Page 1 of When Eden Falls

P A R TO N E

The Myth

C h a p t e rO n e

It was a myth, but the question was, how much of this ancient myth was fundamentally true?

It was said the human race originated from a distant planet called Earth. Three thousand years ago, our species fled the planet Earth to find salvation from the demons who killed everything and spared nothing. Images of savage beasts with multiple eyes and deadly fangs filled our ancient texts, with claims they emerged as a punishment from the Gods for mankind’s century long mistake. Towns and cities were brought down, food supply became non-existent. The people were left with no choice but to leave to search for a new home.

They searched the cosmos for centuries, finally discovering a habitable planet in a red dwarf star system. For those who survived the endless search in the darkness, years of suffering followed. Years full of disease and hunger, where primal instinct became a necessity. Only the fittest survived. Only the warriors who called themselves the Nux triumphed against the odds and were able to create a new world. My world—Allura.

To a species whose average life expectancy was sixty-eight years of age, three thousand years was an eternity. The context of any story could’ve been distorted in that time. I had often wondered if the myth only existed to justify why we honoured the ancient Nux temples scattered throughout our two continents. On Allura, everywhere you travelled the temples were identical. Circular sanctuaries made from black Alluran stone, with high pitched roofs and heavily inscribed walls. Even though the Alluranpeople were now segregated into five nations, we all worshipped the Nux; the warriors who delivered us salvation when humanity faced its darkest years.

I sat at the helm of the Alluran Solarfleet ship, The Orka, staring at the small figurine of a Nux warrior sitting in the centre of the control panels. For as long as I had flown with Rooke Maddox, this tiny figurine was always kept visible on the bridge. His black boots and gold painted armour glistened in the artificial light. A golden sword scaled down his back with an archer’s bow slung over his shoulder. His facial features barely distinguishable from years of wear and tear. When and where Rooke had originally got it from, I didn’t know, but its presence was meant to give the crew the courage and motivation to continue our task, to succeed, to thrive.

I was reaching for that inspiration now. Deep down I felt unnerved, restlessly apprehensive. This mission was like no other. Never before had a Solarfleet crew been permitted to exit the safety of the Alluran solar system. No crew had ever been assigned to a task without a definitive directive.

The Alluran Solarfleet was primarily used to transport employees and mining produce to and from the several mined moons and asteroids orbiting our sun. Vessels like The Orka were used for research missions to study the potential for said mineral mining, whilst others scouted the edges of the solar system, checking for approaching comets or other potentially catastrophic entities. But no ship had ever ventured outside of the safety zone…

That was, until now.

Six months ago, one of our scouting ships went missing. One month later, their distress signal was picked up. And somehow, five months following that discovery, here I was, piloting The Orka across the depths of space, tracing that very same distress signal. Where we were going, we had no idea. We only knew the signal had stopped moving and we were getting closer.

“Looks like we’ve cleared the asteroid field.”

The tenor voice startled me out of my trance. I looked across the control computers and met a pair of young, friendly brown eyes. Troy MacIntosh, my co-pilot.

I glanced towards the driving window, only darkness and billions of twinkling stars met my gaze. “There didn’t seem to be many.”

“There wasn’t.” Troy tapped on a screen in front of him. “We seem to be approaching the signal fast now. I estimate only another fourteen hours and we’ll be on top of it.”

I walked around the dozens of screens towards him. “Judging by how the signal disappears every eight to twelve hours, I’m starting to believe it’s on a planet or moon.” We both surveyed the charting data in front of us. “Where the hell are we, Troy?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. The more I think about it, the more this feels like a disturbing horror story.”

I grimaced. “Don’t start scaring the crap out of me. I’m already questioning my decision to join Rooke on this mission.” My current nightmares weren’t helping either.

The sound of footsteps scurrying along the metallic floor echoed through the bridge doorway. We both looked up as Cora entered holding a thick, hard covered book. Wearing the standard blue-grey jumpsuit, her curly golden hair neatly pulled back, her light green eyes shone with excitement. Stopping between Troy and myself, she placed the old book on the flat surface before us. “I think I know where we are.” Her pretty face beamed, glancing between us.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, genuinely baffled.

“We’ve just passed through a barrier of sparsely segregated asteroids, yes?”

“Yes.”

“And over the last couple of days we’ve passed two gas giants. One being a bright planet with a dividing ring, the other with red and orange stripes.”

“Yes.” I looked at Troy, who was frowning at Cora.

She smiled, opening the book up to a marked page. An illustration of a red, white, and orange planet, with a brown-red swirling spot in the southern hemisphere, dominated the faded paper. “I’ve looked closely at the images The Orka took whilst scanning the area, and they are the exact replica of this planet. The other was further away, but it clearly resembles this planet.” Sheturned the page, displaying a yellow planet with a thin but wide ring.

Peering at the pages, both Troy and I were still baffled. Cora jumped on the spot. Her young eyes filling with overzealous excitement. “This solar system was charted thousands of years ago. This is the ancient Sol system.”

I straightened up and loosed a breath. “Cora, are you sure? They could be two very similar looking planets.”

“The characteristics are exact. And meeting the asteroid ring was too much of a coincidence to deny this logic.” She pointed to another page showing the layout of the planets orbiting a yellow dwarf star. A ring of asteroids sat in between planetary orbits of Mars and Jupiter. “We are currently flying through the orbital line of Mars. I have no doubt about it, we are heading towards Earth.”

I rubbed the back of my neck, unnerved by the discovery. “And you’re certain?”