Revenant Slaves Chapter 1: Prologue: The Father

Read chapter 1 of Revenant Slaves by Zee on NovelPedia.

Prologue: The Father A long time ago, our Emperor brought his flame and gifted it to humanity. Instead of honoring that gift, mankind fought over it, unwilling to share in its blessing. So the Emperor’s flame consumed the birthplace of mankind. To keep that folly from repeating, the Emperor led his devoted followers across the stars, abandoning humanity’s first home. - Origins of the Living Flame Part One: The Heretic “She understands, Ibrahim,” Iggor said softly. His hand rose toward Ibrahim’s shoulder, then fell away. “I know. That isn’t the comfort you think it is, Iggor,” Ibrahim replied, not meeting his eyes. Iggor studied him in silence. He looked past the man’s thick dark curls into brown eyes that refused to rise. Ibrahim’s sun-kissed face betrayed the weight in his heart too plainly to hide. “Sarah should go into labor any day now. Are you sure you can’t delay your departure until then?” Iggor asked. It was not the first time they had this conversation. By now, it had become a ritual they repeated the same way. “I… cannot,” Ibrahim said quietly. “If I miss this ship, after everything I’ve seen…” He let out a hollow laugh. “That’s the worst part, Iggor. I don’t even know what the consequences would be.” He fell silent for a moment, then finally met his friend’s gaze. “All I know is that I was set on this path for a reason. We always say the burden of change never rests on one generation alone. That burden is all he would inherit from me.” Iggor bumped a fist lightly against Ibrahim’s chestplate. “A most glorious inheritance if ever there was one,” he said with a weak smile. But even as he said it, he thought of all the men and women who had once listened to those same words from Ibrahim’s lips as they walked to their deaths. They had completely believed in their leader, though none of them had ever seen his face. Iggor diverted the conversation, “So it is to be a boy, then? My congratulations. Does Sarah know the truth of your departure?” “She knows enough.” “Do you trust her with your son?” “More than I trust myself.” “Have you decided on a name?” “Zain.” Iggor gave a slow, satisfied nod. “If you miss the next boarding call, will this whole conversation have been pointless?” That earned a real laugh from Ibrahim. He turned and pulled Iggor into a firm embrace. For a brief moment, he allowed himself that comfort. Then he stepped back. The warmth faded from his face. What remained was something sterner. Harder. “I don the mask, my friend. That is my burden.” Iggor’s eyes shone with tears he refused to shed. “And I stand guard. That is mine.” They held each other’s gaze, then spoke together. “Until we can carry this burden no more.” Ibrahim turned and headed to the landing bay, where a military freighter waited to take him away. Before long, he had left the atmosphere. Then the system itself. Two days after Ibrahim’s departure, on the first day of the 976th year of the Living Flame, Zain cried out for the first time. His mother’s green eyes were soft and steady in a face damp with sweat, loose brown strands of hair clinging to her skin. Still trembling from labor, Sarah held him close and reached into his young, spirited soul, searching for the mark Ibrahim had placed there. It was the same mark she bore. A mark that would ensure he, too, would forever be an outcast of the Empire. Part Two: The Miracle Slave Rain was strapped to a table. She screamed with all her strength and pushed, the leather straps growing taut around her wrists. Her life hadn’t been easy, so she thought she knew pain. She had known nothing, and now only one thought remained: she'd die bringing this damn child into the world. Natural conception was almost unheard of in the mining worlds. Families were a luxury here. The sovereigns had those. The Empire had those. People like her had owners. Rain. The locals thought the name was cursed. For they were a people who lived at the whim of caustic rainstorms and air thickened by ash from the planet's volcan