The Warriors: The Beginning - The Warriors (best ebook reader for ubuntu .TXT) 📗

Part 1: Prologue

Nineteen years ago.......

It was a calm day in the small, eastern China town; the sun was high and rice farmers carried about their business in the heat. A group of tourists thronged near a stuffy, dirty cafe on the corner of the square and the natives who owned stalls in the market eyed them, suspiciously, deciding whether or not it would be possible to sell some over-priced rice to them. Small children ran across the gravel with goats tied to thin string, trying to sell them for loaves of bread. Some skulked around in corners, getting ready to pickpocket or steal.
A small, long-haired foreign girl wondered out into the throng of people, curiously gazing at the other children who haggled and played.
Up in the surrounding mountains, there could be seen the outline of a great, black building that towered above the valley like a God.
One of the Monks from the monastery wondered over to the group of British tourists, smiling a familiar smile and shaking their hands. The tourists exchanged hugs and handshakes and the traditional China bow. One of the tourists was a woman who had the same, long, dark hair that the child had and the other was a man, tall and muscular. Anyone who looked properly would be able to see the gun concealed beneath his thin coat and the large, metal case he held at his side.
The woman suddenly became very aware and looked around for her child, spotting her slowly approaching the Chinese children. It wasn’t until screams could be heard from up the narrow street that the woman darted though the crowd and halfway across the road towards the child.
As fast as she had leapt across the road, the man was at her side and there was an almighty thump of flesh on hollow metal. The monk stood, aghast as the Jeep that had come crashing down the street reversed, revved and sped over the bodies without a second thought.
Before the girl could turn to see the horror, the monk darted across the road and scooped her up, soothing her and whipping the confusion off her face with a smile.


Six years ago.......(Or six minutes in Sky Realm time)...

“The Sky Realm must be ruled over and I believe you, my child, are worthy of this gift...” muttered the frail, old man, twisting round on his death-bed to see his two daughters stood before him. “Lorna...you are now the high Queen of the Sky Realm....the responsibility....of looking over and...guiding the other planets is yours..... my love...” he coughed and spat blood from his mouth.
The red haired teenager sank to one knee and replied “My Father, your will be done. I will rule with honour.” She stood and looked at her sister.
“And what of I, Father?” asked the blond haired, pale-skinned girl.
“You.... my pretty......will inherit.....the power of....a thousand....storms..... and guide your sister’s heart.....as you have...guided my own....” the old man reached to the sky above him and the night became angry; a thousand lightning bolts flew to his hands until his whole body was glowing. Holly stood, confused. Lorna looked both horrified and angry.
“My child....” summoning the last of his energy, the old man reached for Holly’s hand and thunder echoed around them. Lightning flashed from one body to the other, making both of them shudder with energy. At last, the process was complete and Holly fell to her knees.
“Thank you, Father.” She whispered.
The old man fell back into his pillows and died.
The two girls knelt before the bed, trying desperately not to cry.
After a while, Lorna stood and, ignoring the council stood behind her, watching, and turned to the people gathered bellow the balcony of their castle.
“I am now Queen of the Sky Realm!”
The people cheered. The council didn’t move. Neither did Holly. Neither did the dead man.
“My first decree I shall pass will be the exile of my sister!” Lorna turned to Holly as the people stopped cheering and looked at one another, confused.
“You will give me my Father’s power, or you will be banished to another realm.” Lorna spoke in a whisper.
Holly stood and turned. “What? Why? You’re the Queen!”
“Yes, but I want what he’s had for so long. I want what you now have. I want ultimate power and control!” said Lorna, smiling excitedly. “Come on, give it to me.”
“What...I...I don’t exactly know how it works! I’ve only had Father’s gift, what, 1 minute and you’re already hungry for more power! No offense but that’s slightly twisted.” replied Holly.
Lorna paused. “Twisted or not, I still want ultimate power.”
“No, it’s my gift, you have yours, I have mine.”
“Well then. So be it.”
Lorna looked at the council, still stood watching in their black robes. One of them stepped forwards. “Queen Lorna, maybe this is a bit rash...”
“Oh, please, as if it hasn’t been obvious for the past 1000 years! Now open the portal to the most smelliest, run down, vermin-ridden, manky planet you can find! And then throw her through it!” she ordered.
“As you wish.” replied the council member.
“What? You’re actually going to let her do this!” yelled Holly, confused.
The member looked at her apologetically. “She’s the Queen, she’ll sack me of I don’t.”
And with that, the entire council turned and raised their hands. Before them, blue energy burst into existence and formed a ring. Through the ring was a night sky, ridden with stars. For a moment Holly thought it looked rather pretty, but that was before Lorna pushed her forwards and through the ring of blue light.
And then Holly was falling....

Georgia Twitch sat in the congestion ranting about the traffic to Bruno. She tightened her grip on the steering wheel every time she mentioned the word traffic or the word London and mentioned the word fuck in every sentence. Bruno sat, listening to her in the passenger seat, staring forwards, his tongue dangling from his mouth.
“Honestly, you’d think they’d some sort of system in place, or do they just like to fuck around with us? It’s fucking ridiculous!” Georgia turned to look at Bruno. She then looked away, calming down. “Why am I ranting at a Dog? Come on, Georgia, you’re a psychiatrist, don’t give in to the irony!”
Finally the traffic began to move.
Once away from the city centre and out in the suburbs, Georgia found herself driving along a lonely road when the 4:00 sky began to darken quickly. There was the sound of thunder and lightning cracked in the distance and then the sky immediately brightened again.
“And they say it’s because of global warming! You know what I think, Bruno, I think it’s the world about to end.” Georgia smiled to herself.
Suddenly, her vision began to blur and the image of a dark shadow lying in the middle of the road flashed before her eyes. She heard Bruno barking and Georgia regained her senses.
“Damn visions.” She muttered. Her visions had been getting worse, as of late and it was a pain when she got one at work or in the car, but luckily, she didn’t lose control and crash like she’d almost done when she first got a vision whilst driving. And it was stupid that the vision had been of her losing control and crashing in the first place! If anyone else was born with telekinesis and telepathic abilities, she was sure that they wouldn’t have had these problems. It always happened to her, for some reason!
She turned a corner and immediately pressed on the breaks. In the middle of the road was a dark figure the size of a human. If there was one thing about her powers, her vision always came true.
Georgia got out of the car and held the door for Bruno. The golden retriever leapt from the car and padded over to the heap. Georgia followed and knelt over it. Upon realizing it was a bland-haired woman, she turned her over slowly.
She didn’t know whether it was her abilities or whether it was just plain curiosity, but she touched her forehead and explored her mind.
A mixture of fear, curiosity and astonishment entered Georgia as she saw what lay in the girl’s mind. She pulled her hand away and tried to scoop her body up in her arms.
“Bruno, stop helping!” she muttered as the dog jumped up, almost knocking Georgia over. Eventually she got the girl to her car and laid her on the back seat.
Before driving back to her flat, Georgia peered at the sleeping girl.
“Just who and what are you, I wonder.”

Five years ago.....

“Daniel, the cars outside, you ready?” Nicki asked, impatiently glowering at the man who was bent over a work bench in a white coat. Scientists. Why is it they can never finish what they start and for some reason, they always have to tell everyone (specifically anyone who will listen) about what it is they’ve done!
“One minute, I’ve almost found the letter M in dragon tongue!”
Nicki almost replied, but decided she wouldn’t dignify it with a response. “Well hurry up! I’ve got things to do!”
“Oh, like what, waiting for someone to bid on your painting on EBay?”
“Hey, don’t mock my job!”
“It’s not really a job, is it?”
“Just shut up and hurry up.”
Daniel continued to scribble things on a note pad and stare at the huge piece of rock in the middle of the laboratory. Nicki looked around, bored, when she noticed a blue, glowey thing.
“Oooooo, what’s that?” she asked, moving towards the blue liquid on a glass tall, glass container.
“Daniel stood and turned. “Erm, that’s dragon DNA. Be careful, it’s the only sample we have and the only hope we have of recreating a species of dragon.”
“Can I poke it?”
“No!”
Nicki moved away from it and looked at her watch. Daniel put his note pad aside and took of his white, lab jacket. “Right.” He muttered.
Nicki turned but the entrance was blocked by a red-haired girl about the same age.
“And who are you? Do you have permission to be here?” asked Daniel.
“I’m Lorna, I’m here for the DNA to prepare it for injection.” She smiled.
“Oh, right, Daniel.” Daniel shook hands with Lorna.
Lorna turned to Nicki and shook her hand. “And who are you?”
“I’m Nicki, I’m his friend and here to pick him up.”
“Really, what do you do?”
“I’m an Artist.”
Lorna pulled a disgusted face and moved towards the DNA.
“Wait one minute, who gave you clearance?” asked Daniel, suddenly very wary.
“Erm...The guy at the front desk.” replied Lorna, shakily.
“Well, that’s amazing because I don’t have a front desk! I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this is kinda just a shed I built myself.” commented Daniel. The sentence had barely left his mouth when Lorna slapped him around the face with the back of her hand. He flew to the other side of the room and fell against the wall, unconscious.
“Dammit! What was that for?” asked Nicki, backing away.
“Move out of my way, mortal and you shall not be harmed.”
“Mortal? Are you off Thor?”
Lorna made a sharp move towards Nicki, who threw her fists up in a feeble attempt at self-defence. “Wait! This isn’t fair, I can’t fight!”
“Well you should have thought of