Invasion Of Gelna

Arious was quickly becoming a desert planet. Water, the resource by which its inhabitants survived, was depleting. Countless had died throughout the eons, and without the bountiful living water of Gelna- an oceanic planet overseen by a royal committee of elders and guarded by mind benders, extinction was certain.

Melvik, the last of the mind benders, stood atop the tallest peak of Gelna. His adversary Xathros, the chief prophet of planet Arious, along with his fighters, emerged from the ocean depths to face Melvik. Both sides awaited the setting of the belted moon. Once the night shrouded the landscape, the onset of war was to begin.

Melvik’s mind drifted into a deep, dreamlike trance just before the rivals positioned themselves in battle formation. In Melvik’s unconsciousness, a vision of a sword materialized. The sword was engulfed in white fire. From its point thunderclaps echoed across the sky. It was the power of the mind bender, and it meant victory for Gelna.

When darkness fell, Xathros’ men advanced. As the battlefront drew ever closer to the mind bender, a malevolence took root in the minds of the hurried combatants. Slowly the blitz abated. The war cries and hailed commands ceased forthwith. Bewildered, the legion’s front line staggered to their knees near to where Melvik rested in suspended animation above the rock.

At once, in one broad, graceful motion, Melvik’s weapon of fire slaughtered hundreds of Xathros’ entranced men. To the chief prophet, the mind bender appeared feeble after the killing, but Melvik remained strong due to the all-powerful sword he occupied: a specter in the eyes of Xathro. A sword with no material substance; real only in the sanctuary of Melvik’s vision.

Once the sun rose over the peaks did an endless waste land become visible to Melvik and Xathros. At a close distance, both combatants eyed each other with a measure of esteem. At once, just before they contended, strong gusts heralded the presence of Gelna’s royal order amid the fighters. The gallant struggle between the foes pleased the sovereign ministry. (Such nobility in the face of death was regarded by the populace as an honorable merit.)

Gelna thus declared an alliance between the two worlds. The inhabitants of Arious would be granted a generous amount of life saving water at the end of every lunar orbit. In turn Melvik was to be reunited with his mentors (those of long past who had endowed him as a mind bender, lord paramount.) in resurrected vitality. Peace between the races was forever established, and both planets continued in harmonious balance forever.