~ Nineteen Standard Years Later ~
The Prophet Queen, Ka, left the castle to lie on her back in the snow and stare at the sky. Though she had no frame of reference for this feeling, deep in her soul she believed it was morning. In truth, it wasn’t morning or evening, as such a distinction between times was without point in this place. The permanent, ephemeral twilight bathed the frost-covered world in lavender, with only the motion of the faint stars to tell the passage of a year.
Ka tried to avoid the practice of intentional meditation too often, as she thought it liable to leave the heart open to voices it ought not to be listening to. On this, the last world seeded, the specters of the resentful dead were never far away from the ears of those who weren’t careful to discern the cries in every haunting gale from the sunward or shadow side of the planet. But this one childish indulgence she allowed herself. The coolness of the snow as it seeped through the back of her head and soaked her knee-length hair did wonders for enlivening the senses after the stifling warmth of the old fortress’s embrace. It was important to escape it when one could find the time. She even pinched a few fingerfuls of snow and let the cool water drip into her green eyes; anything to wash away the smoke and sleep.
Not long had passed since she’d assumed the role of her people’s leader. It wasn’t a hardfast or overly formal title, as the group was accustomed to being swayed by gentle consensus building as opposed to rigid orders. But, despite ascending in her youth – her meager one hundred and thirty years would amount to no more than twenty-six on a planet with a standard orbit – the gentle people of the town were more than happy to laugh and converse with their unelected sovereign as she came and went and shared in their labor. After all, she’d been no less ordinary than they were until recently.
Today as she laid on the cold, soft ground and tried to perceive the stars’ passing, Ka’s mind wandered back to that great circle, in which the elders of the village laid their hands on her shoulders as she knelt beneath the sky, praying for the Good Spirits to lead them wisely through her. There wasn’t much to do now but wait patiently for whatever guidance she might receive. At times she wondered if she’d been selected in error. It wasn’t unheard of for a ruler to be young, and in her lifetime she’d heard stories of men and women alike taking up the mantle. In fact, the reason she doubted her position owed to the fact that she’d never heard or seen the Good Spirits. How would she interpret their wisdom if it ever came? She wanted to believe and wanted to do what was right, but what if the path forward didn’t lay itself out obviously?
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On impulse Ka craned her neck to the right towards the forest on the town’s edge. The sight of it imbued her with a sense of mystery, foreboding, and even amusement, as if one day something wild and willful and full of ill-content would come from it: something to keep at arms-length as much as to toy with. It was in this moment the Prophet Queen lived up to her title at last. In her mind she heard the Good Spirits clear as day, handing down a revelation more potent than any she expected to receive in her lifetime. At once she closed her eyes and let their instruction fill her mind.
“The one given to destruction will come to you in five short years. Do not take him more seriously than you ought, for his is a crueler path than any should walk. Divert his way however you see fit. Protect your people from what he will set in motion.”
She saw the misty image of the foretold newcomer. He would be one of her own kind, permanently altered by life in another world. At once, she pulled herself to a seated position, the plan half-formed already. There was a power her people shared that could be used by the collective for defined periods of time to effect positive change but would spell an early death for the arrogant one who used it alone and indefinitely. The poison gift left by her selfish progenitors would be the very weapon she’d use against their vessel of vengeance. And to top it all off, she, along with anyone else she could rally to the cause, would convince him to do it to himself. At once she rose and darted away to find her dearest friend, Di, the daughter of their last leader. Ka had in mind exactly the roles they would play, as well as the rest of the village too, Spirits willing, in what would shape up to be the most immersive living theater production ever conceived.
“Di! Di, get those old creepy robes out! And – and find the weird books too! I finally know what to do with them!” She called as she sprinted through the snow toward the buildings. There was no time to lose. Five years wasn’t long at all to prepare for their dual-purpose audience and star. She’d know the day of his arrival by the coming and going of a strange star to the south, a thing of corrupted beauty, the lone dot in the sky.
