– by Jutlah Onok

It all started with a smile.

I still remember the fated day as if it had been no longer than one turn of our moon. I was young and scared, running from Ammarian slavers through the Heimatar region. I can barely remember anything about that trip..no that flight save for constant fear and exhaustion that had clung to me ever present as a cold sweat against my skin. I do remember how terrifying space was…so vast..so empty, it was full of nothing but everything all at once. At that age I had no idea what that truly meant, but that is neither here nor there. The only reason I bring up my escape from the slavers is because it was during that trying time that I crossed paths with Him.

We were taking refuge on a Thukker station which scared me almost more than returning to labor for the slavers. My mother was with me as was my sister, all I had left if I had anything at all, they were clinging to each other as the flashes and rumblings of the battle taking place in the void rage on outside the station. Everyone was obsessed and awed staring out the port holes and windows at the massive beasts made of metal spoke to each other in the only way they knew how, destruction. I however found my self struck and staring at a single boy, no older than myself who sat aside from the rest and never looked out the windows nor seemed to care of the happenings around him. In fact he seemed lost within himself, he seemed as if he was actually somewhere else, if only I had known then what I know now.

It was when he looked up at me that my life changed, that I became blessed, empowered, chosen. Our eyes met and if I had not already been sitting I am certain I would have fallen to my knees under the weight of those eyes…the eyes of a God, My God. He truly appeared to be no more that fifteen perhaps younger, but those eyes, they were filled with centuries of knowledge and experience. War, hatred, love, peace, greed, charity, I could go on but it is worthless…there are no words to describe that gaze, nothing that can make you understand the look from the walking Immortal save for experiencing it yourself. Suddenly nothing else mattered, not the battle outside, nor the slavers chasing us, not even the cruel Thukker tribesman that were in uncomfortable proximity. All that mattered was the pure unrefined fear that had gripped me and knotted my guts so tight that I am quite certain my bowels voided then and there. This fear however was short lived, simply because this being, this Immortal, this God deigned at that moment of our eyes meeting…to smile. Something about it wasn’t right, but there it was a smile, a literal God had smiled upon me, and I knew at that moment that everything about my life had changed. It didn’t matter that I was no longer a slave, it didn’t matter that the Republic and Thukkers were working together, all that mattered was that a Capsuleer had smiled upon me.

After that moment I remember very little of the “rescue” as it had been deemed by my kinswomen, I cannot even tell you what became of the Immortal after our eyes met, simply because I had feinted right after sharing his gaze. My mother and sister would tell you that it was exhaustion but I know it was due to the fact that no mortal can ever look upon a God and walk away as they had been before, and so I didn’t. I was a new man, yes a man, no longer was I child. I had been blessed and chosen by a walking Immortal and I knew that such a person must be a man and hold responsibility. So this I did, building a home for my mother and sister and obtaining job and a position on the council within our tribal community, all on our new home planet. We had been shipped an moved and relocated again and again until finally we were set down upon and unamed planet (to my knowledge) in a system named Osvestmunnur by God’s tongue. I did not know when I would be called upon to serve the walking Immortal, I did not know how my service would need be made manifest, all I knew was that I was going to be ready.

Ten cycles of our 3rd moon passed before my opportunity arose. My mother had become aged and as such been given a seat on the elder’s council. My sister was married off to a powerful youth from another tribe, and I…I had spent all that time learning everything I could about the Immortals. I became tactful, quick, intelligent, and strong as any Matari of my tribe, all in preparation for the day I would be called upon. Fortunately my wait was not to long, shortly after the tenth cycle of our 3rd moon, on the 5th day of the rotation our planet, Concord announced that opening of the planet to the immortals. The moment I heard this news my heart nearly burst with shear unadulterated joy…the Gods would be amongst us, they would come to us and need our help on our worlds. We were all to be the instruments of Gods…

As the concord holoreel finally came to the end of the announcement and continued to deliver news now so insignificant as a slave is to his master I turned to my kinsmen joy in my heart, ready to shout in jubilation. The sound however never came, it was trapped and choked in my throat as I saw the faces of my tribe, all staring despairingly at the screen that had delivered the concord decree. They were all, every last one of them afraid, turned white as the vitoc pill we had all once held so dear. I didn’t believe my eyes, how could they be afraid, how could they not be over joyed that Gods would be coming amongst us, filling us with purpose giving our lives reason. After all was not our freedom fought for and gained by the very Capsuleers they now seemed to fear. If only I had not been so naive perhaps I could have saved more of them, shown them the error of their ways before thing got as out of hand as they did. Alas that would have made a different story, not the one I tell you now

What I had originally taken for fear had really been resentment, hatred even. I came learn this over the next few council meeting as I listened to the elders discuss how we were going to greet…or handle, that coming Capsuleers. I feel I should mention at this point that I made a great effort to hide my joy at Concord’s decree, I did not do so to deceive my tribe, in fact quite the opposite. I concealed my joy so my tribe would be allowed to express themselves freely in front of me un-inhibited by my opinion on the coming of the Immortals. However as the council met more often, and the talk of protesting and boycotting turned the talk of resistance and revolution, my hidden feelings remained so more out of survival than caring for my tribe. The more I heard them talk against the Capsuleers the more I felt betrayed, the more I felt betrayed the more my hatred for the very people I had called kin grew. Of all the baffled elders on the council not one of them was speaking as strongly for revolution as my own mother. She was already setting the youths of our tribe to training, and given me command over a good number of them due not only to my kinship to her but to the training I had made part of my regime since my day of blessing. So it was that the Matari Militia was born, its job was to never let a Immortal take our planet…how foolish they were…how foolish we all were. For the day The God arrived not even a century of training would have made any difference to the outcome.

It continued with fire.

A pure blue pillar of fire descending from the atmosphere and slamming into the crust of our planet wither literal earth shattering strength. My tribe was frantic and terrified, all training forgotten in a single moment of panic and despair, they all fled and ran in different directions scattered like the mites they were compared to the God that had come. I stood amongst this chaos staring at the pure blue pillar with awe and reverence. Fire was a purifying power, and here it was descending upon our planet in a perfect beautiful pillar of strength and metaphor. My heart filled with that fire and a pure and primal shout burst forth from my lips. My tribesman mistook this as a symbol of defiance and accompanied my unmoving unworried stature they began to rally around me, I wouldn’t have noticed them at all had one of them not shoved one of our ritualistic blades into my opened hand.

“Lead on!” one called

“Show us the way!” uttered another

So I did, I set off toward the pillar of fire, I led them to the landing of a God…I led them to their reckoning.

As we neared God’s Landing my fervor was rising along with and in antithesis to the blood of my tribe. They began to boast of the ears they would take and I heard more than one blaspheme far enough to claim that they would bring home the Capsuleer’s head jack as a trophy. Had I not known that to turn on them then would be sudden death I am more than certain I would have, but it was not time yet and much to my luck (and amusement) the anger that was showing on my face was being taken as my own rage at the Immortal’s interference on our world. When we arrived I was once again awed, and my tribesman once again panicked at the sight of what is known in God’s speak as the Planetary Control Center. It was beautiful…pure mechanical brilliance almost completely automated, and if my studies had served me correctly the numerous machines that were moving about were various classes of drones which would be controlled by a computer within the PCC. Amongst the drones and barely standing out as they were covered in various forms of armor and machines themselves were humans going about their own assignments diligently serving their Immortal master. One of these holy servants noticed me and my tribe upon our approach, we were not a very subtle group and the weapons in our hands were more than apparent, even so he approached us with an authority that I suddenly held a high respect for. I held up my hand and my band of tribesman, numbering near three hundred came to a unsteady and anxious halt, with that I stepped forward and approached the Immortal’s warrior.

“This land is now incorporated, you are trespassing and will be removed with extreme prejudice if you do not disperse.”

His voice came over a vox and was sexless and mechanical. I replied in kind

“I have come to beg audience with your master.” I stated simply, my statement seemed to confuse him which in kind confused me.

“You mean my boss the capsuleer?” he asked me in return, and the tone in which he said the word “capsuleer” instantly raised my ire.

“Yes” I responded shortly in the affirmative, at which point he chuckled and said these following words which that day sealed his fate.

“Listen man I don’t know what you have going on down here on this pile of dust but he is my boss not my master, he pays well so I work for em. Now please disperse before I enact that extreme part of the earlier mentioned prejudice.”

I listened to his words and a white hot spear of rage lance through my heart I could barely control myself as I asked the following through clenched teeth.

“So if someone paid you more..” I never got a chance to finish the question before he responded

“I would work for th-…” he never got to finish his response the moment he began his answer I knew that his answer would be that of a traitor. Someone who would turn on their God for the simple prospect of personal gain. My hand moved of its own volition and my ritual blade arced forward, the tritanium forged blade tore through his armor carapace and spilled his entrails at his feet before he even realized what had happened. I remember imagining his dumbfounded traitorous face as he fell to his knees and looked up at me from behind his tinted helmet visor before falling amongst his own gore and continuing the slow painful process of dying from a stomach wound…he deserved no less.

My action caused an unforeseen affect upon my kinsman, seeing the guard fall before me sent them into sudden action, all anxiety gone as they let out a war howl that would make any tribe of the Matari proud and charged passed me into the compound of the PCC. I tried to call them back, tried to make the stop, to make them see that to war with a God is a fight already lost…all for nought the battle was already beginning in full by the time I caught up with my kinsman. The guards of the PCC put up a heroic stand, but they were unorganized and surprised by such sudden ferocity by my tribesman and were overrun within minutes, this hurt me more than the death of my own men for I was certain there were men amongst the guard the served the Immortal out of faith and belief rather than out of gain, and my own men were fighting against the very God that had come to call upon my services. The drones however were an entirely different matter, they joined the fray much to the surprise of my kinsman, and cut a horrible swathe through them, creating an instant killing field within the compound of the PCC. More than one drone moved to end me, I did not fault the machines nor did my faith in my purpose falter at being attacked by my God’s servitor’s they were merely following a predetermined protocol. My constant physical training paid off well here, keeping me from joining the screaming wounded or silent dead littering the ground. As the battle raged from the compound into the building itself more and more of my tribe fell to various machines and servitors defending the compound. Despite all of the death surrounding them my tribe continued to fight deeper and deeper into the complex, I followed and defended myself as the need arose but not once did I attack first after the first guard I gutted. The din of the battle was horrible and unlike anything I have ever experienced…still I found it exhilarating something in the sound called to me, drew me toward it…then suddenly it stopped. Everyone, everything just stopped, ever drone fell to the ground with numerous metallic thumps and thuds. For a moment there was a stunned silence from me and my tribesmen, however such silence was not long lived as a moment later a PA activated giving sound to a youthful male voice.

“Now now, there is no need for all of this, come let us talk” the tone was chagrining as if a father reprimanding a child, and I knew a that moment that I had just heard the voice of my God, I couldn’t stop myself I took off at a run, a moment later my tribesman were right behind me. I could feel their blood quickening again at the prospect of facing the Immortal they, like I, had known the voice to belong to the Capsuleer who commanded this complex. I cannot remember my frantic run through the complex and I don’t know how I knew where I was going, in fact now that I know every turn and bend of this entire building I am certain that I found my God only through divine wisdom granted me by his grace, but none the less I found myself bursting into a room that was large yet spartan and standing in the middle of this room was a small robed figure. His face was youthful still, and hadn’t changed in the ten cycles that I had lived on this planet, he looked frail standing there alone in such a large room but his eyes could not be mistaken…they were the eyes that I had dreamed of almost every night since our “rescue” and they were once again focused upon me, and once again I felt more that saw everything that made up this being before me. My tribesman arrived just after me, and whether at the sight of a boy or because of the power of his gaze they too stopped dead in their tracks. For the longest time there was silence as a single boy stood against, and kept at bay over one hundred men bent upon his death…and one who wanted nothing more that to serve him.

It ended with laughter

The silence became unbearable for all but the God who stood before me and my tribesman. This was it, this was my moment, I stood before my God…and I froze. My muscles betrayed me, my voice failed me, and my will left me all in the presence of this boy Immortal. I can not say the same for my tribesman, one of them suddenly let loose a cry and charged toward the Capsuleer raising his ritualistic high above his head…an eternity passed as I waited for the God to smite this foolish Matari but the Capsuleer did not move, he just stood there watching the deadly blade begin it decent into a killing blow. Suddenly I felt my muscles move, my voice call out, and my will force a movement will out consulting my, and I watched as my ritual blade flew across the room in a spinning arc and catch my kinsman in the back slamming him to the metallic floor with a sickening thud. I stood there motionless and unbelieving, my arm still outstretched from my throw, my lips still shaping the sound of my shout as it echoed in the open chamber “No!..no!..no!..”. Again silence claimed the room as all eyes turned to me tribesman and Immortal alike providing me with expressions of disbelief or incomprehension. I saw a number of my tribesman reach for their weapons as the severity of what happened began to grasp them, then something happened that stopped them and sent shame through every fiber of my body…someone was laughing. The sound was heavenly and innocent, yet mocking and cruel all at the same time…it was a sound that should not be and yet it was…The God was amused. My tribesman looked to the Capsuleer with fear, hatred, revulsion all in one and again their hands moved toward their weapons, I looked on the following event still ignorant to what was truly happening.

The Capsuleer still laughing made a dismissive gesture and suddenly the room filled with five vicious looking drones that hovered in the air, in hind sight they were Matari Warrior class type two in God’s speak. My tribesman hesitated for only a moment…it was more than enough for the drones to draw a bead and unleash their vicious Matar designed projectile weaponry, the chamber filled with a deafening roar of autocannon fire and blood and gore filled the room as the remaining one hundred (give or take I will admit to not having an exact count) ran into a grinding fire of hot fusion ammo, every man died then and there…the Immortal never stopped laughing…

When it was all done I felt the artificial intelligence of the drones appraising me and simply awaiting another dismissive gesture from their master…none came. My God laughed for another century, or so it seemed before finally his mirth was spent, the moment his laughter stopped his face returned to serene innocence, innocence on the face a person who just slaughtered over one hundred men with the motion of a hand. I could feel his eyes one me, but I cold not bring my self to meet that gaze…not after the laughter, not after such humiliation.

“Why?” the Immortal asked simply.

My mouth again spoke of its own volition as if his question was a command that I could not refuse to obey.

“He would of killed you my God.”

he seemed to be appraising my response…judging it, I could almost sense the power of his mind taking my words processing them, checking them for inflections and flaws…if he found any I do not know of it, but I am certain that one simply word was a test…a test that I passed. For right after he made his decision the drones disappeared as suddenly as they arrived. He then turned and approached me pointing to the ground as he did so, again my body moved and fell to a knee before the boy God.

“Do you have a name?” he asks me in that angelic voice.

I told him I did indeed but before I could put my name to sound he cut me off

“Then forget the name you know, for if you are to be my Avatar you will bear the name I give you.”

My body went numb…all my dreams, all my desires, everything was coming true in this moment. I was being truly chosen to serve as the Avatar to an Immortal, one of the dreaded Capsuleer’s of New Eden. He declared me his Avatar then and there and renamed me, this name I will not give for only My God has right to speak it all others that now serve me as his Avatar simple refer to me simply as that which I am…Avatar. That is how I came to be the leader of The Child’s Wardens, I defend his faith, his land, and strike fear into his enemies with a righteous wrath fueled by his divine right as an Immortal . Since his descent into my world I have not seen my God, but I know one day he will return and I will be here to do as he bids when he bids. So know this, if ever you find yourself facing a man who calls himself The Avatar, you have but two choices fall to a knee and declare The Child your God, or fall to your knees holding what you can of your belly in, for I have come to spread his word, and I will not be stopped for I am blessed…by a God.