Silence—the only sound the messenger was left with was the guards' constant bickering between one another and the constant sound of their footsteps as it echoed through the messenger's ear, sending his breathing into overdrive.

  His chest rose up and down in a frantic state before centering himself. Maybe he didn’t hear me knock—I’ll try again.

  And try again he did indeed. The guard rose his hand to the door, fist clenched, and knocked one more time. But there was still no answer. Maybe I’m not knocking hard enough, he thought. Maybe he can’t hear me. The guard paused for a moment, contemplating what he was saying to himself, then looked down at his hand. His hand was half caught between knocking again and pulling it back. Of course he can hear me, he said as he straightened his posture and knocked once more.

  He contemplated turning around and just telling Cane his brother didn’t answer, but as the thought ran through his head, a large clump caught in the back of his throat. The consequences of telling Cane the opposite of what he wanted to hear always came at a price, so he chose the path of least resistance.

  He swallowed the clump lodged in the back of his throat, then lowered his hand toward Ezra’s door handle. He looked at it. He didn't want to intrude on the prince, but what choice did he have?

  His fingers wrapped around the handle, but before he could push, he noticed the door was already open. The messenger looked down at his hand wrapped around the handle with confusion etched across his face and slowly began to push the door open.

  “Ezra—Ezra, you here?” the messenger said, but he was met with nothing. As the door opened, revealing Ezra’s room in its entirety, he noticed that Ezra wasn’t there. He went to the bathroom, then to the cupboard where Ezra’s clothes were. Nothing.

  “What the—where could you be, Ezra?” the guard said as he walked out the room and back toward the four guards. “You guys seen Ezra?”

  Merzer stepped forward to the messenger. “What do you mean, have we seen Ezra? He’s in his room; he hasn’t left all night.”

  The messenger’s face contorted on one side as he looked on at Merzer. “You sure about that? Because he’s not in the room—I’ve checked.”

  Merzer stormed forward, pushing the guard out of the way, then headed toward Ezra’s room in a frantic state. He looked everywhere: under the bed, behind the curtains, the bathroom, and the clothing room.

  “How is this possible? I saw him—” Then it dawned on him. The speed, the strength, the quickness of foot. The ability to take them out without breaking a sweat.

  “EZRA!!!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, causing all the men in the hall to come running into Ezra’s room.

  Mike came storming in first. “What’s up? What happened?”

  Merzer didn’t reply to his comrade. He just stood there, anger consuming every crevice of his face.

  Errol came next, hunched over with hands on his thighs as he entered, while Human stood next to him and the messenger stood behind. Merzer's eyes closed for a moment, his top lip falling down and behind his bottom lip as he squeezed the knuckles of his right hand in the palm of his left. He stood there a moment squeezing, his bicep tensing, his veins bulging; then he opened his eyes.

  “You all wanted your answer as to who it was that attacked us—it was Ezra.”

  Errol stood up, his breathing now calm. He raised his hand toward Merzer in a repeating fashion. “Whoa—whoa, whoa. Merzer, do you know what you’re saying right now? Accusing the prince... you know what will come of that if you’re wrong.”

  “I’m not wrong. Ezra’s not here and the last place he was seen was here. Clearly Cane hasn’t seen him, the men in the training room haven’t seen him, and we were on guard patrolling. When did you see him come past us? That’s right, he didn't. Now ask yourselves: who in this kingdom, other than La Mort and Cane, would have the power to take us all out without even having to try?”

  The men all looked at each other with the same look. All roads led to Ezra, but the lingering question that no one could answer was why?

  Merzer stormed past the group, his shoulder colliding into chests as he made his way back through the men and stood just outside the door. “What are you all waiting for? You want proof? I shall give it to you.”

  The men all looked at each other, then followed Merzer as he began to storm down the hall. They covered every corner of the kingdom, asking everyone from cleaners, cooks, and flower ladies to entertainers. No one had seen Ezra, and the only place they had left to check was the hangar.

  “Come on, guys. Don’t you think this is going a little bit too far to prove your point?” the messenger said cautiously. “You must have gotten it wrong; no one has seen Ezra anywhere.”

  “We shall see,” Merzer said as he arrived at the shipping hangar.

  The room was loud: the sound of men fixing damaged ships, the clambering of metal against metal, blow torches, and the banter between workers was on full display. Merzer charged through the room, and as he hit a right, his eyes fell on the ships lined up—and whose ship was missing? Ezra’s.

  “Now tell me again, boys, what was it that you were saying?” Merzer said with a huge smile on his face. His eyes continued to scan the floor. When they fell upon two men refusing to meet his gaze, he stopped. “You two. Have you seen Ezra?”

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  “Who, me? Who told you I’ve seen Ezra?” the smaller guard answered.

  “You just did,” Merzer said as he began to walk over to them.

  The taller guard’s head shot up to the ceiling as he released a saddening breath. “You just couldn’t keep your mouth shut, could you?” he said as he looked down at the guard in disgust. “All you had to do was keep calm. But no, not you.”

  “Sorry, man. I don’t—I, you know—”

  “No, I don’t know—I actually don’t. But whatever trouble we’re in, it’s on you.”

  “I’ve never been in these situations before.”

  “Oh—no, I couldn’t tell,” the taller guard said sarcastically.

  As Merzer and his men stood in front of them, the guards' eyes hit the ground and stayed there. “That’s enough out of you two. Now tell me where Ezra went, or should I get La Mort involved?”

  The taller guard’s head rose and met the gaze of Merzer. “No—no, there is no need for that. Ezra came here last night looking to clear his head, but we told him we were under strict instructions from La Mort not to let anyone in or out of the hangar.”

  “But he was pretty adamant about leaving,” the smaller soldier chimed in. “So much so, he knocked us out to take his ship.”

  “HE DID WHAT?!” Cane shouted.

  Tools stopped, hearts dropped, and silence ensued. No one had heard the prince enter the room. The messenger turned around slowly and looked at Cane. “I’m sorry, I went to look for—”

  Cane stepped forward with his hand raised and lay his finger on the messenger's mouth. “I don’t want to hear another word escape from your lips,” he said as he turned to the smaller and taller guard. “I know exactly where my naive brother went. He went after my mother.”

  The hangar door opened and a large gust of wind swept through the hangar. Cane stood there, not budging an inch.

  “Sire, your father gave strict instructions: no one in and no one out,” the smaller guard said.

  “Don’t worry. It’s the hit squad. I received word they were arriving, so I made my way down here to greet them. Perfect timing—now they can join me on my crusade as I plunge Earth into an endless red river.”

  The ship that entered the hangar was a magnificent oval ship of destruction, obsidian black with streaks of silver, with two wrecking balls of cannons that hung below—a ship designed only for one thing: war.

  The guards watched with their hearts in their mouths as the ship touched down, the landing struts groaning under the weight of the obsidian monster. The ramp hissed, steam venting into the hangar air as it extended to the floor. Then, out stepped the four members of the hit squad, their silhouettes cutting through the fog as the soldiers stood there panicking.

  And through the fog stepped Kefir the Brave, Matu the destroyer , Leaf the Bold, and last but not least, Crisis the Deceiver. A ferocious group that left bodies in their wake and spared none. Thousands of species—races extinct at the click of a finger, their history wiped from the galaxy—all while keeping a smile on their faces. To them, violence was the main course and murder the appetizer. Their names were known far and wide—names no one dare speak. They were the boogeymen of the galaxy. If anyone spoke their name, a hand followed across their mouths, driving them to swallow the next word, all in fear that if their names were spoken enough, their planet would be the next mural the squad painted their picture on.

  “The legendary hit squad!” Cane shouted as he turned to face them. “I see you’ve arrived back from your latest conquest, and by the looks of things, it was a successful one,” Cane noted as he stared at their bloodstained clothes.

  “It was indeed,” said Matu the Destroyer. “Their screams will satiate our thirst for now, but our need for blood can never be quenched. I need war. I need bloodshed.”

  Cane’s mouth carved into a sadistic smile. “If it’s bloodshed you seek, my loyal soldiers, then look no further. I have a mission for you.”

  Crisis the Deceiver stepped forward, refusing to hold back his sadistic laughter. “Oh—I like the sound of that, Cane. What mission is it that you speak of?”

  “My brother has taken it upon himself to go looking for my mother.”

  Leaf the Bold’s eyes closed, his head twisted to the side as he bit down. “Your mother—the traitor. That’s treason. But there’s one problem that still remains: we have no way of tracking her.”

  “Well—she eludes us no more. My mother used her magic to invade my—and my brother's—mind and gave us the coordinates to where she ran. I have seen the planet she inhabited. The people that walk amongst her—they are a weak, fragile species that we will dine on. Their screams will be heard through the annals of time, a massacre of all massacres,” Cane said with a passion and fire that burned deep in his chest as he stood there clutching his fist tightly.

  “What about bringing Earth under La Mort’s regime?” Matu the Destroyer asked.

  But Cane would not hear it. His head shot towards Matu the Destroyer, his eyes burning with a look of certainty. “Not this one. They need to suffer. I will bring Earth to its knees, and when they beg for mercy, my mother will come out of hiding and watch me put the final nail in their coffin. My mother chose them, lived amongst them, so she will feel what it’s like to lose everything once more.”

  “Then what are we waiting for, Cane? Board our ship and lead the way,” said Crisis the Deceiver. “We will plunge this planet into an eternal storm until there is nothing left but the history of what once was.”

  Cane walked toward the center of the room and began to shout. “Men, we go to war! We go to dine on the people of Earth! Ready your ships, men, and follow me!”

  The men immediately stopped what they were doing and followed their prince, boarding their ships as they readied for war. Cane walked toward the hit squad's ship, then began to walk up the ramp, stopping as he reached the top. “What are you waiting for?” he said to the four guards and the messenger. “Get on this ship now—I won’t tell you twice.”

  They didn’t need to be told twice; the men ran, sprinting towards the ship and up the ramp past Cane.

  The taller and the shorter guard began to creep away, but Cane had a sixth sense. “And where do you think you two are going?”

  “We’re going to tell La Mort what’s happened here,” the taller guard said.

  “No! You’re coming with me,” Cane said coldly, void of any emotion.

  “But—La Mort—” the taller guard said, looking at his comrade for backup.

  “My father is the least of your worries. You are mere moments away from meeting your end, your souls cast from this world, never to be remembered and replaced by two more soldiers dying to be a part of this regime.” Cane’s arm began to light up bright green, his hand siphoning a green blade. “So, what will it be?”

  The two guards turned and looked at each other. They were petrified, their legs shaking, but that didn’t stop them. They picked up their legs and ran and ran until they ran past Cane and boarded the ship.

  Don’t worry, Father. I will make you proud. I will bring the planet Mother cowers on to its knees and bring her right to your feet so she can face true justice for her crimes.

  Cane spun on his heels and joined the rest of his soldiers on the ship. Hovering over the console, he punched in the coordinates: 675892.

  The ship responded in kind.

  AUTO-PILOT ACTIVATED.

  DESTINATION LOCATED.

  PLANET: EARTH

  APPROXIMATE TIME UNTIL ARRIVAL: 72 HOURS

  With that, the ship shot out of the hangar into the depths of space, with the battleships following closely behind, hot on the trail of Ezra and ready for a war Earth had no clue was heading its way.