Ultima

Chapter 1

May 12, 2172

"Wake up!" a growling voice shouted.

The bed started shaking. I sat up quickly and turned to the grinning Fellion beside me. "What the hell, Tiger?" I exclaimed.

"Get up!" he said excitedly. "It's time to celebrate your birthday. Being Twenty One only happens once, you know!"

Tanzagar, or simply Tiger, is a Fellion, a short, feline-like race. There are many different types of Fellions and you could tell them apart by the colour of their fur. Tiger was what he called a Grandar Fellion. His fur was orange with black markings that wrapped around his body and formed a unique pattern on his face; almost tribal-looking but which reminded me of the ink blot cards psychiatrists use. Tanzagar barely lasted a minute in this house before we started calling him the animal he resembled.

He came to us as an orphan. One cycle ago, Dad ran into him in the capital's market. Dad, being Dad, brought the young Fellion home and immediately adopted him. We determined he was only one Earth year old, but Fellions age differently. At one year, he was already almost an adult. At two, he was a full adult Fellion, even if he was still a kid at heart.

"I'm up, I'm up," I said, climbing out of bed and stretching.

"Let's go to the capital today," Tiger suggested. "Mr. Richardson doesn't need us till midday."

I chuckled. "Don't let Dad hear that 'Mr. Richardson' stuff."

"I know he prefers to be called Gary," Tiger said. "But he is still my boss. Fellion tradition states I must be proper and respectful of my employers."

"You know," I started. "For someone who has lived amongst humans longer than Fellions, you sure like to quote Fellion traditions a lot."

"I have to hold onto them," he said with a shrug. "It's all of I have of my past. Now, are you going to come with me willingly or do I have to drag you?"

"Get out of here and let me change into some clothes and I'll go with you," I said, throwing a pair of pants at him.

"See you at breakfast," he said, dodging them.

As little-brother-ish as Tiger could be, he had been great in helping me learn the Fellion language. Dad stressed that, as a trader, I should learn all the languages I could, and thanks to Tiger I understood Fellion perfectly. I couldn't speak it, of course. Human throats aren't designed to make the growling noises, but most Fellions possessed the skill of understanding any language quickly. It made them the easiest race to communicate with - but you still had to deal with their egotistical and weary nature.

How they were able to communicate with every race was up for debate. The most educated guesses were that they read body language and listen to tones instead of the words. Through my learning of Fellion, I had picked up on a few instances where I could tell what Tiger was about to say before he said it just by looking at him. But those instances were rare.

Fully clothed, I joined my family in the kitchen for breakfast. Mom was busy at the stove while Dad and Tiger quickly ate plates of meat and eggs. Mom hummed to herself as she put a plate down on the table for me, greeting me with a smile.

Tall and thin like me, her dark blonde hair was starting to grey early from fretting and stressing about. Every time Dad and I left for work in the morning she looked like she was preparing for the last time she would see us. Considering the dangerous nature of our business, it was understandable, but nothing would reassure her of our safety.