Galaxy Crystal chpt 2 (edited)

Galaxy Crystal: A Forgotten Life
by Catherine Framke

Chapter 2

Koona was terrified as he finally arrived at the castle. He ignored all of the servants as he ran down the hall. His mother was sick for months and finally sent for him. Ever since his father died, she has not wanted to see him. Koona heard his mother’s housekeeper say once that he reminded her of his father. His dad died last year and his mother never got over it. All Koona think was that at least she met her granddaughter. Koona’s beautiful little girl, Violette named after the late leader of the Protectors.

Koona named her that because Violette saved his wife Panoka, as a teen shortly before she died. Panoka always felt that it was appropriate at the time. Especially since Koona was, suppose to marry her daughter. Lucky for them Saraquine refused him. Saraquine could have been a Lady, but decided that she would rather be like her mother. This gave him the opportunity to marry Panoka.

They met shortly after Violette died and the moment they met Koona knew that Panoka was the only one that he will ever love. At first, Koona was afraid that he could never tell her his betrothed was Violette’s daughter, because no one knew she existed. Koona did not know that Panoka was destined to be a Protector just like him. Panoka did not believe him at first, because he was a male. Koona is the first male to inherit a crystal ever in the history of the Kingdom.

That was the only reason his mother summoned him. She knows she is dieing, and must give the crystal to Koona. His parents tried to have another child, but nothing came of it. Koona was grateful for the opportunity to have the crystal, but he was positive it was not meant for him, and would not work.

Koona stopped at his mother’s door and her dwarf housekeeper was waiting outside the door. She walked over to him and gave him a big hug. “Koona I’m terrified, the doctors in there right now.” The housekeeper had been with his mother for five years. She was a stocky Dwarf named Stora. Stora was extremely nice and had grown very close to his mother over the years.

“How has she been? Why wasn’t I called ahead of time?” Koona sat down on a chair frantic. His heart was racing and his palms sweaty. His mother was dieing and he could not do anything to save her. Stora tried to calm him down but he no longer heard her speaking.

Slowly he thought of his mother when he was a child. She was smiling at him when he finally figured out how to ride his horse. His mother took him to meet Saraquine. She made him ware this ugly suit that made him look so much bigger then he really was, the whole way there she kept telling him to hold still or it will get wrinkled.  He saw his mother meeting Panoka for the first time. Then at his wedding when she cried. Again, he saw when she held his daughter Violette and the way she cried when his father died.

They were memories that he would hold onto forever. His favorite was when his mother came to the hospital and held his daughter for the first time. That was the happiest day of his life, Panoka’s parents and his together at the birth of his beautiful little girl. Violette is now a year and a half and she is loosing her last grandparent. She will never know any of them. Panoka’s parents died six months ago, and now she spends all her time with their daughter.

Koona continued to sit waiting for the doctor to come back from seeing his mother. He has never been more scared in his entire life, even if it was for his mother. After loosing his father and now his mother, it was killing him. He loved his parents very much and not having them around would be the strangest thing in the world. It does not matter that he is married and has started his own family. He still wants something from the family that made him who he is now.

Things work this way. From generation to generation, a child is born grows up and watches their parents die. Then some day that child will have a child and their child will watch their parents die. It was the way things have been since the beginning of time. Koona wondered if anyone else in the world watched their parents slip away from them felt the same way. If they were hoping that, they wanted that part of their life to stay the same.

Koona jumped as one of the housekeeper opened a bedroom door down the hall. He was paranoid and needed to relax. How could he relax while his mother is dieing? After everything that has happened the last fifty years, he is loosing his mother as well. Especially with the war going on, no one will be able to relax until it is over and the only person who can end it is Saraquine. The one that disappeared over fifty years ago, she never went to her mother’s funeral.

He suddenly found himself extremely mad at Saraquine. It was strange when she disappeared, but she did, she left and never came back. Sinara decided that it would be best not to tell anyone about Saraquine until someone could find her. His mother did not agree with what the new High Protector had down, Sinara would not listen. She was afraid that if it went public Vacunay would catch her and kill her. After all that’s what she did with Violette. Koona believed Saraquine is dead and if she was alive she would have come back by now, especially when her mother is dead.

Koona is there for his mother when she is dieing and he even has his own family. Saraquine never had anyone but her mom, not even friends. Since she was a child Saraquine trained to become High Protector and she was more then ready for it. Even when Koona first met her, he knew she would become one of the greatest High Protector the Galaxy has ever known. Even the rebellion might have ended when she had her fingers in it. Saraquine knew people and she knew how to talk to people. Saraquine could go into the room not knowing a soul and then come out with every single one of them in the palm of her hands.

Politics, everything in the world had to do with it. Violette knew that and instructed her daughter how to use it to her advantage. The High council did not even know how to handle her. There was more then a few times that Saraquine was able to get the High council to agree with a new project of her mothers in only a few minutes. The High council was dumbfounded when they discovered her disappearance. Saraquine would and could do anything that she put her mind to. Her mother wanted her to become a great leader and Saraquine wanted this even more then her mother wanted it.

Suddenly his mother’s door opened and he jumped up. His heart fell down to his stomach as he stared at the doctor, tears almost falling down his eyes. The doctor walked out of the door and stood in front of him. The doctor was a Protectors doctor and one of the greatest Gnome doctors in the Galaxy. Gnomes have always been the best doctors, but even the Gnome doctors might not be able to help his mother now!

Not even his short stature makes him seem any worse of a doctor or take away from his pose. He was a doctor to the Protectors and that was a position of great authority. He put on his hat covering his short gray hair. Then slipped on his glasses wiping his mouth and then slowly walked toward Koona. The Gnome stopped in front of him. He stood about waist high to Koona. The doctor would not even look at Koona. He stared down at the doctor just waiting but the doctor was not saying anything.

“Tell me is she going to be okay?” Koona did not know why he was asking, he knew the answer. He knew it the moment his mother asked for him. Koona was staring at his mother’s door now just staring at the grooves and doorknob.

“Koona, she won’t last the day. I am sorry! What ever she wants do not upset her, she’s very weak.” The doctor grabbed his hand before walking down the hall toward the exit. They did not need him any longer and knew it was time for him to leave.

Koona nodded half smiled then walked to his mother’s door. The door was only five or ten feet in front of him, but the walk felt like it took years. Finally, he reached the door and closed his eyes this was hard for him to do. He stood there holding the knob and looking at the giant door. He had no idea what to say to her or even how he was going to face it. This was going to be the last time he will ever talk to her.

He slowly opened the door and walked into his mother’s enormous room. It had not changed since he was a baby.  His father died on the same bed. The bedding changed from the dark green to a dark red with gold trimming. His mom must have destroyed the green ones that his father died on. The dresser stood in the corner to the left of him it was the red dresser next to the walk-in closet. Next to the bed was a nightstand with the same red and lamp on it. Next to that was the same dark red chair that went to the desk on the far right corner. On that wall, there was a desk, and the fireplace the only thing that was lighting up the room. It made the atmosphere a dark radiance, and the air gave everything a gloomy feel. Appropriate he figured considering his mother was dieing.

Koona fought back his tears as he walked toward his mother, and then sat down next to the bed. His hands and body were shaking when he looked at his mother. She looked wrinkled and tired. He knew his mother was old, but he never really noticed until now how old she was. Koona could not help but wonder if she was holding on just to say good-bye to him. Could it be his fault she was suffering and he knew she was suffering. It was written all over her face. Those tired eyes heavy and dark her breathing shallow and weak. It could kill a son to see their mother like this.

“Hello mother, it’s me, Koona.” He reached over and held her hand softly. His mother slowly turned her head and smiled at him. He tried to hold back the tears as he saw pain in his mother’s eyes.

“Son, I’m not blind. I know my own child!” She tried to laugh but coughed instead. Even when she is on her deathbed, she never lost her spicy zest. “I’ve been told I am going to die. I need you to get a box for me that I put under the bed. It’s important.”

Koona let go of his mother’s hand and bent down to look under her bed. It was not hard to find even in the dark. It was a small box, about the size of a shoebox. Koona sat back down and went to hand it to his mother, but she pushed it back. “I am giving it to you. Inside is five generations of journals. Starting with one of Sarquin’s daughters to my own journal each started when they were given the Star crystal. Open it!” Koona was crying as he opened the box. This was his family’s history. All women, that was until he adds his, those that possessed great power. On top of the journals laid the box, which he knew was the Star crystal.

“Mom I can’t…” Koona said as he started to hand it to his mother. Again, his mother pushed it away. He started crying and held the box tightly. It was wrong none of this is right.

“Oh come on Koona you know just as I do that you are meant for that crystal. I am going to die. I do not want you to be sad. Just remember that I am proud of you, even though you never married Saraquine.” His mom coughed until she took a deep breath. “There is something I need to tell you. Saraquine is going to wake and she will need you. She knows nothing about her life. As far as she knows, she is a seventeen-year-old girl. You must…” His mother suddenly started gasping for air.

Koona watched as his mother suddenly went limp and was gone. He sat there staring at her crying. It happened so fast that he could not react. She was just talking to him and now she was gone. How could she be gone? What was he going to do? What was she saying? Why had he been destined to ware a crystal? Could his mother have made a mistake?

Just then, Stora walked in and gasped. She quickly ran over to him to embrace him. All he could do was sit there and look at the box in his lap. He could not talk or even breath she was gone, it is different knowing she is going to die then accepting it.  The smell of ointments and herbs brushed past him as he sat with the sweet Dwarf trying to comfort him. He had lost his parents, both of them. They are not there to catch him when he falls or help him with is own family.

“Stora I need to go. When Panoka gets here tell her I’m in my room.” Stora let go of him and he walked out holding the box in his hands. As he slowly walked, back down the hallway where he came from, he remembered what his mother said.

The rumors were right! Saraquine is alive and he could not help her? His mother was trying to tell him something. Koona only wished he knew what she did. He never believed the crystal would work for him, but when his mother spoke to him, back there, it was as if his entire body was yelling ‘yes.’ Yet his heart and mind warned him that it could not be possible.

Out of everyone why had be been chosen to be a protector? There are cousins of his that would be more prepared and worthy? Koona knew the rules of the crystals, and it was his to do what he wished. Could he use it? Was it possible for a man to use the crystal like any of the great woman in the past?

Koona reached his room from when he was a child. He swore it has not changed since he left. Once his mom decorated something, it never changed, no matter what. Strangely enough, he loved that about his mother. That way no matter how long he was gone or what happened everything was there. Even his old baseball mitt was on his desk in the corner of his room. From the moment a housekeeper is hired they do not touch anything.

Koona started crying even more as he sat down on his bed with the box in hand, while his mother’s words went through his mind. Saraquine is alive. She has no memories. She is only seventeen. When she was on Sar, she was sixteen. Could it be possible she only aged a year in fifty years? Saraquine would be sixty-six years old just like him, of course, he only looks twenty-two at the most, but that is not the point. Unless she was in a distant solar system, time slows down in those systems.

Of course, it makes since her mother sent her away so she could be safe, from Vacunay. That does not answer the reason why she would send her so far away! Vacunay would not have cared about some Protector when she was young and did not know how to use the power. Koona opened the box staring at it confusingly. If his mother knew something, she would have put it in her journal. She would have known how confused he would have been.

First thing, he sat the crystal on his nightstand, and opened it to look. To him it looked like a necklace with a long silver chain and a yellow crystal dangled from it. His family heirloom was a simple yellow stone on a silver chain. All the power that was in his family was there in that small crystal. It was his own future in a box on his nightstand. For generations that crystal had been a part of the Protectors a thing of question to everyone who has ever heard of them.

Koona looked away and stared at the journals that sat in the box. The last one had gold writing with the name Laya Anne Kovin, his mother’s name. He followed the letters with his index finger before he took it out. It was a simple journal with her name birth and death on it. Must have inscribed it’s self when she died. As he opened the Journal and stared at the written words that were over a hundred years of history, He was not worried about the early years so he shipped to the end.

Koona could not believe it though. It was not a journal entry, but a letter addressed to him. He looked away a minute then looked back; making sure it was real. Koona quickly put the other journals on the floor and leaned up against the backboard. To his disbelief, the first words on the page were “put on the Star crystal before you read this!” Koona did not argue he just grabbed the little box off the nightstand. The Star Crystal did not look like anything powerful, but Koona slipped the necklace on over his head like his mothers instructions were. After that, he sat back and read the letter.

         “Koona,

My dearest son, if you are reading this I am dead and can no longer pass the Star crystal. I believe that you are able to use the Star Crystal. No matter how hard I tried the crystal never worked. Except once, that is why I am leaving you this letter my son. Something happened to me when your father died. Koona I did not want to tell you because you are so happy. I did not want you to worry about the future until it was time.

The day your father died, I had a vision. It was of my son, and his wife. You both were standing together hand in hand with the High Protector Saraquine and Duchess Saroo-Kinay. At that moment, I no longer saw my son but a Protector. All of you pulled together and summoned the most powerful weapon the Galaxy had ever known. Together you will destroy whatever force threatens this Galaxy. However, that moment is only the beginning I fear what is to come.

Saraquine needs help a lot of help. There is so much that she does not know; the power of the crystal will not work until she remembers. Koona you were a good friend to Saraquine and she looked up to you. You, Koona, need to help her deal with the confusion and hurt she is going to have to deal with when she gets her memories back. The young and vulnerable Saraquine needs help to decide how she is going to live without her mother or him. Imagine loosing your family to Vacunay and not knowing about it. She has been living happily for so long and now she will learn the truth about her life. She will need a friend who will stand by her without judgment. I love you my son and am proud of you! No matter what happens, I will be with you.

Good-bye my son,

Laya Anne Kovin

Koona dropped the journal and started crying heavily. His mother believes in him and he has no faith in himself. For the past year, she has known what he will accomplish and wanted him to have as much of a normal life as she can give him. Koona’s belief of being a normal person was all a lie. He looked down and saw the crystal turn bright yellow as if it was on fire, but did not burn!

His eyes became heavy and unnatural. There seemed to be power running through his entire body but he did not know from where. It started at his toes and now it is at his waist. With every movement it made he found himself a little more tired and fear coursed through him. The power went through his chest and to his neck.

Koona tried not to close his eyes but there was a sensation going through his body and it made him more and more tired. He did not want to sleep, he was afraid that he would never wake up. That was when he finally did pass out and everything around him went black. He felt the panic go through him as the realization that he might never wake up and thoughts of his child kept swimming through his mind.

He mentally started laughing at himself he was thinking strangely. Koona was mentally aware of everything that was happening to him. If he were dead, he would not be realizing that he had lost all consciousness. However, he was not able to move and all he could feel was the tingle through his body that made him pass out in the first place. It was like floating in space; there was nothing there, no shapes, no movement around him.

Then he heard something. A voice calling out, but it was so far away that he could not understand. “Some one help me,” another voice called out from another part of the darkness.

“Hello is there anyone there,” a third voice yelled.

“I am here. I can not see any of you, where are you.” he yelled and then everything went quiet. It was quiet for some time after that, as he stood there still unable to move.

“Please, someone help me. I am scared, and have no idea what is going on.” A tiny voice yelled. This voice sounded like they were going to cry. His heart filled with sympathy and wished he could help them all, but he could not move. He heard the three voices once more and could not tell where they were coming from.

It was then that his crystal started to glow again and something pulled him. He heard a scream from close by yelling as if they were hurt. It was a female voice, all three of them were female he thought.

Then a blue light came from the darkness, and he realized the blue light was not moving toward him but he was being pulled toward it. It was a gravitational pull, pulling him to this girl. There was a piece of him that knew what was going on, but it was only a feeling. Slowly he saw the blue light move closer and slowly he noticed that there was someone wearing a crystal, and that as he got closer he noticed the girl was shaking.

The girl was terrified there was nothing he could do to help her. He felt pity and remorse because he could not help the young girl standing in front of him. As he got closer, he noticed that she was not dressed like most women he had ever seen. He looked closer; her hair seemed to get longer by the second.
         
Yet he could not see her face or recognize her in anyway other then a feeling that he has known her his entire life. Then finally, he was floating in front of her and for the first time she looked at him. Her eyes full of tears and her hands were shaking and suddenly he knew her.