• Prologue...

    Nieka gazed at the little one in her arms.
    “What about his brother? How will they know?” She asked of the two standing before her.
    “We will keep him until he is ready, Nieka.” The man answered. Next to him, his wife looked down at the sleeping baby in her arms.
    Why should I have to make this decision? It makes no sense for a mother to have to decide, why can’t I keep them together?
    “Because, we know it would seal the fate of them both, my queen.” She looked at Nieka, acknowledging her abilities. The man laughed.
    “If I am right at guessing, that is why you will keep the boy; it is also why we trust you to tell him at the right time, Nieka.” She bowed to him as the little one cooed in her arms. “We will take care of the others until the time is right, Nieka, until then, he is yours.” She smiled at the baby as he reached up to her face. For one last time, the mother looked down at her baby boy as a wide grin spread across his face.
    “…Goodbye.” Was all she could speak as the three of them parted ways…

    Chapter 1

    Bolt. It is one word, one name, plain and simple; Bolt. It was some old name, a nickname, passed down through generations of Jasons. From the civil war, translated from my ancestors’ tribe back in Africa, hundreds of years ago, to today, to now. All the way into the future it will exist. It is a name given to the first born male of every other generation, Bolt. That name, that name will mean more to me now than it ever will…

    I was going over that name, its meaning, its right for existence; I was going over that name as James and I were coming home from a B-Star’s meeting. B-Star’s is a club for “Unbalanced, Gifted,” and “Special” children (Word for word), which in laments terms means “Troubled Kids”.
    “So, mister hot stuff, I can see that your smoothness with the ladies is starting to wear off!” He cut a look at me and laughed.
    “Hey! It’s not my fault,” James started, running his hands through his dusty brown hair, “She did have a bug on the back of her pants!!” JJ and I have been friends since conception. His dad and my father served in the navy together, and both our mothers worked in the same hospital. They even married on the same day in the same chapel!
    “So I guess that roundhouse slap o’ hers was a form of thank you huh, Flame?” Flame is what everyone called JJ. It might have been due to the fact that he was such a hothead, or his infamous reputation with girls; we’ll never know.
    “Hey what can I say, chivalry is dead!” It was normal, Flame and I walking home from a B-Star’s meeting, laughing at one of his fiascos from the day; who knew that this would all change.
    Suddenly, James stopped walking and motioned for me to look up. What I saw was simply amazing.
    “Man those stars, they’re, they’re moving!!” And it was true; two brightly lit stars were darting back and forth across the night sky, one right behind the other.
    “Is that a meteor shower…airplanes…lasers?!”
    “Flame…” I started as the ‘lights’ descended upon us, “I don’t think that they’re airplanes…” A large V-shaped craft dipped out of the sky, and while we were running, the metal hanging from the craft snagged onto James’ collar, and carried him away. As I ducked, to avoid being picked up myself, I noticed flames, sparks, and smoke shooting form the dying craft.
    “J!! I’M COMING!” The craft was going to crash into the goalpost of the football field we were coming across. If I didn’t save James, he’d be crushed. I was running as fast as possible, and when the ship was close enough, I lunged into the air and tackled J off of the ship’s hook. The Spaceship (only logical explanation) dipped early and crashed into the ground, digging up earth, pipes, and foundation as it grounded to a halt with a deafening “boom.” After recovering, James picked up a rock and I reached for a pipe as we approached the ship.
    “Yo, Elliot, whatever’s in that ship has gotta be hurtin’ after that performance!”
    “James, don’t you pay attention in class?!” I said with a crack in my voice, “When animal is hurt it becomes more dangerous due to fear!” Just then, the top part of the craft disengaged from the rest of the ship. A figure emerged from the ship, looked at us, and collapsed falling into the crater it just created.
    “Great! Now we gotta save the thing that’s trying to kill us” James said as we rushed towards the ship. When we were in the crater, we lifted him out onto the grass (we kinda guessed that it was a “him” because he was shaped like a human and had a slightly larger build)
    “Well, at least we know it’s not Chewbacca or Dr. X!” James laughed as the being started breathing again.
    “Hey, think it speaks English?” The metallic white suit the being was in had a strange white coin/emblem over the left breast plate with what looked like a tilted compass rose with a circle in the center.
    Looking sat this being, this creature from another world, strangely brought me a sort of peace. A calming feeling washed over me as if I didn’t need to be afraid of it.
    “Hey James, don’t ask me how but I feel as if we can trust him; like I know he won’t hurt us.” As soon as the being started to stir, we jumped and grabbed our weapons.
    “Look,” James started, “I don’t know who or what you are but-”
    “Stand down Duke of Fire, I will not harm you.” James and I exchanged surprised looks, “You seem surprised I can speak.”
    “Well-” I nudged J in the gut, making him be quiet.
    “Viexel Vionexx, Thunder Prince, I have been searching…” Flame wobbled a bit, as if to faint, and the being continued on, “The Maké are attacking; we are in dire need of your help.”
    “Wait, who are the May, Marke, whatever?! And exactly who is Viexel?” He stared at me through his visor for a second, and then started his narrative.
    “My name is Jenve, the Knight of Mind, your…” He trailed off for a second, then waved his hand, as if to dismiss a thought, “…Never mind. You are Viexel Vionexx, Prince of Vion. Final heir to the Vionexx throne, 3rd in line.” Okay, I wanted to trust him but, what he was telling me was unreal, impossible to imagine, to fathom; the thought that I, me, Elliot “Bolt” Jasons, was some kinda big shot.
    I shrugged, “I think you’ve got the wrong Elliot Jasons, it’s a pretty common name.” No way he would want a street thug from Northwood.
    “So Prince,” He sighed, “I see you haven’t ‘awakened’ yet. Apparently the barriers in your mind are still active.”
    “Barriers?!” Flame cried, quickly recovering from the shock of coming face to face with an alien being, “How, do you install walls into someone's head?!” He was asking questions, demanding answers, and then suddenly the being pointed up to the sky.
    “He is coming!” We saw a large menacing craft descending from above.
    “It looks like he has finally found me.” Jenve sadly laughed. Quickly, he produced two medium sized cylinders and drew two coins out. One coin glowed a soft orange color and had an upside down “W” engraved into it, the other, a brilliant slate blue color, with a jagged “Z” etched into it. Then Jenve gave us two watch-like devices.
    “Go, run now!! You must get away from here!” I turned to him.
    “What about you, shouldn’t you come with us?” Jenve put his hand on my shoulder and shook his head no.
    “Viexel do not worry about me, your job is to remain alive at all costs. Now go…” Jenve looked at me through his visor; something told me he was smiling. As James pulled me back, Jenve turned to face his impending doom. The craft was shaped like an almost flat basketball with curved wings similar to a boomerang’s. A long tube snaked along the fuselage of the ship and jutted out by at least a foot in the front. It hovered over Jenve’s ship, then destroyed it in a brilliant blast of green energy with a deafening “Boom.” As it eased into the crater it just created, a vertical slit appeared in it’s hull. From the bushes we were hiding in, we could see a humanoid figure ease out
    “Ah, the Knight of Mind, I should have known.” It said in a soulless voice.
    “You leave these people alone Ason! They have nothing to do with this war!” The being laughed at Jenve.
    “Oh, really? You should know us better Knight. We know of your plan to revive the Vions on these far out planets, we see all…” He glanced in our general direction. “Where are they Knight?!”
    “I do not know, and even if I did know I would not tell you Maké!!”
    “Lies!!” A voice screamed out from inside the ship, this one worse than the last.
    “You know exactly where they are Knight!!” Jenve stumbled back.
    “You…how are you here?!” He cried. Another figure emerged from the ship.
    “Surprise, surprise! You’re time on earth is done Knight, now you die!!” Suddenly, Jenve cupped his hands tighter, and a blinding white shot of pure light erupted from his hands. The ‘Ason’ make crumpled to the ground when the blast connected. The other one charged at Jenve and cut through him, causing Jenve to spin around twice before landing hard on the ground, gripping his side.
    “It is over!! This race, this planet, belongs to the Maké!!”
    TO BE CONTINUED...