The Loser's Daughter

Epilogue - Chapter 1

After warning the remaining destroyers what would happen to them if they showed up on Earth causing chaos, Robert led his little group away from the bloodied field, his hand intertwined with Venus'.

As they neared the edge, he heard Oryk mutter something under his breath. He glanced over his shoulder and watched as Oryk knelt beside a fallen body. It was a destroyer whose name he'd never  bothered to learn. He was in the form of an almost elvish looking humanoid with pale skin, milky white eyes, and white hair woven in dreads, most of which was stained with blood and dirt. Oryk seemed fond of this one, gently closing the dead creature's eyes and whispering softly to him.

Once he'd said his good-bye, they continued on, the group not saying much, just following Robert and trusting that he was getting them out of there.

As they reached the city walls, Robert told them to wait and he walked over to the spot where Venus' grandfather's bones were. He extended a sharpened claw and started carefully cutting out King Nyliko's remains.

Following his lead, Oryk moved on to the other side of the wall and gathered her grandmother's bones in the same fashion. A polished velvet lined box appeared next to him as he worked, so he laid the bones carefully into it. Just as he pulled out the last one, Robert appeared around the corner holding an identical closed box in his hands.

"I'll take them," he told Oryk.

The box was handed off to Robert and as the group followed Robert up the trail to the landing pads, Trent suddenly stopped and realized Oryk wasn't following.

"Hey, come on," Trent told him.

Oryk chewed his lip nervously. Robert had nearly killed him. It was highly unlikely he was planning on allowing Oryk on the ship with them, but he didn't want to disappoint Trent either, so he nodded and jogged over to him.

Once the group reached the landing pad, Robert handed set the boxes down and held up his hands, gesturing toward a row of spacecrafts to their left.

Venus watched in awe as every ship on the left side of the airpad moved toward the center, the metal growing soft like liquid and magically forming into a completely new, large, and rather luxurious starship. It was shaped almost like a commercial aircraft except much sleeker and more aerodynamic. The metal was a pearlescent white and so slick it looked wet.

A large door dropped open on the back. "Say good-bye to Lorgoranth," Robert said sarcastically, as if any of them would miss it, then led Venus toward the door with the 2 wooden boxes floating out in front of him.

He felt Venus' hand tighten around his, and when he looked down at her, she was smiling ear to ear. Phoenix was cuddled up in her right arm, her chubby cheek on Venus's chest and her pretty dark vivid blue eyes beaming up at her Father almost as if she knew what he'd done, almost like she was proud of him for making the right choice. He couldn't help but smile back at the both of them. They were his everything.

As they walked up the ramp, Venus coo'ed happily at the cozy interior, nothing at all like the cold, dark ship they'd arrived in. The room they'd entered was like a fancy break room at an office, with rich wood tables and chairs to sit at and a snack bar filled with all sorts of goodies.

Venus turned suddenly, curious what Oryk and Trent thought of the ship, but they weren't behind them. "Where'd they-" she stopped when she took a few steps back and looked out the door. Robert immediately stepped up behind her to see what was going on.

They saw Trent and Oryk standing out by the bottom of the ramp, Oryk glancing their way apprehensively. Trent was speaking quietly to him, and Robert got the sense he was trying to convince Oryk to come on board.