Information

Luno has a minion!

Starlight the Gustiss

Luno
Legacy Name: Goobie

The

Galactic Mahar
Owner:

Pureflower

Age: 8 years, 2 months, 3 weeks

Born: February 5th, 2016

Adopted: 8 years, 2 months, 3 weeks ago

Adopted: February 5th, 2016

Pet Spotlight Winner
July 15th, 2022

Statistics

Level: 190
Strength: 349
Defense: 10
Speed: 10
Health: 10
HP: 10/10
Intelligence: 464
Books Read: 448
Food Eaten: 0
Job: Astronomer

Torn between two worlds...

His last memory of Earth is a cluster of dandelions.

A cheery splash of yellow in a port sector otherwise dominated by gray. Proof of the resilience of life in even the most dismal location.

Though he was barely three when his mother died, he has fond memories of the smell of sun-bleached cotton and the feel of warm, dirt-stained fingers cupping his cheek. They used to make dandelion wishes together. He would wish for a sweet treat or tickets to the latest 3D cartoon holo-movie. She would always wish for an end to his curse. She never wasted a wish on herself - they were all for him.

His father Culum was a low-ranking titan, a controller of climates across the many planets of the universe. He could freeze desert sands or call up a hurricane in the center of flat grassland on a whim. He could even produce cosmic storms in the open reaches of space.

What Culum could not do was control the actions of his son. Not until Luno willingly chose his titan half over the human side that came from his mother.

A symbiotic parasite was bonded to Luno's soul at birth, a powerful worm his father had named Cye. Luno hated and feared this dormant creature that would force him to choose between becoming his father's puppet or slowly going mad as he approached his twenty-fifth birthday.

In eight months, he will succumb to his curse one way or another.

Unless...

He can sense her halfway across Planet Vega. The Protector. Most dismiss her as a rookie Agent shoved into a dead-end program because of her wicked tongue. Nobody expects the Protector program to actually rescue the missing children they seek. The program is a PR stunt, meant to soothe distraught parents to keep them from pestering agents of more prestigious rank.

Deza's never believed in doing things halfway. She'll find what she seeks or die trying. Never has the galaxy...any galaxy...hosted a life form of her tenacity and sheer refusal to quit.

His last hope.

*****

He'd been too intimidated by Culum to cry, even when space sickness caught up to him. He spent his fourth birthday zooming across two galaxies at light speed, gasping for breath and eventually passing out

The man who took charge of him was dressed all in black - even his face was covered in a shiny mask that reminded the young boy of a beetle's wings.

"He'll be useless for a week like this. You might remember that boys - even ones with your impressive lineage, can't go hurtling at the speed of light and be ready to run the Milky Way Marathon the next day."

There was a rumble of thunder directly overhead. Amusement or annoyance? One can never be sure with a titan.

Luno didn't resist when his hand was roughly grabbed. Everyone in the shadowy building they entered was dressed in black, their faces hidden. The clothes they gave him were eye-smarting white.

"You'll have to earn your way through the color ranks to become a master thief."

Luno's eyes widened. His mother had taught him to never steal. "I don't think I can, Sir."

"They all say that, at the start. One month in our care and you'll be able to sneak up on a cat."

The stealth training was very good. He truly could sneak up on cats, close enough to gently pull their tails and send them away in yowling protest.

He just couldn't bring himself to steal, even knowing it was only a game. It simply wasn't in his nature.

Culum was annoyed but blamed himself for leaving Luno with his mother for too long. This time, the storm titan remembered not to use hurricane-force winds in propelling the boy to his next destination.

Luno entered the massive industrial factory with a mingled sense of awe and dread. The foreman was an even-tempered old space pirate named Raxillian. He looked like some bizarre cross between a killer whale and a grizzly bear on its hind legs. He expected results from his workers but treated them well, even the child crews.

Luno soon discovered he had a talent for assembling the barrels of laser rifles. It felt good to be doing something with his hands. He'd watched men clear the kitchen sink drain or build raised flower beds for his mother. He almost felt like a man himself.

Until the day he learned where those guns were going.

Civil war on a distant planet is only a sad story on TV...until you realize the rifles used to kill hundreds of innocent bystanders were assembled by your own hands.

He couldn't even look at a gun from that day forward without being violently sick.

Lightning crackled around the body of the ship that transported Luno to the luxury sector of Vega, the greatest gambling hotspot in the Universe.

There had been other children on the factory floor but he'd never had a true friend until he met Willie.

Her full name was Wilhelmina. She hated her full name.

She found Luno cowering between a mahogany pillar and a very expensive silver-washed vase.

"What are you doing?"

"Hiding. Culum told me demons live here."

"Um...you do know that Culum is a demon, right?"

"Yes. He's my father. It's not like I can avoid him.

"Oh. Well...you don't have to worry. It's not like the Queens let them just roam the halls. All the Demonix are kept in a special room many floors underground. They can only enter a world when they're called. The Sentinels wouldn't let you near that room, even if you were a full member of the Courts. Only Queens are allowed in there."

He came out of his crouch, accepting her invitation for a game of hide-and-seek.

They ran together among the rosebushes, mindful of poisonous thorns. They threw bread crumbs to the great blackfish in the water garden. When the weather turned hot, they lounged in the Velvet Room, sipping blackberry lemonade and picking morsels of chilled fruit from a tray.

Diana found them there one afternoon, flaunting her new red diamond necklace. "What are you doing, hogging the titan boy. Eh, Helm?"

"Don't call me that!"

Diana snorted. "Whatever. I want to have a look at him. Maybe if I stare into his eyes hard enough, I can see the Worm inside him. I'd give anything to be able to talk to the Demonix whenever I wanted."

Luno shuddered. "I'd give it to you, if I could. Culum is a monster who put a monster inside me. That's what my mother always said. She'd probably still be alive, if not for him."

Diana shrugged. "What did you expect? Mortals are weak. But if you're intent on being human...I'll bet the high-ranking Demonix could help. We could always sneak down to the lowest levels."

"Diana, leave him alone! Can't you see you're scaring him?"

Diana rolled her eyes. "You're dull as untoasted bread, Helm. You know that?" Her look for Luno was no less sneering. "A real titan wouldn't be afraid of anything. If you're really serious about cutting your ties to Culum, you know where to find me."

*****

He'd almost gone looking for Diana but his mother hadn't raised a fool. Deals with demons always favored the demon.

He observed every kind of vice at the Four Courts. Willie was the only bright spot in his life, the one he could truly talk to about his hopes and fears.

Until the day she betrayed him.

Her ascension to the Queendom, like that of her half-sisters, was sudden and unexpected. The newly named Queen Diadem was well pleased by this rapid shift in their fortunes.

Queen Helm came to Luno, the ceremonial makeup running down her cheeks in streaks. "Oh, Luno. There is no keeping secrets from him. What he knows, Culum will know soon enough. They know your time on Vega hasn't softened you at all. They plan to take you to the Far Reaches...I can't say any more. You have to get off this planet before..."

Her lips clamped shut but even Fool's influence couldn't hide the pleading in her eyes.

Luno ran.

He port-hopped for eight long years, until the dawn of his twenty-fourth birthday.

He was running out of time.

A gentle voice visited him in a dream, guiding him from one planet to the next until he was drawn back to Vega at last, to call in a favor from a couple of old friends.

*****

He rides the elevator down to the lobby of a building out of a child's dream. Everything from floor to ceiling appears to be made of candy.

Agent Deza Daybright stands with her back to him. She is outspoken against corruption. Unintimidated by powerful forces.

A Protector of children.

He senses her pure heart and warrior spirit even from across the room.

His last hope for salvation.