Eyrin's chip reader automatically provided him the time as he dressed, making him constantly aware of the dwindling time remaining before traveling to the exit gate. Just as he finished packing his chosen vestments in his sack, he activated his chip reader to conduct a summons. Contact Kerelin, he thought. Tell him to meet me in my bed chamber.

Finished with the dressing room, Eyrin returned to his bedroom to wait. In stark contrast to the cramped nook of the Hideaway, this room was spacious, comically so: Eyrin spent very little time here, filling the thousand square rod room with nothing aside from a pillow bed and desk. While the bed took up a full one-hundred square rods by itself, the room felt despairingly empty and cold.

He noticed a thin layer of dust on the desk and wiped it off in some vain attempt to make the room look as though someone actually lived there. Why do I bother with the little things, Eyrin wondered, when I leave everything else to rot?

"Prince Eyrin," Kerelin bellowed, announcing his presence as he entered the threshold of the room.

Eyrin sighed. "Come, Kerelin. Has my father told you?"

Kerelin nodded sharply. "Your departure is imminent, I am aware."

Eyrin smirked. "Are you happy I'm being sent away?"

"No."

Frowning, Eyrin crossed his wrapped forearms. "Won't it be easier for you? You won't need to fabricate excuses about where I am, or why I'm not doing anything befitting my station."

Kerelin winked, his slanted eye shining with sadistic humor. "I enjoy the challenge."

Eyrin groaned. "I suppose I'll miss your creative attempts at damage control."

"I suppose you will. Just a few months, do you think?"

Eyrin sighed. "Probably, but who's to say?"

"Is this the end, then, for the Candidacy?"

What? "The Candidacy?" Eyrin's skin darkened slightly. "How can this be the end, if there was never a beginning?"

Kerelin shook his head. "Prince, so long as you remained on Illudis, a chance remained. In your case, perhaps, a very slim one..." Kerelin let the thought trail off as he saw Eyrin's waning patience. "Unimportant," he concluded.

Eyrin's eyes crinkled. "Unimportant," he repeated crisply. "Well, keep busy without me, as you always do."

Kerelin bowed his head. "Be safe."

Eyrin blinked his eyes twice, the verdoran equivalent to an eye roll. "I swear upon the dead and fallen that I will return, Kerelin. Now, I need to leave."

Kerelin winked again before leaving Eyrin alone with only his bed and desk for company. He waited a minute before leaving Eyrus, contemplating the fanfare his exit would arouse: Because he departure was actually expected, he could depart through the palace doors without causing a stir. People outside will wish me well, he noted, snorting. Yes, wish Eyrin the Candidate, Eyrin the kursi, Eyrin the Prince a good trip. His skin further darkened as his disdain mounted.

Eyrus was a typical, cookie-cutter Candidate palace, one that Eyrin had acquired from a kursi that had decided to venture off Illudis as one of Juserin's ambassadors. Because he almost never walked through its halls, Eyrin took an extra minute to admire the geometric designs on the floors and the cloud-colored tapestries. Though he would never admit it, he felt a certain reluctance to leave Eyrus.

When I return, Juserin may choose to disinherit me. As he walked down the hall towards the palace doors, servants froze like statues, prostrate before him. Isn't that my goal? he wondered, passing through the doors and into the courtyard between the palace and the gates to Eyrusta. He felt a sour taste in his mouth as he proceeded on, looking every bit the noble prince the public probably thought he was. I know what it is, Eyrin realized. Why I feel so uncomfortable with this change of events. It's because this isn't my plan, but Juserin's.

He felt his front hands stiffen beneath their wraps, padding heavily across the slabs of stone leading up to the now-opening gate. So, even as I escape the Candidacy, I find myself ensnared in another political web. He snarled softly, his white and silver veil concealing the unsightly expression from onlookers.

One of the palace's hovertrack zoomed out of a subterranean hangar, touching down directly in front of Eyrin. A growing crowd exclaimed at his arrival outside of Eyrus' gates, many exclaiming, "Prince!" as he mounted the white pod. The hovertrack's elevated form increased his visibility, making him appear as though standing atop a pure white podium. He gave the verdora below a quick wave before he closed the top of the hovertrack and set his destination for a set of coordinates in Dederus, just outside of Dederesta.

The pod zipped through the air, only switching skytracks once before touching town. Eyrin disembarked to an open stretch of purple reeds that came up to his head. His enhanced strength facilitated his movement through the dense reed forest, enabling him to reach his father's residence with time to spare.

His father, Keldor, lived in the literal middle of nowhere. His small house, a plasticast two-room, was submerged underground; Eyrin was only able to locate it because of a large red tapestry mounted on a jujura tree next to the abode's porthole.

He knocked on the small jujura wood door, then waited.

"Eyrin?" Keldor called up, his voice faint.

"Father, I'm here," he replied.

"Coming," Keldor grunted, voice growing louder as he approached. "Why the visit?"

Eyrin smiled at his father's gruff, cliff-side accent. "I'm leaving Illudis."

Keldor's step faltered. "Ay, I'll wait for you to explain inside," he grumbled, finally reaching the porthole. Eyrin stepped to the side to allow enough room for the door to swing up and over.

Eyrin pounced forward, playfully tackling Keldor to the ground. "Eh," Keldor grunted. "When'd you get so strong?"

Eyrin's face fell. "Father, don't tell me...you haven't left your house recently, have you?"

Keldor's beady eyes twinkled in the light of the sun shining through the opened port. "Why?" he asked, voice tinged with suspicion.

"Invaders have come from planet 39123, Earth," he explained, stepping off of Keldor's shoulders and into the narrow passageway from the entrance to the rest of the house.

"39123? You're not serious," Keldor grunted, following behind. "We sent them back without punishment, didn't we?" he snapped his jaws. "The current Juserin is too forgiving."

"On the contrary, Juserin the fifty-sixth surrendered," Eyrin said, voice devoid of emotion. "He knew they were coming," Eyrin said softly. "He knew they had something, a weapon or the like. You know, he evacuated Illusta, loaded the citizens into hangarcraft and sent them away."

"...39123? One two three?"

"Yes, our neighbor, one two three. Earth."

"But...how?" Keldor's voice shook with unconcealed fury.

"The sapients of Earth have two patron gods," Eyrin explained. "Beings with unfathomable power."

Keldor scoffed. "Sounds like propaganda. I'd wager Juserin is using them as a convenient enemy to reaffirm sentiments of verdoran unity and secure his hold on power. He'll mount a counterstrike soon enough; our weapons systems are terrible, but they certainly aren't worse than those on 39123."

Eyrin smiled grimly under his veil, stepping into his father's multi-purpose kitchen-parlor room. "Let me explain."

"Sounds like it'll take some time," Keldor huffed, sitting down in a chair hovering by his jujura-wood dining table. "I'm inclined to think this is a joke," he muttered, "but you aren't that funny."

Eyrin snapped his jaws in mock anger, reclining in another hover chair off to the side. "As I was saying: Earth's gods are powerful. Father, I don't think I can describe exactly what they are capable of; it'd be better for you to head to Dederesta yourself to see."

Keldor folded his arms. "Try."

Eyrin's eyes crinkled. "Don't blame me for anything that breaks," he murmured, stomping a foot into the ground. With his enhanced strength, the action generated a loud thud as the plasticast of the house recoiled and shook. Keldor's haphazardly strewn reader components let out tinkling noises as their inner components scraped and jiggled around.

Keldor blinked. "So, your strength, it comes from these gods?" He murmured in confusion. "But why would they aid you if they came to conquer Illudis?" Keldor's skin suddenly darkened. "They intend to use you as an insurgent!?"

Eyrin shook his head. "No, nothing like that. They seek to build an empire, a theocracy, spanning innumerable planets. While they have come to conquer us...they have also come to bring us into their fold."

"You sound as confused as I am," Keldor chuckled bitterly. "This is ridiculous. Theocracy?"

"I'm leaving," Eyrin said, cutting the conversation short. "Juserin the fifty-sixth has ordered my dismissal. I'm to accompany the sapients of Earth and their gods until they reach Illudis once again."

Keldor's skin paled. "Eyrin..."

"While I'm gone, go to Dederesta. You can't afford to stay secluded like this when Illudis is in this precarious state of flux."

"That man..." Keldor seethed. "Surrendering to planet 39123? Letting that backwater's gods occupy our cities?"

Eyrin closed his eyes and sighed. "You know I dislike him as much as you," Eyrin stated, "but this time, I don't think Juserin is to blame." The current time loomed heavily on Eyrin's mind, reminding him to wrap things up. "I really do need to leave. Before I go, can you help me with something?"

Keldor nodded stiffly. "As long as you promise to come back as soon as you can."

Eyrin stood up, sliding out of his chair. "I need a miranite jammer and a ribbon wrap battery," he said, eying the menagerie of parts scattered throughout the room.

Keldor groaned and gingerly stepped from his chair. "I have a ribbon wrap battery somewhere...alkalite crystal and a conversion pipe..." his trained eye scanned the room until, with a tsk, he started forward. "Here, found it." He picked up three pieces, two onyx, one lavender. "I trust you know how to put this together," Keldor chuckled, tossing the pieces to Eyrin. "A miranite jammer, though..." he sighed, rubbing his first pair of limbs together. "I don't think I have the parts on me at the moment."

Eyrin padded over to Keldor, nuzzling the grizzled verdora. "It's fine: the battery is more important, anyway."

Keldor looked down at his son, his eyes burning with emotion. "I'm an old man," he whispered. "Sixty-seven. You make me forget how much time has passed.."

Eyrin flinched. Suddenly, a thought shot through his mind. "I hear that the gods of Earth can reverse aging," he whispered.

Keldor sighed. "That technology's heavily restricted."

Eyrin adamantly shook his head. "I'm not talking about technology; again, you need to see for yourself. If I get back and you haven't gone to Dederesta, I'm going to skin you, mount your corpse on your banner, and let your insides putrefy."

"Fine, point taken," Keldor muttered, winking.

Eyrin nodded, winking back. "I'm off, then."

Once his son was a good distance down the corridor, Keldor shouted, "Good riddance!"

Eyrin simply thudded an arm against the porthole, blasting it off its hinges. If I'm not mistaken, that'll require a trip to Dederesta to properly repair, he thought, smiling.

He made his way back to the hovertrack, assisted by his chip reader's pathfinder ocular overlay. He entered the pod, expression grim. "Only one place left," he murmured. The pod soundlessly lifted upward until it came into contact with a skytrack leading southwest. Because of the long distance, the pod switched tracks numerous times before finally arriving at the programmed destination, Valiance Cavern.

As the pod approached, Eyrin noted the peculiar mix of sapients below: humans, the native species of Earth, were mixed in with several other non-standard sapients. Are they from other conquered worlds? he wondered, eyes alight with confusion. Of the non-standard sapients, the only species he recognized was the brown, bushy-tailed variety the humans stationed in all their cities.

He didn't have much time to observe the gathered sapients before his pod touched down on solid earth. As the pod's translucent cover retracted to allow his exit, Eyrin leaned back and looked at the clear sky. I won't be seeing you for a while, he thought nervously.

He grabbed the miranite necklace from his pack and placed it over his head, tucking it under his mane and into his robe. Then, he grabbed the battery components and quickly strung them together, pressing their connectors together with practiced ease. He grabbed a gold-colored wire from his pack to wind the components together, coiling them into a condensed, circular disk. He slid the battery under his primary left-hand ribbon wrap, just under the clasp securing the wrap to his robe. He shook his hand to ensure the disk was snugly in place, then, having no other excuse to remain in the craft, Eyrin stood up.

Oh; almost forgot. Eyrin ripped off his fancy white veil, folding it and placing it back in his pack. He regarded his more-practical, single-color veils, trying to decide which color to wear. I'll be back, father, he thought, tying the red veil around his mouths. Father's red.

Eyrin shuddered with anticipation as he bounded forward onto the ground. The hovertrack rose into the sky, winking out of sight. "Tramin," he muttered, smiling, "you always said I needed a good adventure."

No turning back.