Story of K: An Infinite Golden Light

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Two intergalactic warriors, brothers, and heralds of a living planet band together to stop an escaped warrior of immeasurable power. This warrior has been deemed a threat by their commander who serves their father, the Almighty K'OS, and so the brothers K and Xen must capture him, kill him, or die trying. Welcome to this seven part tale of an epic space fight! If you like action, this story is for you.

Highly destructive inhuman combatants?  Check.  Fights in space?  Check.  Brotherly humor?  Check.  Strange and cool main characters?  Check.

Sample Chapters:

The Search

 

There was an anomaly near the graveyard planet Robespierre. An extremely large source of energy was being emitted from a nearby sector.  The source had been steadily growing for several days and had swelled to enormous proportions. Anar K, Rotkennk warrior and son of K'OS had been dispatched several days ago by the Overmind commander to track the energy source and neutralize it by any means necessary.  Beyond that he had no idea what to expect.  His orders were very straightforward, but something about the mission seemed odd.  K was sure the Overmind leader knew more about the mission than he was willing to share, but he didn't care either way.  A mission was a mission and once he succeeded he would forget all its details anyway and move on.

K only cared about one thing.  Strength.  He knew he would do anything to attain it, but the will of his father always came first.  It was his father K'OS who gave orders to the Overmind commander so that his will be done.  And K'OS' will was absolute.

It took two days for K to arrive at the graveyard planet in his nameless cruiser, one fit for a small crew of people though K often only traveled alone.  After sensing a very familiar energy signal, he touched down on the arid red and grey terra.  K got out of his ship and surveyed the planet, standing at nearly seven feet in all black and silver.  The huge mounds of skulls in the distance reminded him of the pale yellow skull shaped mask he was wearing.

He could sense all the nanomachines in his body adjusting to the planet's bare atmosphere.  The nanites needn't work too hard, since only a small part of him was biotic anyway.

The ancient mask Darcell, which had formerly belonged to his long deceased brother of the same name, was floating closely behind K on his left.  Darcell was huge, about the size of K's upper torso and shoulders and was intelligently sentient.  The lower part of Darcell's mask was navy and purple with dark green spikes coming out the front of it while its upper headdress, which looked like large bat ears, was black with grey tips.  The signal K felt earlier was very faint yet he tracked it expertly and found his brother, the Rotkennk warrior and herald Nexus, who K affectionately called Xen. 

Xen was trapped beneath a massive pile of mountain rubble with only his head and left foot visible.  Like K, Xen wore a huge yellow mask on his face as well.  His had sharp yellow horns atop and to the sides of it.

K: "Xen!  I didn't know the Overmind dispatched you too.  Even stranger considering that I last heard of you being near the Endo system not too long ago."

Xen: "I wasn't dispatched like you, brother.  I'm afraid that curiosity got the better of me.  I came here as soon as I heard of a powerful mass of uncontrollable energy in this sector.  I just knew someone was wielding it, or attempting to."

Xen was a wreck of scrapes, bruises, and Rotkennk blood which was teeming with microscopic nanomachines.  Smoke and heat rose from underneath the rubble pile where he was buried.

Xen: "My ship's instruments were going haywire and I followed the trail whilst sensing this amazing power the whole time.  That curiosity led me here."

K: "And how did you come to find yourself so comfortably buried here, brother?"

Xen: "Our conquering Rotkennk nature led to my downfall.  The owner of these coveted mysterious powers made short work of me, but I was persistent and gave him a round two and three that he'd not soon forget."

K: "That you also lost I'm sure."

Xen: "You always know what to say to comfort me.  Yes I lost, but I'm done sleeping now and ready for the next round.  I didn't even get to transform when I fought him.  This time I'll be more prepared."

K: "Sure, brother.  It would greatly please our Overmind commander if we would neutralize this growing energy source and collect its remains."

Xen: "I can see why he'd want that.  Things are now starting to unravel back home. There's some really shadowy experiments and manipulations going on amongst our people that we haven't been told about.  Once you see this opponent you'll know what I mean."

K: "I would ask you what that means, but frankly I don't care.  Since you've already engaged the target, I guess it's only fair of me to ask if you would care for my assistance."

Xen: "I guess that's just how you are.  Malicious, shady plots don't interest you at all.  It's all about combat, duty, and strength with you...*sigh* fine.  This opponent is quite strong.  I have no problem nor shame in asking for your help this time."

K: "Okay. Now how do we find this fighter?  My radar only led me here to you."

K and Xen both used their telekinesis to move the boulders from atop Xen's body to the side of him.  Xen then rose to his feet and dusted himself off which K figured was a trait he picked up from some humans he'd met in the Endo system.  Xen was K's exact height, which made sense since they were twins.  What distinguished them were their masks.  K's pale yellow mask was more of a flaming skull whereas his brother's was sunlight yellow with large spikes that extended in an X formation.

Xen: "The radars in our ships are not powerful enough to track the exact source because there is so much ambient energy surrounding us.  We'll need to combine our spacecrafts together so that we can reach our target sometime soon with stronger detection systems."

The brothers had to wait a while for Xen to recall his ship from outer space.  When Xen's cruiser had arrived, his mask, which formerly belonged to their long deceased brother, Blade-danser, hovered out of the ship's exit ramp and over to Xen.  It was assessing his damages as the masks liked to always do.  Blade-danser was a large white circular looking mask with giant golden horns atop it and tiny green horns surrounding it like leaves. It was rare to see Xen without it.  The brothers then returned to their ships with their masks Darcell and Blade-danser right on their heels.  They communicated, from each of their ships, telepathically.

Xen: "My ship will be the base."

K: "It doesn't matter whose ship is the base, let's just get to it.  We don't get to do this often enough."

Xen: "Is that excitement I hear?"

K pretended not to hear his brother as he knew Xen would work up unnecessary excitement if he found out just how much K enjoyed this.  Both brothers initiated their ships' combination transformation processes.  K's vessel disassembled into several sections large and small and reconnected on top of Xen's boosting its power output and speed as well as its detection and defensive capabilities.  Though Xen's ship was the base, K's cockpit also had the combined ship's controls.  The brothers both sat in separate cockpits surrounded by all types of detection systems, buttons, switches, and other controls

Xen: "Nebula X is online! Quad Thrust, Shadow Drive, Cloak, and Detection systems are all fully operational.  Engine output at full. Maximum performance is at 100%."

K could hear Xen's chatter through the radio, a very unnecessary device that Xen had installed.

K: "Nebula X?  Who told you that you could name my half of this ship?"

Xen: "I knew you wouldn't bother to name it so I took the liberty.  Besides, every great ship needs a name!"

K: "Whatever the case may be my half of this ship shall remain nameless."

Xen: "How boring, brother, but that is your way.  Plain and plainly simple.  No beauty, no zest, no zeal, but I have enough for the both of us so it's okay."

Both brothers fiddled around with the ship's consoles.

K: "Where is our target?"

Xen: "Change your radar from the basic one.  When combined the Nebula X's long range energy detectors are much more sophisticated than the basic radar.  Finding our target should be easy now.  Hmm...according to these scans it looks like he got farther away than I thought, much farther."

K: "The whole thing's lit up.  You can't make out much on it."

Xen: "Okay, so this must be the main source of the disruption."

K saw what Xen was mentioning.  There was a single yellow dot that glowed brighter than the rest of the yellow energy that was displayed on the detection radar.

Xen: "I'm going to lock on to this point here.  Now just use your radar and follow the path of gold that he's left for us."

K: "Path of gold?"

Xen: "You'll see what I mean briefly.  Nebula X, Action!"

K thrust his right arm forward on his hands-free control panel.  By doing so he moved the ship through space at an amazing rate of acceleration.

K: "I'll cut through this black sea my way.  Now!  Pierce through the stars!"

Xen: "You're really getting into this now, aren't you, brother?"

K ignored his brother as the ship blasted through space so fast that the stars faded into blazing white streaks.

Xen: "Wow!  I forgot how fast this thing was."

K: "Yes, the Builders should be praised for such craftsmanship.  We're quickly approaching our target Nexus!"

Xen: "You don't need the instruments to show you that Anar K."

K: "Hmm?...Whoa!"

K was taken aback by what he saw out the window of their craft.  The cold black vacuum of space was completely engulfed by warm and smothering golden light.

K: "That light?  Is it?  It must be our opponent."

Xen was amused at his brother's awe.

K: "Crap!"

K himself had picked up a few odd terms and quirks from the Endo system as well.

K: "All that ambient energy belongs to this one person.  I can feel it from all the way out here, the warmth and power of his energy.  He must be as powerful as a small sun...or if I'm miscalculating he could contain the power of the sun itself."

Xen: "No way to tell that at this rate, but either way, don't you get the feeling that we're screwed?"

That was another strange human expression that his brother picked up.  They approached the main source of the radiant golden light and K could barely make out a figure in the center of the brilliance.

Golden fighter (Telepathically): "Leave now Rotkennk interlopers or burn by my fiery golden grip!"

Xen: "Quite the exquisite death, wouldn't you say, brother?"

Fool’s Gold

 

The Rotkennk warrior Anar K answered his brother's question telepathically.

K: "You can have your exquisite death Xen.  I'd rather live to fight another day."

Both masked warriors exited their combined ship, the Nebula X, and entered into the cold void of space.  Both were followed closely by the sentient masks of their fallen brethren Darcell and Blade-danser.

As they approached the figure they could feel that his overwhelming power was too much for their current forms so they decided to begin the mask merger process.  They instinctively knew that they'd need the extra power that came from combining with their masks especially after the humiliations that Xen suffered earlier.

Each of the masks contained the very essence of their dead brothers which essentially boiled down to nanites that formed the masks.  The nanites provided combat memories from the fallen Masked Ones as well as access to the same powers and abilities that Darcell and Blade-danser had formerly utilized.  These masks were completely compatible with K and Xen, but the brothers could never swap masks as the types of energy that powered both of their bodies were too diverse, same with the masks.

K was the first to merge and his transformation into his battlements was a brilliant one.  Merging with Darcell granted K powers over darkness.  These powers brought with them a suitably sinister and powerful appearance.

K's limbs grew even longer and ganglier than before and the mask of his dead brother had engulfed and displaced his own headdress.  Gone were the pale yellow flames of his former skull mask.  His new face was harshly angled and colored purple, navy, and grey; all dark colors.  Three dark green spikes had burst forth from the face of the mask and shortly afterwards began to emit a faint glow.

Warmth came from the ambient energy contained within.  The spikes had set: one jutting diagonally from his forehead, one jutting straight forward where normally a nose would be, and the last one pointing diagonally down between where a normal man's mouth and chin would have rested.

The whole time his body's growth had not stopped until now.  He was a formidable and monstrous sight at over ten feet.  On his calves were a pair of large, black mirror, ovular greaves which stored the same warm golden energy that K had been flying towards.  The energy projected itself outwards and upwards as two very large fiery blades from the back of K's greaves.  As he was now, K styled himself Dar'K the warrior of K'OS in honor of his fallen brother Darcell.

Xen's transformation was no less captivating.  Glowing green petals of energy shot forth when the mask of Blade-danser took over Xen's face.  Gone was his horned yellow skull mask. In its stead he found a pristine white mask surrounded by petals of green glowing horns that were composed of ambient energy.  The horn petals sat in rows on the side of the mask and lined it from the bottom to the top.  At the top of the mask were two very large golden horns which crowned it.

His limbs grew as rapidly as K's, but didn't stop nearly as quickly.  Xen's arms in particular were much longer than K's, almost reaching down to his ankles.  The length of his arms led to two sophisticated circular silver blades.  The blades looked particularly weighty in the middle, but dangerously thin and extremely sharp around the edges.  The blades were also very large and almost as big as the mask that he now wore.

The greaves on his legs were similar to Dar'K's, but were pristine white instead of black.  The greaves had also had golden energy blades protruding from the back of them, but these were more refined and seemed better made for more precise cutting than Dar'K's golden flames.  Xen styled himself Blade-dan'Xen in this form, in memoriam of his fallen brother, Blade-danser.

Both brothers accelerated at an equally rapid pace towards the golden figure.  It was here that Dar'K was able to make out the figure's features.

K: "He...he is a Rotkennk.  A Builder no less - but how?  This power...?"

Xen: "Is that a little home grown pride that I hear or just shock and awe?  Whatever you're feeling keep your guard up.  He knows what we're here for.  I can feel it."

Golden fighter: "If you're Rotkennk, which you Masked Ones without a doubt are, it's obvious what you're here for."

Xen: "He can hear our thoughts?"

K: "I've projected our conversation into his mind.  We have nothing to hide from him."

Golden fighter: "You Masked Ones are quite noble to let me in on your thoughts like this.  You must think very highly of yourselves."

Xen to K: "What he doesn't know is that we can directly communicate through other mental channels."

K to Xen: "Indeed.  We'll strategize that way."

K: "You are a very powerful Rotkennk and your powers may even rival our own.  How so?  You have the look of a mere Builder.  What is your name, brother, and what is your purpose?"

Golden Fighter: "It is like you say.  I am a Builder and as such have never had a name.  If having an opponent with no name makes our meeting too informal then you may call me Gold."

Xen: "Gold is malleable and weak unless it is joined with another metal."

Gold looked amused by Xen's comment.  He stretched his arms out, tilted his head back, and flared up his golden aura.

Gold: "You have already seen how 'weak' I am from our earlier skirmishes Masked One.  The ones that you lost."

Xen kept a level head.  He knew that now wasn't the time to lose his cool.  Not with an opponent like this.  The loss earlier had come as a shock, but now that he was transformed and with K's added power he was sure he'd win.

K: "Gold it is then.  So, Gold, how has a Builder come into such might?  How did you come to possess the strength to rival us Masked Ones?"

Gold let out a sneering laugh and projected it into his opponent’s minds.

Gold: "Rival?  My power is leagues beyond yours Masked One.  Your masters would have to send a fleet of you Masked Ones to take me in now.  I hold no fond memories of how I came about these powers, only torment.  I feel no need to share this tale with the dead either."

K flew forward a bit closer to Gold.

K: "Harbor no illusions, Gold, my task is to bring you back to our home world dead or alive.  Make no mistake; I am not your enemy.  Since you are a fellow Rotkennk I would rather bring you back in one piece."

Gold: "You asked my purpose earlier."

K: "And what is it?"

Gold: "My purpose is to have no purpose. I am a free being and that I shall remain.  If your goal is to take me back to K’OS and those Overmind torture lovers then you are my enemy and there is only one thing left to do."

Xen: "Well you certainly will die free now won't you?"