Empire of Eleven Suns

[Patrick]

Prologue

 

In the year 15791, 491st year of the Sensun dynasty

 

The Sun was slowly rising on the city of Kardios. The much awaited first Sun of spring. The season had officially started more than four months ago, but the weather had not agreed with the official definitions. Kardion was the planet in the Empire of Eleven Suns, which took the longest time orbiting its giant, red Sun, Artemis, so named for the ancient god of hunting, who occasionally also represented sudden death.

 

The last remainders of the once thick snow blanket, which had covered Kardios were rapidly melting. The singing of the returning migratory birds, announced more than anything, that the long, hard winter had ended. The trees were finally growing their first green limbs of the year. Romantic couples walked the streets of the old city, their arms interlaced, enjoying the change in the weather.

 

Gardeners lovingly tended to all that had found sudden growth in their gardens, giving special care to the typical Kardion plants, the bright red, three-flowered ulipses. Known for its extreme beauty, and the very precise conditions needed for it to flower with all three of its flowers at the same time, the ulipses were among the most highly sought flowers. Being able to have a ulips bloom thrice-fold, as the expression went, was the dream of every gardener; each year only a handful managed to fulfil this dream.

 

In his small home, in the outskirts of Kardios, Paul Noble was looking forward to a wonderful day of spending time in his garden, with the plants he loved and cared for. He never made it to the back of his garden, as at the front, in the prime spot he had found three, small red flowers starting to open. He was nearly sure that never had a ulips bloomed thrice-fold so early, after the end of winter.

 

Unfortunately for him, and everyone else in the city he did not have any more time to think about it, as the catastrophe, which was going to forever change the Empire struck only a few moments later. It was a rare coincidence that in such a developed age the meteorite had only been spotted four minutes before it impacted the planet. It was only 500 meters in diameter, but at that speed it was still enough to instantaneously wipe out everything within a radius of 200 kilometres from where it struck.

 

The rest of the planet was thrown into an artificial winter, much the same to the one, which some had once blamed with wiping the dinosaurs out on ancient Earth. The massive amounts of radiation, emanating from the impact crater hampered at first, and then completely stopped all attempts at a rescue.

 

 

Note: ulips should be read as if it were written as youlips.

Edited March 29, 2006 by Patrick Durham