The Breed Series 1: Breed

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Earth

Kingdom OM

2999 AD

I was falling.

Free falling through space at a speed barely visible to the human eye.

Something had gone wrong.

“Emergency,” the flat, robotic voice rang through my small pod. “System malfunction,” echoed as I fought through the force of gravity and managed to place my hand on the emergency fail-safe screen and slow down my descent.

As I breached Earth’s atmosphere, I caught glimpses of barren landscapes devoid of all life. Wastelands of areas that at one time sustained human civilization. It was a heartbreaking sight. But before I could take in the devastation, my pod veered toward a pocket of land, sitting like a beautiful oasis among desolate ruin. Greenery, mountains, lakes, and oceans all came into view. But something was wrong with the electrical system, and I couldn’t gain control. Everything flashed before me. Through the circular window directly in front of my eyes, I saw a quick view of a fluffy cloud, then the bright glare of the sun.

And then nothing but darkness.

As I fell in and out of consciousness, time seemed to stand still.

“You’re going to be all right,” a deep voice broke through the fog as I fought the oblivion determined to consume me. “Don’t move. I’ve got you.”

Moments later, I saw tanned hands unfasten my safety harnesses and gently lift me out of the pod. A human face so savagely masculine and raw, then flickered into something else.

A lion. A majestic king of the wild that had at one time roamed Earth, before they were driven to extinction.

It was something I had never seen before, and yet in an instant, before I could marvel at the sight, he was human again.

Darkness took me.

Everything seemed to flash before me. Brief snippets of a story I would one day have to string together into a linear tale that would make sense to me.

“Stay with me,” the voice was soft as I was pulled protectively into a chest.

Before I could find the energy to speak again, my body was hit with a wave of exhaustion as my mind was flooded with memories from the distant past.

My mother often said there were moments in one’s life that would forever change the way we viewed the world. My first came when I was sixteen. I was living a happy life on the planet Akasha in a cocoon of peace and blissful ignorance.

“Siren, you must learn to control your emotions.” My mother’s soothing voice broke through the inferno that raged in my mind. “You cannot allow your Shadow to control you.”

In that moment my innocence was lost to me forever.

She pulled me away from the giant screens, where I had just watched footage of the Cetacean Massacre, the brutal assassination of almost all my people on Earth hundreds of years ago. I saw people shot down in their homes. Explosions caused bodies to fall lifelessly to the ground. The screams of children fell on deaf ears. Painful pleas that are now burned into my mind for as long as I live. I had reached the age the Elders believed was acceptable to finally see our Cetacean history. The tragic horror our people had suffered.

I had never felt such rage.

The last time I flickered into my Shadow was when I was a child. And now as a young woman, I was unable to control myself—and my Cetacean ancestor emerged for a brief moment. I could feel the familiar tingling sensation in my forehead, like a thousand needles prickling my skin at once, the telltale sign I was about to flicker. Part of my face morphed into my dolphin Shadow, and I saw a vision of myself swimming freely in the ocean on Earth—among my Soul Particle ancestors. It took me a moment, before I could invoke the one word that would center me.

Once the word came, I regained control and flickered back to myself.

My mother’s ethereal face was etched with sadness and disappointment.

“My beautiful angel, your rage betrays you.” she said as she watched me. “What you see is the way of man.”

“No, it is not our way,” my mother agreed. “But nevertheless, you must learn to forgive.”

She smoothed out my brown hair as her bright blue eyes gazed into ones identical to her own. “My darling, what does this anger bring you?” she asked softly. “You only cause yourself distress. You cannot change the past or cruelty of man. You can learn from it, and choose a different way.”

I looked away from her. My mother was always so calm and knowing. I had never even seen her Shadow. She could move on, but I could not forgive. Not yet.

Maybe not ever.

“Why did you show me this?”

“Siren. I want you to know your history,” she explained as she knelt before me. “You and the three others are the future of our race and tasked with helping find a way for our Breed to live. How else can you fulfill your destiny? You have to know where you are going, who you will interact with, and why it is so important you never betray who you really are.”

I looked away. How would I be able to coexist with these people, these other breeds, if I couldn’t bear to even look at them? How would I be able to keep my secrets?

“How do you live with this?” I whispered.

“I live in hope,” she told me with a smile.

It was a word that held great power, and one that had shaped my life from the moment I was born. “We escaped Earth for a reason.” I said.

“It is our rightful home,” she stated quietly.

“The five breeds separated from one another for a reason,” I said with petulance.

“That was never Dr. Hedy’s dream,” my mother said. “He never intended to have the breeds create sovereign kingdoms. Those were the twisted schemes of rulers who believed separation was the only way forward.”

“But it happened,” I countered. “People evolved into different breeds. With different traditions, desires, and ways of life.”

“That is correct.” She placed a hand on mine. “And yet, how does any ecosystem work?”

“It is an interaction between living and nonliving organisms.”

I understood what my mother was getting at. But those images I just saw were hard to reconcile.

The Cetacean Elders had always known this day would come. At one time they had collected genetic samples from both male and female Cetaceans. When it became obvious the females were only giving birth to females, they harvested embryos. My people had futilely tried to grow male fetuses, but they all died. And now, only twelve female Cetaceans were left.

Our Breed was a breath away from extinction, a place our Soul Particle ancestors found themselves in, all those years ago. I couldn’t let history repeat itself.

“How do we even know this will work? What if they recognize us?” I said to her.

“What other choice do we have?” My mother’s smile was sad. “We can only hope our plan works. But for that to happen, you can never allow your emotions to take over like you did just now.”

“You ask for the impossible.”

“Not if you learn to control yourself. To invoke your word. Arcana.” She chastised. “Remember why you chose the word, and the power you gave it. As for the rest, we’ll equip you with the knowledge to assimilate.”

Arcana meant mystery, a great secret of nature—just as we were. It was a word that reminded me we were made of magic and could use it to control anything. My mother was right, and I felt ashamed. I knew the basics: return to Earth and colonize Kingdom B. To give our Breed, a chance to live on.

My mother looked at me thoughtfully. “Remember, Siren, at the end of the day, no matter the Breed… We are all human.”

“What if something goes wrong, and they find out what I am?” I finally asked, allowing my fears to be spoken out loud. “What then? Will they kill me?”

“I should hope not, my darling,” she whispered painfully. I could see the fear in her eyes. “We have prepared the best we can, and with all we know of Kingdom B, we have great hope.”

Out of the four Kingdoms that remained on Earth, it was the only one my people identified as safe for colonization. When the leaders from the other Kingdoms had gathered together to plan the Cetacean Massacre, Kingdom B had been the only one conflicted by the thought of mass extermination. Though their leaders had reluctantly agreed, the people of Kingdom B had been divided by their actions. Ashamed of the genocide they were accomplice to, they had adopted the most liberal of all governments on Earth.

“It could be a suicide mission.”

“It will not be,” my mother shook her head. “You know as Cetaceans we can blend in with our surroundings. Out of all the breeds the human-bird hybrids have the most inferior sense of smell. If confronted, you’ll say you’re OM, as our ancestors shared genetic similarities. You’ll hide among them, guarding your secret forever. Even from the children I pray you’ll one day bear.” My mother gave me a sad smile.

“And I will never see you again?” I asked even though I knew what the answer would be.

“I will always be with you.” I could see it took everything in her not to breakdown.

I tried to fight back my own tears, threatening to spill.

“It is not enough,” I said. “I will be all alone.”

“Delphine, Kalypso, and Jana will be with you,” my mother’s voice was gentle, reminding me of the other three embarking on this mission.

“I don’t even know them!” My voice moaned as I thought of the other girls. “And now I’m to spend the rest of my life with them?”

“You would have spent the rest of your life with them here on Akasha,” she pointed out.

“Yes, but here I have you.”

“For how long?”

Her words made me pause, the meaning behind them, the deadly illness she was now fighting, and the thought of what would happen to her, almost bringing me to my knees. I silently cursed the injustice of our situation.

“What will you do, Siren?” My mother pushed.

I looked away and stared at the screens, which now showed pictures of our vibrant lavender atmosphere. Unlike Earth, our atmosphere changed color each hour of the day.

It was a beautiful planet. But it was still not our home. It was not Earth.

“You are the most important. The last descendant of Elora, the first to be injected with the Cetacean Soul Particle,” my mother’s voice was soft. “Would you have our bloodline die with you?”

I was the last of The First. The irony was not lost on me.

There was no other choice. I took a breath and stared deep into my mother’s eyes.

“I will fulfill my destiny.”