3030 – Saron Bravewind stared at the grey brick ceiling in the darkness. The fire that spread orange, red and yellow light throughout the room was now dying to an ember. The position of the moon meant it was the middle of the night, only a few hours until morning.
He had been trying to figure out the cause of the commotion that spread across his kingdom. In one night, all of the crops in the land had been marked with the same strange symbol: a winged jet resembling a lizard-like creature, composited over a strange hybrid like that of a man and a wolf hunched over Earth. He couldn’t figure out what it meant or who could have created it. No man has ever been
beyond the Earth’s atmosphere since the year two thousand and four. Since he was a little boy, he had wanted to venture to the stars. He heard stories during the age of technology of how man sent machines to record data as they learned about other planets in the solar system. Not long after this ‘space age’ funding for space discovery stopped due to loss of money and the increase of greed in its investors.
Money. He chuckled to himself at the notion of paper having value. Even over another human’s life, as some believe.
The time would come when he would enter the stars to explore. His ship would be ready soon enough once the repairs were finalized and he would find the answers he needed. All would be well in the morning, as it should be.
He pulled his wife, Jacina onto his bare chest and inhaled the vanilla almond scent of her dark hair, splayed across her cinnamon brown shoulders. He held her close to him and in minutes, his mind finally rested enough to fall into slumber.
The next morning, Saron stood amidst the cool greenery of the landscape that decorated the exterior of the palace. He nodded at the palace guard who wore white silk around his thick waist and the Bravewind insignia of a lion on a gold band around his neck. He admired the silk material that was created in a village not far from the castle and held the guards that wore it as his highest command. Once he dismissed the guard, he turned back to the beauty that stood before him.
The design was of a steel-like material never used before. The exterior was sleek and well defined in the shape of a silver bird. He circled the ship and looked upon it as a proud father would upon his newborn child. The thrusters sat on each end while the front pointed toward the skies.
He looked up at the fields ahead and saw his young daughter, Saria, playing. Her long black hair flowed behind her like a sheet of silk. She was a mixture of both his wife and his lineages. A proud ancestry that reached back to the beginning of the western civilization before the industrialization of the lands and people. Now, Saron rebuilt a war torn nation when there was barely life. In the past, he would have caused an uproar when he took the hand of an African princess who’s own lineage was hanging by the thread of the former world before the wars. Today, their differences were nonexistent while their union was more than beneficial to the survival of their nation. He smiled as he looked upon the result of the union of him and his wife.
Saria’s skin was a soft light beige tint that glowed under the yellow sun. He saw himself in her visage and his wife in her hazel eyes and fiery spirit. Her laughter was like a soothing melody to his ears. She had been ailing previously during the past weeks and he was overjoyed to finally see her out and playing again.
He peered up at the window near the top of the rectangular castle-like structure. The fortress, like many of the new structures, harkened back to the ancient days before the war. Its mixture of societies: Ancient Egyptian, the Far East, Medieval Europe wove into every aspect of the people of Orland’s lives. This was a great symbol of their progression and he was proud to be their leader.
Just then the silhouette of a woman in blue silk stood in the open brick window, bringing him out of his thoughts. He smoothed out his tunic and proceeded back to the fortress as a smile crossed his lips.
*****
Praise for The Eye of Alloria
"This book has a beautiful dedication. I was moved by that alone. Next, I must say that Rae Lindley has a wonderful imagination. This is an incredible tale. I have been reading genre fiction since the 1970s and this is something new. Also, the artwork here, by Rachel Lindley belongs in a gallery.
The story is bound to move you as Saron and his family, as well as our Earth itself, encounter obstacles you will not believe.
Rae Lindley covers both Fantasy and Science Fiction with this tale and uses
a new voice with entirely fresh ideas."
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