We, The Dreamers (Short Story Collection) Chapter 1: Story 1: Sapio Love

Read chapter 1 of We, The Dreamers (Short Story Collection) by Mercynarie on NovelPedia.

Writing Prompt: A young princess falls for the castle’s stable boy, but their love is forbidden by the social hierarchy that separates them. They must find a way to be together without betraying their duties. Will they dare to defy conventions and forge their destiny, or will fate separate them forever? Genre: Sci-Fi/Romance ~ ~ ~ As the mansion loomed over the copper horizon, strikingly red stone gleamed in the suns’ similarly coloured hue. Though born of different mothers, twin shadows danced with each other in perfect harmony. The two aged suns, each in their own opposite corners of the sky, kept the land of Auroma in a perpetually dim morning. Dozens of octagonal windows glinted, every one of them kept pristine clean by the palace cleaners. The metallic servants scurried around tirelessly, removing even the slightest hint of contamination with their sonic cleaning brushes. Near the courtyard, a trio of towers stood watch, facing their weapons towards the sparse droplets of stars some few million light-years away. They stood firm, sterner than the most grizzled soldier, more unyielding than the fiercest royal guard. And yet they were still powerless against what was about to come. Ariana hovered gracefully down the steps, ignoring the automated greetings of the gate guards. Her father had granted her one last wish to roam the castle grounds freely, and she was not about to squander that chance. She could feel the plasma liquid surging through her now. Its flow rate was quicker than usual, and the mechanical gizmo in the middle of her chassis pumped harder in response to her rising emotions. Her huge house looked over her shoulder as the princess descended to another floating asteroid. Unlike the castle, these miniature islands were not held together by artificial gravitational suspension. To many others, that was no surprise, for only the highest class of citizens in the Alpha Centauri empire was granted access to the best technology. But to Ariana, it was a fact she utterly detested. She looked at her glassy hands with mild disgust yet again as her hoverpads greeted the crimson soil of the terraformed asteroid. Humanity was the most beautiful when left pure, she had always believed, and not when fitted with so many cybernetic enhancements. It was a pity that most of her kind did not think that way, and only welcomed the implants as a further way to distinguish the high from the lower social class. A herd of android horses came into view. Ariana broke into a wide smile; he had not retired for the evening. “Greetings, Princess Ariana.” The man before her placed one of his bendable limbs on the ground and kept his head low as though searching for something on the ground. Ariana chuckled. The mannerisms of Eld were odd but endearing all the same. “Please, Sergius.” She gestured for him to stand back up. “Are we strangers newly met? Must you insist on the formalities?” Sergius chuckled as well, though he did so by exhaling small amounts of air instead of using a vocal cord speaker as she did. “Ariana, the day is not yet over.” The smile vanished from Sergius’s face. “If we get caught like this again—” “It’s alright, my love. This is the first and last time I have been permitted to meet you.” Ariana placed her hand on Sergius’s cheek. It felt soft and warm, like the rest of his body when they would snuggle under his roof, where the light could not reach them. He would close his eyes for a long time and remain motionless as if dead, but still breathing. An ancient but inefficient technique that early humans used to recharge before the invention of neural charging stations. “That soon, huh?” Sergius said softly as water leaked out from the corner of his eyes. “How much time do we have?” “The Xaelaens are no more than a light year away.” The Princess looked up at the sky. So few stars have been left in the wake of these galactic nomads’ bloodlust. So many civilisations had risen to challenge them, only for them to be devoured whole