My name is Karuga Irthan'nu. I was born on a volcanic and poisonous planet called Xatholorna. I am the only daughter of two late warriors of our great empire that rules this planet, the Narukh'za Sthola Univere. Born to serve the founder, I lived my youth under my superiors' watch within the empire, honing my skills, embracing our ethics, and making my family's name known to the empire once again. I was confident, I knew what I'm capable of. Eventually, I dreamt bigger. I AM to rise through the ranks of the founder's Loyalists, something my parents couldn't do. Or rather, wouldn't do.
The Narukh'za consists of countless dwellers of Xatholorna who all share common traits. A thirst for violence and a desire to seek power over others. Under our powerful leader's rule, we share the same goal of domination. We fly through the unknown, landing on planets to planets, killing its dwellers, ruling them by fear. We are taught to destroy everyone who opposes our rule. We are vengeful, we will avenge our fallen brothers and sister. No matter how long has it been, the Narukh'za will come out of the shadows someday and seek vengeance. We have the tendency to share strong bonds with our brethren who serve under the same Lord, this is what drives us to become vengeful at our loss.
During our neverending conquest, we made a long-time nemesis, the Arkula Heavenly Forces, the military that enforces ridiculous laws and other troublesome things to their people that greatly limits themselves, hide their true selves and their true capabilities. Such things will decay the future generation of our people, and the possibility of our extinction is high.
That is what was taught to us. We took it with our hearts and used it to fuel our hatred and burn our spirits on the battlefields. Because of our nature, all people outside the Narukh'za call us by many names, dangerous, cruel, monsters, murderers... every name that correlates to violence. We laugh in joy as they feared our powerful rule. This is our true selves, our true nature. We are born to conquer and we do not condone weakness, we do not step down from the top, and won't go back down for others. The world does not only revolve around the planet you were born into. It is the universe, and it is endless. It is harsh out there and being weak will only lead to your death. You won't be spared just because you think of yourselves low.
The Arkula prevents us from obtaining our goals, they are the biggest obstacle alongside the unknown lifeforms that infest the universe. They throw their own beliefs at us, spouting nonsense that most of us think is absurd. They are stubborn and will do everything to force us to believe them. We won't allow our empire to bow to lowly beings like them who disregard our own beliefs.
In my empire, a single person leads our people. A founder. Kantala Rukh'van is our current founder. The loyal servants that made an oath to serve her with their lives were called the Loyalists. I am one of them. I believed in every word she said, I was loyal to her rule, and I'd do everything. I will lead my own warriors and help her meet the goal we have been wanting, and destroy everything that stood before us. Believing in power and domination, I fought and slain my own people who refused to serve under my name. Those who allow themselves to be my servants are rewarded with great power and my own burning desires. I fought her Loyalists and proved that I am worthy of the title.
Bringing in enough people to follow my steps and being known for my skills, I was able to be recognized and earn the second position in her Loyalists' ranks. However, there was something that prevented me from taking the first position. Something that I have been thinking about ever since that day. Ever since that day, every day has been cruel. The more days passed, the more curious I get. And just one day, I eventually came to my own terms. I will seek these thoughts out on my own. I will learn the truth about everything.
And here I am. I stand inside one of our great spaceships. With my own great fleet of our finest spacecraft of war, I named Khedaran Khan, is orbiting the planet of our nemesis... The Kryok. It is said that we once lived on this planet as one. If I was the same person as I was back then, I would hate the thought of it. But now, I don't feel anything, and I won't unless I am certain. During our countless battles with the Arkula, there is one person that caught my attention. A person that carries the name of Kirin Solana.
My people fought against her countless times and always ends up leaving unscathed. The Narukh'za considers her a valuable target. One of the keys to crumbling the foundation of their military. My founder believes that I have volunteered myself to be sent here to hunt her down without her direct order. But that was not my intention. I came here to seek this person, as I was sure she can answer my questions. I will test her. I will see it with myself as well if she truly stands by her belief. It was time that I free myself from this suffering.
I can never forget that day. I stood on a battlefield, surprised to see my own warriors fall to the enemies. Aside from the boiling blood and rage, I felt something else. Something that I can't describe, or rather refused to acknowledge. And there she stood in front of me. I jumped and readied my blades but she did not budge an inch.
I stared into her eyes. I was expecting the look of a winner who has come to slay the weak who have lost, but instead, it was something else. Her expression, the way she looked at my warriors' dead bodies. It was not triumphant. It's as if she lost her own people. It was what we believed is showing weakness... Grief. She grieved for her enemies' loss. Why? As I ponder that, she slowly raised her gaze at mine.
"War, bloodshed, cruelty. This is not the only thing you should think about while you're still living. Give peace a chance, and you will definitely see that there is more in life than seeking power and leading these poor souls to their pointless deaths... You will see that weakness is not the end of everything" She said that as if she was pleading. She turned around and walks away. She left me alone in the middle of the battlefield. I had no energy to chase after her. It was as if I was drained completely.
"Kirin Solana..." I muttered her name under my breath. "You have a lot to answer for..." I raised both of my hands for me to see. "You made me into this... mess" My hand shook like usual every time I think back to that day and the days until this very moment. Ever since I've seen her like that, after hearing what she said, I've been hesitating in doing what I once took pride in. My entire life... I have no one to blame but that person.
"You will answer my questions, even if I have to hurt you for it..." Approaching her and asking directly in person is rather reckless and Lord Kantala will definitely notice, I can't fail at the very start. So, I devised a plan. A simple plan that will give them the choice, to stand with their belief, or be prideful and refuse me and disappoint me. A plan that masked itself as an attack on the Arkula, Lord Kantala surely won't notice. But I will save that for later. For now, I just wanted to see her again. It's been a while, after all.
"You've been spacing out an awful lot" My shoulders rose when a familiar voice reached out to me. I slightly turned my head to see her. "And you're really out of it. Every time I snap you out of it, you become jumpy" She smiled. Lurza'Far, the First Loyalist, stands slightly smaller than me. After our battle for the first position, she has been frequently interacting with me. Despite my attempt to take her life for the title, she considers me not only an ally. but a friend. I know it's the bond that binds us together serving the founder, but I felt like there's something else. She just holds no grudge at all.
"There you are again, the moment I snap you out of it, you just come back to it" Her face shows concern. Never have I seen hatred in her after that day. "I don't know what you're talking about" I am aware that she has been noticing my strange behavior, but I kept shoving her off. She stood beside me and watched through the glass with me.
We both stare at the purple planet. "Kryok. I bet you're excited to finally sort this person out" She said without letting her eyes off the planet. Everyone believes that I am after her life, but no one knows my true intention yet. "I have other reasons, you see" I try to be as subtle as I can. After all, she's one of my trusted allies... and a friend. But she can't know the whole truth of it yet.
"Did she hurt your feelings?" She said teasingly. "Who knows..." I shrugged. Her answer was close, but that's not all. It bothered me. "Lord Kantala will be very happy to hear that cursed woman gone" She said with a smile. It bothers me to hear her say that. "Talking about her majesty, she summons your name, Lurza'Far" Another familiar voice came behind us. We both turn to see her.
Laren'sha, the fifth Loyalist. She's not exactly my closest person, but we got along just fine. She came to announce that the first Loyalist is being summoned by Lord Kantala. "...I will see you later, Karuga" Lurza'Far raised a hand and said her parting words. Her figure turns red as she begins to phase herself out of my ship, and disappears in a blink of an eye. Laren'sha replaced her spot.
"Do I remember that you have ever stated your reason for volunteering on taking over missions on this miserable planet?" She looked me in the eyes. I can tell she's very curious. After all, she was originally the one designated to this planet. "You seem busy. I thought I could take over. Would you rather stand by idly while your army builds outposts?" I took advantage of her inclination of leading her battles personally. Unlike Lurza'Far, I have no intention of letting her know everything.
"Agree. Also, I have a big conquest to achieve" She giggled. I can see the excitement in her smile. I can imagine myself wearing that same expression long until that day. "The Planet Zatorna, huh?" Planet Zatorna. Home to an unmilitarized civilization. It was bold of them to assume that living without a military is the right way to live their lives. Even bolder of them to assume that the Narukh'za won't ever find their growing civilization. Zatorna lies beyond the western direction between the middle most distance of Xatholorna and Kryok. They believed they were far away and secluded enough to go unnoticed by the Narukh'za.
When our inadequate cease-fire with the Arkula was addressed, some of our people fled to this planet when they realize that Lord Kantala cared less about this cease-fire. I'm the only one who knows this and never fed anyone this information, but they eventually found out about them. It is also rumored that there are Arkula and Krygstek among the community living in there. It was the start of Arkula's dream world. But they are demilitarized, they extremely dislike militaries. I kind of understand since they fled their own home planet. The security, crimes, and such are probably handled by the community itself. I wished to visit this planet on my own, but I had no chance. And now it is too late to even think of going there.
"Those poor wretched beings will cower in fear under my presence. I will make them bow to the Narukh'za and slay all those who refuse" She has her fist clutched in front of her. It is going to be awful for the people of Zatorna. I sigh as I think about it. And there I go again, I'm feeling something I shouldn't be even feeling about. "Disappointed you're not the one appointed to Zatorna?" She noticed me sigh, but gladly she didn't notice anything else. Lord Kantala ordered a full-scale invasion of Zatorna. It surprised me that she took this long to desire their obedience.
"I had all the joy and more than you ever had" I played along and showed that I am better than her. If we had this conversation before that day, I would be very ecstatic to tell her that. Despite my words, she is unfazed. "Indeed. You were gifted with the second position for reasons, after all. I've seen you in combat. Definitely not going to challenge you any time soon" She slightly giggled at her own words. "That's right. Keep your name under mine and I won't ever take on you" I told her that and I saw her expression slightly shook. I am glad I can still act my part, after everything that happened.
"I won't. But you know someday we will have the power to overthrow you" She closed her eyes. She's right. Someday they will turn on me, despite everything, just so they can take the title for themselves. That's how cruel the Narukh'za is to each other despite the 'bonds' we had. I wouldn't even bother thinking about it before, but now...
"Well, I won't bother you anymore. Do what you got to do, and I will do mine. Kill you later~" I looked at her. She playfully wiggles her fingers while grinning with a silly expression, motioning for a goodbye. She then phased out, leaving me alone in my room. I looked back at the planet, and my mind raced once more. After spacing out for what felt like an hour, my Devoted calls out to me. "My lord, your personal spacecraft is ready as you commanded" I turned to see Ladrak on his knees behind me.
A Devoted, a loyal head servant of a Loyalist. Every high-ranking individual needs to have a trusted servant to share their work with. I had Ladrak, he excels in spaceflight and is good at leading squadrons from my fleet. He can do different tasks as well. I won't take someone whose only good at one job. "Good. You can return to your duties. I have something to do" As I said that, Ladrak looked up at me and looked back down.
"I am your humble servant, my lord. If there is something bothering you, you can rely on me" He stated. I know, Ladrak. But this is rather personal. As he was my servant, he was the first one to notice. "There's nothing else for you, this is my duty now. Return at once" I dismissed him and he nods before going away. Facing Kryok one more time, I prepare for my departure from my fleet.