Chronicles of the Kiridians

For it is written in the Chronicles of the Kiridians:

There is a cavern that holds the secrets of eternal life.

Many will try to obtain, but only a few will achieve the goal

Great sacrifices await the one who obtains such a gift

Is the final cost worth the reaping of the benefits?

“PUT ME DOWN, EDWIN!” I scream as my siblings rush me down the hall. The lights are dim, and I can barely see the paintings of my ancestors on the walls or the uniquely decorated wooden boards that line the floors. “This isn’t funny anymore! I’m not having a good time!” I shriek. The plush red carpet underfoot makes hustling through these halls easy for them. My loud voice, however, makes it much harder to sneak out of the castle. “I SAID: PUT. ME. DOWN.”

“No can do, sis,” says Brodie as he runs behind Edwin. He and Anya are blocking any path I have to escape if I manage to wriggle out of Edwin’s firm grip around my torso. “Although you’re making us question it a bit right now, we love you too much to leave you with that evil dictator.”

We round the corner and end up on the south side of the palace, also known as the exit. If I’m planning on staying here now is the time to make a move. “I WILL NOT BE TAKEN AWAY FROM THIS PALACE!” I scream at the top of what my lungs will allow. “PUT ME DOWN IMMEDIATELY!”

“Ed, are the pods ready?” asks Anya, ignoring me, “I would hate to have gone through all this trouble only to not get out of here,”

“I readied them last night,” Edwin says as I struggle and kick. I manage to kick him a few good times in his stomach, which brings me some joy, but not enough for him to let me go.

“Okay, good,” exclaims Anya as she stops at the door at the end of the hallway and throws it open. “You’re sure you know how to drive these things? Pods aren’t easy to function and you’re barely just learning how to drive a single-”

“Let me worry about the driving,” quips Edwin. “You worry about how we shut Raina up.”

“I WILL NOT BE TREATED LIKE A TROUBLE MAKER!” I shout again. “YOU’RE LITERALLY KIDNAPPING ME!”

“You know, you’d think your voice would be hurting by now,” says Brodie as he looks at me with a mixed expression of both impressiveness and annoyance, “Ray, we’re doing this for your safety! Stop being a brat and shut up.”

“BUT I’M A PRINCESS. PRINCESSES BELONG IN THE CASTLE!”

“You’re not the only royalty here, Raina,” begins Anya, “but we can’t let him achieve what he’s after! He’s turned into a mon-”

“DON’T YOU DARE SIT THERE AND DISHONOR THE NAME OF OUR FATHER!” I squeal as we finally make our stop in front of one of the pods. It’s a machine comprised of five circular containers that are linked together. Each pod is big enough for one person, and it has all the luxuries of travel that one needs. Down to a restroom.

Anya walks over to one of the pods and presses the open button. An air release is sounded as the ceiling of the pod lifts to reveal an opening big enough for one person to enter. She crawls into the space and closes the latch behind her, ushering for our brothers to hurry and get me situated.

Brodie walks over to another pod and opens it. He motions for Edwin to put me in it, but before they have a chance to do anything I spring into action.

I kick Edwin in the stomach, this time with all the force I have, and drop to the ground. I quickly pick myself up and begin to sprint towards the door leading back into the many hallways my siblings ran through to get out of the palace. Anya’s voice fills the room as I run past the door. “CATCH HER!” she screams.

I hear Edwin and Brodie call out to me. They plead for me to come back before it’s too late. Maybe if Brodie had gotten more of a head start, he could have caught me, but now, I am simply too far away. I round the hallways that lead to my wing of the palace as my brothers continue to chase me down the various corridors. When I arrive at my bedroom, my caretaker is already there looking for me. I close the door quickly and turn to her, exasperated.

“Ms. Raina! What are you still doing here?!” she asks me. I run over to her and embrace her in a hug tight enough to squeeze all of the oxygen out of her. I gasp for air as I pull away and sink to the ground. I can’t remember the last time I’ve had to run that fast.

“Oh, Nana!” I utter. “You have to stop them! Edwin, Anya, and Brodie are trying to get me into a pod to run away! I can’t leave! This is my home. Father needs us!” Nana opens up her mouth to respond, but before she’s able to speak Edwin and Brodie come crashing into the room and grab hold of my arms. I scream and pull free of their grip and run around to the other side of Nana, pushing her forward toward my brothers. “Please, help me!” I shout as I grip onto her pajama shirt. “I don’t want to leave.”

“Ms. Raina, I know this all seems very confusing,” whispers Nana as she turns to face me. She reaches her hand up to my head and begins to stroke my hair. She used to do this every night when I was a kid to help me fall asleep. Even now, in the event of a pure crisis, I feel the familiar comfort that this simple gesture brings. “I know that you’re scared and that you don’t believe what your brothers found, but I just can’t risk it. I love you kids too much...”

She pulls out a syringe from her pajama pocket and continues to stroke my hair. “I had assumed that you would be difficult. I know that you’re a very fiery and stubborn young girl,” I look at her warily as she prepares the syringe, backing away quickly as I realize it’s not for her, but for me.

“You can’t be a part of this!” I whine as I try to make a run for the door.

Edwin and Brodie grab hold of me, this time gripping tight enough to leave a bruise. “I love you, Ms. Raina, please remember that,” Nana says as she injects the syringe into my neck.

I stand there in pure shock and wait for the drugs to take effect, and for a brief second I’m hopeful that Nana tricked my brothers and didn’t inject me with anything; my hopes are shattered when my vision starts to get fuzzy and my body begins to feel very heavy, slumping over as I stand. I fight the drugs that are circulating my system, willing them to exit my body as I plead with myself not to give out.

“Did you dose her correctly?” asks Edwin. “Shouldn’t she be down by now?”

“Yes, I gave her the correct dosage, your majesty,” says Nana assuringly. “As we said, your sister is a very stubborn young woman.”

Their voices dance in and out of my ears as they sound entirely too close, or very far away. I look at all of them one last time as my body starts to give in to the drugs and I fall to my knees, fighting the droopiness of my eyelids.

“Nana...” I whisper in utter betrayal as Brodie lifts me to his shoulders. “How...could...you...”

“You take care of her,” whispers Nana to Edwin as my eyes get heavier and heavier.

“H-help” I try to scream as I continue to fight the drugs, “Please...”

“We will,” says Edwin as my siblings turn and leave the room.

“I love you all! Be careful...Earth is a dangerous place!” Nana whispers as she follows us down the hall.

“We will take care of ourselves,” says Brodie nodding. “You take care of yourself,” is the last thing I hear before my eyes shut and everything goes black.

I wake up with a killer headache, my body strapped to a moderately comfortable seat. I’m groggy, and my neck hurts from being slouched over on the seat. I take a minute to compose myself after I lift my head. I hear Edwin talking to Anya about how far we are from our destination and everything comes flooding back to me.

“We’re about a month away from Earth. I’ll put the pods on autopilot, and then activate the cryogenic chambers,” says Edwin. “They’ll turn off when we land and we can regroup from there.”

I click the communicator and turn on the mic inside of my pod. “You will turn this pod around immediately, Edwin,” I say angrily. “If you think for a second that Father won’t find us when he finds out what you’ve done, you’re sadly mistaken, and do not think for a minute that I won’t throw you under the bus faster than Anya ate her 17th birthday cake.”

“She’s up,” says Brodie with a chuckle. “Welcome back, Ray.”

“Don’t call me that!” I say icily. “That name is reserved for family, which none of you seem to be anymore!” I cannot believe they kidnapped me and placed me into this God-forsaken pod. We are going to Earth. Of all the places in this galaxy, these idiots decided to go to EARTH!

“Raina, we saved your life!” says Anya calmly. I look over and her face is all but pressed against the window of her pod. She looks unbothered and steady as she stares at me. My older sister has always been the maternal one of the group. She’s the second oldest and she’s always been able to stay calm in high-intensity situations. It’s one of the things I used to look up to her for, but now I have no choice but to hate her for doing what she’s done to me.

“Anya, you ended my life,” I say coldly, looking away from her. “You took me from my home, under the protection of the King, and Alpha only knows which of Father’s enemies would like to get ahold of us more!” I exclaim. “He doesn’t exactly have a shortlist of people who don’t like him.”

“Yeah,” says Brodie sarcastically. “I can’t imagine why. The dude is great at hosting parties,” he says, rolling his eyes.

Brodie has always been the athletic type. He is good looking, oftentimes caught with girls in various corridors of the castle, and he’s the third oldest. He’s also my former best friend. I was always the closest to Brodie, but like Anya, he’s on my most hated list now.

“That’s not very nice, Brodie,” says Anya. “Raina is upset and she still needs time to process our new home-”

“WE. ARE. NOT. GOING.” I say as I start pressing random buttons on the cart. “I swear, if I have to blast us out of the sky myself, I will do it. This is the most foolish thing any of you have ever done! I’m the youngest and I can see that.”

“You stop throwing your fit right now,” demands Edwin. He’s the most studious of us all, and the oldest. He has a big head and an even bigger know-it-all attitude. He’s the reason we are all leaving the safety of Kirida; basically, I’m not his biggest fan. If I had to rank the hatred of my siblings now, Edwin would be at the top of my list.

“You cow!” I snarl as I continue to press random buttons. The toilet flushes underneath me and I have a mini heart attack as a suction feeling appears on the bottom of my dress. “You turn this around! This isn’t funny anymore! I want to go home. I have important tasks that I need to finish! Not to mention, father is going to be a nervous wreck,” I begin to stomp my feet in frustration. I know it’s incredibly childish, but I have no control over this situation and I don’t know what else to do.

“I’m sorry, Raina,” Edwin says. “We can’t do that. I’m about to begin activating the cryogenic chambers. I hope that when you wake up you can forgive me.”

“EDWIN!” I shout. “NO!”

Smoke starts to fill my pod and I take a deep breath in to make sure that I don’t breathe the gas. I look over at Edwin with my cheeks puffed out and point to them defiantly as he rolls his eyes and his own pod fills with gas. I hold my breath until my lungs beg for air and inhale the gas that fills my pod. My eyes begin to get droopy and once again the world around fades.

I’m getting really tired of passing out.