they all share a sacred rule: they are forbidden from interfering with mortal life. If they must do so, they cannot reveal the truth of the universe. They can only use 0.8 percent of their power. And they must appear as miracles or coincidences, never divine intervention.
Because mortals must believe they are free.
Even though they aren't.
--
**THE 80 MILLION YEAR WAR**
And then... the war came.
Ten angels and five titans were corrupted.
They saw Zeno Sama on his throne and wanted his power. They discovered that if they killed the Gods of Destruction and absorbed their essence, they could become strong enough to challenge the King.
The betrayal was silent. They didn't attack head-on. They waited. They planned. They poisoned others.
The Nothing touched them. Whispered to them. Promised them power. And they, blinded by ambition, listened.
And when they were ready... they struck.
The 80 Million Year War began.
It wasn't a battle. It was a war. Eighty million years of combat in the Nothing. Outside time. Outside space. Only fighting. Only death. Only the void being stained with divine blood.
The traitors systematically killed the loyal angels. They killed the loyal titans. They killed the Gods of Destruction, one by one.
Of 18 Universe Gods, only 4 survived.
--
**THE LAST FOUR**
Carin of Universe 8.
Frya of Universe 7, wife of Carin.
Dum of Universe 15.
Worgrey of Universe 16.
Frya and Carin loved each other as few gods have ever loved. It wasn't mortal, passing love. It was cosmic love. When Carin laughed, Universe 8 shone brighter. When Frya sang, Universe 7 vibrated with her. Their voices intertwined in the void and created new stars.
They spent millions of years together. They saw countless races born. They saw just as many die. But they were always there for each other.
Until the war separated them.
--
**CARIN'S LAST BREATH**
Carin was among the first to fall.
He didn't die in battle. He died protecting Frya. He took the blow meant for her. His body, which was Universe 8, began to unravel.
Frya held him in her arms as his light faded.
"No..." she whispered. "Don't go. I can't... I can't without you."
Carin smiled. That smile that had illuminated entire galaxies.
"You will always be within me," he said. "In every star you create. In every life you protect. In every night you look at the sky and remember..."
His voice faded. His body became light. The light became dust. The dust scattered across Universe 8.
And Universe 8 began to die.
Frya remained alone, floating in the void, her arms still outstretched, embracing nothing.
Universe 7 wept with her. The stars went out for an instant.
The other two, Dum and Worgrey, managed to escape together. And to this day, they continue fighting in the Nothing, waiting for a miracle.
Frya was left alone.
The weakest. The saddest. She who lost her husband.
And the traitors pursued her for 7 million years.
--
**THOSE WHO SOLD THEIR SOULS**
Among the traitors pursuing her, there were three who had been her closest friends.
Gamenor. He was the angel of Universe 8. Carin's advisor. The couple's intimate friend. He shared millions of years with them. He danced at their wedding. He wept when the first races of their universes were born.
Nurmel. She was the angel of Universe 7. Frya's advisor. Her right hand. Her confidante. The one closest to her. The one who dried her tears when Carin was away.
Kroms. He was the titan in charge of universes 7 and 8. The protector. He who swore to defend Frya and Carin with his life. He who had sworn to die for them.
All three were corrupted. All three participated in her death.
The other twelve traitors, eight angels and four titans, keep Dum and Worgrey busy in the Nothing. They cannot help Frya. Not yet.
--
**THE TEN MILLION YEAR RULE**
When a God of Destruction dies, their body, which is the universe, begins to die slowly.
It takes 10 million years to completely fade away.
During that time, the universe exists in agony. Stars are born less frequently. Light travels slower. Life becomes more fragile.
Carin had died. His universe, 8, began to die.
Frya still lived. Her universe, 7, remained alive.
But the traitors would not stop until they finished what they started.
--
**THE MOTHER WHO DIED SMILING**
Five million years ago, the traitors found Frya.
She fought alone. She wounded several. But there were too many.
Gamenor, Nurmel, and Kroms were there. The three who had been her friends.
Frya, wounded, exhausted, floating in the Nothing with her body half undone, looked at them.
"Gamenor..." her voice sounded tired, but not defeated. "You were at my wedding. You saw Carin take my hand. Remember? You danced with us."
Gamenor looked away. Only for an instant.
"That was millions of years ago."
"To me, it was yesterday."
Nurmel stepped forward.
"Don't drag this out, Frya. It's over."
"Nurmel..." Frya smiled. "You dried my tears when Carin traveled. You called me 'sister.' Do you remember?"
Nurmel clenched her fists. She didn't answer.
Kroms, the titan, the protector, he who had sworn to die for them, lowered his gaze.
"Kroms," Frya said. "You promised to defend us. You promised..."
"I know," Kroms' voice was hoarse, broken. "I know."
"Then?"
Gamenor answered for all of them:
"Because you were weak. Because we deserved more. Because Zeno must fall."
Frya looked at them one by one. Then she smiled. A sad, but serene smile. A smile that contained 80 million years of life, 50 million years of love, and 5 million years of pain.
"I forgive you," she said. "But your children will not."
And in her last seconds of life, Frya did something no God had ever done before.
Creating life is not something a God of Destruction can do. Their nature is to destroy, not to create. But Frya, in that final moment, ceased to be a goddess. She became a mother.
She concentrated all the energy she had left. All her essence. All her love. Everything she had learned in 80 million years. Everything she had felt in 50 million years with Carin. Everything she had suffered in 5 million years alone.
And she began to create.
Four eggs floated before her.
Each egg received a part of her soul. The red one received her passion. The purple one received her serenity. The yellow one received her joy. The golden one received her hope.
"Ozari..." she whispered, looking at the red egg. "Bills..." the purple one. "Champa..." the yellow one. "Shenlong..." the golden one.
The four eggs shone with their own light.
"Forgive me that I cannot be with you," she said. "But I trust that someday... you will find me. You will grow. You will fight. You will lose. You will win. And someday... you will understand everything."
She looked at the traitors. Gamenor, Nurmel, and Kroms watched her in silence. No one moved.
"Thank you," Frya said. "Thank you for giving me time."
And then, her body began to dissolve.
First her fingers. Then her hands. Then her arms. It didn't hurt. It was like becoming light. Like becoming a memory.
She looked at the eggs one last time.
"I love you," she whispered.
And Frya was just an echo. A sigh. An "I love you" that no one heard.
But the eggs kept floating.
Waiting.
Dreaming.
Not knowing they had just been orphaned.
--
**THE AGONY OF TWO UNIVERSES**
From that day on, Universe 7 and Universe 8 began to die.
They need ten million years to fade completely. Five had passed. Five remained.
Galaxies are slowly going dark. Stars stop being born. Darkness grows.
The Supreme Kai's, Frya's servants, upon their goddess's death, stopped receiving divine energy. To maintain life in the galaxies, they began using their own energy.
For five million years, one by one, they have been dying.
The Supreme Kai's who still live today are shadows of what they were. Their bodies, consumed by five million years of agony, barely hold together. But they do not give up.
Every day, one of them dies. Their body mummifies where it stands, in their temple, in their galaxy. And the others continue. Because Frya chose them. Because Frya trusted them. And because they know that Frya's children, somewhere in the universe, are growing.
And as long as they live, hope lives.
Today, out of tens of thousands, only a few hundred remain.
The rest are dead. Mummified in their temples. Silent witnesses to a battle no one remembers.
Mortals, meanwhile, know nothing.
Quintillions of lives in both universes. They don't live even a hundred thousand years. They cannot see how the galaxies are fading. They are too slow. For them, the universe was always like this. Cold. Dark. With dying stars.
They don't know there used to be more.
--
**THOSE WHO STILL FIGHT**
But there is still hope.
Dum and Worgrey, the two surviving gods, continue fighting in the Nothing against the other twelve traitors, eight angels and four titans.
They have been at continuous war for five million years. It's not a non-stop battle, it's a war of attrition. Sometimes they fight. Sometimes they hide. Sometimes they flee.
But they always survive.
They are exhausted. Wounded. But they wait.
They wait for a miracle.
And that miracle... is Frya's children.
--
**THE TRAITORS WAIT**
Gamenor, Nurmel, and Kroms haven't died either.
They are still alive. They watch from the shadows.
Their plan is simple: wait. Wait for universes 7 and 8 to die completely. In the last million years, when the agony is final, they will return. They will absorb all the energy of the universes' death. And with that power... they will attack Zeno Sama.
They knew Frya's eggs had hatched. They knew there were four children with her essence.
But they didn't intervene. Not yet.
"Let them grow," Gamenor said, watching from the Nothing. "Let them have hope. Let them love. Let them dream. When they are strong... when they are happy... we will kill them. And their power will be ours."
Nurmel smiled.
"What beautiful cruelty."
Kroms said nothing. But his fists trembled.
--
**THE SEVEN LIGHTS**
But there is something more.
Before the war began, Zeno Sama created a gift for the universes.
The 7 Divine Balls.
They are not like mortal Dragon Balls. They are small, the size of a marble. Golden, with their own light. Scattered across all universes.
Whoever gathers the 7 Divine Balls and activates them with pure divine energy can wish for anything. Without limits. Without restrictions.
Even revive a God of Destruction.
Even kill Zeno Sama.
Even reset the multiverse.
The traitors know about the balls. They want to find them. That's why they have sent emissaries to search for them.
But Frya's children will also have to find them.
Because the balls are their only hope.
--
**FIVE MILLION YEARS LATER**
Frya's four eggs floated in the void for five million years.
Waiting. Dreaming. Growing slowly.
Sometimes, in the darkness of the Nothing, the eggs glowed. As if Frya, from wherever she was, sang them a lullaby.
And then, less than a hundred years ago... they hatched.
--
**OZARI, SHE OF THE RED HAIR**
The first egg fell in the Wukon Empire.
The Wukons are a warrior race. They all have tails. Long, short, thick, thin. Each one moves with its own life, like a second being.
Every wukon has a different hair color, unique, unrepeatable. It's their identity. Their signature. No two are alike.
Their base power is their energy. And they have two phases of transformation.
The first phase, called Glow, makes their hair shine more intensely, multiplying their power. A wukon in Glow phase can increase their strength x2, x3, up to x5.
The second phase, called Saya Phase, is the supreme transformation. The body becomes covered in fur, like the ancient warriors, but the hair retains its original color. Only one in thousands of wukons can achieve it. It is a gift. A curse. A blessing. It depends on who's looking.
Ozari was born in a wukon tribe. She had adoptive parents, siblings. She grew up like any other girl.
But she was always different.
Her hair was fiery red. Extremely rare among wukons, but they kept it common red. A wukon with fiery red hair hadn't been born in millennia. It is said that those with red hair are special. Chosen. Destined for something great. Or something tragic. You never know.
She had an incredible talent for fighting. She kept a red palette, the only memory of her adoptive mother.
And without knowing it, she had already achieved the Saya Phase. Her body could become covered in fur, her power multiplied, and her red hair shone like fire.
But she didn't know why. She only knew she was different. And that made her feel alone.
At night, she looked at the stars and felt that someone was calling her. She didn't know who. She didn't know why. But something inside her told her she wasn't complete.
The red palette she kept was her only comfort. She had had it for as long as she could remember. She didn't know where it came from. But when she held it, she felt warmth. She felt... home.
One day, exploring some ancient ruins, she found something shining among the rocks. A tiny, golden egg that emitted a gentle warmth. She put it in her backpack, next to her red palette.
She didn't know what it was. But it kept her company.
--
**BILLS, THE LONELY ONE**
The second egg floated in Universe 7, already dead.
A lonely baby, floating among the debris of dead galaxies. He learned alone how to survive. How to find food on abandoned planets. How to move through space without ships. How to defend himself from space creatures.
Bills learned very early that the universe gives nothing away for free. If he wanted to eat, he had to hunt. If he wanted to live, he had to fight. If he wanted to move forward, he had to harden himself.
But at night, floating in the void, he wondered: what for? Why survive if in the end he was alone?
Sometimes, without meaning to, he destroyed things. An asteroid. A moon. An abandoned planet. It wasn't rage. It was emptiness. As if something inside him needed to break the silence.
He dreamed of a voice. A woman's voice, soft, telling him: "You are not alone, Bills. Someday you will understand." And he would wake up with tears he didn't remember crying.
He was of a feline race. Without a tail. Without phases. His power was natural, part of him.
He always felt that something was missing. An emptiness he couldn't fill.
He was serious, elegant. And he had an instinct for destruction that sometimes scared him.
His name was Bills.
--
**CHAMPA, THE HUNGRY ONE**
The third egg floated in Universe 8, dying.
A chubby, grumpy baby, always hungry. He learned alone how to survive, just like Bills, but with more complaining. His hunger was insatiable.
Champa didn't remember a day without hunger. It wasn't just food. It was... something else. Something he couldn't name.
He traveled from planet to planet, trying everything he found. Fruits, meats, rocks (yes, rocks, some were edible). But nothing filled that void.
When he discovered power, it was by accident. He wanted to heat up a piece of frozen meat. He concentrated his energy and... boom! The meat flew through the air. And Champa, instead of getting angry, laughed. For the first time in a long time, he laughed.
He decided that power would be his technique. Not for fighting. For cooking. Although, come to think of it, it also worked for escaping the owners of the food he stole.
He was of a feline race. Without a tail. Without phases. His power was natural, part of him.
He always felt that something was missing. But since he was hungry all the time, he assumed that was it.
He was gluttonous, comical, grumpy. But he had a huge heart.
His name was Champa.
--
**THE ENCOUNTER**
One day, in the vastness of space, Bills and Champa met.
There was no grand ceremony. They simply... were there. Two lonely children, floating in the darkness.
Bills was sitting on an asteroid, staring at nothing. Champa flew by, chasing a food ship he had tried to rob.
They collided.
"Hey!" Champa shouted. "Watch where you're going!"
"You crashed into me," Bills replied, emotionless.
Champa looked at him. Something about that serious feline seemed familiar.
"Do you also feel like something's missing?" Bills asked, suddenly.
Champa blinked.
"How do you know?"
"Because I see it in your eyes."
Champa sat down next to him on the asteroid.
"I think it's hunger," he said. "It's always hunger."
Bills almost smiled.
"No. It's something else. Like a void."
"Well," Champa said, "while we figure out what it is, want to travel with me? I know some planets with good food."
Bills looked at him. For the first time in his life, someone offered him company.
"Okay."
And so, without further ceremony, Bills and Champa began traveling together.
--
**THE HAPPY YEARS**
They roamed solar systems. They visited abandoned planets. They got into trouble. They pulled pranks.
On one planet, Champa stole a farmer's entire harvest and Bills, to cover for him, accidentally destroyed the barn. They had to flee in a stolen ship.
On another, they posed as interstellar inspectors and ate for free at a banquet for three days. When they were discovered, Bills used his destructive instinct to blast a hole in the wall and escape.
On an icy moon, Champa tried to fish for underwater creatures and ended up being chased by a sea monster. Bills rescued him, but not before laughing at him for hours.
"It's not funny!" Champa shouted as they fled.
"It's a little funny," Bills replied.
Champa stole food. Bills covered for him. They chased each other. They laughed.
For the first time in their lives, they weren't alone.
Little by little, without realizing it, they were becoming something more than travel companions. They were brothers. Although neither knew it yet.
Without knowing it, what they lacked was her. Their mother. Their love. Their warmth. But in each other, they had found an echo of that. And for now, it was enough.
--
**THE WUKON EMPIRE**
One day, their travels brought them to the Wukon Empire.
It was a huge planet, covered in floating cities and temples carved into mountains. Ships came and went. Markets bustled with activity. And everywhere, warriors trained.
"It smells good here," Champa said, sniffing the air. "Food. Lots of food."
"It smells like danger," Bills replied, observing the wukons with their tails and colorful hair.
"Yeah, but also food."
They walked through the streets, attracting attention. Two felines on a planet of warriors with tails didn't go unnoticed. But Bills walked with such confidence, and Champa smelled so interested in the local food, that no one dared bother them.
They roamed markets, temples, floating streets. Champa tried everything. Bills observed everything.
The wukons, for their part, looked at them with curiosity. Some pointed at their absent tails. Others at their feline ears. But no one confronted them.
In a square, they saw a group of wukons training. Their hair shone in different colors: blue, green, orange, pink.
"Look at those colors," Champa said. "They look like flowers."
"Flowers that can kill you," Bills replied, pointing to how a blue-haired wukon split a giant rock with a single blow.
An elderly wukon, sitting nearby, watched them with interest.
"Travelers?" he asked.
"Something like that," Bills replied.
"Interested in our race?"
"Interested in your food," Champa replied.
The old man laughed.
"We wukons are warriors. From birth, we train. Our power lies in our energy. And in our phases."
"Phases?" Bills asked.
The old man pointed at the warriors.
"The first is called Glow. The hair shines more intensely. It multiplies power. A good warrior can increase x2, x3, up to x5."
At that moment, one of the wukons activated his Glow. His blue hair began to radiate light, as if made of stars.
"Impressive," Champa whispered.
"But there is a second phase," the old man continued. "The Saya Phase. The body becomes covered in fur, like the ancient beasts. Power multiplies enormously. x50. x100. But the hair... the hair retains its original color."
"And many achieve it?" Bills asked.
The old man shook his head.
"One in thousands. It is a gift. A curse. A blessing. It depends on each individual."
Bills observed the wukons with new eyes. So many colors. So much energy. So much discipline.
"Each hair is unique," the old man explained, as if reading his thoughts. "There are no two wukons with the same hair pattern. It is our identity. Our signature. When someone achieves the Saya Phase, their hair shines with its true color. It is the most sacred moment of their life."
"And what about those with fiery red hair?" Bills asked, remembering a girl he had seen earlier.
The old man fell silent.
"Those with fiery red hair... are special. Very special. A wukon with fiery red hair hasn't been born in millennia, only red. They say they are the chosen ones. Those destined for something great. Or something tragic. You never know."
Bills and Champa looked at each other.
They didn't know that that red-haired girl, at that very moment, was about to change their lives forever.
--
**THE THEFT**
They kept walking, and that's when Champa smelled it.
A different smell. Sweet. Warm. Like nothing he had ever smelled before.
"Bills," he whispered. "That smell... we have to follow it."
"Champa, no..."
But Champa had already disappeared into the crowd.
He followed the smell to a red-haired girl walking with a backpack. Inside the backpack, something shone. A golden egg. And it smelled... Champa didn't know of what, but he needed to taste it.
With feline agility, he approached the girl, reached into her backpack, and pulled out the golden egg.
"What the...?" Ozari started to say.
But Champa was already running.
"Thief! Give that back!" Ozari shouted, chasing him.
Bills, seeing the chaos, sighed and ran after them.
The chase ran through cobbled streets, markets, squares. Ozari didn't give up. Champa wouldn't let go of the egg. Bills tried to catch up without really knowing why.
They left the city. They crossed mountains. They reached outer space.
And the chase continued among asteroids and stars.
Until they reached a moon.
--
**THE FIRST MEETING**
On the gray surface of the moon, Bills, Champa, and Ozari faced each other.
They didn't know why they were fighting. They didn't know who the other was. They only knew they needed to fight.
Bills attacked with seriousness, with that instinct for destruction that sometimes scared him. Champa responded with his power, with hunger, with laughter. Ozari, with her flaming red hair, faced them both.
Punches. Beams. Energy.
The moon trembled. The ground split. Entire rocks flew into the air.
And in the middle of the fight... they smiled.
"Why... am I happy?" Bills asked, dodging a blow from Ozari.
"I don't know!" Champa replied, firing an energy blast. "But I'm hungry!"
Ozari, from a nearby crater, shouted:
"Will you give me back my egg?"
But it was too late.
The fight had alerted the soldiers of the Wukon Empire.
--
**THE ESCAPE**
Warships appeared on the horizon. Wukon soldiers in space suits, in formation, surrounded the moon. Their hair shone in Glow phase, ready for combat.
"Halt!" shouted a commander. "You are under arrest for disturbing the peace and damaging interstellar property!"
"Property?" Champa said. "This is a moon! It doesn't belong to anyone!"
"It belongs to us," the commander replied. "Hands down."
The commander and the others wondered how three children were so powerful and could live in space and talk without suits.
Bills and Champa looked at each other.
"Run?" Champa asked.
"Run," Bills replied.
And the two, with Ozari behind them (still wanting her egg), shot off.
The wukon ships chased them across the solar system. Laser beams. Missiles. Shouts.
But Bills and Champa were fast. Very fast.
They dodged. They zigzagged. They lost the wukons in an asteroid field.
And finally, exhausted, they arrived at a small, uninhabited planet on the edge of the galaxy.
--
**THE GOLDEN BROTHER**
They landed on the planet's surface, panting.
"Do you think they'll follow us?" Champa asked.
"I don't know," Bills replied. "But just in case... can you stop squeezing that egg?"
Champa looked at his hands. He was still holding the golden egg.
"Oh, right. This."
The egg, battered by the fight, squeezed by Champa, began to crack.
A golden light. Intense. Warm.
The three watched.
As the egg began to crack, the three held their breath.
A golden light, soft but intense, illuminated the entire planet. The rocks shone. The sky turned amber. And from the shell, a tiny creature emerged.
It was small. Smaller than them. Its skin was golden, its eyes large and deep. But when it spoke, its voice was not that of a child.
"Children of Frya... I have searched for you for 5 million years."
Silence.
Ozari felt a lump in her throat. Bills felt the void inside him, for the first time, fill a little. Champa... Champa felt hungry. But also something else. Something he couldn't name.
The tiny being looked at the three of them.
"My name is Shenlong. And you... you are my family."
Ozari stepped forward.
"Children of what?"
Bills frowned.
"Frya?"
Champa tilted his head.
"Is that edible?"
The tiny golden being sighed. A sigh that contained eons of patience.
"We're going to have to start from the beginning, if I remember correctly."