The Heretic of Sælonis ||A Sci-Fi Romance Novella||

I was born to avenge it

What should have been a planet was a slowly spinning circle of rubble. Segments of earth larger than moons revolved around each other, still stuck in their revolution around the burning star in the far distance. The floating mass had once been Sælonis, Nierhæ and Vyrekne's home.

To get here, we'd had to fly past Mertonis, which was in a similar state. With the helmet on, I'd been able to let tears burn my face at the sight of it. No one could have survived the obliteration, even if they wanted to. I should feel lucky because I still had my life, but I... how could I?

"Why would they lie to us about this?" Vyrekne whispered as she stared at what was left of her home planet.

"To keep us in line. To make us work for them instead of rioting." I replied, and she shook her head, her helmet moving gently from side to side. I slipped mine off, since I was no longer worried about her lashing out and trying to kill me. The way her voice had softened meant she was in the same place I'd been a few days ago, when Nierhæ had told me the truth of Sethes...

"But we would find out the truth in time, so why..." And right now she was trying to make sense of it all, the same way I had. She just needed a push, and I could give her that.

"Come on, Vy." I used the nickname from when we'd trained together as children. "You know why they created the Huntsmen. Deep down you do." If I kept calm, then she would too, and as long as I kept my helmet tucked under my arm instead of on my head, then she would see me as vulnerable.

"But this is..."

"Why do you think every rule of the creed exists?" I asked, and she took a step away from me. She had to be in denial. "It's to separate us from everyone and keep us under their thumbs. Adults are never brought into the faction, it's only ever children that can be trained and manipulated. Why do you think that is?"

Light footsteps echoed into the room behind me, and I turned to see Nierhæ enter with her hand wrapped around the helve of her whip. Holding it was a threat, but Vyrekne likely didn't know it was an empty one. After everything Nierhæ had done on Castellia, there was no way she would be ready to wield the Aura yet.

"Is that what the Heretic told you?" Vyrekne asked, and I turned to look back at her.

"No, but she allowed me to see the manipulation. She helped me remember the life I had before Sethes, and the rest I pieced together myself." I stepped closer to Nierhæ, just in case my plan to switch Vyrekne didn't work, and she attacked instead.

I had to be prepared for anything, because there was no way I would let her hurt Nierhæ, even if it killed me to protect her.

"Is everything alright, Cædir?" Nierhæ whispered, and I felt the tension in the air rise. I hadn't got to that part of the conversation yet, but I guess now was a good a time as any to bring it up.

"Cædir?" Vyrekne asked, and her tone made me reach for my shooter, just in case she tried anything. "The Fifth Heir? That's not possible. Sethes executed the Mertonis royals to free..." She let out a sigh before she walked closer to the window and stared at what was left of Sælonis.

"To free what?" I asked. "There's nothing left of your planet or mine. How could this be liberation? There were no survivors of these attacks." How directly did I have to say this? "The Council didn't save our people. They destroyed us, and they'll do the same to Laurælia once they take Everiala."

She shook her head again. How hard was this for her to believe? "You don't know that."

"They destroyed our home because Sælonis was the base for the Aura. It was the strongest point of its power, the favoured planet," Nierhæ said as she walked closer to me. "They first destroyed the only military we had while in transit to aid Covisa, which had been the front line of the war. Then they blew up Mertonis to prevent their armies from coming to our aid. Once they'd successfully taken away any chance of our people being able to defend themselves, they came for us."

"And you were sent off in a safety pod, to be the only Sælonian left alive." Vyrekne hissed the words. On the surface level, it sounded like she wouldn't help us, but if she remembered that happening, then she had to remember the rest of that day. "I remember watching your pod leave the atmosphere. The Saviour of Sælonis. But you didn't save them, and the rest of us were left to die."

Nierhæ sighed. "And I live with that guilt every day, but I was a child. There's nothing I could have done." I couldn't tell if this was helping or making the situation worse. "You're remembering, which is good. It means you remember the screams, the feeling of the ground vibrating with each bomb that was sent to us. Does that feel like freedom to you? Does it feel like Sethes wanted to free our people or wipe us from memory?"

"I..."

"Do you even remember your name? Your born name?" Nierhæ asked, and the silence that followed was answer enough. "Our Council should have worked harder to save more people than just me. I never agreed with the choice they made, but I also won't let it be in vain. They called me the Saviour of our planet, but I was never destined to save it. I was born to avenge it."

"Vengeance? On an entire planet for destroying ours? You have to be fucking delusional-"

"The Aura tasked me with tearing Sethes to pieces." Nierhæ explained, and I instantly lifted my hand to rest on the back of her neck, rubbing the muscles to make sure she remained calm in the face of our situation. "If you help us, we might just succeed."

A deep sigh echoed from Vyrekne, and then suddenly she lifted her hands to her helmet and removed it. She was as pale as Nierhæ, but her eyes were a brighter blue, and her white hair was cut similarly to mine, short instead of the waist length hair that Nierhæ had.

Vyrekne slowly looked up at me, and I saw the tears in her eyes at seeing what was left of her planet. At seeing another one of her people, which she hadn't done since the day anyone close to her had been taken.

And then her quiet voice echoed through the room, gentle but angry. "What's the plan?"