From the day that I am born, I am branded, distinct from any other boy in my nursery of a few hundred or so. The brand of a large star is pressed on my forehead, then a turban is wrapped around the wound.
"Your greatest asset, young child, your mind is strong, at the rate your heart paces itself, you'll be a great syreline user." Is a phrase that my childhood is plastered with. My first memory involves me crying, the elders in their black and red ritualistic robes, Ministers of the Temple, scarred the part of my eyes where I cried. I learned to never cry again; the salt from my tears seeps into the wounds. No word for sadness, melancholy, depression, despair, or sorrow exists in the Aheian language; the closest being 'Aulli', which translates to desperation.
"The only emotion that you will feel in the temple is joy, joy because you are in the presence of the most high, the LORD, mother Aheia." "The priest of the Temple is named Awe; the city of Awburg is named after him, both of them.
I'm never able to actually meet my father or mother, or confirm that the people I've met are my father and mother. Several people in the temple look just like me, more than likely since we all share a common ancestor, 'Protos Esses', which is a big mythological figure in the Aheian community. He fought dragons out in space until the first Federation cadets captured him.
High Priest Awe has a grand appeasement strategy when it comes to the Federation dipping into our donation bin to pay for wars.
His obsession is looking good; he wants the temple to look good, he wants us to look good. He says, "The good lord wants us to be clean! She needs us to be dressed well, look well, eat well, sleep well–it says so in 4 Loherzal 5:15."
Our temple migrates around often, and we settled outside of the city of Awburg in 29,976, my 14th birthday to be exact.
I meet with several young Jenti my age, my best friend A'roll, his friend Yahflay, and his friend Wondaher. We give each other nicknames. My name is Co'ol, so they just call me Cool. We call A'roll Eggroll, Yahflay is Faye, and Wondaher is Wonder.
A'roll is a young, 176cm tall male, average(for Jenti), born sometime in 29.961, but I never asked. He has these thick bushy eyebrows that remind me of a caterpillar with an aquiline nose, an odd nose structure for a Jenti. A'roll wears mostly dark-colored outerwear, jackets, hoodies, stuff like that, with baggy jeans and sneakers. He wears this pair of brown boots, which he calls the Starman; they're 1400 credits, his family is very well off–his sister Monere works in the Sol system on Earth, pays for her entire family's lifestyle, including getting his driver's license and hover permit 5 years early, his skin is a light ash-gray. My complexion is more of a dim gray, and my turban is white with a yellow spindle on the top. My nose is wide and narrow.
Yahflay was very heavy on the Koudzl; he was an addict, he said the green kept him sane.
That fungus ruined him, and he knew it. We told him to stop, but he was our supplier, so we kinda let him do his thing. Poor soul, poor poor boy.
Yahflay's childhood evidently wasn't so pretty; his father had killed both his sister and his mother before getting sent to a mental asylum three years after Yahflay converted to being Aheian– (a decision I influenced). He was not 'in tune with Syre' as the elders said; he was susceptible to every addiction, problem, and mental health issue under the sun.
Faye, who's slightly overweight, oh who am I kidding, the boy was fat, and very-very-very dark. As dark as the new moon.
Wondaher is a young girl, very pretty. She had this long, flowy black hair she liked to slick back into a pony-tail. She and I got along well. I tied her bonnet at night, and she tied my turban. She and Faye were in a relationship, a very cute and memorable relationship. Don't ask her about that now– she regrets it a lot.
She was very tall, 185cm without shoes, I was 194cm, now a clean 200cm. I was also 50kg, really skinny, a part of the reason I never bothered with sports.
Wonder had this star-shaped emblem on her hand, a birthmark she claimed it to be, but I knew she was an Aheian. We got along because of our shared faith; she was from a poor background. Not as poor as Faye, but not well off like A'roll. Although I was homeless and lived in the temple my whole life up until that point, I still had more money than she did–and we didn't care.
A'roll had bought his first raygun, then bought all of us weapons of his own. Faye had his little airgun, still could kill you though, very underestimated. That peashooter evaporated every target it touched. I owned a gun of my own, double whammy. I modified one of Faye's peashooters and extended the barrel, attaching it to a shotgun A'roll gifted me.
You could hear it firing from across the city. Wonder got herself a revolver. A'roll had all of our weapons and then some. He liked to carry a sawed-off shotgun and a submachine gun.
Now, why did 14-15-year-olds have this type of weaponry? I don't know? It was cool, we did Koudzl at night, then shot things.
Until the high priest Awe found out.
"Co'ol. You're close to killing people, I'm warning you–that sin is only forgivable by Aheia herself, and if the LORD decides you aren't worthy of her grace, you're gone. She reincarnated you into this life so you can be a good Auillan and be guided to eternal paradise." He repeated.
Now, I had it engraved in my mind not to kill; I never would. My friends, on the other hand.
"Cool, we're going to this convenience store to pick up some Koudzl, you and Faye are making sure nobody we don't like tries to sneak on us," A'roll commanded.
A'roll was like our leader, bold and commanding; it doesn't help that his voice was like he was born for that. I had a deep voice, and I was softspoken; I barely spoke at all most days.
"You know Mudern?" Faye asks me, and we sit on the hood of A'rolls' lowrider. He smokes about 3 grams of koudzl, then he grabs a dollar, smoking another 3 grams,
"Yes, why?" I ask.
"He owes me about 5000 credits, we gotta go talk to that 'Janet." He says, putting out the blunt.
"You just wasted 150 dollars of Koudzl, A'roll could've smoked that," I say.
"Ehh, fuck him and fuck you. I'm going to show you why they call me Filet Flay."
"I don't think that's a compliment, Faye," I say, tapping my foot on the ground. "Give me more of your Aheian Wisdom, why don't you!"
Wonder walks out of the convenience store laughing and smiling with A'roll. She's wearing a burgundy jersey.
"So, you said who owes you money?" A'roll laughs.
"Mudern that Ayelole rapper!" Faye exclaims.
"They say Benja the butcher done put a hit on him." Wonder states, grabbing a lighter and lighting a joint of Koudzl.
A'roll starts getting a call from his CivLink.
"Yeah, ma' I'll be home by 3:40–ok, love you bye!" He says, closing the civlink, "Let's go kill somebody! " He says.
Wonder and Faye cheer.
"I don't think we should throw our lives away–you know there's a lot of consequences for murder–some are even beyond your," I'm interrupted by Faye, "They shot Barel back in '75, I promise you it's alright."
"We're dying over directions in our city, man," I say, getting in the car.
"One day, Co'ol, we're gonna get you high," Wonder says, sitting next to me.
I'm the only one in the car not high; A'roll's got these subwoofers that drown out any noise around.
Last time he said we were gonna kill someone, we ended up at a house party where Mudern scammed Faye to begin with.
To my dismay, we're driving to a familiar street. The road where one of our friends, Barel, was shot twice. Once in his neck, and another in his Achilles tendon.
They still own this street; these grown adults brag about killing this teenager to this day.
A'roll gets out of the car, then Wonder, then Faye, then I do.
"Do your Syre magic power bullshit." Faye looks back at me.
"I don't know how to use it!" I say.
The moon is high in the sky, shining its light directly onto this street. The trees are parted and cleared, a calm opening.
Three men step out of a house, one is armed, two are smoking, and three more come out of that house. They light up that driveway with their flashlight built into their phones (Civlink and phone are interchangeable), revealing that this is a house party.
"Perfect." A'roll mutters.
"Who goes to a house party just to cause problems?" Wonder asks.
"Me, I do. I got a boring home-life, okay?!" A'roll fakes crying.
"What's wrong, young woman!" One of those men ran over towards us, his boots smacking the ground and sounding like thunder.
"Get away from me, Bigfoot." A'roll pushes him off.
"Oh, I know you, you're that Vukusi bitch!" He says, laughing.
"We prefer the term, Vavuski." A'roll laughs. He grabs the man by his head and elbows his right cheek, fracturing the bone in it.
A'roll steps back.
"Ow, I didn't think it would hurt."
"Oh, so you wanna act grown?" The man says.
Faye runs around from the back of the Lowrider.
"Aye, do you know where Mudern is at?" He asks.
"Nah, ain't he that Intergalactic Janet in that alien neighborhood?"
"Yeah, he raps too," Faye says.
A'roll grabs a stick and swings it against the back of the man's leg. Wonder runs over there and kicks the side of his temple. The man shakes and collapses on the ground.
We walk into the house party to act like nothing just happened, and it looks like your average house party.
"Let's just steal everything," I say.
"You are against murder but not thievery?" Wonder asks rhetorically.
"I'm with Spindle, let's just take everything," Faye says.
"Nahh–I'm bored, we gotta fight."
I knew at the time they were horrible people while they were high. I still hung around them because I had no friends, nobody liked me, and we were the only Potenes in our school. Opranus is the homeworld of Potenes? How does our school only have 4 Jenti?
A'roll smacks a random dude in the back of the head, who pushes another.
They start fighting, then more people join in on the fight, then more, then the entire room, then half the house.
They eventually start fighting outside.
"That's one of Mudern's hypemen!" Faye says, he throws a table out the window, then walks out the front door. We follow him.
He's tackling a 194cm adult male in a football-style move, and the man falls to the ground. His name is Pressahcooker; his real name is Gunovan Mickitel, a notorious figure known for his numerous gun trafficking charges.
"Aye, tell that Janet Mudern I need my money," Faye says.
Gunovan takes out a switchblade and stabs Faye's hand.
"Fuck!" He exclaims, loud as he can, he reaches in his holster, instantly sobering up before he shoots Gunovan in the face.
"Answer me this, youngblood. Do you not care if you live or die?"
"Man, you stabbed me! The Federation says this is self-defense!" Faye aims his weapon at Gunovan's shoulder, and he fires the air-pressure cannon at it, dislodging it and reducing it to the bone. Gunovan looks at his arm and yells, with technology, he can get a new arm, sure, and it was painless, but the sound made everyone think they just died.
And this shot, apparently, got heard throughout the whole goddamn world, and an entire shootout broke out.
Faye will regret this action, his little outburst will affect the trajectory of our lives.
We met each other in the courtyard at school the day after.
"So, what y'all think about my new car?" A'roll asks.
"I couldn't even tell it was new," I say, laughing.
Wonder laughs; she looks me in the eye and stops laughing. I look back at her, then at the mark on her hand.
She covers it with a textbook.
Joey, an older human boy, walks beside us and then places down some photographs of our guns.
"So–you hollowskulled idiots got some explaining to do."
Faye grabs the paper.
"We live in an age of spaceships and interstellar warfare, and here you are bringing me polaroids of some guns, aye, I oughta put bullets all through your crib," Faye says.
Faye's favorite word is aye, he loves it. He's said so himself.
"And you talk exactly how I expect you to talk."
A'roll runs over behind Joey with a lunch tray and slams it against the side of his face.
Joey slides on the ground, several other boys run over, two record, and another joins in on the fight. A'roll punches the first boy in the chin, one of the ones recording.
He falls to the ground, stopping recording to fight A'roll.
Faye uses all of his body strength from his overly fat body to lift Joey and slam him into the concrete floor of the courtyard.
"Fonky ass," Faye says, turning around as another human sneaks him with a super punch to his nose, breaking it.
Faye headbutts the boy, and a teacher breaks up the fight.
Joey yells.
"I'm Purple HeartK from now on! Fuck y'all and that ass band!"
A'roll clenches his fist.
Those two are escorted off the premises.
Wonder rolls her eyes and looks at me.
"So, I'm trying to get more into Aheia..Wanna talk about it?" She asks.
"Yeah, I can talk for days." I sit on a bench, and Wonder does too.
"What do you wanna learn?" I ask.
"I want to know what's under that turban." She asks, about to lift it.
"You've seen it, my bald head," I say.
"Man, all Jenti men are bald, I'm talking about your forehead." I lift the turban, finally appealing to her.
"Oh, a cool scar," she says
"I thought you'd hate me for having it, like the last girl I met."
"Why would I do that?" She says.
Faye walks out of the principal's office, snickering, and A'roll follows behind him.
"We just got 5 days off school!" Faye laughs.
"You got suspended?" I ask.
"No! We got suspended."
Let's fast forward a little, A'roll's 15th birthday bash, the afterparty.
Wonder walks with Faye down to the local Coffee shop to pick up A'roll's sister's order.
"Co'ol I know how we can make quick cash." He says, putting his newly gifted guitar on the table.
"What?" I say.
"We can make music. And sell drone parts–think about it!" I stand up.
"First, it was the Purple Heart gang B.S, we have beef with everybody in the city now! I'm done with your get-rich-quick schemes."
Faye walks through the door with cups of Coffee, and we sit down in a booth.
"Did Mudern ever get you your money?" Wonder asks Faye.
Faye looks around, then at his CivLink.
"No, he did not! And today marks 1 year since Mudern owed him that money.
Wonder goes home, the morning after A'roll shows up at my temple.
"Hello? What is it?" I ask him as he stands in the doorway of my room.
"Mudern has to die. A man like him has no place in this world, he's a womanizer, he's a murderer, and worst, he makes dogshit music!" A'roll says.
"And what do you want me to do about it?" I ask him.
A'roll looks around.
"We have to kill that pussy." A'roll extends his arm, then reaches into his pocket. He hands me my raygun.
"The holy book–" I'm interrupted.
"You just don't wanna be excommunicated, you don't wanna be church hurt, is that it? He killed our friends, he kills children, he violates women, what more proof do you need?" Faye walks into my room. "And lastly. He owes me some money." Faye puts his foot down.
"Yeah, like that's meant to convince me," I say.
"Jenti, we're gonna kill him. We made this decision last night; whether you are there or not doesn't matter. We gotta kill this guy." A'roll pleads.
"And what's in it for me?" I ask, rolling my eyes.
"5000 credits for Faye, 1399 for me, 4000 for you. And everything in his house." A'roll states.
"Shit, I don't have anything else to do." I snicker.
"You talk like Michael Jackson, dude." Faye laughs, and all of us laugh, walking out of the temple.
We get into A'roll's car, and he begins playing this rapper Featherrich, he's some mediocre artist from the Orion arm, something of that nature.
"I had this crazy dream last night," Faye opens his mouth, looking at the window, and he turns towards me.
"What was it?" I ask him.
"I was walking or running down this road, it was all dark and night-like, then I got struck by lightning. Once in the back and another in my thigh, and once I fell, two people in masks stood over me and poked me, and I felt all of that shit too–that hurt like something else. I was screaming and ended up falling out of the bed! " He laughs.
A'roll brakes his car, Faye slams face forward into the headrest of the passenger seat, and gets this noticeable scar.
"We're at his house." A'roll looks around, and they step out of the vehicle.
This is a rich gated community, no Jenti but Mudern and his clique live here.
His human neighbor peeks over the fence into his yard.
"Of course, Mudern isn't home." Faye walks back to the front of the house.
One of the neighbors hops over the fence holding a metal pipe.
"Hey, does Mrs Kifle and her son Mudern know any of you?" He asks. He's an Earthling, he's got a short bowlcut with a very long beard, and one of his eyebrows is shaved.
"I know if he doesn't give us our money, we're gonna punch buttons all through this hellhole," A'roll says.
The neighbor raises his metal pipe, swinging it at A'roll, who dodges it.
A'roll barely fought with his hands up to this point; he was scrawny, 59 kg while wet, but a majority of his bodyweight was muscle.
The earthling steps back, watching A'roll reach into his trenchcoat.
Instead of a gun, he takes out a bottle of pepper spray and sprays it all over the earthling's face, who squirms in pain.
Faye grabs his metal pipe out of his hands as he squirms and squeals like a pig on the ground and hits his ribcage repeatedly.
"Oh, heavenly mother, please forgive me! For I have committed the grave crime of harming another lifeform! Bless me with your forgiveness, please, mother!" He says whilst beating on the earthling.
A'roll pulls something out of his trunk.
"I got it some years ago." He says,
The earthling pleads, A'roll has an orange ball of something in his hands.
"No! Don't! Please no!" He exclaims, "You'll burn the whole neighborhood down!"
A'roll throws the bomb through the front window of the Kifle residence, lighting it ablaze. We leave before anyone is called. We did forget to wear masks, but that's no worry–we all look exactly alike to a human. Besides, maybe Faye, but that's because he's a little large, a little hefty.
We drive away. 6 hours later, and we're across the state. Usually, after we do something large, we kinda just drive and drive.
For the past 5 of those hours, this black hovercar has followed behind ours. Closely, almost bumper to bumper, through backroads, alleyways that only we know. We stop at this diner, 'Maebi's vintage diner.'
It smells like cigarette smoke. There is just a sidewalk and an empty lot of concrete-filled land beside it. There used to be a bustling city here, and now only a cafe is left; the sun's about to go down, and we all decided we would let him keep the money rather than keep trying to get it.
Especially after we–I don't know why I'm saying we, A'roll burnt his whole house down.
"Well, we failed," A'roll says.
"If we didn't, we'd be in jail right now," I remark.
"A roll, I got family out here, I'll tell them to come pick me up, don't worry about driving me home."
"Alright, man. See you." I wave.
I'm eating the only Aheian compliant food they have at this diner, a plate of fries with a side of ketchup.
I dip my fry into the ketchup, I look up, and A'roll is looking out the window.
This black car that had followed us for the past five hours stops abruptly upon seeing Faye.
One man steps out wearing these bright colors, orange and green.
He raises his voice really loud before reaching into his holster.
"Fatboy! Where are you going?" The man's voice is deep and booming; we can hear it from the diner.
Faye turns around and runs down the sidewalk, and the man and several others chase him. Around seven people.
Including a familiar human, very familiar–he was that nimrod A'roll, and Faye jumped earlier,
"Co'ol! Co'ol, we gotta help him!"
We stand and run out of the diner without paying.
"Y'all are gonna pay for this, right?" The waiter says, looking out the front door. A'roll throws a bag of Koudzl on the ground.
Faye can run fast for someone of his size, and really long to. He ran for 4 blocks, made a right, ran 8 blocks, then another right. He stopped, and they were still after him; not a single one of them looked tired. Faye ran into a wall of a house. The house's lights were on, but nobody was home.
"Riko! Riko! Riko!" He jumps up and down, and he turns and faces the crowd of seven people.
One of them grabs him by his shirt, then kicks him in the belly. The human raises his metal pipe over his head and slams Faye's back. The pipe makes a loud boing.
Faye yells.
"A Jenti won't die from a pipe! We're more durable than that." One of the crowd members says, handing someone wearing a bright blue bomber jacket a ray gun.
A'roll stops.
"Co'ol." A'roll looks at the crowd.
"What?" I ask.
"We can't help him. " He says.
We caught up to the crowd, and one of them turned around.
"Go on, spindle! This doesn't concern you!" He turns back around.
They're jumping, Faye, stomping on him, beating him, one of them stabs him in the shoulder, and another in the thigh.
He stands up and tries to run away from them, but of course, that doesn't work.
Yahflay is shot in the back once, twice in his neck, and once in his heel. He falls, twitching, before he's shot another time in the knee.
Yahflay winces, and he says something.
"I'm sorry."
Yahflay never apologized; nobody in our group did, but me, actually.
The human holds Faye down with a pipe.
"You wanted to act grown." Says a very recognizable voice, Mudern's to be exact.
They then shoot several cartridges into and at Yahflay. The group leaves him at the doorstep of the house, and he's slumped over, covering his belly.