-1030.

Long ago in the distant past, on a huge planet which was four parsecs from Earth, a battle was nearing conclusion. Under a perpetually purple sky, the natural color of the planet's daytime, three beings were catching their breaths in a desert-like area surrounded by bare hills. All of these beings had humanoid body shapes.

On one side, two of the beings were of the same race, and they looked alike in the sense of family resemblance. They both possessed sun kissed yellow skin and space dark black hair. The sclera of their eyes was dark, and their irises were scarlet. The elder of the two was just a little taller than the average human male and a lot more muscular. His attire was of royalty and a crown made up of some bright orange material sat upon his head. He could have been a king of some sort. The younger could be taken as his son, and a prince as well. His shoulder length hair was kept in a bowl shape by a headband made out of the same material as the king's crown.

On the other side, the third being possessed snow white skin and hair and appeared to be feminine. Her eyes were much closer to a human's, and her irises were a piercing blue. In her face was an expression of palpable and intense hatred.

The clothing of both groups were tarnished with burns and tears. Around them, there were burnt holes in the ground and dug up dirt. Neither side had any weapons of any kind. As a matter of fact, they had no need for weapons. You see, these beings possessed miraculous powers, and they had been fighting for a while. They were running off of their last tanks of energy and stamina.

"Zarius, Cozmi... I think it is time we put an end to this squabble," said the white alien. "I had not even dreamed that you two would give me this much trouble..."

"Sapharubi... you know, things do not have to be this way," answered the king, Zarius. "This pointless revenge of yours... You are only hurting yourself. Just go back already."

"You... You...!!" The white alien, named Sapharubi, assumed a look of even greater anger, if possible. "I... did not come... all this way... JUST TO TURN TAIL!! MY CAUSE IS JUST!" A wicked smile came upon Sapharubi's features as she crossed her arms before her. "For all that you star stained scum have taken from me and my race... The only fitting punishment that I can find... is that you lose everything, including YOUR WORTHLESS LIVES!!"

"Look alive, father! She is going to try something nasty!" announced Cozmi as the duo got into battle stances.

A wind began to stir as a wavy distortion of flowing heat appeared over Sapharubi's form. "Aaaaaaa!!!" she screamed with her increasing power output.

A jolt passed through Zarius. "Sapharubi, you have to stop this! We are all tired! You'll only burn yourself out! What good is revenge if you just end up killing yourself!?"

"SHUUUT UUUP!!" exclaimed Sapharubi as black colored flames coated her body as she threw out her arms. Her muscles became buffed up. Mysteriously, she was not being burned. "Here we are... Your end is at hand!"

Both the king and prince were in awe. "What! What is this!?" asked Cozmi.

"Are you deaf? This is the form of your END!! Teleport!" Sapharubi vanished in a sudden discharge of white plasma. She reappeared at least a thousand feet in the sky. "It's a darn shame, but I am left with no choice!"

That alarmed Cozmi. "Father, she is planning to blow up the entire planet!"

"What!? Has she lost her mind!?" Zarius turned back to the sky. "Please, reconsider! You don't have to go this far! What's the matter with you!?"

Sapharubi just laughed as she held up a single arm, hand open wide. "Begging for your life? How pitiful! Just try to stop me... if you can!" Purple colored bolts of lightning began to discharge in all directions from her hand. A nasty black orb began to form, floating over her palm.

"Cozmi, give me some of your energy," said Zarius to his son. "I have to use it. It is our only chance."

"But father! THAT move may cause us more trouble than it is worth! You know it is a last resort..."

"That is precisely why we should use it now!" Zarius interjected. "Now give me your hand."

Cozmi sighed and gave his right hand and Zarius took it with his left. "Energy Flow..." The two glowed white, and then Zarius' body glowed green.

"Alright, this is fine." Zarius let go and stepped forward. He levitated to a hundred feet from the ground. Green static crackled about him as he held out his hands at either side of him. "Legendary Power, HAAAA!!!" Suddenly, emerald flames coated him. Like with Sapharubi, the wild aura was not harming him. Two sun colored orbs formed to the size triple of soccer balls from his hands. He brought his arms above him and the two orbs fused into a single giant orb which was growing even bigger still. "Legendary Power: Solar Bomb!"

"This is very interesting!" exclaimed Sapharubi. The dark orb over her hand was about the size of a small house. "You plan to meet the ultimate attack with this? Don't make me laugh! It's over for you!" She began to pull her hand back, preparing to launch her attack. "Nova Ultra..."

"Not so fast!" exclaimed Cozmi as he appeared behind her and snatched her arm to his chest. "Father! I don't know how long I can hold her! So fire away!" Sapharubi's flaming aura was burning him.

"What the...!? When did you...!?" she said in shock.

"My son, have you gone mad!? Get out of there!" pleaded Zarius

"NO! If she does launch her attack, it really will be the end! Don't forsake my sacrifice! I'm prepared to die for you, mother, sister, and the people!"

"But... that is..."

"DO IT NOW! BLAST HER!!"

"FINE! I'M SORRY!" Zarius threw his arms forth and the humongous Solar Bomb flew towards the two.

Sapharubi placed her left hand at Cozmi's face. "Hmph, what a worthless gesture. HA!" At this point blank range, a force erupted and tore Cozmi off from her arm. Just as he was blown back, Sapharubi followed through by moving backward and sending Cozmi flying with a back kick to the chest.

"AAAAHHHH!!!"

"COZMI!!"

"NOW, LET'S TRY THIS AGAIN! NOVA ULTRA BLACK ZERO!!" Sapharubi launched her attack just as the Solar Bomb came near. The miniature sun attack shrank and vanished upon making contact with the dark orb.

Zarius' eyes widened in disbelief. "WHAT!?! NOOO!!!" Devoid of any more stamina, his aura of green flames died out. A brilliant purple flash erupted as the dark orb made contact with the ground. "NOOOOOOO!!!!!"

~~~~~

The Present, Wednesday, September 3rd, 2043.

It was the end of summer, and I could not help but look back on my wonderful vacation. To be honest, though, as I took my seat on the jumbo jet with the window on my right and my father and younger sister on my left, I was glad to be leaving the Land Down Under. Living within both hiking and splashing distance of lethal creatures for a month straight could drive anyone paranoid, right? This list included snakes, alligators, crocodiles, freshwater stingrays, and bull sharks, to name a few. And not to mention, I could have sworn that I heard the hissing of snakes near my room on that first night in July... and every other night after that.

When I did ask the various hotel staff about it, they all succinctly replied, "It's a secret."

Hey, you do not have to believe me; I was sure that my nightmares were caused by something else, like the wind, or those funky cheese sandwiches the same hotel staff served at supper time, every time. I guess I should not complain too much. At least it was over, and that I had the prospects of High School to look forward to. I swallowed.

I buckled my seatbelt as a Flight Attendant began blabbering about safety protocols. I honestly tried to listen, but after hearing it dozens of times (I had traveled by plane a lot in my life so far), I just settled to look out of the window. I saw an Eagle Air Australia Jumbo parking into Gate-11. The ground crew was scrambling with lightning precision to do their various tasks.

I soon felt the jet I was on start to move, so I rested my head on my father's strong shoulder and lazily said, "Wake me when we arrive, Dad. I'm tired." To add emphasis, I suddenly gave a good yawn.

"No problem son; sleep tight," his deep voice replied. I closed my eyes as I felt him slipping his arm over the back of my head to support me. Safe and warm, I began to drift into sleep. The last thing I felt before my world went dark was the jet speeding down for takeoff, which resulted in powerful G-forces that held me glued to my seat.

~~~~~

I opened my eyes to my worst possible nightmare. Every single seat was crawling with icky, legless lizards. There was no one but me and a Flight Attendant. She was being strangled to death by a large, lengthy boa. Her features were an unhealthy shade of purple and her eyes were already white. I did the only logical thing a 13-year-old in my shoes would have done. At the top of my lungs, I screamed, "SNAKES!!"

~~~~~

I felt a large hand cover my mouth. "Calm down, Bill! We have arrived!" said my father's voice in a hurried tone. I stopped screaming and looked around. An overwhelming number of eyes were upon me as if I were insane. And I could not blame them, either. Not many people disturbed the peace on an airplane, after all. But as you could see, I was not very fond of snakes.

Business resumed soon enough though as the line began forming and moving again. I sighed as my father removed his hand. In a caring voice, he asked, "Another nightmare?" I nodded absently. "It is alright. We're home. Come on son; let us get going."

"Okay, Dad." I undid my buckle and got up from my seat. I followed him and my sister along the aisle. Looking ahead, it appeared to me that the line had no end. Our flight was a 500 passenger Eagle Air Talon-064 Jumbo. My Dad, sister and my seats were somewhere near the middle of the 2nd floor arrangement. We were walking towards the rear exit. 'Oh my... Getting off of this jet will take a while,' I thought. 'I know I'm not a five year old, but my feet are already killing me.'

"Please keep moving along in an orderly fashion," a Flight Attendant would say every now and then, along with more protocol which I settled to drone out. It was the fastest way through this torture. I just focused on Dad's ever present back.

Within 25 minutes of walking, we arrived at Customs and Immigration. We went through the routine of showing our passports, filling out forms, passing out clothes and hand luggage through the scanner, filling out more forms, receiving our suitcases and then finally making our way towards the parking lot. That was a lot of walking, all of the back and forth included.

"Bill, I told you that you shouldn't have watched that "Snakes on A Plane" Movie!" admonished my know-it-all sister, Ameera. I sighed as I looked out from the car window.

West Sun International Airport was far behind as we were making our way home. Mom had been waiting for us at the parking lot with our white sedan. She had been unable to get any vacation in time for her to come with us to Australia. It would be a not-too-long drive home, and I was already exhausted thanks to the flight.

"I know, Sis, I know," I replied after a while. "But it was really cool, and totally worth it!"

All I heard from her was, "Tsk, tsk, tsk."

"Come on you two. Be nice," admonished Salyne Punjabé, our mother. Dad's name was Sandrique. And that was us, the Punjabé family. My parents hailed from the seaside city of Goa, India, but my sister and I were born and raised right here in this fairly new country of Santa Pyre. By 'new', I meant in comparism to the rest of the world. Only our late older brother Enrique was from India. We all had peach brown skin and manageable dark hair. Ameera possessed Mom's shoulder length hair, while I had my Dad's bowl shape of a miniature forest. Our hair was quite thick for males and we have never cut it fully. We could even hide coins in our hair!

Allow me to take the time to tell you about the country. Santa Pyre was a large island country founded on February 20th 2022 by Sir Arthur Midian. Since it was only 21 years old, the vast majority of its adults were immigrants from a wide variety of countries, insomuch that we had a melting pot of culture. Our capital was known as Saint Pyre. My family lived in village called Brown Hills. Santa Pyre had three villages, four towns, four cities and one suburban housing area. Santa Pyre's wildlife consisted only of introduced species and migratories, but there were also a few native plants found nowhere else on Earth. Late in 2025, our economy had become established on the mining and exporting of a special element with unique properties that was discovered in early 2021, and could only be found here to our knowledge.

Oh, I was putting you to sleep? That is okay; I did not like history either. It was pretty boring to me.

Anyway, seeking to amuse myself after a good while of our drive home, I asked, "Are we there yet?"

"We are just entering Brown Hills, Bill," answered Dad. Mom was driving, however, as the car was hers.

"It won't be too long anymore," said Mom. I saw her smiling in the rear veiw mirror.

*****

It was around two o'clock when I stepped out of our white Toyota sedan onto slightly mossy concrete. I could not recall when was the last time that our driveway had gotten a power wash. Assuming my parents knew what that was anyway.

The sun was pretty high up there in that perpetually clear sky, only two hours past his zenith. I looked around me and beheld the same lumpy brown and green land. Brown Hills was so named due to the abundance of the native Pyre Plants; tall trees whose leaves were brown on top and green below. In bloom their flowers were shaped like maple leaves in an arrangement of five bright red petals, hence the name Pyre (fire). Although, the 'pyre' mostly referred to combustible materials rather than fire itself.

I turned to the car and helped Ameera pull our large, shared suitcase out of it and across the lawn over to the front door. Mom was already unlocking it, and she then went back to help Dad with the unloading of the other things. Ameera and I took in that fresh peach pine scent the floors gave off as we made our way across it to a flight of stairs.

Up we went, took the left, past big Bro's old room, and finally arrived at ours. I opened the door and we stepped into a room split in half. On my half, the wall paper was Blue Winged Teal ducks and White Angorra Rabbits, and on Ameera's side was pink hearts against a simple white background. From the door to the wall was a dividing white line. It was a big room. Do not get me wrong; we loved each other. It was just a reminder of our mutual agreement to keep the peace.

What peace, you ask? If you really must know: we used to be on such opposite wavelengths that any clash of opinion between would result in some very loud household-disturbing warfare. A simple sibling rivalry, you say? Perhaps. Regardless, our parents had ended that a few years ago, so it was all good nowadays. "ME FIRST!!" we shouted simultaneously. As you could see, we would jinx now and then, but only few and far between.

"After you," I said with what I presumed to be a gentleman's smile.

"Why, thank you!" Ameera replied, with a little too much enthusiasm, thus killing my vibe. She dug out her things, and then I dug out mine. I went to my bed and worked wearily to put everything away before practically throwing myself unto the bed. I was way too tired to think about food, and that was a contradiction in itself. I closed my eyes and, before long, fell into a deep sleep. I did not wake up until the very next day.

*****

September 4th.

I woke up with a burning hunger that Thursday morning. I jumped out of bed, cover flying, and rushed out the bedroom door. The aroma of bacon and eggs led me down the stairs in a haphazard rush to the kitchen table. Everyone was already seated, so I sat down carefully before greeting a rushed, "Good morning, all."

"Good morning, son," answered Father, putting down his newspaper.

"Glad you could make it," jeered Ameera.

"Now, now, Ameera." Mom then looked to her husband. "Sandrique-Dear, won't you say grace over the meal this morning?" she asked.

"By all means," replied Dad. We bowed our heads and he said grace. When he was done, "OK, dig in, everyone!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" I replied as I dug in like a horse was after me. I finished my breakfast of toast, fried eggs, bacon and orange juice in no time flat. "Seconds, please!"

My parents exchanged glances before taking my plate and serving me a second helping. This one I ate more slowly, taking my time to enjoy the meal. When I was done, I passed the plate to Mom. She took everyone else's and went to the sink. Ameera got up to go help her.

When the doorbell suddenly chimed, Dad went back to his newspaper and motioned for me to get the door. I complied, hoping that it was the person I thought it would be. I opened the door. It was him "Sammy!" I cried.

"Yo, Bill! Long time no see!"

Meet Samuel Fuller, my best friend and partner in crime. While I was the calm, meticulous thinker, he was the fun-loving mischief maker. I was only two months older than him. The two of us had been into all kinds of scraps. And with High School just on the horizon, you could be sure that even more adventures were waiting just ahead.

"How was Australia?" he asked. "See anything scary?"

"Scary visited my window every night at the hotel!" I replied in hyperbole.

"No kidding!?" As usual, he took my exaggeration seriously. Though, I did have a close encounter with a tiny species of scorpion. It was on my bed when I was going to turn in for the night. I do not believe that I could ever scream loudly like that ever again. The entire hotel was disturbed...

"Anyway, Australia was great. Kangaroos are awesome! How was your summer?"

"Eh, could've been better, could've been worse." He tried to speak with indifference. That told me that his summer was horrible. He probably spent the whole excruciating August at his Grandma's, the poor guy.

I rested a comforting palm on his shoulder. "You have my sympathies, man."

He brushed my hand aside. "Enough about the past; let's talk about the future!"

"Ah yes, I guess you're right," I remarked. "We're in the big leagues now. High school's just around the corner!"

"Just think about all of the pranks we're gonna pull! The possibilities are endless!" There were stars in his eyes. I sighed, shaking my head. Middle school had taught him nothing, squat, zilch.

I decided to lay down the law. "Not this time, bud. The two of us are going to work hard and keep a low profile!" Sammy just stared at me as if I were mad. I then saw the need to expound further. "We have got stricter odds this time around. And we have to start thinking about our future. Our REAL future," I stressed when I caught his grin, which then turned into a frown.

"Yes Rabbi Punjabé, your wisdom exceedeth the heavens," he replied in his favorite way of mocking me. "Anyway, I'll see you around."

"You're leaving already?"

"Unfortunately, I came with my Big Sis. She's only given me a short time limit in which to do my business here." He stepped aside in order to clear away my confusion. I simply looked ahead. Standing on the side facing the house of a red car, tapping her foot impatiently, with wavy long hair, was Samuel's pretty older sister, Samantha. I waved sheepishly and she smiled as she waved back.

"Hi, Bill!" she called. Then she took up texting on her phone as she apparently just received a message.

I turned to Sammy. "Ah, I see. Well, see you in school, Bud. Only four days left. Take care." We fist pumped.

"Later, Bill," he replied as he left. I watched them drive off, and then shut the door behind me. I went back to the kitchen.

"I sense great things in your future, son," said my father in his sagely voice, causing me to pause before the table. "If you say you are going to work hard, then I will work twice as hard as before! Tell you what, if you get straight 'A's on your first term, then I will buy you your very first laptop! How does that sound?"

I turned to look at my father in disbelief. The same man who had outright refused to buy me a Smartphone for the upcoming Christmas. Was I in some parallel universe or something? "Dad... that would be... That would be so awesome!" But something struck me. "But Dad, how would you be able to afford one? A Smartphone is a lot cheaper," I pointed out. My Dad was an accountant for a large chain of supermarkets around the country. He worked in the Verdant Mountains Village, a good drive just north of Brown Hills.

"Just keep your end of the bargain, and leave the rest to me, son," he replied with a wink and a thumbs-up. A very good sign; my father was democratic and workable like that. "There is only one extra condition."

My heart sank a little. "And what would that be?" I asked, trying hard to conceal my fears.

"You have to allow your darling sister to do her research on it from time to time. Your mother and I have already discussed it."

So that explained it. Father's fortnightly salary was only 34 percent of that of Mom's. And Mom's monthly salary was pretty ridiculous, not that I was complaining. Between my parents, our bills were always paid in full and on time, while leaving enough cash leftover for the family to live pretty comfortably on. My family seemed a little too perfect, right?

The next part, he whispered conspiratorially, "I am also tired of sharing the house desktop with all three of you! For both our sakes, please do well."

My head fell. I sighed. "Deal, Dad." It was better to take what you could get sometimes. You just never knew how much worse the next option could be. For me, my worst option was having to earn part of the money myself by doing odd jobs. That was a big no-no.